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My eyes found Carbon’s from across the room. His eyes looked haunted, his mouth fixed in a grim line. He met my accusatory glare, though he’d done nothing to deserve it. “But you did.”
“I did,” he nodded. “The Goddess destroyed me in the fire of her first change and then I was reborn in her image.”
He didn’t need to say any more. I could see the truth. Far, far too many humans who had been bitten didn’t make it through their first transition.
Silver hugged me tighter as Addy’s eyes changed again. This time sliding to an inhuman black as gunmetal-grey fur sprouted over her body. Then the screaming stopped. And the silence was fucking terrifying.
“Don’t look, baby.” Silver tipped my face up to his, tears rimming his lashes. “You don’t want to see this part.”
I held onto his gaze like a lifeline. Feeling him sharing my pain—selflessly siphoning it from my body and soul—so I could keep functioning. From his patients’ side, Doc started cursing but I didn’t look away.
“They’re going to make it,” I growled, staring into my mate’s eyes. “They have to.”
I prayed for a miracle. Sent my heart and soul up to the Blood Moon Goddess and begged her to take pity on my friends and ease their transition.
“Addy’s a fighter,” Silver agreed. His eyes blazed with ferocious determination as my omega held the space of my people’s grief and his pack’s rage in his grip. Protecting us all from ourselves.
“And Louise,” I snapped. “She was just starting to get better. She was giggling like a loon a few minutes ago, for fuckssake. And those bastards ruined it. I can’t lose them now, Silver. I won’t.”
“I’m sorry, my mate, I truly am. But it is done.”
The finality in his voice sunk to the bottom of my soul like a boulder. He kissed me tenderly on the cheek and let me go. Slowly unwinding the blanket so that I could stand on my own two feet. I swayed in fear before I grabbed ahold of my lady balls and straightened my spine.
Spinning away from my mate, I stalked across the room.
Addy was still struggling with her wolf, her limbs bent and twisted as they fought to change into their new form. Her teeth gnashed at the air, a whine tearing out of her throat. But something vital had changed.
The urgency and fear riding Doc, Carbon and their men had eased. They looked on Addy with fresh hope in their eyes. Her first shift was not complete but they expected her to make it to the other side.
A fierce jolt of pride shot through me before it was chased away by a darker realization. All of those hopeful eyes were fixed on Addy.
Trembling took over my body. My legs turned to noodles, yet ached for action at the same time. I nearly ran in that moment. Just turned tail and sprinted the hell outta there, never to look back on the horrors of my life again.
Instead, I forced my attention to expand and take in the aching emptiness in the room. Whatever excruciating point of no return the pair had been struggling with had passed. Addy would live.
But Louise? No, not so for my beautiful Louise.
The sweet girl was still on her table. Not a hint of the wolf on her face. Her eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling, even the bite on her arm had stopped bleeding. And the worst thing about it? She looked at peace.
All the terrible things done to her in this hellishly short life had lifted. Her soul was finally, truly free.
From where I’d staggered to a halt, halfway across the room, Silver came behind me. Wrapping me in his comforting scent as his arms wrapped sorrowfully around my middle. Not to hold me back now, simply to offer comfort.
I carefully extracted myself and walked the last few feet. Carbon’s body shifted to keep me well clear of Addy as she continued to work through her shift. My eyes flickered over to take in the sight.
The girl I knew and loved was not here right now. This new shifter bit and clawed at anyone who came near as the wolf emerged from her skin. Though the floor around her bed was soaked in blood, she was still moving. Still fighting.
Silver was right, Addy was a fighter.
Carefully, I climbed up onto the bed next to Louise and pulled my charge into my arms, cradling her like a baby. I had failed her. Utterly failed her.
I’d foolishly let my guard down. Trusted others to keep her safe. That wasn’t going to happen again. I would be the one keeping them safe. My people and Grimm’s. Because they were all family now. Every single one of them.
The Bone Crushers would never stop seeing us as their property. Never stop treating us as a commodity. But I wasn’t a thing that they could own. And I certainly wasn’t just some fucking breakable human.
I was every bit as much a warrior as any of the Soul Reapers. Silver had said the Bone Crushers would never stop coming. Well, that was fine by me, because I didn’t plan to rest until I put every last one of them in the ground.
For Louise and the countless other lives they had snuffed out.
