Xander

by Dana Archer

  A whoosh sounded. Elias’s body jerked. He fell forward and smacked into the ground with a loud whack. The connection Xander had forced open shattered as Elias lost consciousness.

  Cursing, Xander whipped his head toward the Ulgran shifter. The other male held a gun. The moment his finger flexed, pulling the trigger, Xander ducked. The whizz of the bullet echoed in his ear. He rolled, avoiding the second shot and the third, then shoved to his feet as a fourth bullet slammed into the ground next to him. A second shooter had fired.

  The bullet lodged into Xander’s neck before he could move. A sharp bite of pain registered, followed by numbness. His legs gave out. He crashed into the ground but didn’t feel the impact. He didn’t feel anything.

  His body was turned over. James stared down at him. “You should feel honored, alpha of the Winchester pack. Your death will make the single shifters immortal. For that, you will be remembered, not for the sacrilege you’ve caused by mating a human and another male.”

  Three more shots slammed into his chest. He didn’t feel their impact, but the scent of his blood thickened in the air. The injuries wouldn’t keep him down long. The only question remained was whether Xander’s body would repair itself before Elias recovered from his wounds.

  Vlad tore his gaze from the old mining village at the bottom of the hill to study the delicate yet resilient woman in his arms. Eyes pinched and lips pressed into a thin line, Gwen rubbed at her throat, then moved her hand to her chest. Vlad would’ve done the same had he not been carrying Gwen. A slight twinge had settled over him, making it hard to breathe.

  She raised her gaze to his and whispered, “I think Xander’s been hurt.”

  From the odd sensation afflicting him, Vlad would assume the same thing. His reactions paled in comparison to what he suspected Gwen felt. Had he not been watching Gwen, he might not have noticed it.

  Vlad pressed his lips to her ear. “As long as you still feel him, he’s alive.”

  She nodded.

  He would’ve liked to soothe her more, but time was against them. The full moon would reach its peak in less than five minutes. He turned his attention to the barren town. For several moments, nothing moved. The anxiousness of Vlad’s wolves hung over him, however. Something was about to happen. They sensed it. So did he. With the power of the full moon almost at its zenith, a hum of energy hung in the air.

  A door opened in one of the buildings near the abandoned town’s center. A bear shifter emerged with a blood-covered Xander flung over his shoulder.

  Gwen inhaled sharply and fisted Vlad’s shirt but didn’t speak. He didn’t need her to share her worry. Vlad felt the same. Unconscious, Xander wouldn’t be able to defend himself.

  The bear shifter quickened his steps until he jogged into the center of town. Without pausing, he dropped Xander, then fled down a side street.

  The pack made its move.

  One by one, Vlad’s pack mates slipped into the old mining village. Shifters, some in animal form and some in human form, rushed to intercept them. The trap Vlad had anticipated had been sprung. He wanted to join in the fight. Protecting Gwen came first.

  He turned to Corey, who inclined her head, then to Xane. Xander’s twin held out his arms to accept Gwen. They’d guard her with their lives. Vlad didn’t doubt their loyalty for a second. Gwen was their alpha female.

  Gwen’s eyes widened as she likely guessed at his intentions, then narrowed in a murderous glare. He wanted to apologize for leaving her behind, but couldn’t. The sounds of fighting and the snarls of animals from below grew louder.

  Without wasting another breath, Vlad handed Gwen to Xane. She didn’t speak, but the look in her eyes said it all. She’d give him a piece of her mind when they were alone. He couldn’t wait. Her anger directed on him would mean they’d survived this fight. He’d take her verbal lashing willingly.

  Vlad turned and ran toward the run-down, neglected town. Roofs had collapsed on some of the buildings, and windows were missing on other structures. From any of those open spaces, a gun could be poised and ready to shoot. One bullet would be enough to end Gwen’s life.

  If anyone had followed his descent, they could retrace his steps and find Gwen.

  Cursing, Vlad changed direction. He’d have to come in from a different angle. It’d waste time, but the minutes lost wouldn’t matter if Gwen died before he could get to Xander.

