Double Trouble, Triple Heat

Chapter 22

Caspian’s POV

Full battle erupts.

The clearing becomes a war zone—hunters turning on hunters, wolves attacking from every direction. Robert Mitchell fights beside us now, his rifle cracking against his former allies, and some distant part of me wants to laugh at the poetry of it. The legendary wolf-killer, defending the pack that should be his enemy.

But I don't have time for poetry. I'm too busy keeping Sera alive.

She should be hiding. She should be in the safe room, protected, away from the silver bullets and slashing claws. But she's not—her wolf won't let her cower while her mates fight. She stands at the edge of the chaos, eyes blazing gold, power crackling around her that she barely knows how to use.

Pride and terror war in my chest.

My mate. My fierce, impossible mate.

I shift back and forth between wolf and human as the battle demands—silver fur flashing through enemies, human hands pulling Sera back when she strays too close to danger. Dominic fights like a demon possessed, massive black wolf tearing through hunters who thought they were prepared for this.

They weren't. No one's ever prepared for an alpha protecting his family.

Through the chaos, I see it before anyone else does.

Joseph.

He's bloodied, desperate, half his face a ruin of torn flesh from Sera's claws. But he's still standing. Still moving. And he's raising a pistol—silver-loaded, I can smell it from here—aiming at Dominic's back.

Point-blank range.

Dominic doesn't see it. He's fighting two hunters, teeth and claws and fury, completely focused on the enemies in front of him. He doesn't know death is coming from behind.

I don't think.

I just move.

My whole life, I've been second. Second to be noticed. Second to be loved. Second in everything that mattered. I've spent years believing I'd never be essential, never be the one people chose first.

Dominic was always the alpha, the leader, the one everyone looked to. I was his shadow. His backup. The one who'd be forgotten if I disappeared.

Now I choose.

I throw myself into the bullet's path.

Silver tears through my shoulder—white-hot agony that drops me instantly. I hit the ground hard, the world spinning, sky and trees and blood all blurring together. Somewhere above me, I hear Sera scream. The sound cuts through everything else, sharp and raw and terrified.

Then she's there.

Cradling my head in her lap. Blood soaking her hands—my blood, spreading dark across her skin. Her face swims above me, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Caspian. Stay with me. Please, stay with me."

I try to smile. Hard to do when silver is burning through my veins, spreading poison with every heartbeat. I can feel it—cold fire racing toward my heart, my wolf howling in agony inside my chest.

"Told you," I manage, and god, even talking hurts. "I'd never be second... when it matters."

"Don't talk like that. Don't you dare—"

"Dom's alive?"

"Yes. Yes, he's alive, you saved him, but you have to—"

"Good." I close my eyes. The pain is fading now, which probably isn't a good sign. "Worth it. Tell him... tell him I finally did something first."

“No— no no, don’t you dare give up!” I hear her shatter, feel her pain. But it didn’t matter now, she’s safe.

And I'm dying. I can feel it—the silver reaching for my heart, seconds away from finishing what it started. But Dominic is alive. Sera is safe. Their child will grow up with a father who can protect them.

My life, for theirs. Worth it.

I'm worth something after all.

Just when I was ready, ready to let go. Sera does something impossible.

Golden light floods through the bond—warm and fierce and overwhelming, like being wrapped in sunlight. It pours into me, wrapping around the silver poison, burning it away. I feel the bond between us blaze brighter than it's ever been, feel her power flooding my veins.

The bullet sizzles against my flesh. Burns. Then expels from my wound like my body is rejecting it—pushed out by golden light that has no business existing.

I gasp, lungs filling with air, the world snapping back into focus.

Sera stares down at me with glowing golden eyes. Not just flickering now—fully, brilliantly gold. Prime power. Her wolf, finally awakened by desperation and love.

She healed me through the bond.

"Don't you ever do that again," she sobs, hitting my chest. "Don't you ever—I can't—if you had died—"

I pull her down and kiss her.

She tastes like tears and blood and relief. I kiss her like I'm drowning and she's air, like I've been given a second chance at life and I'm not going to waste a single second of it.

When we break apart, Dominic is there—shifted back to human, covered in blood that's mostly not his own. He drops to his knees beside us, and his hand finds the back of my neck.

"You idiot," he growls, but his voice breaks. "You absolute idiot."

"Saved your life."

"I didn't ask you to—"

"Didn't have to." I meet his eyes—my best friend, my brother, my alpha. "You would have done the same for me."

He can't argue with that. He just pulls me close, forehead to forehead, and I feel his tears against my skin.

"Don't ever do it again," he says roughly.

"No promises."

The battle continues around us, but my world has narrowed to this: I'm alive. She saved me. And for the first time in my life, I know with absolute certainty that I matter.

It doesn't last.

A scream cuts through the chaos—Joseph's voice, high and furious. "If I can't have her, no one will!"

I look up in time to see Robert intercept Joseph's charge. The older hunter moves faster than a man his age should, putting himself between Joseph and Sera.

Joseph's knife buries itself in Robert's gut.

"Dad!" Sera scrambles toward him as Robert crumples.

Joseph raises the knife again—but Dominic is faster. Massive black wolf, jaws closing around Joseph's arm. The snap of bone echoes across the clearing. Joseph screams, drops the knife.

I don't see what happens next. I'm too focused on Sera, on Robert, on the spreading pool of blood beneath them.

"No, no, no—" Sera presses her hands to her father's wound, golden light flickering at her fingertips. "I healed Caspian, I can heal you too, just hold on—"

"Sera." Robert's voice is weak, fading. "Stop."

"I can save you!"

"No." He catches her hand, holds it against his chest. "This is... this is right. This is what I deserve."

"Don't say that—"

"I killed your mother." Blood bubbles on his lips. "I've spent twenty years... killing her kind. Let me die... protecting them. Protecting you."

Sera is sobbing now, holding her father as the life leaves his body. I crawl to her side, ignoring the pain still throbbing in my shoulder. Pull her against me while she falls apart.

"He saved them," she whispers against my chest. "He saved the wolves."

"He saved you." I stroke her hair, this woman who brought me back from death with nothing but love and power she didn't know she had. "That's what fathers do."

The battle ends around us. We won—hunters retreating or surrendering, wolves howling victory into the blood-red dawn. But the cost is everywhere. Bodies scattered across the clearing. Wolves who won't rise again. Hunters who chose wrong.

And Robert Mitchell, legendary hunter, dying in his daughter's arms after finally choosing right.

Sera looks up at me with devastated eyes. "He killed her. He killed my mother. But he saved me. How do I... how do I feel about that?"

"You feel everything," I tell her. "That's okay. You're allowed to feel everything."

She buries her face in my chest and cries. I hold her, blood-soaked and exhausted, while Dominic stands guard over us both.

My mate. My family. My everything.

I'll spend the rest of my life being worthy of the second chance she gave me.