Chapter Sixteen
Bram skidded on his paws, narrowly missing an eagle who swooped toward him with talons extended. He’d never fought so hard in his life, but he wasn’t just fighting for himself, he was fighting for Thea. He had no idea if Kash had gotten her to safety. Worry for her eclipsed everything within him. He was fighting on autopilot, just trying to get to her.
Jason was at Bram’s side, and they fought together, like they’d done in practice over the years. Bram had been taught from a young age to fight as a human, and once he’d been able to shift, that training had morphed to include fighting as a wolf. But they’d never talked about fighting damn birds.
It was fucking surreal.
The bird swooped again and this time he met it with a leap in the air, snagged a leg and shook hard as he landed. The eagle squawked and flailed. Bram bit hard and heard the satisfying crunch of bones, then sent the bird flying with another powerful shake.
A shadow fell over Bram just a heartbeat before something sharp slammed into his back between his shoulder blades. He hit the ground, his snout digging into the dirt as pain engulfed him.
He scraped his paws on the ground and tried to tilt his head back to get at whatever it was that was in his back. He saw the embedded hilt of a knife, but couldn’t get to it.
The male who’d stabbed him was middle-aged with a paunch and thinning hair. His eyes were glowing yellow, and his voice was thin and reedy when he spoke.
“You’re the one who needs to die.” The male gripped the knife and twisted.
Bram let out a pain-filled howl.
Jason growled and lunged, leaping over Bram and taking the male to the ground. Bram struggled to reach back toward the knife, but every movement sent a wave of nausea through him and made his vision blink out.
He tried to shake himself to dislodge it, but that only added to the pain.
His pack was tangled up fighting with eagles. There were so many of them, human and in their shifts.
He saw his father fighting the male who’d attacked him, and he wanted to help. Rising to his paws, he let out a snarl at the pain in his shoulder. But he couldn’t let a stab wound derail him. Jason was fighting the male who kept trying to get out of the way of his sharp teeth and claws. Crimson, wings stretched out like an avenging angel, and sword drawn, joined the fight.
Bram heard someone running through the woods toward them and knew in his heart that it was Thea. He could feel her coming closer, and as she neared him, he could hear her panting breaths and sobs each time her feet hit the ground.
Moving forward to meet her, he was blocked suddenly by the male who’d stabbed him.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
* * *
Thea couldn’t stop crying. Every time her feet hit the ground as she ran, it sent a bolt of pain through her body from her injured wings. She’d never hurt them this badly before, but it was like there were knives in her back that were twisting into her bones with every movement she made.
It was agony.
But Bram needed her and she wasn’t about to let something so trivial as broken wings get in the way of helping her mate.
She saw her alpha as she broke through the trees into a small clearing. There were wolves, eagles, and humans fighting all over the place. It was the very definition of pandemonium.
Her alpha stood in front of Bram, who had a knife sticking out of his damn back.
“You’re not going anywhere,” her alpha said.
She’d never liked him. Never liked how he ruled the eagles with an iron fist, keeping laws that were unfair and antiquated.
Bram met her gaze and then growled as he lunged at the alpha.
He was weakened from the knife in his back and missed the alpha. Thea took the opportunity to ram him from behind, sending him flying forward and unable to stop himself from hitting the ground. She reached for the knife in Bram’s back.
Her legs went out from under her, and she slammed into the ground, the breath whooshing from her lungs and her brain rattling in her skull. Too stunned to move, the night sky above her was spinning as she tried to orient herself and get to her feet.
Her alpha loomed over her.
“You’re the cause of all this!”
She gasped, her lungs burning, and pain radiating from her crushed wings. Digging her fingers into the ground for purchase, she managed to ease the pressure from her back as she tilted toward Bram. He rolled to his paws and howled angrily, then leaped over Thea. The alpha punched Bram in the side of the head mid-air, and her mate collapsed to the ground next to her.
“Bram!”
Her alpha yanked the knife from Bram’s back and brandished it, stepping on her shoulder and shoving her back to the ground.
“You never toed the line. You never did what you were supposed to do.”
