Noah….
He was a stranger and yet… everything. The man who would have been her every dream. A wolf who would have taken her heart and claimed her soul. The howl that tore from her was one of loss, a song of mourning and need.
The enemy came at them from every side, determined to keep them from the bars of Katalina’s cage, but Jackson was relentless in his pursuit of his daughter. A thing of lethal glory and deadly grace. Reaching her prison, Jackson met Holly’s gaze, the silent instruction passing between them before he turned his back to the enemy and trusted her to keep him safe. They attacked with unflinching force, feral beasts after nothing but destruction and blood. Semi-shifting, Holly slashed with her claws, turned skin and muscle to pulverized meat, and still the wolves kept coming, their snarls as terrifying as the bloodlust shining in their eyes.
“Goddamn it!” Jackson swore, his voice heavy with the tone of his wolf.
Risking a glance back, Holly found Jackson struggling to break the lock keeping Katalina inside her torture chamber. Within, Raven carried on with her games, drawing so much blood from Katalina that Holly wondered if Katalina would have any left by the time it was through. Raven hummed as she went, laughing and waving as they failed to rescue Jackson’s daughter.
“I’m going to tear you limb from limb, girl,” Jackson snarled, rattling the bars as he yelled.
“Naughty, naughty, naughty,” Raven crooned.
“Leave me,” Katalina begged. “Please, Dad, just leave me and save our family.”
“I’m not leaving you!” Jackson hollered.
Holly had already seen many of her packmates injured or dead. She’d stopped looking, unable to bear seeing another vacant stare.
Gunfire rained down on them once again. Someone else having taken up a position on the platform Nico had previously cleared.
“Watch out,” Holly called, dragging Jackson to the ground as bullets whistled by, ricocheting off the steel bars and sending dust flying into the air as they hit the floor.
Raven leaped back inside the cage, her screech of rage vibrating through the barn. “Don’t fire at me, you freakin’ idiots!”
More shots followed until Holly and Jackson had no choice but to retreat. The attack cut through friend and foe alike, an endless rain of death, cutting into flesh and destroying organs.
“Katalina,” Jackson cried as he resisted Holly’s pull.
“You’ll never get into the cage, Jackson. Castor designed it that way.” Taking in her surroundings, Holly kept a firm grasp on Jackson as she pulled him back, her mind racing for a solution. “The platforms… we need our men on the guns.”
As she spoke, Tyler scaled the wall and landed nimbly beside one of the gunmen, killing Castor’s shooter and taking control, giving their side some much-needed headway.
A fresh swarm of attackers rushed into the barn, these men in human form and fighting with a control that said they’d been born with the gift to shift and not turned against their will as Castor had done to so many others. Back to back, she and Jackson fought them off. Blood ran down one side of her face from a knock to the head. The left side of her ribcage protested with every breath from a kick to the side. Bruises and cuts marred her body, but Holly thought of nothing but protecting her alpha. It was all she had left. The only driving force keeping her alive.
She’d been unable to save Noah, but Jackson… she’d make sure would survive this storm.
A knife flew out of nowhere, glittering as it flipped over and over through the air. Holly tore out her next attacker’s throat, twisted, and avoided another foe.
“Jackson,” she gasped as it became clear where the blade was heading.
He turned, saw the blade, but there was no time to avoid the knife. No time to dispose of his current attackers and deflect the hit. Holly ran the few feet between them, throwing herself in front of Jackson. The world seemed to play out in slow motion before the knife sunk into her chest.
It was a relief really. The blade spread fire through her veins, which burned and destroyed, taking all of her fight with her. Holly stopped struggling for breath and welcomed the cold numbness spreading down her limbs.
Warmth surrounded her briefly, strong arms carrying her with such care, and moments later, Holly found herself staring at the clear starlit night, the sound of war a distant almost forgotten hum.
“Hold on, Holly. Hold on for me.” The warmth flowed into her again, Jackson’s strained face hovering above her vision as he placed her on the ground and covered the wound on her chest. “I’ve got you,” Jackson murmured. “Don’t you leave me.”
Smiling, Holly took his hand into her own and squeezed. “You’re a good alpha, Jackson. Even after everything you lost, you’ve never turned bitter, never treated us unkindly.”
“I’ll get unkind if you don’t hold on for me. I’m calling Karen. She’ll fix you.”
Strength and love flooded her veins, her alpha’s heart giving all he had.
“No more,” Holly whispered. “It’s my time. I’m ready to go.”
Noah….
She felt him, heard his voice on the wind. It didn’t matter that they’d never truly known each other. Their hearts had always been meant for one another.
“No, Holly. No!”
Cupping Jackson’s face, Holly focused one last time. “Save Kat. Save our home.”
She could see him now—Noah’s eyes alight with laughter, his smile bold and mischievous. Phantom lips touched hers, and though Holly
