“We vote on her guilt then,” the man on the stage announced, grabbing my attention.
My stomach twisted, and my whole body shook. I had a feeling I knew who they were talking about.
“That’s not going to happen,” a deeply gravelly voice spoke out, and everyone in the room fell silent.
Wilder stepped into view as he approached the speaker. He stood tall, and fury thinned his lips. He wore faded jeans and a tucked in, buttoned-up dark shirt. Seeing him had my heart fluttering, every part of me craving him…even in the midst of all of this. I’d never been touched and adored and fucked the way he had done to me, and the memory of what he did to me in my bedroom would remain with me forever.
“I’ve let you all have your say, but now this is ridiculous. We have no evidence Rune killed Eve, yet most of you are ready to hang her for the crime. She said she’d witnessed someone else at the crime scene, so that is the lead we will follow. We will set up hunting teams and go out searching the surrounding woods, along with questioning any local suspects.”
The murmur of voices escalated quickly, most talking among themselves.
“This is insane, Wilder. Are you now trying to say one of us killed our very own Eve?” a woman called out from the crowd, her voice shaking with anger.
Eve’s mother howled with cries from the front row, while the woman next to her embraced her. That was when I realized I hadn’t yet seen Daniel in the crowd.
Everyone broke into louder chatter, their accusations used as swords aimed at maiming me, some of them getting up, looking ready to challenge Wilder. Instead, they threw more questions and accusations at him. My heart beat faster, and I felt myself fall a little more at the way he was standing up for me. I certainly hadn’t had a lot of that in my life.
An ear-piercing whistle cut through the noise. “Enough and sit your asses down,” Daxon barked, his voice dark and authoritative, coming from somewhere to my right where I couldn’t see the back of the hall.
All those standing instantly flopped back down as if his command was law, and a heavy blanket of silence fell over the room.
Daxon emerged into my line of sight, approaching Wilder at the front of the crowd. He was dressed in dark jeans and long-sleeved tee, his muscles filling out his clothes. He was freaking beautiful in that dangerous kind of way that told me I shouldn’t feel anything for him. “We can’t lose our heads, even if we don’t agree with Wilder’s draconian approach.” He then turned to Wilder and whispered something just between them.
Whatever he said caused Wilder’s nostrils to flare and his shoulders bunched up, his eyes alight with fury.
My heartbeat sped up, having seen that look last time the two exchanged blows in the inn.
“I’m getting really sick of your shit,” Wilder spat back at Daxon, and now the two were facing each other, seemingly forgetting the rest of the town watched. Maybe they didn’t care, as this was how it had been between the two powerhouses for what seemed like a very long time.
A scraping sound came from behind me, and my veins turned to ice as I whipped around.
Darkness greeted me, and the wind blew a piece of rubbish down the road. I closed my eyes for a second. Calm down, Rune.
It was hard enough breathing as I spied on the town residents wanting to condemn me, let alone every little sound now making me jump. The tips of my fingers curled as I jammed them into the pockets of my jeans and turned back to the door.
An explosion of growls echoed from inside so suddenly, I flinched backward. My heartbeat boomed.
Thundering sounds and growls came from within the room, the screech of chairs against the floorboards resonated, and someone even screamed.
I rushed forward, not thinking, and pushed open the door to the town hall. I stood in the doorway, my mouth agape as I stared at the chaotic war that had taken over a room where seconds earlier, there had been only calm.
People were on their feet, some pushing away from the front stage while others ran toward it. My legs trembled, but for once, I ignored my fear and ran forward. Already, I caught glimpses of Daxon and Wilder in a fight, punches flying, blood spilled. My stomach plummeted, my heart crushing beneath the weight of dread. I didn’t want them fighting for me… They had to stop before someone got hurt.
Goosebumps raced up my arms as I shoved past people who ran in every direction.
Someone snatched my arm and squeezed, glaring down at me with disgust. “Are you happy now?” He spat the words at me, his fingers digging into my flesh.
I winced and pulled against him. “Let me go.”
“You’ll bring our town to its knees and destroy it.”
“I didn’t kill Eve,” I retorted, sick and tired of being wrongly accused.
“Maybe you didn’t, but it didn’t stop you from igniting a flame between the two Alphas of this town. And now they’ll burn down the place and all of us in it to claim you as their own. As far as I’m concerned, you might as well have killed that poor girl, as you’ll send us all to our deaths.”
Well, that seemed a bit dramatic.
I shuddered anyway, my legs weakening beneath me as the crowd stole the man from my sight.
I tried to swallow, to think straight, but it was difficult with all the insanity around me.
Boots tapped the floorboards around me as people ran and tried to leave the town hall, while others only gathered around the battle instead of stopping it.
My skin pricked with electricity, with the magic of a wolf’s transformation. I jerked my head up to the sight of Wilder and Daxon in their wolf forms. They were enormous and terrifying, Daxon’s fur white as snow, while Wilder was the color of midnight. They were the opposite in every possible way. Lips peeled back, ears pressed flat against their heads, they lunged at each other, crashing like two mountains going to war.
Desperation shoved me forward, and I speared through the throng of people in my way. I had to reach Wilder and Daxon to put a stop to this.
I wasn’t the kind of girl these two should be fighting over. They’d clearly lost their minds.
I finally stumbled free from the crowd and burst into the circle watching the fight. Most cheered, others growled like they waited for the signal to join in. Was everyone mad in this town?
“Stop,” I bellowed, my throat raw and my eyes stinging.
Wilder’s gaze snapped in my direction, a threatening growl on his throat, one for me to back away. I knew that sound all too well. Blood seeped from the side of his head, but he wasn’t relenting.
Daxon took that moment to smash into Wilder, and in a split second, they hit the ground, entwined with one another, fur and fangs and blood all I could see. Rivulets of red were left in their wake, staining the floorboards.
The air was charged with rage, and I let out a sudden cry, anything to grab their attention, to reach their damn ears. “Please, stop fighting.” My words came out choked, just as Wilder took a sharp bite of Daxon’s neck.
Their fierce battle had me lunging toward them. I knew better than to try to stop fighting wolves. But my head spun with confusion, with anger, with grief, and I ran right into Wilder’s side, my hands shoving into his ribs with enough force to dislodge him from Daxon.
I recoiled just as fast, but not quick enough as Wilder spun around, savagery in his eyes. In that same moment, he lunged at me, something changed his eyes, something so deep, that I recognized the human side of him seeing me for who I was at the last moment…not an enemy. In that minuscule split second when my heart attempted to burst out of my chest and panic froze me in the spot at him coming at me, we both knew there was no way he could pull back.