Two

ELARA'S P.O.V.

“If she dies, it will be all your fault!” Alpha Broderick snarled as my hands glowed brighter. My wolf stirred in irritation as he then leaned down, cupping her cheek with his lips hovering over hers. “Stay with me, love.”

“If she dies, it will be because you are in my way and not letting me do my job!” I snapped back, holding his stare as he glared up at me, yet he remained. “So move!”

He had every right to take my tone and words as a challenge, to attack me and prove he was the one in charge here, but we both knew his mate wouldn’t live that long.

She was fading fast.

I could see the war in his eyes, the hate and disdain he had for me.

The feeling was mutual.

My wolf stopped seeing him as our Alpha long ago.

He could punish me later for the way I spoke to him, but he couldn’t kill me.

Reluctantly, he moved back, but kept his hold on her hand. As I moved my palms over her body, my eyes closed.

The poison was thick within her, like a sludge that was slowly sliding through each vein, preparing to stop at any moment.

My hands grew warmer as I forced more of my ability into her. Whoever created this poison had been gifted with an affinity unlike anything I had ever seen before.

The tingle in my palms as they moved up to her bare collar confirmed it.

The poison was laced with magic.

It wasn’t just moving through her body.

It was being moved, as if someone was controlling it…killing her.

“Raine!” Alpha Broderick called as the poison came to a slow stop at her heart, and her body went limp beneath my hands. My eyes shot open as her head rolled to the side.

“Wake up!” I ordered, not done with her yet. She wasn’t dead until Death himself claimed her.

“She’s gone. He will be here any moment. We need to leave.” Jason whispered from the doorway.

I glanced up at him, seeing his horrified expression as he stared at his mother’s limp body. As much as I hated him… hated them all, no one should have to see a loved one go before their very eyes.

“No, I can save her!” I spat between gritted teeth.

The presence that had just been inside her, controlling the magic, was fading fast. It was as if they had done what they had come for and didn’t want to stick around to face what would happen next…or get caught doing it.

I kept my hands on her, willing her heart to beat again as I slowly began to push the poison from it.

My chest filled with hope as I felt it start to move.

“She is already gone,” Jason said, but the roar of outrage from Alpha Broderick made me flinch.

“You!” He screamed, his voice cracking. “You killed her!”

“She is not dead until Death claims her soul!” I screamed back.

A gust of warm air hit the back of my shoulder as I said his name. Death, sending a shiver down my spine.

My hands began to shake.

It felt as if he were standing right behind me, close enough to touch me, but I couldn’t see him.

Until he showed himself, I still had time to save her.

The shadows grew darker in the room around us, and the air dropped by at least twenty degrees as the walls began to shake.

And then the shadows split.

I looked up in time to see the wall behind Alpha Broderick morph, and I cried out in terror as a large wolf walked out of the darkness.

He smelled like the smoke of a campfire, and a dusting of what appeared to be ash covered the ground around his paws with each step he took.

Wisps of darkness were moving around him as if they were alive, and my eyes widened in absolute horror as the unfamiliar and terrifyingly deep voice of Death filled my head.

“You have something that belongs to me.”

My breath caught in my chest as the deep voice growled, making my spine turn to ice as I tensed.

I had never seen him before, but as the wisps of darkness swirled around him, my mother’s words finally began to make sense.

My mother hadn’t been talking in code or trying to be discreet like I had thought. It wasn't a puzzle I had to solve.

She had been very clear. I had just never seen Death before to put it together.

The shadow wolf that held the answer to all of my questions was…

“Death,” The name rolled off my tongue quietly as I exhaled.

The large black wolf’s head straightened, and his lips pulled up, showing his terrifying canines.

I had seen my pack mates smile before while in their fur, but seeing a smile on the wolf that was there to take the Luna’s soul made me want to scream.

“Take Elara, you can have her. Give Raine back, you stupid, cursed dog!” Alpha Broderick demanded, sinking his Alpha command into his words.

“Over my dead body!” I snapped at Alpha Broderick before pressing my lips together.

That would be the only time I let Death near my soul.

“I can make that happen.” Alpha Broderick warned.

“A soul is owed. You do not get to choose which one.” Death said, but his eyes roamed over my body anyway.

A thrill ran through me from my wolf as she rose eagerly in my mind. She was proud to be on display for his consideration, but I tried to force her down. Yet, she was hungry for his attention, and he seemed all too willing to give it.

The wolf's face morphed to anger, snarling as his eyes stopped on my hands that were still on Luna Raine, but I refused to move them.

The Luna was dying. He was here for her soul. Hers.

I had to save her before he got the chance to take it.

If she lived, then there was no soul owed, and he would have nothing to take.

Not hers or mine.

He stepped forward and darkness shot out around his paw like water rippling as it expanded across the floor toward us.

“Don’t touch her!” Jason screamed from the doorway before rushing into the room toward the Shadow Wolf.

The darkness thickened into fog, turning suddenly before rushing toward Jason. I watched with horror as it wrapped itself around his ankles, moving up his legs and stopping him only feet away.

His face turned red, and his bloodshot eyes looked ready to pop out of his head as it constricted around his neck before moving over his head.

“I don’t take orders from mortals.” Death said, sounding bored. He didn’t spare Jason a second glance as his body collapsed to the floor. I couldn’t tell if he was still breathing. “They never learn.”