Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
For the first time in days, I slept through the night.
Apparently, dream conversations with Sophia didn’t cause me to shoot up out of a dead sleep like all the other ones had.
I remained asleep but lucid for a while after, transporting myself from place to place around the Wilds. But eventually even that faded, as my brain started to cycle through the other phases of sleep.
I didn’t mind.
I needed the rest, and while curling up on a stone floor for multiple nights was far from comfortable, I couldn’t deny how easy it was to relax while lying so close to Lash.
I knew it didn’t make rational sense. The man wasn’t just a hot-tempered alpha; he was a killer as well.
Yet, I felt perfectly safe with him.
And not just safe from him, but safe from all the dangers that were lurking just beyond the entrance of the cave. When Lash said he wouldn’t let anything hurt me, I believed him.
It was hard to reconcile the brutal streak I’d witnessed inside him with this new protective side. Still, I didn’t doubt either one. To Lash, I was his mate; he’d do anything to keep me safe.
Honestly, it might have been sweet…if he didn’t have to be so damn pig-headed about it.
Sure, I understood that we were in danger and that it was about to get a lot worse. But that didn’t seem like a good enough reason to cut and run.
Especially when more lives than ours were at risk.
Call it adrenaline fatigue, but I’d been under constant threat for days now. Somewhere along the line, I’d grown used to the idea that any moment could be my last. It wasn’t the novel threat it once was.
Besides, did Lash really believe that all of our problems would magically solve themselves once we arrived in a different territory? Did he think I’d settle in and forget all about Sophia and my old life?
And what about Nelissa?
Someone with that much burning hatred in her eyes wasn’t about to simply let slip away. It wouldn’t matter to her if we ran a hundred miles or a thousand; she’d never give up. Lash himself had admitted she’d hunt us for the next fifty years if that’s what it took.
No—until she was gone, neither one of us would ever be safe.
And neither would Sophia. Or any other kirre woman who found herself in the Wilds.
Somehow, I was going to have to make Lash see the truth.
That was the task I faced as my eyes started to flicker open in the early morning light. It wasn’t going to be easy. The man was almost as stubborn as I was.
Almost.
I rolled over in his arms, ready to wake him up and start today’s battle of wills between the unstoppable force and the immovable object. But as I looked up at his face, I found his eyes were already open.
Fathomless black eyes, cut cheekbones, strong jaw—for a second, the sight of his face was enough to make me lose my train of thought.
“You’re awake,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Of course.” His hard chest rumbled against mine. “There’s no way I could stay asleep with your backside wriggling against me like that.”
Funny. I didn’t remember any wriggling. “I must have been dreaming.”
“About me?” Sliding his hand up my back, he raked his fingers through my hair.
God, I wished. “I don’t remember.”
“Then it couldn’t have been about me.” A smug smile tugged at his lips. “You wouldn’t be able to forget me, even in dreams.”
“You sure about that?” I teased.
His eyes narrowed, focusing on mine with a look that practically screamed: challenge accepted. “Positive.”
Then to prove it, he pulled me in for a searing kiss. One that burned all thoughts of Nelissa and her terrible plans from my head.
I kissed him back, relishing the feel of his body against mine. Taut skin over hard muscle. The bristle of his beard over my cheeks. The sweep of his strong hand over my spine, pressing me closer. Urging me on.
Fire caught in my veins, driving me to touch more of him. All of him.
Lash rolled me onto my back, nudging my legs open with his knee and settling his weight between the cradle of my hips. One more kiss, and my back arched, opening myself up to him as my breasts flattened against his chest.
I felt the pressure of his cock teasing my entry.
“Yes,” I whispered against his ear, instantly ready to let him in. Impatient to give myself over to every ecstatic sensation he stirred up in me.
But the ecstasy didn’t come.
Instead of plunging deep inside, Lash’s body froze, going stock still as he remained tented above me.
At first, I thought he might be playing with me—withholding pleasure in order to make me beg, but there was nothing playful in the expression that had taken over his face.
His jaw was tight, the cords along his neck tense and prominent. Even more telling, his gaze had drifted away from mine. Now his eyes were fixed on a spot just beyond my head, his focus a thousand miles away as if he was concentrating on another sense altogether.
“Lash—“
“Shh,” he cut me off with a sharp hiss.
He was listening for something. Something I couldn’t hear.
And whatever it was, he didn’t like it.
