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“Where’s Grimm?” I growled, looking to Silver who was already shaking his head.
My mate knew what I was thinking, knew what I wanted.
“No.” Silver pulled my hand and pressed my palm to his cheek as he whimpered. “No, mate. I won't let you try this. I need you. Alive. We all do.”
“I’m not asking, omega,” I growled. “I won't let any of them down again.”
“We’ll protect you,” Silver insisted.
“Like you did today?” I snarled, causing him to stumble back at the look in my eyes. “You call this protection?!”
I gently laid my charge on the bed and advanced on him as he retreated. I jabbed him in the chest with an angry finger until he was backed right up against the far wall, baring his neck to me with a low whine. But I couldn’t back down. Not about this. This shit ended today.
“Louise is dead, Silver,” I spat. “Addy could be next. Then who? Robbie? Viola? No. Not a single one of them will fall. You know why?” I hissed. “Because I won’t let it happen. Me. I am going to stop this. Once and for all.”
“And what if you don’t make the change? What if you die, instead?! You saw what it did to her, Sasha. You saw it!” He followed me to the door. “What happens to Mongrel and I if we lose our mate?” Silver’s eyes were pleading with me as fear surged through his body. I couldn’t feel it anymore, though. I was numb with fury inside. “What do you think it will do to Grimm? He’ll fucking lose it. ”
I paused on the threshold, hating to feel his pain. Hating to feel him reaching out for me, begging me for comfort and reason, when I had nothing to offer him but rage and a thirst for vengeance.
“Then at least you’ll have each other.”
37
BITE ME, BITCH
Grimm
I stood in the downstairs bathroom and splashed water on my face. No one needed to see my tears right now. I gripped the porcelain sink in my fists and glared at my red-rimmed eyes.
Get it together, Grimm.
The row of stalls behind me were empty. They were mostly for guests at parties, anyway, but we hadn’t held any parties since the Chaos had fallen. For once, I was thankful. I really didn’t need any cheap pussy or lusty wolves stinking up the clubhouse. Our beasts were riled up enough as it was.
My hands stained the stark white sink bright red as I washed away the blood of wolves and humans alike. All of them were my responsibility. People I had vowed to keep safe. And I’d failed them.
Dead eyes stared accusingly back at me behind closed eyelids.
Two and counting. Mace—that bright, happy spark in the pack bond—had been snuffed out tonight. Khan, too. A prospect who, only yesterday, had been scrubbing down Sasha’s pub was gone. Throat ripped out by Bone Crushers. Now, Louise and Addy—our youngest, most vulnerable charges—were in the infirmary fighting for their lives.
Battling a bite they didn’t ask for. Being forced to harbor a wolf in their souls for the rest of their lives. If they survived.
They’re fighters, I told myself, over and over. Survivors. They’ll pull through.
But they shouldn’t have had to. They should never have been put at risk.
I felt sick. My gut churned with guilt.
The worst of it was, I knew Bone Crushers weren’t even close to being done.
I’d found the hole in the fence easy enough, their clothes and prospect cuts lay in a messy pile nearby. The Bone Crushers hadn’t even bothered to cover their tracks. The trail had gone dead in the woods, fresh tracks leading back to the main road. A drop off, then. No plans for extraction.
This was a shot across the bow to a wolf like Venom. Clearly, the VP of the Bone Crushers had stepped up and taken control in Chains’ absence. The new Prez wanted me to know they were coming. That they’d gathered whatever forces that remained at their disposal and were going all in to reclaim what was theirs before the end of the Chaos.
In the reflection, the beast staring back through my own eyes begged me to put us out of our misery. To find solace in the arms of our mate. She would be grieving, too, so why couldn’t we ease this pain together?
I raised my fist and slammed it into the mirror. Silvered glass rained down on the sink below, mixing with the blood which stained the ceramic bowl.
“Fuck.” I turned my back on the mess I had made and rubbed a hand over my exhausted face. “Goddess, what am I supposed to do now?”
