Chapter 26

EMERICK

Zef carried me through the woods at full speed, dodging overhanging branches, leaping over exposed roots, and splashing our coats with dirty water as we powered through streams.

Thorns tore at our skin, our paws chafing as we ran over sharp stones and rough ground, all while we were drawn onward by Sam’s scent.

~Goddammit, Emerick, this is all your fault! You were so hung up on the alphas, you dropped the ball on Emilia.~

I didn’t know how she’d managed to escape her convoy—two Enforcers and Michael should have been enough to contain her—but that wasn’t the point.

I had been assigned to help. My job was to keep the pack and the alpha safe, and I’d failed because I’d been sulking like a child.

~I’ve been worrying I haven’t been spending the time with Sam I thought I deserved. Now I’ll be lucky if she ever speaks to me again.~

~Dammit, first the lies about my true intentions, then Celeste, and now this? Christian would be ashamed.~

~“Stop!”~ Zef shouted in my mind. ~“Worry later. For now, we keep running. I can smell Ayisha. She’s close.”~

Emerging from the woods, I realized we were coming up behind the pack house. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw a group of people gathered around the pond.

My gaze found Sam at the front, on the water’s edge. Relief flooded my muscles for a moment.

Then I noticed her face shone with tears, and she was reaching forward.

Following her fingers, I saw Luke. He was on his knees, looking back at his mother with an expression of pure terror.

At his throat was a thick, sharp kitchen knife. And every time someone attempted to step closer, Emilia pressed the blade a little deeper into his flesh.

I shifted back a few meters away and grabbed the phone from my pocket.

Emerick

Elias, I’ve found them. Pack house. By the pond.

I slipped the phone away and came to stand beside Sam.

“Stay back, all of you!” Emilia said. A single drop of blood trailed down Luke’s neck from where it had already pricked his skin.

“Please, Emilia,” Sam begged, “please he’s just a child. He hasn’t even shifted yet. He has nothing to do with this.”

~Coward~, I thought. ~No wonder she went for him and not Sam or Elias.~

I held my hands out with my palms facing down. “Come on, Emilia, don’t do this. There’s nowhere to go.”

“Another traitor,” she spat at me. “Pretended to be my grandson’s friend his whole life. His body isn’t even cold, and you jump straight into bed with his replacement to save your own neck.”

I looked at Sam, who glanced back at me. It was only for a moment, but I could see the hurt in her eyes.

“Emilia, you know I loved Christian like a brother. And I loved you and your whole family; I still do. You always cared for me as well.”

I chanced a small step forward. Emilia looked at me with a burning hatred, but she didn’t push the knife any harder.

“No, no!” she screamed. “All my life, I’ve been told to play my part. When Stephen cheated on me, I was the one who had to get over it, even though it was ~my~ heart that had been torn to shreds.

“When he brought that boy into my home, I had to deal with it and raise him.

“My only grandson commits suicide, and I have to be strong for the pack.

“And now, after all this, I’m expected to sit back and watch as a…a ~she-wolf~, a byproduct of my husband’s affair, assumes control over Red Claw?”

She shook her head furiously. “No! You all accuse me of treason, but I’m the only one here who loves this pack enough to actually save it!”

Emilia slid the knife a little, and a fresh line of blood appeared on Luke’s neck. He was trying to put on a brave face, but I could see his whole body was shaking.

I attempted another step forward, but Sam put out her arm and held me back.

“Don’t, Em. She’s not bluffing. She will kill him.”

She was right. Emilia could have done any number of things after escaping her convoy.

She could have shifted and run off the pack’s land, far enough away until she found friendlier territory. With enough luck, she might have returned with a small army at her back and killed Sam then.

Instead, Emilia was so consumed by her rage, she had gone straight for Luke the moment she’d smelled him.

The realization made my knees weak. “I’m so sorry, Sam. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t abandoned my post, she’d have never escaped.”

“Em, this isn’t the time for—”

“And I shouldn’t have told your family it was safe for them to come back. It’s all my—”

Sam whipped around with a newfound fire in her eyes. “This isn’t your fault, Em. But we can’t do this now. I need your help.”