In a flash, he flew off me, jumping up to his feet. Standing there naked, I saw every ripple of tension running through his muscles as his body readied itself for a fight. Biceps bunched as claws sprang from his nail beds. His lips curled back to reveal glistening fangs.
“Stay behind me,” he growled.
Reeling from emotional whiplash, I could only stare as he swiveled around to face the front of the cave.
What the hell was happening?
I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Less than a second later, a massive body came swinging through the opening of the cave.
Gasping in shock, I kicked myself back in the tangle of furs as an angry-looking alpha landed on his feet next to Lash.
Oh, shit! Nelissa’s men had found us.
Two more followed right behind the first…and they looked familiar.
It took me a second to place them.
Valse and Rowan—the alphas from my first lucid dream. The ones who’d been grumbling about snoring. It appeared they’d patched up the rift between them...at least long enough to coordinate this attack.
And this had definitely taken some planning. Instead of carefully climbing down the sheer face the way Lash had, they’d swooped in like Tarzan, holding tight to long ropes and hoping to catch us by surprise.
And their plan had almost worked.
To my ears, they’d moved silently. I’d never heard a sound.
But Lash did.
He must have sensed their footsteps, or whispers, or even the groan of the trees they’d tied their ropes to…and just in time too.
Now, instead of dealing out an easy ambush, Nelissa’s men were faced with a seriously pissed-off alpha who was fully ready for a fight.
Not to mention, a totally naked one.
But if the other alphas were weirded out by a little nudity, they didn’t show it.
They quickly recovered from their hard landings and rushed at Lash as one.
Hoping to bring the fight to a quick end, the closest alpha dove for his throat, but Lash was faster.
He stepped back just enough for the alpha’s sharp claws to arc harmlessly through the air in front of him.
Then, using the alpha’s own momentum against him, Lash grabbed onto the attacker’s arm and guided the man’s own claws into his belly.
I winced as an agonized howl of pain bounced off the stones around me. Blood poured from the alpha’s midsection.
A fatal wound—it had to be.
But even if it was, Lash wasn’t satisfied. Hands still wrapped around the attacker’s wrist, he wrenched the bastard’s arm up, carving deep furrows into his own flesh.
The attacker dropped to his knees just as the second alpha—Rowan—came within striking distance.
A new set of claws flashed out, but this time Lash wasn’t fast enough to evade the blow. Razor-sharp tips plunged deep into his shoulder.
My stomach twisted, actual pain sweeping through me as I watched blood—Lash’s blood—splash down on the ground.
I sprang up to my feet, desperate to do something. Anything. But what could I do? I’d never felt so helpless.
All I could do was watch as, gritting his teeth against the pain of four giant talons digging deep inside him, Lash wrapped his fingers around the Rowan’s wrist and twisted.
The sound of bone being crushed to dust rang out through the cave.
Rowan howled as his arm, still stuck in Lash’s shoulder, went limp.
Lash seized the opportunity. Fangs out and mouth wide, he went for the throat, biting deep into the tendon and sinew, before closing his muscular jaws with a snap.
Gore gushed from the empty spot where Rowan’s jugular used to be as Lash pulled back, spitting a chunk of the man’s flesh from his mouth.
My heart hammered. Lash looked every bit as feral as the name of his kind implied. Right now, he was more animal than man. A wild beast fighting for his life and ready to rip through anything or anyone to defend what was his.
As Rowan’s lifeless body dropped to the ground, Lash let out a roar that echoed through the hills. Then he spun around to face the last of Nelissa’s men.
Valse.
But the sneaky son-of-a-bitch proved smarter than his friends. While they’d been busy dying, he’d swept around the perimeter of the cave, making his way to me. Unfortunately, I’d been too wrapped up in Lash’s fight to notice.
Now it was too late.
He appeared in my peripheral vision out of nowhere. Moving as fast as lightning, he jumped me, wrapping one arm around my waist and pulling me in front of him like a shield.
Claws pricked at the underside of my chin, dangerously close to my neck. Trickles of blood raced down my neck, pooling on the upper curve of my breasts.
“I wouldn’t come any closer,” Valse snarled at Lash, his hot breath washing over me. “Not if you want the bitch to live.”
Lash answered with a growl that turned my blood to ice as he stilled. Valse answered with a contemptuous laugh.
“That’s what I thought,” he continued. “It looks like Nelissa was right. The kirre really is your weakness.”
