Last Female Sypher and Her Brother's Friends novel Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Anla

“No,” I say immediately.

“Aria-”

“No.”

She skids to a stop, turning on me despite the danger snapping at our heels. “You have to listen to me.”

“I am listening. I just don’t agree.”

Her eyes flash. “I’m not asking you to agree. I’m telling you what needs to happen.”

My heart is pounding so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs..

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You don’t get a choice.”

“I always get a choice.”

Another howl-closer now. Too close.

Quin grabs my shoulders, her grip firm, urgent. “Not this time. You’re the Alpha female. You matter more than me. If something happens to you, Ronan, Barric, Kade, and Theo… they won’t be okay. Liam won’t be

okay. The pack won’t be okay.”

I stare at her, my breath catching. She is right. If I died, our máting bond would break, and from what I know, the partners of a broken bond never last long.

“All of them are tied to you,” she presses. “You go down, everything falls apart.”

Without an Alpha, the pack wouldn’t last. They’d sheep waiting for the slaughter, and the Assembly would

pounce on it.

For a split second, I see the weight of it. The reality of what I’ve become. Of what I mean to them. To all of

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Chapter 107

Kalle

I swipe the taste of blood off my teeth with my tongue.

Fuck, that male has steel fists. I’m sure more than a few bruises are purpleing on my skin, and I think one

of my ribs has been cracked.

We’ve been fighting for some time now, and we’re finally gaining the upper hand. I barely register the

evening chill anymore, only the burn in my lungs, the copper on my tongue, and the relentless press of

bodies crashing into mine.

The Assembly warriors were banking on overwhelming us. Twenty warriors descended on us, and it was

only the hit of confusion Quin sent to them that allowed us to take advantage and eliminate a few of them

before they were able to attack in earnest.

I pivot just in time, catching an Assembly warrior’s wrist before his blade sinks into my ribs. I twist hard,

feeling bone crack under my grip, and drive my elbow into his throat. He chokes, eyes bulging, and I finish

it with a slash of my claws across his chest. Blood sprays hot against my skin.

Human weapons, again. There is no time to think about it.

Another comes at me.

I duck low, shifting mid-motion, bones snapping and reforming as fur ripples over my skin. My wolf surges forward, massive and furious, and we slam into the attacker with enough force to send him flying into a tree. The trunk splinters on impact. He doesn’t get back up.

My hackles rise, and the sensation of being hunted makes me coil in anticipation.

Dark shapes weaving through the trees, coordinated, ready to add to the force already present.

“They’re like gods damned ants,” I shout.

“Then what do you say we light a fire?” Bret, another enforcer, says, pulling out black powder.

“What the hell is that?”

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Chapter 112

is proof enough of them wanting to get rid of us for good. This could be what we need to turn their

alliance against them.

Or it is a way to find out about Aria, my wolf says, low and certain.

I push off the table.

“Get everything you can on it,” I tell Felix.

He nods. “I’ll have it done by the time Ronan makes it back.”

I turn toward the tunnels again, the weight of what’s coming settling in my chest.

Theo is running out of time.

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Chapter 110

Seeing him like this, broken down, barely holding on, it twists something sharp in my chest.

hose assembly bastards have to have the answer to this somewhere, and I’m going to find it.

“Hey,” I mutter, low enough that it’s just for him. He blinks, looking toward rather than at me before his eyes flutter closed again. “Get some rest,” I add, quieter now: “We’ll figure it out.”

Kiara steps back, wiping her hands on a cloth. “Stay with him,” she tells Barric and Sebastian. “I’ll be back.”

Then she’s gone, disappearing into the tunnels.

I straighten, but my eyes linger on the wounds again, and the question that’s been gnawing at me finally pushes its way out.

“Why arrows?” I ask.

Barric looks over at me. “What?”

“Why were they using arrows?” I repeat. “They’ve never used human weapons before. Why now?”

Sebastian frowns. “From the accuracy of their aim, I think it’s safe to say they were practicing with the for a while.”

“Exactly. Which means this has been a long time in the making.”

Barric frowns, and I know he is thinking the same thing I am.

My wolf shifts uneasily.

“Those are hunter tactics,” I say. “Not Assembly.”

A heavy silence settles over the room.

Barric exhales slowly. “Which means they are evolving their tactics because they are aware that coming at

us the honorable way won’t end well for them. They’re trying to gain an advantage over us.”

“That would make more sense if the sheer number of packs allying with them wasn’t an advantage

enough,” Sebastian states.

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Rohan’s voice cuts through again. “Kade! We have to finish them now!”

I meet his eyes across the chaos. There is a moment when every male must set aside his morals to protect his pack.

Ronan and I both know, we survive, or we die here.

The decision hits me like a hammer. Instinctually, all the non-fighters of the group move back, and all of the enforcers go in for the kill.

Assembly warriors begin to fall. We work together, attacking them in twos and threes as they pay the price

for siding with the assembly.

Ronan slams into an Assembly warrior, both of them crashing to the ground. Dex dives into the fray,

Shredding at his back, finishing him off with a nasty snap to his spinal cord.

