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"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
^^^^^^
She could do this.
It was a simple enough plan—and yet, Erica Reyes knew there would be nothing simple about it. Fear sat on the tip of tongue, as bitter as an aspirin waiting to be swallowed. It possessed a sharp, acidic flavor that made her mouth water in the way that it does when you’re about to be sick, while her eyes burned with a stinging wash of gathering tears. She willed them back with the sheer stubborn force of her will, reminding herself again and again that she wasn’t one to cower.
She was going to die here and she knew it. She knew it all too well.
She hated feeling this powerless.
Unable to fight. Unable to control what was happening to her. She spent almost all of her life like that. Forced to bow down to her disease, feeling she like she couldn’t even control her own body. Dying during one of her seizures, was her greatest fear.
She wasn’t afraid of death, just not dying on her own terms.
When Derek offered her the bite, she jumped on it. Finally, she would be able to be in control. She would never feel that powerlessness again. When Derek gave her the bite she felt unstoppable. She felt ten feet tall and bulletproof. Now all that perfection, all that beautiful control, just fell to crap.
She was going to die in the way she had always feared.
The Alpha pack was taking her control away from her. Turning her into a monster of their own making. They were going to force her to kill her own pack, to kill Boyd, or be killed herself.
She closed her eyes as the screams echoed around the steel walls. The sound bounced, splintering through the cavernous area and slicing through the senses of those forced to listen. There was no place for the sound to go, no cracks, no ventilation to the outside. There was no way for it to dissipate easily. The sound ricocheted from wall to wall and from ceiling to floor before making the return trip to blend with the continued agonizing sounds.
The screams echoed around the cavernous room again, filled with pain, fear and the knowledge that time had run out and there was no escape.
Boyd knew what was going to happen, what they were going to make them do. She could smell it on him. His scent was stronger. Mixed with the dark fear.
Boyd’s scent always reminded her of summer warmth, of comfort, and contentment. Of happiness. Of love. But now it was only the acrid stench of aggression. Feral and thick, the heavy scent closed around her like a physical vise at times, banding her chest, making it difficult to draw enough air into her lungs. Little by little she was watching them destroy Boyd. Stripping everything, she loved about him away.
That was why she had to do this. She would give her life—she would give her soul—for Boyd. She was going to give him a chance to live the life he deserved.
The screaming stopped and Erica waited with baited breath for the vault door to open. The torturing was getting shorter for Boyd. Eric knew what that meant. The Alpha Pack knew they had him, that they had broken. They only tortured Boyd now to feed this aggression, to remind him of the monster he was.
When the vault opened, they just tossed Boyd back in like a toddler tosses a broken toy. His dark skin was smeared with blood and grime. His chest and legs were bloodied with deep, raw-looking wounds, which she knew had come from painful claw swipes; his left shoulder was a mangled, bloodied mess from where one of the Alpha pack had latched on with its jaws, ripping into the skin and muscles with their lethally sharp fangs. Boyd’s flesh was torn in more places than not, vicious claw marks on the side of his throat, down his arms, his abdomen. The gaping wound in his shoulder was seeping, and a pool began to form beneath his unconscious body. Erica brushed her fingers against his check, her hand slipping and trailing down the column of his throat, until she placed her palm against the raging beat of his heart.
Her vision blurred by tears, as she pressed her lips to his temple, his skin cool. She blinked impatiently at the hot tears that wouldn’t stop falling. And then she could see Cora settling on her knees in front of her, her gentle voice telling her it was now or never. They had to do this while Boyd was still unconscious. He would have ripped Cora to shreds.
Erica needed one more minute though. She needed more time. Erica pressed her mouth against the tender shell of Boyd’s ear, and whispered all the things she wanted to say to him, the emotion pouring out of her in a broken, rambling stream of words.
She only wished that she’d had the guts to say them sooner…when he could have heard them.
With one last kiss, Erica stands with a jerky nod of her head. Cora follows her up.
“Promise me your going to watch out for him. Stick with him. Make sure he lives no matter the cost?”
Cora’s emotionless brown eyes meet hers and she nods. “I promise. I’ll protect him with my life.”
Cora’s steady heart beat lets Erica know she can let go now. “Thank you.”
Cora’s lips twitch, the question of the tip of her tongue but Erica cuts her off with her a warning growl.
If Erica is going to die here, she is going to de on her own terms. She is going to give Boyd a fighting chance. Cora gives a short nod and a small smile. It is the first smile Erica has even seen from the older girl.
She’s ready now.
All Erica ever wanted was to live, to belong, and to be loved. Boyd gave of her all of that. And in return, she would give him everything she had left to give.
It wasn’t the life Erica had imagined for herself, nor the ending she would have wanted. Oddly enough, she feels happy though. She would be remembered. Boyd would have a chance to live and get out of life what he always wanted.
She had the family and friends she had spent her whole life longing for. It was short lived, but Erica knows now she is loved. She had a place to belong and that means that world to her.
She closes her eyes and she feels at peace.
When Cora snaps her neck, Erica dies with a smile on her face.