Chapter 25 #2
“Very well.” Fen stepped beside Natalie and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Natalie Lyon, the crimes you are guilty of carry the sentence of death. Do you accept this sentence?”
Natalie looked up at him. Not even a hint of anger or resentment clouded her steady gaze. “I do, Fenris.”
By contrast, Fen’s eyes roiled with conflict. He gritted his teeth, then spoke again. “As ruler of Avondale, I bear witness to the fulfillment of our laws.”
He paused, swallowing hard.
Hope began to beat its wings against Selene’s ribs. Maybe now, at the end, Fenris would change his mind and stop this madness.
“You have requested death by poison,” Fen continued, his voice steadying, and Selene’s hope crashed.
“I have,” Natalie replied. She turned on the bench to smile at Marley. “Thank you. I know this can’t have been easy for you, my friend.”
Marley nodded to her, his eyes bright with tears, as he produced a small crystal vial filled with vivid green liquid. “It will be quick . . . and quite pleasant.”
“I appreciate that.” Natalie took the vial and looked at Selene. “I can’t say goodbye, so please don’t ask me to.”
Putting her arm around Allie and drawing her close, Selene said, “I understand, Nat. We love you.”
“I love you too.” Natalie uncorked the vial, lifting it to her lips.
Before Selene could blink, glass shattered on the ground, shards of the broken vial flashing in the sunlight.
Gabriel paced in his room, fists clenched.
Not enough time. A handful of hours.
Damn it.
He should have taken her away last night. He’d gone to her again. Craving her. Needing her. It was impossible to stay away.
And he’d known, the truth singing in his blood and bones. He suspected he’d known for a long, long time, but had been too stubborn to admit who she was to him.
Even with that admission, panic held him captive, tied him tight with indecision.
How could he save her?
The only options he had were to beg Fen for mercy or run. Neither was a guarantee of success.
A scuffle in the hallway broke through his misery. Bodies slamming against the wall.
A fight? Had someone else come to free Natalie?
Fen’s mate, Selene, seemed determined to help the witch, but a human would never prevail against wolves.
Gabriel lunged for his door and threw it open.
Ewan had Josh pinned against the wall opposite Gabriel’s room. Bannock stood nearby, wiping blood from his lips.
“Calm down, Josh,” Ewan growled at the younger wolf. “You’re not helping anyone. Especially yourself.”
“What’s going on?” Gabriel stepped into the hall.
Bannock grimaced and shot an angry look at Josh. “Girl trouble.”
“If you need to spar and blow off steam, we’ll do it in the training room,” Ewan told Josh, who was struggling to free himself. “You almost shredded one of Fen’s favorite paintings.”
“She could barely look at me.” Josh heaved out a breath, miserable. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You wait.” Bannock stalked over to him. “When it’s over, you can comfort her. If you push too hard, she’ll keep running away. What you don’t do is sucker punch your friends.”
When Josh slumped, Ewan eased off.
“I thought Allie would want me to be with her,” Josh said. “I know how much she’s hurting. She loves Natalie.”
Cold chased up Gabriel’s spine. “Be with Allie when? For what?”
“She and Selene came for Natalie’s execution,” Josh told Gabriel.
“What do you mean, ‘came’?” Alarm surged through Gabriel with sheer terror at its heels. “The execution isn’t until sunset.”
Bannock grunted and shook his head. “Selene and her niece showed up this morning with Marley. I guess they’re doing it now.”
“Gabriel?” Ewan’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
But Gabriel was already running.
Fen’s chest heaved, his breaths coming hard and fast. His hand was still lifted, frozen in place after he’d slapped the vial away from Natalie’s lips.
He stared at the broken vial and the liquid seeping into the earth as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.
Marley and Natalie had gone stone still, wide eyes locked on Fen.
Selene stood, likewise stupefied, until Allie’s fingers dug in to her arm.
“Fenris?” Selene could only croak out his name.
Silence held sway for another few heartbeats, then Fen slowly shook his head. His hand fell to his side.
“I—” He spoke in a rough voice. “I grant you a stay of execution, Natalie Lyon.”
“Oh, thank god,” Selene breathed. She expected Fen to look at her, but he kept his gaze on Natalie.
“I should not be the one to determine your fate,” he continued.
“Nor should the decision of how you should pay for your crime be made hastily. You’ve given much to our community.
I’ve been made aware that the information you provided anonymously to my pack led to the capture of more than a dozen bounty hunters. That is no small thing.”
Selene’s heart flooded with joy. This was really happening. Fen had changed his mind. Natalie wouldn’t die today.
