The guns were stacked on the opposite side of the door—too far. Rushing Miller, she tackled him and beat on him with her closed fists, so hard, her hands felt like they were breaking. With a scream, she clawed his face so hard her nails ached and loosened. Miller’s face was terrifying as he rounded on her, but she was ready. Ducking out of his way, she pulled on Ian’s leg, dragging him back into the heart of the house as best she could.
Miller shoved her off Ian and pulled him toward the door.
“Ian, wake up!” Elyse screamed, pulling on his leg.
“Let go!” Miller yelled.
“Ian!” She pulled the hatchet and swung forward, catching Miller across the cheek before he could pull away.
“Fuck,” he raged, holding his face. He jumped over Ian’s body and caught her by the throat and the wrist. “You stupid cunt. Can’t you see I’m trying to save you for last? I want you to savor this with us. Why are you so determined to mark me?” The rage slipped from his face as his lips twisted up in a cruel smile. “You would’ve made a beautiful breeder. You could’ve given us McCall pups for the next generation, but you chose him instead.”
She fought like a wild, injured animal, snapping, kicking, and writhing against his grip. She reared back and spat on his face. “I’d never breed with anyone so broken.”
“Broken?” Miller let of a low, empty chuckle. “Am I broken, Elyse? Was my brother broken?”
“Yes!”
“Wrong!” He slammed her back against the wall. “Cole was coming into his own. A true man-eater, just like the old days. Back in the times where shifters didn’t cower in the shadows. We took what we fucking wanted and we bathed in the blood of humans because they were prey. They were lesser.” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her with the violence of a tornado, then pulled back before she recovered enough to bite him. “You’re lesser, Elyse.” He pulled the hatchet from her hand and leaned in close, pinning her with his weight. “A mark for a mark.”
“Ian!” she screamed, struggling against Miller. “Wake up!”
Miller gripped her neck and slammed her head backward, and before her vision cleared, it was done. Just one swipe of the sharpened blade down her cheekbone, so deep it didn’t even hurt yet.
With a smile, he whispered, “Beautiful.” Then released her neck and let her fall to the floor, gasping.
Warmth trickled down her face as she watched Miller drag Ian’s body out the front door by the leg. She blinked hard as time slowed. She’d thought it would be hard to kill a man. Had thought about it countless times over the last week, but this, right here, changed everything.
A strange calmness washed through her as she stood and strode for the row of rifles. She shouldered the straps of five and grabbed the satchel of ammunition. The last gun she aimed as she walked out of the house and into the cold evening. “Let him go.” She didn’t recognize her voice. It was low and steady.
When she chambered a bullet and clicked the safety off, Miller froze. In the tree line, animal eyes glowed, and in the background, Miki’s desperate barking sounded over and over.
“This is my house, my property, and you’re filthy fucking hand is on my mate. Let him go, or I’ll put a hole in you.”
“You shoot me, and all those wolves in your woods will attack.”
She shrugged one shoulder and moved closer to Ian, her gait smooth as she held the barrel of her rifle in the general vicinity of Miller’s chest.
Miller gave a disbelieving laugh and dropped Ian’s leg in the snow with a thud. “Cole told me all about you, Elyse. He said you were weak. Easily manipulated and soft-hearted. All the things that get you killed out here.”
His eyes narrowed to white slits, and a snarl ripped from his chest as his head snapped back and fur sprouted from his body.
Elyse planted her feet and held a quick breath as Miller stood crouched before her, an oversize black wolf with murder in his eyes. Teeth bared, he lunged for her, and she pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot was deafening.
As the wolves in the tree line charged the clearing, she lifted the rifle from Miller’s limp body at her feet and took aim at the next.
Determined to protect the man she loved, she murmured, “Cole was wrong.”
****
Ian, wake up. You have to wake up.
Ian shook his head and tried to open his eyes. That voice. He knew it. Needed it. That voice was everything that anchored him to this world.
“Ian!”
With a massive effort, he opened his eyes, but he didn’t understand the scene before him.
Shot after echoing shot filled the air. Snow falling down, and her, standing above him like an avenging angel. Her eyes were blazing gold next to all that dripping red on her face. Warrior. Elyse. The name brushed his mind. His Elyse. She was hurt.
She aimed the shotgun. Boom. Her rifle swung over his body to something else.
Growling, snarling, snow crunching, the stink of wolf so close he could almost feel their teeth on his back. The fine hairs on his body rose.