Callum #2
“Ah ah.” Birch presses his claws in against Ash’s throat, breaking the skin.
Blood trickles between his fingers and Ash stirs.
“One more step and I rip his throat out.” He tilts his head.
“Or maybe I’ll bite him. See how strong that bond of yours really is, Cal.
” He smirks. “I’d be doing you a favour. ”
“Don’t fucking touch him.”
He presses his claws in further and Ash moans, eyes snapping open.
“Cal?” He gasps as the pain registers, hands going to his throat, but Birch is way too strong.
“It’s okay, Ash. Help’s coming.”
If Birch is surprised by this, he doesn’t show it. In fact, he nods. “In about ten minutes. It’s a long way round if you stick to the roads.”
“What do you want, Birch?” It’s clear he has an agenda and a timeframe. I don’t trust him not to kill Ash for the fun of it when he hears Lynx and the others.
“I want Harper to hurt.” His lip curls, revealing teeth as sharp as mine. “I want him to know what it feels like to have everything you love ripped away. Just like he did to me.”
He’s insane.
“We didn’t do this to you, you sick fuck. You sided with Fox. You bit Morgan and sold him into a fucking fight ring.”
“Harper threatened my fucking pack! They wouldn’t let me back in, too frightened of the repercussions if he found out.” He sneers, eyes full of hate and revenge, and I know then that there’s no reasoning with him.
So I repeat, “What do you want?” I don’t care what I have to do, I just want him to let Ash go.
Birch smiles and cold trickles down my spine. “I want Morgan to kill you. Then I’ll let Ash go.” Before anyone can react, he kicks something over to Morgan.
We both look down at the cloth-covered blade at his feet, the metal peeking through where the wrapping’s come loose.
I can smell the aconite now.
“No,” Ash cries, shaking his head.
“Quiet.” Birch sinks his claws in a little deeper still and Ash whimpers. “Pick it up, Morgan.”
“No.” Morgan glances at me, fear in his eyes. It coats the air too.
Birch tsks. “I was going to have you kill Harper, but then I smelt Holt’s bond on Ash here.
” He directs a cold smile my way. “What a dilemma. Either you kill Holt, and Harper has to live with the fact his bonded mate killed his closest pack member. You’ll feel unimaginable guilt, and he’ll be trying not to hate you.
And neither of you’ll be able to hide it.
Or . . .” He pauses for effect. “You refuse and I kill Ash. Then Harper’s second in command will hate his bonded mate and he’ll be stuck in the fucking middle. Either way, I win.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snarl, taking a step towards him, regretting it when Ash whimpers again. “Let him go. Please.” I don’t care if I have to beg.
“I will,” he says softly, and it’s all the more menacing. “When Morgan buries that knife in your chest.”
“And if I don’t?” Morgan snaps, but there’s an edge to it. Fear and desperation taint the air around him as his gaze darts from Ash to me and back again.
Birch sighs, his free hand stroking Ash’s hair. “Like I said, Ash’ll be dead before either of you can reach him.” His gaze flicks to mine. “You know I can do it.”
I do.
“They’re almost here.” I try one last time to get him to back down from this insane plan. We can all hear the faint rumble of bikes in the distance. “If you leave now, you might make it out of here before Lynx guts you.”
Bitter laughter echoes around us, and dread pools in my belly.
He doesn’t care.
Because he doesn’t plan on making it out of here alive.
He sees the moment I realise.
“I have nothing. No pack, no home. It’s only a matter of time before the hunters catch up to me, and I’d rather die here and now than let them have me.”
“Then let me do the honours. It’ll be my fucking pleasure.”
“Enough,” Birch snaps as the roar of bikes gets louder. “Time’s up. If they get here before you decide, then I’ll kill Ash. If you refuse, I’ll kill Ash. There’s only one way he’s getting out of here alive. So choose.”
I close my eyes, searching for the calm I need to do this.
This morning I woke to Ash wrapped around me, my heart full of hope, and the warm thrum of a bond behind my ribs.
It’s not even been a day, not one fucking day, and I’m about to lose it all.
We’re the reason Ash is here, being held against his will with his life in the balance.
There’s no way I’m going to let him pay for the things we’ve done.
And I know Morgan won’t either.
There’s only one way this ends, and I need to make peace with it really fucking quickly because the rest of my brothers are almost here.
“Ash—”
“No!” He tries to shake his head, but Birch’s hold on him is too tight. “Don’t do this. I only just found you. I can’t lose you now.” Tears roll down his cheeks, the devastation on his face wrapping around my heart and squeezing tight.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get more time.” I want to touch him one last time, but there’s no way Birch will let me near him. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Cal—”
I blink back tears of my own. “I don’t regret a single fucking second. And I won’t let you die because of the mess we made.”
They’re almost here.
I drop to my knees and meet Morgan’s eyes. “Do it.”
His hands shake where they curl then uncurl over and over, a haunted look on his face. “I can’t.”
I keep my voice steady, even. “You can and you will. We both want Ash to live and this is the only way.”
He looks at the knife by his feet and swallows.
“Lynx will understand. He won’t blame you, and neither do I.
” I meet Ash’s gaze for the last time. “It’s not his fault,” I tell him.
“I want you to hold on to that. It’s no one’s fault except his.
” I jab a finger at Birch but I don’t look at him.
I want Ash’s face to be the last thing I see. “Now, Morgan.”
I hear the scrape of the knife as he picks it up off the floor. Hear his footsteps as he slowly walks towards me.
“I love you, Ash.” I want to say the words one time at least, and as they roll off my tongue, I realise how true they are. My wolf chose Ash from that first day, and now I’ve finally caught up.
“Don’t fucking say that now.” His voice hitches on a sob. “You wait until I can say it back, when I’m ready and we’re alone and not . . . not here.”
“It’s all right,” I say softly. I don’t need him to say it back; human emotions don’t work like ours, and that’s okay. “I just wanted you to know.” I close my eyes as Morgan stands in front of me.
I sense the moment he raises his hand—there’s a change in air pressure. I brace for pain, because this won’t be a quick or easy death.
Fuck you, Birch, for making me go through this again.
Except there’ll be no saving me this time. Lynx is still too far away, and if Morgan stabs me right in the heart, then even Lynx’s blood won’t be enough.
“Close to his heart, Morgan. I don’t want him surviving this.”
Morgan changes position, whispers, “I’m so sorry, Cal.”
Then he stabs me.
The force of the blow rocks me backwards. Pain erupts across my chest, stealing my breath as I gasp.
Between one heartbeat and the next, the aconite kicks in, white-hot fire lighting up my veins, taking the pain to a whole other level.
I’m dimly aware of shouting, of being lowered to the ground by gentle hands, but it all takes a backseat to the inferno raging inside me, obliterating every other thought in my head.
Someone’s screaming.
It might be me.
Who the fuck knows at this point?
I forgot how much this sucks, my mind having blanked out the horrific effects of aconite poisoning.
It hurts.
It hurts so fucking bad, I pray with all my heart for the Goddess to take me now, to end this relentless torture, but she’s either not listening or she’s a sadistic bitch, because the pain goes on and on and fucking on.