I pushed out again. Tyler?
Jessica! Thank gods! Tyler screamed. I’ve been trying to get through for the last twenty minutes. We’re almost to you; we were a lot closer than I’d thought. Your scent is all over the place down here, even with the fucking sulfur shit plugging our noses. We’ve all changed already. I can smell the goddamn Southern wolves too. I felt his energy and his speed as he ran. My brother could run twice as fast as any other wolf. He would be here in a moment.
Tyler, the wolves aren’t Southe— I lost the connection as Stuart leapt, my brain switching back to full fight mode, slamming the door on all other thoughts. I gave a hoarse shout and threw my weight at Stuart’s oncoming body. We clashed in the middle. He gave a strangled yell as my claws tore into his neck, slashing at his jugular. I was more than ready to be done with him. “I’m finished playing with you, Stuart. It’s time for you to die.”
He staggered back, his hands grasping at his throat, trying in vain to stanch the wound. His mouth moved but produced no sound.
“It’s too bad you won’t be here to see your New Kids get annihilated.” I walked up to him as he fell to his knees. “Yep, that’s right. The Northern wolves—my Pack—are on their way up the hill right now. These wolves here don’t stand a chance. I don’t care where you dug them up from, they’re all going to die.”
Stuart clutched his neck with both hands, blood flowing freely down his shirt. I crouched next to him. “Was it worth it, Stuart?” I rasped. “Was betraying your Pack and everything you stood for worth an ending like this?”
Something lit in his eyes and he dropped both hands to his sides, blood racing from his throat. The side of his mouth went up in a half-crazed smile as he struggled to find words. “You … ack … are going to die … bitch.” His teeth were stained a dark red. He tried to laugh but fell short, instead he coughed up more blood. “You … have no idea … ack … what’s … waiting for you. You are … the true daughter of … Cain …”
A slashed jugular wasn’t enough to kill him, but this would be. With a scream, my wolf slid into the driver’s seat and my hand shot out like a lance. She tore the rest of this throat out in one swift motion, spine and all. He collapsed in a heap at my feet.
We were both so focused on the now dead Stuart that neither of us processed the other snarls.
A roar of fury erupted. “Jessica! Fight!” Rourke raced toward me at full speed. Valdov stood just behind him wearing a wicked grin, seemingly no worse off than he’d been before.
The wolves, who’d crept in closer while I’d watched Stuart die, shifted their attention for a brief second on the new threat barreling straight at them. A few of them turned, choosing their aggressor over their prey.
But most stayed completely focused on me.
This was going to be a Pack attack.
The lesser wolves would wait for the most dominant to spring first, and then they would all gleefully join in the fun of tearing me to pieces.
Rourke reached the first wolf in the circle, picked him up like he weighed nothing, and tossed him away like a bag of garbage. He was moving toward another when a loud crashing noise sounded from the woods behind us.
The wolves halted their forward progression, lifting their heads in unison, scenting the new threat.
Tyler launched himself into the clearing like a missile fired from a cannon.
He was beautifully powerful in his wolf form, and more than a foot taller than any of the wolves around us. His face was set in a gruesome snarl, his eyes flashing with an eerie menace promising swift retribution. There was a reason he was an unparalleled fighter. Few wolves were his equal. By the change in scent around me, every one of them knew it too.
Tyler tossed his head and gave a terrifying howl.
Within moments, our other Pack wolves returned his song. By the sound of it, they were only a short distance away.
The cavalry had officially arrived.
The wolves around me snapped and snarled, furious at the sudden intrusion. One of them lunged forward, his teeth latching on to my arm. His fangs sank deeply into my flesh. I’d been half hoping they’d all run with their tails between their legs when my brother had arrived in all his glory, but by the looks of the teeth embedded in my arm, they clearly weren’t going to be easily swayed from their target.
I twisted my body, dragging the wolf along with me, my Lycan form incredibly strong, grabbing on to its scruff with my other hand so my arm didn’t get shredded, and flung it straight into another oncoming wolf who was vying for a piece of me.