Chapter 32

Blake, with all his charm and swagger, is right on time.

For the first time in a long time, I'm not pissed to see my brother. I'm pretty happy about it. Blake emerges from the trees, his entrance definitely attention-grabbing.

Wilson sputters, looking completely stunned, then comes to and grabs Mandy, pulling her to him so her back is flush to his chest.

He was obviously not expecting to see the man I've been threatening to kill coming to our rescue.

"Alpha Steel. I think you'll find this is none of your business and outside your territory."

Blake merely raises an eyebrow, cool as ever, and positions himself beside me. Weston, who looks keen to get out of here, stands on one side; Wilson and his little posse, on the other.

"You're supposed to hate each other. This is your chance to be rid of him, Blake!"

My wolf surges forward; dark, depraved thoughts of how painful I can make Wilson's death flood my mind. The partial shift I'm in deepens, turning me more wolf than man, even though I remain on two legs. Blake simply raises an eyebrow at my unique form, returning his attention to the mess at hand.

"I'd suggest you release her, Alpha. You're in enough trouble as it is." As though he's scolding an errant pup who's late for curfew, he waits patiently for Wilson to think about what he's done and to do as he was told.

But Wilson is an older alpha who knows his tenuous grip on his pack is slipping without an heir to take his place. The idea of giving up his position, and destroying his reputation, is worse than death to him. Wilson is a wolf with nothing left to lose.

"These two killed my son. Are you going to stand by and let them get away with murder?" Wilson tries to play on the friendship he has cultivated with Blake over the years. "Don't forget, he tried to hurt you and your mate. He was going to take Zoe as his own, for fuck's sake. I'm only trying to make sure justice is served, and that he can't hurt anyone else."

Wilson's argument would be more convincing if he wasn't practically frothing at the mouth with rage, and he's holding Mandy against him like a human shield. He's lost it. Briefly, I wonder where his mate is. If she has long since passed, perhaps this is the first stage of moon madness kicking in. If that's the case, Blake putting him down will be doing everyone a favour.

"My warriors are on their way to Grey Ridge," Wilson continues in desperation. "They'll kill Noah if anything happens to me."

I don't believe that for a second, but Mandy's eyes widen, the thought of her son being in danger is too much for her to take.

"You mean these warriors?" Lucian and Seth push three battered and bruised men, ankles and wrists bound, to the edge of the clearing. "I don't think they'll be doing anything to Noah." Seth's wolf headbutts the back of one man's knee, and he falls to the ground, grimacing in pain. The others sit willingly when Lucian moves in front of them and bares his sharp fangs. Chest tight, pride clogging my throat, I nod at Blake who returns the gesture with a tight smile. They're all okay.

Directing his comment at Weston, he tips his head toward my two boys. "You underestimated them."

Weston scowls, realising the balance of numbers is shifting firmly in our favour, especially considering the last three warriors look pretty reluctant to be here. I half expect them to sit down with their friends in protest.

Blake addresses Mandy, who is shaking in Wilson's grip, his dark claws leaving puncture wounds on her arm. "You okay?"

I can see her blood, but her normally tantalising scent is tinged with so much fear that it has no appeal.

"Noah?" Mandy asks.

She ignores the drops of blood rolling down her wrist and the way Wilson twists his hand, deepening the cuts on her perfect skin. Noah is all she cares about, and my gut clenches at the idea that she actually believed I'd give away his location to a man like this without a plan in place.

If I thought Noah was in any real danger, if I thought there was any chance someone could get to him, I'd have happily taken his location to my grave.

"Max put him on lock down when Tyson sent word that something was going to go down. He's safe." Blake's words instantly comfort my mate. Mandy visibly sags, her relief immense. Wilson hisses, furious that his heir is, once again, out of his reach.

"You're not getting near him. Give it up." Blake takes a step closer to Wilson, the full weight of his power settling like a cloud over the expansive clearing. The three remaining enforcers struggle to keep their heads up, the dominance he can project too much for anyone to bear, even among wolves that are not his own.

It's easy to forget that my charming brother has a deadly side.

When Blake and I advance together, Wilson panics.

"Don't just stand there!" he roars.

Instead of stepping forward to meet us, his warriors hesitate. It's enough to convince me that these men don't deserve to die today.

"Stand down." Blake raises his hand and calmly utters the words without growling or snarling.

Offering no resistance at all, the three wolves immediately relax and ease back, distancing themselves from whatever's about to happen.

Wilson's crazed gaze watches me closely as I edge to one side and Blake walks casually to the other, boxing him in. We move in tandem, perfectly synchronised as we make sure Wilson has nowhere to go. My breath catches when he presses his sharp claws to Mandy's belly and reaches one hand up to her shoulder, clamping down hard to keep her in place.

We might have him cornered, but he has my mate.

And I have no doubt that if he knows he's going to die, he'll gladly take her with him.

Mandy's lip twitches in the hint of a snarl. She's not the scrawny, beaten-down woman he remembers. Back then, her only concern was her unborn child. She was running away because she was brave enough to risk it all to keep him safe. Today, her child is six-foot-four, but he's still her top priority.

But now she knows he's far away and protected. Running is no longer her only option. She can fight.

Her big, dark eyes meet mine, absolute steel in her gaze. "I love you," she mouths with a tiny smile, and my stomach drops. In the blink of an eye, Mandy disappears.

In her place is a giant, pissed-off she-wolf.

As she transforms, Wilson slices across her exposed underside with the arm banded around her torso, but that doesn't stop her as she twists free of his grasp and lunges. Unable to do a thing to stop her, she's on him; her jaws snap viciously, inches from his throat.

With an inhuman bellow, I charge toward my bleeding mate while Blake peels off toward Weston. We can't let him slip away because we're distracted. He has his own penance to pay.

