CHAPTER 31

Helena's pov

The silence on North Ridge snapped like a frozen branch.

Kade looked at his enforcers, who were still pressed flat against the muddy snow, whining in utter terror. He screamed at them, kicking the nearest rogue in the ribs. "Get up, you worthless mutts! Kill her!"

The rogue only curled tighter into a ball, tucking his tail between his legs. The golden light radiating from me was too strong. My aura was like an invisible iron hand holding them down, commanding them to submit to their true Alpha.

Kade realized in a heartbeat that he had completely lost control. Panic flashed across his pale face, quickly replaced by a dark, ugly rage. If his men would not finish this, he would do it himself.

"I should have killed you twenty years ago!" Kade roared.

With a sickening crack of breaking bone and tearing leather, Kade shifted into his wolf.

His fur was a greasy, matted gray, and his form swelled into a massive monster of a wolf.

He was nearly the size of a grizzly bear, built purely for violence and destruction.

He did not waste time showing off. He coiled his powerful hind legs, kicked off the wooden porch, and launched himself through the air directly at my throat.

I raised my grand, silver-and-white head, ready to take the hit. But before Kade could reach me, the wooden front wall of the old hunting lodge burst outward in an explosion of splintered pine and flying debris.

A shadow bounded out from the cloud of snow and sawdust.

It was Jarrett. He had shifted into his midnight-black wolf form, his red eyes burning with wild protective fury.

He intercepted Kade in mid-air, crashing into the gray beast with the weight of a runaway train.

The two giant wolves slammed hard into the icy ground, rolling across the clearing in a blur of snapping jaws, razor-sharp claws, and flaring fur.

The sound of their collision echoed off the surrounding rock faces like a crack of thunder.

Jarrett scrambled to his feet first, placing himself directly between Kade and me. He let out a deep, shaking snarl, his black fur standing on end, doubling his size.

'I told you I would protect you,' Jarrett sent through our mind link, his voice was tight with adrenaline.

'I do not need to be saved, Jarrett,' I replied, my voice ringing clear and strong in his mind. 'But we have to finish this together.'

Kade scrambled up from the snow, shaking his massive head.

Blood dripped from his black snout where Jarrett had bitten him during the drop. With a furious howl, the gray wolf charged again.

What followed was a brutal, bloody fight across the snowy grounds of the old lodge.

Jarrett ducked under Kade’s first wild swipe, lunging upward to snap his jaws around Kade’s forearm.

Kade bellowed in pain, using his immense weight to slam Jarrett sideways into the rotted timber support beams of the porch.

The wooden structure groaned and collapsed in a shower of heavy beams and rusted iron nails.

Jarrett kicked himself free, spinning in the snow to dodge a deadly bite aimed at his neck.

The two wolves circled each other, their hot breath rising in thick clouds in the freezing mountain air. Snow turned to slush beneath their heavy paws.

Kade was older and had decades of brutal fighting experience, but Jarrett was faster, fueled by the primal urge to defend his mate and his pack.

Jarrett lunged forward, feinting to the left before snapping his jaws shut on Kade’s shoulder. Kade let out a sharp yelp, twisting his body violently to throw Jarrett off.

Jarrett slid across the ice, his claws digging deep furrows into the frozen dirt.

Kade did not miss his chance. He lunged at Jarrett while the black wolf was still trying to find his footing.

Kade pinned Jarrett down with one massive, clawed paw pressed against his chest, raising his head to sink his long fangs straight into Jarrett’s exposed throat.

'Jarrett!' My mind screamed.

I could see that Jarrett was trapped. Kade was too heavy, and Jarrett could not get enough leverage to push him off in time.

I did not hesitate. I took two heavy strides forward, my white-and-silver fur gleaming under the faint winter sun. I dug my claws into the snow, opened my jaws wide, and drew in a huge breath of icy air.

Just then I unleashed my Alpha Command, "KADE! STOP!"

The command did not sound like the voice of the mountain itself, booming with magical authority and unshakeable power.

The sheer force of the royal Alpha command rippled through the snowy air like a physical blast wave.

It struck Kade hard.

The gray wolf froze instantly. His muscles locked up tight as his ancient wolf instincts forced him to obey the command of his true ruler.

His jaws stayed locked open, hovering just an inch above Jarrett's neck. Kade fought against the magic with everything he had, his gray body trembling violently, his red eyes bulging with strain, but he could not move a single muscle.

My power bought us the one second we needed.

With Kade frozen in place, Jarrett seized the moment. He brought both of his hind legs up against Kade’s exposed stomach and kicked out with devastating force.

Kade was hurled backward through the air, crashing hard onto his back in the middle of the clearing.

Before Kade could recover or fight off the lingering paralysis of my command, Jarrett was already on him. The black wolf leaped through the air, landing heavily on top of Kade’s chest.

Jarrett sank his powerful jaws deep into the thick scruff of Kade’s neck, clamping down with every ounce of strength he possessed.

A sickening crunch echoed across the quiet clearing.

Jarrett tossed his head back, throwing Kade’s huge body across the dirt. Kade skidded through the slush, slamming into the base of a massive pine tree.

The gray wolf let out a horrible, strangled gasp. The dark, wild aura that had surrounded him for years flickered like a dying candle and then completely snapped.

Kade shifted back into his human form, collapsed in a bloody heap against the roots of the tree. His chest heaved painfully as he clutched his broken neck and shoulder.

The deep, dark Alpha dominance that Kade had used to bully and control his rogues was completely stripped away.

He was no longer a leader or a threat. He was just a defeated, broken old man lying in the freezing snow.

The entire mountain seemed to go dead silent.

The remaining rogues who had been hiding in the treeline stepped out into the open, their heads bowed low.

They saw their leader crushed. They saw his dominance destroyed in front of their very eyes.

One by one, the rest of Kade’s pack dropped to their knees in the snow, submitting entirely to Jarrett and me.

Brent, who was still cowering near the broken stairs, stared at Kade in complete disbelief. Then he looked up at me, his mouth hanging open in total terror.

He realized then that he had bet on the wrong side, and there was nowhere left for him to run.

Jarrett stepped back from Kade’s groaning form. He let out a low, victorious huff of air, his black fur shaking off the dirt and snow from the fight then he turned his head to look at me.

I walked forward slowly, my paws making soft crunching sounds in the snow.

I stood beside Jarrett, my glowing golden eyes scanning the kneeling rogues and the defeated Kade.

The silver aura around my fur gradually softened.

I nudged my snout against Jarrett’s neck, checking on his injuries. Jarrett leaned into my touch, letting out a soft sigh of relief through our link.

"Is it over?" Jarrett asked silently.

I looked down at Kade, who could barely raise his head to look at me. The man who had ordered the hit on my parents was finally beaten.

"It is over," I replied quietly.