Chapter Nineteen #3
Strength he thought he didn’t have emerged out of nowhere as he remembered all of those who were counting on him.
He thought of Hank, Cole, Gage and his small pack, all the packs in Tolstone, all that would come in the future, and most of all, Erica.
They needed him to win, to come out on top and hold fast to the title of Prime Alpha.
When blood drained out of him quicker than it could be replenished, when he couldn’t see straight or know which way was up, when the pain became almost too much to ignore, Dominic still found the will to make one last lunge for Wyatt’s neck or chest with his jowls.
His father’s voice echoed in his ears, telling him to keep fighting, to stay on his feet.
Dominic wasn’t deeply spiritual, didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits, but in that fight, he could feel the presence of all the Prime Alphas that came before him.
Instead of feeling oppressed as he might have in the past, he found courage and fortitude.
Pride swelled in him when he thought he could no longer breathe, when his lungs were starved for air.
Power poured into his limbs and kept him moving.
The wolf was emboldened by the legacy of the Beaumont wolves, this destiny that he knew he could never forsake.
He finally knew what it meant to be Prime Alpha.
Dominic made one more push. Wyatt’s coat was stained a deep red, blood dripping from his muzzle. He leapt and tackled him to the ground. Wyatt only had a few seconds to struggle before Dominic shoved his fangs through the thick mane to latch around the alpha’s neck.
He chomped down and thrashed as hard as he could, ripping the skin and flesh until his teeth hit something hard. Bone. Dominic clinched down and twisted.
A dull snap, and Wyatt stopped moving almost instantly.
Dominic didn’t move, didn’t release the severed spine, not until he was sure the shifter’s healing abilities wouldn’t kick in even in the first few moments of death.
With nostrils flared and panting, Dominic watched the light of life dim from Wyatt’s unblinking golden eyes.
He waited just a little longer until he knew the only pounding heartbeat in the forest was his own.
Then, Dominic slackened his jaw and stumbled away from the carcass.
The world spun, and his vision tunneled for several solid seconds.
Dominic let himself sink into the cool grass and rested in the knowledge that everyone was safe and still under his protection.
Even now, he thought of what would need to be done to make sure this never happened again.
Vetting processes would have to be reassessed.
Maybe stricter limits on pack sizes and certainly more thorough background checks.
If they could employ a psychiatrist, conducting evaluations on incoming alphas sounded totally reasonable at a time like this.
He let his eyes drift shut as his wounds slowly mended and the pain lessened. His next thought was of Erica. The first thing he’d do, perhaps after a hot shower, was find her and fall into her arms.
The mating bond thrummed strongly within him, like a beacon that pointed his way to safe harbor. She was his lighthouse of calm in a storm that would capsize his boat if he let it. Now that the waters were calm and the winds were done, he could go home. Erica was just as much home as Tolstone was.
*
Cole slammed the car into park and shut off the engine as soon as they came to Jade Lake. “Stay here and don’t open the door for anyone.”
Erica wanted to make some comment that she wasn’t five and didn’t need to be told how to stay put in a locked vehicle, but she held her tongue.
Let him believe that she wasn’t going anywhere, that she wasn’t going to try and follow him as soon as he was out of sight.
However stupid it was, however much she couldn’t convince herself to just be good and stay in the car, Erica had to do it.
Dominic had been there for her when she needed help, whether she wanted it or not, and she wasn’t about to let herself be pushed to the sidelines when he might need her.
She watched her father disappear down to the lakeside and into the black of night.
The tremor in her hands that had persisted since Ronan shifted back to tend to his wounds was completely gone now.
Her resolve to try and defend Dominic at all costs, and in whatever way she could, somehow put a little more bravery back in her heart.
It might have been their mating bond that made her care more for Dominic’s life than her own, but she didn’t care.
Or maybe it was a kind of strange confidence she’d gained when she killed Nathan.
She, a human, had killed a rabid wolf shifter with one well-aimed shot with a silver bullet.