  Another door opened farther down the street, revealing Eli. A kilt, similar to the one Xander wore, covered the lower half of Eli’s body, and metal-pronged bracelets circled Eli’s wrists, neck, and ankles. Designed to sever a body part if a shifter embraced his animal form, the torture devices were popular in shifter fights and shifter prisons. The prongs could also be filled with drugs to incapacitate a shifter or…

  Alter his mind.

  Molly had warned him of the danger—magic, mind-altering drugs, and the power of the full moon.

  Vlad swept his gaze over the buildings. No signs of life showed, but he’d bet a witch or warlock hid somewhere close, waiting to take possession of the orb that would temporarily house the Winchester spirit if Vlad and his pack mates failed. He wouldn’t be able to differentiate between a human and a witch either. There were no outward differences. He’d have to assume any human working with their enemy was a possible threat.

  A memory skipped across his mind. The human he’d killed outside the house Reno had taken Xander and Gwen to after the hunt in Canada. He could’ve been a warlock, not simply a corrupted human, who’d been waiting to get his hands on Xander.

  Vlad had questioned why the Ulgran clan had fought so hard to stop them from escaping. Xander’s possible reasoning about the man Gwen wanted to save never really felt right.

  Vlad finally had an answer that made sense. They’d wanted to get their hands on Xander. Not Gwen. The realization didn’t help Vlad today, though. They’d walked into this trap. Now they had to survive it.

  He turned his focus to Eli. The male Vlad hadn’t laid eyes on in over a century held the fate of the Winchester pack in his hands, and Eli had been pumped full of mind-altering drugs.

  Eli rotated his wrists and scanned the street, looking left then right. His gaze skipped over those fighting shifters around him. Either he didn’t see them or the sight of his pack mates engaging with his guards and handlers meant nothing to Eli. His gaze zeroed in on where Xander lay crumpled on the ground near a large stone fountain in the center of the town’s square.

  Baring his fangs, Eli stalked toward his alpha.

  Xander rolled to his side, then slowly pushed to his feet. Eli made a raw, animalistic sound and charged him.

  “No!” Vlad ran forward, pushing his body to its limit.

  The glowing, translucent walls of the ceremonial circle rose and formed a dome over the town’s center, locking Xander and Eli inside, where they’d fight to the death in an alpha challenge, the ultimate death match.

  Vlad had failed.

  He rammed his fist into the magical barrier enclosing the challengers. Sparks ignited, and energy whipped through him. The walls locking Xander and his little brother inside didn’t waver, however. Nothing would break the barrier until the spirit of the pack had been peacefully transferred to a new host or one of the opponents inside the circle died.

  Or if the one-hour window marking the peak of the full moon passed without a change in leadership.

  Vlad had never heard of such a thing happening, but for the brothers locked inside the circle, it’d be their only hope.

  Xander’s mouth moved as he no doubt tried to get through to Eli. Vlad couldn’t hear Xander’s words. The magical barrier prevented him from interacting with the two males inside the ring. This was their fight. All Vlad could do was watch from the outside.

  The low grunt clued Gwen in to the danger surrounding them. She jerked her gaze to the woods. The full moon cast enough light for her to see the three shifters in their bear forms and several others in their human forms.

  They’d been
found. Or more likely, the bear shifters had seen Vlad running toward the town and decided to retrace his steps to see what or who he’d left in the woods. If it were her, she’d want to know what potential trap surrounded her too.

  “James.” Corey growled the name. She advanced on the lankiest of the shifters who’d remained in his human form.

  The man reminded Gwen of a shady businessman, not a vicious shifter. Looks could be deceiving, though. Gwen understood that more than most.

  James raised his hands in a placating gesture. “There’s no need for violence. Accept this punishment, and maybe the goddesses will have mercy on your souls and—”

  Corey leapt at James. Her body transformed mid-leap into a pure white wolf. Her tattered clothes fluttered around her. She slammed into the shifter at the same time he embraced his animal form. His larger gray wolf form hit the ground, then rolled out from under Corey’s wolf. She went after him, not giving him a chance to retaliate. They snarled and snapped at each other, neither giving ground.

