She sashayed over to Valdov, who looked like he’d eaten the canary as well as the whole cage. She’d clearly been his ace in the hole the entire time, and he wasn’t shy about letting us all know.
“You see, Callum, it seems my Queen has invoked the favor of a Sorceress this time,” Valdov told my snarling father in a singsong lilt. “If you so much as move one furry paw in my direction, I will have the lovely Selene strike your darling off-spring dead where she stands. Are we very clear? Or shall I repeat?”
My father turned his massive head slowly toward Selene. His power rushing outward in one solid beat, making every molecule in my being leap. All of his wolves responded to it in kind. We all bared our fangs and made terrifying noises. Our Alpha had control, and we would follow. I snarled fiercely.
How Stuart and his band of ingrates thought they could possibly take the most powerful Alpha who’d ever lived was beyond me.
My father was magnificent.
Selene kept her cool, ignoring his steady, piercing gaze as she stopped next to the vampire. Only an infinitesimally small quiver of her hands gave her away. Her fingers were already glowing with a spell, so the red tremor had been easy to detect. She steeled herself for a moment before glancing up to meet my father’s stare, her face wearing the same haughty expression she’d donned before.
Honestly, Rourke had fallen for that?
“Come on, big bad wolf. Give me something to play with here,” she toyed. “There’s nothing on earth I’d rather do tonight than annihilate your entire bloodline. Why don’t you come over here and get me?”
My father watched her, his gaze unfaltering.
“Where’s the huff and puff, fella? Not so tough when a Sorceress is involved?” Selene taunted. “I thought you’d be a pansy. I guess I was right.”
Tyler surged forward in a volley of snarls and barks.
Selene turned a lazy glance toward him and tinkled. “Oh, does your little wolf boy want to be first instead? How very noble of him.”
My father snapped his muzzle once. Tyler stopped like someone had pulled a plug on his vocal cords.
“That’s a good doggie,” she crooned. “You should listen to your daddy more often.” Selene turned to face my father again. “Honestly, wolf, you need to keep your pups on a tighter leash. My fingers are especially twitchy tonight and I wouldn’t want any … mistakes to happen.”
As far as I knew, Selene couldn’t fight off multiple wolf attacks, even as a self-proclaimed Goddess. Sure, she could kill me, and maybe a few more, but she couldn’t kill them all before they managed to tear her apart. Werewolves were resistant to magic as a rule, but not immune. Someone as powerful as Selene could inflict major damage before the strongest ones ripped her to pieces.
I wasn’t sure if my father would be affected by her magic, but I wasn’t willing to chance it. She wanted me, she could have me.
I made a move to step forward.
Rourke yanked me back to his side immediately. “Don’t move, Jessica,” he ordered in a harsh whisper. “Selene is unbelievably dangerous. She’ll kill you if she gets the chance. Even if it means her own life is forfeit—she’ll do it just to spite me. I’m not going to allow that to happen.”
I locked eyes with him. This was not a good time for an in-depth discussion on the ins and outs of “allowing” me to do anything. “Rourke,” I whispered, “I’m not going to stand back and let her kill my family without a fight. You can’t stop me from doing that even if you tried, so don’t take it too hard. If the vamps want me, they can have me, but I’m not going to let my family—or my Pack—go down because of me.”
Right then my brain shattered into a million pieces.
The pressure of the fracture was so strong I reached out blindly and grabbed on to Rourke’s arm to steady myself. He kept me upright automatically and without question.
Jessica! My father raged. Jessica! Drop your barriers right now!
My barriers? What barriers?
Dad … I’m here! I’m here! I clutched my head with my hand. A sledgehammer would’ve been gentler. The ache was incredible. Rourke held me firmly around the waist as he growled his alarm. I think you just shattered any barriers I had left. I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were up. I have no idea what I’m doing or how I’m keeping them up in the first place.
Jessica, listen to me right now. You have to get out of here. Don’t worry about Selene. Take Rourke with you and run. I can’t let them take you. I won’t allow it. If you leave now, we can corner the vampire and deal with the Sorceress. Do you understand me?
Dad, I can’t—
Run, GODDAMN it!
My blood seized at the command and I latched on to the front of Rourke’s shirt. He understood at once, pushing me ahead of him as fast as he could, his back blocking the sounds of my Pack as they jumped as one on the vampire and the Sorceress.