Chapter 41
OFFERING UP A GIFT
LUKE
I burst through the trees, my wolf surging with relentless power as I chase after Bastan.
My heart pounds like a war drum in my chest, each beat echoing my determination.
The air is thick with the smell of oak and rotting leaves, but the scent of him fills my nostrils—sweat and fear laced with the pungent odor of deception.
The woods blur past me as I sprint, adrenaline pumping through my veins. My heart thunders, matching the rhythm of Lawson’s paws as they strike the ground.
My wolf is feral. Vicious. Filled with primal rage and unyielding, relentless fury.
Lawson’s moving like a machine, his muscles burning as his lungs scream for air and he refuses to let up.
We’re drawing closer to the bastard with every stride and he’s got no idea what I’m capable of.
We’re beyond wicked, beyond ruthless and so savage it’s uncontainable, ready to unleash a hell no one could imagine on the man we’re chasing.
He’s hurt Nia.
He might still be hurting her.
He’s going to pay for every tear she’s shed and by the time I’m done he’ll drown in a pool of his own.
Lawson snarls his agreement, growling as he hunts the wolf who ought to have protected our girl. The wolf who should have kept her safe from everything that threatened her. Instead, he’s an abomination and an insult, and he deserves to be erased from her memory.
The sharp smell of pine catches my wolf’s attention and Lawson slows, his senses heightening. He’s focusing on Bastan’s fading scent and the sounds of the woods around him, as his labored breathing slows.
Something’s off, and Lawson knows it.
The air feels charged, thick with an unnatural tension. The trees loom taller, the shadows deeper.
“It’s a trap, Lawson.”
“Of course it’s a fucking trap,” he snarls back, skidding to a halt.
My instincts scream another warning, already way behind my wolf. His eyes scan the area, searching for any sign of threat. I growl at him, irritated we’re wasting valuable seconds—seconds Nia and Lyall might not have—and Lawson stands firm, refusing to listen.
The world rustles around me, its whispers echoing with potential dangers. The ground beneath me isn’t as stable as it should be and Lawson’s temper flares, his anger burning even hotter.
We’re hunting a coward and we’re walking into a trap.
“This is going to be a shit show,” I growl at Lawson.
He bares his teeth and moves sideways, taking a longer route through the trees.
His hackles rise as he edges through the leaves and bushes, and he stops just short of the clearing ahead.
He crouches and watches, staring as the moonlight catches the shadows and barely illuminates the darkness of Bastan’s outline.
The low throaty growl that rolls off Bastan’s human chest rumbles through the undergrowth, shaking the leaves above me.
“Come on out, Luke,” he says, derision dripping through his mocking tone. “Let’s talk, man to man.”
My hands curl into fists and pure unadulterated rage pounds through me. Bastan’s not a man, and even if he was, I wouldn’t waste my breath on an unworthy, unconscionable cunt like him.
“This doesn't feel right, Lawson.”
“Of course it’s doesn't, Luke. But we need the asshole to tell us where Nia is and he can’t do that in wolf form.”
My wolf snarls and his muscles ripple, as he slips back and I step forward, irritated I’m having to shift and have a conversation.
I should be ripping the cunt to shreds, putting him back together and then shredding him all over again—and instead, I'm emerging from the cover underneath the trees and strolling toward the fucker.
He’s nothing like his daughter.
She’s graceful, where he’s cumbersome. She’s elegant, where he’s uncouth. Nia’s beautiful inside and out, and he’s only ugly. Only vile.
“Did you think you could manipulate me, Bastan?” I snarl, my words dripping with the promise of violence. “Did you really think you could escape me?”
He stands, a hulking figure cloaked in shadows, his eyes glinting with predatory intent. “You should have turned back, Luke,” he sneers, his voice thick with malice. “She isn’t worth it. Go back to that hovel you call home in Montana and leave Nia to me.”
I bare my teeth, a growl vibrating low and deep through my chest. “Your daughter?” The words tear from me like a growl, vibrating in the air between us. “You’ve done nothing but destroy her. You’re not fit to even speak her name.”
His laugh is sharp, a brittle sound that cracks through the night.
“You don’t understand, do you? She’s not yours to protect.
She’s mine to control, to shape. She was always meant to serve a purpose—my purpose.
You think this is about love?” He spits the word like it’s poison.
“She’s nothing but a vessel, a means to an end. ”
“You used your own daughter, Bastan. You poisoned her, you tried to kill her wolf.” My voice grows harsher as my anger seeps into every word. “You’re pathetic, Bastan. A weak, power-hungry Alpha who couldn’t tolerate it when his daughter was stronger than him.”
