Page 165 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Not a chance,” she said, and I could see tears in her eyes, lit by the moonlight filtering through the canopy of trees above. “If he released all of them, you’ll never survive. Even the great Jace Stone can’t hold back that many ferals on his own. And I’ll be damned if I let those ferals get those people. So shut the fuck up, and let’s do this.”

“Fine,” I grunted as I shifted.

Even as my body transformed, the first feral wolf exploded from the underbrush. Steph had been right. These wolves were bigger, maybe teenagers? These weren’t the pup-sized beasts that had attacked our land. Behind the first wolf, more wolves came sprinting, each varying in size from pups up to what appeared to be almost adult. They all had the same mad gleam in their eyes.

The first one leapt at me, but Steph slammed into its side, snapping her jaws at him. Three more wolves descended upon me, two latching their teeth onto my flank while the third lunged for my throat. Using my massive bulk, I threw off the smaller two at my back and bit down on the muzzle of the one in front of me, twisting my head and tearing gouges of flesh from its face. It tumbled aside, yelping in pain.

I had a second to see Steph rolling on the ground with two smaller wolves before another of the beasts slammed into my shoulder. The blow sent me crashing to the ground. In a flash, ivory-white teeth, dripping saliva, appeared above me and bit down hard toward my neck. I managed to twist away at the last second, and the fangs clamped onto the meat of my chest. Better than my windpipe.

I howled in rage and kicked out hard with my hind legs, shoving them into the wolf’s belly. My strength sent the creature nearly fifteen feet into the air. It twisted and kicked comically, trying to land on its feet like a cat, but instead, it ended up spinning upside down. I watched in horror as it crashed headfirst onto a small stone outcropping. Its skull split on the rock, and it slowly slid to the side, the life leaving its eyes.

A wave of horror washed over me. This wolf had only been a kid, maybe sixteen or seventeen. I pushed that thought aside as quickly as it came. We were fighting for our lives and the lives of the other children trying to escape. Eren would pay for this.

Steph had bitten and clawed the two wolves she was fighting until they lay in bloody heaps. They were still alive, but the fight had gone out of them. She had taken severe damage in the fight, though, and lay on her side, back legs kicking out, whining in pain.

I turned to glare at the remaining wolves. They bared their teeth and snarled. I let out an earth-rattling howl and took a heavy step toward them, releasing every ounce of my alpha aura.

Even through their madness, they sensed that they were outmatched, and they tucked their tails and ran. Once they vanished, I shifted back and rushed to Stephanie’s side. When she saw me, she shifted as well. Blood pulsed thickly from her neck.

“Pressure,” I hissed, grabbing her hand and pressing it to her neck. “Hold pressure.”

“Jace.” She gave a feeble shake of her head. “I’m done.” Blood oozed from her lips as she spoke. “Leave me. It’s over.”

“The fuck it is,” I growled and picked her up—one arm under her legs, the other behind her back—and sprinted toward the meet-up spot.

I ran, moving nearly as fast as my wolf could run, dodging tree branches and leaping small streams, not looking at Stephanie for fear that it really was too late. Her betrayal had been gut-wrenching—I’d hated her. Yet, I was not a monster like Eren. She’d risked her life to save innocent children, and now she was dying because she’d them—helped me—to survive. Her penance had been paid, and I’d be damned if I let her die on my watch.

I could smell the others. We were close, fucking close, but Steph wasn’t doing well. She’d begun to make strange rasping sounds as she breathed, and my right bicep was slick with her blood. Her hand had dropped from the wound, no longer putting pressure on it. If she bled out too fast, there wouldn’t be time for her healing powers to kick in.

When I burst out of the trees into the open area near the trailer, a shout of excitement rang out from the group. I could see Waylan and the others hustling people into the vans. Kirsten saw me and rushed forward.

“Help me!” I screamed, heedless of the noise we were making. I could sense Stephanie slipping away in my arms. “I need help.”

I collapsed to my knees in front of Kirsten as the others ran over. “Shit,” Kirsten murmured.

Reese appeared at her side and paled before hitting the ground beside me. “Lay her down, Jace, hurry.”

I did as he asked, and Kirsten knelt beside him. I stood back, staring down at Stephanie in worry, her blood tacky on my arms and hand. “Is she gonna make it?”

Reese probed her side, his hand pressed to her neck. “Ribs on this side are broken, lung’s punctured. Fuck, I don’t have any tools to work with. She’s lost a ton of blood, too.”

“Brother, we gotta go,” Langston urged me, staring back at the woods. “We don’t have time for this.”

“We’ve got time for her,” I snapped, pointing at Stephanie. “Without her, I’d be dead. Those fucking kids would be dead. We have time.”

Langston looked pained, like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut in deference to his alpha.

“Stephanie,” Kirsten’s calm and cool voice broke through the chaos as she leaned over the other woman. “Stephanie, can you hear me?”

Stephanie’s eyes fluttered open, and she tried to speak, but all that came out was a bubble and trickle of blood. Her chest rose rapidly and erratically. I bit down so hard on the inside of my cheek that the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth as I watched.

“She’s going,” Reese said, panic lacing his words as he kept pressure on her wound. “Pulse is erratic as shit.” He looked at Kirsten. “You’ve gotta do something. I can’t help. She’s got seconds, at best.”

Kirsten shoved his hand away and pressed her palms to Stephanie’s neck and her side. “Steph, I don’t know if you can hear me, but you need to focus. Stay with us, okay?” She bowed her head and started murmuring under her breath.

Movement in the crowd caught my eye. Tinsley, stepping forward to come help. Before she reached them, though, a pulse of magic flashed out of Kirsten so strong that it pushed us all to our knees. Once the initial shock of it faded, a familiar scent hit my nostrils.

Turning my head, I saw Eren and two of his betas strolling out of the forest behind us. I clambered to my feet, snarling at the sight of the asshole who had caused all of this.

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