*Isla*
Maddox gives the signal for the condemned prisoners to be killed, and someone in the back of the crowd watching shouts, “Now!”
Immediately, chaos erupts in front of the gallows as dozens of shifters leap up and change into their wolf forms. Women, children, and some men scream and try to get out of the way, but the wolves plow through them, trying to get to the gallows.
The guards react immediately, also shifting to fight back. I hear Maddox shout. “Drop them!” and the hangmen do their job even as the wolves that are either from Hill Country pack or Zabrina’s pack–Maple pack storm the gallows.
“Seth! Get Isla inside, now!” Maddox shouts over his shoulder just as he shifts and takes off down the stairs toward the fray.
Seth turns to look at me, obviously upset that he’s not running, too. I want to tell him to go on, that I’ve got this, but then I remember I am carrying a baby, and I’m not so brave anymore. It looks like the wolves that have started the chaos are not just in front of the gallows, but they are running in different directions, too, possibly trying to get into the castle, and the guards are doing their best to try and stop them.
“Stay with me!” Seth says and grabs hold of my arm. I have no intention of straying from him, but then I remember that my brother is here, and panic sets in.
“Ben!” I shout, pulling back slightly to get Seth’s attention. “Where’s my brother?”
Seth sighs and looks around, but neither one of us sees him.
“Ben!” I shout both with my mouth and the min-link.
“I’m over here!” he says, throwing up an arm, and I see him then in a crowd of people that are being protected by some of the guards that were stationed between the gallows and the stage.
With my arm firmly in his grasp, Seth takes off running again, and I have trouble keeping up.
As we are running, a wolf comes flying at us, and Seth pulls out a knife, pushing me behind him. The claws from the wolf slash at his face, but Seth plunges the blade into its neck, giving it a hard push. The wolf is no match for the powerful Beta and his weapon, and it tumbles backward onto the ground, bleeding from its neck.
“Come on!” he says again, but this time, I am moving ahead of him, as my brother comes running toward me. I take a quick look over my shoulder, but I can’t see Maddox anywhere, and there’s not enough time for me to truly stop and look.
Seth gets us to the closest door, unscathed, and pulls out a ring of keys. While he’s fumbling for the right one, Ben and I bang on the door. Surely, someone inside has to have heard the commotion and will let us in.
Either that, or everyone inside ran to hide.
Before Seth gets the right key in the lock, the door opens. An older woman I’ve never seen before, wearing a servant’s uniform, opens the door only a foot and looks out at us.
“Oh, good. Let them in,” Seth says, and she pulls the door open a bit more. He thrusts his knife into my hand, for what reason, I’m not sure. Maybe because he’s about to shift and he won’t need it.
When others see that the door is unlocked, they come running, but as soon as Ben and I are inside, the woman turns and locks the door again. I want to protest that she should let those other people in, but I don’t know who is friend and who is foe. It’s best to let those decisions be made by someone else. Besides, it looked to me like there were more guards than rebels.
I take a step back, trying to catch my breath, about to thank the woman for unlocking the door when I see a flash of silver from her hand.
Ben jumps in front of me, trying to protect me, and in that split second, I see that she is holding a knife.
Right before she plunges it deep into my brother’s stomach.
“No!” I scream, remembering I’m holding a knife, too. I’ve never used one on a person before, but my instincts kick in, and I lash out at her the same way that I saw Seth stab that wolf. I slash across her throat before she can move aside, and blood spurts everywhere. She raises a hand to try to contain it, but her fingers are nothing against the red, sticky flow. She collapses onto the ground.
I have no time to think about what’s just happened, why this woman would let me into the castle and then try to kill me. All I know is that Ben is grievously injured. The knife she carried was large, and she buried it up to the hilt in his gut. It was obvious she was trying to stab me, but my sweet brother got in the way to save me.
“Ben!”
