Nova's breathing slowed.
Her hands — still faintly glowing — fell limply to her sides. Blood trailed from under her ribs.
He saw her cheek was bruised and bleeding as well.
Silver.
Finric's pulse roared.
Was it this silver the other times he saw her bleed or was it just today? How did she know her blood would heal Jax?
His wolf rose like a storm beneath his skin. Every hair on his arms lifted.
Not rogues.
Not wanderers.
These were trained warriors.
The air shifted. The forest went still.
And then they came — slipping between trees like wraiths. Not one or two. Fifty, at least. Silent. Armed. Coordinated.
A strike team.
Jax growled nearby, already wounded. He moved towards Nova, but five warriors tackled him — chains, cuffs, blades. Silver gleamed.
Nova screamed.
Finric's rage shattered.
He launched himself forward, intercepting a wolf mid-pounce. Blood sprayed. He didn't care. He didn't stop.
He turned to shield her again when—
A figure emerged from the treeline.
Tall. Broad. Masked.
Etched steel across his face, and arrogance in every step.
Finric didn't need to see his eyes to know who it was.
Riven Ashbane.
Nova's so called half-brother. Her tormentor. The newly crowned Alpha of the pack she'd once been prisoner to.
He thought she was his omega half-sister. An embarrassment. A threat. A possession.
Now he wanted her back.
Not happening.
Finric stepped between them, body humming with power.
Nova whimpered behind him — still conscious, barely — clutching her side.
Riven said nothing. Just looked at her like his prized possession gone missing.
Finric bared his teeth. "You crossed into my territory, Ashbane. That's a declaration of war."
The man said nothing.
Then lifted his hand. A command for the attackers to take down the enemy. They came all at once. Jax and Finric moved forward keeping them away from Nova.
Ashbane lunged, cutting through the chaos like a shadow unbound. His hands clamped around Nova without hesitation, dragging her into his arms like she was prey and he'd finally claimed her. His grip was rough, uncaring, almost eager to hurt.
Nova stirred, trying to push him away, but her strength failed her. Her body was slick with blood, half-frozen from the snow. Her limbs felt heavy. Distant. She was cold. Slipping. And now in enemy hands.
More attackers charged at Fin and Jax. There were too many to get to Nova.
Rivan charged toward the cliff's edge with her in his arms.
He looked down at her.
And then — without another word —
He jumped.
Fearless and absolute, as if daring death to follow.
Parts of the river were frozen but the waterfall still roared behind them. This jump was a death for most shifters. If you avoided the rocks at the bottom, the water would be ice cold this time of year. The under currents would be fierce.
There was no magic or wolf humming beneath the surface. They were drained as well. She couldn't shift before impact and it hit her full force.
______________________________________________________________
They didn't think. Didn't plan.
The instant Rivan leapt off the cliff with Nova in his arms, Jax and Fin followed without hesitation, paws driving them over the edge and into the air. The world exploded into a blur of snow, wind, and white sky.
The river hit like stone, and Jax went under fast. His wolf's limbs screamed against the cold, the current dragging him sideways. Freezing. Violent. Unforgiving.
The cold biting into his skin like teeth, the current a living thing trying to tear him apart. His lungs burned, limbs screamed, but his wolf surged through the pain with one command.
Find her. Find her. Find her.
He broke the surface gasping, head snapping left, then right—there.
A flash of silver beneath the water. Nova.
Drifting, weightless, her hair swirling like liquid moonlight in the dark current.
Underwater, he shifted back to human form, lungs screaming as his arms closed tightly around her. She was limp in his grasp, cold as the river itself. He kicked hard, driving them upward, breaking through the surface with a gasp.
She wasn't breathing.
Shit.
He kicked toward the bank, the current nearly tearing them apart. A shape fought above them in the trees—Finric. Holding off Ashbane.
He slammed onto the rocky shore with Nova in his arms, gasping, teeth chattering, eyes burning from the cold.
No. No no no—
Her lips were blue.
Her chest wasn't moving.
"Nova!" he shouted, voice breaking.
He laid her flat, hands shaking. He pumped her chest and tilted her head, blew in air, pumped again—
One. Two. Three. Four.
"Come on, dammit—don't you do this."
And then—
She jerked.
Coughed.
Choked.
Water spilled from her mouth as she rolled to her side, gasping, shivering violently. She tried to sit up.
Jax sagged in relief, brushing wet hair from her face, his hand still on her back.
"You good?" he panted, voice hoarse. "You done dying every time I turn around or should I start carrying a stretcher?"
Nova let out a weak, watery laugh that turned into a sob. Her shoulders shook, and she collapsed into his chest.
He caught her.
Held her.
"I got you. You're alright now."
Her side was bleeding. Her skin freezing.
A blur of movement above — and then the sharp crack of claws meeting claws.
Fin.
Still fighting attackers.
Jax looked up just in time to see a figure in black leap through the trees backward — Riven Ashbane, retreating with a snarl.
Finric didn't chase him. He staggered, bloodied, breathing hard. Nova clutched Jax tighter, then sagged.
Her breath hitched once more— And then she went still.
Unconscious.