Chapter Twenty-Nine
Love Is Worth Fighting For
IMOGEN GALLAGHER
Aiden sits on the bed next to me. Silent. Pain and regret flowing from him like an overflowing rapid river. I can’t tell him I forgive him because I don’t know if I do. My heart is a wreck and my brain is a clusterfuck, but I lean against his shoulder anyway. I need the connection of another person.
He’s warm and strong and there.
Right now, that’s enough.
“Why did you change your mind?” I know it’s because he found out Liam and I are soul mates, but I need to hear him say it. I need him to say there was more than that. There was so much at stake and he threw it all away. “Don’t you dare say it was the right thing to do,” I add.
He leans his head over mine, tucking it against his shoulder like a hug without arms. “It was the right thing to do. Gen, I lost my mate. And the agony of losing her—”
“Liam and I agreed. It was to save everyone. Didn’t he tell you?”
Aiden kisses the top of my head and straightens. I pull away and look straight at him.
“Yes, Gen. He insisted, but he’s my cousin. He’s like a brother. And I couldn’t take you from him. It wasn’t right and the pack understands.” He grabs my shoulders and meets my gaze. “Your father would’ve escalated his control over my pack the second we were married. Or the second we had a child. Or any other trigger he decided pushed the odds into his favor.”
I nod. “I doubt he would’ve waited very long.”
He gives a low growl of agreement. “Instead of Liam, it would’ve been you in chains or with a knife to your neck. This was always going to happen. I see that now and I was a fool to think this marriage was going to stave it off for any length of time.”
“He’s going to kill him.”
Aiden stands and turns to give me a steadying hand. “We’re going to get him back.”
An hour later my eyes are locked with Aiden’s across Alice’s well-worn kitchen table. An old oil lamp sits burning brightly in the center. The room hums with tension. We’ve been arguing about the best way to get Liam back and no one seems to be able to agree.
“I know the house. I have to be the one to go inside.”
“No. Absolutely not.” The thud of Aiden’s palm against the table echoes like a shot through the room. “If Liam were here he’d never let you go in.”
“I have to go in because it’s Liam!” My voice rises, raw and urgent. I’d almost let my father win. I’d almost let him beat me down enough that I’d given up. “He’s my mate and it’s my fucking house. Do you know where to hide if something goes sideways?”
Aiden’s face tightens, a muscle ticking in his jaw as frustration etches lines into his features. He knows I’m right.
“I’ll need help if I get there and Liam can’t walk. I don’t think I can carry him on my own,” I continue, my gaze flicking to Bast. “He can go with me.”
“Aiden, she’s right,” Eleanor says, putting a hand on her son’s arm. “This is the best chance for saving your cousin and you know it.”
“I don’t like it,” Aiden protests.
“You don’t have to like it.”
“I’m the alpha!” Aiden growls.
“Not mine. Not yet.”
“I’m doing this with her,” Bast says, stepping beside me and raking his fingers through his hair. “I’m not losing another brother.”
The two men who drove Eleanor and me to the coven stand at the far end of the table, their expressions unreadable. Alice, Rachel, and Lila remain equally silent, their eyes wide—waiting.
“You spent the last few hours almost catatonic. What if something happens? Then Oliver gets all of you.”
I meet his concern with a low growl, my gaze steady on his. I’ve already considered the possibility, but I’m willing to die for Liam and I know he’d do the same for me. “If you lose us, does it change how you fight this war?”
His response is a single, staggering step back, his eyes wide with disbelief. Like I slapped him with the raw, brutal truth.
I don’t stop. This is my way in.
“This war is happening. If my father takes us during the rescue, you have to run. You have to leave us and protect your pack and the coven.” I say the words bravely, knowing if my father manages to keep me and Liam and Bast, his torture will be pure hell until he grows bored and kills us all. The thought terrifies and frees me at the same time.
“Fuck!” Aiden’s roar fills the room, his eyes flashing bright gold. “You can’t expect me to leave any of you.”
With a sharp intake of breath, I straighten and cross my arms over my chest. “But that’s exactly what you have to do. If we don’t make it out of that house. That’s it. You cut your losses. You figure out alliances. You fight dirty. You do whatever it takes to beat my family. But you don’t come back for us.”
My gaze swings back to Bast. “If something happens, you leave me and get out of that house too, do you understand me?”
Bast starts to argue, but I cut him off. “You leave me.” The finality in my voice seals the vow. “Do not give my father another inch of leverage.”
After a tense moment, he nods slowly.
