His attention locks on me and I lose my breath. Time stutters then folds over itself, stopping when he takes a floor-shattering step in my direction.
“Grayson.” I whisper his name but there’s no change in his expression.
I don’t expect there to be.
He’s gone, my own fever rages, and if we’re not careful, the reign of the Ironwood pack will fall tonight. Grayson is full monster.
I’m about to follow him over the edge.
But I thought I’d be able to help my family a little bit more before it all ended.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Irefuse to cower.
Refuse to back down if Grayson decides to use those claws on me. I hold my ground with an unsteady heart and hands shaking. With fear and regret.
This isn’t the way I thought it would go.
He towers over me with saliva dripping from his maw and reaches up, bringing his claws down. They drop steadily and without hurry, tearing through thickened air, through frozen water, through cement.
My shoulders hunch forward but I hold his gaze.
“I’m sorry, Grayson.”
The whispered apology leaves my lips and an Ironwood wolf at my side leaps away from an attacker in slow motion.
I’m sorry we didn’t have more time.
I’m not ready to lose him.
I’m not ready to die.
We’d come to an understanding, both monsters.
Time catches up to us and I return to my body and the heaving sob as Grayson’s claws connect.
They bury themselves in the shoulder of another moon-mad wolf instead of my skull. One I hadn’t heard sneak up behind me.
The creature screeches and snaps its teeth at Grayson, tearing itself free of him.
Grayson yanks his arms back, dragging the creature with him, and I jump out of their path, and stumble on the way down when I lose my balance. My joints scream when I hit, bones jamming together on impact.
There’s no time to indulge in pain.
He throws the creature off and roars through his lunge to tear out its throat.
The other moon-mad wolf falls still and Grayson stands, working his claws, blood dripping from his teeth.
His eyes flash across me before he drops to all fours and leaps past me, attacking another one of the moon-mad who’d gotten close.
My breathing hasn’t evened out. Will I ever breathe steadily again?
Because it looks like he’s fighting with me, at my side. Hope, a horrible and delicate thing, flares to life. Maybe he’s not fully gone.
Maybe a miracle will land in my lap and Grayson will come back to me.