Chapter 165

My mother touched my destroyed ear; again, I was bleeding on my temple and neck.

“You need surgery,” she whispered to me, with the firmness that only a mother could muster in a situation this terrible. The change had only aggravated my injuries, but the adrenaline kept me up and running. “And young Duncan, too. He put his chest before all claws, he has been an exemplary soldier. Don’t waste time here, that monster must not escape.”

A dull noise to my left alerted me to Duncan’s presence; he fell to one knee as he moved away from the trunk he was leaning on. Nika put her thick, hairy arm over his shoulders and helped him upright again. No “beta” should be on his knees, and especially not one as brave as him, who I imagined had fought like a beast to get my daughter back even though the situation had overwhelmed him.

Mom went to Duncan and I went with her, Sasha in my arms.

I wanted to touch the Irishman’s shoulder, but there was no way. He had burns and punctu