“I did,” she said, melting back into her human shape. She had to hide a wince as all her aches and pains suddenly made themselves known all over again, inflicting themselves on fresh nerve endings. Beside her, Case shifted back too.
Lydia felt a rush of joy at seeing him back in his most familiar form. She was sure that sooner or later, she would get equally used to seeing him as a wolf, too, but—with all apologies to her own wolf—she was pretty sure this version of his face would always be her favorite.
“He’s my fated mate,” Lydia said simply, not because Reeve needed—or deserved—to know, but because she hadn’t gotten tired of telling people yet, not by a long shot.
“Huh,” Reeve said in a strange, hollow voice. “Go figure. I guess that makes this even sadder, then.”
What?
“You should have said yes, Lydia,” he said, and he put one hand behind his back—
“He’s got a gun!” Meg yelped.
And sure enough, there it was. He’d had it tucked into his jeans at the small of his back, and now he was bringing it forward, the sunlight glinting on the barrel.
Shifters didn’t fight like this. An alpha challenge was fought in wolf form,always. But why had she ever imagined Reeve would care about the rules? He talked a lot about tradition, but he didn’t actually believe in it. He had almost killed her the day she’d turned Case, just because he’d seen a good opportunity for it.
It only took a split second for her to get over her stunned shock at him violating one of the basic werewolf precepts, but that was too long. She’d frozen, but Case, who hadn’t been raised as a wolf, didn’t hesitate. He reacted at the speed of light, throwing himself in front of Lydia as Reeve raised his gun to fire.
He was going to take a bullet for her.
“No!” Lydia screamed.
Case collided with Reeve, and the gun went off. Both men were still.
There was a horrible hush all around, as everyone held their breath. Lydia’s throat still felt raw from her scream, and she couldn’t get herself to make a single noise.
It had occurred to her that they might both die today, but she’d never once thought about what would happen if she lived and Case died. She couldn’t think about it now, either.
Maybe her voice wouldn’t work, but the rest of her could. She forced herself forward, casting her shock aside as best she could.
“Case?” She knelt down in the grass and rolled him off Reeve, not even sparing her old enemy a glance. He wasn’t moving, so either he was dead or unconscious, and either was good enough for her. She only had eyes for Case. “Case?”
He opened his eyes, blinking at her in confusion. He wet his lips with the tip of his tongue.
“Are you okay?” he said too loudly.
Of course that was his first question.
“I’m fine,” Lydia said, stroking his hair. “I just need to know how you are. Are you hurt?” It was impossible to tell whether the blood on his clothes was from the fight or from the gunshot.
“I can’t hear you,” he said, still in that kind of controlled almost-shout. “The gun went off right in my face. I think I’ve heard it takes a couple hours to wear off. Sorry, hitting him knocked the wind out of me.”
If the gun had gone off right in his face, where had thebulletgone? She couldn’t ask him, not when he couldn’t really make out what she was saying. She squeezed his hand instead and looked over at Reeve. The collision had probably left him winded too, but he could be up again in a second—
No. No, he really couldn’t.
When Case had rushed him to stop him from shooting Lydia, he had barreled into him, and that must have knocked Reeve’s hand up, flattening his arm against his body. When pure reflex had made Reeve fire, the bullet had gone straight up through the underside of his chin.
He was dead. In trying to kill Lydia, to punish her for having gotten in his way, he’d accidentally killed himself.
Lydia stood up, helping Case to his feet as well. She wrapped her arms around him. She was shaking, but she was still mostly whole, and so was he, and so was the pack. It was finally over, and they all had each other.
They always would.
Epilogue
“I know,” Case said into the phone. “I know, Mom. I know, Ma.”
