Chapter 13

Chapter 13

KADE

I don't remember crossing the ring.

One moment I was standing outside the stones with my hand pressed against my bleeding side. The next moment I was in the air, and the world around me was a blur of moonlight and screaming faces.

I only saw two things. Elena, turning her head too slowly. And Vera, her jaws wide open, her teeth an inch from the back of Elena's neck.

I hit Vera in midair.

My shoulder slammed into her ribs, and we flew sideways together, past Elena, out of the ring. I felt Vera's teeth snap shut on nothing. Then we hit the ground and rolled, and I was on top of her.

I didn't shift. I didn't need to. I grabbed her by the thick fur of her neck with both hands, lifted her off the ground, and threw her.

She hit the stone wall at the edge of the clearing so hard the old stones cracked. She yelped once. Then her body twisted and cracked, and the fur pulled back into her skin, and she was human again. She slid down the wall and landed in a heap at the bottom, gasping, her hair wild around her face.

I was already there.

I wrapped my hand around her throat and pinned her against the broken stones.

She clawed at my wrist. Her green eyes were huge. She couldn't breathe. I could feel her pulse hammering under my fingers.

I didn't let go.

Something was roaring inside me. Something old and wild and hungry. My wolf wanted her blood. It wanted her to pay for every hit she had put on Elena tonight. For the knife. For the laughing. For trying to tear out my mate's throat after she had already lost.

After Elena had spared her life.

"She let you live," I said. My voice didn't even sound like mine. It was low and rough, half a growl. "She had a blade at your throat, and she let you live. And you tried to kill her from behind like a coward."

Vera made a choking sound. Her face was going red, then purple.

My fingers tightened.

"Kade!"

Hands grabbed my shoulders. My arms. Someone was pulling at me from behind. I shook them off.

"Kade, stop! You'll kill her!"

Good, my wolf said.

"Alpha!" That was Garrett. His rough old voice cut through the red fog in my head. "Alpha, the challenge was ended! By law! If you kill her now, it's murder! You'll break the very law you swore to keep!"

The law.

My hand froze.

Vera's eyes were rolling back. Her fingers had stopped clawing at my wrist. They were just resting there now, weak and limp.

I let go.

She dropped to the ground, coughing and wheezing, dragging in long ragged breaths. Two warriors ran forward and pulled her away from me.

I stood there with my chest heaving and my hands shaking. The whole pack was staring at me. A hundred faces in the moonlight. Not one of them made a sound.

Then I heard it. Behind me.

A small, soft gasp of pain.

I turned around.

Elena was still standing in the middle of the ring. She hadn't moved. She had one hand pressed over her side, and blood was running between her fingers and down her leg into the dirt. Her face was white as the moon above us.

She was looking at me like she was afraid.

Not of Vera. Of me.

The roaring inside me went quiet all at once.

I crossed the ring to her in three steps. Her knees gave out just as I reached her, and I caught her before she hit the ground. She was so light. She was always so light.

"I've got you," I said. "I've got you."

Her eyes fluttered. She grabbed the front of my shirt with her bloody fingers and pulled me close. Her lips moved.

"Kade," she whispered. "Kade, listen. It was—"

"Don't talk. Save your strength."

"No. Listen. It was—" She swallowed hard. Her eyes were going unfocused. "Silas."

"I'm here."

Silas knelt down beside me. He must have come across the ring when I did. He put his good hand gently on Elena's forehead.

"I'm here, Elena," he said softly. "You're safe. It's over."

Elena's eyes went wide. She stared up at him. Her mouth opened like she was going to scream. Her fingers tightened on my shirt so hard her knuckles went white.

Then her eyes rolled back, and she went limp in my arms.

"Hilda!" I roared. "Get Hilda!"

They carried Vera to the elders' hall. I carried Elena to my room and laid her on the bed, and Hilda chased everyone else out.

I stayed.

I sat in the chair by the bed and watched Hilda cut away Elena's bloody shirt and press cloths against the wound. My own side was still bleeding, but it was already slowing down. Already starting to close. My body was healing, and the bond was pushing that healing into her. I could feel it flowing out of me, warm and steady, like water from a cup.

"She'll be all right," I said. "The bond will heal her. Won't it?"

"Hush," Hilda said. "Let me work."

An hour later, the elders sent for me.

I didn't want to leave her. Hilda pushed me out the door.

"Go," she said. "If you don't go, they'll come here. And I won't have a room full of shouting old men while I'm working."