The afternoon sun cuts through the thick canopy, casting splotches of light and shadow on the forest floor. Our small group moves like ghosts among the trees, every one of us aware of the threats that lurk ahead.
Tension, dread, and a hint of grim excitement crackle in the air. My father’s house steadily grows closer. It’s the five of us—Bast, Aiden, me, and two other enforcers introduced as Nolan and Cormac. Eleanor has stayed back with Alice, Rachel, and Lila inside the coven.
Aiden’s hand cuts through the air, directing Bast to the left. A second hand signal, curt and silent, tells me to remain frozen in my spot. I obey, heart pounding in my chest as Aiden and Bast stalk the guard perched atop the hill. He’s right where I warned them he’d be.
Within moments, the man is knocked unconscious, gagged, and tied to a gnarled tree trunk.
We regroup and press on, our formation threading through the dense undergrowth, following the familiar turns of the deer path I’ve frequented countless times after sneaking out of the house.
The window I’ve identified looms into view.
Aiden nods.
Nolan and Cormac widen to flank the entire hill, their movements sly and predatory as they prepare to serve as distractions if needed.
Bast and I drop to all fours, crawling up the slope toward the window. We dart from one stone alcove to another, carefully moving from tree to tree that perfectly hides us from the cameras watching from the house.
To the others behind us, we probably look like lunatics, but I explained how the path worked before we got here and Bast agreed to let me lead.
In a ballet of predatory stealth, we reach the window minutes later. I pick up the piece of wire hanger from where it lies innocuously on the ground and poke through a tiny hole in the frame of the window until the latch moves into the unlocked position.
“Fuck me—” Bast’s whisper is part shock, part admiration.
I turn and look at him and nod. “I drilled the hole one night when most of the house was gone and the rest were drunk.”
He tugs the window. It yields willingly, winging open to welcome us.
I slip through the opening first and take a moment to listen to the quiet hum of the house. No boots pounding. No shouts of alarm. I’d hoped never to be inside this house again, especially not the basement, but for Liam I’d do anything. Even face my demons in the belly of this house.
Satisfied no one’s coming, I signal Bast to follow.
Once he’s in, he carefully guides the window back into place, ensuring our entry remains secret. All we have is the element of surprise. If we lose that, we lose everything. The cold reality is that my father has us out-gunned and out-wolfed.
Bast and I soft-step down the hardwood hallway, passing right by my bedroom door. I turn a corner, veering toward the back stairs. No way is it safe to come down the center stairs into the living room.
I reach out for the barely there connection between Liam and me. It’s still there, pulsing with a quiet strength. He’s still alive. I’m sure. Relief seeps into my chest, melting away an anxiety I hadn’t even named.
We follow the long hallway to a dimly lit stairwell. Bast’s hand, a brief but firm touch on my shoulder, stops me. Me first, he mouths.
I relent, stepping back to allow him ahead of me. My heart pounds, fueling my body with a frenetic burst of adrenaline, but my feet tread at a snail’s pace. I’m counting each second, listening for any disturbance in the strangely silent house. We reach the bottom of the stairs and edge out into another long hallway.
“Where are we?” Bast whispers over his shoulder.
I move next to him and point at the door straight ahead. “That’s the entrance to Finn’s suite,” I murmur, angling my face so he can read my lips in the faint light.
Bast’s gun is held tight to his chest, finger off the trigger. He nods and we both advance.
The door ahead of us yawns open, filling the dark hallway with light and revealing my brother Finn.
My heart drops straight out of my chest.
Finn’s imposing silhouette is outlined with a bright glow from the light behind him. His sharp blue eyes flash gold, projecting an almost tangible fury. Clasped in his hand is a large leather duffel, and beside him, like a ghost, Emma materializes through the light.
Finn’s mouth parts as if to utter a sound at our unexpected appearance, but no words escape. The world around us seems to stand still.
In the blurry edges of my vision, I see Bast’s gun pointed straight at Finn’s chest.
One word. One shout. One shot.
Neither of them moves.
Neither of them says anything.
Frantically, I shake my head, mouthing a silent no . My arm shoots out, pushing down Bast’s gun. Then I look at him and mouth no again. A subtle tilt of my head signals a change in course. I take a step closer to Finn and Emma, crossing the tension-filled airspace between us.
Each step toward my brother is like wading through thick tar. His gaze locks with mine, a blue storm brewing in his eyes.
He doesn’t budge. Neither does Emma, but I only see worry in her gaze.
