Page 85 of The Onyx Covenant

She turns to Kieran, blood trickling from her split lip.

“And you, Stormfang. Your father sacrificed everything for the pack. He’d vomit at the sight of you now.” Her voice grows wilder, more frantic. “Kill her! Kill her now and show the pack you’re strong, not weak! Show your father you’re worthy of the Umbra name, Theron!”

Kieran steps to my side and suddenly drives his blade straight into Rachel’s throat.

The sound is sickening—flesh splitting, cartilage giving way with a wet crunch. Her eyes snap wide, not with fear but with disbelief. Blood pours over Kieran’s hand, thick and fast, bubbling from her lips as she jerks once, then begins to crumple. I feel something splash on my face.

The silver lines on her manacle pulse—then fade into nothing.

She hits the ground hard.

I don’t move.

“Fuck!” My breath catches somewhere between my ribs, my limbs frozen as the heat of what just happened rushes past me like a wave I didn’t see coming. The dirt smells of iron and sweat.

Kieran doesn’t even look at her, just wipes the blade against his sleeve and turns away like it’s nothing.

But it isn’t.

Not to me.

“What the hell did you just do?” I ask, stumbling back, frantically wiping my face with the sleeve of my jacket.

“That was on me to finish,” Kieran says grimly, his voice hollow. “I asked the fucker to be my partner, and she betrayed us all. Fuck!” He rakes a hand through his matted hair, smearing mud and blood across his forehead.

I stare at Rachel’s body, watching her blood seep into the dirt. My hand trembles as I lower my blade.

Theron finally steps forward, silent until now. He glances at Kieran, jaw tight, then shifts his gaze to me. His eyes soften.

“She would’ve killed you,” he says evenly, as though he needs to say it out loud for all of us. “You did what had to be done.”

Even as he says it, he moves toward me, not Kieran.

His arms go around me, strong and steady, pulling me into his chest. I don’t even realize I’m shaking until I feel the heat of him, the weight of his hand cradling the back of my head.

“She made her choice,” he murmurs. “And we made sure it ended with us.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, unable to take my eyes off her now-lifeless form.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Theron says, staring down at me. His body is warm. “She was going to kill you for my father. That bastard won’t stop until he’s destroyed everything good in our territory.”

“You killed her,” I say to Kieran, the words coming out flat and disbelieving. “She’s dead.”

“She lost her privilege to live,” he grunts.

“He’s right,” Theron says. “In the wilds, the law is clear—attempt to take a life, forfeit your own.”

I break away from Theron, suddenly needing space. “This is supposed to be a sacred ritual, not a bloodbath!”

“It became a bloodbath the moment my father decided to try to murder you,” Theron states firmly. “Rachel was just a pawn… expendable, like we all are to him.”

Kieran crouches beside Rachel’s body, searching her pockets. He pulls out a small leather pouch.

“I didn’t want this.” I stare at Rachel’s body, at the crimson seeping into the mud. “Any of this.”

Theron cups my face, turning me away from the corpse to look at him. His eyes are dark with emotion, almost black in the dim light. “This isn’t your burden to carry. Everyone will need to know what happened here, but first, we need to finish what we started.”

“We keep moving,” Kieran agrees, standing up. “If Rachel was working for your father, then perhaps so are the rest of the Umbra wolves.”

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