He is on the floor, and blood is pouring from the wound, flowing around the knife that is still protruding from his abdomen. I’m not sure if I should pull it out or leave it. “It’ll be okay, Ben,” I tell him, but I can see how quickly his face is turning pale, and I am afraid I’m lying to him. I lift his head and put it on my lap. I’m not even sure what to do. The only person I can think of who can help is Mystica, and I don’t think she’ll be able to because of the fight outside, and I’m not even sure my mind-link can reach her.
Maddox is too busy. I don’t even know where Poppy is.
I start doing the only thing I can think of—screaming.
“Help! Help! Someone help us!”
“Isla, Isla!” Ben says, his blood-covered hand coming up to rest on mine. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” I tell him. “You’re dy–bleeding everywhere.”
He actually grins at me. “I am dying, Isla. I know that. You can say it. It’s… not a secret.”
The tears are streaming down my cheeks now, running almost as thick as the blood seeping from him. “No, you can’t,” I tell him. “I can’t do this without you.”
“Isla, you already are,” he says. “Besides… I saved you… and the baby, and that’s all that matters.”
I shake my head and use the mind-link to call for help. Maybe someone from Willow pack will be close enough and be able to help. “Someone! Please, send a healer! My brother is dying!”
No one answers.
Ben is still smiling up at me. “I’m so glad… I… got… to… s-s-see you,” he says.
“Ben, please, try to hang on. Please,” I beg him.
He does his best to squeeze my hand. “You always were the b-best one,” he says. “I l-l-love you so m-m-much.”
“I love you, too. Ben! Please!”
I hear him inhale one more time before his eyes close, and he goes still.
Not knowing what else to do, I drop my head on his chest and begin to weep.
* * *
*Maddox*
I should have been better prepared for this, but I never really thought that anyone would be so stupid as to try to save these worthless criminals. Now, as I charge through the crowd, ripping apart everyone who tries to stop me, I only have two things on my mind.
One, make sure that Isla get back in the castle safely and two, make sure that Zabrina dies.
She is not leaving these castle walls alive ever again.
The hangmen did their job. As I run toward the gallows, my wolf teeth dripping blood down my chin, I see that the four criminals are hanging. Zabrina’s body swings frantically in the air as she tries her best to find purchase, but there’s nothing beneath her to stand on.
The other three are not struggling as hard, probably because they know that the uprising has nothing to do with them.
I see a large black wolf leap onto the gallows. He is trying to get to her, to get beneath her, so that she has something to stand on. One of my guards jumps in front of him and tries to fight him off, but the black wolf is too big, and he manages to rip at his throat before tossing him into the crowd.
Well, he won’t have that kind of luck with me.
A smaller brown wolf gets in front of me, his fangs dripping with saliva. I go low, sweeping his feet out from under him, and knocking him aside. Then, I leap up onto the gallows in one bound to see that the black wolf has given Zabrina a place to stand. She is doing her best to keep her footing, to pull herself to an upright position with her hands bound, and I see other wolves coming to try to help her. If one of them shifts into his human form, he could potentially get her free.
I won’t be having any of that.
Rather than leaping for the snarling black wolf that is trying to keep the Alpha’s daughter standing, I aim for her. She's so high up, I can’t reach her neck, but I can sink my teeth into her torso. As I jump up over the black wolf, he tries to snap at me, but I manage to lock my teeth into Zabrina’s gut and rip as I fall onto the other side of the gallows. She can’t scream because of the noose, but blood and entrails spill everywhere, and the black wolf’s eyes enlarge with horror as he sees he cannot save her now.
“No!”
He shifts into his human form and stands there, naked, trying to put her back together. “No! She’s my mate!” he says.
I snarl at him and come back for seconds, not above taking him out when he’s in his human form, but he shouts. “You’ll pay for this, Maddox!” and turns and leaps off of the gallows, shifting into his wolf form before he lands.
I don’t know who he was, but I do know that Alpha Jordan mentioned her finding her mate that must have been him.
With his departure, the other wolves that have attacked us quickly fall apart. I see the black wolf leap over the castle wall, but I can’t chase him right now because I hear Isla’s voice in my head.
“Maddox! Help me! It’s Ben!”