Chapter 228

Amber’s POV

On the radio, as Julian continued to struggle against a feral Tony, Olivia started to smirk. It was in that moment, watching as she was pleased by this outcome, that I realized she had to be the one responsible for this outcome.

“You gave Tony something to do this to him,” I said.

“So what if I did?” Olivia asked.

“Doing this could kill him,” I said. “Even if it doesn’t he will never return to the way he was.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “You act like I care.”

I was confused. “Wasn’t your plan to back Tony so you would be Luna?”

“Initially, perhaps,” Olivia said. “But Tony wasn’t reliable in any true way, and I tire of surrounding myself with incompetent people. Truly, the best outcome for me would be if he killed Julian and then himself. Or stayed feral. What difference does that make to me?”

“Don’t you care about Tony?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “He was only ever a means to an end. They all are, just stepping stones on the way to getting me what I really want.”

“What could that possibly be? What is any of this – this kidnapping, this hurt, this attempted murder – what is any of it for?”

“With Julian disgraced and Tony out of the way, the only logical person for the pack to turn to in their hour of need is… me…” She grinned.

She was entirely delusional. “Even if the worst should happen, you will never be made Alpha. There’s a million other people who would be in line before you.”

Her grin slipped off her face, and I realized too late how wrong I was to try to be logical with someone who wasn’t living in the same reality.

“You should be worrying about other things,” Olivia said.

Olivia brought up the gun, far too close to Alice’s head. Alice stilled at once, her eyes wide as saucers.

“Mommy…”

“It’s okay, honey,” I said, trying to stay calm for her sake. It wasn’t working. My panic was breaking through my voice.

Hearing it, Olivia started to grin again. She liked being in control. If I could find a way to manipulate her, make her think she had the upper hand when she actually didn’t, then maybe I could turn this around somehow.

Gods, it was so difficult to think when that gun was so near to Alice. The nerves of steel that had helped me in the hospital so many times were useless now.

“Whatever you are planning,” I said, trying to stay strong for Alice’s sake and my own. “Threatening a child will only make your reputation worse.”

“I’m not going to hurt your daughter, despite what you think,” Olivia said. “And I’m certainly not going to kill her.”

“Then put the gun away,” I said.

“It’s my insurance,” Olivia said. “Really though, the only person who is going to hurt your daughter is you.”

“I would never,” I snapped at once.

Olivia hummed pleasantly, even as she slowly inched Alice back further and further toward the ledge of the roof.

I inched along with them, trying to close the distance.

On the radio, Tony tore into Julian’s fur, drawing blood that splattered across the ring. Even through the speaker’s microphone, I could hear Julian’s roar of pain.

My heart clenched.

Was this how our family was going to end?

We’d made so many beautiful plans, and now we were going to lose them? It didn’t seem right, didn’t seem fair.

Alice was too young, and Julian and I had only just started to rebuild our love and trust. Talking about the future had been the catalyst that I thought might push us to reuniting fully.

Now… were we all going to die before we ever had that chance?

Alice looked around nervously, like she could tell which direction she was headed toward. I saw the fear in her eyes, but I could also see her intelligence. She was plotting something. Gods, was she going to be reckless?

I bit my tongue, not wanting to draw attention to her, even as I begged in my heart for her not to do anything foolish that could end with her being harmed.

Yet, in a sudden burst of movement, by brave little girl acted. She pounced, biting her teeth into Olivia’s gun hand, clenching down hard.

She was only using her flat human teeth, as the cure I had given her stripped her premature wolf away from her. Yet, she was determined and clenched down hard.

Olivia cursed loudly, and tried to fling Alice toward the ledge. The gun flew away first, right to the edge of the roof without flying over, but on the second attempt, Alice slipped and also flew over the edge.

My mouth fell open in a silent cry.

My mind went blank and I moved on instinct instead.

I couldn’t tell if I shifted. I thought I blacked out.

One minute I was further back on the roof, and then I was over the edge, ready to jump after my daughter.

Instead, I caught myself on the ledge, seeing that Alice hadn’t yet fallen. She was curved arms and legs around a flagpole.

Desperately, I searched on the side of the building for leg holds, then I started the trek downwards, trying to get to her.

I wasn’t going to let her fall.

No sooner had I disappeared over the ledge, then Olivia appeared, peering down at us.

Seeing us, she laughed and laughed, manic as a madwoman.

Julian’s POV

I was bleeding faster than my healing could fix. My back was to the ground, Tony clawing at my front with his claws.

In my chest, I could feel fear that I knew wasn’t my own. Amber’s heart was calling out for mine, begging me to help her.

I didn’t even know where she was, but I knew it wasn’t here.

I wanted to get to her, to save her, but I couldn’t. Right now, I was too busy trying to keep myself from being killed.

And that was what this was, wasn’t it? I could see that now, with Tony as feral as he was, tearing away at my flesh.

Tony had lost his mind and with it any sense of reason. He had gone entirely feral, a dreaded condition for a wolf. To go feral meant that he was totally lost to his bloodlust.

Even his wolf, if they had any sense of their own, was gone to this insanity.

Tony wouldn’t stop, even if he managed to kill me. He would simply burst from this ring and attack the onlookers, even the ones that had been loyal to him.

He wouldn’t be able to see that. He could only see flesh, he could only smell blood, he could only feel the need for destruction and death.

With Tony gone like this, the stakes had raised even higher.

I couldn’t let him out of this ring to hurt anyone else.

He was beyond the point of being a capable Alpha. He’d have to be contained and potentially destroyed as he was.

But that made things very clear for me, putting them into a cruel perspective.

Claiming Alpha was no longer the stakes of this fight.

Now, with Tony feral, this had become a fight to the death.