With halting, trembling steps, Wyatt made his way forward like a man who had nothing to lose. “Do you remember, from our application, how many times we had to move because we got pushed out by a bigger, stronger pack? Six times. Six fucking times! I’m tired of running!” Wyatt spat out a mouthful of blood onto the grass. “My pack and I can’t run anymore. Tolstone has a reputation. No pack’s going to even touch this place. We need that stability, that guarantee that we won’t have to ever move again.”
He could understand Wyatt’s frustration. It was nothing new to their way of life. It was the alpha and beta’s job to hold a territory. Once a town could be claimed, it had to be maintained. If Wyatt couldn’t do that, because Xavier sure as hell couldn’t, then he had no business being an alpha, dominance or not. Itwas no wonder the loyalty of his own pack was slipping through his hands like sand.
Dominic shook his head. “No one touched Tolstone because they respected it and its mission to keep shifters safe. Don’t you get it? As soon as you have Tolstone, it won’t be the same. It’ll just become another dot on the map.”
A crazed, determined look shadowed Wyatt’s face, and he knew that the failed alpha wasn’t listening. His beast was too close to the surface, too close to bursting out that he could feel it in his own wolf. There was no talking out of this. Wyatt still wanted Tolstone, still wanted to prove that he could make a home for his pack somewhere, but this was more about the wolf’s needs. It wanted blood, vengeance, a resolution to his wounded pride, and validation that he was still strong and an alpha worth sticking with. Killing Dominic would prove just that.
Wyatt lunged forward, and Dominic had just enough time to dodge him and let him dash a quarter of a mile away into the darkness with his supernatural speed. Wyatt’s claws raked across the tree trunk, scarring the bark as he flew past. With deft hands, Dominic undid his pants and stripped down to his skin in preparation for the quickest shift of his life.
“Give up now, Wyatt! You don’t have to die tonight. I’ll let you leave with your pack.”
He saw Wyatt spin and brace himself for another charge at the Prime alpha. “I’m not going anywhere!”
The blond shifter ripped off his clothes, and white fur gleamed in the rays of moonlight.
Dominic let the shift take hold, and when the agony of the transformation was over, Wyatt crashed into him in his wolfen form. Hot, foul breath assaulted his nostrils as the alpha opened his jaws wide to clamp around Dominic’s neck. He lashed outwith his own fangs, searching for purchase in the frantic flailing as both wolves tumbled across the forest floor.
He tasted blood and felt razor claws snag around his shoulders. His flesh burned with new wounds that barely had time to heal before Wyatt inflicted more damage. Black and silver fur became encrusted with blood, both fresh and old. Still, he fought, calling on all his muscles to keep pushing, to keep moving as long as his enemy breathed.
Strength he thought he didn’t have emerged out of nowhere as he remembered all of those who were counting on him. He thought of Hank, Cole, Gage and his small pack, all the packs in Tolstone, all that would come in the future, and most of all, Erica. They needed him to win, to come out on top and hold fast to the title of Prime Alpha.
When blood drained out of him quicker than it could be replenished, when he couldn’t see straight or know which way was up, when the pain became almost too much to ignore, Dominic still found the will to make one last lunge for Wyatt’s neck or chest with his jowls. His father’s voice echoed in his ears, telling him to keep fighting, to stay on his feet.
Dominic wasn’t deeply spiritual, didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits, but in that fight, he could feel the presence of all the Prime Alphas that came before him. Instead of feeling oppressed as he might have in the past, he found courage and fortitude. Pride swelled in him when he thought he could no longer breathe, when his lungs were starved for air. Power poured into his limbs and kept him moving. The wolf was emboldened by the legacy of the Beaumont wolves, this destiny that he knew he could never forsake.
He finally knew what it meant to be Prime Alpha.
Dominic made one more push. Wyatt’s coat was stained a deep red, blood dripping from his muzzle. He leapt and tackled him to the ground. Wyatt only had a few seconds to strugglebefore Dominic shoved his fangs through the thick mane to latch around the alpha’s neck.
He chomped down and thrashed as hard as he could, ripping the skin and flesh until his teeth hit something hard. Bone. Dominic clinched down and twisted.
A dull snap, and Wyatt stopped moving almost instantly. Dominic didn’t move, didn’t release the severed spine, not until he was sure the shifter’s healing abilities wouldn’t kick in even in the first few moments of death. With nostrils flared and panting, Dominic watched the light of life dim from Wyatt’s unblinking golden eyes. He waited just a little longer until he knew the only pounding heartbeat in the forest was his own. Then, Dominic slackened his jaw and stumbled away from the carcass.
The world spun, and his vision tunneled for several solid seconds. Dominic let himself sink into the cool grass and rested in the knowledge that everyone was safe and still under his protection. Even now, he thought of what would need to be done to make sure this never happened again. Vetting processes would have to be reassessed. Maybe stricter limits on pack sizes and certainly more thorough background checks. If they could employ a psychiatrist, conducting evaluations on incoming alphas sounded totally reasonable at a time like this.
He let his eyes drift shut as his wounds slowly mended and the pain lessened. His next thought was of Erica. The first thing he’d do, perhaps after a hot shower, was find her and fall into her arms.
The mating bond thrummed strongly within him, like a beacon that pointed his way to safe harbor. She was his lighthouse of calm in a storm that would capsize his boat if he let it. Now that the waters were calm and the winds were done, he could go home. Erica was just as much home as Tolstone was.
*
Cole slammed the car into park and shut off the engine as soon as they came to Jade Lake. “Stay here and don’t open the door for anyone.”
Erica wanted to make some comment that she wasn’t five and didn’t need to be told how to stay put in a locked vehicle, but she held her tongue. Let him believe that she wasn’t going anywhere, that she wasn’t going to try and follow him as soon as he was out of sight. However stupid it was, however much she couldn’t convince herself to just be good and stay in the car, Erica had to do it. Dominic had been there for her when she needed help, whether she wanted it or not, and she wasn’t about to let herself be pushed to the sidelines when he might need her.
She watched her father disappear down to the lakeside and into the black of night.
The tremor in her hands that had persisted since Ronan shifted back to tend to his wounds was completely gone now. Her resolve to try and defend Dominic at all costs, and in whatever way she could, somehow put a little more bravery back in her heart. It might have been their mating bond that made her care more for Dominic’s life than her own, but she didn’t care. Or maybe it was a kind of strange confidence she’d gained when she killed Nathan. She, a human, had killed a rabid wolf shifter with one well-aimed shot with a silver bullet. It assured her that she wasn’t completely helpless. She could do something right even when she appeared to be at a severe disadvantage.
Erica didn’t care how much trouble it got her into with Cole. She was going to do this, and to hell with the consequences. She reached into the glove compartment and carefully pulled outthe Glock Ronan had told her about, and the tiny case of silver bullets that sat atop the car owner’s manual.
She slipped the silver bullets into the magazine, and she broke a nail in the process, but within just a few minutes, she was ready to follow after her father and find Dominic.
Unlocking the car, she slid out and stepped softly on the pavement until she reached the grassy slope that descended toward the lakeshore. Erica was ready to turn to the east when a twig snapped to her right.
Erica turned and raised the gun, both hands firmly locked over the handle. A coldness skittered down her back when she saw the silhouette of a large black dog near the tree line. It padded forward, ears pricked up as the moonlight glinted in its animal eyes.
She swallowed hard, but refused to move, though she was amazed she could even keep her arms level and steady. The gun seemed to weigh heavier now than it did when she got out of the car.
