The Falcon Ridge Series Book 4: Art of a Girl

(Chapter song ‘One Last Battle’ by Edgar Hopp)

BASTIAN

I'm lying in the cot, healing, when my head explodes with Sam's blood curdling scream.

‘BBAASSTTIAANN!!’

I jolt up, holding my head. ‘Ah! Sammy?’ I fight through the and try to link back. She hasn’t been able to link she we got back and now I’m really freaked. If she punched through like that, something's wrong.

After getting no response back, I leave the medic tent and run to find River.

I finally find him being helped by Jayson into the camp with a open bite on his side.

"Fuck. You, ok?" I bend down and inspect it. Its bad, but he’ll live.

He winces. "I will be."

I stand straight and give them a serious look. "Listen. Sam's in trouble. I have to go."

"Wait? How do you know?" Jayson asks.

"She screamed through the link. I have no time. I have to go now." I say urgently.

"I'll go with you." Jayson says.

We drop River off with the medics and shift. We tear through the trees at lightning speed back to Black Rock. I call my wolf power and send it all to my legs. I need to make it there as fast as I can. As wolves with no gear, we can go as fast as a car, if not faster, and make it under two hours as long as nothing gets in our way.

Please be ok, I beg over and over as my paws grip and dirt flies from them. I twist left and right through the trunks and leap over obstacles with ease. The wind is rushing by me as my wolf pants hard.

A bark comes from behind me and Jayson is coming up on my left. He powers along side me as we cut through the trees like missiles.

As I run, I glance up at the moon. It’s higher now. My wolf clenches, calls even more stamina and I think, I'm coming, Sammy. He digs in and runs as fast as he can while I stand in the dark of my mind and egg him on.

Almost two hours later, we enter my property and make a beeline for the mansion. As soon as I get close to the door, I shift and run for the house.

"Why is it dark?" I look to Jason as I climb the steps

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good.” He sides eyes me as we approach the door.

“Bastian. Look.” As we step in, I see a pool of blood on the floor.

“Shit! SAMMY?!” I step into the foyer and look around.

Suddenly, I’m hit with her scent and it’s incredibly suffocating, but in a good way. It's like she's standing right under my nose.

I turn my head to my ballroom. "Sammy?"

I rush down the hall with Jayson behind me and throw open the doors. The air is so thick, I can barely breathe. It's also prickling my bare skin. I'd analyze it, but what I saw when I opened the doors had my wolf slam to the surface.

“BASTIAN!”

Sam’s struggling in Chase’s grip as he turns to me and growls.

"Chase.” My eyes fill with murder at the sight of his hands on what's mine. My wolf goes insane and I break into a rage filled run. I get halfway and four Dragons get in my way. I swing at one, connect my left hook to his face and head butt another.

Jayson slams a fist into the gut of one and shoves him into the forth. They fall and slide across the floor.

I wrestle another and I elbow his gut. I grab his head and drive it into my knee. Still holding onto the first guy, I rear kick another Dragon in the head.

Chase tries to drag Sam out of the ballroom, but she knees him in the stomach and tries to run.

“Sam!” I run for her, but I’m grabbed around my waist and sent to the floor. Jayson is pummeled a few feet from me.

Chase grabs her hair. “I don’t fucking think so!” He drags her off as she kicks and screams.

"Bastian! Help me!" Sam cries from the foyer.

"Sam!" I elbow a Dragon in the face and slam another into the floor.

I run out of the ballroom once the Dragons are down. When I get there, Sam is on the floor and Chase is being punched out by Jayson.

I run to Sam, slide and sit on my knees by her side.

“Bastian! Oh god… Thank god…” She cries as I hold her head.

“Are you ok?! Are you hurt?!” I inspect her as I run my hand down her hair.

"No." She chokes.

Once I have confirmation that my girl is alright, I turn my head, snarl my lip, and my eyes glow gold. “You’re so fucking dead, Torrent.”

Before Jayson can throw his next punch, I rush over, grab Chase's shoulder, spin him around and slam a fist into his face. He goes down and skidding across the floor.

"YOU DARE TOUCH WHAT'S MINE?! YOU HURT HER AND FUCKING TRY TO MARK HER?!!” I swear I grew bigger as I stomped toward him. The moon amplified my anger for him as well as my love for Sam. The air became even thicker as I stomp toward him like an angry beast.

"She's not yours! She's nobody's! She not even a fucking shifter!" He says, pulling himself backwards.

"She's MINE!" The floor trembles at the Alpha growl that came out. The glow from my eyes grew more intense. My hair hung in front of half my face and my muscles flex and swell as I move in for the kill.

