Chapter 27 - Lila
The moment Dawson and Caleb clash, my heart drops, and Astrid jerks in my arms, forcing me to realise that this is the last place she should be.
“Mama...” She whimpers into my neck as she clings to me.
I barely have the chance to soothe her before Luke and Dominic are there, the latter being in his human form. His expression softens the moment he looks at her.
“I’ve got her,” Dominic says. “We’ll keep her out of sight until it’s over.”
Even if Astrid has always responded well to them, she frowns and clings to me tighter. “No, I want Mama—”
My heart lurches. I hate this… all of it.
But I can’t have Astrid here while Dawson is in a frenzy, and not while he and Caleb are going for each other’s necks right now. She doesn’t need to see this.
“Astrid, honey. Look at me,” I say, pulling her back enough to look into her eyes, shielding her from the fight. “You know Luke and Dominic… they’ll protect you.”
It pains me to have to accept it myself, but I’ve seen them with Caleb. They’d never do anything to hurt Astrid. As hard as it is to be separated from her, I know this is for the better.
Her eyes are glossy with tears and panic. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“You’re not leaving,” I tell her softly, stroking her cheek. “You’re just going somewhere safe for a bit. I need you to be brave, just like you were earlier, and I’ll see you soon.”
At this, Astrid lets go of a shaky breath before slowly loosening her hold on me and allowing me to lower her to the ground.
“I’ll keep her safe with my life,” Dominic swears, seemingly reassuring me too, before he kneels in front of Astrid and offers his hand. “Want to ride on Luke’s back?”
At that, Astrid hesitates, but the idea lights her eyes up a bit more, and she nods.
With ease, Dominic gives her a caring smile before scooping her up and placing her on Luke’s back, showing her where to hold on. Then, he keeps pacing, watching her closely as they walk towards the trees in the opposite direction.
My stomach is in knots as she’s taken away, but I silently remind myself that she’ll be far safer with the two of them than anywhere near this fight.
I force myself to stand tall and to give her a small wave of reassurance when Astrid glances back at me before the trees swallow them up.
The very second she’s out of sight, my whole body goes numb as the snarling and aggressive snapping yanks my attention towards it. Fear and panic swell inside me, along with the sickening awareness that this confrontation can go very wrong, very quickly.
Pulling apart, Caleb circles Dawson in his massive form, darker in places from blood wetting his fur. His posture is lethal yet protective, teeth bared as he growls.
Dawson stalks opposite him while they size each other up, looking bigger than I would’ve imagined with his sandy-coloured hair. The sight is enough to prove why we were always told to never get too close to Wraith Peak when we were young. Monsters like him hid in the darkness.
Their strides are slow but deliberate, as they eye up the best places to attack, the sensitive spots that spill the most blood.
I hardly realise I’m shaking all the while I watch, bracing myself for the impending impact.
Caleb is strong and far more determined than most his age. He may be a bit smaller in his shifted form, but he’s fast. He always has been.
Still, Dawson is an Alpha of his own territory, left unchecked for years and years. He’s swollen with pride and desperate ambition, willing to wage war if it means getting the upper hand by taking Astrid and me. He sees us as prizes. Possessions.
But Caleb has something he doesn’t: a mate bond. A reason to fight that isn’t inherently self-serving.
I cling to that thought as Caleb launches forward again, going for Dawson’s right shoulder.
Their bodies slam together again, hoping to gain enough momentum to throw the other off balance, and I clench my teeth at every snarl and bite.
The scuffle is confusing, more like a blur of teeth and fur. Just as Caleb’s teeth find purchase in Dawson’s flank, the other twists, rolling them over and pinning him. They deal blow after blow, pushing through despite the obvious pain.
My pulse is so loud in my ears that it almost drowns out the savagery, but in all honesty, I wish it would just to give my heart a break.
Standing there with the others, barely recovered after being knocked out and forcibly taken, I hate how powerless I feel watching the only man I’ve ever wanted be forced into this position.
To have to defend and attack not only to keep us, but to keep everything else he has worked for. Not to mention his own life.
This isn’t out of the ordinary for an Alpha. In fact, defending your pack is a requirement, but it doesn’t stop the thought from ramming against my skull.
This is my fault. All of it.
If I had told Caleb about Astrid sooner, if I had never tried to hide away, and if I had been brave enough to face every difficult thing head-on…
The weight of self-blame and doubt is far too heavy, and even worse, it’s distracting, splitting my attention between fear and regret. I know I can’t let it, even when it’s an easy trap to fall into.
Dawson throws Caleb again, and the sound of his body hitting the ground snaps me back to the present. I have to focus.