It assured her that she wasn’t completely helpless.
She could do something right even when she appeared to be at a severe disadvantage.
Erica didn’t care how much trouble it got her into with Cole. She was going to do this, and to hell with the consequences. She reached into the glove compartment and carefully pulled out the Glock Ronan had told her about, and the tiny case of silver bullets that sat atop the car owner’s manual.
She slipped the silver bullets into the magazine, and she broke a nail in the process, but within just a few minutes, she was ready to follow after her father and find Dominic.
Unlocking the car, she slid out and stepped softly on the pavement until she reached the grassy slope that descended toward the lakeshore. Erica was ready to turn to the east when a twig snapped to her right.
Erica turned and raised the gun, both hands firmly locked over the handle. A coldness skittered down her back when she saw the silhouette of a large black dog near the tree line. It padded forward, ears pricked up as the moonlight glinted in its animal eyes.
She swallowed hard, but refused to move, though she was amazed she could even keep her arms level and steady. The gun seemed to weigh heavier now than it did when she got out of the car.
This was no dog. It had to be a wolf. The length of its muzzle, the broadness of its frame were similar to Nathan’s.
Uncertainty kept her finger from getting anywhere near the trigger.
This wolf was as black as night, with noticeable streaks of silver coursing along its chest and back.
How could she possibly know who this was?
She had never seen anyone she trusted in their wolfish form.
That was something she would have to remedy after this was all over.
Was this Dominic? Or Wyatt? It wasn’t snarling as Nathan had, so that was one thing to prove it might not have been Wyatt. What if it was her father?
The closer it came, unafraid and non-hostile, the moonlight told her something else. Its fur wasn’t clean. It was caked with something dark and thick. Mud? Blood?
Erica stared into the golden eyes that held an essence of intelligence.
“Dominic?” she guessed.
The pointed ears swiveled, and the wolf stopped.
As still as a lifelike statue, it watched her and the gun.
She didn’t want to drop her guard, didn’t want to take the chance just in case this was a shifter that intended her harm.
Maybe it was Wyatt, trying to lull her into a false sense of security by not coming across as aggressive.
The longer she met his hypnotic gaze, the more she realized the truth. The mating bond came alive when the wolf drew nearer, chasing away the doubt. This was Dominic. One hundred percent.
Erica lowered the gun and fell to her knees as he approached.
He was massive, his muzzle level with her brow when she sat back on her heels.
The gun fell from her hand into the grass in favor of plunging her fingers into his thick mane.
There was no fear, no apprehension, but as soon as she felt the slick blood on his fur, she gasped.
“Are you okay?”
She was answered by a quick lick to the cheek, cold and slimy, but she smiled anyway. Yeah, he was fine.
“Is it over?”
Dominic ducked his head low, and she didn’t shy away when he bumped his muzzle against her jaw.
It took her a second to realize he might have been trying to nuzzle her with some kind of animal-like affection.
She’d never owned a dog or any pet for that matter, so she didn’t know what was considered a sign of love, or what she should do in return.
So, she reservedly petted down the blood-encrusted locks of fur, accepting his open tenderness as a sign that everything was indeed over.
Tolstone was safe again, and Dominic didn’t choose her over his pack. That was what she hoped for all along, because Erica knew she wasn’t worth throwing away centuries of tradition.
What Dominic’s family did for distressed shifters was admirable.
She saw that now. With all of Dominic’s talk about how much he hated his responsibilities, how adamantly he was ready to leave everything behind to have a life with her, it terrified Erica over the last quarter of an hour that he would actually take Wyatt’s ultimatum.
She may not have seen all of Tolstone in its shifter-sanctuary glory, but based on the little she did know, this place was far too important to give up.
There was nothing in the world that could compare to the relief she felt, knowing he hadn’t abandoned his town.
Though she didn’t understand or fully condone the way the Prime Alpha was called upon to keep the peace, Erica understood one thing. Tolstone would have been lost without him, and she would too.