  All the while, Xane inched away from the fight. He was going to run with Gwen, leaving Corey to fight this battle on her own. No. They weren’t going to abandon her. That wasn’t what a pack did. They fought for each other.

  In the back of Gwen’s mind, she understood that was exactly what Corey and Xane were doing. They would do anything necessary to keep Gwen alive. She was their alpha female. They’d accepted her.

  Gwen slid her hand into her jacket pocket, where she’d stashed the gun Dante had given her before they’d gotten off the plane. He’d warned her to use it for emergencies only. A shot would draw unwanted attention to her. With the drug they’d given her to mask her scent, their goal had been to keep her as hidden as possible. Too late for that. She’d been spotted, and if she didn’t act, Corey would pay for Gwen’s life with her own.

  Two of the bears who’d flanked James lunged at Corey’s wolf. She evaded both attempts at taking her head, but James used the slight distraction to tear a hunk of flesh form Corey’s flank. She snarled and spun on James while one of the bears whacked her to the ground with his massive paw.

  With Gwen still in his arms, Xane turned, blocking her view of the fight, and ran.

  Gwen rammed her elbow into Xane’s chest, then smacked her head against his chin. His arms loosened around her on a low grunt. Her chest constricted on a wave of guilt for causing him pain, but she didn’t have time to argue with Xander’s twin or convince him to stay and help Corey.

  Time was against them.

  Gwen shoved from Xane’s arms and landed on her bottom on the snow-covered ground. A jolt of pain shot up her spine. She ignored it and Xane’s curse.

  Scrambling to her hands and knees, Gwen pushed from the ground and ran toward where Corey fought among the other shifters. Several other males headed her way. They blocked her from Corey. They had to die.

  Gwen flicked the safety switch on the gun, raised it, and fired at the closest shifter. Red exploded from the center of his face. He fell back. Dead or not? The shifter wasn’t moving. That was all Gwen cared about.

  She turned and shot at the next shifter. The bullet hit him in the chest. He stumbled but didn’t go down. Instead, he shifted into a wolf and charged her. Xane intercepted him.

  With his human arms wrapped around the wolf’s body, Xane rolled with the other shifter away from Gwen. He twisted the animal’s head, then tore it from its body in a show of superior strength. He tossed the bloody wolf head, then faced her. “Go, you stubborn woman. Aim for their heads.”

  She didn’t need to be told twice. Gwen pushed to her feet, grateful her legs didn’t feel like jelly any longer, and ran. Xane flanked her, then lunged for another shifter who raised his own gun, aiming in her direction. The gun went off. Gwen couldn’t see what happened, but the sounds of smacking bodies and grunts reassured her Xane hadn’t been taken out even if he had been shot. Royals could withstand a lot.

  The sight of Corey holding her ground against a wolf and a bear proved their pack’s resilience and strength. Gwen took comfort in that, knowing both Xander and Vlad would have those traits aiding them against their enemies, too. She pushed back the worry for her mates and focused on the scene in front of her.

  A second bear, the same black one that had knocked Corey down with its paw, lay unmoving several feet away from where Corey snapped at the wolf. The brown bear circled behind Corey. She turned, a likely attempt to keep both her enemies in her line of vision. The wolf and bear countered her, forcing her to back up in order to avoid being cornered.

  They were playing with her. Gwen had seen the fighters in the compound where she’d been kept do the same thing right before they ended their prey’s life. It was as much a mental attack as a physical one.

  Gwen dropped to her knees and raised the gun. The shifters’ rapid movements made it hard to focus on the fight. Gwen’s arms trembled and her pulse raced as fear slithered through her. She had to take the shot. She understood that. If she missed, though, Corey might get hurt. Being injured beat losing her head, though.

  Holding her breath, Gwen pressed the trigger. The kickback jerked her arm. She steadied it and fired again. Bits and pieces of the enemy wolf’s head sprayed over Corey’s white fur. Gwen’s stomach rolled, and bile rushed up. She choked but didn’t have time to wallow in her disgust. The bear shifted into a huge man. One look into his scarred face and the memory of failing Molly and being kidnapped by this man returned in a rush.

