From Elara's POV
The bullet screams through my ear.
I don't even have time to think about it. Ronan, the nude wolf-man who just informed me that I would be his lifelong partner, grabs my waist and propels us both sideways. In a glass and wood explosion, we smash through the rear window of the flower shop.
My lungs were completely depleted when I struck the ground forcefully. As bullets rip through the area where we just stood, Ronan lands on top of me, protecting me with his body. The window frame breaks. The walls are in ruins. Dead flowers and dirt fly when pots blow up.
Mom's store. Mom's shop is being destroyed by them.
"Move!" Mom used to arrange bouquets behind the work counter, but Ronan grabs me and drags me behind it. The walls are punched through by more bullets. It pours down glass. Mom used to string Christmas lights, but they spark and eventually die.
"Who are these people?" My entire body trembles as I gasp.
"Hunters." In the shadows, Ronan's eyes shine silver. "They kill werewolves for money." Frost spreads from his fingers as he touches his shoulder, where the arrow wound is still healing. "They've been tracking me all night."
"Werewolves," I say again. This is too much for my brain to handle. My biggest issue was an unfaithful fiancé an hour ago. I'm currently hiding from gun-wielding monster hunters.
But I'm being shielded by the monster.
"Alpha!" From the alley, a man's voice calls. "We are aware that you are inside. We'll get it done quickly if you come out. We'll burn the building down with the girl inside if you stay hidden."
My blood freezes. "They'll kill me?"
"They'll kill anyone connected to me." Ronan's mouth tightens. "Your chest's bond mark? It is now detectable by all supernatural beings. I own you. You become a target as a result.
"I'm not yours—"
"Tell that to the magic that just tied our lives together." I was staring into his silver eyes. "You carried out a blood binding. The strongest mate bond in werewolf history. It cannot be reversed. I can't either."
The front window is smashed by another bullet. The door's foreclosure notice is torn in two.
Something breaks inside of me.
Tonight, I've lost everything. My fiancé. My honor. My future. Will these men also steal Mom's store? The final location where her presence is still palpable?
No.
I notice the metal pipe that Mom used to prop open the back door during the summer. I seize it.
"What are you doing?" Ronan lets out a hiss.
"I'm done running." I get up and turn to face the broken rear window while holding a pipe in both hands.
With his gun raised, a man is making his way through. He has a face that has seen too many fights, is enormous, and is dressed in black. When he sees me standing there, his eyes enlarge.
"Little girl, you should—"
I use everything I have to swing the pipe.
There's a sick crack as it makes contact with his temple. His gun clatters on the floor as the man falls like a stone.
Quiet.
Ronan then bursts out laughing. Laughing, really—a deep, startled sound that contrasts with the chaos and gunfire.
"You just knocked out a professional hunter," he says, gazing at me as if I were a riddle.
"He broke my window." I keep the pipe up even though I'm trembling so much that my teeth are chattering. "In my mother's shop, no one else breaks anything."
I can't read the change in Ronan's expression. Maybe respect, or curiosity, or something more hazardous.
He commands, "Stay close to me," and moves with unnatural grace toward the back door. He moves like a predator despite the wounds and the fact that he is nude in a freezing store. Frost covers the floor from his bare feet.
The front door was stormed by two more hunters.
Ronan moves so quickly that I can hardly see him. He is next to me in an instant. The next, he's on the other side of the room, his hand encircling the throat of a hunter. His touch causes frost to explode, causing ice to crawl up the man's face and neck. The hunter stops screaming and freezes.
The second hunter shoots. Ronan is struck in the chest by the bullet.
"No!" The word escapes my throat.
Ronan, however, stays upright. Frost forms over the wound like a bandage as the bullet hole seals itself almost immediately. With a murderous smile, he turns to face the second hunter.
"Silver bullets work on normal werewolves," Ronan murmurs. "I'm not normal."
The second hunter joins his frozen companion as he moves once more.
My chest is burned by the mark. Ronan's suffering, anger, and icy fury are all palpable to me. It's scary. However, there's more going on beneath all that ice. Something fierce, protective, and totally focused on keeping me safe.
"How many more?" I mumble.
"There are two outside. As well as their leader." Now Ronan's breathing is labored. He won't acknowledge it, but the wounds are wearing him down. However, they are requesting assistance. We must depart. "Now."
"I can't leave the shop—"
"The shop is already lost!" I gasp as he grabs my shoulders with his icy hands. "The foreclosure. The hunters. Elara, this place is finished. You die if you stay."
I can't let go of the tears that burn in my eyes. He is correct. The store is in ruins, with windows broken, bullet-riddled walls, and everything Mom built destroyed. Marcus and Victoria already stole it from me, even if I made it through tonight.
It's finished.
I ask, "Where do we go?"
I realize that the cold emanating from Ronan doesn't hurt me as he draws me in. In some way, the mark on my chest shields me with its warm glow. "My domain. My group. You won't be safe anywhere else.
"Safe with werewolves?"
"Safer than with humans who want you dead."
My phone buzzes in my pocket just as he is about to head for the back door. Something compels me to look, even though I nearly ignore it.
This is a text message from an unidentified number:
"Elara Winters. We are aware of who you are. We are aware of your mother's nature. The wolf you rescued is cursed; within three weeks, everyone he forms a bond with perishes. The transformation won't kill you until New Year's Eve. We'll break the bond before it's too late if you come to us. You'll die screaming like the others if you stay with him."
My hands become numb.
"What is it?" Ronan insists.
I present the phone to him. His expression completely disappears, showing no emotion or response. Silver eyes that are empty.
"Is it true?" I mumble. "Am I going to die?"
The front door of the store blows inward before he can respond. This time, not from bullets, from a worse situation.
Tall and hooded, a man moves through the flames, totally unaffected by the fire that is spreading across Mom's floor. When he draws back his hood, his eyes glow gold rather than silver and his face is scarred.
The man says, "Hello, Alpha," in a smooth, poisonous voice. "You haven't been this weak in a long time. You're more resilient than I anticipated, but I thought the arrows would suffice." He turns to face me with his golden eyes. "You must be the unfortunate person who recently signed her death sentence. My name is Cassius. Before I realized he was ruining our pack, I was his beta.
With all of his muscles tense, Ronan moves ahead of me. "You're behind the hunters."
"I'm behind everything." Cassius grinned. "The curse that is killing you. The hunters who have spent the entire night draining you. I will soon be the Northern Pack's Alpha. He draws a gun, but it's not your typical gun. The mark on my chest and this one both have the same silver glow. "Magic bullets made of blood. Ronan, they won't murder you. However, they will destroy your bond. I shoot her, the connection disconnects, and you instantly pass out."
He points the weapon at my heart.
"Your choice, old friend," Cassius replies. "Watch me kill her and put an end to your suffering, or die defending the human."
Ronan reaches out and touches me. His hold is desperate and frigid.
The firearm goes off.
Everything turns white.