“Meredith!” Silas transferred Laina into Jason’s arms, thankful his brother was close behind him. He ran to the edge of the crater, a foolish move considering the ground was still shaking. But what was love but a fool’s errand? He peered over the side.

Panaal was gone, disappeared down the bottomless pit before him. The earth stilled. Thankfully, the crater stopped expanding, its hunger seemingly appeased by being fed the Book of Flesh and Bone. Even the wind gave up its campaign against him. Charred rock steamed from the crater, a dozen small fires burning below, giving off the smell of sulfur and burning flesh. He called her name into the bottomless expanse. “Meredith!”

“Silas?” Her voice was barely a whisper. He searched the rocky edge. There—pale fingers gripping black stone. “I can’t hold on.”

He didn’t hesitate. Scaling the rough surface, he found a tiny ledge only half the width of his body near her fingers. He gripped the wall with one hand and lowered himself, stretching his body to reach her.

“My legs aren’t working right. He did something to me.” Her voice was hoarse, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Reach for my hand.” He could see her fingers slipping, her knuckles sickly white with the effort of hanging on.

“I can’t.”

“Goddess help me,” he prayed, then repositioned his anchored hand on a rock closer to her. At this angle, he might be able to reach her, but he’d never have the leverage to pull her back up. Still, he had to try. Digging his fingers in, he stretched himself out—

—just as she lost her grip. She dropped, her arm brushing his fingertips until, by some miracle, his fist closed around her wrist. Her weight threatened the hold he had on the crater wall.

“You have to let me go and pull yourself up,” she sobbed, tears flowing.

“I can’t,” he said.

“You can. If you let me go, you’ll be strong enough. You’ll survive.”

“I can’t. I can’t survive without you. I can’t do it alone.”

“Of course you can. You made it down here alone. You can climb up alone.”

“Not this. Life. I can’t do life alone. Not anymore. I need you, Meredith.”

“Silas…”

“I love you. I refuse to let Alex take one more person from me. Not you. Not this time.”

“Oh, Silas.” She dangled helplessly from his hand and glanced at the eclipsed moon. In moments the full moon would be fully exposed again. He would shift back and lose his grip. “I’m not sure we have a choice.”

“I’m not letting you go. We either both get out of this crater or we both go down together.”

“Eh-hem,” Jason called from the edge of the crater. “No fucking way am I becoming alpha. Hang on, brother. Laina’s awake and checking the truck for some rope.”

“Hurry, brother. This isn’t as easy as it looks.” A brown blur appeared behind Jason’s head. “Jason, look out!”

Jason turned, but what now appeared to be a giant eagle did not attack. She coasted around his head and swooped down the rocky side of the abyss. Before Silas could react, she’d swept Meredith into her talons, carrying her to safety. Silas breathed a sigh of relief to see Meredith on solid ground.

Fingers aching and limbs trembling, he heaved his weight upward, perching on the tiny lip of stone to rest. He could do this. He could climb the rest of the way. Digging his fingers in, he tried not to think too much about how easily he could fall. Hand, hand, foot, foot. Repeat.

Jason reached for him, lying on his belly at the edge. “Just a few more feet, Silas. You’re almost there.”

Laina appeared at his side, reaching down for him as well. “No rope, but I found this.” She dropped a hacked length of seatbelt to him. Silas lifted himself another six inches and wrapped his hand in the black strap.

“I’ve got it!” Silas said.

Jason grabbed the strap and helped Laina pull. “Hang on, brother. We’ve got you.”

“Ow!” A searing pain lassoed Silas’s ankle. His gaze darted toward his leg to see a tongue of fire originating from the pit below, wrapped around his ankle like a whip.

“Hang on, Silas!” Jason yelled. He and Laina strained to pull him up.

The tongue pulled harder, the burning, tugging pain threatening his hold on the strap and wall. “I can’t hold on,” Silas said.

