Page 79 of The Night Burning

Vallin yelped and fell, blood staining from his back.

Vallin, what happened?I asked, rushing to him.

Vallin groaned as the wolf pinned him down.

I halted in shock as the wolf bit down on Vallin’s neck. Enraged, I snapped out of my shock and charged at him, pushing him away from my beta. I clamped down on his muzzle with my paw, then closed my teeth around his head, sinking my teeth deep. The wolf yelped and then went limp.

I turned to Vallin. His wolf shuddered and he shifted back to his human form. I shifted too and knelt beside him. My stomach knotted at the blood oozing from his wound. I pressed a hand on it, but it was futile.

“I-I’m sorry,” he uttered.

“Hey, hey. You’re okay. You’ll be fine,” I lied. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You’re a good beta.” Vallin gasped, but his throat was probably filling up with blood. He shook once more, then stopped. His arms fell heavy to his sides and his eyes stared at nothing. I closed his eyes. “Rest in peace.”

“Here!” Dom yelled. He had one of the Whitecrest wolves, the last one, pinned to the ground.

I rushed to them. The Whitecrest wolf had a deep wound on his stomach and had shifted to his human form because of that. He trembled from head to toe, just like Vallin had a minute ago. I didn’t have long to make him talk.

I leaned over him. “Answer me and I’ll stop your suffering. Don’t answer and I’ll make you suffer more, but I won’t let you die.”

The wolf gasped. “You fell for it,” he said, a tone between breathless and amused.

“I fell for what?”

“The challenge. Coming here. Nortrix knew we might not kill you, but at least we got you away from Nightshade.”

A cold chill coursed through my veins. “My pack?”

“No, the town.”

“Why?”

The wolf laughed, his teeth stained with blood. His laughter turned into a cough, then a gag. “You’re too late now,” he muttered, spitting blood with each word. His eyes rolled back and his body stilled.

Dread punched me in the chest, robbing me of air. I stared at Dom. “We’ve got to go. Now!”

We picked up Vallin’s body and put him in the truck’s bed. Then we climbed in and peeled away from the clearing, wheels singing.

27

RAIKA

I letmyself cry for a full minute after Shane left.

Then I sprang into action.

Shane was right. If I stayed in the inn’s room by myself, wondering about his damn challenge, I would go crazy within minutes.

I got dressed, washed my face, brushed my hair, and walked to the parking lot. To my surprise, Killian, Lavinia, Almae, Evelyn, Ash, and Roman were already there, beside a large SUV.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked.

“Shane told me to take you to town,” Killian said. “When the others learned about it, they volunteered to go with us.”

“But …”

“No buts,” Roman said. He opened the SUV’s back door. “Come on. The sooner we go, the sooner we come back.”

I nodded and hopped in the third row. He sat in the back with me.