Chapter 10

Edric's POV:

I smell the rogue minutes after turning my back on Maya. I don’t know how to communicate to her that the asshole is watching us. This is not a rogue looking for refuge, as so many of our other ex-rogues tended to do; this one is dangerous. He’s the very kind of wolf she keeps running into – one that’s more beast than man.

Very casually, as if I don’t know he’s there, I pull my t-shirt over my head and start moving backwards to Maya. I don’t want to scare her, but we haven’t marked each other yet, so we don’t share a connection. I can’t mind-link her.

The moment I let her know what’s going on, I shift and turn, relieved to see that she followed my advice. Her magnificent wolf shimmers in the sunlight, and this really sends the rogue over the edge of what little reason he has left.

He comes crashing through the forest like a deranged animal, which I guess he kind of is, forgetting about me and going straight for Maya. He’ll try to mate with her in his wolf form – a forbidden act in our pack. Snarling, I jump between Maya and the rogue. Since I’m an Alpha, I’m much bigger than him, but he doesn’t seem to register my size or dominance. Growling deeply, my hackles raised, I get ready to launch myself at the intruder.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the common sense to back off. Turning his attention from Maya to me, he snarls and barks, gnashing his teeth together, drool running down his muzzle. He’s gone completely feral. Shit. I’ll have to kill him.

The wolf storms me, going straight for my throat. I turn just in time, feeling his canines brush against my skin. He draws a thin sliver of blood, which emboldens him. He tries to jump me from behind, but I’m faster, dropping low I tear at his ankle ripping his front paw off. The wolf yelps and falls, rolling onto his back to submit, baring his throat.

My wolf wants to keep going, wants to rip the rogue’s gullet out, but I hold him back. I have to hold him back, even though the smell of his blood hangs heavy in the air, and all I really want to do is finish the job. I can’t let myself give in to my baser instincts – that little slope is way too slippery. I shift back, kneeling next to the injured wolf. “Shift,” I command.

Immediately, the wolf shifts, holding his bleeding stump where a hand used to be. He’s a scrawny, hairy man getting on in years. “What were you thinking?” I ask.

“The she-wolf,” he growls. “I want.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t have her. She’s mine.”

“Don’t care. Beautiful.”

“Yes, she is.”

There isn’t much left of the man he used to be. He can barely form a coherent sentence. I feel sorry for him. I wonder how long he’s been on his own. “Do you want to see our doctor?”

“No doctor.”

“Will you leave our territory?”

“Give me bitch.”

“Yeah…no.”

I take a chance and glimpse over my shoulder at Maya, relieved to see that she hasn’t changed back. Her silver-blue eyes glow brightly, even in the sunlight. It is a catastrophic mistake. The rogue takes the chance and shifts back to wolf, going straight for my throat.

He pins me down, and I get my legs up just before he can sink his teeth into me. My arms, and legs straining as I try to keep the wolf away from my throat. He loses all control: gnashing and snarling, snapping and drooling. Ignoring the kicks and blows that connect solidly with his body, trying to get to me. A black and silver blur catches my eye. “No! Maya!” But she doesn’t hear me, or maybe she just doesn’t care, I don’t know.

She runs straight at my attacker, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, rolling with him as she drags him off me. For a few heart-stopping moments, I only see a blur of black and grey as the two of them roll over and around each other, then I hear a loud yelp, not hers, and she has the rogue on his back, holding him down, forepaws on his chest, mouth clamped over his neck, waiting for my command. Goddess, I’ve never been so proud of anyone in my life. “Don’t kill him,” I say before I shift back to wolf.

I’m kind of surprised that she listens to me. She waits until I stand next her, glowing silver-blue eyes watching me as she let’s go of the rogue and steps back.

Taking her place on the intruder’s chest, I mind-link my father to tell him what happened. I want to spare the man’s life more than the wolf’s. Maybe we can help him. I want to help him. It’s what we do. We don’t just execute people, be they man or wolf.

My father has more experience, and I’ve never needed his guidance more. Minutes later, my dad and Luca come running up, the two wolves crashing through the trees. Both of them turn their heads to look at Maya, seeing her dazzling wolf for the first time, stopping dead to admire her. She has a strange effect on everyone that crosses her path – especially the males. “Hey!” I snap at them. “Over here. What do we do with this one?”

Dad takes his time, sniffing at the rogue, then stands back and growls softly. “He’s too far gone.”

“I agree.” Luca steps up to me, sympathy burning in his light blue eyes.

“What do we do with him? Set him free?” I don’t want to set him free, know we can’t, but the alternative is killing him.

We outlawed dungeons and prisons in our pack – they are just torture chambers, and no wolf, no matter how feral, belongs in those cold, dark, damp places. But right now, I kind of wish we still had a dungeon or a prison – something, anything, where we can put this guy.

I glimpse in Maya’s direction. She’s watching us with curious, intelligent eyes, no idea that we’re talking to each other. Soon, I hope, she’ll understand how it’s done.

“No we can’t let him go. He has Maya’s scent,” my dad says. “He will keep coming for her.”

“Shit. I was afraid of that.”

“I’ll do it,” Luca offers. “Take Maya away, you don’t want her to see this.”

“She saved my life, you know. I dropped my guard. The fucker almost killed me.”

“And still you want to spare his life,” my dad growls softly. “That is an automatic death sentence in any pack. You are a better wolf than I am. Go. Both of you. Luca and I will take care of it.”

I want to. I want to leave them so they can carry out the execution, but my father should know better than even suggesting it. He taught me differently. Showed me a better example of what an Alpha is supposed to be. If I can’t do what’s hard and necessary, how can I expect my warriors to do it? “No. I’ll do it. Please, dad, take Maya into the forest. To the waterfall. I’ll meet you there.”

I shift back, not even trying to hide my nudity from her anymore. It’s a lot of shifting for one day, but it’s the only way I can talk to my mate. “Go with my father.” I indicate to his red-gold wolf that looks so much like mine -- apart from his hazel eyes. No one in my family has my eyes. “I have to take care of this.”

She drops her head, and I take that to mean she understands. It’s good. It means that she is in control, not her wolf. As soon as she disappears into the woods with my dad, I shift and turn back to the rogue, Luca by my side. “I’ve never had to kill someone for just…no reason,” I say with a sigh.

“He attacked you…your mate…our Luna. That’s reason enough. No one will blame you for this.”

“He’s feral – he can’t help himself.”

“Then you are doing him a kindness. It’s no way to live. Not for a shifter.”

There is fear in the rogue’s eyes. Fear and defeat. I hate it. I don’t want to kill him. I will him to shift back to his human form, all I need is one small sign that there’s still a little humanity left in him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he growls and snaps at me like the deranged animal he is.

Quickly, before I can change my mind, I clamp my jaws over his throat and bite down. I hate killing him. I hate the taste of his blood in my mouth as I rip his throat open. I hate seeing the once proud wolf now dead and lifeless on the ground, blood seeping from his throat into the earth.

“I’ll take care of the body,” Luca says, rubbing his shoulder against mine. “You should go to Maya; she’s probably a little freaked out.”

“Yes. Thank you.” I break our mind-link, and picking up the shorts with my mouth, I dash off.

Not in the direction of the waterfall, in the direction of my mate as I should. I go the other way. Away from them. I need a moment to myself so I can process everything that had just happened.