ground and let the world run into red and white.
This was it.
I drew in a deep, steadying breath and braced for the initial push that would bowl me onto my back, given half the chance.
I would give him no chance.
No quarter received, no quarter allowed.
Moving with a speed and ferocity that would've been beautiful if it wasn't me about to get eviscerated, he lunged forward, claws catching the moonlight and I dodged the blow, scoring a slash across his chest.
The fur and skin split apart like a seam coming undone and blood sprayed in a thin mist that drenched my face, turned my vision red.
He reared back, head thrown back into a howl and I saw the killing blow that would crush my skull and spine.
I beat it.
I ran him through to the hilt, my feet sliding back on the slippery pebbles and felt his body convulse underneath my hands.
Howls filled the night air as he staggered back.
I was too close; claws scored deeply into my back, tearing through the leather jacket, bringing forth blood and fire in their wake.
It was his death strike.
But I needed his death ensured.
My back was nothing compared to what I was doing to him.
I twisted the blade, felt the hot, almost scorchingly hot blood drench my hands. Abruptly, the sword gave way and the blade snapped at the hilt, still embedded deep into his chest.
He fell back, a cloud of dust arising from his descent.
My legs went weak and I fell to my knees.
I was still alive.
And he was dead.
Such is the way of my world.
Marcus coughed and I watched as the wolf shrunk into itself.
The fur shrank into nothing, the claws retracted, and the bones re-knit themselves into the form of a stout, powerfully built man with two feet of metal in him like a spit.
He convulsed once, a rattle coming forth from the throat offered up to the moon, and went still.
I began to shiver, the familiar pain starting at the base of my neck, the pain that would consume me whole.
“Well done.”
I looked over my shoulder, not surprised to find Noir watching from a few feet away. “How long have you been standing there?”
He let one shoulder rise and then fall in a nonchalant, casual manner. “Long enough.”
“The vampires watching you?”
He only smiled.
That was answer enough.
Then, the darkness overwhelmed me.
I did not stop it.
18
We were in another car.
It was a much smaller one, one that smelled like cigarettes and wet animals and when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at a blond man with clear blue eyes that reminded me of the summer sky. Back when I knew what the day looked like, anyways.
Ryder smiled. "Hey. You're alive."
My throat felt scratchy and I tried to lever myself up. My head was in his lap, my legs scrunched up on the other end of the car. "Where am I?"
A flicker of something passed through those eyes. Uncertainty? "We're headed back to the club. There's a fucking riot going on out there and you need to rest. If it wasn't for your pulse, we would've thought you were dead." He whistled under his breath. "Congrats on putting that bad wolf away. Never thought you had it in you to kill an alpha. No wonder everyone's afraid of you."
I wanted to laugh. Badly. "Everyone's afraid of me? Hardly."
“I dunno. With your back messed up like that, you definitely don’t look like someone I’d want to mess with.”
I remembered. "My back."
"Yeah," said Ryder, still with that silly, don't-worry smile that did nothing to appease my anxiety. "It's pretty fucked up. I covered up the wound with my jacket so you wouldn't stick to the car seat. Man, you're going to have some amazing scars to show your kids when you're older."
"I'm not having children," I said. "I don't want to be responsible for them."
An eyebrow went up. "Are you some kind of weird feminist?"
"It has nothing to do with being a feminist," I said. "I don't know how to be a mother."
"You think anyone knows how to take care of children?" He scoffed. "Hell, no one has a fucking idea when someone shoves a baby in their arms. Everyone just takes the kid and runs." A corner of his lips quirked. "Metaphorically speaking. Although, it has been known to happen literally, from time to time."
"Really? And what would something like you know about that?"
The moment his eyes narrowed, I wanted to kick myself in the face.
“Sorry,” he said, curtly. “Yeah. I'm dead. What