“Let her go.” There is all the force of an alpha command is in his voice, and Lochlan’s hold loosens for a split second.
“We will,” Eamon says. “Once you’re dead.” He slaps a wrench against his palm.
Killian eyes it and snorts. “You weak males need weapons to defeat me? Aren’t twelve of you and the trash you brought in from Last Pack enough?”
He hasn’t spared the others a glance, but he knows their number. I have no doubt he’s decided the order he’s going to kill them.
Finn and Alfie’s eyes are eager, but some of the others flick uneasy glances at each other. This must be getting real for them. There’s a whine coming from the back of Fallon’s throat that he can’t quite stifle. He’s trying to catch my eye, like I can get him out of this mess. I’m gonna try, but if he gets a beatdown before it’s over, I’m not crying over it. All those video games we’ve hooked him up with, and he chose these idiots over us.
I bet reality is a lot different than sitting in a basement, blowing off steam about how bitches rule everything these days, and someone should do something about it.
“None of you have the balls to challenge me one-on-one?” Killian sneers.
“You’re the one who changed the rules.” Some of the others lower their gazes, but Eamon has no shame. “So have we. It’s never been a fair fight with you—wolf versus flip-shifter. And now we all see the consequences of letting an aberration lead the pack. Anarchy.”
Is he calling females with phones “anarchy?” But it’s fine to invite Last Pack onto our territory? To barter with them for our females?
“Shut up,” Killian snarls. “I’ll kill you in a minute.”
He focuses on me, and I can feel how hard it is for him to hold himself back. I don’t even need to grapple for the bond. It’s just there, as if it always has been, and it’s blasting at me. He’s pissed, and he’s terrified to his marrow.
Killian’s eyes are a searing blue, ringed with gold. There is raw pain there.
“Why did you do this, Una?” His face is drawn, tormented. “Is it because of what I said back at the cabin? If you don’t—If you want to get away from me, I’ll let you go. You don’t have to do this.”
He paces, but away from the Byrnes. As he moves, the other males shuffle backward. I don’t think they’re even aware they’re doing it. Most are still trying to look fierce, but the longer the minute stretches, reality seems to sink further in. More faces blanch. Gazes dart around the clearing, searching for a way out.
They must have made Killian small in their minds while they groused in their basements, but he’s larger, faster, and stronger than all of them—than any shifter before. They’d need a hundred more males to have a hope of taking him down.
This will be a bloodbath if I don’t figure out what to say. Last Pack is eyeing the woods. I bet everything they’re out of here as soon as the fur flies.
If I don’t stop this, no one else will. And it’s a real bitch that I’m the one who has to save their sorry, backwards asses.
While I’m stuck on words, Killian goes on. “I’m sorry. I said it before, but I—I need you to know, I mean it.”
“Weak,” Eamon spits.
Behind me, Lochlan tenses, readying for an attack.
Killian totally ignores him.
“But please don’t ever put yourself in danger, Una. I can’t bear it.” He pounds his bare chest with his fist, pacing still. “You can feel it, Una. I know you can. Don’t do this to me ever again, shy girl. I can’t handle it.”
He’s so worked up that fur sprouts along his happy trail. Crap. I need him to stop and think.
“I had to do something. You were going to kill everyone.”
“I still am.” A whiff of terror rises from the males behind him.
“I don’t think you should.”
Lochlan readjusts his grip on his knife. I freeze, willing Killian not to attack. I send every calming thought I have down the bond. He roars, but he stays where he is.
“You’re done, Killian,” Lochlan says. Under the braggadocio, there’s a tremor running down his arms. And his weak leg. He’s been favoring the right one since Killian kicked his ass. It’s the kind of thing a female like me notices. “Bare your neck, and we might exile you.”
It’s an obvious lie. He wants to humiliate his alpha before he kills him.
Killian doesn’t pay him any mind. “They took you,” he says to me.