Wolf Decided by Tessa Cole

AUDREY

Bishop releaseda strangled groan and convulsed, his violent thrashing threatening my grip under his shoulders, but I clenched tighter to his shirt, ignoring the pain in my hands and my trembling arms.

I just had to hold on a little longer, drag him a little farther, find help.

I heaved with all my might, inching closer and closer to the festival, desperate to reach someone, anyone.

Surely someone would notice us. They had to.

But the festival was still going strong even into the early hours of the morning, and while I could hear the dance music and the roar of many voices getting louder, indicating that I was getting closer, the square was on a side street from the main road we were on and a few buildings down.

No one in the square would be able to see us until we’d reached the intersection.

The black and red veins on Bishop’s neck and face from the poison — it had to be poison because poisons had antidotes — stood out stark against his too-pale skin, and blood poured from his many wounds, leaving thick dark streaks on the ground that shimmered wetly in the moonlight of the realm’s two moons.

He wasn’t healing.

Not even a little bit.

He should have been healing. A wolf shifter’s claws weren’t that long, he should have only been seriously bleeding from the gashes in his side, but blood still leaked from his ruined chest.

“Help!” I screamed, my pulse pounding, tears burning my eyes, even as I pushed forward, determined to save him, determined to not be useless when he needed me the most.

I’d just had the most amazing day, and Bishop — gorgeous, wonderful, amazing Bishop — had just told me he loved me. Everything had been perfect and then that man had jumped out of nowhere and dug all his claws into Bishop’s chest.

More black and red veins appeared on his neck and cheeks and oozed down his arms and across the back of his hands.

My panic surged, stealing my breath, as something deep within me screamed in agony at the thought of losing Bishop. He was mine. Mine! He couldn’t die. I wouldn’t let him.

“Help!” Oh, God, please. “Help!”

Someone had to know what was going on with him whether he’d been poisoned or enspelled or cursed.

And someone had to save him because I couldn’t.

I couldn’t shift into my wolf form and mentally call for help, and even if I did somehow have telepathy, I wouldn’t be able to use it in my human form like the shifters in this realm could. That just wasn’t possible for shifters from my realm.

A wave of panic crashed through me, sudden and ferocious, stealing my breath and threatening to bring me to my knees.

Knox.

Knox could feel my fear through our mating bond.

And through his twin bond with Bishop, he could feel his brother dying.

Another sob caught in my throat. There were too many emotions rushing through me, overwhelming me, and on the verge of ripping me apart. I could barely catch my breath. It was too much, too—

Audrey. I’m coming,Knox said in my head, sending a wave of love and determination through our bond. But my fear was too strong, and I couldn’t stop that horrible voice in my head that said I was going to fail Bishop and Knox because I wasn’t strong enough.

Because I was useless.

No,I mentally screamed back at the voice. Those thoughts weren’t mine. They were Merrick’s and Sterling’s, beaten into me for years. I was weak. I was useless. No one wanted me.

But Bishop had proven that wasn’t true.

He wanted me for me and not because of a mating bond or anything else. He’d seen me at my worst and still told me he loved me.

And I was God damned going to save him, even if all I could do was drag him down the road to someone who could help him.

Knox in his enormous black wolf form raced out of the shadows of a side street, sending a flicker of relief snapping through me. He could call for help. Hell, he probably knew where the closest med pack was.

He shifted into his human form and took Bishop from me, lifting him into his arms as if he didn’t weigh anything, because, of course, with his shifter strength Bishop’s weight was nothing.

“What happened?” he asked, picking up his pace and heading to the building on the corner of the intersection.

“Some guy attacked us.”

A chill raced down my spine. Bishop had shoved me out of the way. I’d been right in the attacker’s path, and once I was out of the way, the guy kept trying to get past Bishop to get to me.

“No,” I said, unable to keep the trembling from my voice at the realization that the poison or whatever was killing Bishop had been meant for me. “Some guy attacked me.”

And Bishop had paid the price.

Cyrus and Nova raced into sight, Nova heading into the building on the corner while Cyrus stormed toward us.

“What happened?” he snarled, making my pulse pick up with a different fear.

Was he going to blame me for Bishop? If I hadn’t wanted to go to the festival. If I hadn’t danced for as long or as short as I had. If I hadn’t been foolish enough to think I could fit into this pack, be mated to Knox, and also have Bishop court me without consequences none of this would have happened.

But it didn’t matter what Cyrus thought or did to me if Bishop didn’t make it. None of this would matter. I could already feel my heart and soul starting to crack and knew I’d forever be incomplete without him.

Which didn’t make sense. He wasn’t my mate yet. We hadn’t taken the vows and sealed the bond. I shouldn’t be feeling as if I was losing my bonded mate, which only made me worry about how bad it would be if something happened to Knox.

“Set him down,” Nova commanded as she hurried out of the house with a bright yellow duffle bag.

Knox lay Bishop on the ground and grabbed my hand, yanking me to his side before taking one of Bishop’s hands while Nova went to work. His fear and anger and desperation churned in my stomach and I could feel him barely holding his wolf back.

I was losing him, too.

God, this wasn’t happening.

But Knox’s and Bishop’s twin bond was unusually strong. They could sense each other’s emotions just like those in a mating bond, and I had no doubt if one of them died, the other would suffer as if they’d lost a bonded mate.

Which meant Knox would go crazy, most likely going feral, or he’d die.

Fear gripped my heart at the thought while something deep inside me, something hard and angry and wild, whispered in my soul.

Neither of them were dying or going crazy. I wouldn’t allow it.

They were mine.