Page 21 of The Weakest Wolf

I don’t know where Galen is, but when he didn’t return to the farmhouse for lunch after he took off during breakfast, I hope he doesn’t return expecting dinner anytime soon. If he does, I’m in trouble.

Or I will be if I don’t kick things up a gear. I still have to kill Leo, deal with his body, get back to my cabin so I can get washed, and head to the farmhouse before he starts asking questions about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.

Just one more second.

Maybe my utter stillness warns Leo I’m up to something, or his instincts scream a warning, but he lifts his head from my throat. “What are you—”

I stab my claws into the side of his neck.

He stills, his eyes wide in pain. And fury.

I roll him over, using my body to keep him pinned as he flails and struggles. Blood sprays over me as I fight to keep him down. There was a reason I let him pull off my shirt, and this was it.

Washing blood off skin is a damn sight easier than getting it out of clothes.

Despite all my efforts to pin him, he throws me off. I fly back and hit a tree. But I don’t stay down. He’s just gotten to his feet when I dive at him.

We go down in a tangle of arms and legs.

Blood gushes down Leo’s neck. It’s all I can smell. It also makes fighting him that much harder when I can never get a good enough hold on him. I dodge a punch to the face but don’t see his hand going for my stomach until he buries his claws inside me.

I feel the agonizing moment his claws slide free from my belly. The burn is bad enough that I cry out. But I still don’t move. I grit my teeth and use both hands to force his shoulders back down to the ground.

Muscles bunch beneath my hands, but each pushback is weaker than the last.

All the while, his neck continues to bleed.

I aimed for an artery and I hit it.

He’s dead. He just doesn’t know it yet.

As I stare down into his bone-white face, I watch the fight go out of him. Now he knows what I’ve done. Now he knows he won’t survive this.

His mouth opens. I clap my hand over his mouth to silence him. One yell could still kill me if someone hears.

When his skin grows so pale that I can count the blue veins on his throat, I lean down and put my mouth to his ear. “This is for my mother, you piece of shit. This is for Lira Bree, whose blood you have on your hands.”

The only response I get is a slow, gasping breath.

After that?

Nothing.

The light in his eyes goes out.

Just Bowen now. One more, and then it’s over.

No matter how many times I do this, it never feels real.

When I glance at my right hand, I struggle to believe I did it. The claws never last long because I can only hold that partial shape for a short time. Just long enough to get the job done.

No, we did it. My wolf and I.

We did it together. For Mom and Dad, who didn’t deserve to die when all they wanted was to find somewhere safe to raise me.

No time to dwell on the past now. You have things to do.

Bending my head, I study the claw marks on my belly. They still hurt enough that I’m not ready to touch them, but at least they’ve already stopped bleeding. By tomorrow, no one will know what Leo did to me.

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