Chapter 41
I clutched Shatter to my chest as I carried her to the cabin.
Decebal had driven, but she’d been between Umbra and Ransom. None of them were awake, but Ransom had laced his fingers into hers.
Ransom was vacant, the fury of his feral spiral having died to catatonia.
Umbra had collapsed after he’d pulled Shatter into his arms in that room.
Both would survive because of her.
I was still in shock.
She’d succeeded where we’d failed. The omega who had made my pack whole. She hadn’t just saved us—she’d found a miracle within an ocean of darkness.
Because the princess bond had defaulted back to us when the Lincoln pack had died.
The most powerful bond in the world.
An anchor like no other, tethering Umbra and healing Ransom. She was more than I’d ever dared dream. More than I could have conceived of the day I’d first seen her. And she’d found a way to accomplish what I’d been fighting for ever since we’d escaped that facility.
I reached the spare room and sat on the bed, holding her close, unable to imagine letting her go again.
Her terror was impossible to shake.
The moment Flynn had died, I’d felt her through the bond. She’d broken, teeth clenched, tears tracking her face. And that made what she’d done so much more powerful. Born of fury and violence, to me, vengeance was a gift.
For her, I realised, it was a nightmare.
And she’d done it, anyway.
I lay her down in bed and tucked her in, helping Decebal bring in Ransom. He was half with it, taking a few tired steps, but he curled up next to her in a moment, clutching her close. Thankfully, we had Decebal’s massive pack mate, Bane, to help haul Umbra into the cabin. Kai had stayed behind to clean up the mess we’d left.
I sank down onto the couch so I could see them all, still in shock.
“He’ll be alright?” I asked.
The pack had all but disintegrated beneath us, and Ransom had needed this bond to become stable in the first place. “I think so,” Decebal said as we tucked Ransom in beside Shatter. “The pack is whole. He’ll be okay with some rest.”
Umbra sat beside the bed, holding her hand, his usually rich skin, ashen. I was still in shock, not something I was used to. Experiments had scorched my being from most human responses to fear or challenge. But this—being so close to losing the only good thing we’d ever found—it had torn back a thousand charred layers.
It was another reminder of her beauty.
She made me human.
Decebal set a beer on the table to my right before cracking his own and sitting on the couch beside me.
“Roxy’s on the way.”
“She is?” I asked.
“Blew up every pack number she has. Told her the location. She sounded on the edge of a breakdown.”
I nodded. That was good. Shatter needed all the support she could get when she woke up.
“What about the police?”
“We wiped everything from that room but the Lincoln pack. Removed all evidence of you or her. Kai made sure it looked like a bad trip. Contaminated drugs have been an issue recently. He laced some with the poison and left it on the scene.”
“And Mord?” He knew we’d been there. “How much did he see?”
“Pretty much everything. We found you just in time for the Lincoln pack to fire the last bullet.”
“Did he give you trouble?”
“The opposite,” Decebal snorted. “When we realised what had happened, he seemed to find it funny. Said he’d got his pay and vanished. Gone before we got your door unlocked.” He shrugged. “Sato’s not in the habit of running his mouth to the cops. Not worth picking a fight over if you ask me.”
I nodded, rubbing my face, still trying to catch up on everything.
“I’m sorry, mate,” Decebal said quietly. “All of this—years, just to bail on you at the end.”
“Nah,” I grunted. The building was massive, it was pure luck who’d run into who. “Anyway, you were there.”
That was worth the world, getting that door open so one of us could be there for her.
I’d never been frozen a day in my life, but holding her eyes through the glass, I hadn’t been able to move. Even when she was shaking. It had been Umbra, weak as he was, who’d staggered past Decebal and Kai to get to her.
She’d sunk into his arms, clutching him like her life depended on it, and I’d felt the drive in him through the bond.
He’d been on the brink of collapse, pushed to the edge and ripped back.
But he’d had to be there for her.
“Nothing stronger than a princess bond, Dusk. They’re both going to be fine.”
“I know.”
There was a pause.
“The injection didn’t work.”
