Destiny's Path (23 page)

Calm. Be calm until they have the guns; then all bets are off, and you can stomp her ass.
Sasha repeated that mantra in her head, just waiting for the right moment.

“But you already know that, don’t you?” Jenna threw an arm out to try to hit Sasha again, who easily deflected the attack. “I can smell him on you. His sweat, his seed.” She sniffed the air around Sasha, her lip curled in distaste.

“Yes, we’re Mated now. Have been for a couple days. But like I told you before, that’s none of your business.”

That really got to Jenna, because she rushed Sasha and tried to grab her. Sasha ducked and pushed her in the back, throwing her to the floor. Jenna sat there for a second, looking around. Shock was evident on her face. So was rage. She fairly crackled with it.

“You’ll pay for that.”

“All right, Sasha, we have them,” Roan interrupted.

“What?” Jenna shouted, looking in their direction.

Roan and Flynn held up both guns, smiles wreathing their handsome faces.

Jenna looked back at Sasha. “You lying, cheating bitch!” she roared, jumping quickly to her feet.

“No, Neena, no lying or cheating here.” Sasha used her real name. The game playing was over. “They took the guns to even the odds. But I do have an ace in the hole.” She finally released the anger that she had been holding with such an iron-tight rein.

As her power flooded the room and her eyes began to glow, Jenna started to back up, shaking her head in denial.

“No!” she whispered fervently, over and over, until she was shouting, screaming at Sasha. “No! You’re not the one! I’m the true Alpha! I am!”

“You have
never
been the true Alpha,” Sasha growled, her now dry hair whipping around her head with the force of her power. “Lifetime after lifetime, you have destroyed me and mine with your greed and jealousy. No more. The prophecy has come to pass, and the Pack will live on. You won’t,” she promised, feeling Tala’s spirit join with hers, feeling century after century’s worth of anger build until she was near bursting with it.

Sasha watched Jenna struggle with the truth of her words, her power, but still Jenna didn’t want to believe it. Then she gave Sasha a malicious grin.

“It doesn’t really matter, because you won’t kill me.” She laughed a bit hysterically. “You don’t have it in you to kill.”

“Really? Your mother might have thought the same thing”—Sasha smirked—”just before I snapped her neck.”

Jenna blinked with shock, apparently thinking that Flynn or Roan had killed her mother. Being disabused her of her original notion, her eyes glowed even brighter with fury, looking at the lifeless body of her mother then at Sasha. Jenna could smell the truth of Sasha’s words, and that made her even more furious.

“Her death won’t be in vain nor mine. Because if I die, I’m taking you with me,” she snarled, dropping to all fours.

Jenna changed, a mist of sickly gray surrounding her until a large and beautiful blond wolf emerged, its blue eyes glowing with hatred.

Sasha had a feeling she would try this, the only option left. Sasha didn’t change, though, because, well, she had only done it the one time and not on purpose. She wasn’t sure how long it would take, and she didn’t want to chance Jenna attacking her during the process, because Jenna would.

Jenna crouched low, ears laid back. Sasha knew the moment she decided to jump. It was there in her eyes a split second before she sprang forward, teeth bared to rip out Sasha’s throat.

They impacted with a grunt, Sasha grabbing Jenna’s muzzle to keep from getting ripped apart, and Jenna using her claws to scratch deep furrows on Sasha’s neck and chest. Her claws hurt like hell, but Sasha couldn’t let go. If she did, Jenna would go for the throat. That was where Sasha was the most vulnerable, and Jenna was all about taking advantage of vulnerabilities.

As they struggled, each trying to gain the upper hand, Sasha could feel blood running down her chest and stomach from the multiple gashes that Jenna’s claws left. But it wouldn’t be a good idea to let go. Though with the way Jenna was struggling and jerking her head from side to side to loosen Sasha’s hold, she just might have to. The only firm grip Sasha had was on Jenna’s lower jaw, and that grip was starting to loosen from the numerous cuts to her hands from Jenna’s teeth, the blood from those cuts making her already precarious hold slippery.

Jenna snarled, the blue fire in her crazed eyes glowing with the intensity of her hatred.

“Die, die!” Jenna growled, struggling harder to rip out Sasha’s throat.

