It took only seconds for Jax’s eyes to widen in horror. Long enough for Cavalier to pull back and slide into a defensive position. Long enough for Ashley to move. She moved the wrong way.
A snarl of fury, a howl of anguish left her lips, as she turned, jumped the counter until she balanced behind Jax, jerked his head back, and sent the knife swinging on a hard, downward arc.
When she was finished, blood coated Jax’s neck and half his ear was missing, as Ashley jumped from the counter and ran from the kitchen. Cavalier covered her, staring back at the silent Breeds as he lifted his hand and activated a private channel on his link.
“Yes.” Brim answered on the first beep.
“First blood has been shed,” Cavalier warned him. “I believe a medic might be needed.”
Anya stumbled through the caverns and tunnels, feeling her way for a while as sobs tore through her and tears washed over her face. One hand wrapped around her stomach as the pain seemed to lash at her there as well. She felt the cold as she neared her destination. A cold that seeped into every pore, and yet was warmer than the ice building in her soul.
She collapsed at the mouth of the small cave that overlooked Haven. Covered with snow, it looked peaceful below. A warm glow seemed to extend around the enclosed valley, wrap over it, and tease her with the promise of something she would never have.
She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head against them as she cried. Everything was lost. She couldn’t fight any longer. She couldn’t make herself endure this, the pain was too agonizing. If she wasn’t here, then Del-Rey would quickly get a handle on the divisiveness beginning to tear the base apart. Without her as a distraction, something to secure, he would see the mess in the making and draw his men together again.
And she would be alone. So alone.
She wished she could howl with the pain ripping through her. With the thought of sleeping alone, always cold, always searching for what wasn’t there.
This was her fault and she knew it. If she hadn’t allowed herself to lose control when Del-Rey had kidnapped her, then this wouldn’t have happened. This division wouldn’t have occurred if she had never been given the status of coya while Del-Rey was gone.
She should have seen then the illusion it was. No Breed left his mate, everyone knew that. The tribunal would know that. His enemies would know that. He would have never allowed her to stay at Haven while he was on base, he would have never left her care to others. He had depended on that and the perception that he had not accepted her as his mate to protect her.
Her own arrogance in believing she had a place here had been her downfall, her ultimate humiliation and the loss of the man who held her soul.
She sobbed at that loss, cried out for it until she felt as though her spirit were breaking from it.
“Its okay, Coya.” Ashley’s voice had her head lifting in shame, in shock. That these women should see her so broken, so weak, sent a ragged shaft of agony through her soul.
“You need to be warm.” Sharone spread a blanket over her, her own face wet with tears.
Emma hunkered beside her, crying as well as she laid her head at the stone wall beside Anya’s.
“Anya.” Precious Ashley. Her face was pale, her lips quivering, tears streaking her face as she knelt in front of Anya, then curled into a small ball on her side, her head in Anya’s lap. “I don’t like this,” she sobbed at Anya’s knee. “I don’t like this. They separated us. They took you from us,” she cried. “I don’t like this, Anya.”
Anya sobbed with her.
“Don’t let them take you from us,” Emma whispered tearfully. “Please, Coya. You’ve always been our coya. You’ve always been our leader. Don’t let them take us anymore.”
Her fierce, ditzy little Ashley. Anya buried her hand in the girl’s hair as she laid her head against Emma’s, then reached up and drew Sharone to them.
Untamed, so filled with pride, and yet tears streamed down Sharone’s face as she laid her head against Anya’s shoulder. And not for the first time, they cried together, and they grieved. Because freedom was supposed to mean they would never lose one another. That never again could an order separate them. And yet that was exactly what had torn them apart. The order of the man Anya loved.
It was almost over. Tomorrow, it would finish. If she could manage to hold on, just a while longer, then it would be over. She would be the traitor and the Coyotes that had once followed her would once again follow Del-Rey.
And Anya would finally, irrevocably, be alone.
Del-Rey stepped into the infirmary slowly. Rage was burning a hole in his mind as he listened to the reports on the comm link. Anya hadn’t been found, and neither had her bodyguards. She had gone into the caverns and simply disappeared.
Sitting on a gurney was his brother, the youngest, the one Del-Rey had despaired of saving when the boy was no more than a babe. And now, Del-Rey wanted to kill him.
Jax sat on the gurney, wincing as Regan stitched a part of his ear back where it belonged.
Cavalier was there, under guard, willingly.
There were six Coyote soldiers covering him, but behind them were six others, the Russian Coyotes, and they looked furious.
He stared at Jax as the other man stared at the floor, refusing to lift his head.
“Ashley cut his ear off,” Brim reported. “Cavalier nicked the skin over his jugular.”
Cavalier was leaning against the wall, eyes narrowed, arms crossed over his powerful chest.
This was the man who never stepped out of line. He followed every order, fought like hell, and Del-Rey knew, he would fight to the death. He had never so much as struck at any of the men who had sworn loyalty to Del-Rey.
“That pup,” Cavalier spoke first, nodding to Jax. “The next chance I get, I’m slitting his throat.
When I do, I’m going to watch him bleed like the gutless rat he is, Delgado.”
Delgado. Not alpha, not Del-Rey. The subtle insult was acceptable, but grating.
“Where is my mate?” That was all that concerned him. He’d find Anya, then figure this out.
Cavalier laughed at that. A harsh, grating sound that had a growl coming from his throat.
“Ask that little whelp brother of yours what he did to your mate.” Cavalier sneered at the title.
“What he called her. Your whore I believe it was.”
Jax flinched as Del-Rey turned on him. He gripped his brother’s hair, jerking his head back and staring into his blue eyes. Eyes like the woman that birthed them. A deep, dark blue that swam with misery.
“What did you do?”
Jax was often impulsive, but he was never cruel. And he was intelligent, too smart to do anything to harm Del-Rey’s mate. God save him, Del-Rey prayed. He would hate to kill his own brother.
“I didn’t understand,” Jax said, making no apologies, knowledge of his own death filling his eyes. “I thought she had betrayed us. That you had rejected her because she was a traitor.”
Del-Rey felt every bone, every muscle clench in his body. “What did you do?”
“He touched her,” Cavalier snarled. “He caused her to slip when he gripped her arm to jerk her into place. When she ran out of here, there was a knife wound at her thigh. I think I heard her wrist snap and I know I heard her head hit the wall. That motherfucker hurt our coya, you son of a bitch, and if you’re going to kill anyone, put the gun to your head first.”
Bleak, desperate fury lashed at Del-Rey. He heard the snarl that left his throat as he threw his brother from him to keep from killing him.
Cavalier laughed. “You can’t even protect her against your own men. You make her stay and play your whore for what?”
He jumped for the other man. Jax didn’t have a prayer of surviving his rage. Cavalier might.