Chapter 27 #2
I didn't make it two steps before the bond roared back.
It hit me like a shockwave, hot and fierce and furious, and I gasped, my knees giving out as the warmth flooded back in, stronger than before. Not dying. Not gone.
Alive.
Daska moved.
Karik's jaws were still locked around his throat, but Daska's massive paw came up and caught the black wolf's skull. I watched as his claws sank in, deep enough to draw blood, and then he tore Karik off him. Karik flew backward, hitting the ground hard, but staggering back to his feet with a growl. The other wolf tried to hang on, teeth still buried in his shoulder, but Daska reached around with claws the length of daggers and tore it free. He dragged it beneath him, pinning him with his back paws and then with his front paws, he grabbed its head and crushed it against the ground. The sound made my stomach turn, but I couldn’t look away.
Daska was on his feet.
Not standing. Rising. His body coiled, his head lifting, and the roar that came from his was primal and resonant, shaking the ground beneath us.
Blood poured from the wounds on his throat, his shoulder, his side—so much blood I didn't understand how he was still standing.
But he was. He was on his feet, swaying slightly, his breath coming in ragged huffs that I felt echo in my own chest through the bond.
Karik circled back around. His lips pulled back from bloodied teeth, and for the first time since the fight began, I saw something that looked like fear flicker across his face. He'd expected Daska to stay down. Expected this to be over.
It wasn't.
Daska advanced on him slowly, each step deliberate, his massive head lowered, his eyes locked on Karik with an intensity that made my breath catch. The bond thrummed between us, hot and fierce, and I could feel his rage, his determination, the absolute certainty that he was going to end this.
Karik backed up a step. His eyes slid sideways to me, and I met them unflinchingly.
I wasn’t afraid anymore. He snarled, turning back and leaping at Daska, but this time Daska wasn’t distracted.
He caught Karik by the throat and the hindleg, and slammed him into the ground.
Karik struggled, but Daska reached down, gripping Karik’s throat with his paw, claws like knives ready to tear into his flesh.
For a moment, the world went still.
Karik's eyes were wide, his breathing ragged, and Daska's hand tightened just enough to make him whine.
I could feel the pull of it through the bond.
The desire to finish it, to tear Karik's throat out and end the threat permanently.
My hands clenched at my sides, nails digging into my palms, and I didn't know if I wanted him to do it or not.
Kill him. He tried to take you. He hurt Daska. He deserves to die.
But if Daska killed him, there would be consequences. Blood feuds. Retaliation. More violence spiraling out from this moment like ripples on water.
Through the haze of adrenaline and pain bleeding through the bond, I felt something shift in Daska's awareness.
Rivik stepped forward.
“Daska.”
Daska looked up, his eyes meeting Rivik’s. Rivik didn’t say anything else, he just looked at him, then gave the slightest shake of his head.
My breath caught.
Is he telling him to kill Karik? Or…
The silence stretched. Daska's hand stayed where it was, and Karik's claws scrabbling uselessly at Daska's massive paw.
Daska's claws trembled against Karik's throat.
I felt the war inside him. The bear screaming for blood, for vengeance, for the satisfaction of ending the wolf who'd tried to take his mate.
And underneath it, quieter but no less powerful, the man who understood consequences.
Who trusted his alpha. Who knew that killing Karik here would mean war.
His paw lifted slowly, claws dragging free of Karik's flesh but not tearing. Not killing.
Karik lay there in the dirt, gasping, and Daska stepped back. Slowly. Deliberately. His gaze never left Karik's face, and the message was clear.
You live because I allow it.
The pack erupted.
Howls and cheers and shouts in a dozen languages, the sound crashing over me like a wave. Warriors surged forward, surrounding Daska, and I couldn't see him anymore. My knees gave out and hit the ground, but Megan was there, her arms around me, her voice close and steady.
"He's alive. Ellie, he's alive."
I was crying. I didn't know when I'd started, but the sobs were tearing out of me now, ugly and desperate, and I couldn't stop shaking. My shoulder ached. My ribs burned. The bond was still too hot, too tight, and I couldn't tell what was his pain and what was mine.
The crowd shifted, and Daska pushed through.
Still in bear form. Still covered in blood.
One eye was swollen shut, and there was a deep gash across his ribs.
The thick fur matted with blood, both his and wolf, hid the rest of his wounds, but he looked at me with those deep brown eyes and the bond glowed with warmth inside me as I felt his satisfaction.
He had protected me, his mate. He had done what he needed to do and now I was safe.
I lunged for him, wrapping my arms as far round him as I could, burying my face into his thick fur, my tears adding to the blood.
I was sobbing too hard to speak, but I needed to touch him, needed to feel him solid and real beneath my hands.
Then he was human again and his arms were around me, and his mouth was on mine.
His hands were shaking as they cupped my face, his kiss desperate and claiming, and through the bond I felt his relief crash into me like a tidal wave.
Alive. We're both alive.
He pulled back just enough to press his forehead to mine, his breath ragged against my lips.
"Safe," he managed, his voice rough. "You're safe."
"Don't…" My voice broke. "Don't ever do that again."
His thumb brushed across my cheek, wiping away tears mixed with his blood. "I would do it again," he said quietly. "Every time. For you."
"Daska."
A shadow fell across us. I looked up to find Karik standing a few feet away, in human form now, one hand pressed to his throat where Daska's claws had been.
His wolves flanked him, tense and ready, but Karik's eyes were locked on me with something that looked almost like respect mixed with the fury.
"She's yours," he said coldly. Blood trickled between his fingers. "I acknowledge the mating."
Daska's arms tightened around me, pulling me closer against his chest. I felt the rumble of a growl building in his throat, but he didn't shift. Didn't attack. Just held me and waited.
Karik's gaze slid to Rivik, who'd moved to stand beside us. "Your pack harbors strong warriors, Rivik. Stronger than I gave you credit for." He spat blood into the dirt. "The healer fights like a demon."
"The healer fights for his mate," Rivik said evenly. "As any mate would.”
I couldn’t help it. My eyes flicked to where Nathan had stood the entire time, watching impassively as always.
I wondered if it had been Megan, would he have fought as bravely.
Something told me he wouldn’t have, and for the first time in two years, I silently thanked fate than Nathan had rejected me back in that hotel room.
Karik gave Rivik another cold look, then his eyes were on me.
What I saw in them turned my body cold. That wasn’t the look of a man who accepted he’d lost. That was a man who knew he had to retreat…
for now. He shifted, and turned away, leading his pack slowly back up the valley.
His wolves followed, but they weren’t happy.
I looked over at Rivik who was watching them leave.
His eyes never left Karik, and I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was.
This isn't over.