“Not…today,” Sasha panted, finally getting the leverage she needed. Putting her right hand on Jenna’s chest and grabbing a handful of fur and flesh, she then dug her fingers in as hard as she could.

Jenna howled in pain as Sasha’s fingers ripped into her chest, her nails gouging holes into the flesh.

As Jenna tried to get loose, Sasha helped by picking her up and throwing her across the room. Jenna hit the opposite wall with a resounding crash and a loud yelp.

Sasha looked at her right hand, covered in Jenna’s fur and blood. She had done some damage, but not as much as Jenna had done to her. She needed to end this and soon, she thought as Jenna slowly picked herself up, shaking her head to clear it.

“You will pay for that,” Jenna snarled, blood trickling from her chest, the corner of her muzzle and nose.

“No, Jenna, I am done paying,” Sasha snapped back as they started to circle each other again. “And so is the Pack. We have suffered long enough because of your selfishness and greed. No more.”

Jenna came in closer, snapping her jaws and swiping at Sasha’s middle with her claws. Sasha jumped back out of the way, narrowly missing being gutted.

“The Pack is mine!” Jenna barked, coming in again and trying to find an opening.

Sasha jumped back once more, only this time, she was a little too slow. Jenna’s claws caught her under her left breast, slicing deep cuts across her ribs. Sasha gasped at the pain, scrambling out of Jenna’s reach as she tried to cover the bleeding wounds with her arm.

“Sasha!” Flynn shouted.

She felt his fear for her, his need to help his Mate and protect her from danger. She couldn’t allow him to interfere in this. Thankfully, Roan stepped in, giving her his support.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roan lay a restraining hand on Flynn’s shoulder, stopping him. “Let her finish it, brother.”

She saw the anguish on her Mate’s face, keeping Jenna well in sight, and felt the same. But Sasha was the only one who could end this. Roan knew that as well. If she didn’t, then the cycle would continue, and they would all be doomed.

Feeling his indecision, she felt him finally relent and step back. His eyes briefly met Sasha’s, seeing the pain she so valiantly tried to hide from him, their connection letting him feel how much her wounds throbbed and hurt. Then she gave him a wan smile, letting her love show brilliantly. He smiled back, returning her love.

“This ends now, bitch.” Jenna growled, her circling and stalking at an end as she crouched low, ears laid back, teeth bared. “You’re too weak to win. The Pack will finally be mine like it should have been, like it was always meant to be. And after you die, this family and everyone associated with them will die too. No more will they look down on me. No more will they force me out and try to keep me from my destiny. I will no longer be the outcast, but the rightful and true leader of this Pack.”

“Destiny?” Sasha shook her head sadly. “The only destiny you’ve ever had was creating chaos and ruining lives. Mine, yours, and the men you’ve used.”

“Do not mock me, bitch,” Jenna snarled. “These men, and the ones before, they were nothing without a female. They knew it; we all knew it. Why do you think I went to so much trouble to snare one of them? They were a convenient excuse to get where I needed to be. Although in the beginning, it may have been more than that, but after spending several lifetimes being rejected and tossed aside like so much trash, plans change. But the sex wasn’t bad, so they were useful for something.” She smirked.

After all the drama about Flynn belonging with her, it was a little surprising to hear that he was just an excuse. But then, Jenna probably had the benefit of Neena’s memories for some time, planning her course of action, then implementing it. Still, it was strange to hear. It was even harder to hear her talk so casually about killing everyone. Add revenge to the mix, and you got one seriously angry Lupa. Although in her case, it was more like insanity. From what Sasha could glean from Tala’s memories, Neena wasn’t too tightly wrapped to begin with. Compound several lifetimes’ worth of being thwarted and treated like so much dirt, and, well…

“So you see, after all of you are gone, I will lead this Pack into a bright new future. We will be strong, powerful, invincible. You could never take the Pack where it needs to go. But I will. I will. The Pack is mine!”

While Jenna expounded on her so-called destiny of leadership, Sasha gathered what reserves of strength and energy she had left. “The Pack was never meant to be yours, Jenna. Your greed and thirst for power have impaired your judgment, ruining what chances you had at a decent life. But this is the path you chose, and you will pay for that choice.” She prepared for Jenna’s next strike. She didn’t have long to wait.