“You pissed me off, Torrent. Now, you can join dad in hell where you belong.” My tone was extremely dark as I reach down, grab him by the shirt collar and toss him with one arm across the room. His body smashes a mirror and falls to the floor. Glass hits his back and went to step, but yelling outside distracted me.

“BASTIAN, WATCH IT!”

Instantly, the front door is spewing Dragons and I spin on my heels and run. “Jayson!! The ballroom!!”

I quickly grab Sam off her feet and toss her to Jayson who runs. I’m grab by a couple of Dragons and the punches start flying. I throw out lefts and rights, break an arm and a back as I try to fight off the mountain of them.

My front windows smash as River and Luke jump through them to get to me. They land on the floor and start throwing punches, too and I try to retreat back to the ballroom.

“YOU DRAGON FUCKERS ARE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!!” Luke roars as he beats a guy into the floor.

River jumps and kicks a guy in the head and brings a fist down to finish him off. “THE ALLIANCE IS 20 MINITES OUT!” He quickly turns and yells to me.

“OH GREAT!” I growl back and bounce a head off my knee.

A guy grabs my hair and lands a punch to my jaw. I deliver one back and send him to the floor. We fight them off viciously, but the swarm feels like it’s getting bigger and we need to retreat.

“RIV! THE BALLROOM!” I push a guy and he topples a few others over.

“LUKE! RETREAT!” River orders.

“BUT I’M WINNING!” He scowls and throws a fist out.

“BULLSHIT! MOVE!!” I roar back.

We start to back off but then I hear Sam scream.

I spin around and I see Chase come out of the ballroom hallway with Sam in front of him.

“ENOUGH!!”

I see her terrified face and she winces. I see why. Chase has his wolfs claws buried in skin around her throat.

“NOO!!” I lunge for Chase and I’m grabbed and held back. I fight and try to get to Sam, but I’m smothered by arms.

“GET OFF!!”

“WATCH THE HAIR!!”

“WHERE'S JAYSON, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!”

Chase eyes me as his guys hold me down. I have murder on the brain. “One second. That’s all I need, you fucking douche.” I snarl.

He glances at Sam as she whimpers. "You know as pretty as Sam is, she really is more trouble than she's worth. She shouldn't even exist. She's a thing that needs to be put down." He grins at me and in that moment I see Torrent alive and well.

“NOOOOOO!!”

Time slows as he pulls his arm back, spins Sam around to face him and drives his clawed hand into her stomach.

Her body lurches forward and a look of shock fills her face. Her hands grab his and she looks down. He grabs her hair and stares into her eyes as he rips his hand out.

“SAMANTHA!!!” I reach out for and fight back even harder.

"Bastian..." She says weakly as she crumples to the floor.

My body becomes red hot. My rages bubbles over and my eyes fill with tears. My wolf targets Chase and I explode out of all the holds with a growl that shook the entire house.

The Dragons try to grab me as Chase runs for the broken windows. River and Luke break free and start fighting back as I grab Chase around the waist and throw him. He crashes into the wall and I pin him as I throw punch after punch.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!" I hit him with everything I had.

“CLEAR THE AREA! UNITS ON ALL SIDES!”

The House starts to fill with Alliance soldiers and the Battle of Black Rock is now being fought in my foyer.

I slam Chase down on the floor, lay more punches and then stomp the shit out of him. I’m so blacked out, I don’t realize that he’s really dead and I’m just caving in his skull at this point. All my anger is being poured out and my grief is rising to my breaking point.

"Bastian! It's done."

I barely felt the hands on my arms and I kept turning back to crush him more.

“BASTIAN! WE HAVE TO MOVE!!”

River pulls me away just as soldiers and Dragons crash into the wall beside us.

The fighting spills out the door and into my driveway as I turn in a grief stricken daze. I close my eyes, drop to my knees and reach out. I grab Sammy's arm and pull her into my lap as I fight the tears that are welling in my eyes. I wrap my arms and body around her head as she lays limp in them.

I suck in a broken breath and growl out as I hug her tight and shake her. “SAMMM!!” I cry as I hold her and rock her. I raise my head and run my hand down her cheek. “Wake up… Baby doll? Come on… You gotta wake up.” I lean down and place my lips on hers as I try not to cry.

My breath hitches as I break the kiss and place my forehead on hers. "Sam." I choke. "Sammy, please..."

Her eyes open to slits. "Bastian...". She manages.

I raise my head and my mouth hangs open. I can barely breathe as I wipe my face and smile. "Hey…Hey, baby doll.” I hitch as I adjust her in my arms. “We're going to get you help, ok. "

“INCOMING!! DRAGONS ON THE SOUTH LAWN!!”