Through the fire and smoke, Silas tried to take in the horror that was Panaal. Aside from his size—he was at least eight feet tall and twice Silas’s width—his horns and the reddish tinge of his skin were a ringer for the human concept of the devil. Panaal’s terrible eyes absorbed the light of the fire, soulless pits of darkness that chilled Silas to the bone. The beast was here but not completely corporeal. His form flickered with the fire.

Alex’s grin broadened as he viewed Panaal. “My lord, I free you from your ancient bindings!” Panaal’s presence caused the earth to quake, the fault line beginning under the immortal being’s cloven hooves.

Flattening his hand atop the shaking book, Alex read again, the guttural series of syllables coming fast and frantic. As he accepted the diamond-shaped blade from Olivia, its obsidian color flashed in the firelight. A black blade. Laina had mentioned it was a black blade that had stabbed her at Four Paws. Alex had marked her as his sacrifice from the beginning! Silas sprang into motion as the bastard centered the blade over Laina’s abdomen.

“No!” Silas screamed. He ran toward Alex at full speed, the ground shaking beneath his feet. With the slightest gesture of his head, Alex ordered Olivia forward. She barreled toward Silas at a full run. Although he was twice her size and werewolves were stronger than shifters, he’d have to deal with her quickly if he was going to save Laina.

He tried to veer to the left and use her momentum to his advantage, but at the last second, she leapt into the air and caught him around the neck. Her legs wrapped around his hips, her force and weight knocking him to the ground where the two rolled across the packed dirt of the clearing. With a sound like a pop and a splash of something warm and thick, her body transformed into a snake that constricted around his neck, arms, and legs.

Alex raised the dagger. No. No! Silas fought, pushing and biting at the boa constrictor Olivia had become, but to no avail. Then, a miracle. A red fox sprang from ground to altar, it’s teeth sinking into Alex’s wrist. Meredith! Taken by surprise, Alex dropped the dagger. She didn’t waste a moment. Meredith released Alex’s wrist and caught the hilt of the blade between her teeth, Her delicate red paws scrambled under his arm and off the stone slab.

And then Jason’s face was above his own. “Damn, some women don’t know how to let go.” He slammed a sharp rock against Olivia’s reptilian head. She loosened her grip for a fraction of a second. It was long enough. Silas wedged a hand under her coils and lifted, sliding fluidly from her grip. Unfortunately, since Jason still held her head, the serpent coiled around him in a heartbeat.

A high-pitched cry turned Silas’s attention to the altar. Alex had caught Meredith by the tail, her furry red body twisting masterfully to keep the dagger from his opposite hand. But she was in pain. She wouldn’t be able to keep up the fight for long.

“Why isn’t he using the amulet?” Jason asked as he wrestled the boa.

“Nickelova is dead. I don’t think it works anymore.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Jason pinned Olivia’s tail under his knee. “Go! Help Laina and Meredith.” The boa snapped at his face as he squeezed her throat. “I’ve got this.”

Silas took off toward the altar. Alex saw him coming and stopped reaching for the dagger. Instead, his hands landed on the fox’s slim neck. He gave her slight body a hard shake. With a sickening crack Silas could hear yards away, Meredith’s body went limp in Alex’s grip, the dagger dropping from her teeth. He cast her aside as if she were garbage and scooped the blade from the dirt.

“You fucking bastard.” Silas plowed into Alex, thrusting the dagger above his head. They toppled to the ground, Silas on top.

Alex managed to turn the dagger around, pointing it at Silas’s face. With both hands clutching Alex’s wrists, Silas could keep the sharp point from piercing his flesh, but just barely, and his mind was cognizant that if he was wrong about the amulet, one pulse could incinerate him. The earth shook harder, the sound of cracking earth coming from the vicinity of Panaal.

“Why can’t you see, Silas? This life you’re living is meaningless. It’s an illusion. You call yourself alpha, but you have no real power. You are a pawn of the goddess. Panaal could make you a god.”

Silas grunted, his muscles straining to keep the dagger at bay. “I don’t want to be a god. All I want is to keep the people around me safe. And that can’t happen while you’re alive.” He pushed harder on Alex’s wrists, his arms growing fatigued from the effort.

A groan came from the direction of Meredith’s disposed body. Silas concentrated on keeping pressure on Alex, even when the rogue wolf’s eyes darted toward her. Out of the corner of his eye, Silas saw the movement of human flesh. She was alive, and she had shifted. With jerky, pained movements, she passed them and headed for the altar.

“No!” Alex yelled. “Don’t be a fool.”

