Page 46 of Alpha’s Wife

“Ronan.” Ryder’s voice cuts clean through the noise. “Walk with me. Two minutes.”

“I don’t have two minutes,” he says, barely looking away from the latest ship to arrive.

“Make time,” Ryder says gently but firmly.

Something in his tone causes the men nearest us to stop and look. Ronan turns, and as the brothers look at each other, the whole beach seems to go quiet around them.

Ronan walks with Ryder along the jetty, and I can only just about hear Ryder’s plea for his brother to change course. The words don’t really matter because the body language is speaking volumes. The brothers circle each other as Ryder’s tone hardens under Ronan’s retaliation, and Ronan’s wolf grows ever more restless.

“…That’s the end of it. Stand down, or stand aside.” Ronan snarls, walking back toward the dock.

“No,” Ryder says, and the word drops like a stone.

I’m not sure if the pack has ever seen the two alpha brothers argue before, certainly not like this. They shift uneasily on the docks, trying to look busy but clearly unable to look away, either. Ronan pauses, and it’s deadly; something flashing behind his eyes tells me his wolf is right under the surface. He steps closer to Ryder, right into his space. “Say that again.”

And Ryder, who strikes me as one of the calmest shifters I’ve ever met, instead of backing down, steps up, suddenly looking bigger than before, as if letting his alpha wolf flex for the first time in a long time. My knees nearly go out from under me as I watch the scene and others back up. I grab the edge of a crate to stay on my feet, because being this near two alphas about to snap is like standing between two storm fronts. I’ve never felt anything like it in my life. Neither of them so much as blinks.

“I said,” Ryder growls, and the voice isn’t his anymore, “stop. You have to stop.”

For one horrible second, I’m certain that the brothers are about to tear each other apart, two alphas nose to nose, about to start their own war. The fear that they’re going to destroy themselves is almost too much to bear. I right myself and step forward, desperate to stop this any way I can.

Then, before I can get a word out, the wards break.

I feel it before I hear it. The same cold drag as before, but wrong now, tearing, like a seam pulled apart all at once and rolling down the hill. A flurry of shouts and an alarm sounds in the distance. The settlement isn’t ready, and they know the one thing that was keeping them safe is gone. I hear women shouting and children being herded quickly toward one of the ships.

Ronan and Ryder break apart, and whatever could have transpired between them only a moment ago is gone, replaced by the loyalty they’ve shared for a lifetime.

“They’re through,” someone screams from the ridge. “The wards are down…they’re in the trees …”

The rest is lost in the wind, because that’s when I see the first wolves break through the tree line, and I stagger back in horror.

The war I tried so hard to stop is here—and it’s all my fault.

Chapter 22 - Ronan

The wards come down right as I’m about to lay into my own brother, and the whole settlement goes to hell all at once.

I’ve got maybe ten seconds before they break through the trees, and I don’t spend a single one of those seconds thinking about the battle to come.

I spend them all on her.

I’ve got Selene by the arm before I’ve even thought about anything else, my argument with Ryder forgotten as I haul her roughly back toward the boats, toward Cole, toward anywhere that isn’t here. My wolf doesn’t care that she went behind my back. Doesn’t care about the tablet, or the island, or any of it. My wolf only knows there’s about to be a battle, and she’s far too fragile and standing right in the middle of it.

“Get on a boat.” I push her toward the water. “Now. Cole, get her out of…”

“No.” She plants her feet. Digs in. She’s just a slip of a witch, less than half my size, in the path of three packs, and she will not move. “No, Ronan. I’m not leaving.”

“You’ll die out here,” I snap.

“Then I’ll die trying to stop it.” Her chin tilts in defiance. “You don’t get to start a war with my bond magic and then ship me off so I don’t have to watch. I’m staying. I’ll help however I can.”

There’s no time. The trees are already moving, heavy with three packs converging against one, and I’m not scared of what’s to come; it’s everything I’ve planned for. But I am scared for her.

And I stand there for more wasted seconds wanting to throw her over my shoulder and carry her onto the boat myself, and knowing she’d find some way of getting back on dry land. Knowing that I’m wasting valuable time. And yet, she’s all I’m worried about.

This is the woman who went behind my back. Who I told only hours ago in my own kitchen that I’d never trust again as long as I lived. And I know that I’d still put my own body between her and every wolf on this island without a second thought. My wolf is so certain of her that I struggle to tear my eyes away long enough to assess the incoming threat.

“Then stay far behind me.” My voice comes out tight. “Whatever happens out there, you stay behind me. You stay near the boats.”