Page 103 of Bad Wolf's Nanny
Blood sprayed, coating the mud and ash, as they both tried to rend the flesh from each other.
From the corner of his vision, the pack surged forward. Rick, blade flashing, cut through a pair of Red Teeth’s alphas, protecting Felix as he howled commands. John Heath’s wolves circled, his alphas coordinated, precise.
But Dane saw only Red Teeth.
The mad alpha tackled him, sending them both crashing into the rubble. Dane hit the ground hard, a crack blooming along his shoulder. Red Teeth opened his mouth, his yellow fangs poised to lunge—
A blur of motion.
Nicolas, his wolf massive and dark, collided with Red Teeth from the side. He was knocked off-balance. Lola’s name echoed in Dane’s head like a war drum.
Nicolas circled, snarling. Behind him, Daisy, in her cream wolf form, darted through the chaos, biting at exposed throats. Her head perked up, and she loped forward, pawing at the rubble.
“Lola!” Daisy said through the bond, her words like sunshine cracking through storm clouds, “She’s here! She’s alive, she’s breathing!”
Dane’s world tilted for a moment, then sharpened into exquisite focus.
Lola was alive. She wasalive.
But Red Teeth lumbered to his feet, a dark shadow of death, and all of Dane’s senses focused in.
She was alive. But as long as this bastard still breathed, she wasn’t safe.
Dane surged up, tackling Red Teeth with renewed strength. He rained blows, teeth breaking skin, fury breaking bone. “You touched her,” he snarled, “youhurtmymate.”
Red Teeth clawed at him, snapping teeth, grazing Dane’s throat.
Then, a howl.
Felix. It reverberated through the wreckage, rallying their wolves. The Iron Walkers responded as one. John Heath’s pack followed suit. They surrounded Red Teeth’s remaining alphas, overwhelming them.
Dane pinned Red Teeth. “This is for every life you took. Every fear you left behind.”
He drove his teeth into Red Teeth’s throat.
Silence.
For a beat, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Then Red Teeth’s body slumped. Dane staggered back, panting, chest heaving.
Felix approached slowly, his fur streaked with soot and blood.
Shifting, he approached slowly, muscles flexing. He crouched beside the fallen alpha, nudging the body with his boot, then looked at Dane with all the weight of the years since the uprising. “It’s over.”
“No,” Dane rasped, “not until I see her.”
He stumbled toward the rubble. Daisy had already shifted back into her human form, brushing the soot from Lola’s face. Nicolas, still a wolf, ran over, nudging his mate away and into the protective hollow of his chest with his great shaggy head, warning growls low and insistent.
Dane felt the savage need to protect his mate keenly.
He shifted, dropping to his knees, pulling Lola up and into his arms.
She was breathing, barely.
All around them, the pack picked itself up from the fight.
Dane didn’t think about them. He couldn’t focus on anything but the woman in his arms.