Concentrate, Silas told himself. Don’t get distracted. He kept his eyes on Alex, even when his expression revealed extreme distress.

“You stupid girl,” Alex spat. “If you interrupt the spell, there’s no telling the consequences.”

A rush of elation lifted the corners of Silas’s mouth. At that moment, he was certain of three things. One: if Alex could have used the amulet, he would have by now. Two: Meredith was attempting to destroy the spell and was clearly never the one to help Alex. And three: he loved her. He still loved Meredith.

“Do it, Meredith! Do it!” Silas yelled. He risked a glance in her direction.

She’d fisted the top page of the open book and strained to tear it from its binding. A deep growl rumbled like thunder from the area of Panaal’s chest and a mighty wind blew through the clearing. Panaal bared his teeth, those black eyes fixed on Meredith.

“You fucking bitch,” Alex yelled. “You’ll doom us all!”

Leaning into the wind, her red hair whipping around her head, Meredith ripped the page in two. Carefully, she fed the pieces into the purple flames in front of the altar. The parchment caught fire at Panaal’s feet, even as the ground shook harder and the wind increased to hurricane proportions. Panaal’s mouth opened in a brain-slicing scream, his teeth gnashing in Meredith’s direction. But his bite passed right through her.

She limped back to the altar, in obvious pain. With both hands, Meredith lifted one side of the massive tome and slammed the book shut. Panaal’s growls turned into howls as the god of the underworld descended slowly into the purple flames.

Alex gaped. A mixture of rage and disappointment strained his features. For a moment, his muscles flinched. Silas used the opportunity to remove one hand from his wrists and punched Alex in the side of the head. With all of his weight behind the blow, it was enough for Alex to loosen his grip. Wrestling the dagger away, Silas twirled the blade and centered it over Alex’s heart, pinning his arms to his sides with his knees.

“You’ve won,” Alex said. He went limp under Silas’s weight. “Take me in. Lock me up. Let the pack deal with me.”

“I should. Maybe it’s the right thing to do,” he mumbled.

“Of course it is. What kind of alpha would you be, what kind of detective, if you didn’t uphold the process of justice?”

“You have a point.” Silas watched a smug grin crawl across Alex’s face.

“You can’t kill me, Alpha. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Not when I’m surrendering. Unarmed. I’m giving myself up.” The words held a well-practice acerbity.

“I shouldn’t. You’re right about that. Only, I promised my brother vengeance. And I’ve recently learned that there is no substitute for family. I need them, Alex, and they’ll never be safe as long as you’re alive.” He placed both hands on the hilt and looked directly into Alex’s eyes. “This is for my mother, my father, my siblings, my pack, and for Soleil. Go to hell and take the horned god with you.” He thrust the dagger into Alex’s heart.

Alex’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. His pupils dilated with disbelief. Silas watched the light fade from his widening eyes until there was no more breath, no more fight left in his mortal enemy. And still, he pushed the dagger deeper into Alex’s chest, his hands shaking with the need to make certain he was dead.

He’d hated Alex for so long, dreamed about this day with such fervor, he expected choirs of angels and a rush of elation. But as it became more and more obvious the man was gone, he merely felt hollow. Miserable that killing Alex was necessary, helpless that it was impossible to bring back all of the people the man had killed, and thankful that it was over while remaining hyperaware that it was not.

A scream behind him seemed to bring him back into the present. He climbed from Alex’s dead body and whirled to find Olivia, in her human form, crouching over Jason. “What have I done? What have I done?” Her hands were shaking. She backed away.

Silas ran to his brother’s side. There was a red ring around Jason’s neck, but otherwise, his brother seemed okay. He coughed into his hand. “I’m okay.” He rubbed his neck and gave Olivia a sideways glance.

“Silas!” Meredith cried from the altar, Laina in her arms. “My legs won’t work.”

She was staring at the widening crater that crept toward her toes. Panaal was still trapped in the flames, sinking into the rumbling earth like quicksand. But it was the space around the horned god that was the problem. The ground was giving way, black steaming emptiness growing from the inside out.

Silas ran for her, right as Panaal opened his flaming mouth. The beast laughed, a hissing charcoal bark that increased in its maniacal splendor as the earth swallowed the horned god. Meredith screamed as the creeping black hole claimed the altar and the book. Both tumbled into the abyss.

He was almost there. So close. “Meredith!” Silas ran for her, swerving to avoid the widening crater.

She looked up, tears in her eyes. “I love you.” With a twist of her torso that made her scream from the pain, she threw Laina into his arms. Silas caught his sister in both arms.

And then Meredith dropped into the void.