17. Rip
Chapter 17
Rip
W e were ambushed. Rogues, more than I have ever seen in the past, flood our town, taking advantage of my unsuspecting pack. We’ve had rogue attacks, but never within our town, where omegas and children walk freely.
They are supposed to feel safe here.
I was supposed to keep them safe.
Thorne, along with a few other alphas from my guard, were on the scene first, keeping the rogues back to give the omegas and their children time to flee. Any rogue unfortunate enough to cross my path met the same end. For far too long, I took rogue after rogue down, hearing my brothers do the same.
By the end, blood coats my fur, but most of it is not my own.
Throughout all this, I have yet to find Michael. But I know he’s here, leading the attack. He wouldn’t be one to hide in the forest while his people did his dirty work.
But where the fuck is he ?
I’m on edge. Distracted. My wolf grows more feral the longer I’m away from Hettie. If we had completed the bond, I would be able to sense her right now, to know she’s okay. Because she has to be okay. I refuse to think any other way. My Dove is strong. Stronger than even she gives herself credit for.
Amidst the battle, a howl reverberates around us, picked up by a few other wolves. None of them are mine. It’s a signal. The moment that thought crosses my head, the rogues who have not fallen start to retreat. What the fuck? One moment they are attempting to rip my pack to shreds, and the next they tuck tail and disappear through the forest.
From the corner of my eye, I see a flash of dark gray fur sprint past me. I growl, turning around so fast, I kick up dirt and pebbles. The large wolf howls, joining the others in the forest. This wolf is bigger than the others, and I know instantly who it is.
Michael.
Leaving from the direction of the nursery. Among the chaos, he’s eluded me.
Without thinking, I sprint toward the small cabin a few yards ahead. I push my legs faster than they have ever carried me, feeling the strain almost immediately. A dire wolf reaches my side, running next to me. I don’t need to look over to know Thorne is trailing me. His mate—my cousin—is also in the nursery.
If he touched Hettie or Tallie…
I burst through the front door of the nursery, ignoring the way it broke off the hinges and fell to the ground. I scan the room, and the smell of blood is overwhelming. Pools of crimson splatter the floor, and the worst nightmares plague my mind.
Hettie dead with her throat ripped out.
Hettie in pieces.
Hettie and Tallie all bloodied and bruised with fear forever etched on their faces.
The loud, ear-piercing scream pulls me out of the darkness and toward the adjoining room. That’s when I see her. My Dove, soaked with blood and looking like the Goddess of Death. Her hair is a wild, matted mess, and her eyes dart back and forth in a frenzy. She clutches the bloody ax tightly, putting it between her and me.
I shift, but Hettie doesn’t recognize me yet. She’s in survival mode. Her brain isn’t allowing her to think rationally.
“Hettie…” I try to keep my voice soft and gentle, even though inside I’m screaming. I want her in my arms. I want to look over her body and make sure no harm has come to her.
More importantly, I want to kill Michael. Like I should have done a long time ago.
“Here.” Thorne tosses me a pair of pants that I quickly put on. I don’t know where he got them, but I also don’t care. Hettie doesn’t need a naked man coming at her.
“Get back!” she screams, swinging the ax hard enough to scare me. In other circumstances, I’d be proud of Hettie for standing her ground. Now, though? I’m doing everything in my power to keep myself in check and not spook her further.
“Dove, it’s okay. You’re safe, Hettie. They’re gone. You did it, mate. You protected your pack.” Pride swells deep in my chest. My mate, the pack’s Luna, protected those who couldn’t protect themselves.
Maybe she is the salvation we’ll need to win this war .
“Rip?” Slowly Hettie puts down the ax, letting it drop with a dull thud.
“It’s me.” The words are barely out of my mouth before she flings herself at me. Instinctually, my arms go around her, holding her close. I expect to hear sobs, now that the adrenaline from the fight has worn off. To finally allow herself to give in to the fear. I hold her tight, wishing I could take those feelings away.
But Hettie doesn’t cry.
She clings to me, grounding herself back into reality, but sheds no tears for whatever horrific ordeal she has just faced.
“I need to check you for injuries,” I say gently yet firmly. I hold her at arm’s length, eyes scanning over her body. There’s so much blood. There’s an angry red mark in the shape of a hand on the left side of her face.
“Was that Michael’s doing?” My voice is dangerously low. Molten hot fury courses through me at the thought of someone else touching my mate. Hurting her.
Hettie must see the rising anger because she reaches out to grab my face. “Alpha, I’m okay. I’m fine,” she assures me, or tries to.
I come undone.