With a high-pitched cry, the eagle soared back into the crater, snapping at the fiery whip and slashing it with its talons. The burning thing slipped off Silas’s bare ankle, receding into the pit below. Silas dug his toe into the side of the crater, and with everything he had left, climbed. Jason’s hand landed on his shoulder, hoisting him over the lip of the crater.

And then he was in Jason and Laina’s arms. They huddled together in the kind of group hug only experienced in the most desperate of times, the type with tears and the blubbering of words that are forgotten the moment they are spoken because the feelings are too intense to be described in any language.

Silas was alpha. He’d saved his family. He’d saved his pack. And he wept openly like a child. And then, with an intense pain that bubbled along his spine, Silas gave himself over to his wolf, his brother and sister shifting beside him.

* * *

Silas became human again at the edge of the wood. He blinked into the sunrise, the night before coming back to him. Alex was dead. Nickelova was dead. And Meredith was both innocent and alive. He turned over to find Laina shifting back a few yards away.

“Are you okay?” he asked her when she was human again.

“Better. I think the shift helped. Alex did something to my head before. Everything was hazy, but I think I’m okay now. I’m just worried about the baby.”

“We’re going to get you help,” he said. “Where are Jason and Meredith?”

“I’m here,” Jason said from behind him.

Silas stood and searched the area, sniffing the air and following her scent. He found her near the crater, curled next to her mother.

“Silas?” she said, a worried expression on her face. “I can’t move my legs. And there’s something wrong with my mom.”

“Too many times,” Olivia murmured beside her.

Meredith stroked her mother’s hair back from her face. “She needs a doctor.” With her hand on her mother’s forehead, she looked at Silas. “She’s shifted too many times, too close together. She’s running a fever. If we don’t get her help, she’ll die.”

Silas nudged Jason. “Take Olivia. I’ll carry Meredith. We need to get them to the truck and get help.”

His brother froze. “An hour ago she was trying to strangle me.”

“Alex was controlling her,” Meredith said.

With a sigh, Jason scooped Olivia into his arms. “Yeah, it looked that way. But I’ll trust her when I have proof. Everyone’s a hero when they’re trying to save their own scrawny necks.”

Meredith cast him a pleading glance. “Please, take care of her. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

“Give him time,” Silas said as he gathered her into his arms.

Meredith leaned her head against his chest. “I don’t know when Alex poisoned her, but I do know my mother wouldn’t have helped him of her own free will.”

“The pack will need answers, but she’ll be treated fairly,” Silas said. “I’ll make sure of it.” He watched Jason load Olivia into the back of the Suburban and hoped the woman would live long enough to receive a fair trial.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

He lowered his forehead to hers. “And thank you for saving mine.”

“Bingo!” Jason yelled from the Suburban. He held up two cell phones. “Look what I found in the glove compartment.”

“Any charge left?”

“Ten percent.”

Silas helped Meredith into a seat, then dialed Polina.

“Silas? Are you all right? I’ve been doing locator spells nonstop,” Polina’s voice cracked with emotion.

“Alive and well, my friend.”

“Where are you? I haven’t been able to track you using magic.”

“Then you’ll have to settle for technology. I’m sending you my GPS location now. Phone’s almost dead, but we need your help. And tell Gerty to call Bojingles. We’re going to need medical attention. If she can provide transport, we’ll take it.”

“She’s here with me. Logan and I will be there as soon as he can lock onto your location. Gerty too.”

“Good.”

Polina whispered something in the background. “How careful does Gerty need to be? Is Alex nearby?”

“He’s dead. Nickelova too.”

There was a pause as she took that in. “What happened to the book?”

“It’s gone.” He stared at the crater. “I think it’s gone for good. You and Grateful are going to want to see this. By the way, how is Grateful?”

“She’s fine. It’s a girl. She named her Skyler. Sky for short.”

“Tell her congratulations, and I forgive her for going into labor while the world was ending. We stopped that from happening, by the way.”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible. Sounds like you have one hell of a story to tell.”

He looked out over the steaming sinkhole that, for all intents and purposes, led directly to hell, and chuckled. “You have no idea.”