Chapter 33 - Bigby

Hector looks different.

Much different.

The guy has clearly been training for years to get to this point—he's well-built now, completely transforming from the scrawny, geeky college kid I met years before. It's not just the physical transformation; there's something lethal in his eyes now. Something aimed directly at his father.

"Hector," Amon mutters, as though this appearance doesn't affect him at all, "I didn't realize you were still alive."

"You killed him," Hector says, his voice wavering for only a moment. Buried in the layers of Hector's voice is a kind of sorrow and grief that I understand immediately. I felt it when I lost Percy and had to leave Rosa. It reminds me that we're not the only people who have experienced Amon's wrath. When Hector speaks again, it's with loathing dripping from his words.

"And now, I'm going to kill you."

Hector launches at Amon, and the two shift simultaneously, their growls and snapping jaws louder than anything else in the street, including the other battling shifters. I have a flashback to the day in the woods when we fought Varun's shifters, and I have to shake my head to snap out of it.

"He shouldn't be able to shift," Rosa says, catching my arm as I turn to join the fight again. "I—I had some of the serum, I smashed it into his skin. My father, Bigby, I don't understand—"

I take her face, leaning down and kissing her as hard as I can. Around us, the Rosecreek pack is struggling. We're holding our own, but Amon has brought an unfathomable number of shifters to fight us. This may very well end in Amon acquiring yet another territory if the tide doesn't shift.

Rosa's arms snake around me, and I realize it's not a solid tactical move, to be kissing in the middle of a battle like this, but I need her to know. I need her to understand how much I love her. If this is the last day I'm alive, I want to know that I kissed her before I died.

She is my mate. She's the mother of my child. Rosa and Kaila are the only things that matter to me, and I never want her to forget that. Even if I'm gone.

I pull back, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"Our mental link is out," I say, moving us further into the alley. Hector may be strong, but he won't hold against Amon forever. If it takes my life, I'll make sure Amon doesn't live to see another day. "I don't know what your father did, but he managed to disable it somehow. Aris can't communicate with us; we can't communicate with each other. It's chaos out here. Take Kaila, get out of Rosecreek. Go as far as you can. Don't come back unless you get word from Aris or me that your father is taken care of."

Rosa nods once, tears forming in her eyes. She reaches up, taking me by the collar, and pulls me down, kissing me one last time.

She drops her forehead against mine.

"I love you, Bigby," she murmurs. Then she releases my shirt, turns on her heel, and sprints down the alleyway toward the compound. My heart is pounding from her admission. Loving her was enough for me, but have that love reciprocated? It feels like the world has been placed in my hands.

I turn back in the direction of the battle, dodging at the last minute to avoid a blade across my throat. Quickly, I bring my elbow to the guy's face, smashing in his nose and exploding his head into a splatter of bright red blood. He screams, bringing his hands to his blood-covered cheeks and dropping to his knees.

I move through the throng of fighting shifters, wishing I could sense Aris, send him information about what I plan to do. But for now, I'll have to fight solo.

A cry rings out across the fighting that makes me turn, and when I do, I see Ado fighting, Byron's bloody body on the ground at Amon's feet. I'm shifting my body weight to move toward them when I see something from the corner of my eye that stops me.

Percy.

He's barreling up from the alleyway, looking like something out of a comic book. His veins are popped and running silvery under his skin, which stretches impossibly over his chest and arms.

Percy was never weak by any stretch of the imagination, but now, he looks like the Hulk. Like he could throw a bus with sheer strength alone.

But why is Percy out? And if he's still lost to the serum, who's to say he isn't about to finish Ado off, too?

I take down a shifter that comes at me, whipping my head around and catching the moment Percy uses his forearm to catch several shifters attacking Ado across the chin, sending them back onto their asses, hard. Then, I close my eyes when Percy finishes them off quickly by stomping on them.

Ado and Percy look at each other for a moment, then, they go back-to-back above Byron, protecting him and fighting off the attacking shifters in waves.

More shifters appear from the other side of town, rolling in and providing backup to our pack. They must be with Hector because they smell unfamiliar to me. Typically, we wouldn't allow other shifters to occupy our territory in these numbers, but we need all the help we can get.

Amon and Hector are still fighting across the way in the courtyard at the center of town. Amon has Hector on the ground, and is a second from getting his teeth into Hector's throat when I launch, shifting mid-air and catching Amon in the chest.

This ends here. It ends now. This man has caused enough pain for my family—for the people I love.

Amon rolls away, popping to his feet and growling low as he stares at the other alpha. Amon lets out a laugh that sounds like a bark, if it's possible, and somehow, I hear his voice in my head.

I've been waiting for the day you dared to challenge me, Bigby , he sends. It's been a long time coming since you ran away with your tail tucked outside Rosa's apartment.

I can't answer him or send anything into his head, so I answer the only way I know how. I lunge forward and clamp my jaw on his leg, hearing Amon let out an enraged howl. This is going to be the hardest battle of my life, but for Rosa and Kaila, I'll win.