We move as one, drawn to each other by an invisible string. I don’t know who initiated the kiss, but soon our lips are crashing together, desperate for the other. I pry her lips apart with my tongue, and she gives in to me, moaning when our tongues touch. I kiss her to know she’s there. I kiss her to know she’s okay.
I kiss her because I need her.
This isn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Too many clothes in the way. I ache for her in a way I’ve never felt before. She came into my life and stole the very heart from my chest .
But all too soon, she’s pulling away from me, lips swollen from our kiss. “Tallie. The pups.”
I take a moment to understand what she is saying, and then her meaning is clear. “Where?”
“In the safe room, over there.” She points to a wall where two cribs have been pushed apart.
Thorne, no longer in his wolf form, bangs on the door. “Tallie! Open up. It’s over.” There’s a panic in his voice I know all too well.
Time passes slowly as we are helpless to do anything but stand and watch. Clicking sounds from within, and then the door opens with a groan. We let out a collective sigh of relief, and Thorne pulls the door open the rest of the way. Scared cries of the pups greet us, but crying means they are alive.
That Tallie and Hettie saved them.
“Hettie? Hettie!” Tallie tumbles out, pushing past Thorne. The moment their eyes meet, my cousin bursts into tears and sprints over to her Luna.
“She needs a healer, Rip! Why are you just standing there?” she cries, ignoring the blood as she wraps her arms around my mate.
Hettie holds her. She needs this as much as Tallie does. “I’m okay. I promise,” she whispers repeatedly. My mate just went through a traumatic experience, and yet she’s the one comforting Tallie.
I give the women a moment of privacy as I turn toward my second. “Their parents should be on their way. Will you make sure every pup gets home? If their parents are injured, we’ll deal with that.”
I don’t know how many of my pack are injured or if we lost any wolves. The aftermath of today’s battle will be my problem after I learn exactly what happened here. Why Michael risked his people to find Hettie but not take her.
“Tallie,” I call, and my cousin reluctantly pulls away from Hettie. “Will you assist Thorne with the pups?”
“We’ll talk later,” Hettie promises, giving Tallie’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “Take Grass with you. He’ll keep them calm until an adult can pick up their child.”
“Promise me you’re okay?” Tallie looks over the blood coating her body. It’s hard to imagine that Hettie sustained little to no injury while her body is painted in red.
“I’m okay. I’ll tell you all about it later,” she promises.
Thorne gently pulls Tallie to him and whispers something in her ear. Tallie nods once before retreating into the safe room to help corral the scared pups until their parents can reach them. Already I hear a few wolves running our way, desperate to make sure their pups are safe.
And they are. Because of my cousin and the pack Luna.
“You did great, Hettie. Thank you for protecting my mate. I owe you my life,” Thorne says to Hettie, reverence and respect shining in his eyes.
My girl blushes. “She’s my friend. I protect my friends.”
“Hettie.” At the sound of her name, she looks up at me through dark lashes. She sways on her feet, and in an instant I’m by her side. “You need to sit.”
Hettie doesn’t argue with me, which only proves how shaken she really is. I take her back to the other room, careful of the broken glass as I navigate her to the small couch. It sags under our weight, and we sink into the cushions.
“We need to talk about what happened.” The last thing I want to do is push her, but with Michael on the loose, we no longer have the luxury of time. “I wouldn’t ask you about it right now if it wasn’t important, Dove. ”
“I know.” Her voice is so small. Hettie’s larger-than-life personality pales to a dying ember. I hate seeing her like this. Hate knowing she was scared and alone.
“Michael came here. He’s working with the Nephilim, Rip. He admitted it to me. He…told me he hopes we have extra beds for those bitten. What does he mean by that? What happens when a rogue bites one of our pack members?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “This is the first major attack on our lands. Usually we can contain it before they reach the city. My guards have been bit, I’m certain, but nothing has happened to them.”
Yet, I think but don’t voice.
“Michael implied something bad is going to happen. But I couldn’t get any more out of him. He got so close to me, and I just reacted. That ax you gave me? I brought it down on him. I wanted to kill him, Rip. I never had this feeling of bloodlust before, but I wanted him dead. I wasn’t strong enough, though, and he—” She gestures to the mark on her face, and newfound anger flares to life. I suspected that was Michael’s doing, but hearing it confirmed intensifies the hatred I have for the rogue bastard.
Michael will die.
And soon.
“I’m so sorry, Rip. This is all my fault.” Then Hettie shatters my heart into a million small shards. The dam holding back her emotions finally breaks. She puts her head in her hands and sobs. “I was brought here to help, but I’m only making things worse. Ender was wrong. I don’t belong here.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it?—”
“It’s not!” she cries, looking up at me with tear-stained eyes. “Michael told me he came here for me. Told me this wouldn’t stop until I came to him willingly. I don’t know why he wants me, but he does. If I stay here, more people will get hurt. Or worse. I can’t, Rip. Don’t you get it? I came here to get away from people I’ve hurt. I can’t fucking do it again. I refuse!”