“You’re lecturing me about weakness?” Lash’s upper lip curled back in disdain. “What kind of coward hides behind a woman?”
Valse laughed. “You and I both know this isn’t a real woman. It’s a kirre. It had more in common with cattle than a mate.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” I spat.
But Valse just chuckled against my ear. “Disrespectful bitch. It looks like I’m going to have to teach you some manners.”
I tried not to give him the satisfaction of a scream as his claws dug deeper into my skin, but the pain was just too sharp.
Lash moved forward at my cry, but Valse stopped him with a stare. “One more step and I’ll jam my claws straight up into her brain.”
“You’re a dead man,” Lash answered, his voice cold while his eyes burned with murderous rage.
“And you’re a traitor,” Valse flung back. “A back-stabbing viper with no honor. No pack. No pride. No?—“
I’d had enough. Willing to risk an impromptu lobotomy rather than endure another second of this idiot’s whining, I kicked my heel up hard, landing a blow between Valse’s legs.
He hadn’t expected that.
All the air left his lungs in a rush. The hand at my throat instinctively swung down to cup his groin while his other arm loosened around my midsection—though not enough for me to break free. So instead, I slumped over his arm, bending at the waist to give Lash a clear shot at his neck.
And—God bless him—the man didn’t hesitate.
In the span of a single heartbeat, Lash flew across the room, slamming his claws straight into Valse’s neck.
Blood burbled from the bastard’s lips as his grip fell away, dropping me to the floor.
My knees and palms slammed against the hard stone with a thud, sending a jarring shockwave of pain rocketing up through my limbs.
Unable to stand, I rolled to the side, desperate to get out of the way of Lash’s fury.
Wrenching his elbow back, his claws ripped free of Valse’s throat, sending a spray of sinew and tendon arcing through the air. Burning bile rose up in my throat at the sight.
Even though air was already whistling through the holes in Valse’s neck like a grisly flute, Lash wasn’t satisfied.
He hammered his fist back down, again and again.
Even after all sounds of life had stopped and the other alpha’s head dangled down, attached to his body by nothing more than a few strips of raw meat, he kept going.
“Lash,” I called out to him, my back pressed flat against the far wall.
He didn’t answer.
He just kept pounding away.
“Lash!”
His arm froze. He head snapped toward me, his eyes filled with nothing but animal bloodlust.
But the instant his gaze latched onto mine, something inside him changed. Reason returned to his eyes. His claws retracted. His fangs slipped back into his gums.
“Felicity.”
He released what was left of Valse, letting the alpha’s body flop down to the floor with a wet splat. Then he looked around the cave as if scanning for any other dangers. Only once he was certain there weren’t any, he rushed over to me.
Crouching down, he gently lifted my chin to take a look at the damage Valse had done.
“That son of a bitch cut you,” he growled.
But I just shook my head.
“It’s just a scratch. But you, on the other hand…” My lips pulled back in a tight grimace just looking at the wound in his shoulder.
“It’ll heal in a day or two,” he assured me before looking down at the small river of blood that was pouring out of him. “Make that three or four.”
“I can’t believe you’re still standing after that,” I said. “You just fought off three alphas single-handedly.”
“And I’ll slaughter three dozen more if anyone tries to touch you again.”
The declaration sent a shiver of awareness racing up my spine.
Lash had killed for me…again.
But he’d also almost died for me, and I couldn’t let that happen again.
“We need to get you help with this wound,” I told him.
“There’s no help out here,” he said, immediately dismissing the idea.
“There is back in your old village,” I tried.
“No.” His voice was firm. “We don’t have the time to argue about this. There’s no way these fools found their way out here on their own.”
“Who’s arguing? I’m just suggesting options.”
“Options you know I’ll never agree to,” he snapped. “I’d rather die than be caught slinking back to my old pack with my tail tucked between my legs.”
“Sure.” I got that. “But would you rather I die? Because like you said, Nelissa’s men are getting closer, and now you’re injured.”
“Not so injured that I couldn’t send all three of these bastards straight to hell.”
True. “But now they know to send more than three guys in to take us down. So, what happens when they send six next time? Or twelve?”
“I’ll do the same thing to them,” he insisted.
“Or they’ll do it to you,” I countered. “And then to me.”
His lips pressed together tight. “Felicity…”
“Face it, Lash,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “We need help. I get that finding it back in your old village is a long shot, but it’s also the only shot we have left.”