Of Savage and Sin (Wolves of Ossary #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY

–Bain–

THOUGH I WOULD never admit it to Naya, I was grateful Tréan had ordered her to stay behind because I never wanted Niall to lay eyes on her again, breathe the same air as her, or utter another word in her direction.

All I wanted was his death by my hands.

A craving that fueled me as my wolf traveled through the woodland with Tréan and Kaia on either side of me, as hungry as I was to confront Niall once and for all. Several powerful pack members ran alongside us, some fanning out into the woodland to circumvent the enemy and others heading straight for them.

Everyone knew to shift when we got close because our wolves wouldn’t be as strong at high noon as they would be at dusk, night, or twilight. Especially considering that Tréan had ensured there was no cloud cover, hoping it would weaken Niall and his men even more. While it would weaken us, too, it wouldn’t be as bad for our generation as it was for the wolves from the future. And certainly not as bad for wolves turned by Tréan.

“You left the Viking blade with Naya,”

Kaia noted when we shifted and kept to the shadows, sensing Niall and his men close by.

“I did.”

I wanted her to have a weapon that would protect her better than any other.

“I’m glad,”

Kaia said softly, understanding my reasoning. She and Tréan shared a look before her steady, proud gaze returned to me. “We have decided to give this kill to you, after all, brother. We want you and you alone to end Niall.”

While I appreciated their generosity and change of heart, it intrigued me. “Might we all share the moment because—”

“’Twill be shared by all,”

Tréan assured me. “When this battle comes to a head, and it will, Niall is yours. Take your revenge for all of us. For all the pain he has put our mates through.”

Honored and never more grateful for anything, I thanked them both and gripped my battle axe with anticipation as we crept through the bright, sunny woodland. While the time of day was unfavorable, I found the bright light welcoming while hoping Niall found it intrusive.

Intrusive enough to bring him to his knees before me. I wanted him to beg for mercy so I could refuse him. Mercy should never exist for his sort.

“There,”

Kaia said into our minds, homing in on movement in the woodland ahead. “They’re almost on top of us.”

They were, too, because battle exploded around us moments later, and I was in my element. There was no way to know why we didn’t sense them sooner, but I suspected it had to do with Tadc, who, having been made by Tréan, was one of the few wolves capable of ambushing us.

Men crashed into men with blades drawn and roars of fury. Some of Tadc’s warriors battled alongside Niall and his men, but, predictably, not Tadc himself.

Sunlight glinted off blades, and hot breath met the cold air in foggy puffs as my pack waged a mini-war in a dappled, sunlit clearing. We held our own, taking out Tadc’s men as quickly as possible because they were an older and stronger breed. So strong every blade that met mine was ferocious and well-aimed, but mine was always better, as I spun and sliced, cutting down man after man in a mad dance toward my prey.

As I fought, eager to battle Niall one-on-one, I relished the swell of my inner beast unleashing its wrath from deep within me. Relished the warm blood of my enemies trickling down my arms and speckling my face because every last drop brought me one step closer to the beast that had stolen a normal life from Naya. That had taken everything from her.

Then I relished it even more when I realized Tadc’s wolves were slain, and I stood face to face with Niall and his men. He should have had more of Tadc’s warriors with him, far more if they were teaming up and Tadc wanted Niall to stay alive, yet as we locked eyes, I realized why he did not.

Tadc had betrayed him.

Niall knew it, too, but it didn’t matter anymore as our gazes held because we both wanted this moment too much. Wanted to fight to the death and keep Naya because she was ours. The only problem and I said so with a slow smile as I braced for attack with my blood-soaked axe.

“She belongs to me now,”

I growled.

That was it.

All he needed to hear, and I didn’t blame him.

Had another wolf swooped in and taken her from me, I would have felt the same, but then, in some small way, Niall had. He had selfishly stolen her via a bite. Stolen not just her life but that of her cousins. He had exposed them to incredible pain when they had already spent most of their lives fighting for normalcy.

So when I came at him with all my might, roaring in fury, it was for Naya and her cousins. For my new pack members and kin. For all the choices stolen from them as my blade crashed into Niall’s. It was fast, furious, and exhilarating as I drove him back, and he drove me forward via the magic gifted to him by Adlin because he would not have those skills otherwise.

His only skills lay in preying on the weak.

Interestingly, his men started falling quickly. By all appearances, they knew how to wield a blade one moment, the next, not at all. When I glanced at Tréan, he wore a small smile, telling me all I needed to know. Adlin had given these men the expertise they needed to get this far, but it had been a dwindling spell designed to aid the Wolves of Ossary.

