Chapter 97

Aurora’s POV

“How will they react?” I ask, pacing the kitchen floor.

“Not well.”

“Do you think they’ll change their minds?”

“Not likely,” Anders mutters, popping a chip in his mouth.

“Are they going to scream at him?”

“Most definitely.”

Whirling around, I smack Anders’s muscly arm and glare at him, “Could you say something positive?! I’m about to have a heart attack thinking about how Thorne is probably being belittled and berated on my behalf.”

Large arms wrap around me and pull me back into a firm, warm chest. The weight of Anders’s body against mine helps me calm down a bit, and I sink into the comfort he’s providing.

“Is Thorne weak?” He asks.

“No.”

“Has he given you any reason to doubt his love for you?”

“Never.”

“Do you think he would let someone take you away from him?”

“I don’t.”

Anders hums in response, and I turn, letting my head fall back so I can look up at him. “You’re a pretty good comforter, you know.”

Again, he just hums in response.

“I’m serious, you’re like a teddy bear or a weighted blanket that helps people not be anxious,” I tell him, but before I can continue, the sound of a car door slamming makes me jump up. I run to the front door and push through it.

“Thorne!” I launch myself off the porch, running through the grass and down the driveway to get to him. The moment I’m within reach, I jump, wrapping my arms and legs around him. He grunts and stumbles back before wrapping his arms around me too.

Anders gives good hugs, but Thorne gives better ones. His scent wraps around me, instantly soothing my nerves.

“How did—”

Something slams against Thorne’s back, sending both of us tumbling to the ground. Snarls fill the air, and Thorne rolls, narrowly dodging a dark, raggedy wolf’s jaws.

“Anders!” Thorne shouts, forcing me to my feet and pushing me behind him.

Anders is at our side in seconds, standing behind me and sandwiching me between the two of them.

“It’s an ambush,” Thorne growls as more wolves slink out of the trees. They bare their fangs at us, growling and snapping. I gasp when one jumps at us, but Anders tosses it aside like it’s made of air.

“Aurora,” Thorne says, glancing back at me, “Stay behind me. If you get an opening, run for the house, but if you can’t, just stay close to me. I’ll protect you.”

I look around at the nearly twenty wolves, and my heart freezes. The air in my lungs becomes too thin, and my body becomes too hot.

“Stay with me, Aurora!”

“I-I’ll try!” I cry, realizing what’s about to happen. Two wolves against twenty. Thorne might be strong, but there’s no way he and Anders could win this fight. There are too many enemies and too few of us.

Of them.

I can’t be counted as helpful in this situation, and I bite down on my lip.

Never have I wanted to be a werewolf more in my life than I do right now. If I was stronger, I could help, but I’m useless. Instinctively seeing comfort, I grab the back of Thorne’s shirt, but I know it’s no use. We’re going to die here if someone doesn’t come to help us.

“Alpha!”

Thorne’s head whips up as a few men run out from behind the house, and I know I should be relieved, but the four men don’t add much to our ranks.

Familiar faces come into view, and I suck in a breath. These are the gammas who have been patrolling and keeping me safe, and now they’ll die because of it. There are still too many enemies.

It’s as if everything turns slow before it explodes, and I’m surrounded by wolves. Thorne’s wolf pounces on the wolf closest to us, and Anders’s wolf swipes at any wolf who comes close to me. Howls, barks, and snarls fill the air, along with the sharp scent of blood.

A dark blur flies past me, and I shriek as something hits me from behind. My body slams into the ground, and all the air in me disappears. I gasp for air, then scream.

Teeth sink into my calf, sending fiery pain up my leg.

I kick at the wolf with my free leg, but he doesn’t release me. Instead, he clamps down hard enough to turn my screams silent and to blur my vision. I claw at the ground, kick at the wolf, and search for a weapon, but I find nothing.

Thorne is somewhere in the blur of wolves.

Anders is nowhere in sight.

The wolf is dragging me away.

I can’t breathe. I can’t fight. I can’t get free.

Stars dance in front of my vision, and my hand catches on something. The piece of metal slices into my skin, but I grab it, blinking away the haze. The shovel sticks out from beneath the porch, and I don’t think. I swing it, burying the metal in the wolf’s head with a crunch.

The teeth release me, and I crawl back, using the shovel as a crutch to stand up.

Just in time to see another wolf coming straight for me.

It lunges, snarling, but another wolf rams into it.

“Thorne!” I cry, reaching for him.

He barks at me, an order to run, right before two more wolves attack him. They bite and claw, dragging him back into the fight.

Blood stains his fur as he fights for his life.

The sight sets something off in me. I lift my shovel and force myself to ignore the pain, swinging it and burying it in one of his attackers. I swing it up again, ready to hit the other wolf, but someone grabs me from behind.

They wrench the shovel out of my hands, throw it aside, and drag me back, allowing more wolves to attack Thorne.

“NO!” I scream, kicking and clawing at the man holding me. “Thorne! They’ll kill him!” I scream, slamming my head back as my vision shifts and darkens. The man holding me grunts as I thrash in his hold.

He doesn’t let go.

So, I slam my head back again. Pain clears my sight in time to see a red wolf bite into Thorne’s shoulder.

“Leave him alone!” I shriek, clawing at the man dragging me away.

They’re going to kill him.

Thorne is going to die if I don’t do something to stop this.

I’ll lose him.

He’ll die.

A wail, so loud and high that it stops several wolves in their tracks, tears through the air.

Pain explodes in my body, my sight turning black as bones snap and burn. Fire fills me, like lava flowing through my veins.

Leaning forward, I sink my teeth into the arm of the man holding me. Seconds later, my body hits the ground with a thud.

The pain doesn’t stop, though. It burns through me, tearing me apart until I’m a sobbing mess on the ground.

My skin tightens around my broken bones.

And I scream, hoping it’ll release some of the pain, but instead, a raspy howl fills the air.