Page 78 of Vicious Wolf Mate

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MCKENNA

“Mckenna! What did you do?” Mace looks back at me with shock.

“I ended it.” I fill my voice with a confidence that I’m not feeling.

I can’t believe I just did that. I killed my father. Once and for all, he’s gone.

I didn’t even feel myself pull the trigger. It’s almost like someone else did it. But no, it was me.

My body starts to shake as the reality sets in. A flood of varying emotions starts to overwhelm my mind.

All the good memories from my childhood come back to me. Christmas mornings, getting all the toys I wanted. Going out for ice cream as a family. A trip to an amusement park. But the memories quickly stop including my father, just my mother. I guess he wasn’t around for a lot of the good times.

But does that mean he deserves to die? Does that give me the right to kill him? Maybe the right choice was locking him up, sending him to jail for his crimes.

After all, he was my father. The man who raised me. But also, the man who made my life hell. The man who wanted a mass extermination of shifters. The man who killed my mother.

He’s dead and the world is better off. He was a terrible man. I shouldn’t lose any sleep over my choice. I certainly hope I don’t.

I never dreamed this day would ever come. For the first time, I can feel myself no longer under his thumb. Out of his watchful eye.

I’m free. I’m finally free. If only my mother could have experienced this.

Truthfully, he sealed his own fate the moment he admitted to her murder. It was only a matter of time until I pulled the trigger. I just can’t believe I actually did it.

I look away from my father’s corpse to Mace. I don’t know what to expect from him. Will he hate me?

“You did it.” The shock on his face fades away. He gives me an understanding nod. “You’ve saved countless lives.”

“SAVED LIVES?” I finally remember Natalie next to me. After I shot my father, she fell to her knees and began to weep. “Look at all the people you’ve killed!”

“Maybe you’d like to join them, after all you’ve done. You deserve worse.” I start to raise my gun to point at Natalie.

“NO!” She holds up her hands in surrender, weeping harder. “Please… Please don’t kill me. I’ll do anything. Anything you want. Just please don’t kill me.”

I look down at this sad sight. Natalie on her knees, crying and begging for her life. After everything she did, especially to Jax, she deserves to die. But looking at her, I can’t bring myself to kill her. There has been enough killing today. Nobody else has to die.

“Okay.”

“Thank you!” Natalie starts weeping even harder, which I didn’t think was possible. She crawls over to my feet and grovels more. I think she says ‘thank you’ a few more times but it’s unintelligible through all the sobs.

Mace raises an eyebrow at me. He probably wanted to see her dead, for Jax. But I have some other ideas.

“You can live, Natalie. On one condition.”

“Anything…”

“You work for me moving forward. Any funny business, any bullshit. If I hear you’re so much as rude to an intern. It’s over. You’re dead.”

Natalie nods. If I’m going to run Insignys moving forward, it’ll be smart to have someone in the know by my side. As awful as Natalie is, she’s been working under my father, her insight may be valuable.

Gnash and Drario stumble over to us, holding their heads. Both of them look a little worse for wear. But they’re alive, and that’s good to see. They both hug Mace and then see my father’s body.

“Oh shit…” Drario says.

“So… we won?” Gnash looks around. “No one is shooting at us anymore.”

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