Page 71 of Moonlighting with the Werewolf

Only for the light to disappear and leave me tumbling into the nearest tree, so hard that I split a crack through the trunk with my skull.

My stupid, thick hardheaded skull.

I dropped my hands to my side, my shoulders sagging so low my knuckles about touched the floor. “I should’ve never put her in their sights in the first place. We weren’t at war yet, but...” I exhaled past the misery coating my throat, so thick it left a bitter taste in my mouth. “I’d been shot in the back with silver bullets. What the fuck did I think was going to happen?”

That I’d sweep her off her feet and we’d live happily ever after?

How stupid, allowing myself to think that was a possibility. I’d assumed our biggest opposition would be the council, and frankly, I’d almostwantedthem to try and tell me what I could and couldn’t do. That way, I’d be justified in punishing them for all the times they’d stood idly by, specifically when it came to the death of my family. I’d show them and every other pack, werewolf, and possible enemy that no one was capable of beating me.

I was the alpha and omega, and I’d fight to maintain that position to my dying breath.

“It’s a lot of blood,” Nissa said softly, extending a hand so Tyrese could help her to her feet.

A few seconds sooner and it’d be the witch’s blood splattered across the room and puddled on the floor. If I could go back, and skip tracing Kerrigan’s scent to the house. If I’d never left her side in the first place. If, if, if...

“But I doubt they would’ve bothered carrying her through the portal if they didn’t plan on keeping her alive,” Nissa continued. “They wanted you to see she’d bled before her abduction, hoping to incite your anger and use it against you. Likely so they can control when and where the battle takes place.”

“Well, it fucking worked, and on their day of reckoning, I’ll be sure to use my wrath to dole out vengeance with a heavy hand.” For every injury, every hurt they inflicted on Kerrigan...

The vise that’d clamped onto my heart the instant I’d seen her go through that portal compressed the organ that much tighter.Just stay alive, sweetheart—I refused to consider any other possibility, or I’d become completely untethered and cause more damage to myself and those around me.

But make no mistake, I was going to hunt down the coven responsible and slaughter each and every one of them. Slowly and painfully, until they knew what it was like to long for death.

Restraint had never been one of my strong suits.

After charging into the woods, I lifted a boulder and hurled it as hard as I could. It ping- ponged off tree branches and trunks, burrowing a wide trail until landing a football field away. Birds flew from branches, other critters ran and hid, and my insides tore at me, going in too many directions at once.

I scrubbed a hand over my face and withdrew the phone I’d taken off the dead P.I.

I have a feeling you’ll want to give me a call here pretty quick...I’d wanted to frisbee the damn thing into the cement wall of the basement, and now it was my only lifeline to Kerrigan. With my constraint as shaky as my hands, I needed a moment to think. If I delayed the call in order to allow my pack more time to track down the coven’s headquarters, the witches might take it out on my mate. If I discovered their location and marched my people against them, they might kill Kerrigan before I reached her. If I lost my temper during the call and pissed off her captors, I ran those same risks.

Somewhere along the way, Kerrigan had become intrinsic to my survival, and just the thought of losing her...

I howled, a mournful noise that caused every wolf and werewolf in the nearby vicinity to add cries of solidarity. Tyrese, Nissa, and Sasquatch appeared in front of me.

“Just tell us what to do, and we’ll make it happen,” Nissa said, and Tyrese and Sasquatch nodded.

“Head to the compound and ready everyone for war. Arm and prepare anyone who’s over the age of eighteen and physically able to fight.”

More nods. Nissa whispered something to Tyrese, and then he and Sasquatch took off into the trees. I opened my mouth to tell Nissa to go with her husband, but the words wouldn’t form. “I should be here for the call,” she said. “That way, you can focus on how to respond, and I can listen to background noises and note anything else that might help.”

Both of us knew it was more about keeping me from unraveling, but I clung to the reason to have her by my side all the same.

I sucked in a breath, steeled my nerves, and dialed the same number I’d called less than an hour ago.

“Conall, hello. How unexpected to hear from you again so soon. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I half expected plumes of smoke to billow from ears. “You know why I’m calling. There’s no reason to drag a human into this. Release Dr. Ryan, and you and I can work this out.”

Naturally, the brazen bitch cackled. I’d never felt so angry and vulnerable and out-of- fucking-control in my life. “Youdragged her into this.”

Of that, I was painfully aware, and the animosity I’d aimed at the witches reflected right back at me. “If your coven hadn’t attacked my pack and hindered our healing abilities, we wouldn’t have had to recruit a doctor.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid, or we might as well end this discussion without further ado,” she snapped. “We both know she’s more than your doctor.”

“Okay, you’ve got me.” If it wouldn’t give them more fuel to set me on fire, I’d abandon my refusal to say the wordpleaseand beg them not to hurt Kerrigan. “Let her go, and I’ll let you set the terms of our upcoming battle. That’s more than generous.”

“Careful, Alpha. You’re making too many presumptions. I don’t want a fight—I never did. It was your kind who turned this into a war.”

---