Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Derrek

Even barefoot, I burst through the door at full speed and race around the corner, barely feeling the icy gravel beneath my feet. I'm unprepared for the cold, but it doesn't matter.

He will not kill Lilliana. I won't let him.

I'm fully unprepared for the sight that greets me when I reach the front of the house. As far as the eye can see into the darkness, and in pools of streetlights far below, are wolves. Packed tightly against each other, apparently just… waiting?

The sound of snarling reaches my ears, and I turn sharply to my left. There's an open space in the massive crowd, a circle made of living fence, occupied by two wolves.

One has the other's throat clenched in its jaws, and it snarls periodically, shaking its limp opponent and attempting to secure a whine of surrender. I may not have grown up as part of the pack, but my mom taught me about their ways. I know what's happening here.

I force my way toward the fight, squeezing my legs between the tightly packed wolves. At first I can't tell who's who; I've never seen either of them in wolf form. There's no clue from the surrounding wolves, since they're all staring intently at the fight and I don't even know which side any of them are on, either.

But something, some instinct, tells me that the standing wolf, the one whose fur is so matted with blood I can't really determine its natural color, is Lilliana. When she moves her head, I glimpse her glowing green eyes, and know without a doubt that I'm right.

She has the death grip on Nielsen's throat, whose belly is a mess of red. As I get closer, I can tell she ripped into him savagely. He's barely in one piece, so injured his body is struggling to heal despite his magical wolf properties.

Like the surrounding furry crowd, I pause, waiting for something to happen.

There seems to be a battle of wills going on. Lilliana occasionally shakes Nielsen or growls, and he replies with an answering snarl, but refuses to whine. The tension is thick in the air, everyone waiting, practically breathless, to catch the high-pitched tone that will signal the end of the fight.

And it feels as though it takes years, but eventually a faint whine reaches my ears. The Lilliana-wolf growls, and the Nielsen-wolf whines louder, clearly conceding the fight loudly enough for everyone to hear.

When she drops him, I start pushing forward again. All around me wolves are howling—I've honestly never heard anything like it—but my focus is entirely on reaching Lilliana. She obviously hasn't spotted me, since she keeps turning around, searching the crowd. I assume for her other mates. Or me.

I become more forceful with my pushing, earning myself a few threatening growls from wolves who don't enjoy the feeling of my knee in their sides.

But it doesn't matter. None of it matters, aside from getting to her. I don't even care if she doesn't shift, I'm going to throw my arms around her furry neck and just breathe her in, make sure she's really real and this isn't just another twisted dream I'm about to wake up from.

No one's paying attention to Nielsen, who Lily left limp on the pavement. It seems loyalty only goes so far; as soon as he lost his position as alpha, none of his supporters gave him a second thought.

But when I see Nielsen move, my gut tightens.

With even more urgency, I force the wolves aside. I have to warn her, but I can't speak thanks to Azalea's collar. There's nothing for me to do but get to her side and stop him myself.

My heart pounds; I don't think I'm going to make it.

Slowly, he regains his feet, keeping his body low to the ground. Lily is too busy scanning the crowd. She looks almost disoriented, confused. She's already forgotten the other alpha, intent on her search.

Nielsen bunches his legs beneath him, watching Lily's circles carefully, calculating.

I know what he's going to do. I run forward now, completely oblivious to the bodies that could trip me.

I have to get to her. I have to protect her. She's my mate, and above all else, I have one duty.

To place myself between her and harm, to sacrifice myself if needs be; to protect the alpha and ensure the safety of the pack.

Without a conscious effort to draw it up, magic ripples through my body like a wave. I don't know what's happening and I don't have time to think about it. Nielsen's preparing to attack and I'm still yards and several wolf bodies away.

When he starts to spring, I leap forward, flinging my body between them and hoping to catch the brunt of the attack.

I dive as a man. But in a blinding flash of heat, with no small amount of shocking pain, I land on all fours as a wolf.

Nielsen, it seems, hesitated when he saw me coming, stopping his attack to watch my transformation into a wolf. Now his gaze rests on me, flashing me a wolfish smile, as if proud of himself for finally forcing me to shift.

I don't hesitate; instinct takes over and my wolf's body leaps for him, clamping my jaws shut around his neck and wrenching viciously with a savage snarl.

