“We’re almost there,” Liam whispered, and Alec nodded.
Almost—not close enough.
“Close.”
Then there was no more talking, they didn’t need to, not when they had hand signals and could now feel each other within their souls. Hunter would probably like that because it meant they could battle better as a unit, as a team. And maybe, just maybe they wouldn’t fight as much and annoy the rest of the Pack. They had to survive this first. They had to kill Alec’s brother. He hated that he had to do it. Alec had long since given up on Charlie, though. Even though he had tried not to. Charlie had done the unthinkable. Long before this. That’s why he had been banned from the Pack to begin with.
There was another crunch of leaves, and Alec froze beside Liam. That hadn’t come from them. The scent of decay, the putridness of it, filled his nostrils, and they turned on their heels.
Charlie was there, blood splatter on his face, part of a liver in his hands. Alec inhaled, grateful and yet still sad that it had belonged to a deer, and not a human or another paranormal.
Charlie had officially lost his mind, even though that had likely happened long ago.
“Make this easy for yourself, Charlie. We’ll make it less painful.” Liam let out a slow breath, his voice low.
Alec didn’t know if that was for him or for Charlie. After all, Liam had known Charlie just as long as Alec had.
“Never,” Charlie growled out, and Alec’s eyes widened. If the rogue could speak, if his big brother could still talk, he retained some functioning part of his brain. That meant he was the scariest type of rogue. The ones that could take over a Pack, decimate them, and make plans that could end them all.
Goddess. They needed to end this. And fast.
They leapt at each other then, no need for further communication. There was no going back from this. No words or peace talks would fix what had happened.
The rogue came at Alec first, just like they knew he would. Charlie swiped out, bloody claws prepared to rend. Alec ducked out of the way, then used his own claws to slash at Charlie’s face. They had to be quiet, had to be discreet, even if there was nothing unobtrusive about what was happening.
The humans couldn’t know, though. That was the whole point of this. The humans couldn’t know.
And that meant that Alec and Liam had to make this quick, with the least amount of bloodshed and as little pain as possible. He just didn’t know if that could happen. Not with the growls emanating from Charlie’s throat.
Charlie ducked, going at Liam then, and Alec leapt at his back, trying to land a killing blow. However, with his rogue strength and whatever chemical imbalance made rogues increase in all attributes of brainpower, Charlie was faster, stronger, deadlier than Liam and Alec combined.
Liam punched Charlie in the head, only Charlie kept going, spittle flying from his mouth as he clawed and slashed.
There were no kits here, no innocents. Just Charlie. And they would have to end this. Soon.
It was like fighting five alpha wolves at this point, and they just weren’t strong enough.
They kicked, swiped, growled. Blood flew. Alec went at Charlie’s gut, trying to pull him away from Liam, but it was no use. While before, Charlie had gone solely after Alec; now, he only went after Liam. Some small part of whatever sane fragment remained inside Charlie’s head knew that he needed to go after Alec’s mate and not Alec himself.
He growled.
A swipe left, a gash to the chest. An uppercut, a black eye. A kick, a slash. Another growl.
All of it, and none of it was enough.
Charlie picked up a large branch and slammed it against Alec’s chest. He landed on his back, his breath whooshing out of him.
Alec scrambled to his feet and screamed as Charlie dug his claws into Liam’s chest.
Liam’s eyes went wide, his whole body paling as blood seeped from the wound. Charlie just kept digging and digging. If Alec didn’t pull him off, somehow find the strength to push at Charlie, Charlie was going to dig Liam’s heart right out of his chest.
Liam met Alec’s gaze and whispered, “I love you.” Alec growled, rage filling him. His fist clenched, claws digging into his skin. His wolf howled.
He wanted to shift, wanted to use that strength, only he couldn’t, not out in the open like this.
So, he got to his feet and moved.
Charlie didn’t see him coming, and that was good. Alec leapt, clawed at Charlie’s back, one slice, then another, and even as Charlie moved to try and fight him off, Alec was there. He wrapped his arm around Charlie’s neck and squeezed. Charlie let go of Liam, and Alec’s mate fell to the ground, his hands over his chest as he tried to stanch the bleeding.
Alec didn’t think it would be enough.
After all of this, after everything that had happened, he was going to lose his mate.
He couldn’t breathe.
His wolf wanted revenge, wanted blood, and Alec was going to give it to him. He squeezed Charlie’s neck, even as his brother, his blood, someone who was supposed to be everything to him, dug at his arm, reopening the wound that Alec had finally healed. He could scent his own blood. It didn’t matter. He squeezed, and with one twist, the snap of bone echoed in his ears. And then, Charlie was gone. The rogue was dead, his brother was no more. It didn’t matter. He tossed Charlie’s lifeless form to the ground. At any other moment in time, Alec would have probably wept, would have grieved for his sibling. Instead, he let Charlie fall and ran to Liam.
Blood spilled out of Liam’s chest, even as his own inner strength as a wolf started to heal the wounds. Alec just didn’t think it would be enough. Tears slid down his cheeks now. Not for his brother. For his mate.
He pulled Liam into his arms, covered his mate’s bloody hand with his to try and stop the bleeding, and simply held him, even as they both shook.
They’d killed the rogue, they had found each other, but in the end, everything might’ve happened too late.
Liam woke up to the sound of pounding in his head as if someone were building a house on either side of his and wouldn’t let up.
His chest ached as if someone had stabbed him, and then he remembered, well…that actually kind of happened.
He tried to move and groaned, sharp pain slicing up his body, and burrowing down deep into his chest.
He could feel his heart beating, hear it with the pulse racing in his ears because he had moved. However, he still reached out, even through the pain, to make sure that his chest was still intact. He was covered in bandages, yet underneath them, he felt his heartbeat. Thank God.
“You’re whole,” Dante said from the side of the bed. Liam turned his head to look over at the dragon. Dante had his leg crossed over his knee, and a large leather-covered book in his hand. He pulled off his reading glasses and set them on the table near him, along with the book. Liam frowned.
“I didn’t know a dragon would need reading glasses.”
Dante grinned.
“I don’t. However, Jace said I looked hot wearing them, so now I can’t help it. It’s habit.”
“Well, if it’s for your mates, I can see it. Yet I don’t see your mates in this room.”
“Like I said. Habit. You’re going to be fine.”
Liam raised a brow. “Good. Though, hell, I can’t believe I fell as hard as I did.”