“The only one who’s going to pay is you,” Jenna snarled with hate and vengeance, then leaped forward, her eyes glowing with her fury.

Sasha caught Jenna around her head, close to her muzzle, grabbing handfuls of fur and getting a grip as Jenna used all her strength to try to rip her throat out. But Sasha was having none of that. She knew what she had to do, using the last of her strength and power to do it.

“You…will die!” Jenna roared, her struggles increasing.

Sasha then got the leverage and angle she needed. “Not me, Jenna. You!”

Roughly jerking Jenna’s head to the side, Sasha heard the neck break. Those crazed blue eyes were wide with surprise as Sasha watched the life slowly fade out of them before dropping the body to the floor. She wanted to make sure,
needed
to make sure, that Jenna was truly dead. And she was. It was done. In a matter of seconds, her enemy was no more.

Sasha sank to her knees, exhaustion and blood loss weighing her down. She was so tired.

***

Flynn and Roan rushed to her side after seeing her collapse.

“Roan, get me some towels. Hurry!” Flynn ordered once he reached her. “How you doing, sweetheart?” He looked her over, and he didn’t like what he was seeing. Blood was everywhere. Unfortunately, most of it was hers.

“Tired, very tired.” She sighed, swaying on her knees a little.

Roan came back with an armload of towels, giving them to Flynn, who wrapped one around her neck and chest, soaking up the blood still seeping from her wounds. Another he wrapped around her ribs, the cuts there more open than he liked, knowing they needed numerous stitches. Sasha hissed as Flynn applied pressure in an effort to stop the bleeding.

“Add some pressure to that side of her neck, Roan,” Flynn instructed, his face impassive, his emotions anything but.

Sasha whimpered a little; the wounds were probably starting to really hurt now that her adrenaline rush was fading.

“I know, baby, but we have to stop the bleeding,” Roan soothed. The fact his brother called her baby meant he was really concerned. Roan didn’t let his guard down often.

Sasha nodded, a mistake, as she let out another whimper, and let both of them work together to help her.

“Here, Roan. Take this. I need to see how deep some of these gashes are.” Flynn took the blood-soaked towel off her neck. He knew how bad the ones on her ribs were, but her neck and chest was covered with too much blood to make an accurate diagnosis.

“Has the bleeding stopped?” Roan tossed the towel to the floor and reached for a clean one.

“For most of the minor ones, yes. The deeper ones have slowed to a trickle.” He gently touched the wounds, inspecting her neck and chest. His blood ran cold at one particular gash. “Damn!”

“What is it?” Roan asked with concern.

“Just a hair more on the right side, and her jugular would have been ripped open. Dammit!” His fear for her turned to anger, mostly at himself for letting this happen.

“Calm down, brother. She’s safe,” Roan soothed, though Flynn could see that he too was angry at what Sasha was going through.

“I’m all right, Flynn.” Her voice was strained with pain and exhaustion.

Flynn let out a breath. “I know. It’s just too close for my peace of mind.” He cupped her cheek. She leaned into it, almost toppling over.

“Whoa there, baby.” He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, careful of her injuries.

“Sorry, feeling kind of light-headed.”

Flynn wrapped another towel around her neck, changing the one on her ribs as well, then lifted her into his arms. “C’mon, sweetheart. Sleep is what you need to heal these wounds.”

She laid her head against his chest. “Mmm, sounds good to me,” she slurred, her eyes starting to close.

Flynn carried her into the bedroom, his mother coming to his side, gasping with shock.

“Oh my God! Is she all right, Flynn? Please, tell me she’s all right,” Charlie pleaded with tears in her voice.

“She’s fine, Mother. Just cut up and exhausted, but she’ll recover.”

“Thank the Lord.”

“Turn down the covers, will ya, Angel?” Flynn nodded to the bed.

“You sure she’ll be okay, Flynn? She looks really pale.” Angel moved quickly to pull the sheets and blanket aside.

“She lost some blood, but nothing a good sleep and meals won’t fix,” Flynn told them as he put her in bed.

“Are the cuts bad?” Gabe asked with a frown.