Nancy's pretty mug twisted in pure terror, her shriek splitting the air like shattering ice. "Ah... ahhh!!"
She bawled, diving into Julian's arms. "Julian! Your mate slaughtered our Zack-waaah!"
Zack.
The name hit me like a gut punch, my grip tightening on the knife till my knuckles bleached.
Blood dripped from my fingers, steady as the other shore flowers that'd bloomed under me that cursed day.
That was the name Julian had picked for the pup in my belly-whispered it through seven months of midnight tales.
Every night, his palm splayed warm over my swell. "Zack, Daddy's here right on time with your story..."
But those hands-the ones that'd slathered on the stretch-mark salve, kneaded the aches away-now stroked Nancy's hair over and over, eyes soft in a way I'd never earned. "Easy now, baby. I've got you-no one's laying a paw on what's mine."
I chewed the inside of my cheek raw.
Julian finally deigned to look up. "Jade, enough's enough. Nancy's pure as fresh snow-can't stomach blood or filth. Your mess? No healer's touching your sister now. If Molly checks out, that's on you-your own kin's blood on your hands."
My vision dimmed for a beat.
Once upon a time, I'd been that spotless college-bound she-wolf myself.
Julian was the one who'd yanked me into the shadows, taught me to paint my paws red just to breathe another day.
Now I was too grimy for his tastes?
Fine. Whatever.
My hands were already a slaughterhouse floor- what was one more soul?
I lunged, hauling Nancy close by the collar, blade kissing the necklace of red love bites on her throat. "Call a healer for Molly, or I paint this wall with you."
Julian's face hardened to granite, yanking his piece and jamming the barrel against my temple. "Try it."
First time in all our years he'd drawn down on me. First time I'd seen that arctic chill in his stare.
I laughed, hollow and wrecked. "What the hell did my pup ever do to deserve this? She's barely eighteen! Fresh into college! How can you stand by and watch her fade?"
"All your fault!" Nancy sniveled, twisting to glare. "If you'd kept your legs closed! Jade, you still don't get it? Julian can't stand that other wolves have marked you-ruined you. Can't forget how they toyed with your shared pup! Word is, that rival pack's second-in-command had been drooling over you for years!"
Her words sliced deeper than any fang, gutting me clean.
So all this time, he'd never bought my story from back then...
What about me lopping off that second's head to guard my honor, right as he pounced? Sparking the boss to gut me open in revenge?
What about bleeding out our pup, doomed to a barren life?
Julian razing their hideout in a red haze, dropping to his knees by my bedside with vows of forever?
All for nothing?
I cracked a smile then-wild, tears streaming hot.
I shoved Nancy aside, guiding his gun barrel to my chest. "If my lights-out buys Molly a healer, pull the trigger."
Our eyes locked, his flat as a dead moon. "Nancy calls the shots here."
My voice cracked. "So if she says no... Molly's just gone?"
Dead air answered.
Rage roared through my skull, vision gone scarlet. I twisted, wrenching the gun free in a blur. "Then you can join her in the dirt!"
Barrel to his forehead, I squeezed without a flicker of doubt.
"Julian, watch out!" In a heartbeat, Nancy lunged, shoving him clear with a desperate screech.
The shot whispered past her hair, burying hot in her chest.
She crumpled light as a fallen autumn leaf, slumping into his hold.
"Nancy..." Julian's voice broke, ragged and raw, each syllable a shudder.
Then his gaze snapped to mine-ice-cold murder, like he'd already diced me to scraps.
Healers hauled me from the room as I watched the wolf who'd taken bullets for me, sworn to shield me through every storm, shatter to pieces over her-frantic, gutted, unraveling...
My fingers clamped the gun white-knuckled, pulse a faint drum in my ears.