Bast and I turn the corner, backing away now. I’m headed for the basement stairs behind the kitchen.
Finn has to know why I’m here. There has to be some sliver of sympathy in his cold, ice-covered heart. He has a mate. He knows what Liam means to me. If ever there was a single time in my whole life when I needed my brother to be on my side, it’s now.
“Hurry.” Finn grabs Emma’s arm and guides her down the shadow-drenched hallway in the opposite direction.
Bast’s voice is the urgent tug that yanks my gaze away from my retreating sibling. “Let’s go. You heard him.”
With a new sense of purpose, Bast and I move together, the rhythm of our footsteps padding in quiet harmony with each other. The scent of freshly baked bread and cleaning detergent fills my nostrils as we pass the kitchen level and come upon the back entrance to the basement.
My heart pounds out a staccato beat. I wipe clammy hands on my thighs and inhale, trying to slow my internal rhythm. You can do this. You can go there for Liam. I feel the chains on my ankles like they’re there. Feel the blood and sweat running down my neck like it’s happening right now.
But I swallow the bile in my throat and follow Bast anyway. I follow him down the narrow, circular staircase into the dark and slightly oak-flavored air. This side of the basement is a massive wine cellar, but I still smell urine and sweat and blood and evil.
We move stealthily along the last shelf and I point to the door that leads into the unfinished portion of the basement with the furnace. We lock eyes for a second. Bast hesitates, waiting for me to be okay.
I nod and he swings the last door open.
Two guards on the far side directly ahead. Meredith hunched over a figure on the ground. My throat constricts at the sight of the familiar head of unruly dark hair, the profile of the man I love.
No. No. No. “No—” The word barely escapes my lips.
But the basement isn’t as deserted as the house. Two guards stand watch, their eyes burning with aggression, and one of them is fucking Noah.
Bast reacts first, lunging at the closest guard—at Noah—with a growl tearing through his clenched teeth.
I hurl myself at the other guard. Recognition flares in his eyes, a momentary hesitation for my advantage. My body collides with his, and for an agonizing second, it seems like I might actually knock him down.
But luck has a cruel sense of humor, and before I can pull back, the guard snatches at my leg. My world spins, and I’m brutally introduced to the unforgiving chill of the concrete floor. A rush of pain shoots through me.
The world slows as adrenaline courses through my veins, the sounds of struggle filling the basement. A chorus of grunts, curses, and the thuds of flesh against flesh. Flesh against concrete.
The guard crawls on top of me and wraps his hands around my throat. Panic prickles at the edges of my vision, dark spots blooming and threatening to swallow the world whole.
Out of nowhere, a feral snarl echoes to my right. A moment later, the suffocating pressure releases abruptly as the guard is sent hurtling across the room. His body slams against the wall with a satisfactory smack .
My breath comes in ragged gasps and the dark spots recede from my vision. As I struggle to take in my surroundings, a comforting warmth blankets me, all too familiar. Blinking back the blurriness, I see Liam’s face, smeared with blood but alive. “You—how—I saw—”
“Meredith was healing me. I’m good, I promise.”
His words are a soothing balm on my frayed nerves. My fingers ghost over his bloodstained face. He wasn’t good. At least not a little while ago.
My heart clenches with gratitude for Meredith and her coven. We owe them, I owe them, a lifetime of gratitude and more.
Bast and Noah are a blur of motion. Bast’s punches connect with a ferocity that sends shivers down my spine. He’s bigger than Noah and the hits are harder, but the slightly smaller man retaliates with equal brutality. Each impact sends tremors through the basement.
A low growl rumbles through the room, and my heart lurches as Bast stumbles backward. Another vicious punch from Noah sends him reeling, a spray of blood painting the cold gray floor.
The thud of Bast’s body hitting the floor silences the room.
A triumphant smirk plays on Noah’s lips as he stalks toward Bast, who struggles to rise. Dread pools in my stomach, a leaden weight threatening to pull me under. I’m the one who should pay the consequences of coming into my father’s house. Not Bast.
The distinct thump of boots above us filters through the strange silence. My father’s men. We’re running out of time.
Liam releases me before I can grab a tighter hold on him. He’s going to join the fight. He may be healed, but he’s not at full strength. Noah will kill him.
“Liam!”
“Stop.” Meredith blocks Noah’s forward motion. “It’s me you really want to punish—take me instead. I’m the one that got your brother killed, not them.” Her voice carries an edge of sacrifice that makes my heart twist painfully. The echo of boots grows louder, an insistent reminder that time is a luxury we can’t afford.
