Eighth-Born Luna (Emily and Nathan) novel Chapter 20

Emily’s POV

Nathan let go of my face and reached for the door handle.

“Lock the doors,” he whispered, his eyes already turning a fierce, glowing gold. “And don’t move. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

With shaking hands, I locked the driver’s door. Then I climbed over and reached for the passenger door. The car went deathly quiet. It was terrifying.

Outside, Nathan stood ready. Liam and Marcus stepped up beside him. They stood in a fighting stance, ready to shift into their wolves at any second.

From the darkness of the thick forest, dozens of red eyes were coming. These weren’t just wolves—they were something much scarier.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream came from the car behind us. The girls. The rogues’ heads snapped toward the sound.

On both sides of the road, I saw our guards with the Betas, trying to climb through the fallen trees. They had already shifted into their wolf forms, struggling through the thick branches to reach us. But it was taking too much time.

The rogues didn’t wait. They formed a circle around the two Alphas and Liam.

The attack began.

Nathan grabbed the first rogue by the throat and crushed it with his bare hands. Beside him was Liam. In the next second, they shifted.

Nathan was a huge, midnight-black wolf. He was twice the size of the rogues—a mountain of dark fur and white teeth. He stood directly in front of my car door like a living shield.

Next to him, Liam shifted into a powerful brown wolf. He was smaller than Nathan, but he was faster. If Nathan was the shield, Liam was the sword. He moved like a whirlwind, leaping through the air and catching rogues by their throats before they could even land. He was a brown blur, tearing through the enemies to protect the second car where the girls were screaming.

Marcus shifted into a massive gray-and-blond wolf. He was almost as large as Nathan, though Nathan still had the advantage in size and muscle.

The three of them worked perfectly together. When rogues tried to surround Nathan, Liam slammed into them from the side, his teeth sinking deep. His snarls were sharp and deadly, while Marcus backed him up with a heavy, rumbling roar that sounded like thunder rolling through the dark forest.

Suddenly, a rogue, covered in scars, slammed into my window. I screamed and scrambled away as his face pressed against the glass. He was desperate. He hammered his elbows and shoulders into the window, trying to break the glass.

Instinctively, I pressed myself against the opposite door. My hand slipped against the lock. I had been so scared, shaking so hard, that I hadn’t secured it properly. I didn’t even realize it until it was too late.

The rogue on the other side didn’t break the glass. He didn’t have to. He just yanked the handle.

The door flew open with a loud crack. I screamed as I was dragged out of the car. My nails scraped uselessly against the leather seat, then the metal door, then anything I could grab. My fingers bled as I fought to stay inside, but the rogue was too strong.

The ground hit hard under my knees as he pulled me across the dirt road.

“NO! Help!” I screamed. I kicked and fought, but he was dragging me into the dark trees.

Then—a roar. It was something primal. Something furious. A massive black wolf slammed into him from the side, sending him flying off me.

Nathan.

He turned his big head and looked at me. His golden eyes were glowing and terrifying. He jerked his head toward a large tree, telling me: Go. Hide.

I scrambled backward, my hands digging into the dirt and dry leaves. I didn’t stop until my back hit the rough bark of a massive tree. It was my only cover.

The Alpha leaped onto the rogue, and I knew what would happen next. I closed my eyes—and a second later, I heard the heavy thud of bodies hitting the ground. The rogue screamed, and then came the sickening sound of skin tearing and bones snapping.

Finally, the sounds in the woods changed. I heard the howls of our guards and the heavy boots of many warriors rushing through the brush. The chaotic sounds of fighting slowly died down, replaced by the crackle of fire and the low murmurs of men.

I heard a single pair of footsteps. They were slow and heavy, crunching on the leaves as they stopped right in front of me. I was still shaking, my eyes pressed shut so tight that my face ached.

“Open your eyes, Emily,” a voice whispered.

It was low, rough, and exhausted. It was Nathan.

I slowly opened my eyes. Nathan was standing over me. He was back in his human form, wearing only his dark pants. His shirt was gone, leaving his massive, tattooed chest and shoulders completely bare to the cold night air. Deep, red claw marks covered his chest, and warm, steaming blood still poured from the wounds.

“He protects us,” Nyx whispered in my mind.

I looked up at him. I was terrified of what he had done, but I couldn’t look away. I could practically feel the power in him. Despite the blood, he looked incredible.

“Look at him,” I whispered to my wolf. “He’s hurting because of me. Why don’t I have the power to fix this? Why am I so weak?”

I would have given anything to take his scars and make them my own, just to see him whole again.

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