She doesn’t feel deserving. She doesn’t feel powerful enough. She doesn’t realize that she could initiate into nearly any pack, issue a challenge for alpha, and win, if she chose. I can feel it in her aura. This is who she was always meant to be. She just needs to believe it for herself.
“No,”I say back, my voice booming louder.
Her ears perk up in shock at my word. She thought I would give him up easily to her once I realized he wasn’t a real threat to her life. But he is. Everyone is. Any one of us could kill her to fulfill the curse. And she has to be strong enough to fight any one of us at any time. She needs to be alpha and believe in the full strength of her position.
“Nyx,”she hisses in my head.
“Don’t move or you die,”I say to Kael, using my vampire mind control on him.
Kael freezes beneath me. Lumi notices. But she can’t tell me her thoughts. Not as freely as before.
I position myself between him and her. Waiting for her to decide what she’s going to do. Run or fight me.
“What the hell are you doing?! You could kill her!”Ambrose shouts through our bond.
“You let her run through the woods. You left her and Kael alone.Hecould have killed her.”
“If you fight her, you’ll definitely kill her.”
“That’s why you’re here. To make sure I don’t do that.”
“I’m not going to let you lay a finger on her.”
“You will. She needs this. Hide—ensure she doesn’t know you’re here protecting her. She needs to do this herself.”
“Nyx—don’t you—”
I block him out.
I don’t know if he’ll interfere, but it will destroy her confidence if he does.
I’m still standing. Still waiting to see what Lumi will do.
She growls in my direction, showing off her massive teeth as she continues to snarl at me to release Kael.
I snarl back, baring every ounce of the terrifying monster I can muster. I won’t kill the leech—no matter how much instinct demands it. For whatever incomprehensible reason, he’s her best friend. And it would shatter Lumi if I killed him.
But Lumi has lost all faith in me after she smelled Amora on me. She won’t believe I’m above not killing her best friend.
Finally, she attacks. She doesn’t leap straight at me in a rush of anger or blind emotion. She’s smarter than that. Calculated. Strategic. She cowers first, positioning her body back in thedirection of my house and the others who could come to her aid. Like she’s waiting for help.
But she’s far too fearless to wait for help, too much of an alpha to allow others to risk their lives on her behalf.
The second she senses the slight drop in my guard, she strikes. One explosive jump of muscles that she’s never released before. All of her trust is put into this new body. Zero hesitation creeps into a single movement.
She doesn’t pull her punches. She goes directly for my jugular—a kill strike.
Maybe she intends to kill me. Or maybe she knows it’s the only way I’ll let her win.
That’s my girl.
Her teeth graze my neck, but I move before I allow her to take me out in a single bite.
Hazy flickers of each other’s thoughts and images float between us.“Not. Going. Kill. You.”Her thoughts float to me.“It’s. What. You. Want.”
Her paw strikes across my face, hitting me in the jaw. I strike back, putting my full body into it so that she doesn’t think I’m holding back against her. I’m not. I’m giving her as real a fight as I can manage without accidentally hurting her.
She snaps her jaws in my direction with another menacing snarl.“Not. What. You. Deserve.”Her clipped words hit me hard. She thinks I deserve worse than death. She’s right. I do.