Kilian’s POV

“Kilian, the priestess was wrong! She is not the one.” Hatos detaches himself from the group and strides forward like a fool with a laser gun aimed not at Nathair but Spades.
“Hatos, darling, it’s really unnecessary. Spades seems to have the trigger easy... Just-just take some steps back, will you.”
“Hatos, back off!” I wouldn’t have sunk my claws in his shoulder if his body hadn’t resisted my pull. My one and only warning.
“Can’t you see, Kilian? We’ve allowed the hydra to enter our base!”
Next, Dead-Man-Walking Bret expresses himself without fucking permission. “Spades, King Daryl wants you dead. There’s nothing that will stop him. You need to run! He’s coming!”
To his words, all my Gammas pull out their laser guns.
“Hold your goddamn fire!” My growl bites me. Pain, furious and sharp, slices my lips as my bones and teeth slowly were... And the iron coating my tongue can’t fuck me more than what’s happening here.
Krin slaps him in the face. “What do you mean he’s coming? He doesn’t know our location!”
This dog snarls in silence, panting, deep staring towards the dark end. Towards Nathair.
Towards Spades.
I watch his body language. The guy is sweating.
He’s scared. And how he’s eying the corner, it’s not for him.
It’s for Spades.
Why?
“Spades, ru-”
“QUIT TALKING!” Krin head-butts our trickster, making the chair reel once again.
“Drop your gun, Chimera!” I order. O, little wolf, what are you up to...
“This one is mine,” Spades growls, energy winding up in her gun. She’s not kidding.
Spades pushes Nathair to the side and begins walking as if impermeable to future laser shots. My wolf’s a fucking nutcase!
“Kill me. Life is only what you make it,” she says with a sly wink, her gun pointed to Bret. “...Right, boys?”
“Spades, you’re in trouble.”
“No, Kilian. you are.”
Bloody harpy!
She breaches our line like she’s a fucking queen destabilizing my men and me, who just moved to give her way to her pet.
I grab her arm and shove her against me. “Quit whatever this is!”
My! This woman’s in for treatment!
“Alpha, play with me!” she hisses, pulling away.
My men snark out a laugh, probably recognizing a line from me... I’ll let them.
She’s a fire I can’t control.
No man can.
Spades’ got this stare, one of a conqueror. But then, she murmurs close to a muted breath, “Please.” Before turning to Bret. Whatever she has in mind, it better be valid!
“Hey Bret, how are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
“The best I’ve been in a long time.”
“You don’t look like it. You look like shit. But it makes sense. You committed treason on your own.”
The way she brushes the barrel against her cheek as she mocks a moment of reflection makes me uncomfortable. I want her far from weapons. I wish I could get her away from this crap.
“How can I take a side? How can I not see this for what it is... Like Zion and Kilian... How King Daryl sets the move, the mood of this war... Now, tell me something, where are you, Bret?”
“What?”
“Where are you?”
“On 078.”
“Is this where you come from?”
“No. What are you doing, Spades?”
“I loved you like my brother.”
“Spades, what are you fucking doing?”
“I’m doing what a pack member should do.”
“Turning coats is not what I call loyalty!”
“You are the wrench of this world.” Her grin is trembling, and I shudder so lightly when it morphs into a sneer, canines honed like an Akturian blade.
“Spades, have you gone mad!? It’s Bret. Your Beta! We grew up together, for gods’ sake!”
“You condemned us all!”
A cloud of growls settles over the room.
The Chimeras are there.
I can smell them. See them, their wolf eyes shining in the dark. Looks like my guests are using my hospitality unashamedly...
“You have a Shifterguard on you,” Spades spews, her shout of hatred bursting against the walls.
“So what?”
“Shifterguards have trackers, you piece of shit.”
“You’re finally going to meet your family, Ina!”
The bastard!
The white of my eyes spread as a flash of light enters Bret’s skull. The sound of the chair and its occupant hitting the floor still resounds as blood pools towards my feet.
My past immediately frosts my bones. “Kilian, it’s just a little blood. Don’t be afraid... Save Ina.” Mother...
The Chimera wolves, all a color of midnight smoke, eyes yellower than a newborn star, dash towards Spades. One of them snaps her jaws to Nathair as it yelps at its falling sister.
“ENOUGH!” My howling goes rogue, forcing a silence to snuff out the brawl. “Krin, destroy this armband and burn the corpse!”
Spades... I drop and fold myself over her, holding her convulsing body. Little wolf...
“Nathair, warm up the jet! We must bring her to Laura immediately.”
Hold on, Ina.