  Anger whipped through her. Gwen tightened her grip on the gun and fired, over and over, until the demented face of her captor matched that of the wolf who’d attacked Corey.

  A scream from the village below yanked Gwen’s gaze from the mutilated body of the man she’d just killed to the scene playing out several hundred feet away. A hazy dome enclosed Xander and Eli. Vlad pounded on the surface but didn’t break through it.

  Gwen didn’t need to be told what had happened. She could guess. They were too late.

  “Eli doesn’t recognize Xander.” A naked Corey bent down next to Gwen.

  Although too far away to see their faces, Gwen recognized the predatory gait Eli took as he circled Xander. Eli was looking for his prey’s weakness while giving the onlookers a show. He’d been trained to do so. His handlers punished him if he delivered the killing blow too soon. People wanted blood and to see the losing opponent fight for his life, then beg once he realized he was going to die. They expected that from Killer’s matches.

  Nobody gathered around the shimmering dome, however. Only Vlad stood nearby. The other members of the Winchester pack fought the handlers and guards from the compound where she’d been kept.

  “Eli doesn’t see anything. He’s in the zone.” Killer had explained it to Gwen once. When faced with death, he gave himself over to his primal instincts, the ones that would allow him to do anything to survive.

  Deadly, sharpened nails tipped Eli’s modified claws. He flexed them, piercing his own palms before lunging at Xander. Ducking, Xander evaded the blow, then swung his leg out. Eli tripped, landing on his knees, then hopped to his feet a moment later. He leapt again at Xander, who rolled to avoid Eli.

  “Without his hands, Xander won’t be able to stop him. Our alpha will die.” Corey’s words held anguish.

  Vlad and the others had talked about this possibility and said the same thing. Only waiting out the hour window would allow both Xander and Eli to walk out of the circle alive. No other shifter could enter.

  But she wasn’t a shifter.

  She was a human. Possibilities of what that meant skipped through her mind. She didn’t have time to consider them. Several shifters, some in animal form and some in human form, approached the dome. One of them, a man who towered over Vlad, drew a sword from the sheath on his back and advanced on where Vlad stood next to the circle.

  Gwen pointed with a shaky hand. “You need to stop them.”

  “How many bullets do you have left?”

  “Enough until Xane can get to me,
” Gwen lied. The gun had clicked empty as she’d shot the scarred bear who’d captured her all those months ago.

  Corey glanced over her shoulder. “Won’t matter. There’s Xane now.”

  Gwen followed the direction of Corey’s gaze. Xander’s twin rushed forward, but another shifter emerged from the woods, drawing Xane’s rage. He turned on the other male and attacked him. It wouldn’t take him long to eliminate his enemy. Once Xane got to her, she wouldn’t get free. “Go, go, Corey! Vlad can’t die!”

  Corey shifted into a black wolf, another one of the animals she housed, and bolted toward Vlad. Gwen caught sight of Dante rushing toward Vlad from the other side, but she didn’t wait to make sure they’d get to him. She trusted in them to act. She had to do the same. She turned her back on Xane and ran full-out toward the shimmering dome.

  Xane yelled her name, followed by Vlad. She pushed her body harder. The wall blocking her from Xander and Eli loomed before her. She had no idea what would happen once she hit it, but only knew she had to cross the barrier. Everything depended on it.

  Chapter 43

  The sword-wielding bear shifter brought the heavy blade down in a swooping arc meant to sever Vlad’s head. Leaning backward, Vlad evaded the blow and slammed his clawed hand into the male’s stomach. A downward tug ripped the shifter open, but having his guts spilling out didn’t stop the other male. He twisted the sword in an attempt to impale Vlad.

  Cursing, Vlad arched his body to avoid the tip of the blade, but the exaggerated move left him off-balance. He stumbled. The few seconds allowed the other shifter the chance to swing the blade again, this time aiming for Vlad’s heart.

  A hard kick from a booted foot knocked the blade away before it sliced open Vlad’s chest. Vlad didn’t turn to look at the male who’d arrived to help him. Vlad’s wolves recognized him as pack.

  Vlad landed on the bear shifter and grabbed his head. With a sharp twist, Vlad snapped the male’s neck.