Page 41 of The Awakened Wolf

I was about to tell her not to bother, to let the Manhattan pack figure out how to manage him, when Max shifted, his gray wolf exploding from Kenzo and Mateo’s grasp and lunging at my father. He was aided by the element of surprise, all of us hesitating in that moment. Max’s wolf shoved Kiana aside, knocking her to the ground, and bolted for my father, who turned and ran, knowing he couldn’t shift.

“Father, stop!” Sebastian turned as if to follow.

No, my one and only!

My wolf protested, knowing that if Max bit Sebastian, we could lose him to this sickening illness. I summoned every ounce of my latent Alpha power and grabbed my mate around the waist, flinging him into the arms of Atlas and Evan.

“Hold him,” I commanded as I set my wolf free, shredding my dress. A twin to my white wolf exploded beside me, but before Kiana or I could make a move, a shifted Mateo raced past us. As a Beta, his brown wolf was smaller than Max’s massive gray, but lightning quick. In the instant Max leaped at my shuffling father, Mateo darted between them.

I howled as Max, delirious with disease and the despair of knowing what happened to his beloved wife, clamped down on Mateo’s throat, his jaws like a vice, and shook the smaller wolf. An arc of blood sprayed through the air as Max’s razor-sharp teeth severed Mateo’s carotid artery. My sister slammed into Max, bowling him over and off Mateo. She popped up, snarling, and pounced on Max while he lay stunned on the marble floor.

I raced to Mateo, praying that I was wrong, that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. But I knew when I arrived at his side that I wasn’t wrong. He lay on his side, eyes wide and rolling, a river of blood pumping from his neck. One of his back legs kicked and twitched at random.

No.

I lay beside him. This wasn’t like the last time when our packs had battled one another. This quiet and gentle soul, a male who’d loved my mother enough to let her go to marry another, would not be coming back. An ache came over me as I nuzzled him, offering as much love and succor as I could while he left us. I could hear his breaths becoming labored, his heart slowing. When there was more space between the beats than thumps, his eyes stopped rolling and found mine.

“More… die… animals,” his voice echoed in my head. And then it was gone, and his body went still.

Sebastian padded to my side, having shifted and escaped his well-meaning captors. I hadn’t expected Evan and Atlas to be able to hold him for long. Alpha by birth or no, he’d trained like Kiana and pushed himself to be physically overpowering.

The room was silent except for one sickening sound, the last gasps as my sister finished giving Max’s throat the same treatment he’d given Mateo’s. I started to go to his aid, but Sebastian stopped me.

“This might be the kindest thing Kiana has ever done,” he said, his voice tight with pain.

As if on cue, Kiana lifted her muzzle, stained with the blood of her conquest, and placed one paw on top of Max’s now still body. She lifted her chin and howled, a long, low, invitation, and one by one, the guests in the room shifted and joined her.

Oh.

My.

Goddess.

That meant…

Kiana’s blue eyes were as hard as steel as she swung her gaze from Sebastian to Kenzo. “Do either of you intend to challenge me?”

Kenzo looked at Sebastian, his eyes questioning. Sebastian shook his head and bowed toward Kiana, and Kenzo quickly followed suit.

She shifted back to her human form, her grimace covered in fresh blood. “Then it is done. I am the Alpha of the Bronx and Manhattan.”

Chapter Sixteen

I sat in a limp pile on the floor beside Sebastian, tatters of stained white satin clinging to my shiftskin. He leaned against me, staring at the unmoving body of the only father he’d ever known—a male who’d raised him with kindness and love, despite knowing Sebastian couldn’t be his own.

I’d thought the room went silent when Sebastian—and then Evan—dropped their twin bombs. But now it was a different kind of quiet. Kiana had sent most attendees back to their rooms. All was still except for the rustling ministrations of servants handling Mateo and Max’s bodies under my father’s direction.

In the corner, Kiana was having a heated conversation in low tones with Kenzo and Evan, while Atlas hovered off to the side, looking lost. I wasn’t sure why my sister had held him back, but if she intended to punish him for letting Sebastian barge into the building to begin with, we were going to have more than a heated conversation.

I softly jostled Sebastian’s back where it was pressed to my shoulder and murmured the same words Charlie had once told me about my mother, “It wasn’t your fault.”

My mate didn’t respond. He sat, as he had been for the past hour, unmoving and silent. I knew human women liked to romanticize “strong silent” types, but I wished he would show some kind of emotion. Or like, blink. I’d take any proof of life at this point.

Though I was sure this stony catatonia was his Alpha training taking over, it was unnerving to see him so still. My gaze skittered to the two bundles, wrapped in the soft gray linen of the reception tablecloths.One contained a male who had taught me things about my mother that I’d always cherish. The other contained a male who had treated me like a welcome member of the family and even, for a brief moment, like a fellow Alpha. They were a loss to everyone, but I felt it more keenly than I’d have expected, given my brief time knowing them.

My eyes were so dry they were gritty, but they wanted to cry again. All they managed was an achy burn. I put my free arm around my mate and laid my head on his shoulder. Still wordless, he nonetheless softened, curving to shelter me.

I’d take it.

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