“Anything,” I told her.

“You love me, right?”

I nodded. “I’ve loved you since the moment I met you.”

Her stare was unblinking, her eyes wet and red from the tears. “I’m going to need you to prove it. True love is about sacrifice. After it’s done, I need you to do whatever it takes to protect my boy.”

Before I could ask what she meant, Sam squeezed my hand and turned to face her son’s captor. “Take me instead.”

“What?!” I hissed.

A wicked smile crossed Emilia’s lips. “You expect me to believe you would willingly hand yourself over, Alpha? They’ll never allow it.”

Emilia gestured to the small army of Enforcers and council members flanking Sam.

“All of you,” Sam said to the crowd, “stand down.”

Several low growls sounded as wolves fought with their human counterparts to resist the alpha’s request, but eventually, their stances relaxed.

“I would do anything for my son,” Sam promised before raising her hands on each side of her head and walking toward Emilia.

A murmur of protests echoed at the water’s edge, but no one stepped forward, too afraid of causing the crazed murderer to strike.

“Mom?” Luke’s voice trembled. “Please, don’t do this.”

Sam kept her gaze trained on Emilia. “It’s okay, Lukey. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Luke’s bottom lip shook, but somehow, he kept the tears at bay even as his hands fisted more tightly at his sides. He looked every bit the strong, young man Sam would have raised.

Sam dropped to her knees a few feet in front of Emilia, her hands still in the air. The former luna’s eyes danced between mother and son, clearly trying to decide which was the better option.

“Let him go, and you can have me,” she told Emilia calmly. “I’m the one you want anyway.”

Emilia licked her lips. “How do I know you won’t shift the moment I let him go?”

Sam bobbed her head slowly. “I can only give you my word, Emilia. From one mother to another, please let my son go.”

Internally, my wolf fought to be freed. His snarls and howls were deafening as I watched the love of my life kneeling before certain death.

Claws dug into my palms, and my shoulders shook as I held my wolf at bay.

Only my promise to Sam kept me rooted in place as I struggled to find a way out of this impossible situation.

She was right: true love was about sacrifice. She was showing me that in the purest of ways. In a way, she’d been showing from the day I met her, when she agreed to give up her life for her son.

I just didn’t know if I could let her go through with it this time.

Suddenly, movement caught my eye, and I chanced a quick look up. A wolf I didn’t recognize at first was stalking along the roof of the pack house, its head low, its yellow eyes fixed firmly on Emilia.

~Elias.~

Perhaps Emilia noticed my stare because she started to turn her head to follow my gaze.

“Christian loved this pack more than anyone,” I blurted out, pulling her attention back to me. “It would have broken his heart to know his own family was at the heart of it tearing itself to pieces.

“Emilia, Alpha Paulson…Samantha showed you mercy, not because she had to but because she wanted to, and because she believes anyone can be redeemed.

“Goddess knows she’s given me more chances than I deserve.

“That’s the same goddess who chose her to be our alpha. The same goddess who chose your son and grandson to be alphas, and for you to be our luna before that. Have you lost faith in her?”

Emilia’s grip on the knife started to falter as her hand began to shake. “I…I…”

“Please, Emilia,” I said, holding out my hand and edging slightly closer, “put the knife down, and we can all move forward as a united pack.

“We will find a way forward, a way to heal, because I know that’s what our alpha wants. What we all want.”

The wolf above us, Sam’s father, had made his way to the edge of the roof. Slowly, the Enforcers in the crowd inched their way into position as well.

Emilia seemed to be wrestling with herself as her eyes flicked from her hand to Luke’s bloody neck to Sam and me. “Maybe… I…”

She shut her eyes tight. When she opened them again, they were as black as night.

“No! Enough! This ends now!” She tightened her grip on the knife before raising it over her head.

“No!” Sam screamed and lunged forward.

“Now!” I shouted over everyone.

The wolf on the roof leaped.

Emilia spun on her heel.

Blade cut through flesh.