He was going to charge.
"Everyone back!" Cole raised the rifle. "NOW!"
The staff scattered. I didn't move.
Stone's golden eyes swept the hallway. Looking for threats. Looking for prey. They passed over me without recognition, without any flicker of the man I knew.
Then Cal stepped forward.
"Stone." His voice was calm. Steady. "Brother. It's me. You need to—"
Stone lunged.
It happened so fast I barely saw it. One second Cal was standing, hands raised, trying to reach through the madness. The next he was on the ground, Stone on top of him, those massive claws raised to strike.
"NO!"
I don't know if I screamed it or if someone else did. Didn't matter. Cal managed to get his arm up just as Stone's claws camedown. The impact was brutal—I heard bone crack, heard Cal's cry of pain as the claws tore through flesh and muscle.
Stone reared back for another strike.
This one would kill him.
I moved.
Later, people would tell me I was insane. That I should have stayed back, should have let Cole take the shot, should have done anything except what I did.
I didn't care.
I threw myself between them.
"LUMI, NO!"
Cole's voice. Neal's. Maybe others. I couldn't tell. The world had narrowed to the creature in front of me—this twisted, tortured thing that used to be my mate.
Stone's claws froze inches from my face.
His chest heaved. That terrible growl still rumbled in his throat. But he didn't strike. He sniffed.
"Stone." I kept my voice low. Calm. Even though my heart was trying to beat out of my chest. Even though I could feel his claws close enough to brush my skin. "Stone, it's me. It's Lumi."
I reached for the bond.
Not with words. Words were useless right now. Stone was too far gone, too lost in the nightmare his own mind had become. Whatever he was seeing, it wasn't this room. It wasn't me.
So I didn't try to talk to him.
I just... felt.
I poured everything I had into our connection. Every ounce of love, of trust, of desperate need. I showed him what he was to me—not a monster, not a weapon, not the feral creature.
Mine.
Pack.
Safe.
The bond between us blazed.