Wilson manages to toss Mandy across the ground, using his legs to push her off of him, and I blur in front of Mandy with lightning speed, preventing him from getting closer to her and bear my teeth. He'll have to go through me.

Behind me, I hear the tearing of flesh and the gnashing of teeth as Weston and Blake battle it out. There's a dull throb in my side, a ghost of Mandy's injury through the bond. She darts past me, determined to tackle Wilson on her own, and, though I'm tempted to intervene, I can tell from Wilson's grunts of pain and laboured breathing that she has the upper hand. He's tiring quickly. One look at his enforcers tells me they're in no hurry to come to his aid.

Across the clearing, Blake and Weston circle each other, crouched low, ready to pounce.

"When Zoe worked out that it was Jenna, I thought it might be you who helped her," Blake growls, his wolf shining bright in his eyes.

His anger is like nothing I've ever felt. Without my vampire, I wouldn't be a match for him. It's a good thing I never got the chance to challenge him, because he would have kicked my ass.

"You almost cost me my mate. I thought I was going mad. I was going to give her up!" Blake advances slowly, moving back and forth so it's not as obvious that he's eating up the distance between them.

Before Mandy, I would have thought it absolutely absurd that he's more pissed-off about losing a woman than being poisoned, but now I understand it completely.

Weston realises Blake is practically on top of him, and steps back to re-establish the gap between them, eyeing my brother's movements carefully. It's like watching a game of chess.

Two strong alphas; neither will give up without a fight. Growing impatient, Weston is the first to break the standoff. Leaping into the air, claws extended, his teeth aimed at Blake's neck. Blake dodges to the side, tumbling across the dirt, his thick coat picking up leaves and twigs on the forest floor as he rolls. When Weston skids past where Blake was, he stops and turns, racing toward Blake again at speed, his silver eyes flashing with fury.

They clash, loud and vicious, biting and snarling. Weston bolts for the cover of the trees with Blake hot on his heels.

As the sounds of their battle get further away, I focus my attention back on my glorious mate, just in time to see her tear another strip out of her former alpha's flank. Much as I'd love to rip his head off, revenge is hers to deliver if she wants it. My job, for the moment, is to make sure Wilson doesn't get a helping hand from his conflicted warriors, who might suddenly feel duty-bound to intervene when they realise this isn't just a scuffle.

"You're bleeding, Alpha," I call. "Lucian, when was the last time you fed?" Lucian makes a gagging face but Wilson can't see his expression, just mine, and I make a point of flashing my lethal fangs at him. The idea of drinking from him makes me violently ill, but he doesn't know that.

"Stay the fuck away from me." Instead of focusing on the pissed-off female in front of him, he gets distracted by the thought of vampires coming for his blood and is slow to react to a vicious blow from Mandy, her claws raking three long wounds painfully along his belly. The writing is on the wall as Mandy sinks her teeth into his torn skin. Wilson wails in agony, but I feel no sympathy for him.

He brought this upon himself.

Addressing the six men watching on in horror, "Mandy was the future Luna. Lee was going to murder her and his own unborn child within her, the future heir to your pack. Should that go unpunished? Or should she have the chance to challenge him," I nod towards Mandy and the fatally wounded Wilson, "like she's doing now?"

There's something no one had considered, not even Mandy. This isn't an outsider attacking their alpha, but the woman who should have been their luna, challenging to take her rightful place from a selfish, abusive alpha. Protecting the boy who should be their leader.

One by one, the warriors nod, dipping their heads in respect to their luna as she stands over a defeated Wilson, who bears his neck in submission. Pride swells within me. She's strong and powerful, the woman she was supposed to be before Lee tore her down. These men can see that, and they're choosing her and her son, whom she raised on her own, instead of the man who has ruled over them with fear.

As she steps away, he grabs at her, trying to get his teeth into her thigh. I blur in front of him and grab him by the neck, my extended claws precariously close to his jugular.

"Still playing dirty?" I taunt, lifting him so his paws are off the ground. The tips of my onyx claws dig into his skin as he struggles to get away, but there's no escape. His eyes glaze over as he mind-links his men, begging them to come to his aid. The three unbound men climb to their feet, standing shoulder-to-shoulder as a protective shield between Wilson and their luna. They've chosen their side.

Tempted as I am to end this right now, it's my mates call. I wait until she joins me, standing at my shoulder, breathing hard and a little bloody but otherwise good.

"What do you think? Can I rip his head off? It's my favourite trick."

Wilson's struggles become frantic, desperate, as my claws puncture his neck, and he swings from my arm in his attempts to get away.

Mandy smiles indulgently but pats my arm, encouraging me to lower him before he chokes to death.

"No, that's my job." With a disappointed look on her face, she shakes her head at Wilson. "I gave you a chance. You have nobody to blame but yourself."

With impeccable speed and precision, she reaches out and snaps his neck, quick and brutal. His body slumps to the side and the forest falls silent. There are no noises of protest from anyone.

Looking at Seth and Lucian, she points to the ropes circling the wrists and legs of the three warriors they captured. "Untie them. They're free to go."

Lucian scrambles to do as he's told while Seth stares off into the forest, in the direction Blake chased Weston. Moving to his side, I crouch down and bury my hands in the scruff around his neck. He's filling out, becoming more like a man than a teenager every day, but he's still under my care and I need him to know that.

"You don't have to go back there. No matter what we find out about your parents, your home is with us, or Blake, if you want it. Okay?"

Now that Wilson is dead, Mandy finally relaxes a little. Her hand finds mine and she rests her cheek on my shoulder, telling me without words that she doesn't hate me.

So concerned with me, she doesn't notice the men in front of her, bowing their heads, waiting for her orders.