Natalie continued to stand rigidly, barely acknowledging Fen’s words with a nod.
Fen held up his hand. “You must still be held accountable for breaking Avondale’s law. I will convene a council of elders to review your standing in the community alongside your crime, and I will abide by whatever decision they come to regarding your punishment. Do you agree to my terms?”
“I do.” Natalie’s expression was impossible to read. Then she collapsed.
Allie screamed.
“Natalie!” Selene rushed to kneel beside her friend’s crumpled body. “No. Please, no.”
Had Natalie somehow swallowed the poison before Fen knocked it away?
Selene’s pulse hammered, her nerves screaming as she tried to make sense of the chaos. This couldn’t be happening. Everything had changed. Instead of tragedy, a happily ever after. What capricious arbiter of fate would destroy such a pure scene of hope and happiness?
“Goddess have mercy.” Fen’s voice was stricken.
Selene looked at him, and what she saw made her sway in place until she had to plant her hands on the ground to stay upright.
His features were riddled with regret and uncertainty.
She’d never seen him afraid, and he was imprisoned by fear now, seemingly unable to move, staring at Natalie’s prone form in disbelief.
Then Marley was there, hovering over Natalie. He leaned in close, pressing his fingers to her throat as he took a deep breath. He bowed his head.
“Marley?” Fen asked. The question came out hoarse and trembling.
Marley sat back on his heels. “She’s gone.”
“No! No!” Allie sobbed. She collapsed, and Selene crawled to her, drawing her into an embrace.
This can’t be real. It can’t be.
“It had to be powerful to be painless.” Marley choked on the words. “Powerful. Even a trace ingested . . .”
Selene couldn’t move. Her mind wouldn’t accept that the universe would give her such a priceless gift only to snatch it away a moment later.
He’d changed his mind. She was going to live.
She looked up at Fen and found his gaze locked on her.
She saw their future trampled by the stampede of cruel reality.
For the briefest of moments, they had everything.
Natalie was spared. Selene could throw herself into Fen’s arms, into his life, without hesitation or doubt.
They caught a glimpse of everything they wanted. The promise of forever.
And then it was gone.
At the sound of boots striking hard on the gravel path behind them, Fen pivoted, his eyes torn from Selene’s. Their connection broken.
Gabriel stood a short distance away. His gaze locked on Natalie’s prone form. And Selene watched everything she’d imagined the taciturn wolf might feel for Natalie play out on his face. Her heart broke all over again.
“Gabriel?” Fenris took a step toward his friend.
Gabriel’s body quaked and then a bronze-furred wolf stood in a heap of torn clothing.
Lifting his muzzle, Gabriel loosed a howl that reached into Selene’s bones, turning the marrow to ice.
Never had she heard such keening, raw grief.
Did Natalie know, she wondered, that Gabriel loved her?
Because only the loss of true love could evoke that sound.
Selene knew she’d never forget the way it made her shudder with awareness.
She’d wrongly assumed Gabriel and Natalie’s connection had been fleeting, or purely physical, but Gabriel loved Natalie deeply. Loved and lost her.
He’d appeared in the garden without warning, pulling up short from a dead run. If he’d arrived a minute sooner, what would have happened? Would he have challenged his pack leader? Fought for Natalie?
They would never know. Another tragedy, another intervention arriving too late.
In that moment Selene hated the world, hated every flicker of hope that appeared only to be snuffed out.
Gabriel the wolf bolted away. When Selene looked at Fenris, the shocked expression he wore told her that whatever connection Gabriel and Natalie shared, Fen hadn’t been aware of it.
Within seconds another pile of shredded clothes lay where Fen had been standing, and in wolf form he chased after his brokenhearted packmate.
Yet another missed opportunity, she thought. If Gabriel had been honest with Fenris about his feelings for Natalie, would it have made a difference? Selene couldn’t change Fen’s mind, but Gabriel was a member of his guard, one of his oldest friends.
Selene shook her head. All these what-ifs were only pushing her deeper into rage and despair. It was no good.
“Aunt Selene!” Allie’s face was tear streaked as she tugged on Selene’s hand.
“Allie, I—” She couldn’t go on. Sorrow strangled her.
Allie stared at her in disbelief. “Bring. Her. Back.”
Selene drew a sharp breath. The antidote.
Oh god. She’d been so mired in self-pity, she’d forgotten she possessed the means to change Natalie’s fate.
She had the antidote in her pocket. Her body trembled so violently, she fumbled with the syringe, finally getting it out of her coat and extending it to Marley.
“You should do it.”