Chapter 11 - Rosalia #2
“I know you, don’t I?” He took a step forward, and she held her ground, pushing away the instincts that screamed at her to run.
They would give chase if she ran.
“And I know you,” she replied coolly, “you’re a member of the Black Claws. Which means, you shouldn’t be here.”
“You’re Heath’s whelp, aren’t you?” His eyes glittered as he took another step towards her.
She swallowed, adrenaline pumping through her veins. “Leave. Now.”
Carter cocked his head, his voice dropping. “I remember you from that inane Eastern Alliance meeting. You caused quite a stir, sweetheart. None of us could believe that daddy dearest would bring you along.”
Her fists clenched, and she snarled at him, eyes blazing, warning him not to come any closer.
Of course, he ignored her.
Panic began to twist in her gut as she realized quite how alone she was. Quite how vulnerable.
“Dane’s men are right behind me with a patrol,” she said. “They’ll tear you apart if they find you here.”
Carter laughed, low and jeering. He was only a few feet away from her, heat radiating from his body, the unmissable scent of arousal wafting from him.
Her nose wrinkled, and she hissed, finally giving in to her instinct to back away.
His eyes sparked at the movement.
“I’m surprised Rick would let his whore wander the woods alone,” Carter said, raising an eyebrow at one of his wolves. “Then again, he always was a heartless bastard.”
“He knows where I am,” Rosalia said, her voice pitching upwards. “If you touch me, he’ll—”
“He’ll what?” Carter purred. “If he truly gave a shit about you, he wouldn’t let you out of his sight. No, sweetheart. I don’t think he’s coming. I don’t think any of the Iron Walkers are coming. Dane doesn’t run this border tonight. And Rick…”
He lunged forward, grabbing her wrist, wrenching her forward. She squealed in pain, digging her feet into the earth, trying to pull free. It was no use. He was too strong.
“...Rick isn’t here to save you.”
She howled, clawing and scratching at his arm with her free hand. He bellowed as she caught his skin and ripped it open, leaving several long, crimson lines dripping blood onto the forest floor. Throwing her to the floor, he sneered, rubbing at the already healing wound.
“You little bitch!”
“Get away from me,” she snarled, scrabbling to her knees.
“Oh no,” Carter said as the other two wolves circled round, trapping her in. “We’re not letting you get away, sweetheart. You’ve seen us now. Can’t have you running back and warning Felix.”
Her throat closed over.
“When we’re done with you,” Carter sneered, “there won’t be anything left for the Iron Walkers to track.”
Panting, she locked eyes with him.
She was filthy, naked body streaked with mud, hair a tangled mess, and skin littered with scrapes.
She had never been more vulnerable. And yet, she had never felt more in control.
Whatever prim, polished vestiges of her past self remained crumbled to dust. Now, she was only the wolf. And though she was facing down pain and fear and death, she would face it.
She crouched low, snarling, finally allowing the beast within to take control.
She would not cower. She would not pull back.
If they wanted a fight, then she would give them a fight.
All her life, she had feared this precise moment.
The moment when another wolf, an alpha male, would finally let his true colors show.
She had cowered from her father, from the other males in the pack, even from her own husband, terrified that at any moment, they would snap, and she would find herself in their teeth.
It had finally happened. And it almost felt like a relief.
“If you’re going to kill me,” she spat, fingers curved into claws, “why don’t you get on with it.”
Carter threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll get there. But there’s so much fun to be had first.”
He lunged forward, shoving her down to the earth with bruising force, pinning her hands above her head.
“You even think about shifting and I’ll rip your insides out here and now!”
She fought him then. Biting and kicking and writhing and screaming.
With a sadistic grin, he trapped her flailing legs under one enormous thigh, pressing his hips down into hers. Her eyes widened at the heat stabbing into her lower belly, and she fought harder, snapping up into him, tearing the flesh of his shoulder between her teeth.
He reared back and slapped her across the face, hard.
Black dots danced across her vision. Her ears rang, hollow and tinny. She gasped for air.
Dimly, she was aware of him wrenching her thighs apart. His hand crushed into her neck, blocking off her air.
She couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything.
She was going to die.
He was going to…going to…
And then he would kill her.
She thought about Rick. About Eva. About the new life she had only just begun to build for herself.
As Carter’s hand tightened around her throat, she let her eyes drift shut.
So be it.
But then Carter stilled. “What the fu—”
His body was torn off hers by a dark blur of fur and teeth. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped in a ragged breath, hand flying to her throat, the oxygen thick and cool in her lungs.
