Page 16 of Alice Worth and the Elite Death Machine

I rounded the side of the hill and stopped in my tracks.

In his magnificent Lycaon form, Conor stood in front of the house, holding Noah’s hand. Nothing else in the yard remained alive.

Bodies and pieces of bodies littered the ground in all directions. More than a dozen demon soldiers like the two we’d killed out back lay shredded. How many had died by the wolves’ claws and teeth and how many Conor had dispatched himself, I wasn’t sure. The air stank so badly from their eviscerated corpses that I thought the cloud of stench might be visible to passing aircraft.

I started breathing again when I saw no bodies of wolves or humans among the dead.

“You’re a bastard,” I said, rubbing my forehead with the back of my hand as if the rune he’d given me would wipe off. Instead, I probably just managed to add to the dirt and blood already on my face.

“I amfaoladh,” he said simply, and raised his hand as it held Noah’s much smaller one. “Like you, and like this young one, I protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

“By throwing others to the wolves?” I snapped. “Literally?”

“We are who we are.”

“We are who wechooseto be.” I put my hands on my knees and took a couple of shaky breaths. Damn it, I hurt everywhere. “Other people are more valuable as allies than cannon fodder, Conor. I would think you’d have learned that by now.”

No answer.

I raised my head. The yard was empty. Conor and Noah were gone.

“You keep that kid safe,” I called, knowing he remained within earshot. I straightened with difficulty and added, “Or it’s me you’ll answer to.”

Still no response, but I took the silence as an acknowledgement. Big furry-headed jerk.

To my surprise and relief, Malcolm emerged through the front door of the house. He’d shed his masking and obfuscation spells so the wolves could sense him, and I could see him clearly.

“Sean asked me to guard the Blue Valley wolves and went to help you once thefaoladhshowed up,” he said in answer to my unspoken question. “If Conor had tried to come in there, he would have had to get past me to get to them. Mariah and the baby weren’t harmed.” He looked me over, and then eyed Ben. “Looks like the EDM put up a hell of a fight.”

“That he did.” I lowered my voice. “I think a couple of the Blue Valley wolves are dead.”

“I know.” He floated back and forth, his expression grim. “At least three that I know of.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of voices. Sean, Lucas, and Jesse appeared from the woods. All were naked. Their injuries had healed when they shifted back to human. Seancarried theúlfheðnar’s gory, dripping head by its ears. Even in death, the wolf-man’s expression was one of fury and hate.

Lucas, for his part, carried the gray wolf cradled in his arms. “Unconscious, but not dead,” he said at my expression. “I’m bringing him inside to his mate so he can heal at her side. She won’t react well to his condition. And I’ll have to break the news about the pack members we lost to the others. Best you all stay out here.”

“We understand.” Sean put his free hand on Lucas’s shoulder. “Call me when you have time to talk.”

“I will.” As he passed me, Lucas paused. He had his hard alpha mask on, but I sensed his pain. “Noah’s safe and gone?” he asked.

“Yes.” My heart ached. “Safe and gone.”

Without replying, he walked to the front door. Someone opened it and he disappeared inside. The door shut and locked behind him.

Meanwhile, Sean had found broken pieces of wooden fence in a stack near the house. He stuck one in the ground and impaled theúlfheðnar’s head on its jagged top, balancing it carefully and pushing it down farther so it stayed put. “Just in case anything else comes sniffing around,” he said.

Malcolm nodded sagely. “Nothing saystake a hikelike a head on a fence post.”

His gruesome chore done, Sean came over to look at my wounds, and then wrapped his arms around me from behind. I sagged against him gratefully, even though it made the cuts on my back hurt worse. He nuzzled my neck.

“It took seven of us to kill him.” My voice was rough. “Ten, if you count the three Blue Valley wolves he killed. Do we know who they lost?”

“Yes.” He kissed the nape of my neck. “We’ll discuss it in the truck.”

“All this carnage because theúlfheðnarthought the weak should die,” I said bitterly. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“We can’t make sense of senseless things,” Sean said. “I wish we could, but we can’t. The best we can do is try to put things right, if it’s in our power to do so, and honor those who lost their lives trying to do the same.”

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