This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,122
Cody’s underbelly at the same time as my fist swings to thump Tristan’s side.
But even with all my strength, I can’t stop their momentum.
They veer off-course, one on either side of me, but their claws rake across me.
Cody’s claws rip across my chest while Tristan’s tear across my back. I need to arch and hunch at the same time, unable to protect either side of my body.
I drop to the floor, screaming with pain.
Both men tumble to the ground on either side of me. Within a blink, they shift back into their human forms.
“Fuck, no! Tessa!” Cody runs for me, but Tristan reaches me first, looming up over me, smashing his fist into Cody’s face and driving him back, a harder hit than he used before.
Cody lands heavily on his side, but he leaps to his feet again, stepping toward me before Tristan’s growl forces him to back off and pace around us.
Beyond the haze of pain, I’m aware of an extra disturbance at the side of the room, as if my scream drew even more attention. I catch a brief glimpse of Ford Vanguard with his two mercenaries looming in the doorway. Their hard stares burn into me before Tristan drops to his knees beside me, blocking them from my view.
“Tessa.” He reaches out toward my back but doesn’t touch me.
I can’t see the damage there to know how bad it is. I’m hunched over my chest, nursing my wounds. The straps of my dress are holding on by threads. Blood slips down my chest and stomach, but it’s a slow drip that tells me the wounds are rips across my skin, deep enough to cause me pain but not to kill me.
When Tristan reaches for my hands, trying to see my chest, I scream at him. “Tell me why you did this!”
Tristan flinches and his shoulders hunch. “Let me see the damage.”
“No!” I snarl at him. “Don’t fucking touch me until you tell me why you did this when we could have walked away alive?”
On the other side of the tables—on the side opposite where Ford Vanguard waits—Baxter Griffin leans forward, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes. I can read his thoughts as easily as if he speaks them. His gloating smile tells me he thinks he’s witnessing the downfall of the most ruthless shifter, Tristan Masters brought down by a freak bitch.
Nearby, Cody wears a very different expression, the corners of his mouth turned down, the same as when he looked at the picture of Ella, a mix of deep regret and pain.
“The three-headed wolf is coming for me, Tessa,” Tristan says, his voice rough. “It’s better this way.”
Better like this? How could this be better?
A sob tears out of me. I’m angry. I’m ready to rage. But I’m also hurting. Letting go of my chest, I spin to Tristan, allowing him to see all the damage, the cuts across my stomach and chest, my breasts barely concealed. Blood covers my hands and smears my clothing, dripping onto the tulle skirt.
“Then I’ll kill him.” I snarl, my voice rising again. “I’ll fight him. I’m strong enough. You know that I’m strong enough to face any darkness.”
“No.” Tristan groans. His breathing is ragged.
Tears leak from his eyes, shocking me to my core.
“No, Tessa.” He reaches out to grip my shoulders. “When I first inhaled your scent, I knew what you are. I know things about you, Tessa, but I need to take those secrets with me when I die. You need to live without the sins of your father weighing on your shoulders.”
I jolt, fear striking through me, rising above my physical pain. I want to scream at Tristan to tell me what he knows. What does he know about my father? What does he know about me?
I remember all the way back to the night we first met. He leaned close to me, inhaled my scent, and told me that he had to be sure.
Clarity is sharp now.
“You knew my scent already,” I whisper. “It was familiar to you.” Somehow, he needed to be sure that my scent was what he thought it would be. “How did you know my scent?”
His expression hardens. “All that matters is that you have the strength to save my pack.”
“I will!” My hands press to Tristan’s cheeks, my blood smearing through his tears, trying to make him believe me. “Tell me where the wolf is. I’ll go there. Right now. I’ll end him.”