Chapter 30
Wyatt
Iknew she was in danger before I even spotted her. I started running across the town square just as Willow bolted out from the other side, Gregory barreling after her with a large knife in one hand and sharp wolf claws on the other.
Even as I ran, my mind couldn’t accept it.
It couldn’t be him.
Not the man who’d practically raised me when my own father had passed. Who’d shown me how to hunt large game and supported my need to find my own path when the rest of the pack hadn’t.
His bloodshot eyes landed on me as I bellowed his name, and he hesitated, giving me just enough time to get between him and Willow.
“Put the knife down,” I growled.
I wanted to tear him apart for betraying me and our pack. Worse, for threatening my mate.
Willow grabbed at the back of my shirt, trying to pull me along with her. But this had to end here. Now. The gathering crowd with cameras be damned. I heard the social media witch, Gwen, talking about immersive street theater and to please remain on the town green until the performance had ended.
“She destroyed our lives,” Gregory seethed, foam gathering at the corners of his lips. “She destroyed our pack and disrupted the natural order of things.”
I drew us toward the shadows of an alley, and he paced in short steps after me, anger and vengeance fueling him.
“It is my granddaughter who should be queen. It was agreed upon before you were even born.”
“Grandpa, stop!” Aisling barked as she came wheeling through the people lining the street. She pointedly placed herself between Willow and her grandfather. “I don’t want you to do this. This was never what I wanted.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Gregory but noted in my periphery that many members of the pack were circling us now, further obscuring us from view. One such wolf was my mother. And her fangs were bared at Gregory.
Good.
They should all be here to see this, to see what their lack of support for Willow had done and how they’d emboldened this man to hurt an innocent person.
“You deserve to be queen, Aisling!” Gregory shouted. “It was predestined by the moon.” He shifted his gaze between Aisling and me. “I’ve loved you like a son, Wyatt. Cared for you and your sister like my own. And this is how you repay me?”
“Love doesn’t need to be repaid!” Aisling scolded the older man. “And I don’t love Wyatt like that. I never wanted to marry him or be queen. You forced that path on me. Please don’t rip our pack apart for a dream that was never mine.”
Gregory didn’t soften. In fact, Aisling’s confession only seemed to anger him more. He snarled, his features morphing. Fur stretched over human skin.
Fuck.
I looked over the crowd to see Billy and Dean trying to distract the onlookers with a skit of their own, juggling gourds between them, but too many eyes were still trained on us.
“We’ll handle this as a pack,” I told him, embodying my alpha wolf. “Follow me to the haunted forest and we’ll talk about this sensibly.”
We both knew I was lying. He wouldn’t let this defuse to a simple conversation, not now. This was tantamount to a coup. He’d either win or be banished, and I could see in his eyes that he knew this was where it all ended.
It all happened in a split second. His muscles tensed, and my hackles went up. Bracing my body for impact, I watched as Gregory hurled himself through the air at me, fangs fully on display.
I heard Eloise cry, “No!” just as the shing of metal sounded, followed by Willow’s scream.
Then a bloom of burning pain hit my side.
I looked down, confused, at the knife still in Gregory’s hand.
Then at the smaller one now lodged in my abdomen.
Silver. My vision blurred before I could scour the crowd for who’d thrown it.
My knees cracked on the pavement as I yanked the blade free.
And my ears started ringing, drowning out the frantic faces that gathered above me.
A pair of glowing, heated hands pressed to the wound. It was Jordyn. Above her, Harlow held Willow back as she sobbed.
I turned my head to see Aisling and Liam standing over Gregory, who now lay on the pavement, as Liam bound his hands behind his back with his belt.
The defeated look in Gregory’s eyes told me he wouldn’t fight his bonds.
He knew it was over. With a wince of pain, I shook my head at him.
He would have torn me to pieces, but I never wanted him to end this way.
As alpha, I’d have to decide what to do with him .
. . if I could remain conscious for long enough.
Eloise knelt beside me, hands shaking. “Shit, Wyatt. He lunged for you and—and I-I was aiming for him.”
“Of course it was you who threw a silver knife at me,” I gritted out, fighting to stay conscious.
“What are little sisters for, eh?” she tried to joke even as her voice wobbled. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve done to you, right?”
“It wouldn’t even make the highlight reel,” I rasped as my eyes rolled back.
Feet on pavement started to filter through the blood pounding in my ears.
“We’ve got to get the traces of silver out before it poisons him,” my mother directed.
Jordyn’s voice came next. “Help me carry him into the café.”
“He’ll be fine,” Eloise said, more to herself than to anyone. “He’s strong.”
“We thought we’d add a little Medieval Times-type battle into the new show this year,” I heard Billy calling to the crowd. “But it may be a little much for the younger kids. We’ll workshop it, folks. Who wants free ice cream as a reward for your input on our newest production?”
I had a feeling that if I survived this, Billy would be at my bedside telling me off. I imagined the citations and mountains of paperwork in my future.
Pain radiated through me as members of the pack lifted me off the ground. I groaned as an arm looped around my side, and I knew it was her wrapped all around me. Her warmth and her scent.
Willow. My Willow.
Something in me eased at the feel of her. I wanted to murmur words of reassurance, but I could only squeeze her back.
She was safe now. That was the only thing that mattered as I slipped beneath the waves of unconsciousness.