“Go to hell,” she said, spitting the words at him.
“You first.”
The alpha raised the knife over his head.
A naked male barreled into him.
Thea rolled onto her stomach and slowly got to her knees.
She realized it had been Bram who stopped her alpha from killing her.
She saw the knife flash in the moonlight as her alpha struggled to his feet.
Opening her mouth to yell for Bram to watch out, she watched as Bram wrapped his hands around the alpha’s head and twisted sharply, a sick cracking sound filling the air.
Her alpha dropped to the ground, the knife slipping from his grip.
Bram stood, bloody and beaten, and howled.
Jason and Logan joined him, and the pack members in the clearing and surrounding woods echoed the sound.
Thea worked her way up to her knees, panting as the pain of her broken wings made everything she did hurt.
Bram stalked to her, his eyes blazing amber with his wolf.
Tears filled her eyes. She just wanted to go home.
Home with the pack.
Home with Bram.
“You’re fucking dead, bitch.”
Something cold pressed against her throat and Thea froze.
* * *
Bram swore he blinked and from one moment to the next, a male appeared behind Thea, holding a knife to her throat and threatening her life.
Tears spilled over Thea’s cheeks.
Everything in Bram’s world narrowed down to the knife and the bead of blood that slipped from where the tip pressed against her flesh.
“Let my mate go.”
Jason, Logan, and Crimson stepped up with him.
“Not on your life.”
“Who are you? Why are you trying to hurt Thea?”
“She was arranged to be my mate.”
“She’s already mated to me. You need to let her go.” His wolf already wanted to be back in the fur and tearing the male to pieces. “If you let her free without harming her, you can leave and I won’t hunt you down. But you hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”
He’d already killed several males tonight, including a male he thought was probably her alpha judging by the short conversation he’d had with Thea before he tried to stab her.
“I’m not going anywhere without her.” He dug a knee into her back where her wings were and she screamed, her face going white. He grabbed a hunk of her hair and jerked it to the side, exposing her neck. As he moved the knife from the front of her throat to the back of her neck, Bram knew exactly what he planned to do—cut out the mating marks his fangs had made.
Bram’s claws extended from his fingertips. He took a heartbeat to glance at his dad and friends, who all nodded at him. They weren’t going to let Thea be harmed any further.
A male appeared behind the one with the knife, and in one smooth motion, snapped his neck the way Bram had snapped the alpha’s.
The male collapsed to the ground, lifeless, the knife falling harmlessly to the ground.
Bram raced to Thea.
“Dad?” she asked, just seconds before she passed out and fell into Bram’s arms.
Bram stared up at the male who’d just saved her life.
The gratefulness he felt at the male stepping up to save Thea was overshadowed by the knowledge that he’d caused the whole damn situation.
Bram lifted his unconscious mate into his arms and rose to his feet.
“You arranged a mating for her? You could’ve gotten her killed. Have you no sense of honor? You’re her father.”
His wolf paced in his head, wanting nothing more than to hurt the male who’d caused so much harm. But he had to take care of Thea.
Her father hung his head.
“I have no excuse or response worthy of explanation. I simply…did what I thought was right.”
“Right for who?” Bram said, venom in his voice. If he could kill with his tone of voice, the male would not be breathing anymore.
Jason stepped up next to Bram and put his hand on his shoulder.
Crimson, sword pointed at Thea’s dad, joined them.
“As alpha of the Tressel Pack, I’ll give you ten minutes to get your people and get the hell out of my territory. Anyone who remains will be considered an enemy of the pack and treated accordingly. Thea is under my protection as my son’s mate. The only reason I’m not letting Crimson part your head from your body is because you’re her father. Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.”
Her father looked at Thea with anguish in his eyes, and then nodded.
Jason let out a howl that told the pack members the fighting was done. Answering howls were heard all over the woods as they left the battle and headed to the alpha’s house.
Bram turned and carried Thea in the same direction.
Pack members joined him as they made their way to the house. He was grateful for their support.
He’d never been so thankful to be part of the Tressel Pack.