“Fucking wizards,”

Niall muttered under his breath as he staggered back under the weight of a particularly strong clash of our blades. “I should’ve known. I should have—”

Even though I had been determined to draw this out and torture him endlessly, I wouldn’t risk Tadc saving him at the last minute, so I whipped my axe as hard as I could, savoring the sight of it landing in his chest with a heavy thump.

Staggering under its weight, Niall’s eyes widened and locked on mine before his gaze slowly drifted down in disbelief to the axe, and he fell to his knees. Well aware his men were all but defeated, I strode his way, gripped his hair roughly before he could fall, and narrowed my wolven eyes on his face, enjoying the metallic tang of his blood on the wind. Making sure I was the last thing he saw, I slowly ran my dagger across his throat, keeping his angry, defiant, shocked gaze with mine until, slowly but surely, the light faded from his treacherous eyes, and he was gone.

Outside of making Naya mine, nothing had ever felt so good.

So good that when Niall fell to his death, I fell to my knees, overcome by relief that I had reaped vengeance on my mate and her cousins’ maker. Vengeance so impactful I slumped to the ground, caught in a strangely ever-intensifying sense of relief that made it feel like everything inside me could finally relax and let go.

Naya was avenged and safe.

Niall would never have her again.

I longed to see the pride in her eyes when she knew her monster had been slain and she was free now. Niall could no longer hurt her or anyone else ever again.

I was vaguely aware of the battle dwindling down around me as I lay on my back gazing up at the sunlight streaming through the swaying trees. Or was the battle still raging? I couldn’t tell. All I thought about was Naya and how much this would mean to her. How much it meant to all of us.

“He’s gone, mo chara is gaire,”

I whispered when I swore I saw her face hovering above mine. “He cannot hurt you anymore.”

Then she was gone, lost in the sunlight and swaying trees, silenced by the roar of battle before she was there again, sobbing against my chest.

“Why are you crying, wife?”

I asked, but she must not have heard me because she was lost again before I felt her cool hands cupping my cheeks and saw her glorious eyes meet mine. Then, just as swiftly, she was swept away, and my gaze locked on a great beast lumbering my way.

“No!”

I tried to say, roar, warn, but the words wouldn't come out. Not even a weak croak broke from my lips as the mighty bear who’d slain me in my youth stood over me, looked me in the eyes with his teeth bared, and roared so mightily the ground shook, and his hot breath blew across my face.

How was he here? I didn’t understand. Was Naya safe? My pack? Was this a dream? Memory? I tried to move, but it was impossible. Somehow, I was inside myself and outside all at once until the bear roared louder, and I was back in bed with Naya.

“Come back for them!”

she cried, her face replacing the bear’s. “Protect them!”

Thrust back to that fateful day all over again, I whipped my blade into the bear to protect my da, only to find he wasn’t there. Instead, two tiny male wolf pups were curled up together, staring back at me, not with fear but with hope.

“Come back for them!”

Naya cried again, her voice more challenging now, daring me. “Protect them!”

As if backing up her challenge, the pups stood side by side now, staring at me with their wolven eyes flaring. A blink later, I was on the ground again, looking up at them. They stared down at me for a long moment before they howled into the sunlight when moonlight suited them better. Then the bear roared again, drawing closer.

Too close.

Watching.

Waiting.

Ready to pounce.

“No!”

I roared in return, frustrated when my voice caught in my throat.

I tried again and again, desperate to scare off the bear with my voice alone because I couldn’t move, but it didn't work. He was too close now, charging toward the pups. Terrified for them, determined to protect them, I finally managed the mightiest roar I could muster, pleased when it broke from my chest. When it did, the bear’s face dissolved into a sunlit fog, only for Naya’s wolven eyes to appear through dark, turbulent waves.

This time, she didn’t shun me in fear but grabbed hold of my wolf and let me lead her to shore. Or was she leading me? I could not tell.

“Bain, husband, mate,”

she whispered as though she’d been repeating those words, her cheeks wet with tears as everything turned hazy and hard to see before her beautiful face snapped into focus. “Come back to us. Come back to me and our pups. Come back to your family.”

I struggled to talk, but I was too discombobulated and couldn’t speak until Tréan was there on my other side, cupping my head and urging me to drink. As cool, refreshing water slid down my parched throat, I became increasingly aware of my surroundings.

Niall lay dead beside me and more slain enemy warriors. More of Tadc’s men. I bolted upright in alarm, going for my blade only for Tréan to grasp my arm and make things clear in a way my wolf would understand.

“All is well, brother.”

He clasped the back of my neck and forced me to look into his wolven eyes. “We are safe for now, thanks to you and your mate.”

As he gazed into my eyes, I saw flashes of Naya standing over my prone body on the forest floor, fighting with such savagery, Viking blade in hand, that there could be no doubt her inner Renegade protected me. “Even if your pack hadn’t surrounded you in protection, your fated mate, and she is that in every sense of the word now, protected you above all else with a fierceness unmatched by any.”

