Orin came back, mouth open in a snarl, foam at the corners. We smashed into each other again. Dirt kicked up. Trees cracked. My jaws found his side and bit down hard, drawing blood.
He writhed under me, claws slicing my ribs, but I didn’t care. Couldn’t care. I wanted him to scream. I wanted him to pay for every nightmare Sean had ever had. For every bruise.
For the way Sean flinched when someone raised their voice. For making him run.
Orin writhed, snarled, fought. But I was heavier. Stronger. Fueled by fury and something deeper, something ancient. My grizzly. I pinned him to the earth.
He thrashed under me, but I planted a paw on his chest and held him. My jaws closed around his throat. He stilled. This was it. This was justice.
One squeeze. One bite. And the threat would be gone forever. My teeth pressed against his pulse.
“Beau!” A voice. My mate’s voice.
I turned my head just a fraction.
Sean. Back in his human skin. Blood streaked his arms, his side. He looked terrible. Sean was pale and trembling, but he was upright. Somehow.
“No,” he said again, voice cracking. “Don’t do it.”
I growled deep in my throat. I didn’t want to look away from Orin. Not when I had him.
“Beau, please.”
He stepped forward, limping, dragging one leg behind him.
“I know what you’re feeling,” he said, hands out like he was trying to calm a wild animal and maybe he was.
“I do. He deserves it. But this—” Sean motioned to the other unconscious wolf, the blood, the fury still vibrating through my bones “—this isn’t you.”
My grip on Orin’s throat tightened slightly. Sean’s voice broke. “You think killing him will solve all our problems?”
I let out a growl that shook the ground. My claws dug into the earth on either side of Orin’s ribs. Sean didn’t back away. He came closer.
“What about everything we’ve built, Beau?” he asked, chest rising and falling fast. “Bear and Bun. Sugarpaw Springs. The peace we’ve fought for. The family you’ve made. Are you gonna throw it all away just to spill his blood?”
My muscles trembled.
“What about me?” Sean’s voice cracked.
That got through. His eyes, big and vulnerable and fierce, locked with mine. Not afraid. Not of me. Just begging me not to give in.
“I’m still here,” he whispered. “I’m still here. But I need you to come back. Please.”
"Live and love," I heard Levi’s voice in my head.
The rage started to slip. Slowly. Just enough for the man inside me to crawl back to the surface. I blinked. The forest wasn’t red anymore.
It was green. Cool. Sean was right there in front of me, swaying from blood loss, still reaching for me. I looked down at Orin.
He was still trying to wriggle, but his strength was gone. His eyes rolled in his head. A snarl barely made it out of his throat. Not worth it.
I slammed his head into the dirt instead, hard enough to knock him out cold. His body went limp. Sean let out a breath like a sob and collapsed to his knees.
The rage still simmered inside me, but the edge was gone.
I stepped over Orin’s unconscious form and shifted, muscles creaking, fur pulling back into skin, blood sticky on my ribs. My knees hit the earth with a thud.
Sean crawled the rest of the way to me. His arms wrapped around my neck, tight and desperate. I clung back just as hard. He was shaking. So was I.