He doesn't have time to react before he's dead. When I release him, his body crumples to a bloody pile of fur at my feet, and I pull in a deep, satisfying breath, filling my lungs to let out a wild howl. A chorus of wolf voices rise up with me, and I hold the tone until my lungs give out and I have to draw in air.

It's only when I stop I realize I just made a sound without being magically shocked. I try to search my neck for the collar, only to remember I have paws and that will not work. My eyes dart around the circle until I spot it: the wide black collar, ripped in two, on a pile of my shredded clothing.

With renewed joy, I leap into the air and howl again, spurring another chorus from the nearby wolves. My head tips back and my eyes close, filled with the deep satisfaction of finally escaping the hell I've been surviving the past week.

A head bumps against my neck, startling me and cutting off my joyful noise. My senses fill the scent of her, and a deep feeling of peace settles over me. We're finally, finally , together. I can't hold her in my arms, but I nuzzle my mate right back, and then immediately start licking her to clean her bloody fur.

"I knew you could do it," Lilliana's voice brushes my mind, and I freeze. She makes the equivalent of a wolfy chuckle and does it again. "Yes, it's me. I just found out this is something I can do. I wanted to talk to you, but it's too fucking cold to shift back right now, so this is the next best thing."

I gather my thoughts and try to think back at her. "It's new, but then again, turning into a furry beast is new for me, too. And, valid point on the cold. I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm just relieved to see you whole. I haven't even wrapped my head around you being a wolf yet," she chuckles again, her hot tongue licking along my jaw. "I heard some terrible things about Nielsen. I was really worried about you."

A hum of pleasure rumbles in my chest. "Turns out being a wolf has lots of perks. Nice winter coat, and some high-intensity healing."

The rest of the guys find us, and we surround Lily in a tight circle, all showering her with affection to show our concern. She spins slowly, doling out kisses and nuzzles to each of us.

And most surprisingly, it all feels… natural. I've never been the type to share—I've always wanted my partner as consumed by me as I am by them—but there's not a single flicker of jealously when I watch her share affection with the three younger men. Well, wolves.

It takes a while, but eventually we move inside the house and someone fetches us clothes to pull on. They're not the best fit for anyone, but at least they're warm and cover our bodies.

Because Lily's covered with gore, she darts upstairs, and showers before getting dressed. I admire her gall; the house is nice, but it holds an aura of malice that keeps me on edge. I have no interest in staying here any longer than necessary, and fortunately, our mate cleans up quickly so we can leave. I take advantage of the relative privacy inside the house to pull her into my arms and hold her tightly, relishing the feeling of her body against mine. Before releasing her to the rest of her mates, I stroke my thumb along her throat and claim a deep, greedy kiss. She bows backward in my arms, arms rising to twine around my neck and toy with my hair, oblivious to the audience of three.

I could stay like this for hours, but Lily cups my cheeks and withdraws, pressing one more soft kiss to my lips before promising, "later," in a breathy whisper. My blood surges, but I kiss her forehead and allow her to reconnect with her other mates. Once again, the sight of her with them doesn't spur the jealousy I experienced just weeks ago. Now we're all one, and what makes her happy makes me happy. Whatever she needs.

When we've all shared a moment and finally step back outside, a lot of the crowd has dispersed. The remaining individuals are in human form, and apparently waiting to report.

"We're sweeping through the… facility underground, alpha," a man with black cargo pants and a stern expression advises. "So far, we've released a few individuals. The people who worked here volunteered to assist us, so it's going quickly. I do need to advise," his sharp gaze darts to my face before returning to Lilliana's, "we found the witch, and she's… gone."

"Oh no," Lilliana sounds genuinely upset, and turns her sad green eyes to me. "Derrek, I'm so sorry. I know we had our issues, but she was your cousin, and she did help us-"

"Don't worry about it," I squeeze her against me and reassure her. "She was trying to kill me, to take my power, when these three came in and saved me. And some girl, I think she's in one of my classes. Where is she, by the way? Is she okay?"

I redirect my gaze to Milo, who nods. "Yeah, Amber's fine. She woke up not long after we came outside. Bitched about it being cold, then said she felt weird and shifted back into a wolf."

"I should talk to her. I think I know why she feels weird."

The three guys exchange a look.

