Page 24 of A Cursed Noel

He plans to make anexample out of her.Yeah, go ahead and try.

“Who the fuck areyou?”Odin growls.

I’ll give him this.He realizes I’m the bigger threat. “Aric Connor,” I answer, mytone clipped.

As an alpha meetinganother, etiquette demands I introduce myself as the son of Aidan andEliza Connor and give him my rank. I don’t bother with formalities.They’re looking to fight, not talk.

The smaller bear edgesforward, Celia warns him with a hiss. “You’re a liar,” he tellsme. “Ain’t no way you’re him.”

I frown, not because ofwhat he says, but of what I catch in his aroma.

Odin sucks his teeth.“Aric Connor? You’re that young alpha bigshot running half thepacks across Colorado? Bitch, you better pretend to be someone else,”he warns.

Celia glances at me.Running the packs of Colorado? That’s news to her and me.

I’m never caught offguard. I am at this news.

The barrel of a gunpresses into the base of my skull and the sour scent of cursed goldbullets pierce my nose.

I raise my hands.“We’re doing it this way?” I spit through my teeth.

Odin prowls toward me,whispering low into my ear. “We’re doing it anyway I want to.”

The move I make is toofast for Odin to track. Having rehearsed it a thousand times sincechildhood, it’s more like breathing than anything I purposefullydo.

I bend my knees,pivoting down and round the wolf with the gun. His neck snaps as myarm locks around it and I ram my knee into his lower back.

He’s not dead. Ittakes more than a broken neck to kill us. But he knows he’s introuble.

In his panic, he startsfiring. I let him, guiding his wrist and using him as a shield whenweresleap from rooftops and scramble out from alleys.Nineteen total, including the six I force my prey to shoot.

I fling thewere’sflaccid form into the mountain lions gunning for me. I use themomentum to add more force to the spinning kick I nail a wolf with.Between the shots fired and how fast I take out the next twowereswho jump me, the others fall back, circling me with caution.

A young wolf clutcheshis side, crying from poison the cursed gold bullet is pumping intohis system. It burns. We’re taught how to push through the pain inschool, but theseweresweren’t taught anything, from what Isee.

I scan my surroundings,keeping them in my sights as I search for Celia.

Celia?

“Get away from him orhe dies,” she snaps.

If it weren’t for thedanger we’re in, I’d laugh or at least smirk when I catch sightof her. But given the numbers on their side, all I want to do is mowthrough the lot of them and reach her.

Celia’s back ispressed against the brick exterior of a bakery. She has Odin in achoke hold and her legs wrapped around his waist. He writhes beneathher. He’s stronger and it won’t be long before he breaks free.Still, she made her point: the only reason he’s still alive isbecause she’s allowed it.

She protrudes her nailsslowly, allowing them to slice into Odin’s scalp and draw blood. “Isaid, ‘Let him go,’” she hisses.

Gasps and growls eruptin my perimeter. This pack can’t manage something as minor as apoker face.

It takes all my willnot to yank him from Celia and kill him myself—not just forthreatening us, but for running such a pathetic pack.

My steps aredeliberate, my resolve crumbling when I catch the bruise acrossCelia’s face and the way she favors her left side. She didn’ttake down the alpha unscathed. As someone who heals only slightlyfaster than a human, he could have killed her if he caught her justright.

I swallow hard. Revengehas become my bedmate and my wolf demands we demonstrate how well wewield it. But I’m not here to avenge my father or take out myassigned target. I’m here to stop the evil infecting Celia’shome. That won’t happen if I give every lastwerein theregion cause to come after us.

“Let him go,sweetness,” I say.

My term of endearmentsends another wave of discord across the pack.

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