Then she looked over.
A wolf, dark and savage, had Carter by the junction of his neck and shoulder and was shaking him around like a rag doll.
Another one of the Black Claws attacked, and the wolf dropped Carter, turning to avoid flashing teeth. Carter leapt up, skin ripping and fur sprouting as he shifted.
He didn’t pause before joining the attack.
All her senses snapped back to her at once.
She scrambled to her feet, finding her wolf, letting it take over—
The third wolf pummeled her back down to the ground, his claws at her throat, her arm, her legs. Hot, rank breath fanned over her face as he snapped his jaws in warning, and she yelped as his claws sank through her flesh.
The dark wolf’s head whipped over, his burning eyes narrowing.
She released a choking sob.
Rick.
He had come for her. He had followed her. He was fighting for her.
She didn’t know what to do with the realization. It was too big, too overwhelming.
Rick shook the two wolves off his back and leapt over, knocking her assailant from her and hunching over her body, his snarling roar rumbling through her very soul.
The third wolf flipped onto his feet and joined the other two, approaching slowly, fanning out.
Surrounding Rick.
She tried to shift, but a screaming agony burst from her arm and lower leg, and she looked down to see the left side of her body bloodied and crushed, the bones shattered from where the wolf had pinned her.
Tears poured down her cheeks as she grit her teeth, willing her body to heal faster so that she could shift, so that she could help Rick.
He couldn’t face all three of them alone. Surely, he wouldn’t survive.
“Rick,” she wept, “don’t fight them, please! Go get help, go find the others!”
Rick just growled in response, crouching low over her, his warmth enveloping her entirely as he kept his eyes fixed on the three wolves facing him down.
There was a pause. A breath.
And then he lunged.
Rosalia scrabbled backwards, cradling her arm to her chest as Rick collided with Carter, teeth snapping and claws ripping. The other two wolves also launched at him, their eyes bright with fury.
Her bones were already knitting themselves back together, but not fast enough.
Not fast enough.
Rick had killed one of them. Got his jaws around his throat and wrenched, ripping viscera from his neck.
The other two, outraged, redoubled their efforts.
Rosalia tried to shift again, nearly screaming at her own body to obey her.
Carter looked over and lunged for her, and Rick had to launch forward to sink his claws into Carter’s flank, dragging him back away from her kicking legs.
It left his side open.
The other wolf tackled, and the two rolled over through the mud.
The wet crunch of Rick’s ribs shattering carved through the air like a knife.
He roared in pain and anger, bucking the other wolf off, only to be met with Carter’s waiting teeth.
Far away, too far, howls pierced the forest.
Iron Walkers. They’d heard. And they were coming.
But they were too far away, and Rick was injured, facing two opponents. He leapt to his feet, his breathing ragged, and feinted left.
The smaller wolf fell for the bait, and Rick pounced, claws rending through flesh and muscle. The wolf bellowed, and Rick closed his teeth around his throat.
The wolf slumped to the earth, eyes already turning glassy.
Rick fell back, planting himself between her body and Carter’s menacing growls, his ears flat against his skull, his muzzle peeled back.
The scent of his blood, metallic and raw, caught in her throat.
Carter huffed, circling round, teeth snapping forward in warning.
He was enjoying this.
His packmates lay dead mere feet from him, and he was enjoying it.
Nausea roiled in her gut.
When Rick and Carter met, barreling into each other like a wave crashing into the ocean, Rosalia’s heart nearly gave out.
He just had to hold on a little bit longer. Just a bit longer.
The fight was bloody, brutal, and savage. Neither male had much humanity left in them at all by the end.
They were mere beasts.
But eventually, Rick’s cunning won out, and with another feigned attack, he goaded Carter into exposing his side.
He didn’t even pause before ripping the wolf open from belly to throat, steaming insides splattering to the ground.
They were dead.
Rick had won.
He looked at her, chest heaving, muzzle bloodied, something sparking in his eyes.
Then he collapsed to the ground unconscious, his wounds weeping red.
Rosalia inhaled a small breath.
The rest of the Iron Walkers were coming. They’d be here any moment.
This is your chance. You can run away. Get free of it all. You don’t need any of them.
Her leg screamed in protest as she staggered to her feet, her eyes drifting to the darkness beyond the bodies in the clearing.
She swallowed and stepped forward. Then stopped.
Rick’s breathing was labored, each wheezing breath forced through broken ribs. There were several gouges in his side, deep and angry. Blood pooled underneath him, staining his dark fur.
She couldn’t leave him.
But it was more than that.
She didn’t want to leave him.