Ravensong (Green Creek 2)

I saved my Alpha.

But there was nothing I could do about my hand.

There was a wet thunk of knife hitting bone, before it continued on.

Continued through.

I felt nothing at first. I fell against Ox, and his arms came around me. I was breathing, I was breathing, I was breathing, and I looked up at him, frowning at his expression of horror.

“What’s wrong?” I tried to ask, but was hit with a wave of pain like nothing I’d ever felt before. I screamed in my Alpha’s arms as I looked down, trying to find why it hurt, oh god, it hurt.

I saw my hand.

Lying in the snow a few feet away, fingers curled up toward the sky. The snow underneath it was turning red.

I raised my arm to see where my hand had once been. It was a clean cut, the skin barely ragged. Blood was spilling from it down my arm, mixing in with the roses.

There came the roar of an enraged animal.

Through the red-hot sheen of pain I saw a brown wolf leap forward and land on top of Emma. Her hands came up to ward him off, but it was too late. His jaws closed over her throat and twisted viciously. Her neck snapped loudly, blood gushing around wicked sharp teeth. She barely made a sound.

“No,” I heard Ox muttering above me. “No, no, no, stay with me, Gordo, you need to stay with me—”

There came a groan of muscle and bone. I heard Joe. He said, “Holy shit, what the fuck, we need to bite him, Ox, we need to bite him—”

Elizabeth said, “You can’t, you can’t, he’s a witch, a powerful witch, it would kill him, it would kill him, he can’t be changed into a wolf, it would kill him.”

A brown wolf stood in front of me, eyes violet and searching. He whined lowly, leaning his head forward, pressing his nose against my cheek.

“Hey,” I said, feeling floaty and disconnected. “It’s okay. It hurt, but it’s not that bad anymore. I probably won’t be as handy as I was before, ha, ha, ha—”

“Jesus Christ,” Joe said, sounding strangled. “Did he just—”

The wolves all growled angrily, louder than I’d ever heard it before. It sounded like there were hundreds of them. But I was safe, safe, safe in my Alpha’s arms, and I knew he would never let anyone hurt me again.

I wanted to close my eyes.

“Alpha Matheson!” a shrill voice called. “Please, if we’re to help Gordo, you need to let us through. We are here because of him. We can break the wards. There are enough of us. My name is Aileen. This is Patrice. We’re here to help. We’re here to—”

Ox howled above me. It reverberated down to my bones. It felt like it was a part of me.

I heard strange voices sounding like they were chanting in unison from somewhere far away. The brown wolf licked my cheek, and I couldn’t even be bothered to try to push him away. There was a pulse of something heated on my shoulder, and I remembered I was marked by the one I loved. It calmed me, knowing that no

matter what happened, everyone would know I belonged to a wolf.

I screamed as I felt the wards break, body electrified as my back arched.

Ox whispered in my ear, telling me I was safe, I was safe, and he would always watch over me, please, Gordo, please, please listen, listen to me, can you hear them? Can you hear us? All of us, Gordo. All of us, because we are—

pack, the wolves and humans whispered in my head, we are packpackpack and you are BrotherFriendLoveMate you are witch you are life you are love and we will protect you.

“Hold him down,” a voice said, the words lilted and smooth. “Dis is gonna hurt.”

Tears leaked from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I stared up at Ox, who still held me in his arms. He reached up and brushed the wetness from my face. He said, “I’ve got him. I’ve got him.”

“Patrice?” I heard Aileen ask. “Can you help him?”

“Petèt. Maybe. Won’t be like it was. Dat hand is gone. Dat’s over with now. But he won’t need dat. Maji. The magic in him and dis pack. It’s big. It’ll compensate. Parè. Get ready, Alpha. You in dis as much as I am. Whole pack. We have help. Lalin. The moon.”