Chapter 34
“Consider this your last chance, Brother.” Ace’s voice was victorious. “Walk away and everything goes back to the way it was before.”
The world was ending. It had to be.
Crying out was useless. With every terrified sound I made, Zed took another step. He hadn’t taken his eyes from us, gun pointed at Ace, finger tense on a trigger he knew he couldn’t pull.
“You have me,” Zed snarled. “This is between us.”
“Is it?” Ace laughed, but I couldn’t hear what he said next. Not when every slow step carried Zed closer to that wire.
I couldn’t watch this.
I wasn’t strong enough, not after everything.
I loved him. I’d loved him more fiercely than even the day I’d met him. The Alpha the universe had chosen. A match of politics I’d always been afraid of. But he had become so much more than that—had given me a choice when I’d had none, and I’d fallen for him anyway.
I wouldn’t watch him die.
The cuffs… they were made for Alphas, enough to capture my wrists, but they were loose. Agony seared my hands as I threw my weight against the chains with more desperation than I ever had before.
No…
Something hot and wet made the fight easier. I almost lost myself at the flash of pain in my thumb, but with a growl, I wrenched at it and I was free.
I couldn’t wait—couldn’t risk Ace stopping me as I threw myself across the stage, my desperate cry stifled behind my gag as I saw Zed take another step.
Too close.
The tripwire.
I almost lost my balance as I tumbled from the stage. I barely stifled my scream of pain as my broken hands caught my fall, but I was already shoving myself up.
My bare feet burned on rough carpet as I sprinted, heart in my throat. Ace hadn’t stopped me. I didn’t care what guns were pointed my way. Zed was only steps from death, eyes wide, taking them faster now I made for him.
“Glade!”
No!
I ran faster than I ever had in my life, ignoring the spinning world that blurred through desperate tears.
Two steps away.
The tripwire glinted again, like a strand of spiderweb in the morning light.
I would be too late.
After everything, I was going to watch him die.
One step—and he lifted his free arm, reaching for me, shock written on his face and the motion halted him.
I almost choked with relief.
I wouldn’t be able to stop, but it didn’t matter—I collided with Zed, and he caught me. I felt a sharp pain pinch at my back—nothing compared to my wounded hands. But enough to know what had happened as the poison hit my bloodstream.
It didn’t matter.
My hands, sticky with blood, fumbled for his face as I looked up at him, ice-blue eyes fixed on mine.
I love you…
Words I couldn’t say as darkness crept in, but I was in the arms of the Alpha who’d given me a choice in a world that never had.
And this choice was mine, too.
To die surrounded, not by redwood and roses, but the cool mist of snow santal.
In my arms, Glade’s eyes rolled back, and she went limp, her hands falling from my cheeks.
“N-no...” She couldn’t be... I sank to my knees, turning her and trying to wake her. “Glade?”
Tears stung my eyes.
What had she done?
“What happened?” The faint static of Knight’s voice was almost incomprehensible.
Her breathing was short and shallow... she was dying. But she couldn’t—not now. She’d given everything for us, and I’d left her behind—left her to a monster.
“Come back, B-Baby.” My words trembled as I cupped her cheek, devoid of warmth. “Wake up.”
It couldn’t end like this. When she thought I hated her.
“What the fuck is going on?” I felt Kyan’s fear through the bond, could hear the sharpness of his voice through the earpiece.
“W-wake up.”I shook her.
I heard footsteps, and my instincts misfired. My gun snapped up, pointing at Ace, who was walking toward me. Everything in me begged to pull the trigger.
It wouldn’t be enough—a bullet wasn’t enough. I needed to tear him apart piece by piece.
“I wouldn’t...” Ace lifted a hand, and I paused, seeing two red dots appear on his palm, shivering back and forth. With a smile, he made a flicking motion toward me. My gaze jumped down to her, and my heart skipped a beat as I saw the target on her forehead.
The brown of her skin, usually rich, was now sickly; her eyes were closed. But she hadn’t been shot.
There was no blood. No... anything that would explain what had happened. The trembling fingers of my free hand searched her body desperately, trying to understand, until I found something below her left shoulder.
I pulled it free, staring at the tiny dart.
Poison...
My reluctant mind caught on.
This death was meant for me.
“Your pack’s specialty, is it not?”
I looked up at him in shock, mind reeling as I tried to keep up. I had to keep up. She was dying. I couldn’t kill him, not until I knew how.
“The same one...?” My voice was a faint rasp. Kyan would have an antidote.
If I could just get her out...
The red dot still hovered, a promise that at the slightest movement, this would all be over.
“I was always destined for this, Zed. To see you at my feet.”
“Is it the same poison?” I asked again. They needed to know—Kyan did. If it was the one he’d used on my father, he’d have the antidote.
How much time did we have?
“Dad loved his poker, didn’t he?” Ace went on, ignoring me, head cocked as he stared down at us. “The proof is in the game.” His smile was wild. “What is the only card worth more than a king?”
He was mad.
Completely and utterly.
But Glade was running out of time. I needed to get her out. Plans spun and died, threats looming from every direction.
I clutched her close, like holding on would stop the poison.
I couldn’t let her die.
“I loved playing with her, Zed. She changes even the best laid plans. Turns out a stolen scent match is worth even more than my own.” He took another step, his knuckle tracing the gun I still held at him. As useless as it was. “I’m not ready for this to be over, not when she fought so hard.” He closed the last step between us. “I’ll give you one hour. Then I’m coming for all of you.”
I couldn’t process what he was saying. Did he mean?—?
But the red dot vanished from Glade’s forehead as Ace gripped my chin, forcing me to look up at him. His eyes danced with malice, his voice a low, predatory snarl.
“Run.”