Ryder''s POV


    Theb''s lights had burned themselves into my eyes as I finally left the university research facility. The neural-controlled prosthetics prototype felt warm in my jacket pocket-Ama''s breakthrough discovery that could change everything for Xena. My heart pounded with excitement as I slid into my car, immediately reaching out through the mind link:


    Xena? Baby, I have incredible news.


    Nothing.


    The silence that greeted me was like ice water in my veins. I tried again, pushing harder through our bond.


    Xena, can you hear me?


    Still nothing. My hands trembled as I gripped the steering wheel, memories of thest pack attack flooding back. That same metallic taste of fear coated my tongue


    now.


    No, no, no. Not again.


    My foot mmed down on the elerator. The speedometer climbed-70, 80, 90 mph. Street lights blurred into ribbons of yellow light.


    The pack gates should have been manned. They were always manned. But as I approached, I saw nothing but empty guardhouses silhouetted against the night


    sky.


    "GOD DAMN IT!" The curse ripped from my throat.


    I didn''t slow down. Didn''t even think about it. The gate exploded into splinters and metal as my car crashed through. I had to get to the pack house.


    That''s when I saw them.


    A circle of figures in dark masks holding torches like some twisted medieval execution scene. In the center of that circle, Xena knelt on the ground, her body crumpled and broken.


    Standing over her like conquering kings were my DAD and HELEN!


    The world tilted. My vision went white at the edges as every muscle in my body seized with shock. This couldn''t be real. This couldn''t be happening.


    The betrayal hit me harder than any physical blow could have. It was like every foundation I''d built my li turned to quicksand beneath my feet.


    But the shocksted only seconds before it transformed into pure and volcanic rage.


    had just


    I gunned the engine straight into the crowd. Bodies scattered like bowling pins as my car plowed through them. Two of the masked figures went flying, their torches spinning through the air.


    I was out of the car before it fully stopped, my feet hitting the ground at a dead run. My dad turned to face me, and there. wasn''t even surprise in his eyes. Just cold calction, like he''d been expecting this moment.


    My fist flew toward his face with every ounce of fury I possessed. He caught it, the Impact sending shockwaves up my arm and we both staggered backward from the force.


    We faced each other across ten feet, father and son. The man who''d taught me to throw my first punch now stood is my


    enemy.


    "Why did your wolf disappear?!" The words tore from my throat like broken ss. "Why did you fake your own death?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"


    My voice cracked on thest word, the sound of my own desperation echoing back at me from the trees.


    I''m saving this pack," he said, his voice t and emotionless. "You''re too young, too naive to be Alpha. You need patience.


    "YOU''RE FULL OF SHIT!" I roared back at him, my controlpletely shattered. "Where were you when Mom died? Where were you when our pack was attacked? Where the fuck were you when we needed you most?!"


    For the first time, something flickered across his face-shame, maybe, or guilt. But


    it was gone so quickly I might have imagined it.


    I was done talking. Done with his lies and his excuses and his pathetic justifications for betrayal.


    "I challenge you," I said, my voice carrying across the sudden silence. "This is a death match. The one who survives bes Alpha of Boneash Pack."


    Every eye turned to us. I could feel the weight of their stares. My dad looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. When he nodded, it was like watching a door close forever between us.


    The moment his agreement left his lips, I shifted.


    Every muscle coiled and released like a loaded spring as Iunched myself at the him. He shifted simultaneously. We were both massive and powerful, but I had youth on my side.


    His teeth found my shoulder first, tearing through fur and flesh like paper. Blood poured down my leg, but I barely felt it through the adrenaline. I twisted, using his grip against him, and sank my own fangs into his neck. The taste of his blood was metallic and bitter on my tongue.


    We rolled across the dirt, a tangle of ws and teeth and fury. He was heavier than me, using his weight to try to pin me down, but I was faster. I slipped from his grasp and raked my ws down his ribs, feeling them part muscle and scrape


    bone.


    His howl of pain and rage split the night air.


    But he wasn''t finished. He feinted left and came around my blind side. His massive paw caught me across the face, ws opening three parallel gashes from my eye to my jaw. Stars exploded across my vision.


    Before I could recover, his weight mmed into my left leg. I heard the bone snap before I felt it. The pain came a heartbeatter, white-hot agony that nearly made me ck out.


    I limped backward, my broken leg barely supporting my weight, blood streaming from a dozen wounds. He circled me like a predator. In his eyes, I saw the cold satisfaction.


    But he''d forgotten something important. Chapter 306


    This wasn''t just about him anymore. This was about Xeha, lying broken in the dirt because of his choices. This was about every pack member he''d failed, every life he''d thrown away for whatever twisted scheme he''d convinced himself


    was


    necessary.


    I thought about Xena''s smile when she was happy. The future we were supposed


    to build together. The children we''d never have if I died here tonight.


    When he lunged for my throat-the killing blow-I was ready.


    6


    I dropped low, ignoring the screaming agony in my shattered leg, and drove upward with everything I had left. My teeth found the soft spot beneath his jaw, the vulnerable ce where the great arteries carried life to his brain.


    His blood flooded my mouth as I bit down with the desperate strength. I felt his pulse hammering against my tongue, rapid and panicked as he realized what was happening.


    He tried to shake me off, but I held on like death itself. My ws dug into his sides, anchoring me to him as his struggles grew weaker. The light in his eyes began to fade.


    When he finally went still beneath me, I held on for ten more heartbeats to be sure. Only then did I release him and step back, my broken body swaying with exhaustion and blood loss.


    I shifted back, naked and covered in gore, standing over his corpse. My left leg couldn''t support my weight; I could see the bone protruding through torn skin, white and sharp in the torchlight.


    But I was alive.


    And Xená was safe.


    The silence stretched out around us like a physical thing, broken only by my


    ragged breathing and the distant sound of someone crying.


    "It''s over,” I said, my voice hoarse and broken. "It''s finally over.”


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