Page 85 of Bite

He’s getting closer. I can hear his blood rushing through his veins; I can feel the heat of his skin. My teeth ache as a persistent, haunting urge to hurt him teases my control. I hold out an arm, keeping him away. It feels like if anyone comes closer, my teeth will sink into their flesh. I back away, keeping the same ten feet between us. I think about the bright red blood on my shoulder, and I wonder how long it’s going to take for my veins to run black.

Dair is speaking to me, low and calm. I can smell Tore’s unease in the air, but it excites me. Somewhere, Vale’s wolf is growling, one eye burning into my body like she can see right through to the rotting core. I notice that there’s something vaguely wrong with her other eye.

I need to get away while I can still think. I need to run far, far away from my pack and their friends. I step back again, ready to sprint if I can, but then Raine’s whine shatters the air around me, and I can’t help looking at her one last time.

Our eyes lock, and then several things happen all at once.

Vale launches herself across the clearing at me, fangs bared and ready to kill. Tore tears through his skin to intercept her midair, causing them to crash into the bloodied ground with snarls in their throats.

Raine tries to run to me, but the wrestling wolves get in her way. She tries to dodge them, yelling my name with so much heartbreak that I can’t look away. I’ve never been able to look away, and now I beg my mind to remember her sleeping in our rut nest, and not as the agonized omega about to lose her mate.

At least she’ll have Dair—the piece we didn’t know we were missing.

Behind me, I hear a soft, anguished, “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” and then there’s nothing at all.

[ 54 ]

DAIR

1 Day East of the Foothill Territory

Something shreds inside of me as I raise Ferris’s own handgun over his head and smash it down onto his skull. His body collapses, and I rush to grab him before he can hit the ground. Raine’s scream of horror will haunt me the rest of my life.

I half carry, half drag Ferris’s unconscious body out of the bloodied field and gently place him on the ground. My hands smooth over his clothes, searching for answers, until I find what I’m looking for on his shoulder. I grip the torn edges of his flannel with my hands and tear it off his body, then do the same with the T-shirt he was wearing underneath.

Air sucks through my teeth at what lies beneath.

Jagged, angry punctures circle the front and back of his shoulder in a demented full moon of teeth marks. Already, black veins creep from the bite, reaching out to consume him from the inside out. Anger like I have never experienced before overtakes my body, and I tilt my head back to howl my pain at the darkening sky. Answering howls sound just behind me, where Tore and Vale stand in wolf form.

A pained, gasping cry rips my heart from my chest as Raine runs around them to collapse on her knees by my side. Her body shakes uncontrollably, and the cries ripping from her throat send shivers down my spine as they echo through the mountains, painting the rocks and trees in her grief.

“Fuck,” Tore says, now naked and human. “I’m so sorry, Raine.”

Vale kneels at Raine’s side, human for the first time since they came to our rescue. Her arms wrap around my omega, and they rock back and forth, hair and limbs tangling like neighboring trees. Every sob from Raine’s throat is a knife to my already shredded heart. Tears run down my face to gather in my overgrown beard.

“I can do it, if you can’t,” Tore says, placing a hand on my shoulder while he gestures to the gun in my hand.

My wolf snarls, itching to burst from my skin and protect our mates. Stupid beast, I hiss at him. You don’t understand. It’s over. His agitation is tactile as he slams against my control, trying to take over my body. I bite back a sob of my own as I check the chamber of the gun—one bullet.

“Dair, I’m serious. I can smell him all over you. I know this is hurting like hell. Let me do it, please,” Tore begs, voice teary.

Don’t let him touch our mate, my wolf growls.

My body pulses with grief and my wolf’s dominance, insistent that we protect Ferris. My muscles tense and relax in painful waves, fur sprouts along my arms, and my canines lengthen so fast they clip my lip.

“Fine, you stubborn dog, but at least let me burn his body. You can take Raine away, and Vale and I will handle it, okay?” Tore sniffles, voice thick with emotion.

Burn the body.

Burn.

The body.

That needles something in my brain. My mind whirls and my wolf’s excitement rises as if he’s on a hunt. Chase it, he booms in my head. My pulse hammers like I’m on a run, sweat beading on the back of my neck. Then the memory comes flooding into the forefront of my brain:

“The day my mother died, I accompanied the small group of guards tasked with taking her to the burning grounds . . . My parents were betas, which means they never could exchange mate bites, yet I found a healed bite on the top of her shoulder—somewhere no one would see on a normal basis . . . When I examined it further, I noticed that there were small, barely perceivable black veins marbled through the long-healed scar tissue.”

Tore reaches for the gun in my hand. “Dair, please, as your best friend, let me do this. We can’t wait much longer.”