Chapter 128

Kayla

Nicholas and I didn’t dare to move, hardly even dared to breathe, as the gray wolf stepped out from the shadows. Its eyes, a glowing silver color like a pale, moonlit lake, roved around the forest as if searching for something.

Then, it sniffed once. Deeply. And then froze, its hackles raised, turning and staring directly at the spot where Nicholas and I were hidden.

We weren’t far, of course. The wolf could smell us; he knew we were there.

At that moment, I felt the mate bond flare to life against my throat, a burning sensation rushing through my entire body. But Nicholas wasn’t using it this time to make me kiss him or turn me on or intensify my climax in bed—rather, he was using it to communicate something.

A warning.

“Get out of here,” his mental voice seemed to say. “I’ll handle this.”

I didn’t move, though, as Nicholas shifted, then stepped out from behind the tree and revealed himself to the other wolf. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to run, but rather that I couldn’t. And the sound of Nicholas’s low, warning growls just made my legs feel even more frozen.

Nicholas and the other wolf circled one another, lips curled back to reveal gleaming white fangs. Everything in Nicholas’s posture was low, predatory, authoritative. In his body language alone, he was warning the other wolf: Get out. Now. Before I kill you.

But the other wolf didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps care. Rather, his eyes blazed with a cold fire that sent a shiver through my spine, even more so when they flicked to me. There was something… familiar in that gaze. Something dark and malicious.

I’d seen that gaze before; I’d felt it burn into the back of my skull like a hot brand on multiple occasions. In the council room of the guild hall, at the guild auction, and most recently at the baby shower.

Gray. It was Gray.

A cold lance of fear and adrenaline coursed through me as the realization sunk in. Why was he here? What were his intentions?

And most of all, how had he found us out here?

But I didn’t have time to consider the implications, because suddenly, he lunged at Nicholas.

Nicholas and Gray met in a clash of claws and fangs, rolling across the forest floor and sending small blizzards of snow flying into the air. Nicholas not only had size and strength on his side, but youth and speed, too. It didn’t take him long to slam into Gray’s flank, sending him sprawling across the forest floor with a whimper.

But just as I was about to step out from behind the tree, to help Nicholas subdue Gray and get answers, two more wolves burst out of the underbrush.

I should have known that he wouldn’t come alone.

These wolves were younger, more powerful than Gray. They were not Alphas—I could tell from their scents—but it didn’t matter. They took Nicholas by surprise, and they outnumbered him. And when Gray finally caught his breath and regained his footing, joining the fight, it was now three against one.

For several long moments, I just stood there, frozen, my mouth hanging open as I watched the fight. Nicholas was a formidable fighter, quick and strong and highly intelligent as any Alpha of his status would be, but it wasn’t enough.

And I was useless.

If I could only have shifted…

I clenched my fists, rooted to the spot where I stood. I could get involved, but even with my hand-to-hand combat skills, I was no match for three shifted wolves. And the fight… It was chaos. Utter chaos.

Blood spilt across the pristine white snow, blooms of crimson snaking through the silvery shafts of moonlight. I wasn’t sure whose blood it was, wasn’t even sure which set of fangs and claws belonged to whom.

Suddenly, however, Nicholas’s eyes met mine. They were blazing with a fiery red rage, and he held my gaze for a moment, conveying every word he could manage into that one look: “GO!”

Somehow, I moved then. I wasn’t sure how I managed it, or how I even made it to the cabin so quickly, but I did. One moment I was frozen, watching the brutal fight, and the next I was bursting into the cabin with my chest heaving.

“Gray!” I shouted breathlessly, pointing. “He’s got two warriors with him!”

The others didn’t hesitate. Mugs were dropped, cocoa spilling across the hardwood floor as Nina and Emerie, Marcus, and Noah bolted out of the cabin. I followed close behind with Jade, Emma, and Grace on my heels.

By the time we made it back to the fight, Nicholas had managed to subdue one of Gray’s lackeys, who was now shifted back into his human form and laying half-unconscious on the forest floor with a gaping wound in his chest. I couldn’t tell if I was horrified or relieved. Maybe both.

Nicholas, however, was still battling fiercely with Gray and the other warrior. Gray seemed to be hanging back, letting the warrior distract Nicholas with flurries of attacks. Then, whenever Nicholas would lose his focus, Gray would lunge forward with carefully-planned attacks from behind: a slash of a claw here, a nip there.

And Nicholas was limping, red blood dripping onto the snow beneath him.

I gasped, surging forward, his name on my lips. But Jade held me back, gripping my arm with a shake of her head. Within moments, our two warriors as well as Marcus and Noah had shifted and joined the fight, overpowering Gray and his remaining lackey once more.

It didn’t take long for them to subdue them. Noah and Marcus stormed Gray, pinning him to the snow before he could react. Nina and Emerie helped Nicholas subdue the remaining lackey, who, once he realized he was overpowered and that the other warrior was no longer moving, shifted back into his human form and immediately surrendered.

Nicholas and the others shifted back. While Nina and Emerie bound the one living goon, Nicholas stormed up to Gray, who was still being pinned down by Noah and Marcus.

“Shift,” Nicholas commanded, the cold authority in his voice making even me flinch. “Now.”

Gray didn’t obey right away, but rather glared up at Nicholas with that cold fire in his eyes. However, when Noah loosed a warning growl aimed at Gray’s throat, Gray finally returned to his human form. He was breathless and disheveled, his silver hair slick with sweat and his nostrils flaring.

“Tie them up,” Nicholas said without hesitation. “Place them in the cellar under guard. They’ve taken silverbite, so they might still be aggressive.”

Indeed, Nicholas was right. Upon closer inspection, I could see that Gray and his one remaining lackey—the other hadn’t moved or breathed in some time, and I was afraid to look at him—were foaming slightly at the mouths, their breathing erratic and their eyes wild even in their human forms.

Without a word, Emerie, Nina, Noah, and Marcus obeyed Nicholas’s command. He barked some more orders, but I hardly heard them over the rush of blood in my ears—because as I looked at him, I could see it.

The crimson liquid seeping down his leg and into the snow.

And the wobble in his stance as he turned to look at me, his leg giving out beneath him.

I rushed forward, catching him before he could fall. But as I supported him with an arm around his waist, Nicholas groaned, wincing at the contact. I looked down, and gasped when I saw the wound in his abdomen.