Page 150 of Never Submit

Catarina grabs my hand and squeezes so hard it’s painful. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

There’s a sudden commotion from behind the closed doors to the sanctuary, and I glance in that direction. Several of Catarina’s deltas stand up, their wolves close and their scents marking the air.

The voices outside the doors are louder. A scuffle, a scramble, and unease twists my gut, a tingling on the back of my neck a warning. Something about the moment, about the way Catarina is looking at me like I’m not an alpha, nothing but a tool to use, pushes just the right kind of nerve inside me. “I want to speak to you. Alone,” I tell her in an undertone. “Now.”

I’ll think of the repercussions of this action later. Think about all the fucked-up bullshit and my own ego problems, as Noble says, when I have a moment of peace alone with my mate.

Not Catarina.

It’s never been her, not in any capacity. Not even what she brings to the table is worth it now.

“You’re out of time, Torin.” She utters the words with devastating clarity as the doors to the sanctuary burst open and Ren runs through.

Ren skids to a halt, seeing the Briar pack on their feet, and then me and Catarina ahead of her. Breathing heavily, her wild eyes meet mine. “It’s a trap!” she yells out. Mathis and Dax sprint in right behind her.

I drop Catarina’s hand and take a step in the opposite direction. “What’s going on?”

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her smile and mean it. “What’s going on is that you brought the Moonstone right to us.” She laughs, a demented, wicked sound.

It’s the only warning I have before she launches herself at me, claws out. Aimed straight at my face and slashing from my temple to my jaw. Pain burns in the wake of thoseclaws, and I yell as her legs wrap around my waist and she uses the momentum to take us both down to the ground.

She tears at me, digging grooves in my skin without remorse, and the surprise of her attack allows her to get a few good hits in. Blood drips on the marble floor beneath me as the rest of the world turns into chaos.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Catarina hisses. “He’s coming for you. And you’ll all die by his hand. With the Moonstone, there’s no limit to what he can achieve.”

She rears back and swipes her claws across my chest. Tearing my jacket to shreds.

Realization slams into me. She’s been working for Andras this entire time.

Fuck this.

With an alpha’s roar, I thrust her off of me. Catarina falls back, cracking the stone where she hits.

My wolf presses close, and I struggle to my feet, off balance and shaky. The sanctuary is a mass of half shifted bodies, tearing toward Mathis and Dax. And between them, Ren.

Not the Briar pack, as I thought.

Blood Moon.

My body doubles in weight, triples, pain radiating from the wounds on my chest.

This wedding isn’t a wedding at all. It’s was premeditated to draw Ren out of hiding. They want the Moonstone, and I’ve dropped it right into their hands.

Where is Noble? Where is Andras, for that matter?

The world around me slows. My gaze narrows on a flash of red, the hoodie lowered and her long dark hair streaming behind her.

Ren stares at me for a moment and when our eyes connect, I feel it. The fabric woven between us, which alsoincludes Noble and Mathis. It’s a tapestry only accentuated and made stronger by my addition. The kind of joy and connection, the kind of security I’ve wanted to build my entire life.

The mate bond I rejected. I’m an idiot.

Every instinct is screaming at me to go to her. To get her out of here. Mathis should have known better than to let her come.

Catarina’s woozy laugh sounds from behind me. “It’s no use,” she slurs. “He’ll have her. He knew…he knew you couldn’t resist her. You're so weak, Torin.”

Disgusted, furious, my alpha springs to attention and takes control. Mathis does the same and steps in front of Ren to roar out a challenge to the closest members of the Blood Moon pack.

Then he shifts, standing on two legs until the ferocity of his wolf overpowers everything.

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