Page 94 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate
His side was slashed with blood, yet the wounds were already starting to mend.
"Secure this breach," he commanded the fighters closest. "Here, double the guard. They'll give it another go."
He hit the transmitter button. "Luna, all good?"
The only response he got was static. As he tapped the device once more, a feeling of cold dread gathered in his stomach. "Luna? Roman? Report!"
Marcus's voice broke through, frantic and out of breath. "Dominic, they've broken through the central barricade. Roman's down. Xavier's heading straight for the command platform."
Luna.
Dominic broke into a run, shifting back to wolf form for speed. Ignoring the pain from his wounds, he charged straight through the forest, aiming for the quickest path to the central defense point. Battle noises filled the air around him—growls, shouts, and the sharp sound of weapons built to disable shifters.
He crashed out of the tree line and found a scene of utter chaos. The barricades once built now lay in ruins. Pack members were locked in fierce fights against hunters and demons alike. At the center of the chaos, Xavier stood at the bottom of the command platform, his arm outstretched toward Luna, who still stood above on the raised platform.
Darkness flowed out from Xavier's fingers. It wasn't just shadow, but something heavier something that warped the air as it moved. Luna pushed it back with a barrier of glowing golden-white light. Her grimoire lay open in front of her, and her other hand traced symbols that lit up with energy.
Dominic darted across the battlefield like a blur. Xavier noticed him at the last moment and moved fast enough to dodge most of the attack. Even so, Dominic's jaws clamped onto the demon's arm snapping through bone and muscle.
Xavier didn’t yell. Instead, he laughed. The sound broke into Dominic’s mind like frozen needles. With a strength that shocked him, he grabbed Dominic’s wolf form by the scruff and flung him aside.
Dominic slammed into the platform’s base. The hit sent shards of wood spraying everywhere. He shifted back into his human form, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead while more seeped through his vest from the reopened wounds on his side.
Dominic stood back up and stepped between Xavier and the platform, where Luna stayed focused on her magical defense. "I know who I’m fighting to protect."
Xavier’s mangled face curled into something that might have been a grin. "Do you? The witch has you spellbound, just as I warned she would." He glanced up at Luna. "She's quite powerful—more than I anticipated. But power attracts power, doesn't it? Creates new life from it."
New life? What is he—
Understanding struck like lightning. Luna's sickness. Her protective gesture toward her stomach. The strange new quality to her scent that he'd attributed to her growing magic.
She's pregnant. With my child.
The realization staggered him, giving Xavier an opening that he instantly exploited. Darkness struck out, this timestraight at Dominic rather than Luna. Like living smoke, it burrowed itself beneath his skin and hit him in the chest.
In quest of the corruption it had previously sown in his soul, the darkness tore through him with pain he had never experienced before. Dominic went to his knees, doing everything he could to repel the attack.
Xavier said, "Stop resisting," as if speaking from inside his own skull. "Remember how good it felt to surrender to your darkest impulses? The power it gave you? The clarity?"
He was struck by memories of the icy joy he had experienced while hunting witches, the ruthless joy in their terror, and the moral conviction that had underpinned all the horrors. These recollections were intensified by the darkness, which transformed them into something alluring.
This isn't me. This was never truly me.
"Dominic!" Luna's voice cut through. He sensed her close, felt her kneeling by his side even though the darkness in his vision stopped him from seeing.
"Stay back," he growled, his voice rough. "You'll end up infected too."
"Let me help," she begged, her hands brushing his face warm against the chill of his skin. "Let me in."
The bond they shared throbbed like a faint light in the shadows. Dominic latched onto it, focused on her, trying to resist the pull of Xavier's control.
Inside, Dominic felt his grip slipping. The wolf within him thrashed in furious desperation. The chaos of the battle raged on, but it felt far away, overshadowed by the fight inside him.
"Dominic, you need to hear me." Luna's tone turned sharp and pressing. "Think about who you are. Think about what we discovered together."
She pressed her hands over his chest right where his heart beat. A strange warmth spread from her touch, something pure and untouched by any shadow of darkness. It pulsed through their bond as mates, making it stronger and flowing like a channel between them.
"What is she doing?" Xavier's voice broke with something new—hesitation, maybe fear. Dominic had never heard that from him before. "End her, Dominic! Do it now!"
