55. It Ends Today
55
IT ENDS TODAY
*Kieran*
With Raven’s last words— I love you more than you can imagine —ringing in my ears, I pound across the open plain toward the river that is apparently our only hope of survival. We left the forest half an hour ago, and since then, my father’s forces have been gathering behind us. More men stayed with him than I hoped. Fewer than I feared. I still don’t know that we could take them in a fair fight.
Luckily, we have Raven on our side.
We reach the river. At the last possible second, I call across the mind-link, ‘Jump!’
My brother’s gray body flies through the air to my left, Taner’s white wolf on my right. We land in a cloud of dust on a seemingly empty riverbank.
‘ My love?’ I ask.
‘Here.’ Her voice washes over me like cool water. Just waiting.
‘I’ll join you .’ Blake—King Cole–steps out from behind some brush with his wife at his side. They hold hands like they’ll never let go again.
After only a short time away from Raven, I understand.
My father’s forces stop on the other side of the river, and he strides forward in human form, already laughing.
“Pitiful.” He shakes his head. “You betray our family for this ? There really are witches in Escuro.”
“No witches,” King Cole replies. “Just love.”
That makes Father laugh even harder. “And how did love save you last we met, Cole?”
“It kept me alive.” He lifts his chin, every inch the Alpha I want to be.
Once my father’s blood paints these shores.
‘Come here, love ,’ I say to Raven. ‘ Please. I’ll keep you safe.’
She steps tentatively out of her hiding spot, also in human form, and joins me on the riverbank.
Father eyes her. “So you are alive. Pity.”
Raven clenches her fist in my fur. My beautiful wife, who I’ve seen face so many dangers, shrinks in the face of my father. He’s spent too long making her feel small. Not anymore.
‘Raven Blake, Crown Princess of Escuro, is my mate!’ I roar over the mind-link. ‘ And the only one to pity is you, Father, because she is the reason you’re going to fail.’
He snorts. “That pup has only ever failed herself. Advance!”
‘Thank you.’ Raven releases my fur. ‘ That’s exactly what I needed.’
My father’s men splash into the river in a frenzy of fur and water. She looks up at the cloudy sky, and suddenly, the clouds darken to pitch back. I have to squint to see. My love, my mate, raises her hands.
A bolt of lightning cracks through the sky, shattering the darkness, and strikes the surface of the river. The water lights with a thousand smaller arcs, and pained howls fill the air.
She’s brilliant.
‘Now!’ King Cole barks over the mind-link. ‘ Catch the stragglers.’
A couple of dozen Escurian warriors leap from more hiding places and form up on the bank, drooling and readying their claws. I command my men to join them, and the real fight starts.
It’s almost not fair. Soaked, singed wolves stagger out of the river in groups of two or three, and we tear into them. I sink my teeth into a haunch and yank until something cracks. Taner tackles one to the ground and digs into him like his chest is soft earth. Lucias and Whyte tag-team, pushing wolves back into the still-crackling river with a couple of Escurian fighters. Amidst us, King Cole shifts into a pure black wolf and joins the fray as though he was just another soldier. Blood turns the sand a slick red.
Suddenly, the clouds clear. I look back, panicked that my father somehow snuck through and found Raven, but she’s standing whole and resolute, staring out over the river.
She’s looking at my father–who didn’t even bother to shift, much less enter the river with his men. Raven cleared the storm so I might cross the river safely.
This kill is mine.
I plunge into the water. The remainder of the lightning sparkles over my skin, but it doesn’t hurt me. Raven never would. I shoulder the corpses of Father’s men out of the way, choking on the stink of charred skin. And then I emerge.
Father looks at me. “You honestly believe—”
The time for words is over. As I’ve learned, Father has preferred words to fighting for far too long. I throw myself at him, my jaw wide.
Not all of the rumors of his fighting skills were exaggerated. He flips backward, exploding into a shift and landing on four paws. Before I can even gauge his weakness, he’s charging me. I dodge, curl around, try to catch his leg, and miss. He’s faster than a wolf of his age has any right to be, and his silver pelt warns that he’s just as strong as I am. I can’t just overpower my way through this one.
Still, I dive at his side, hoping to knock him off his feet. He rolls, but I get the sense he’s letting me do this. Sure enough, we come to a stop with him on top. Command rolls off him in thick waves as he snaps at my throat. I tuck my chin and fight for purchase.
‘This is the man I was proud to call my father ,’ I yell. ‘ Not the one who poisons and lies.’
‘You’re na?ve if you think you can have one without the other ,’ he replies.
I snap my chin up and smash into the underside of his jaw, jarring both our skulls and giving me a split second to roll us over. I land on top, and he snarls at me.
‘You barely deserve the honor of a clean death .’ I shove his face into the wet earth with one paw and open my mouth to tear out his throat.
‘Kieran!’ Raven screams. ‘ Behind you!’
I throw myself to the side before even checking, then twist. My father’s Beta stands behind where I lay mere seconds ago, a sword plunged into the dirt next to my father. He was going to stab me in the back.
Father chuckles over the mind-link. ‘ All this, and you still expect me to fight fair?’
‘No ,’ I reply. ‘ But I have someone watching my back now.’
He narrows his eyes, and I see my opportunity. His Beta’s sword is stuck. He can’t get up.
My paw flashes through the air, silver hair and silver claws blurring into a single streak. I claim the throats of my father, and his Beta in a single stroke, leaving them to bleed out just the same way they left the men they couldn’t be fucked to fight with.
‘The king of Dun’s Crossing is dead ,’ Anwen calls somberly across the mind-link. ‘ Long live the king.’
The cheer goes up from all the wolves on the far side of the river. ‘ Long live the king!’