The tall blond one, Landon, speaks up. "Why do you think that is?"

"Azalea had finished the ritual. All she had left to do was kill me, and all the magic in my blood would join hers. Since your friend spilled Azalea's blood instead, I suspect she may have gained Azalea's powers."

"No way." Shock flits across Jared's dark face. "I didn't know that was even possible. Can anyone just steal a witch's powers like that, if they do the ritual?"

"Not exactly. It's… well, it's kind of complicated. But basically, Amber must have some witch blood, otherwise it wouldn't have worked. And it works on witches and warlocks."

Landon swats Jared on the arm, hard. "See? I told you they weren't all called witches. The guys are warlocks."

Jared ducks his head guiltily.

I snort. "Who told you we're called witches? That'd be like calling the three of you girls."

"I dunno. I just heard it somewhere." He shoves his hands into his pockets and kicks the pavement with his borrowed boot.

"Anyway," Lilliana draws us back to the issues at hand. "Apparently Azalea's death is not a surprise, or something to mourn. Is there anything else?"

The older man shakes his head. "You can head out, alpha. We'll wrap things here and get everyone on their way home if they haven't left already."

"Thank you, Richardson."

He nods, then spins on his heel and heads back toward the dungeon entrance.

Lilliana smiles widely at the four of us. "Well guys, should we head home?"

As if by some undisclosed plan, the others allow me to claim the third row seat with Lilliana, who immediately curls into my side. She falls asleep quickly, so I settle in for the long ride and close my eyes, too. With my arm wrapped tightly around her, I feel as if I can finally rest.

But sleep doesn't come. Despite spending the previous night practicing spells, my body is anything but overcome with exhaustion. In fact, I almost feel lit up with racing energy rippling over my skin.

Not to mention lust.

I know my brain should run over the multitude of revelations I've had recently, but the only thing I seem to focus on is her cherry vanilla scent and what it does to my body. Every tiny movement she makes is a tease to my newly upgraded senses, despite the completely unsexy situation we find ourselves in right now. My fingers toy with a strand of her curly hair, and I try to focus on making mental lists of things I need to take care of. There's certainly lots to deal with, after everything that's happened.

But my thoughts invariably return to the details of the dream that seems to be burned into my brain. Instead of trying to fight it, I decide to lean into this train of thought and maybe work my way through it instead.

I wonder when I might get her alone, claim a night of her time to myself. I'm sure many interesting scenarios are bound to crop up, suddenly being part of a five-some. But I want it to just be us two for the first time I'm with her. I need to lavish her with the sort of patient attention I'm fairly certain eighteen-year-old boys are unprepared to muster. I'll take all the time I need to convince myself that it's truly real, that the dungeon is a distant nightmare and this beautiful woman in my arms is the truth.

Once I let my thoughts wander, the rest of the ride goes surprisingly fast. Almost before I realize it, we're passing the wooden sign proclaiming we're now in Smoky Falls, and I draw in a deep, grateful breath, knowing that she's safe now, protected, on pack lands.

I don't plan to wake her until we reach Harridan house, but Lilliana stirs the second we cross the boundary, and after a quick glance outside, says to the driver, "Maxwell, please take us to Derrek's apartment."

Dutifully, the driver turns right instead of continuing down Main. I don't even have a moment to wonder how he knows my address before Lilliana's delicate hand settles on my thigh and squeezes.

My gaze darts to her curiously, and she lifts her lips to my ear, whispering, "I need to have you to myself tonight." Her warm breath rustles my hair, tickling my ear and sending a jolt of adrenaline through my system. I am definitely fully awake now.

Perhaps it wouldn't be as difficult to get time alone with her as I'd imagined.

If the others dislike the idea, they don't let it show. The car remains silent, and Lilliana's hand continues to stroke my thigh.

I clench my jaw and swallow with difficulty, then claim her hand and thread my fingers through hers, tracing tiny circles on the back with my thumb.

As tempting as it is to cop a feel, I'm determined not to act like a complete animal. She's giving me this night to make her mine, and I already have a plan. There may be several enthusiastic young men to choose from, but it'll be my pleasure to show her what a man with my experience can give her.

Time slows to a crawl as I bide my time, waiting until the moment we close the door between us and the rest of her mates, and I finally have her completely to myself.