An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)(61)

“I know, but I still feel sick.”

He held her close, his wolf nudging harder at him. “Me, too, Brynn. Me, too.”

The next step in the Unveiling had begun, and Finn didn’t know what would happen. They had tried to project the face of calm and peace, and he prayed that some of those who had watched had seen it and been convinced. He didn’t want to think of the alternative.

The wolves were out, and those in power on the human side were coming.

It had begun.





LEAH


Leah ran behind her twin brother, her pulse racing in her throat. They were coming. They knew. Roland reached out behind him, and she pushed his hand away.

“Keep going. I can keep up. Don’t worry about me and end up tripping.”

She wished she could pull on the water around them to protect her and her brother, but it was too dangerous. With those behind him and her body wearing down after running for far too long, using magic would be a death sentence.

“I’m not leaving you behind, Leah. So run your f*cking ass off. There’s a safe house up the road.” He grinned over his shoulder, that lock of hair she loved falling over his forehead. “I’ll never lead you astray, little sister.”

She smiled at him despite the fact that they were both running for their lives. “You’re not that much older than me, Ro.”

“It’s enough. Now let’s go.”

He turned back, only to freeze in his tracks. It took a minute for the crack in the air to register to her. Roland fell to his knees, and Leah screamed.

“Roland!”

She raised her hands, the water on the leaves of the trees from that morning’s rainfall rising into the air with her pain, her agony.

Another crack in the air.

A gunshot. That’s what that was.

A sizzling pain along her side, a fiery heat that wouldn’t be quenched by the water at her fingertips. She tried to breathe, only to cough, her legs going out from under her.

She fell beside her brother, her arms reaching for him, only to come up short.

Roland lay at an odd angle, his face toward her. His eyes wide, unseeing in death. While the shot had hit her in the side, his had hit him directly in the chest.

Her brother, her twin, her fellow witch.

Gone.

The darkness came, and she didn’t fight. She’d been running for so long, and now she had nothing left.

Only hollowness.

They had come for the witches…and they had won.





Epilogue


Brynn held back a groan as she finished shifting back to human. It had been her first hunt with the Redwoods, and it had gone well. Now she and Finn were safely behind the den wards and she really wanted to jump him. Of course, she always wanted to jump him so this wasn’t really different than most days.

They hadn’t been outside the wards in the past three days. Not since the broadcast from McMaster. They would eventually, but right now, they were regrouping and ensuring their Pack was whole and healthy before anything else came at them.

She was using this time to get used to the idea of a new Pack. She missed her Talons like crazy, but with the underground tunnels and phones, she spoke with and saw them almost daily.

She would be fine. And she’d be a f*cking amazing Redwood.

“I love the sight of your naked ass in the moonlight,” Finn drawled.

Brynn rolled her eyes. “Thanks.” She wiggled for him, and he groaned.

She turned for him and almost swallowed her tongue at the sight of him naked, hard, and hers.

“Damn, you’re f*cking gorgeous.” She didn’t realize she’d said that aloud until Finn winked at her.

“Thank you, darling.” He moved closer. “What do you say we—”

A gunshot.

The scent of blood.

A scream.

Another gunshot.

More blood.

“Finn.”

He ran toward the sound and she cursed, following him. They were far away from the others now because she’d wanted time alone with him. She hoped others would come, as she didn’t have a phone on her. But damn it, if a Pack member were hurt, this would mean war for sure.

“Damn it. It’s right outside the wards.” Finn growled and kept moving, through the wards.

She followed. It didn’t matter that it might be a trap. Someone was hurt, and they weren’t going to let someone die because they were afraid. That wasn’t who they were. That wasn’t who wolves were.

They made their way to a small clearing, their claws out, and on high alert. On the dirt ahead of them were two bodies, a male and a female. Both lay in pools of blood. Brynn inhaled deeply and cursed.

“Witches. Finn, they’re both witches. I don’t scent anyone else. Whoever did this is long gone.”

Finn knelt naked beside both of them. “He’s gone, but she has a weak pulse. Fuck. I don’t recognize them as part of the covens we work with, but we can’t leave them here.”

Brynn knelt down as well, as Finn worked to help the woman. She checked both bodies for weapons and didn’t find any. “Are we bringing them to the den?”

Finn nodded. “We have to. She’ll die without medical care. And damn it, if they were running this way, they might have been running towards us for help. I don’t know, but we don’t have long.”