Noah freezes, a momentary flicker of confusion crossing his face before it settles into an inscrutable mask.
Bast claws his way upright, his thunderous roar slicing through the noise in my brain. “Get out of here. Now.” His command vibrates through the room, an order none of us want to follow.
Meredith doesn’t move. “This is what has to happen,” she insists, laying her hand on Bast’s arm like a goodbye. “Go with your brother. This is my gift to you, my sweet boys.”
Noah’s gaze is a heat-seeking missile, locked on Meredith with a rage that paralyzes me.
She returns his glare. “I’m the revenge you really want. On me. On Oliver. But you let them go free and I’ll surrender myself to you.” Her voice is cold.
“Agreed.” Noah’s voice is sharp and final.
Oh my God. Meredith. No. She can’t.
Bast stumbles toward us.
“Meredith.” I don’t want anyone to die for me. “You can’t do this.”
“Get out of here, boys. Protect my family. Gen, you belong with them. Don’t ever look back.” Her arm swings out in a final command. The pounding of boots above is a drumbeat of impending doom, each thump a shrinking window of escape. She steps closer to Noah.
Bast shepherds us back to the wine cellar, his frame a shield against the unfolding scene.
“Bast!” Liam protests, and Bast shoves me into Liam’s arms.
His touch ignites a surge of adrenaline, yet I’m frozen. A dreadful sound echoes around the basement, one that reverberates in the hollows of my chest. The sickening snap of bones.
My heart skips a beat, and then another.
My steps falter, but Liam’s hands at my waist force me forward. I know we’ve lost her before I hear the muted sound of her body falling to the concrete.
The enormity of Meredith’s sacrifice collides into me like a freight train, leaving behind a twisted wreckage of shock, grief, and guilt. The pain is visceral, a wound seeping with the raw agony of loss. The echoes of her heartbeat fade away, a ghostly rhythm drowned by a stark silence. It should have been me. It should have been me...
As the emptiness swallows us, Liam’s hands tighten around my waist again, propelling me forward. We plunge into a chaos of shadows and blind turns, following Bast’s lead.
We erupt into the kitchen, strangely silent and empty. But the thunderous pursuit behind us intensifies. I can almost feel the seething rage of my father and his men hot on our trail.
Bast rushes us through the kitchen, back up the same hallway we’d passed only minutes ago, past where we’d seen Finn and Emma. Up more stairs. Past my familiar bedroom door.
I dig deep, mentally urging my legs to push faster and match Bast’s unrelenting pace.
My heart is hollow inside my chest, a cavity where only despair thrives. Tears burn in my eyes, leaving hot trails down my cheeks, but there’s no time for grief. Not while we’re still hunted, while Meredith’s sacrifice could still be in vain. We have to get out.
I won’t let her death be for nothing. Or Jackson’s.
This is a race against time. We have to survive. For Meredith. For each other. And I have to live with the weight of knowing the woman who saved us all could not be saved herself.
I look up, light pouring down the hallway. The scent of pine floods my nostrils.
Bast has the window open. He’s already through it, waiting on the other side.
I run, leaping; he catches me and sets me down on the ground beside him.
Liam is through a moment later.
Taking one extra second, Bast swings the window closed. He’s smart. Their confusion should give us a few extra moments to disappear into the trees.
Unfamiliar men surround the house. I smell wolves, and feel so much magick it’s like walking into a fog. A large figure to my right is bellowing in Welsh. The hood on his long robe hides his face from view. Dozens of figures stand in the shadows of the trees with him.
“Liam?”
“I don’t know.” He squeezes me tight to his body and half carries me away from the house.
“Bast,” I call out. He’s not with us. He’s still standing rooted to the spot, staring at the group of cloaked figures.
Liam turns back and shouts, “Bast! Now! We have to go.”
That seems to snap Bast out of his trance. He runs to catch up with us. The figures don’t follow us. Their attention is on the house. Completely.
We run.
And run.
And run.
A wave of heat barrels at us from behind. I can feel it licking at my heels. The blast knocks us all to the ground. When I look back, the house is gone. Nothing but rubble and flames.
Everything’s gone.
No one could’ve survived that.
Liam grabs me around the waist and lifts me into his arms.
“Bast!” he shouts through the ringing in my ears. I see Bast clamber to his feet and then we’re running again. Down the mountain. Away from my father’s house with what we came for—Liam. Except it cost us Meredith and none of us imagined her life would be the price of his rescue.