Chapter 27 - Zane
The second I hit the clearing, the noise and fight drop away, all because I see her.
Naia stands in the center of it while her magic flares around her, keeping her stance level and unyielding as she faces down a rogue twice her size. There’s blood on her, some of it hers, but most of it not, and her expression is all brave fury.
She’s alive and fighting just like she always knew she could. She’s defending herself like she tried to convince me she was capable of, and seeing it with my own eyes only instills more of that belief in me now.
Relief hits me so hard it almost knocks the breath out of my lungs, then it twists and burns. She never should’ve been put in this position, and never should’ve been taken. If I had done my job right, she wouldn’t be fighting her way out of this.
She’s holding her own, yet I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed her somehow.
Rage follows close behind as I move in.
Take them down, I snap to the others through our link as we surround them.
The guys and my pack don’t hesitate, hitting the last of the rogues hard with no warning or mercy.
The first one goes down under me before he even registers I’m there. I drive him into the ground, cutting off his movement completely before shifting my focus to the next.
They’re already scrambling, both disorganized and panicked. Whoever had been calling the shots apparently isn’t alive to do so anymore.
Hunter and Dominic flank the left side while Zeke and a few others push through the right, cutting off any chance of retreat. In the distance, I sense Luke and Caleb arriving with backup, given how this concerns us all.
The rogues try to regroup, but it’s too late. They were crumbling under Hayes’ power and fully lost the second we showed up.
I move through them with precision and razor-sharp focus, calculating every strike and each movement to push them further back. One lunges and I sidestep, grabbing his flank and throwing him straight into another. They go down together in a heap, struggling to get back up.
“Zane!”
Naia’s voice cuts through everything like it always does, capturing my attention with ease.
I catch the warning in it and pivot instantly just as one of the last rogue wolves comes at me from my blind spot, but it’s already too late.
Her magic hits him first, sending him flying off course before he can reach me. With no time left to hesitate, I finish it with a final snap of my jaws, and he dies right there.
Silence crashes down over the clearing as I lift my head to scope the area, broken up only by heavy breathing. The scent of blood carries through the air, along with a shift in power.
Now it’s just Wraith Peak and us.
I straighten slowly, my gaze already locking onto the one presence in this clearing I hate more than anything.
Hayes.
He stands a few feet away with his wolves fanned out behind him, their stances tense but waiting for whatever comes next.
Still standing in his human form, blood streaks his bare skin while he takes a few steps into the clearing as he catches his breath. His attention is on Naia instead of me.
My jaw tightens, and I move close enough to make it clear that she’s not standing alone. Not anymore. Willing myself to shift back, the world around me splinters and adjusts as I stand to my full height, feeling Naia’s presence nearby.
The bond hums low and steady between us now that we’re close, almost like it has come back to life again, refusing to snuff out. Whatever caused it to turn off in a way that seemingly isn’t a problem anymore, and I’m glad for it.
Within that connection blooms something possessive, protective, and dangerous to anyone who threatens it. It’s ours, and regardless of what we’ve been through, it’s not going away anytime soon.
Hayes notices, and his eyes slide toward me briefly in quiet calculation, then back to his sister, who looks at him with a mostly neutral expression bordering on cold.
“Naia,” he says, like none of this just happened. As if he didn’t just walk in here and slaughter wolves to get to her, with all the right to stand there and speak her name.
My hands curl into fists at my sides, and I mutter low, “Don’t.”
