Page 65 of Broken Moon

The alphas.

Both of them.

And I couldn’t stop her. Iwasn’t really even there anymore.

Chapter Thirty

The wolf’s strength explodedlike her rage, and she could do anything. She was powerful enough to rival thealpha’s strength, and he was one of the toughest, most physically superior wolvesin the world. He had to be to maintain his status and protect his pack.

But suddenly, the weak as akitten, starved, confused, newly born female wolf was no longer in awe of himor his world. She was no longer weak, and she was no longer submissive.

She was a force to be reckonedwith, and she took him by surprise.

The warriors who’d remainedbehind in the woods raced across the ground to help fight against whateverforce they felt overpowering their alpha, and when they arrived, they milledabout, confused to see only the new wolf.

The alpha did not want to hurt her,but in the end, he had no choice. She was rabid in her rage and dangerous withher power, power she didn’t even understand.

He shifted to his human form,and she had ripped his chest open with her sharp, eager claws before he couldforce her to shift back to her human form.

“Kaitlyn,” he shouted.

I woke up, cold and naked onthe ground, flinching at his bruising grip. His hands bit into my upper arms,arms that were slick with blood, and the first thing I realized was how badly Ihurt—but it was the pain of a physical fight, not the pain of my hobbled wolf.And this was so much better.

But the alpha was…he was tornapart. Gaping, messy wounds, sliced into him from my wolf’s claws, wounds thatwould heal slowly until he could become his wolf and heal them. He wouldn’tshift until he knew my wolf was controlled.

“Oh my God,” I murmured. “Whatdid she do?”

He shook me. “She?Shedid nothing, Kait. You must accept your wolf. You must deal with your past andallow yourself to heal.”

“It wasn’t me,” I said, trulyhorrified. “I wouldn’t hurt you like that, Jared. You saved her. She—”

“Sheis where you puteverything,” he bit out, impatient and angry, maybe more because he hadn’treally understood what would happen than at me. “You stuffed all your pain andrage and grief into that part of yourself, and that is what I have freed.”

“She’s twisted up because ofher hobbling,” I denied, trying to shove him away.

“Youtwisted your wolf,”he told me, grim and determined. “You have to understand that, Kait. I allowedyou to shift. Now you have to rid your wolf of all the poison. You will neverbe free unless you do.”

“I’m not—”

“Damn you, Kait.” He grabbed myface and forced me to look at him. “You did this. Your rage was blacker thananything I’ve ever seen, and it will destroy you if you don’t accept it, andthen let it go.”

God. He was right.

I threw my head back andscreamed, a scream that ended in a moan of grief and agony, all the agony thathad been inside me for twelve years. He was right, and I knew it. I’d stuffedall my pain into my wolf, and that had made it bearable, despite the huge agonyof my constant physical pain. That pain hadn’t only been because of my hobbledwolf. That pain had been because I’d stuffed everything inside and it had grownand grown with no outlet, until tonight. Tonight, when I’d tried to kill thealpha.

And I understood somethingelse, all at once, and it was staggering. Since birth, I’d been groomed toshove down my feelings. To suck it up. To not be a “princess.” What else was Igoing to do with all the emotions I was never allowed to feel?

“My father,” I cried suddenly,my voice raw and my heart breaking all over again. “Oh, God, mydad.”And then I was breaking down, sobbing as I remembered, and it was as though Iwere that young teen again, stoically and helplessly watching my formidable, invinciblefather die as my mother screamed and begged and the pack jeered and called fordeath.

I just hadn’t understood howvery much it had fucked me up.

As Jared held me, all I coulddo was cry and repeat the same thing. “Mydad.”

“Your dad,” he murmuredfinally, “was a monster, Kaity.”

That anyone would believe my saintly,strong father was a monster was such a foreign concept that I couldn’t evencomprehend it. Not yet.

But it helped me regain somecontrol, and I forgot about my own woes when I really saw the alpha’s direphysical condition. And I noticed the subtle withdrawal in his eyes. He’dunderstood why my mad wolf had attacked him—even when I hadn’t—but he was fadinga little too fast, and that should not have happened at all.