The sound of metal against flesh made bile rise in Kate’s throat. The smell of blood in the air almost immediately followed it. She lunged forward, but Bracken and Beau held her back.

“Let go. Ryan! No!” She kicked at her brand new alpha, trying to get to her mate while pain from his wound lanced through her side. It burned as badly as if the knife had pierced her own body.

Ryan held her grandfather’s wrist now—the one with the knife—and they were staring at each other with such hatred, their gazes seemed to slice worse than a steel blade. The veins on Ryan’s neck were popping out and sweat beaded his brow.

“This is between them now, Kate,” Bracken rumbled in her ear. “If you interfere, it turns into a brawl.”

The dueling bodies moved again, and this time the knife went into Ryan’s upper thigh. Kate bit her lip to keep from screaming out in pain. Ryan used the momentum to shoulder her grandfather backward several paces, ramming him into the side of Dee’s white pickup.

Both men grunted and growled. Ryan’s shirt was bloody. His jeans were bloody too. But his fists landed solidly into her grandfather’s stomach with a swift one-two pattern.

He grabbed the hand with the knife and twisted, using the old man’s forward momentum against him. Her grandfather’s body flipped over Ryan’s back and landed on the dusty ground with a thud.

Didn’t seem to faze the old man at all. For someone upward of a hundred he was built like a steel trap.

He was back on his feet in a moment, weaving and waving that bloody knife. She tried to move toward her mate again, but both Bracken and Beau tightened their hold on her.

“He’d never forgive us if you got hurt,” Beau whispered.

“Grandfather will kill him,” Kate sobbed out. “I can’t let that happen! I can’t lose him.”

The two fighters faced off and circled each other, looking for a way in.

“Nah, Ryan’s just letting him get a few in to make it look like a fair fight,” Beau said, his voice holding just enough mirth to make Kate doubt the scene unfolding in front of her.

She held her breath, wanting to do something to help her mate, but Bracken and Beau closed ranks, holding her back with their broad shoulders. Their big frames were like walls of solid muscle on either side of her.

Another swipe of the knife, but Ryan blocked it this time and grabbed his opponent by the wrist. Kate’s breath caught, feeling the rush of victory inside her mate. He kicked out one of the old man’s legs, bending him at the waist, then brought his closed fist down hard on her grandfather’s back.

“Come on, Phillip,” yelled Miranda Quade, standing in tense anger on the outside of the circle. This was the unspoken rule. Let them fight.

Her grandfather growled, but couldn’t get out of the arm lock Ryan now had him in. They continued to struggle against each other, kicking and rotating. Ryan slammed the old man’s wrinkled hand against Dee’s truck, but the knife didn’t drop.

The urge was strong, with tensions so high, to hope this would end in a blink. But they were too evenly matched.

Turning in her mate’s arms, Dee looked away.

Phillip kicked off the side of Dee’s truck to gain leverage, but Ryan absorbed it and threw them both to the ground with a resounding thunk. Her mate was on the bottom first, the knife pointed at his neck.

Kate’s pulse pounded in her ears. Her legs turned to jelly. Please. Please. Please. The damn man wrestled bulls for fun. He could take her grandfather, no matter how tough. He could do this. She closed her eyes and prayed, unable to watch anymore. The stakes were too high. The possibility that Ryan would lose was too unbearable.

“Get him!” Miranda screamed, and the hatred in her voice chilled Kate’s blood. How could she have believed this woman loved her, cared about her? There was no love in her heart. “Go for the kill, Phillip. Bring our granddaughter back to us. Kill him!”

The sound of the struggle almost brought Kate’s eyes open, but she just couldn’t watch. With Bracken and Beau still holding her back, there was only one way she could reach him—she pushed her love across the bridge of their bond. I love you, Ryan, she wanted to say. I love you. Stay with me. I need you.

Kate’s heart stopped at the sound of steel slicing into flesh. She opened her eyes and tried to scream, but only a wordless gasp came out.

Blood poured onto the ground, but she felt no pain. It wasn’t Ryan’s blood. Not this time. It couldn’t be…but what if it was? What if his death had broken the bond. Kate yanked on her arms again, desperate to get to him, but neither Bracken nor Beau would give an inch.

