Chapter 147

Dane, Alpha:

I was shocked back into awareness by a chorus of voices in my head. I stood and shook myself. Droplets of blood flew from a cut on my head. I looked to Archer. How long was I out?

Archer looked confused. "Out? You just barely tripped. I didn't even know you blacked out."

Grimly, I nodded my wolf's head. The goddess had given me my moment with Aurora. I knew she lived. Now, I had to find a way to bring her home. But damn it, I had to find her first.

We made it back to my pack house, bloody, bruised, and exhausted, to find an army waiting between me and the wolves I had left behind. It wasn’t ideal, but thanks to Waylon Reed losing the challenge, I had an army, too. Broken Forest wolves intermixed with my own Blue Ridge warriors at my back.

Chapter 147

In the minutes after I’d won the challenge, their voices had rushed in. I’d experienced that before, when I became Alpha of Blue Ridge. But unlike when I took over Blue Ridge, there was another moment right after—a feeling of breaking, splintering, as nearly a tenth of the pack broke off from my control, choosing to be rogues rather than live with me as an Alpha. As long as our blood feud had been going on, I was surprised it was only a third. One of the wolves who immediately peeled away was Esther Reed. She was gone from the pack bond and the ravine in an instant. I thought about pursuing her or sending some of her own wolves to find her, but from Piper’s cry for help, I needed every wolf I could muster.

Fall Line was no small pack, but they’d be no match for me if I showed up with wolves from Blue Ridge and Broken Forest, reunited into one pack for the first time in almost a century. Rain rolled in on our way back to my pack house, as well as thunder and lightning. It flashed and roared as I stepped out of the forest with over 100 wolves behind me. The Fall Line wolves waited in a group outside. I wasn’t sure why. Then I saw Holden drag my sister out of the pack house, kicking and screaming.

Chapter 147

I snarled. I was in my wolf form—it was the body that traveled fastest. I commanded my army to spread out as I loped forward, shifting into my lycan form as I did. "You’re not my Alpha," some of the Broken Forest wolves snapped, fighting my control. "Get. In. Line," I commanded. My Alpha power rolled over them in a drowning wave even I could feel. It was so strong, I had to pull it back. Control. I would have to learn control again. I wasn’t sure if it was my death or if it was defeating Waylon and taking on his pack, but I was stronger, now. Immensely stronger. If I wasn’t careful, my Alpha powers might accidentally break a wolf’s mind.

But right now I didn’t have time for finesse. I had to get to Piper, take care of Holden once and for all, then figure out where Aurora was and bring her home. Because this was her home. Not some drafty pack-owned castle in the remote mountains of Europe. Here. With me. With our children. Trajan still had them, with a dozen Blue Ridge wolves to protect them. If things went wrong, they would run. I wasn’t going to risk my children being taken by an enemy pack ever again.

Chapter 147

I ran across the yard with warriors at my back. Holden saw us coming, but I don’t think he saw me. He jerked on Piper’s arm and said, “Call them off!” My Piper wasn’t helpless; she was one of Blue Ridge’s best fighters. I wondered why she wasn’t in her lycan form, then saw the bloody wound on her shoulder. Holden had probably stabbed her with silver. The Fall Line wolves turned, and we hit them like a wave crashing into a wall. We fought, but they outnumbered us three to one. He really had brought an entire fucking army into my territory, but with the new powers I had, not even an army could stand against me. I mowed through them and broke out into the clear space in front of the pack house. Ran fell, turning the grass squelchy with mud. Holden had thrown my sister to the ground and was transforming into his lycan shape. “I’m going to have Blue Ridge,” he snarled at her. “Piper Montague, I challenge you for leadership of this pack!”

Piper’s curly dark hair was soaked. She crouched with a hand pressed to her bleeding shoulder and looked utterly pissed off. “I’m not the Luna, you moron!”

Chapter 147

He didn’t listen. He leaped for her. I leaped at the same time… and so did a third shape. Not for Holden, but for my sister. I knocked Holden out of the air and turned on that third man, snag. It was Aurora’s cousin, Evander. He was in his human body and wasn’t wearing anything but sweatpants, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. He covered Piper’s body with his own, as if he would have taken Holden’s claws for her. He saw me staring and looked like he might say something. Then his eyes went wide and he shouted, “Behind you!” I turned and knocked Holden out of the air again. I was so strong, now, it was almost casual. He smashed into the ground and gasped for air. I’d knocked the wind out of him. I crouched low over him, the rain pattering coldly on my back and in small puddles all around. When Holden saw me, he choked out, “Dane? You’re supposed to be dead!”

“You first,” I growled. I lifted my clawed hand to tear out his throat.

“Wait!” he screamed. “I’m mate-bonded to Aurora! I know she’s been taken. I’m the only way you can find her!”