Tears ran down her face as her mind grew foggy, and Katalina began to wish for death. For the agony to end. She was coming apart at the seams, fracturing from within. Anna’s words swirled around her head, far worse than the damage being inflicted on her body.
Death comes. It beats its war drum, thirsty for blood. Yours will spill before this is done, crimson across the snow. For he fears you. He wants you, and when you fall, so shall those you love.
She was their destruction. Their end. And the consequences of the day would haunt her forever, even into the afterlife.
“You are nothing but a sheep in wolf’s clothing. My father thinks you’re dangerous, but look at you... a frail, breakable human. Your blood bleeds red just like mine. There is nothing special about you. You've led them to slaughter. You're their weakness, not their strength.”
Raven’s words sank into Katalina’s soul, shattering the last of her sanity.
Remember who you are.... Remember where you come from. You’re their weakness, not their strength….. When you fall, so shall those you love.
Katalina had never claimed to be strong. To be anything more than who she was. A wolf with a human heart. Every choice she’d ever made was in the hope of a future. It had been about more than making the world fit her. She’d wanted them all to fit. To all be free.
Raven was right. She wasn't their strength; they were hers.
Your strength is your origin….
And it hit her like electricity through her blood. She'd never been human; she’d always been who she was, no matter the world she’d lived in. A shifter. A wolf. Her heart was her own.
“You are nothing!” Raven laughed with glee, her eyes alight with the same sadistic hunger as her father.
But she wasn’t nothing. She never had been.
“I am the daughter of Jackson and Winter. I am the River Run heir, and my heart is powered by the love of an alpha.”
Power surged through her, more than she'd ever felt before. Heady and addictive, it raced through her veins, charged her muscles. She was the link. The bridge that joined two powerful packs together and, in her blood, ran the strength of two packs combined.
She wasn't their weakness; she was their soul, and they’d follow her into hell itself.
Screaming with rage, the restraints holding her hostage broke under her new strength. Drawing power from Jackson and Bass, it flowed into her as she prowled toward Raven, her claws slipping free, a vengeful howl on her lips.
“It’s time you learned how dangerous I am. You've threatened my family, spilled blood of those I love, and now I’m going to make you pay.”
Her snarl vibrated off the walls, joined by the vengeful howls of her pack. Katalina belonged to all of them, and she’d be the weapon that set them free.
Chapter 52
Bass
The force of her call punched into the center of his chest, knocking the air from his lungs. Bass lashed out at the approaching enemy even as the mating bond between Katalina and himself flared to brilliant life. She drew energy from him, and he instinctively reached out for his enforcers, taking power from them too as his dwindled to nothing.
Turning on a gasp, Bass watched Katalina tear herself free on a scream. She seemed to glow with the energy she was taking in. Her eyes like shining stars, her hair rippled on an unearthly breeze, and when she stalked toward Raven, it was with an expression he’d never before seen.
She wasn’t the Katalina he knew, but so much more. Bloated on power, his mate moved with a swiftness that shocked him. Katalina attacked without mercy, without hesitation. She was an avenging angel, delivering justice and fighting with an ability that rivaled even his own.
Chapter 53
Jackson
The alpha wolf collapsed where he fought, his men moving around him as a shield. The daughter he’d sacrificed so much for, would sacrifice everything for, drained the life from him, and he gave it willingly. Would do so until there was nothing left.
The first wave fell away quickly, and as Katalina’s snarl vibrated through his bones, Jackson found the strength to struggle to his feet. Across the barn, Katalina’s near-white hair shined with the power she’d taken in as the air around her seemed to crackle. And as she delivered devastation to their enemy, the men around him found a new lease of life.
Hope was not lost. The enemy wouldn’t win.
For Katalina was their heart, and with her, they’d beat into eternity.
Chapter 54
Cage
Anna had whispered the devastating prophecy into his ear before he’d left for war. And still, he’d believed they’d somehow find a way through the battle and defeat Castor for good. He’d learned the day he’d mated with Anna that some things were stronger than fate itself, and he’d be damned if he’d be a puppet in the powers that be’s master plan.
Slumped against the barn wall, the cold snow beneath him seeping into his bones, Cage shot at anyone who approached him, listening to the cries of the dying coming from inside of the barn. Life seeped from his chest as the minutes ticked by, darkness creeping into the crevices of his mind, and as an explosion of power erupted out of the battle, followed by the song of those he loved, Cage let a howl of his own into the sky, joining the melody.
His breath rattled in his chest as the