And despite that, it had all worked out—somehow. Shatter, I realised now, had been holding onto her plan the whole time. One that cost her everything. And yet, if I’d managed what I’d tried for—partially cleaving from the pack so I could save them all from Flynn... If Ransom had lost himself, and Umbra had untethered... Well, I don’t know. It was possible the pack would have fallen apart before she could have saved us.
“That was Kai.” Decebal said, something a little sour in his voice. “Umbra contacted him. Told him he knew I’d be trying something stupid. That weasel swapped out the vials on me.”
“All so he could try something stupider?” I scowled. “He could have died.”
“Same goes for you,” Decebal said quietly.
I turned on him, furious. “Umbra would have died without her—no two ways about it.”
“Fuck off, mate,” Decebal snorted. “It was all precautionary. I could have dealt with Flynn if it came to it, but you all had to go off, half-cocked didn’t you? Fucking idiots—but you can’t deny, with Umbra’s plan, he would have killed them without a doubt. You could have taken that shot and dropped dead that second. Since you were both insisting on suicide, Kai figured Umbra’s was a better bet, and I don’t like it, but he wasn’t completely wrong.”
Fucking red-eyed prick.
And fuck Decebal, too.
I opened my mouth, then shut it scowling, eyeing the alpha at my side. I don’t think I’d ever heard Decebal say so many words in one breath.
“Plus. Then she’d have had to anchor Umbra, heal Ransom, and drag her stupid-ass pack lead back from a half finished cleaving.”
I clenched my jaw, turning back to my pack, trying to quell the panic of what could have been.
“You have no idea how…” Decebal trailed off, and I glanced at him. His jaw ticked, whole body tense as he stared at the three of them curled up on the bed. “I’m glad you all made it.”
I nodded, looking back at Shatter, who was resting between Ransom and Umbra, looking peaceful right now.
Again, I took a breath.
They were all alive.
We were a pack still, somehow—more a pack than we’d ever been.
“Your files are all on the kitchen table for when you want them,” Decebal said.
“Files?”
“History.” I saw a glint of delight in his eyes.
Shit…
Oh… shit.
My history? The person I’d been before all of this. Before the Cimmerian Vaults. It had been a pillar to chase, towering in the distance, always out of reach. My heart crashed irrationally hard against my ribs now that it was real.
Until this moment, I hadn’t realised how little I’d believed we would ever see the end of this.
Was I ready for that?
Did I want it?
“I’m not going to lie, there’ve been times I wondered if I’d ever get to give it to you.” Decebal’s jaw was tight as he glanced over at the bed. “She’s special,” he added. “Way too perfect for you.”
“You’re next, you know that?” I asked, shoving away my nerves and looking back at him. “And I hope whoever the universe gifts you for a scent match is a pain in your fucking ass.”
Decebal snorted before taking another sip. “I hope that’s not too far off.”
I glanced at him, frowning at the strain in his voice. He grimaced. “Thought it was insensitive to bring up before, given the... situation. But it’s…” He scratched his jaw. “It’s Angel.”
“What about him?” I knew Angel was the fifth member of Decebal’s pack, though I’d never met him.
“Aura sickness.”
I frowned, working through that. “Shit.”
“We’ll uh… we’ll figure it out.” He didn’t look convinced as he took a swig of his beer.
“Where’s Logan?” I asked. I swear it had been Logan that Decebal had told me was coming, not Bane.
Decebal snorted. “Pissed, that’s what. I’m sure Angel won’t thank us for leaving him to tend to his wounds all night.”
“Wounds?” I asked.
Decebal sounded amused. “The ego sort. Ransom knocked him out and dented his Mercedes. I don’t know if he’ll survive.”
I got to my feet, finding a smile at that.
“I’m grabbing a quick shower. No need for all of us to reek of Lincoln pack blood when she wakes up.” I turned as I reached the door. “And, Decebal?”
“Yeah?” he asked, meeting my eyes.
“You’re fired.”
As I turned, I saw him raising his drink, a broad grin on his face. His mutter followed me out the door. “About fucking time.”