Oh no. Oh no, oh no.
With a hiss, Trina launched herself up a tree. Not fast enough, though. Teeth latched onto her tail, and she was yanked back to the ground with such force the air was knocked out of her. Gasping in shock, she boxed him across the face with her claws extended, and he staggered to the side.
The wolf swayed and tried to steady itself, but his front leg gave, and he stumbled.
She knew predators. Give him her back, and his adrenaline would dump into his system for round two. He wouldn’t be able to help himself. Even hurt, he would have to chase her. So she backed up, belly on the moss until her throbbing tail touched the tree she’d tried to escape up. And then she prepared for a brawl. There was nothing to do but stand her ground.
The growl rattling her throat felt like it went on for hours, but maybe it was only minutes, or seconds even. His chest was heaving, and he swayed again and went down hard. He didn’t whine, didn’t wince in pain, just laid there. Kade without any fight in him meant something terrible. He’d run out of energy too fast. Lost too much blood.
This was her chance to get up the tree and out of range of those teeth. Her tail hurt so bad, and she knew what he was capable of if he got a second wind.
She looked up at the towering spruce and considered it.
But Kade’s breathing was too shallow, and she couldn’t leave him if she tried.
Just like when she braved the woods, she put one paw in front of the other, knowing how bad this could hurt.
Chapter Fourteen
This was it.
This was the end of his life.
Kade had always known it would come too early. He’d know it since he was a pup.
Kade had never in a million years thought he would go at the teeth of a she-lion, though. The big cat stalked closer and closer, her head lowered. That animal was a brick house. She’d knocked him off his hunt with one slap of her paw.
Normal wolves would feel fear at the end, but he’d never been a normal wolf. Fear wasn’t an emotion he possessed. Resilience, fight, and don’t-quit grit was all he knew.
And as the cougar approached, he huffed a wolfish laugh in the face of his own death.
She paused just out of teeth range. Come on, kitty. Don’t get scared on me now. Finish it.
But she didn’t. She did something he would never understand.
She touched him. Gently. There was no pain as she pressed her nose against his neck. He waited and waited for a bite on his jugular that didn’t come. What was she waiting for, this beautiful angel of death? But when she opened her mouth, it wasn’t those long, dagger teeth that touched his neck. It was her tongue. He winced as she licked down to his shoulder.
She was…she was…cleaning him.
The devil in him thought for a second that this was his chance, gather enough strength and bite her. But there was that voice again. Weak and soft, but the wolf could hear it just fine in the quiet of the woods. Don’t fight her. She’s special.
The snarl died in his throat as muscle by muscle, he relaxed under the soothing touch of the lion. She was…special. Yes. It took someone special to touch him. He’d never been touched kindly in all his existence. This body had been built to kill. The only touch he’d known had caused pain, but not here. Not now. Not in the shadows of the towering pines.
He tried to lift his head, but his whole body was cold like ice and didn’t work right.
At least he wasn’t alone at the end. She was giving him a gift that was bigger than he deserved.
The mountain lion curled her body around his. She was so warm. So soft. Such a contrast against his cold body and course fur. Beauty and the beast. The first caring touch, and it came in the last minutes of his life. Fuckin’ typical.
It was getting hard to keep his eyes open.
There was a popping sound, and then his body was jostled and pulled off the ground. With a sigh of agony, he lifted his head just enough to look into the face of the girl. No longer a lion, she was the one with the bright green eyes who had cried over the body of that dead wolf. And now she was crying over Kade. Her tears joined the raindrops in his fur. Her blond hair was plastered to her cheeks from the rain. Brave girl, holding him so close to her naked body like this. Strong girl for being able to lift him at all.
She picked her way down the slick rocks, and he wished he could stay longer. He wished he could be with her until she got out of these woods. He wished he could see her safe home, but being a protector had never been his fate.
Fuck. He wished he had more time. The girl was interesting. The animal in her had cleaned him. Warmed him. He wished he could have more of that.
Because the girl wasn’t an angel of death after all.
She wasn’t an angel at all, because angels didn’t cry over monsters like him.
“Don’t leave,” she pleaded in a ragged whisper as she buried her face against his fur and gripped him even tighter to her chest. “Please, Kade. I’ll never be okay if you leave.”
Love—that’s what her words meant, right? The weak human part of him had gotten her to love him.
Lucky sonofabitch.
He kept his eyes open as long as he could just to see her face as she carried him through the woods. Tears and determination. Eyes glowing the color of the moss. So beautiful.
Please let me live, he begged whatever powers were listening. Let me live and I’ll be different. I’ll be a protector. I’ll be her protector.
To the sound of her sobbing, right before the world went dark, Kade looked up at the sky and saw the crows.
Chapter Fifteen
Trina was numb by the time she made it back to the edge of the clearing. She should’ve been shocked by all the motorcycles and cars skidding to a stop in the front yard, but she was exhausted, heartbroken, and the majority of her focus was on the beating of her mate’s heart.
That sound was more important than anything in the world.
She stumbled in the mud on fatigued legs. Kade was massive. She had her shifter strength, but he was dead weight. Dead. Weight. She couldn’t tell if her cheeks were damp from tears or rain.
There were people running for her. Rike? Ethan? Hairpin Trigger? Kurt, Leah, Bailey… Red Dead Mayhem was pulling up on Harleys. Ramsey. The Warmaker…
She nearly went down again. Her feet were all cut up from the rocks. They should hurt, but all she felt was a dull throbbing with each step.
She could only imagine what these people saw. They looked so worried as they ran for her.
Mascara running down her cheeks, hair stuck to the sides of her face, pale as a sheet. Who cared? Not her. She was losing Kade.
Losing him.
Nothing was fair, and nothing would be okay.
Bum-bum bum-bum.
A sob escaped her as Ethan reached her first.
“Let me help,” he murmured, taking Kade’s body from her.
“No,” she said. “No, no, I don’t want anyone to touch him.” She didn’t know what she was saying. “He’s—he’s—he’s—”
“He’s yours, Trina. I’m gonna go fix him, okay? You did good, but we have to fix him now.”
Trina nodded as everyone left her but Leah. The girl came and stood next to her in the rain and squeezed her hand. “Trina?” she whispered.
Hairpin Trigger was running beside Ethan, holding a rag on Kade’s neck and Ethan was barking out orders she didn’t understand. Everyone was yelling. The words didn’t make sense except for two.
“Breathe, Kade!” Ethan yelled out, desperation tainting his voice.
And those two, pleading words, begging his step-brother to live, broke something inside of her. Trina’s face crumpled.
When her shoulders sagged, Leah asked again, “Trina?”
“Yeah?” she croaked out.
“Leah hugged her from the side and rested her face on her shoulder. “You did so good. You brought him back. He’s the strongest wolf in the whole world, raised by Ethan and Rike’s mom, so he’s practically a Blackwood Wolf. He’s going to be okay.”
“Leah?”
Leah laid a little kiss on her shoulder and snuggled her cheek against her skin. “Yes, best friend?”