Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

He raised his hand, and his tattoos flared to life.

I tilted my head back and howled a song of horror, needing our pack to hear me, needing them to know all we had lost. It echoed in the forest around us, and in the distance I heard an answering roar that sounded like a scream.

Magic wrapped itself around us, and I held Rico close to my chest. I whispered, “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

We were lifted up off the ground. I couldn’t fight it.

“I thought I could be enough for you,” Livingstone said. “I really thought I could. I should have known that the wolves would never let you go.”

And then we were flung up and over Livingstone, and the moment before we crashed into the house, causing it to collapse around us, I heard Kelly cry out my name, and I had a second to think that at least it would be quick for him, and we would enter the clearing together, and we would run and run and run under a full moon and nothing, no one would hurt us ever again.

It felt like a kiss before dying.

Rico and I smashed into the house and it all went dark.

I wasn’t unconscious very long.

I opened my eyes, dust and shards of wood falling on my face.

I was confused, unsure of where I was and what had happened. I hurt all over.

I groaned as I tried to sit up. I didn’t make it very far.

A large beam lay on my chest. Bones were broken, and when I coughed, it felt like I was drowning.

The remains of the house surrounded me. A second beam above me, sticking up at an angle, created a small pocket, holding up the debris, though it creaked dangerously as I tried to free myself.

I laid my head back down. I was tired.

“Hey.”

I turned my head.

Rico lay a few feet away, bloodied, body at an awkward angle like he too had been broken. He blinked slowly at me. His eyes were red, and for a moment I thought he was an Alpha. And then it dripped down his cheeks.

He smiled. “Sucks, huh? Got our asses kicked.” His voice was low and rough, words exploding from him with each quick exhalation.

“Rico.”

“Little wolf,” he whispered. “Legs. Can’t feel them.”

I roared in anger, trying to push the beam off me again. The house shifted once more, and more wood fell around us.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Rico grunted. “Bring it all down. Smash us like bugs.”

“I’m going to save you,” I promised him. “I’m going to get us out of here.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

I looked around, trying to find something, anything that would help me. Help us.

There was nothing.

“It’s okay,” Rico said. His breaths were easier, and he had a vacant look in his eyes I didn’t like. “I… I always knew this could happen.”

“Rico, listen to me. We’re going to get out of here. We’re going to get out of here. We’re going to go home.”

“Home,” he whispered. He coughed, and a bubble of blood burst from his mouth. “Bambi’s going to kick my ass.”