Hettie breaks down, curling into herself. Her shoulders shake with her sobs, and I can’t take it. “Hettie.” I lose all pretenses of control and drag her over to me. She puts up a weak fight, but I cage my arms around her as soon as she’s in my lap.
“I need you to understand something, Dove, and then we will never have this fucking conversation again. This isn’t your fault.”
Hettie opens her mouth to argue, but I’m faster. I clamp my hand over her lips, and she lets out a strangled cry. My mate attempts to bite me in hopes I’ll let go. Jokes on her though, because I fucking love it.
“If you want something to bite, Dove, I’ll give you my neck later. Mark it up as you see fit.”
She glares up at me, but her scent gives her lust away. She likes the thought of that.
“I don’t give a shit what Michael said,” I continue while I have her attention. “None of this is your fault. And don’t for a second think I’m going to let you sacrifice yourself for this pack. Michael’s a liar. Once he has you, there’s no stopping him from killing every one of us for you to watch.
“What’s going to happen is we’re going to rid our pack of this disease and the rogues. We will also take care of the Nephilim. I don’t have the answers about how we’re going to do that, but I know we will find a solution together. Because we are going to survive this shit and come out on top. Do you understand me, mate? ”
I let my hand fall away from her mouth, giving her voice back. There’s a new hardness in her expression that wasn’t there moments ago. “I understand, Alpha. Together.”
At this moment, I feel like I can take on a herd of Nephilim and rogues. I lean down and press a firm kiss to her lips. “Good,” I say once I pull away. “Now let me clean you up.”
“Shouldn’t we check on the pack first?” she asks.
“No. Let me take care of you.” The need to clean her up and make sure there’s no other injuries on her she’s trying to hide from me is strong. “Thorne and Tallie will check in on the pack. We will join them later.”
“But—”
“Argue with me, and I swear I’ll spank that ass and drag you back to our room anyway,” I growl. “Now let’s go.”
“Spanking sounds fine with me, actually.”
“Hettie,” I groan, picturing her over my knee, ass bared. My cock hardens at the thought of her red cheeks and the moans she’d make.
“Fine,” she sighs dramatically, taking hold of my hand. It feels like the most natural thing in the world. “Let’s go so you can see that I’m fine, and we can get back to our pack— Rip! I can walk; put me the fuck down!”
There is no way I would allow Hettie to walk back to the packhouse while she’s unsteady on her feet. This also gives me an excuse to touch her, which I’m not passing up, even as she protests most of the way back. She gives up trying to argue with me about halfway home and falls into a pout instead. It’s damn cute.
Once back in our room, I sit her on the bed. “Strip,” I call over my shoulder, heading to the bathroom for some necessities. I hear her grumble about “stubborn alphas,” which I ignore and grab a towel, wetting it with warm water, and a salve for her cheek.
When I come back into the room, Hettie is naked in my—our—bed. Her beautiful body is on display for me, but I don’t allow myself to drink her in. It would be too easy to give in to temptation, but I brought her here for a reason. My eyes scan her body for injuries. I find none but a red mark on her cheek and dried blood on the top of her head. Blood coats her arms, but none of it belongs to her. Only Michael.
Pride swells in my chest at the fight my mate put up. I lean down and work in silence, cleaning Michael’s blood off her. The once white towel is now stained pink. I drop it to the ground and reach for the salve. “Does your face sting?”
“A little,” she admits. “My head too.”
“I’ll make tea for your headache soon, but this should help your cheek.” I dip into the salve, bring my hand to her face and gently rub it on her. Our eyes are locked in an intense stare, drawing me closer to her.
Hettie’s breath hitches before biting down on her lip. She’s only a hair's breadth away from me now. I could kiss her. I want to kiss her, but before I get the opportunity, Hettie clears her throat and breaks the silence.
“Am I healed, Dr. Rip?” she asks, trying to lighten the mood with humor. Just like she did this morning before things could go any further. She’s scared of something; I just don’t know what.
Reluctantly, I pull back. “You are. I’m proud of you, Hettie. What you did today was amazing. Our pack will remember this.”
The smile that lights up her features isn’t one I’ve seen before. Her eyes shine with unshed tears, and I wonder if she’s ever heard those words before .
“Thank you.” Hettie pushes herself off the bed. “Give me five minutes to get ready. I want to check on everyone and help Tallie get the pups back to their families.”
As much as I want to stay in this room and have my Dove to myself, I can’t. Our duty is to our pack, and the pack deserves to see their Luna.