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When the dragon collapsed lifelessly to the ground, I backed away, staring at what I had done. I’d never killed anyone before. Not even when we raided the Mundy house and set it on fire—none of those deaths were me. I was just a bystander. But this dragon, dead at my feet, this was all my doing. Without looking back at those watching, my wolf ejected me out of its body.

I knelt in the grass, naked and panting.

Within seconds, two sets of hands each grabbed my arms and hoisted me to my feet. They turned me around, facing me against Gavin and Everett, their eyes hard and hateful. One after the other, they both punched me hard in the face, dropping me to the grass again.

“Fucking bastard!” spat Gavin, kicking me in the stomach.

Everett pulled Gavin away. “Why did you follow us, Colt?”

Groaning, I propped myself up on my elbows and stared blearily at the men towering above me, then past them, at the stragglers of the Mythguard—a few humans, unarmed, including that Sebastian Hicks guy and the girls. Aislin, Billie. Kiara, with her hand over her mouth, unwilling to relent to her tears.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Gavin echoed incredulously. “After everything you’ve done, now you’re sorry?”

“I had no choice.”

“You always had a choice,” Everett fired back.

“He killed my sister,” I said hoarsely, glaring at Gavin, then looking at Everett. “What did you expect me to do? Forgive him and turn my back on the only family I had left?”

“Your father is a rapist,” snapped Gavin.

“And a killer,” added Everett.

“I said I’m fucking sorry!” Breathing hard, I sat up straighter, desperately climbing to my feet.

Gavin lunged to attack me again before Everett stopped him, guiding Gavin’s attention to Kiara behind us, grimacing from the pain through our fated bond.

I stood up and let my arms hang limp, too much of my body aching for me to clutch any one part of myself. “Look. I know nothing I do or say can excuse everything; I just… watched it happen. I can’t take back that I tried to mark Billie. I can’t… undo what we had done to Aislin’s family. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I let it happen. But I don’t want to be a part of it anymore. I can’t… keep… standing by… watching people suffer…”

The men stared hard at me.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me. You don’t even have to let me live. I know the Mythguard are going to exterminate me. I just wanted you to know I… I don’t want to be like my father. Please believe me.”

I already knew that by following them, I was resigning myself to death. The Mythguard would kill me on the spot, or if they spared my life, they would relocate me somewhere far from here. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that I escaped from Dalesbloom. I couldn’t be responsible for my father’s madness anymore.

Gavin and Everett retreated, sharing quiet words with the girls and Sebastian. I wiped the blood out of my eyes and forced myself to square my shoulders. As much as I tried to separate myself from my fated mate, I couldn’t help but look at her, and when I found her eyes on me, my chest quivered. Her eyes were red and puffy. She looked devastated, like the world had just been ripped away from her, and all I wanted was to hold her close. I wanted to atone for every terrible thing I had caused her to experience.

After what felt like an eternity, Everett and Gavin turned back to me. Billie gazed sadly over at me while Aislin frowned, displeased.

“You know we can’t trust you,” Everett said stiffly. “Nor can we accept you into our packs. But if we’re going to protect Kiara and stop David and Lothair from performing the Lycan ritual… we’re going to need to know everything that you know.”

I nodded. “I’ll tell you everything. Please. I want to help.”

But when I took a step forward, the group collectively bristled. “You can help by keeping your distance,” warned Aislin. “Remember, you’ve been just as bad as David. You creep.”

Her words slapped me across the head. My shoulders sank, and once more, I nodded. “Just tell me what you’ll have me do, and I’ll do it.”

Everett glanced over at Sebastian. “You still have those zip-ties?”

The taller man nodded and, without another word, approached me while withdrawing zip-ties from his vest pocket. It seemed they had come prepared to take those on their extermination list prisoner if necessary.

To prove my willingness to work with them, I stuck out my wrists, standing quietly while Sebastian secured them together. He grabbed my arms and nodded back to the group.

“Let’s go then,” said Everett, ushering the group back in the direction of Eastpeak toward his house.

I still didn’t know if I was even going to survive this. But at least now, everyone would see how desperate I was to redeem myself. They would know that I wasn’t the wicked monster I came off as by obeying David. I wasn’t like that. I wanted so badly to be better than that.

While we walked, I took comfort in the sight of my fated mate walking ahead of me. She was the only comfort I could find now. And every now and then, she glanced back at me, and I wondered if she understood my intentions, if she felt my guilt.

If I could embrace her one last time, in earnest, then I would die happy.

Chapter 19: Kiara

I

walked in a haze for the rest of the journey back to Everett’s house. 

Clouds pushed across the sky, blocking out the sun and turning the air cold. Even with the leggings and t-shirt I wore, there was a chill in my blood that I couldn’t seem to shake. I knew what it was from. The last image I had of my mother was lodged in my mind, that vision of her staring sadly at me as I left her—again. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Only this time, we both knew that I wouldn’t be able to save her. It would be the last time I’d ever see her, and the weight of her permanent absence dragged me down to the depths of my inner ocean, sapping all the heat and strength from my body. I’d failed.

The small reassurances offered by my companions meant nothing to me. Aislin and Billie apologized softly for having to leave my mother behind, but it wasn’t their fault; it was mine. I was the one stupid enough to endanger the infant and force my mother to stay behind and help her. Maybe if I had just handed her to Lothair, he would have let us slip past and into freedom. Or maybe if I had been stronger, if I had been able to force my mother to her feet, we could have taken her with us. I could have healed her with my own magic. My mind was rife with hypotheticals, but no matter how desperately I conjured alternative solutions, nothing would override the truth of what happened. She was gone, and there was nothing I could do to bring her back. My jaw trembled as I tried to keep myself from breaking down.