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My free will returns.

I inhale sharply against the truth of what’s happening. Who I am. What I will do to stop this. I’m already moving as I think die. I would die to stop this—to save her life. I close the distance to Ramsey at a dead run, no decision involved, just the fact of Mia on the ground and Ramsey’s claws reaching toward her and my body already knowing what to do about it before my brain catches up.

I hit him from the side, still human until I go down with him, rolling end over end. Hands over paws. Skin over fur.

And then my wolf is out, and so is his. And I’ve never felt more power radiating from a single alpha. Not me. Him. And I’ve never wanted to kill anything more than I do now.

I attack quickly, hoping speed will help me. Ramsey’s stronger than he should be. He fights back with everything he has, and I take a hit across the jaw that splits my lip. I don’t slow down.

“Nash.”

Mia’s voice, behind me. Not afraid. But urgent.

I drive Ramsey’s shoulder into the ground.

A bolt of magic hits the dirt an inch from me.

I don’t turn to see whether the hex witch has another one in the chamber. I just fight. Lost to my beast. Letting him lead. Letting him fight for our mate.

The next bolt hits me across the back, but it’s not a blow meant to harm me. Instead, I feel the compulsion from earlier trying to take hold of me again. I feel it find the edges of my clarity, infiltrating my resolve. And I feel Mia through the bond. Not her voice, not words. Just her essence, present and furious and completely, stubbornly alive.

This thing she feared would steal choice from her is the only thing giving mine back.

I shove Davina’s compulsion out.

The next bolt that hits me is pure pain.

I howl, my wolf twisting at an awkward angle as I go down. Ramsey is right there, waiting for his opening. And I’ve just given him the kill shot. It’s not what I wanted, but if it saves Mia—if it gives her enough time to run before he turns on her again—then it’s enough. It has to be enough.

I turn my head to the side, looking for one last glimpse of her before it’s over. But it’s not defeat I see from my beautiful mate. In fact, she’s not looking at me at all.

Instead, Mia’s wolf crosses the flagstone at a dead sprint and hits Davina at full speed.

Davina’s next strike is already building along the blade when Mia makes contact.

The hex fires wild. The blade amplifies it. I feel that much even through the chaos—the ugly snap of old magic meeting stolen alpha power.

The magic slams straight into Ramsey’s flank.

The sound he utters isn’t one I’ve ever heard from another wolf. He’s shoved off me, sliding sideways against the grass. When he comes to a stop, his wolf goes rigid, all four legs locking up as the deadly hex magic tears through him.

Not dead but down, his body seizing against the stone, all that stolen power suddenly working against him with nowhere to go except to turn inward—on himself.

Davina screams, “What the fuck have you done, bitch?”

She rounds on Mia, hands raised for another shot. But Mia doesn’t give her the chance. She clamps her jaw around Davina’s hand. The skin tears away until only blood and muscle and sinew are left. Davina wails in pain and stumbles, clutching her half-missing hand to her chest.

Mia lets her go. Spits the appendage out along with a mouthful of blood and tissue.

Ramsey snarls, on his feet again, though not without effort. I scramble up and put myself between him and Mia. He glares at me, murder in his glowing eyes.

We engage again, claws swiping, teeth gnashing. Even with the hex bolt slowing him down, the fucker is immovable. I’m flagging. I know it. He knows it.

When he manages a lucky swipe that takes my hind legs out, my belly hits the dirt hard enough that I know it’s going to cost me everything.

But then a cinnamon wolf sails over me and rips into Ramsey’s throat.

I watch with a swell of pride and empathy as she punctures all the way through and draws blood between her sharpened teeth.