The urge to leap out of the SUV with Sameen and carry her back to Glasgow, back to the United States even, surged through Peter. Fuck. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. “I won’t let anything happen to you, sweetheart. I promise.”
“Don’t.” Sameen peered up at him, her eyes straining to focus and uncertainty marring her delicate features. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. This is my one chance to be free of them, and I’ll fight as hard and as long as I can to remain so. But Mara is the only one who truly matters tonight. If they go through with their plan—if they can channel the elements in me, in Mara, in any other prisoners they’ve captured over the years—and create Spirit...” She shook her head. “It’ll be the end of everything.”
The moon was close. Peter could feel its impending rise, and from the seat behind them, Paddy moaned. “It has begun. Fire sleeps but not by choice. Water fights but has no voice. Earth and air must once more pair, or all will soon despair.”
Cade slammed his hand down on the dashboard. “What the fuck does that mean, old man? We’re about to go fight for our lives, forMara’slife, for the life of ourchild, and you still can’t manage to give us a straight answer?”
“Tis not the way Paddy was made.”
“What are ya’ talkin’ about?” Farren asked over the line. “Made? Ya’ were born, weren’t ya’?”
The elderly man’s chuckle set Peter’s nerves on edge. Cade was right. This close to a group of practitioners who could kill them all with just a few words and Paddy thought it was time to joke around?
“Tis a fair question. And one ya’ should have asked long ago.”
Liam growled and swore quietly from the other car. “Can we focus on what we’re about to do? Who the hell cares where Paddy came from? His nonsense isn’t goin’ to save Mara.”
“Do not speak of what you do not know,” Paddy snapped. “Not every truth is right. Not every lie is wrong. Salvation comes from strength of heart, not of body.”
“Enough!” Regulus shouted. The vampire so rarely displayed any emotion at all, everyone fell silent. “Park up ahead. Young one, you are to shift and remain as your wolf for as long as you can. Magic has more power over the human form than animal. If I fall, you will have only one to look to, and for that, I am sorry.”
“If they end ya’,” Ewan replied, his voice cracking, “how am I supposed to survive?”
“Did ya’ forget I was here?” Farren huffed. “I’m still yer alpha.”
“But ya’ don’t know anythin’ about the hunger. About how to handle it when all ya’ want is blood and ye’re afraid ye’re goin’ to attack those ya’ love most in this world.”
“This. Is. Not. The. Time.” Cade’s voice took on a hint of his wolf as Livie and Regulus pulled the SUVs off to the side of the road. “Once Mara’s safe, you can fight all you want. Not before.”
Sameen let Peter help her out of the car, but then wrapped her arms tightly around herself and stared up the hill. The stone building looked to be three stories tall, and now that they were closer, Peter could see lights flickering from the top floor.
“Are you all right?” he asked his mate. He’d have to shift soon, and once he did, he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. Not in a way she could understand.
With a shake of her head, she replied, “I don’t know. I can feel them. The Thirteen. Or what’s left of them. They’re not as strong as they were before.”
Peter snorted. “I should hope not. We killed five of them.” That should have brought her some comfort, but she swiped at her eyes, and a tear glistened on the back of her hand.
“Not Celia. She was always the strongest. This ishermark. The others can use it when she allows, but she has more power than all of the rest put together. I’ve always known...since the day they took me...that she would be the one to end me.”
“No. I won’t let that happen,” Peter snarled. “I will die before I let them touch you. Hurt you in any way.”
“Peter.” Sameen swallowed a sob. “Please...”
“Time to shift,” Cade said, interrupting them. “Now.”
Grabbing his mate and hauling her against him, Peter kissed her, pouring all of his love, every promise he’d made and all the ones he hadn’t yet had the chance to offer her into this one, passionate act. “I love you, Sameen. No matter what happens, know that I love you.”
He pulled off his shirt, shed his jeans and boots, and dropped down to all fours. Sameen knelt next to him, her hand on his shoulder as he let his bones break. She wasn’t afraid of him. Wasn’t shocked or disgusted by the shift, by the way his fur sprouted all over his body, didn’t even blink when his tail lengthened and his ears sharpened into points.
He sat up, panting, and she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his neck and sobbing as the other wolves came to stand around them, one by one. Cade barked softly, the order to move unmistakable, and Sameen tightened her hold and whispered in his ear. “You saved me, Peter. Never forget...you saved me.”
And then she released him. Caitlin and Eli flanked her, and Cade started to run, just as a woman’s scream pierced the night air.
* * *
Sameen
She should have told him. Been faster. Or braver. So many times over the past few hours, she’d almost worked up the courage, and now, it was too late.
