Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
A moment later, though, I heard the sounds of retreating hooves. Alexander had brought horses. The wolves wouldn’t be able to take those down fast enough.
“Aurelia.” Tanix reached me in human form, nude and bloody with scrapes and cuts. He’d heal. “Are you okay?”
“What happened? Why’d everyone stop fighting? Alexander took off. Did we win?”
“Fuck.” He peered into my swollen eye, now completely shut. His thumb gently trailed over my cheek, which also felt swollen. “How bad?”
“My face is fine. My ribs are probably cracked. That’s about it, though. I’m good. He took off before he was able to really lay into me. What happened?” I asked again.
“I don’t think we’ll ever truly win until they’re all dead.” Tanix tried to lift my shirt and I pushed his hands away. “I need to see your ribs.”
“Honestly, it’s fine. It’ll heal. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with his fists. I know how close I am to the danger zones and I’m good. Trust me.”
He straightened a little and gave me a hard look. “Please.”
It hurt to frown. “Fine, go for it. I’m sure the bruises are already forming. Those will look bad, but it’ll heal. Can you please do two things at once and tell me what happened?”
“They had someone powerful holding their pack bond.” He peeled my shirt up gently and then sucked a breath through his teeth. “Damn it, Aurelia, this isn’t nothing.”
My heart squished that he cared, the warmth of that sentiment filling my body. Still, he didn’t seem to grasp that this really was tolerable. Compared to what I’d endured in the past, this could easily be ignored.
He checked my other side and went back to the first.
“I didn’t say it was nothing, I said it would heal. What does that mean to the battle, someone holding the bond?”
He peered into my eyes for another moment before steering me toward the supply carts. “Our alpha is the most powerful alpha I’ve ever heard of. It isn’t just his might, it’s his magic. He has an innate ability—a natural gift—to form bonds and control a pack. Usually, he can rip a bond away from another powerful alpha, no problem. But your . . . product makes grabbing a bond difficult. The other night, he had a hard time grabbing everyone up. It’s why the battle lasted as long as it did.”
“That’s why he was backing away from the fight? He was trying to get ahold of the bonds?”
“Yes. This time, though, there was an additional hurdle—someone fairly powerful controlled their pack bond. The alpha not only had to work against your product, but also against the already established leadership in their pack. It’s a testament to his ability that he was able to do it. We would’ve been lost if he hadn’t.”
“The other alpha would’ve struggled holding onto the pack as well, right?”
“Which is probably why the alpha was able to do it. That and . . .” He put out his hands in a gesture meant to tell me to keep put while he worked the latch on the cart. “He couldn’t fail.”
“As soon as they had me, they would’ve left you guys alone. At least, if he fails the next time, you know you’ll be safe.”
“True. Yet you fought like your life depended on it.”
I stared after him, struck mute for a moment. “I’m sorry I-I guess I hadn’t thought it through. I probably should’ve waited to fight him so that you guys would be guaranteed your safety. Sorry, I was just wrapped up in the moment, and Dante gave me the knives, and you were all surrounding me—“
“Hey, hey.” He held out his hands. “Whoa. That’s not what I’m saying. You fought like your life depended on it meaning you didn’t want to go with him. You took that horrible beating just to keep out of his reach.”
Again, it hurt to frown. “Well, yeah. If it wasn’t for you guys, he would’ve completed his task. I just held him off—Oh!” Everything connected for me. “The fight was slowing because Weston got control. Alexander ran because he knew time was running out.”
“Exactly.” Tanix grabbed some sort of pouch and led me to a nearby log. “He and a few others were in their human forms because the alpha can’t form a bond unless they are in wolf form. They were waiting to extract you, keeping the hole in our line open with various weapons. Once the alpha secured the bond, they had precious little time. They had to leave you behind.”
“How are our people? Did they all make it?”
He took out a couple tins of salve and rested them on the log. “The alpha is seeing to the wounded. We haven’t lost anyone yet and we still have some of the phoenix elixir left. We should be okay.” He paused. “Our people?”