72. Blood and Transformation
“You’re not going to shoot us, Elias,” Mitchell said in a measured tone. He wrapped one of his arms around me from behind and settled his hand on my lower back, pressing me closer to him.
“Dad?” Elias called out, keeping his gun up. “Dad!”
“Robert isn’t here,” Mitchell told him. “Neither is Cormac. They’re still dealing with Waylen. It’s just us.” He inhaled a deep breath. “You can let us go, and this can all be over.”
Elias shook his head as he moved down the stairs, keeping his gun raised. “We still need her. My dad has plans for her.”
“What plans?” Mitchell forced me to stumble back as Elias came closer. “Dorothy’s made it clear she doesn’t know anything. And no alpha will take an omega who is already mated. You’re out of options.”
I could hear Elias’s labored breathing from across the room. He was starting to panic.
“It doesn’t matter what his plans are. We still need her.”
Mitchell glanced back at me over his shoulder. “Stay behind me,” he whispered. He started to walk
toward Elias.
“What are you doing?” Elias said.
I was wondering the same thing.
He moved back as my father took another step in his direction. “Stop.” He was struggling to keep face.
Mitchell was playing a game of chicken with Elias, and it was clear who was winning.
“I need to do what’s best for my daughter.” Mitchell shifted us across the room a little more, always making sure to keep me behind him with my back to the wall.
It shocked me that he was using his own body to protect me. I never would have expected something noble from him.
He paused for a second when Elias moved to grip his gun with both hands, pointing it at us with more fervor.
Mitchell acted without hesitation, pushing me to the side just hard enough so that I could no longer peek my head around him, completely hidden now.
I gasped and gripped his shirt to settle myself. I could feel Mitchell’s heart pounding beneath my fists.
“You’re not going to hurt us, Elias,” my birth father insisted once again.
“I will if I have to.” Elias’s voice wavered as he spoke.
“But you won’t. You don’t have it in you. You’re not going to let another innocent girl die. That’s not what your sister would have wanted.”
It was becoming exceptionally clear that this was all about Elias’s dead sister.
Robert was under the impression that he could somehow use me to avenge her.
We were getting closer to the stairs— to freedom. I could hardly believe it. Elias had every opportunity to stop us but he didn’t.
I was starting to believe Mitchell when he said that Elias didn’t have it in him to use his gun on us. The young man had been dragged into this horrible situation by his father.
He may have been an accomplice in all this but he wasn’t a killer.
“Don’t talk about Aurora like you knew her. You don’t know what she would have wanted.” Elias took
a step back as we got closer to him. “Stop moving. I’m not kidding. You can’t leave.”
“You know this is wrong, Elias.” Mitchell continued. “Dorothy doesn’t deserve this, just like Aurora didn’t deserve what happened to her. You can do the right thing here.”
Elias’s eyes were full of conflict. He knew Mitchell was right. I could see it. And hours earlier, I’d seen that he was the only one of my kidnappers who cared about my well-being.
Mitchell and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and my birth father held Elias’s gaze, waiting for him to respond, to make a move.
But Elias just stood there, visibly shaking, lacking either the courage or willpower to do anything.
“Dorothy, go,” Mitchell whispered to me, gently nudging me up the stairs. “Go.
Hurry. I’ll be right behind you.” He never took his eyes off Elias, as if he were a ticking time bomb
e out of options.” about to go off.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I took a single step away from my birth father, ready to sprint up the stairs.
“No!” Elias suddenly screamed. “Stop! You can’t go!”
“Elias, wait—!” Mitchell called out.
I turned just in time to see Elias shut his eyes.
A loud bang echoed off the walls around me, making my ears ring. I flinched as something wet sprayed across my face. My father’s body fell forward.
For several moments, all I could do was stare. My father was face down on the floor and unmoving.
Blood flowed from the hole in the back of his head, staining his graying hair a dark red.
Dead. He was dead. Elias’s shot to the head had killed him instantly.
Elias’s voice was distant and hazy. “Oh my god. Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said, over and over.
I stumbled away from the stairs and the dead body when Mitchell’s blood started to pool at my bare feet. I fell against the shelves of Christmas decorations next to me, causing several items to fall.
The taste of iron filled my mouth. I raised my shaking hand to touch my lips, and my fingers came back red.
“I didn’t mean to,” Elias rambled. “I swear I didn’t mean to.”
Didn’t mean to?
“You shot him in the head,” I whispered. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I could only look down at my dead father.
My knees were shaking so hard, it took a great effort to remain standing. Was I in shock? I’d just witnessed my father’s murder and I couldn’t move. I could barely talk. I wasn’t even crying.
The loudest growl I ever heard in my life rang throughout the house, and my pounding heart seized in my chest.very opportunity Yet for all the fear it caused me, some part of me recognized that sound.
