I’d worn a T-shirt and sweatpants—nothing I couldn’t get out of in a flash. I leapt from my clothes on four legs, furry and clawed and furious.
Reeve shifted just as fast. He was a big red wolf, snarling and used to scrapping. At least, I’d assumed he was.
Seth and I had been sparring though. We’d trained. He might be a better fighter than me, but fighting him? That’d prepped me for Reeve.
We stood on hind legs, growling and scratching, snapping our jaws to try and get the upper hand.
But it was like I’d told Seth—I didn’t want Reeve dead. I just wanted us free of him. Of all this shit.
I hesitated to throw myself at him, but he had no such compunction. He shoved into my space and his mouth clamped above my arm, digging into bone.
Maybe I didn’t intend to kill Reeve, but I knew damn well that if I didn’t take him down, he wouldn’t offer me the same mercy. He’d tear out my throat and leave me there in the yard, an example that proved none of us should dare to fuck with him.
If I lost, things would be worse for Jill afterward. Worse for Seth. Worse for everybody who’d believed in me.
I kicked out with my back feet, hard as I could. It didn’t dislodge his fangs from my shoulder, but it sent his back half sailing into the air. I shoved all my weight off the ground. We tumbled over each other. His fangs tore out of my flesh, dragging deep, bloody rivulets beneath my fur.
I ignored the pain, throwing myself at him. I got my mouth around the nape of his neck and bit hard, until I felt the crunch of cracking bone.
Reeve yelped beneath me, and with fang and claw I tore and tore until he’d gone slack, whimpering in the dirt.
It was over. I could kill him, and the wolf?—
Fuck, my wolf wanted to. But if I did, we were stuck here. Or at least I was. And after everything, there was no way in hell I was sending Jillian out into the world without me.
Whatever came next, we were going to figure it out together, and that wasn’t going to happen if I was stuck trying to put a broken pack back on track.
When I stepped away, fangs dripping with blood, and Reeve stayed down, I shifted back to two legs. Maybe they’d get the point if we just left, but I didn’t want to leave anyone with any doubts as to what would happen next.
“We’re leaving,” I announced, as Jillian brought me a blanket from our cabin and I wrapped it around my shoulders. “Jill and me, and whoever wants to come with us. We’re both going to school, and we’re making a new pack, so?—”
I glanced around at the wan, wary faces. I didn’t know what to say next. I should’ve thought of this. Prepared something.
Fuck, even if I had, standing in front of everyone in this moment, I didn’t think I’d be able to justify myself.
“If you come with us, I will do my best to look after us all, see us safe. We have—we’ll take out loans. We’ll figure it out. But I can’t promise it’ll be easy.”
Seth was the first to step forward. “I’m with you,” he promised.
And there was Maia, not even sixteen yet, biting her lip as she looked between her life-weary father and our small group. “Me too!”
Kent flashed a cocky grin. “San Francisco, right? Sounds like a good time.”
And there was Cash, lingering at the edge of the crowd. He shook his head and croaked, “I can’t.”
It was his doubt that stuck with me decades later.
But it was the faith of those that’d come with us that’d forced me to figure out how to lead.
24
Dakota
When Igarashi Jiro had attacked us, I had watched as Jax burned and healed practically at the same time. An actual fireball was a painful thing for a wolf, yes, but near-instant healing was near-fucking-instant.
So why was Jax still lying there in our bed, still and silent as... no. I wasn’t even going to think about graves.
Not now.
