Page 66 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
“Then I suggest you shift and watch your back.”
I shifted a second before she did, every instinct in me screaming for me to cover her, protect her, but Sasha spun intoa shift, her beautiful animal’s grace and elegance twisting her body, as she tackled a smaller wolf in mid-air. They both crashed to the floor together, rolling and snapping each other. Only Sasha got back up again. God, she was fierce and gorgeous. I went over to her and licked her neck, nosing my muzzle into her.
A rumbling purr sounded from her throat, and I growled back softly in response.
I was pulled back when I heard a pained yelp. I searched the throng of clashing wolves and watched as a small wolf slightly darker than me went down, blood pooling beneath him.
Declan.
I let out a howl and raced for the white wolf who had attacked him. I forced my body into the wolf, sending them off my brother. I got up while Aidan snarled and took over. He jerked his head in the direction of Declan. I paused, then bowed my head in gratitude. Dakota rose up to share the new opponent with her mate while I went to my brother’s side.
I snatched the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the fray, to where Sasha waited. She sat on her hind legs, bowing her head low as I brought my brother’s injured body over. His chest stuttered with labored breaths. I nosed at his neck, whining.
Not my brother. My kid brother always ran headfirst into fights, trying to prove himself. Not my brother, who I’d never reconciled with. My brother, who last shed blood because of me punching him.
I nudged him on his back. Sasha leaped up and went to the broken office window. She came back with two blankets, dropping them at my feet. I shifted back, wrapping the blanket around myself. My hands grazed my brother’s face, feeling fur matted with blood.
“Dec,” I said. “Dec, c’mon. Wake up. You gotta shift, Dec.” He didn’t open his eyes. Blood continued pouring from him, but his chest continued to rise and fall in jerks. His back leg spasmed.
I went to my knees, grabbing fur and shaking him gently. “Dec, wake up. Wake up so you can call me an asshole or punch me. Come on, brother. Open those eyes, kid.”
You stopped being my brother the day you chose Fenrys over me.No, that couldn’t be the last words we parted on.
Slowly, Declan cracked open one eye, and his gaze found me. I laughed through my tears. “Come on, kid. There we go. Keep ‘em open, no, no, no, Declan, keep them open.”
Declan whined.
“I know,” I told him. “I know it hurts like a bastard right now. But it’ll be okay, Dec, yeah? Just keep your eyes open. Can you shift?”
Declan snarled at me when I tried to touch him again. I cringed back, raising my hands. His eyes rolled back, closing again.
I inhaled sharply, blinking back more tears. Not my brother.Not my brother.
“You’re my brother, Dec,” I said. “Mybrother. You asked what you did wrong. You did nothing wrong, kid. So keep those eyes open so I can apologize properly and tell you that you did everything right. Keep them open so you can punch me for how shitty I was.”
His eyes slipped open. Then, his body shrunk as he shifted. Sasha dragged the blanket over him, and I fixed it for him.
Declan coughed wetly. “Hey, asshole.”
I grabbed him and embraced my brother for the first time in almost a decade. “I’m getting you some help, okay?”
“The only help I need is for you to fuck off,” he muttered, but it was weak, no longer bitter.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Soon, two forms loomed over us. Aidan and Dakota dropped to Declan’s side, Dakota fussing over him like a mom. I realized they were probably closer to him than I was. I couldn’t help but stare in rejection as I sat back on my heels.
“I’ve called emergency services,” Aidan told me. “Fenrys has a buddy in the nearby hospital who has worked on shifters before. He’ll fix him up real good, okay, Conall?”
I was dizzy as I watched my brother bleed even more, groaning. A hand clamped on my shoulder. Then another. Aidan and Fenrys both stood either side of me.
“He’s going to be grand, Con,” Fenrys assured me.
“He’s my little brother,” I mumbled. It was then that I realized the sounds around us had gone quiet. I turned to look at the massacre. Wolves and humans were scattered around the office, and my stomach turned. I was no stranger to violence and death, but this seemed so wasteful.
I snarled at the display.
“We eliminated them,” Fenrys sighed. He looked exhausted. Soon, Thalia came up behind him. Everyone was wrapped in blankets or mismatched clothes. The good thing about shifting by a pack’s headquarters, I supposed, was that they had spare clothes ready.
