MARKED | COMPLETED

Chapter 30

This was Shaun, the one who was always on my back about my fighting. The one who told me to care for Aisling during the Lunar Celebration. He believed in me, acted as a father should. And he was dead. Taken from me because I distracted him—I distracted a god, and he'd died.

Clothes were torn during my transformation, so sudden that I didn't feel the wonderful, electric sensation of the shift. The wolf in me didn't want to give me that satisfaction. Our vision was tinged with blood, and that was all we wanted. The guard's jaws were still locked around Shaun's throat, now returned back its normal, human form.

I ignored the wail that passed from our lips as we looked at him. Our Beta, gone. Dead—and I was staring at the culprit as he loosened his grip. His eyes gleamed at me, staring and glowering in my direction. His Luna was still knocked out cold, blood still drawing out of his wound. Shaun had died to try to protect me, and now Luna Aedan's guard was going to die to protect him.

I shot out all the thoughts that ran through my head, all the ones that didn't belong to me. I couldn't have them knowing just yet.

But there was one that pulled through the wall, the one that was strong enough to do so.

Where is he, Eineen? Where are you?

I didn't bring myself to answer Aisling. He had to be focused, poised to fight.

I shut him out, still in the moment. There was that stupid, pointless moment where we circled, finally equal. I could still taste the blood in my mouth, and that only caused me to want his.

It brought me tremendous pain to step over Shaun's body, bloody and lifeless, but I had to.

I'm doing this for Shaun, I thought.

The guard wouldn't hear me. He could only hear his pack's thoughts, the ones that were given to him. But for that moment I let my pack here it, to let them know that their Luna wasn't running, hiding. I was fighting.

There was a low rising growl in my throat, a severe threat to him as we stared each other down. He didn't need to be inside my mind; he could see it in my eyes, and in his, I could see that he wasn't going to go down so easily. As if I would let him.

You're going to feel this, I thought.

#

Somewhere, during the fight, Luna Aedan had run off. I didn't care, my mind was on one thing, and that was the death of the one who murdered Shaun.

When it was over, and I towered over his body, I realized I didn't know his name. I never asked, only caring about who Luna Aedan was, and how I would stop him. When he returned to his old form, I saw nothing—in a moment, he looked like he could be Oirthir.

But his blood was on my skin, filling my mouth and dripping from my cheeks. I wasn't sure when I stopped biting or tearing at him. I wasn't sure when my claws stopped slicing into his chest, opening him up. All I remembered was the flash of Shaun in my eyes, and realizing that he was actually dead.

I shifted, glad to be back in my human skin. My chest burned, my ribs aching. I wasn't sure if anything was broken, but I didn't feel anything fracture during the fight. But, in that blood-lust haze, I didn't think that I would notice. But now I was alone, and I was brought back.

Reality hit me more than any blow I received. I scrambled to Shaun, tears already brimming my eyes. I looked for any scrap of clothing I could find, eventually locating a strip of my fleece shirt and tied around his wound. My hands were shaking; my heart beat harder than any drum I'd ever heard.