I may not be able to physically fight for the pack in the same way Caleb can, but that doesn’t mean I’m weak or useless. After what Astrid and I did earlier, I know I have something to offer.
After everything, I know what I’m capable of.
Caleb lunges again, momentum powered by his low snarls. He clamps onto Dawson’s throat, using as much force as he can to drive the other Alpha back. Dawson’s paws tear into the dirt as he digs for resistance, refusing to yield, yet finding himself slipping into it.
Then he twists, quick and deliberate as he slams Caleb against a tree trunk, cracking and splintering it as bark flings through the air.
Caleb buckles for a moment too long, and Dawson takes advantage of it, biting between his neck and shoulder.
My eyes widen as the air is stolen from my lungs, and panic floods my system so fast that I have to bite back the urge to scream.
I want to run to him and pull Dawson off him myself. But I know how this kind of thing works—physically injecting myself into the fight will get either one of us killed. Likely both.
But there is another way. One that nobody else would ever detect.
The bond between us crackles and snaps like an exposed wire from the fight’s strain.
It’s fragile and sensitive after the last few days, and ever since he learned the truth about Astrid.
We’ve barely spoken and barely looked at each other, but the connection is still there.
Not broken, despite how shattering it all felt.
Right now, it’s all I have.
Closing my eyes, I shove the fear away, pushing aside the guilt, the shame, and the anger. All of it falls away until all that’s left is the pulsing tether linking me to him.
I follow it, and at first, I feel Caleb’s pain flooding it, crashing against me, and burning.
But his fury is quickly behind it, blinding and roaring.
Beneath it still, there’s the softness I found myself clinging to even when I didn’t want to accept our connection.
It’s steady and warm, calling to me even now.
His instincts are to protect me and Astrid with his life, even while he bleeds. Even while Dawson is doing everything in his power to tear him apart.
I don’t deserve it, and maybe I never will, but I take that warmth and double it, sending it straight back down the connection, weaving it with all the things I haven’t allowed myself to feel fully.
Hope, unfiltered trust, and a kind of devotion that can only come from a fated bond.
Most of all, love.
Even when it’s scary, and even through every risk that comes with putting my heart on the line all over again, and even when it has been broken before. To have every faith that he will guard it like his own, and the same way he guards Astrid. His flesh and blood.
In a way, we have always been one. But now, I need him to feel it straight from me. I need him to feel my forgiveness for the past, and to know I accept that he will always be the one for me.
He is the only one who can care for us so selfishly, and I believe that so completely now.
As I give and give, magic flickers through the bond. It isn’t a blast of wild energy like Astrid’s, but it’s older and direct, not leaving room for error.
Warmth ignites in my chest, humming through every inch of my body, and I press against the bond even harder.
For a beat, nothing happens.
Then I feel Caleb’s startled reaction through the channel, like a surge of clarity, as if he’s waking up to something so divine, even he can’t ignore it.
He feels me, and he feels what I’m offering him.
Despite his views and preconceived notions of magic, he accepts it because somewhere inside himself, he trusts me too. Even after everything, he’s there, standing at the end of the bond waiting for me. Drinking in that pure love without a second thought.
My throat tightens, but I don’t break my focus.
With a rush of renewed vigour, Caleb twists beneath Dawson’s oppressive hold, muscles rippling as he lunges upward, snapping his teeth around his foreleg. The other Alpha howls out, forced to release his grip and stumble back to try and recover.
But Caleb doesn’t leave him the room to recuperate, already slamming into him with so much force that the Wraith Peak wolves recoil. The two of them collide with the ground as Caleb weighs him down, enduring the struggle beneath him.
He’s faster now, and stronger too.
Then, Caleb’s teeth sink into the side of Dawson’s neck.
It isn’t a lethal bite, but it’s a dominant one, and one that evokes a flicker of uncertainty in his opponent’s eyes.
Dawson tries to twist and snap his jaws, desperate for some kind of silver lining, but Caleb’s insistent, slamming him down again as his claws dig in deep. He snarls louder against his neck, forcing his body to lower instinctively, caving to that undeniable command.
A sign of submission, even if he hasn’t fully given in yet.
He’s trying to fight it still, but it’s undeniable.
Releasing a shaky breath, I press a trembling hand to my sternum, and through the exhaustion, my knees feel weaker than before, like my energy has been syphoned out.
But I don’t stop. Even if I’ve pushed too far, risking us both, I keep a tight grip on the bond and flood it with as much light and emotion as I can.
Even if it isn’t over, the tide has turned, and Caleb is winning.
He’s not dying here, and he’s not being taken from Astrid just as he entered her life.
And certainly not from me.