Page 15 of Not a Tribute

“Motherfucker!” I roar.

I charge at him but I don’t get the chance to do anything as I am knocked to the ground.

Chapter Eight

Seline

The moment the gunshot rings through the woods I know this entire situation is going to end badly. I can’t see past Liam’s bulk, but I can hear Ares crying and that is enough for my dragon to take over.

Unimaginable pain rips through my entire being as my bones elongate and break before snapping into their new position. My dragon pushes Liam out of the way, knocking him to the ground before spreading her wings and flying right at my father. I can feel the rage roaring through her veins at the sight of the dead woman at his feet.

Hate, pure and unfiltered, pumps through my veins. I watch him. In his shock his dragon does not have the chance to transform, to help him fend me off. I am going to rip him limb from fucking limb for doing this, for everything he has done before. Liam’s plan has failed but I will make sure my father is punished.

“You’re a … you’re a dragon,” my father stammers.

I don’t care what he has to say. I watch as my dragon wraps a taloned paw around his right arm before ripping it off. Blood sprays everywhere before his pained scream rends the air. It’s like a dream, like I am watching things play out in front of me, but I feel the same satisfaction my dragon does when he howls in pain.

“Seline, stop!” Liam pushes his way between me and my father. “You can’t kill him.”

My dragon drops her head back roaring to the heavens before looking back at our mate. I finally feel it. The bond, the draw, the love. His soul calls out to mine like we have known each other for lifetimes instead of days.

Carefully, Liam pushes against my dragon’s chest, forcingme to step back from my father’s fallen, bleeding form. A step my dragon allows.

“I need you to come back to me,” he implores. “Ares needs you to come back.”

Those are the words that snap me out of my rage-fueled stupor. Ares. Breathing deeply, I pray this works as I force my dragon to let me through. The magic of the transition shimmers over me and within seconds I am standing, naked, in front of Liam.

“There she is,” he says softly.

Tears stream down my face as a sob breaks free. I fall to my knees, taking Ares from his dead mother’s arms and cradling him to my bare bosom. For long moments I rock him until his cries fade to soft hiccups.

Standing from the dirt path I turn and face Liam to find him tying my father to a large tree, his cell phone cradled to his face. I can smell my father’s burning flesh and I know Liam has burned what remains of his arm to stop him from bleeding out.

“Mikael, there has been an incident,” he says before listening to the voice on the other end of the call. “We are at my father’s lake house. You need to bring the entire Alpha Council.”

Again, he falls silent as he listens. “They’ll want to be here. Gregor James just killed an innocent woman in cold blood. He’s still alive but I can’t guarantee for how long.”

He listens before ending the call and turning to me. His gaze travels the length of my naked body before landing on my face. “You need to get cleaned up. The Alpha Council is flying up in the Council helicopter. They’ll be here within the hour.”

Numbly, I nod before walking toward the cabin. I know things are probably going to get a hell of a lot worse before they get any better. So many things keep going wrong and I don’t know if we will ever find peace. My heart breaks at the thought of Angela being gone and the fact that Ares will never know her.She didn’t deserve any of this. Somehow, I will make this right, I will not let her death be in vain.

I do my best to ignore my father’s screaming as I make my way back to the house. I don’t want my dragon emerging and killing him before the Alpha Council arrives.

Inside the house, I place Ares’s spent form into the camping cot Liam set up in our room yesterday before heading to the bathroom. I stare at myself in the mirror looking for any physical changes, but I can’t find a single thing. I may still look the same, but I feel like a new person. My dragon shimmers beneath my skin and I feel her need to be close to Liam pulse through me, so I quickly jump through the shower before getting dressed.

I choose to once again wear shorts and a strappy top. Heaven knows what the Alpha Council will bring down on our heads once they get here, but I want to be ready to fight if I need to.

I stare down at Ares’s sleeping form and grab the baby monitor instead of waking him. In my heart I am grateful that he is too small to ever remember what happened here today, but I am also sad that he will never get to know his mother. I will keep her memory alive for him. I may not have known her well, but I do know she loved him enough to give him up and that is all that matters.

Taking a deep breath, I exit the cabin and make my way down the gravel trail to where I left Liam with my father. Just seeing him has rage rampaging through me once more but I fight to keep calm, not allowing my dragon the revenge she so desperately craves.

Liam has covered Angela’s body with a blanket and I feel tears build in my throat just seeing it. She didn’t deserve this, she had no part in any of this madness, and now she has lost her life for no other reason than my father wanted to scare me intodoing his bidding. Bile rises in my throat at the thought of my father, and I must fight back tears.

How can he possibly be this cruel? This vindictive? This fucking greedy? It makes my head hurt just to think about it.

I stand staring at the water trying to calm my thoughts when I hear the faint sound of chopper blades drawing near. Has it been an hour? Can the Alpha Council already be here? Liam’s arms wrap around my middle tightly.

“They’re here. Get ready.”

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