Page 44 of Saving Nevin
It stopped as quickly as it started, because Loch knocked Xan to the ground and was kicking the hell out of him. Xan cried out and curled in on himself, trying to block the attack, before screaming again. “KACE! HELP!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Loch hissed.
“Grab him! Let’s go!” Rex snarled, yanking me along after him. Loch threw Xan over his shoulder and the two Alphas dragged us into the woods, the third running ahead, still in wolf form.
We didn’t get far.
A huge wolf tore through the snow, his hackles raised and his ears pinned. Sevren! With a vicious snarl, he slammed into Loch and knocked him to the ground, freeing Xan before tearing into the enemy Alpha with a snarl.
Immediately, the third Alpha turned back and leapt into the fray, attacking Sevren, and the three of them began to fight.
But if Sevren was here, did that mean…
I hiccuped a sob as Rex’s hand closed around my throat. “Don’t even try me, bitch,” he warned, low and dark. “I’m not leaving here without you.”
“Stop!” Kace ran up, a shotgun in his hands. He aimed it at Rex, but Rex reacted by yanking me in front of him, like he was planning to use me as a human shield. The knife dug into my stomach once more, dangerously sharp.
“Do you really wanna do that, big man?” Rex taunted. “I’d think twice if I were you.”
“Let Nevin go!” Kace barked. “You lost your right to him when you ran him out of your pack and left him for dead.” Anger was scribbled all over my mate’s beautiful face, making him look downright scary. He stood tall and intimidating, taller even than Rex, and broader, too, but Rex didn’t even flinch. “He’s mine now.”
“You’re wrong,” Rex snarled back. “He’s mine. He’salwaysbeen mine. I staked my claim on him when he was fifteen. I paid his useless father off so that old man could keep his shitty farmhouse. IownNevin. You think you can just swoop in like Prince Charming and take him away?” He jabbed the knife into my stomach, hard enough to hurt, and I cried out. “Wrong.”
“P-Please, no, Rex,” I whimpered, but his fingers only squeezed my throat in warning.
“Shut up.” He glared at Kace, his jaw set in a hard line. “Lower your weapon, or I’ll cut the child from his womb and let him bleed out in the snow right in front of you. Because if I can’t have him? No one can.”
His words sent a chill creeping through me that had nothing to do with the cold. I knew Rex well enough to know he would do it. I turned to Kace, pleading with him with my eyes, searching his face.
“Kace.” I choked out the word, trying to figure out what the right answer was, but every single one I came up with put me on the losing end. “Please, just… Just do as he says.”
“What? No!” Kace barked.
Tears welled up and spilled down my cheeks, stinging in the cold. I could barely breathe—but I had an idea. One that might end up with me dead, but it was the only one I had. We were running out of time. I needed to act before Rex stole me away for good.
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I love you, but it’s the only way.” I leaned back into Rex, still staring deep into Kace’s eyes, begging him to understand. To make the right decision. To follow my lead. “Rex? Let’s go. I’ll go with you, just please, don’t hurt anyone else. Don’t harm Kace. Please.”
I felt Rex relax as he chuckled. “There’s a good boy,” he murmured, his fingers loosening around my throat to grasp my shoulder instead. “Looks like you still have a bit of sense left in you.” The knife fell away from my belly as he lowered his arm to his side. “Stupid Omega.”
His words were a slap to the face. I shouldn’t have felt the smart, but I did. It only cemented in what I already knew—if Rex took me back home, I would wither and die there.
Biting back a whimper, I hung my head and I prayed that I was making the right decision. “I love you, Kace,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
30
KACE
Seeing my mate trapped,the Alpha’s meaty fingers wrapped around his throat and the knife poised at his gut? It sickened me and terrified me at the same time, but I didn’t lower my gun. Not even when Rex obviously planned to use Nevin as a meat shield. I kept it trained on the bastard, but my eyes were locked on my Omega. My mind was spinning, my heart racing. I didn’t know what to do.
But Nevin made the decision for me. His blue eyes, brimming with tears, all but begged me to listen to him as he told Rex that he would go with him. “Just please, don’t hurt anyone else. Don’t harm Kace. Please.” His voice petered off into a pleading whisper, but he never looked away from me.
Everything inside of me shriveled up and died, in that moment. I wanted to yell. I wanted to argue with him. This wasn’t fair! Nevin was my mate, he was carrying my child, and he expected me to just step aside and let some asshole mongrel take him back to his own personal hell to keep me and my family safe? No. There had to be another way, there had to be!
Rex’s expression turned smug. He looked right at me and smirked, like he’d just won a dick-measuring contest. I stood my ground, but slowly lowered my weapon as Nevin leaned back into his ex and closed his eyes. I hated the fear on his beautiful face. I hated that he thought he had to do this, to protect me, when he was the one who needed protecting.
Had I failed him again?
Rex relaxed his grip on Nevin, though I didn’t miss the red marks around my Omega’s pale throat from the bastard’s fingers digging in. He pulled the knife away from Nevin’s stomach and my heart skipped a beat, my gaze trained on the both of them, just in case I had one last chance to save him. One last chance…Please. I’ll do anything.