Before I could make sense of anything, a wolf as big as a horse came crashing down the stairs. Eliass gun on us. The yelped and flew across the room toward me, and both of us were cornered by the enormous animal.
The wolf was…incredible. Beautiful. And utterly terrifying .
With its head nearly touching the low ceiling, it was by far the largest animal I’d ever seen. Its shiny furnted.” Elias took
was an ominous mix of gray and black shades, and the hackles on its back were raised high.
He crouched down low with his teeth bared, his ears folded flat against his head, licking his chops as if he were preparing himself for his next meal. s earlier, I’d seenI didn’t know much about wolves but I could tell that this one was angry.
Dangerous. He was hunting. , waiting for himAlthough I was closer to the wolf, he didn’t take much interest in me. His black eyes were set on Elias.
It snarled and prowled toward him, keeping low to the ground.
Elias was smart though. Before the wolf could get too close to him, he raised his gun once again. I thought he was going to point it at the rabid animal but, instead, he pointed it at me.
The wolf paused its movements and snarled loudly, almost as a warning.
“D-don’t come any closer,” Elias stuttered. “Don’t make me hurt her.”
The wolf didn’t listen. In fact, Elias’s threat only seemed to make it angrier.
It sprang into action.
One second, he was several feet away, and the next, he was in front of Elias, clamping his massive jaw around his neck.
Elias’s gun went off, and unbearable pain raced through my leg. I screamed, my knees buckling hing wet sprayedbeneath me, forcing me to the ground.
I looked up just in time to see the wolf tear out Elias’s throat.
My screams of horror flooded the room. The visual of someone’s jugular being ripped out, their head falling limply to the side, their eyes going blank… It was all too much for me to handle.
The wolf turned its head in my direction at the sound of my scream, its black eyes piercing into mine as he dropped Elias’s limp body from its strong jaw. Blood dripped from its mouth.
I kept one hand on my bleeding leg as I scooched away from the wolf. My chest was tight, and tears pooled in the corners of my eyes. ingers came backI whimpered when my back met the wall. I had nowhere else to go, and the wolf was walking toward me. It was coming for me next. It was going to kill me just like it killed Elias.
My breathing picked up, and I started seeing spots. I was losing too much blood.
Even though I knew I was about to die, I couldn’t force myself to look away. I was too petrified to do d only look downanything but watch the terrifying wolf.
Then something started to happen. Slowly, the wolf’s face began to morph into something else. His nose shrunk back into his face, his bones breaking loudly and reforming.
It was the most horrifying and mesmerizing thing I had ever seen.
And then there he was.
Ace.
It was Ace. Standing where the wolf had been, naked and covered in blood. It was dripping from the corners of his mouth and down his hard chest. It was in his hair and all over his hands.
“Doe,” he said softly but with so much desperation in his voice.
I flinched back when he closed the distance between us and crouched down low so he was at my level. seen. Its shiny furHe held up his hands to show me he meant no harm. “It’s okay. It’s just me. It’s Ace.
I’m here.”
I cowered away from him. The world wouldn’t stop turning around me. There was so much blood. So.
Much. Blood. Everywhere. Covering everything. Still gushing from my leg faster than seemed normal.
“You’re okay, baby. Everything is okay now.” Ace looked down at my injured leg and, with noticeably shaking hands, placed his palm over it to try to stop the bleeding.
I cried out.
“Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Everything is okay now? How could he even say that? He was a wolf. He just killed someone.
I should have felt relief that he was with me but all I could feel was terror.
My head started falling back before I could stop it. My face felt hot, and sweat was dripping down from my forehead. My vision was caving in.
Ace caught my head before it could bang against the wall and eased me forward instead.
I tried to move away from him, to tell him to stay away from me, but my body felt like it was filled with lead, no words leaving my mouth.
“I’ve got you, Doe,” he whispered. He pulled my body against his bare chest and lifted me into his
arms. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
And everything went black.
cing into mine as
I’m here.”
I cowered away from him. The world wouldn’t stop turning around me. There was so much blood. So.
Much. Blood. Everywhere. Covering everything. Still gushing from my leg faster than seemed normal.
“You’re okay, baby. Everything is okay now.” Ace looked down at my injured leg and, with noticeably shaking hands, placed his palm over it to try to stop the bleeding.
I cried out.
“Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Everything is okay now? How could he even say that? He was a wolf. He just killed someone.
I should have felt relief that he was with me but all I could feel was terror.
My head started falling back before I could stop it. My face felt hot, and sweat was dripping down from my forehead. My vision was caving in.
Ace caught my head before it could bang against the wall and eased me forward instead.
I tried to move away from him, to tell him to stay away from me, but my body felt like it was filled with lead, no words leaving my mouth.
“I’ve got you, Doe,” he whispered. He pulled my body against his bare chest and lifted me into his
arms. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
And everything went black.
