The Talons were winning, but things weren’t over.
They kept moving toward where Montag was as the man stood by his precious tank as if nothing would ever be able to touch him.
Bram would see the man dead.
Tonight.
He’d hurt both of his mates, and deserved all the pain that came to him.
“Now!” Montag yelled at that exact moment, and Bram hit the ground—as did each wolf around him.
The tank fired, and Bram’s heart sank. They couldn’t outrun this. There was no way they’d be able to, not with the firepower Montag had at his disposal.
Only the shot went over their heads…right into the wards that kept the den safe. Bram looked over his shoulder as the wards became fully visible, a kind of film coating them like a bubble trapped on the ground. Only the cracks that had formed earlier were now even larger.
Entire pieces of the wards fell away, and Bram knew this could be the end.
Only the wards didn’t fall.
He narrowed his eyes right at the edge of them, shock slamming into him.
The elders of the Pack, as well as the witches who had to be exhausted, were holding up their arms, chanting and using every once of themselves as they reinforced what was left of the wards.
Ryder was physically carrying Leah as she chanted, her face deathly pale, but Brie was also there, holding up those who couldn’t stand themselves.
They were Pack. They were family.
And they wouldn’t fucking let Montag win.
Bram screamed, his wolf at the fore. This was why he was wolf, why he was stronger than anyone he knew other than the Alphas and Heirs.
It was for this moment.
He ran past the humans in front of him, pushing them away with his claws as he moved toward Montag. He could feel Shane and Charlotte on his heels, their mating bond pulsating like he hadn’t thought possible.
They might not have the trinity bond, but their bond was different, and he knew exactly what to do with it.
Shane took out two soldiers on his right, Charlotte another two on his left. And Bram went straight for Montag’s throat. Another bullet hit his side, but he barely felt it.
Montag screamed, trying to fight Bram off, but Bram was stronger.
Far stronger.
Bram wrapped his hand around Montag’s neck, letting his claws out fully so they dug into the other man’s skin.
And squeezed
When the other man fell, Bram didn’t let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t scream in joy and purpose that the man who had all but taken everything he could from the wolves was dead.
Bram turned his back on the body of the former General who had taken it one step too far and growled. “Give me your hands.” He held out his own, and Charlotte and Bram put their palms in his without asking why.
“Now pull on your bond,” Bram ordered. “That bit of energy that you feel? It’s for us. For right now. Push it out and take out that fucking tank.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“We can do that?” Shane asked.
He didn’t know why he knew it, but he did, and he wasn’t going to ignore the instinct thrumming through his veins.
“We can. And we will.” His mates let out a collective breath, and the two of them turned toward the tank with him. He did as he’d told them, pulling on the energy that had allowed him to find Charlotte, the one that had brought him into the Talons when he had been afraid it wouldn’t work.
Light shot from the sky as fire erupted from the earth. He had never heard of this before but knew this was a gift from the moon goddess herself.
A gift.
One he could never repay.
The fire engulfed the tank, and the lightning broke it into pieces. The machine that had almost taken out their entire den, their elders, their submissives, their children, their future, was gone.
There might be more, but for now, this was what they had been able to do.
Cheers erupted from the battlefield as the wolves shouted out their victories, the human soldiers either dead or surrendering. Montag’s evil would be no more, the idea of a serum and what Shane could do for him hopefully dead along with him.
This wouldn’t be the end. It couldn’t be. They’d just had a major battle in the middle of a forest where people had to be watching. The government would come with questions, but Bram knew they would have their own answers. His people had defended themselves, and that would have to be enough.
Shane grabbed his shoulders and shook Bram from his thoughts. “You did it. You fucking did it.” He kissed him hard, and Bram growled.
“We did it,” he corrected before pulling Charlotte into a kiss. “We all did it.”
“I love you,” she whispered to both of them. “I…I am so fucking glad I get to say that again after what just happened.” Dirt and blood covered her face, and Bram used his thumb and her tears to try to clean some of it away.
“I’ve never been happier to hear it,” he said honestly. “Now, let’s go see our people.”