When Ronan stands, blood pours from his side now. Deep, ugly, claw marks raked across his ribs.

Minutes stretch like hours before the sounds of violence settle into harsh breaths and shallow grunts. I Pook around, cataloging the damage done to the enforcers. Thankfully, no one is hurt fatally, but the

wounds will definitely be slowing us down.

I see May, one of our dominant females, helping Bret as he drags one leg behind him.

Shit.

Dex is limping, his left leg dragging slightly. One of the other warriors has a deep gash across his forehead, blood matting his hair. But it’s Ronan that hits me hardest.

That wound-

It’s bad.

A long, vicious claw rake stretches from his ribs to his hip, flesh torn open, blood still seeping steadily.

“Damn it,” I mutter, stepping toward him.

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Last Female Sypher and Her Brother’s Friends

Chapter 111

Liam

The interior of the mountain twists in ways that would confuse anyone unfamiliar with it. Narrow corridors

split into wider chambers, which lead into more tunnels, each one marked subtly for those who know what

to look for. Some lead to dwelling spaces, and others lead to larger community spaces. There are seven

levels in total, with the spaces further down being less…renovated.

This is one of the many things that make this mountain an impregnable fortress. The perfect place to keep/

your pact safe.

I move quickly, not wanting to waste any time.

By the time I reach one of the central junctions-a wide opening branching into multiple corridors-I can

already hear Felix before I see him.

…and I’m telling you, if you cross those wires again, it’s going to-oh.” He looks up as I step into the

room. “Hey, Sunshine. You don’t look so good.”

Felix is crouched over some half-disassembled piece of equipment, wires spread around him like a metallic

nest. He grins when he sees me. Tarin, one of his techs, gave me a small wave before standing and exiting

the room without a word.

“Thanks for kicking a male while he’s down.”

“Oh, save the drama.” He waves his hand. “Didn’t you go work off all that post-fight aggression yet? If you

did, she didn’t do a good job of-”

“Theo’s been poisoned.”

The words cut straight through whatever he was about to say.

Felix’s grin drops, and just like that, he’s all focus. “Gods mercy. Has a healer taken a look at him?”

“They did, but he took a poisoned arrow,” I say. “Kiara’s never seen anything like it.”

Felix is already moving, shoving tools aside and pulling a battered case toward him. “Fuck assembly scum,

what I would give to get my hand on those limp dick monkey fuckers. I mean, who uses poison against

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Chapter 113

The wolves howl in malicious delight at the chase.

gate is uncoordinated. The earth sinks unevenly beneath my weight, and Quin isn’t doing much better.

My foot slips and I nearly go down, catching myself on a tree just in time. “Shit.”

“I’ve got you,” Quin snaps, reaching out for my hand and pulling me along.

I make the mistake of looking back to see the moment the wolves come to the edge of the decline.

They start down, only for a moment before jumping into action.

They slid and slid but even as they had to slow and dodge trees there still fast then is in their wolf forms.

Quin suddenly veers sharper down the slope. “Shift,” she says.

I blink. “What?”

“Shift and run. You’ll be faster. I hear the determination in her voice, and something about it unsettles

‘My wolf surges at the permission, claws scraping against the inside of my skin.

Yes.

But something in Quin’s eyes tells me she doesn’t mean both of us. I ask the question knowing I won’t like

the answer.

“What about you?” I demand.

She doesn’t answer immediately. Her pause is answer enough.

“Quin.”

She curses under her breath. “I can’t.”

My chest tightens. “Why not?”

“I’m submissive,” she snaps, like it should be obvious. “If I shift during a fight and a dominant gets close

enough, he can suppress me. Force my wolf down.”

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Chapter 113

The words hit like a punch. There is still so much I have to learn about shifters, about our world

Now I’m starting to see why Kade was worried.

She continues, “Which is exactly why I stay in my human form. I can fight back this way.”

The forest blurs around us as we run, rain stinging my eyes.

“You’ll be faster in your wolf form,” she adds. “You can make it.”

Make it.

Without her.

The idea is so wrong it makes me stumble again. My wolf is revolted at the idea of us leaving her to save

ourselves.

It offends her to have that type of cowardice placed on her character.

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Chapter 109

“That’s the problem,” she replies. “I don’t know.”

et me take him,” I grab Liam, relieving Kiara, and Marcus does the same with Sebastian.

Barric leads us inside, as a guard closes up the entrance behind us. We move deep into the mountain, boots striking against stone as the narrow entrance gives way to a labyrinth of tunnels.

The torches cast shadows along the wall, and the cool air of the first gives way to a subtle warmth that grows stronger the further we travel.

“You guys look pretty banged up yourself.”

“Nothing too bad,” Sebastian waves off my concern.

“We’ll call Thomas anyway. Makes no sense having you two wounded when we could need you again.”

Barric interjects, his tone brooking no arguments.

When we reach the first corridor opening, the rest of group two join the pack member from group one.

Barric calls out to Thomas, a senior healer, and the older male quickly joins us as we go to the rooms we’ve

set aside as an infirmary.

Theo groans faintly.