He throws his head back, laughing wildly. His cackle is disgusting, the sinister and dark laugh of a hyena or a man gone insane.
“That girl is not my daughter. Her mother was pregnant when I killed her pathetic excuse of her mate. I wanted her and I claimed her, and Nia’s no different from her mother, Luke.
I'll take what's mine and no one will stop me. Nia's mother couldn't and her child is just as feeble. That woman thought she could leave, thought she could defy me. I need an heir—a true heir, a male heir—and Nia will give me what her mother wouldn’t. It’s my right as Alpha, Luke, and I will claim what I’m due.”
I freeze as the horror standing before me unmasks itself.
Bastan’s mind is so twisted, so deranged, that he’s convinced himself he’s justified.
A rot festered inside him, growing more malevolent and putrid as his soul decayed and all that’s left is the appalling, revolting, and repulsive wolf who needs euthanizing for the good of the pack.
He’s a disease, an infection, and his evil needs amputating like a rotting limb.
“She’ll be ready as soon as that rabid wolf dies,” Bastan continues, his eyes flashing with anger. “That thing couldn’t obey an Alpha if it tried. It’s too damn wild, too fucking feral. Nia will birth strong pups because of it, but her wolf is a problem.”
His words twist inside me, and I feel my control fraying, my wolf straining to unleash all the fury clawing at my chest.
“The only problem around here is you, Bastan. Tell me where Nia is, and I’ll consider making this less painful for you.”
“Not a fucking chance, Luke,” he snarls back.
“Don’t kill him,” Lawson growls. “We need to find Nia. We need the asshole alive.”
My teeth grind and I’ve never felt so helpless. The asshole has a trump card and he damn well knows it, certain I can’t kill him until I’ve got Nia back. He’ll be keeping her somewhere safe and he’s insane enough to make sure her time will run out unless I let him go.
A growl rumbles in my chest, raw and primal, everything inside me screaming at me to lunge. I want to tear Bastan apart, piece by piece, for what he’s done to Nia. Lawson paces inside me, urging me to find a way to end this right now and silence the sick arrogance in his voice.
But I can’t and Lawson knows it.
Not when Nia’s still out there.
Not when he’s the only one who knows where she is.
My frustration simmers, boiling hotter with every mocking glance he throws my way, with every second that ticks by without an answer.
My muscles strain, twitching with the need to act, but I hold myself back and keep my rage in check for Nia.
Her father’s toying with me, dragging this out, knowing that my hands are tied—and the smug look in his eyes as he dangles my mate’s life in front of me is almost enough to make me break.
My breaths come faster, harder, the urge to snap his neck warring with the desperate need to keep him alive just a little longer. I force myself to focus, to leash the fury writhing under my skin. For Nia. For every chance I still have to get her back.
“Hello, pretty boy.”
Fuck me, I almost jump with sheer damn elation, my heart exploding as unadulterated joy explodes through me.
“Lyall?”
Nia’s wolf laughs and my hands tremble as Lawson throws his head back and howls in sheer admiration of our mate.
She’s a fucking miracle, a force of nature beyond the laws that rule this or any other universe.
She’s the moon that governs my tides and the seas in which I sail, and she’s unafraid. Unapologetic. Fucking unstoppable.
And she’s mine.
“Later, Luke,” Lyall smirks. “Do me a favor, and kill that asshole.” Her eyelashes flutter through our bond. “For me.”
My eyebrow arches and Bastan stares at me, his eyes flickering with doubt. He’s sensed a change but doesn’t understand it and the urge to snap his neck has never been more tempting.
“Trying to work out what to do, Luke?” he taunts, failing to recognize the awful mess he’s in. “You can’t win. She’s mine. Mine to claim. Mine to have. Mine to breed until I’ve had enough of her.”
“How much do you want it to hurt, sweetheart?”
Goddess, I adore my mate. I love the excitement rippling through Lyall and Nia as I ask her a question that ought to be difficult to answer, reveling in the girlish giggle and squeals of delight she shares with me as if I’m offering up a gift.
“Just kill the bastard,” Lyall sighs, her chest almost heaving. “He’s not worth the effort of a painful death.”
Nia reaches for me and she’s more cautious than her wolf.
My girl’s worried I’ll do something reckless and I smirk, thrilled she’s concerned I might hurt myself as I try to make her happy.
I absolutely would, but it’s not going to happen, and I offer her my reassurance, promising her that everything is going to be just fine.