The Brink

CONNOR

I spun on instinct, my hackles up and rage boiling before my brain could catch up, and froze.

A massive man—human yes, but still towering over Willow—stood with his arm locked around her. He held a pistol to the underside of her jaw, while his forearm flexed across her torso like a damned iron bar.

She looked so small in his grip, so breakable.

My brain screamed, ~She can fight, she can shift, she’s trained for this.~ But my chest was a black pit of fear, an abyss that had yawned open the moment that muzzle had kissed her skin.

Her eyes met mine for a heartbeat, but the look in them was unreadable.

~Fuck! I wish I’d marked her. I wish I could communicate with her.~

The gun in the man’s grip didn’t shake. Neither did his voice while he said, “One more step, and I paint the wall with her brains!”

The wolves of my pack growled. The low, collective sound came from the foyer, outside the door, and the area around the pack house. Every one of my wolves was ready to tear these men to pieces.

So was I, but instead I opened the link. “~Stand down~.”

“~Alpha—~”

“~I said stand down! Hold your fucking ground!~”

The gun dug in deeper. Willow didn’t flinch, didn’t shift, either. She could’ve, I knew that, but she didn’t.

Suddenly, Lisa barged into the room, making everyone jump.

“I said stop!” the man shouted. “All of you. Go back to human, or I pull the trigger.”

Ben shifted first, then the others followed, but there was no fucking way I was shifting.

“I’m taking her,” the soldier said, shuffling Willow toward the door. “And if anyone tries to stop me, I’ll kill her where she stands.” He drove the gun into the flesh under her chin, causing her head to tilt back.

The bastard backed out of the pack house, his head on a swivel as he inched toward the tree line. Four, maybe five others fell into position around him—each one armed with their gun trained on my people.

Their eyes darted wildly around them, like they’d expected this to go smoothly and had been caught off guard.

“~Watch them~,” I ordered. “~Don’t engage yet. Do not get Willow killed. When they reach the trees, go. We’ll take them down in the woods~.”

Their confirmations rippled back to me before, one by one, pack members stepped back and dissipated, melting into position in the shadows.

My gaze fell onto the bastard who held Willow, and I tracked every step, every twitch of his hand, every muscle contraction. The forest rose behind them, dark and wild but undeniably ours.

~Almost there. Almost… Gods, what I wouldn’t give to be able to mind-link with her right now.~

Then, just when the first soldier entered the tree line, Willow’s face changed. Gone was the panic and helplessness. In its place, there was fury—controlled, cold, and familiar. She lifted her chin before her eyes snapped to mine, piercing me.

And gods help me, I felt it. That spark, that tether between us pulling taut.

She winked. I almost choked. And before I could think, she moved, fast. Too fast for a human and, hell, faster than most of the wolves I’d trained.

In one fluid motion, she twisted inside the man’s grip, and the pop of a shoulder dislocating made me cringe. My wolf’s whine told me it was her shoulder, but I stood firm as she jammed her elbow into his throat and ripped the gun from his hand while he choked.

The next sound was two gunshots in quick succession—two bullets, throat and forehead.

He dropped hard, but Willow didn’t stop. She pivoted, her eyes scanning and gun steady. The others scattered, but it was too late. They were too slow.

~Bang, bang, bang, bang.~

Four more dropped; not a single shot was wasted.

The silence that followed was deafening. Willow stood alone, heaving, with the gun raised. Smoke coiled from its barrel, a halo of vengeance.

My wolves didn’t move. None of us did. I couldn’t. I was still trying to breathe.

She turned toward me with a hollow expression—no smile, no triumph. She was simply… done. She collapsed to her knees.

WILLOW

The barrel was still smoking when my knees hit the ground.

I barely registered the hard earth scraping my skin because everything around me suddenly felt underwater. Sounds muffled. Movements slowed. And through it all, only one thing remained sharp and clear: the five bodies in front of me.

Connor was by my side in seconds, and the heat radiating off his skin warmed me as he crouched low. “You okay?” he asked, turning my face toward his.

His features slowly came into focus, and I nodded. “Yeah.” My voice sounded far away, utterly foreign. “My legs are… They’re shaking, and I… I need a moment.”

Lisa appeared behind him, her arms loaded with clothes. The pack was already moving in unison, collecting weapons and sniffing out any stray threats. Connor gave quiet orders: clean up the scene, dispose of the bodies, no traces left behind.

A young man, wide-eyed and sweating, jogged over to us.

“She’s dislocated her shoulder,” Connor said, somehow knowing I was in pain—even though I hadn’t felt it until that second.

The man knelt beside me, muttering apologies as he assessed the joint. I let him move my arm. It hurt, a lot, but pain had stopped bothering me a long time ago. Now, it was familiar—reassuring, even. It was the only thing that didn’t lie.

The shoulder popped back into place with a wet crunch. “Shit,” the medic muttered under his breath. “Sorry.” After he walked away, he whispered to someone, “Did you see that? She didn’t even blink.”

My attention drifted to where Travis stood assessing the five bodies.

He wore an expression of annoyance. He crossed his arms and grunted. “Would’ve been nice to have one of them alive. Could’ve gotten some answers.”

“Wouldn’t have mattered anyway,” I said before standing. “Look.” I turned toward the man who’d held the gun under my jaw, whose face was slack, eyes glassy. I pried open his mouth, reached in, and yanked out a molar.

It came free with a squelch.

Everyone stared at me like I’d grown two heads.

“Cyanide caps,” I explained, holding up the tooth before popping it between my fingers. Powder spilled out, white and fine. “See? They never would’ve talked.”

Travis stepped closer and peered over my shoulder. “Hmm. So not soldiers, per se. Mercenaries, most likely. Still. We could’ve gotten something. Maybe.”

I tilted my head, still staring at the dead man’s slack mouth. “Well, we know they came for me. That’s something.” Then I crouched again, my fingers moving over his sleeve, where I yanked until the patch there ripped off.

It was a black emblem stitched onto a red background. A bridge over…something. I couldn’t place it, but the sight of it tugged at something deep in my memory. It was intangible, just out of reach.

“What can you learn from this?” I held it out to Travis.

He took it, his brow cocked. “Me? Nothing. But maybe Josh can find something online.”

Connor was already moving. He grabbed a shirt from the pile Lisa had brought and dragged it over his head, his eyes scanning the woods. “We’ve got work to do,” he said. “Now that they know where she is, more will come.”

The breeze shifted, and cold certainty curled tight within me.

~Yes. More will come.~