“Of course she did,”

I said, grateful to find my voice again. “She’s Naya.”

“Yes, she is.”

Kaia crouched beside Tréan and smiled at me, the strength in her steady eyes and voice welcome. “And you’re Bain.”

She shook her head, eyes moist with emotion, before she nodded once. “Someone I’m very proud to call my brother and fellow Wolf of Ossary.”

She clasped my shoulder. “Might you always protect Naya and your offspring as valiantly as you did today.”

“Always,”

I vowed, confused by the moment because Naya could not bear children, but I was fine with that as long as I had her.

“Good,”

Naya said softly, returning my attention to her sweet voice and beautiful face. She cupped my cheek and smiled. “Because even though I’ll protect our pups with everything in me, it wouldn’t hurt if their badass, axe-wielding father helped me out a little.”

When I blinked and shook my head, sure I had heard wrong, she rested my hand on her womb and nodded. “Yes.”

The corner of her mouth curled up. “And I’m fairly certain we can thank them for saving you from…”

When her voice caught, and she closed her eyes, fighting emotion as a tear slipped down her cheek, Tréan took over.

“When you killed Niall, you ended your Fated Mate Cycle with Naya, having extinguished all that had harmed her,”

Tréan said. “When that happened, you died, brother. ‘Twas your time according to the curse. Yet, against all odds, you conceived just before that,”

he revealed. “’Twas them, powerful Renegade pups born of ours and our enemy’s bloodlines, who brought you back.”

I heard the emotion in my alpha’s voice before he went on. “And ‘twas also you, needing to protect your kin, that brought you back.”

Again, he hesitated, fighting past emotion. “You fight to protect family, brother, and that was proven again today, even from the brink of death. Even caught within a curse that should have ended you.”

In joyous disbelief, I inhaled only to no longer catch the scent of Naya in heat, telling me her cycle had ended sooner than it should have because she’d conceived. Never happier, I pulled her into my arms and closed my lips over hers, desperate for more. Eager for everything we could have now. The life we thought denied us. Endless lovemaking and endless offspring.

“Easy on the endlessness.”

She smiled against my lips. “Let’s start with two and see how that goes because I suspect they’ll be a handful.”

“I think you’re right.”

I couldn't help but meet her smile because, if nothing else, our mutual lust would work against her wishes, and not taking my fated mate when she was in heat again would be impossible. “Based on how they stood their ground with the bear, they will be as much a handful as their future sisters and brothers.”

If I knew nothing else, I wanted at least one daughter who was just like her mother. Well, mostly. Naya, without the extreme lust, would be favorable because I would kill any male who dared touch her.

“Speaking of the bear.”

I pushed all the future males I hoped not to kill from my mind and eyed Tréan curiously. “Why do you think I saw him?”

“’Tis hard to know.”

A flicker of wisdom lit my alpha’s eyes. “Mayhap ‘twas your inner beast’s way of letting you know you had offspring coming that you should protect.”

He shrugged. “Or it could have even been the spirit of the bear helping you back from the afterlife. As you recall, he was given a merciful death. Then, as is the natural order of things, he sustained the lives of our pack over a particularly cold, hard winter. Life sustains life in nature. ‘Tis a cohesive unit that works together in balance.”

As did my alpha because as Tréan spoke, I realized he had known all along that my sons were coming.

“That’s why you called us to Callum’s castle,”

I realized. “You knew Naya wasn’t talking about protecting Ceara’s pups under the influence of magic, but ours. You knew our pack was expanding yet again in powerful ways.”

“They did,”

Naya said, having figured it out, too, as she looked from Kaia to Tréan. “It was also why they ordered me to stay behind.”

“Indeed,”

I murmured, never so grateful to Tréan and Kaia because they made this possible. “You two knew the moment of conception had not quite happened yet, and it would need to happen if I were to find my way back. Had Naya come with us sooner, she might have been slain, and you would have lost us both. It had to go the way it did.”

“Ta.”

Tréan smiled before his expression darkened. “And while I would prefer we all return to the pack so we might continue celebrating, I fear Naya was right, and one of Niall’s men turned on him.”

He looked at Naya. “Storm is safe at the Colonial with Adlin, but this man has made it back to the twenty-first century because he answers to Tadc now.”

“Understood.”

Naya nodded once. “I’ll handle this.”

“You mean we will handle this.”

I looked at Tréan, praying he would back me up because there was no way I would allow my fated mate and offspring to face a dangerous situation alone, especially that far away from me. In fact, if he did not give the right answer, we might have a much bigger problem than a pack war.