Page 95 of The Weakest Wolf

I struggle to my feet, even as I know it’s far too late.

The wolves surge toward me, their eyes glinting with hate. This is what they were waiting for all this time.

It’s over.

Have a good life, Sierra. If anyone deserves to, it’s you.

23

SIERRA

Istomp hard on the brakes. The squeal of rubber echoes all around me as I come to a sudden stop.

“I can’t leave him behind. I can’t let him die.”

I shouldn’t care, I should drive and never stop because it isn’t like he doesn’t deserve what happens to him for exposing me.

But I do care, and I don’t know why.

My eyes go to the rearview mirror.

I left pack land minutes before.

Now, all I see is a faint outline of cabins in the distance. I don’t see a mass of wolves tearing Galen apart. But that doesn’t mean I can’t imagine it.

On the steering wheel, my hands tighten around the cold plastic and I force a slow breath out.

He stayed for you. To make amends.

“This is what you wanted, and he knew that, so that’s why he stayed.” Speaking it out loud makes it feel real. “He’s dying because of you.”

I shift my focus to the windshield and the road ahead. To my new future.

Galen said I would meet his beta, Dom in Iowa and then I’d finally be free from this place. I won’t have to worry about being a lone wolf. I’ll have a pack, and I’ll have a home.

There’s no way I could help Galen even if I wanted to. I would have to shift, and there’s no way my wolf could win in a fight with any of the pack, least of all Bowen. That’s if Galen hasn’t killed him already.

But I doubt it. Bowen will wait for someone else to do that. He won’t want to risk himself if he can risk someone else.

Going back would be a death sentence. Or worse.

It would mean coming face to face with Bowen, and I can’t.

“This is what you want,” I murmur beneath my breath as I press the gas down. “Forward is life, backward is death.”

I take off.

24

GALEN

Teeth burrow into my neck, inching closer and closer to an artery.

I’m bleeding in more places than I’m not, and I have nothing left.

But I still fight.

Bodies pin me to the ground. So many that even if I manage to shake off the wolf trying to rip my throat out, I won’t shake off the next.

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