After what felt like the longest seconds of her life, Ryan moved.

He pulled the large, wood-handled knife from her grandfather’s neck and jabbed the air with the bloody blade, pointing it at her grandmother, who had sunk to her knees with a cry of pain. All of the Quades had done the same. They were on their knees in the dirt or on all fours. Pain etched into each of their faces. The cries were deafening. Even Will. Everyone.

“I’m taking Kate home. You’ll never see us again,” Ryan said, his voice booming out across the field.

“You gave your word.” Her grandmother spat out, somehow managing the words through the obvious torture of losing an alpha bond and a mate bond in one stroke.

“That deal died when he tried to kill me.” Ryan stood over the body of his fallen foe like a champion. “If you or your pack so much as ever cross the Texas-Oklahoma state line, I will rain down hell on all of you.”

Kate felt a moment of pity for her grandmother. She’d been yoked to Philip for so many years. Surely she hadn’t been so mean and cold in the beginning. Surely the pack hadn’t always been this screwed up. But her heart told her it didn’t matter. That it had been poisoned for a long, long time, and the only way out—unless another, wholly different alpha stepped up—was to escape.

“You offered yourself,” screamed Miranda Quade, her voice almost inhuman. “I told him to take your deal. I told him you wouldn’t lie, but he didn’t believe me. Please don’t keep me away from my family.”

“When he shoved this knife into my gut, all my goodwill ended. You are nothing to Kate. Not anymore. Your pack is nothing to her. You have no claim. And I will kill any Quade who comes near her again. Or any of my pack.” He wiped the bloody knife on his pants leg and then slipped it into his belt. Then he turned on his cousin and her new mate. “Dee, you’re coming home with us.” He pointed at the white truck. “Get in.”

“Ryan, I can’t just—”

“Either your mate comes with us and pledges to Oklahoma, or he goes home to El Paso without you. You are not pledging to their pack. Their alpha declared war and I refuse to have family on the wrong side. Get in the truck,” he roared out the last few words.

Both Dee and Will nodded. With Dee’s support, Will managed to walk to the red truck. They pulled a couple of duffle bags out of the back, then moved them to Dee’s white one. He couldn’t take his. It belonged to the pack. They’d never let him have it. Will was stumbling through the pain, but his mate helped him into her truck.

Kate glanced at her family one last time, all writhing in pain from the loss of their alpha. They would have to bond to someone quickly to even be able to function. Her grandmother. Her cousins. Some of them looked lost and bewildered beneath the ache that had taken up residence inside them. Some looked angry. Her brother was on the ground too. Daniel looked up at her for a moment, but there was no regret. No sorrow in his ice-blue gaze for what had just transpired between their two packs. Just anger. No doubt he would blame her for Grandfather’s death. For everything. They all would.

Ryan was right. Phillip had declared war.

She shuddered through a breath and broke away from her brother’s glare. Breathe. In and out. Bracken and Beau released her and Ryan’s arms were around her a second later. Breathing became so much easier.

She feathered her hands over her mate’s body, inspecting every inch of him for injuries. Bruises abounded, but the two stab wounds seemed to be the only defined damage. They would heal in a few hours thanks to his wolf’s enhanced healing. With proper bandaging, they wouldn’t even leave a scar.

“I love you so much, Ryan Travis. There aren’t enough words to tell you how much you mean to me.” She slipped her hands around the back of his neck, pulled him toward her, and kissed him hard. “I was so scared I’d lose you.”

He shook his head and pulled back. “I would never have let him win.” He cupped her face gently, stroking her cheek with his calloused thumb. “I love you and I will never ever let anyone hurt you again.”

She sobbed. She couldn’t help it. All the adrenaline and worry from the fight came crashing down at once. She could feel his emotions mixed with hers. She was happy and terrified and exhausted all in the same exhalation.

Ryan slipped one hand behind her legs and the other under her arm and lifted, cradling her against his chest. “It’s time to go home, baby,” he whispered into her ear. “I got you.”