Page 113 of Sapphire Flame
He wanted Kryder dead.
But as he added pressure, he felt the pack bond begin to dissolve. It felt like a water valve had been turned on within his chest. As the bond leaked out of him, his wolf-connection to Kryder began to diminish. On and on the sensation continued until all the water had poured out and the valve closed against Kryder permanently.
So it would be with the entire pack.
He removed his foot.
Kryder lifted his head and took a deep struggling breath.
Grant levitated until he faced the wolves of the Meldorin Pack. He shouted, “Are you free?” Tears burned his eyes.
“Yes!” The word came back to him in a roar.
A howling began, long and loud.
Grant threw back his head and let his own howl join the sound of his brothers and sisters. He howled and howled. There was nothing to stop him because Kryder was pinned safely beneath the net.
He heard Natalie’s wolf howl as well. He saw her iridescent colors flying in a circle around his feet.
On and on the pack howled.
He was sure the universe had stopped its motion, pausing to rejoice that a great evil had been undone.
He howled until he was hoarse. The pack responded in kind, howling louder still.
Kryder’s men started to breach the railing intent on taking Kryder out of the sandpit, but Grant called to several of the pack’s most powerful betas.
Before Kryder’s men could get more than a few feet past the railing, they were being hauled back. Two and three men took each of Kryder’s soldiers and carried them swiftly out of the building.
When the last was gone, the howling of the pack dissipated as well.
The betas returned, and Grant instructed them to take Kryder out as well.
To Ryan, he said,Keep Kryder in hand until the last moment, but don’t let our wolves get hurt by the net.
Got it, but we never used the electricity. We just kept him pinned. I’m not too worried about Kryder causing trouble either. He’s pale and sweating from the pain. Good job, by the way.
Right back atcha.
~ ~ ~
Natalie had never experienced anything like this in her life, the howling, the severing of the bond which had been a tangible wind within the arena, or the euphoria that Kryder had finally been removed from the Meldorin Pack.
Ryan used hand signals to the team to instruct them in their timing. But even she could see Kryder was incapacitated. She couldn’t imagine the pain he experienced while lying in the sand, face down, with a dislocated shoulder. She had a hard time caring for all the misery he’d caused his pack.
Grant had been magnificent. He had a cut on his arm from Kryder’s use of an illegal weapon, but the wound was healing swiftly.
She left the arena with Ryan and the team and ended the invisibility spell. She climbed to the gallery, but she didn’t stay with them. Instead, she moved to the far, left side. What needed to happen next had nothing to do with her and she wanted to be out of the way. This was Grant’s moment with the pack he’d devoted his life to since his arrival in Five Bridges, and especially since the death of his wife.
Ryan and his wolves returned to the sandpit with a stretcher for Kryder. With little regard for his suffering, they picked him up and dumped him on the canvas. They then flew him out the way he’d come in but left his cape and headdress in the arena.
When they returned, they remained in the gallery.
Grant rose to center himself on the cement walkway inside the railing. His gaze swept the Meldorin Pack back and forth. He appeared radiant, his eyes shining with victory and with love.
She realized she valued his ability to truly love his pack and to put them consistently above his own well-being.
“We’re free!” He shouted, grinning. “At long last!”
