Page 76 of Feral

But the second my eyes connected with the soldier’s, his face froze. “The fuck you are!” he hissed. “You’reher!That fucking cunt responsible for the last breakout! Get out r—”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Jerome pulled his gun up and shot him point-blank between the eyes. The sound rang through the car and echoed across the compound.

“Fuck!” I screeched. In the distance, more soldiers were running toward the gate. “Drive, before they close the gate!”

“It’s no use,” Jerome hissed. “They’ll be on us before we get anywhere. We need a distraction.” He twisted around in his seat, locking his eyes with Zach. “There is no time to say everything I hoped I’d be able to tell you once your mind returns, Barnes, so I’m going to just say this: What you did for me, for all of us—you saved our fucking souls. You’ve earned your freedom, brother. And your mate’s. Stay with the others—let them help you protect her. And name your first kid Jerry, a’ight?”

And with that, he kicked the driver’s side door open and leapt out of the car, aiming his gun at the closest soldier sprinting toward the gate.

“Jerome!” I called after him, but he didn’t pay me any mind. He shot the soldier and dove for cover from the rain of bullets that followed. Then he ran back toward the building we’d escaped from, drawing the rest of the soldiers with him.

He’d sacrificed himself so we could escape.

I threw myself into the driver’s seat and slammed the car into gear, barreling out of the gate before anyone could think to check if Jerome was alone or not.

In the rearview mirror, I saw the alpha who’d taken me in when I had nothing left to live for fall to the ground, clutching his side. He twitched in the dirt until another round of bullets bit into his body.

Then the road curved, and my view of the compound was obstructed by the trees surrounding it.

EPILOGUE

ZACH

Six Months Later

“Fuck’s sake, why is it so fucking impossible to wipe your feet before you enter the house?”

The sound of Lillian’s sharp voice made Zach look up from the engine he was messing with, the usual pang of love vibrating through his end of their bond at the sight of her pretty face.

The two alphas she was scolding on the porch to their shared home murmured an apology, and she—apparently dissatisfied with their easy capitulation—spun around with a huff and stormed in through the door.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Larry hummed by his side as they both looked at Eric and Jarl creep off the porch, suitably chastised. “Guess your missus is a nester.”

Zach arched an eyebrow at him in question.

“Oh, come on, man. Since when has Lillian given two shits about anyone tracking dirt in? And that pile of blankets she’s been dragging around the house all day? Shescreechedat me when I tried to move it off the sofa this morning. Told me I’d make them stink.” Larry shook his head, re-focusing on the engine. “Don’t worry, I’ll get the guys out of your hair for a few days. We’ll go on a hunting trip or something. Need some more meat for the stores before winter hits, anyway.”

Zach frowned, getting the distinct impression he was missing something important. He stared back at the door Lillian had disappeared through. He remembered the blankets. She’d made him sleep on them, despite his complaints that he was warm enough. In the morning after they’d gotten up, she’d carefully folded them and hissed at him when he tried to help her.

She’d been very short with him all day, but he’d been too preoccupied with needing to fix the damn engine and chop enough wood to get them through the harsh Canadian winter to pause and check if something might be wrong.

A low buzzing at the base of his spine made him push off the open hood with an irritated grunt. He’d promised her he’d protect her, and while yes, that also meant providing her with shelter and heat, he’d been neglectful in not asking if she was okay.

Words still came hard. Complex thoughts and ideas came hard. Making sure his mate was happy and and well-cared for? That was not only within his capabilities—it was his primary concern in life.

She’d accepted him as her mate, nursed him back to health, and never shown him anything but love and respect despite his irreparable damage. She didn’t think less of him because he couldn’t tell her how seeing her skin glow in the morning light spilling in through their bedroom window made his insides feel weightless with happiness, didn’t lose her patience when he didn’t understand her if she used words with too many syllables. He owed her everything—his life, his strength, his protection—and most of all, his attention if she was unwell.

“Enjoy, you lucky bastard,” Larry called after him, getting a chuckle from Jarl. Zach didn’t stop to ask them what they found funny, and he didn’t care, so long as Lillian was all right. They were his friends, his brothers—the men who’d sacrificed everything to save him from hell, and his bond to them was unwavering. But nothing and no one mattered like she did.

He took the stairs to the porch in one stride, pushing open the door to the log cabin with too much force, making it bang against the wall loud enough for the glass to rattle.

“Lillian!”

She appeared from the living room, but instead of the usual joy radiating from her beautiful face at the sight of him, her lip was curled in a snarl. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, barging into my house like that? Get your shoes off before you muddy the floor! I spent all day cleaning!”

“Ours,”he said, instincts rearing at her choice of words. She washis,shebelongedto him, and he would never allow her to have a home that wasn’t also his. He pushed down the rush of anger, kicked off his shoes, and crossed the floor. The second he was within reach, he grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, studying her face for signs of sickness.

Her skin was flushed and warm to the touch, her pupils dilated, and the buzz at the base of his spine was just starting to tip into full-blown panic when she wrested her chin out of his grasp—andbithim!

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