by Lucy Lyons
I leaned against the crumbling stone wall behind me and howled too, shifting into my wolfman form and shaking off the ringing in my ears. Vash ignored me, slowly advancing on Ashlynn while she backed away, pelting him with rocks big enough to kill a man as she pushed Caroline behind her. Energy crackled around my mate and my friend, and I knew Caroline would shield Ashlynn from an attack as long as she could, using her magic and the earth around them.
The howls of my pack drew closer, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hunter make it back to his feet, his gun pointed in Ashlynn’s direction. He met my eyes with a defiant glare and fired as I watched with horror, too far from him or the women to stop him. The Quetzalcoatl screeched as the bullet hit him in the upper arm, and I gaped at the young man, who saluted and kept firing, drawing the monster back to him.
The wolves were racing across the plateau toward us, weaving and then splitting into two groups like we would for the hunt, the fastest and strongest running straight at their target while the second group veered off and disappeared around the edge of a small outcropping of rock.
I motioned the hunter toward me and shifted, the gun belt hanging awkwardly on my taller, leaner frame and the shoulder holster finally ripping through and falling to the ground. The man glanced quickly between, us and I saw his throat move as he gulped hard and ran toward my position then flattened himself to the ground when he saw me lunged forward. The creature was almost on him before I pushed off the ground and barreled into it, slamming us both into the ground behind the prostrate hunter and then leaping free as those vicious, venomous talons swept past my face.
The first wolf struck from behind, dancing away before Vash could strike, and then a second and a third, always moving, snapping their jaws and herding Vash back toward the edge of the cliff. They kept pushing forward in a half circle until I saw movement among the hunters who were almost flanking us. Silently, I ordered the pack to back off as more hunters found their feet and guns, and by the time the first shot was fired, my pack was heading back to the safety of the city walls.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I grabbed the hunter nearest to me and followed my pack to the city, throwing him over my shoulder in a fireman carry. He lifted himself up enough to keep shooting, nearly deafening me as the gun went off next to my ear, but waited to reload until I set him down inside the wall with the wererats and the members of my pack who had stayed behind to protect them.
Ashlynn suggested Caroline take the hunter with her back to Simi and Somayo, and I nodded my agreement, preferring not to attempt speaking through my muzzle to a scared kid with a gun, while Bernie checked in with each pack member in wolf form, ensuring none had been scratched during their encounter with Vash.
Maria, if you can hear me, we have Vash on the plateau and we’re luring him inside the city, I sent my thoughts as far as I could reach, just in case she’d waited to hear from me, but hoping that she’d already crossed over to Fairy to heal Jasiri. The wolves watched me, waiting for direction, and I climbed up the falling wall to survey the Venatores position compared to Vash. At least four were trapped behind the boulders they’d been using for their ambush while Vladikk and two others were keeping Vash at bay, laying down suppressing fire just ahead of the creature’s tail.
“I need volunteers to bring the hunters to safety,” I growled, and several wolves trotted to my side. I directed most of them to the boulder, and they slipped away down a crack in the surface of the plateau to wind their way to the trapped hunters. I motioned the last three to follow me, and we ran straight across the top of the plateau, my companions howling to draw Vash’s attention to them while I ran for the hunters.
The creature swung around and whipped his tail, his small, outstretched wings glinting white in the silvery light from the giant full moon that hung in the sky over us. A flash of fur from the crevices across the plateau from us, and I could see black-clad Venatores hunters astride my packmates, disappearing back into the divide. My heart clenched in my chest, and I prayed that my people wouldn’t pay the ultimate price for helping our enemies, but I didn’t have the chance to follow them back to the city and make sure they were alive and well.
Bereft of his primary targets, Vash whirled on Agnarrson and his companion, driving them back to an outcropping of rock not far from where I’d been pinned. They kept him at bay with sprays of bullets at the ground immediately ahead of him, but his sidewinding movements pushed them back, and neither was carrying full ammo on their belts.
Silently, I directed my companions to circle around behind Vash, and I bolted for Agnarrson’s side, picking up a dropped Beretta on the way. It was too small and unwieldy for my shifted hands, so I tossed it to the hunter as I approached and shifted behind a rock, cinching my shorts in a little tighter, grateful that they’d survived, and making a mental note to buy several more pair when I got home.
“My packmates will distract Vash, but I’m not going to sacrifice them for you, Vladikk. When I say run, you run like hell and don’t look back, or I’ll pass you and leave you behind. Are we clear?” I growled the words at him but he stared back unfazed, hesitating for a moment before he nodded.
“I’ll get to the wall. You just worry about yourself.” He motioned his partner ahead of him, and I picked up another rifle, aiming at the dirt between Vash and my wolves. I fired, and they jumped back, glancing at me. I waved them back adding a silent command to retreat and find Ashlynn inside the city wall. They backed up briefly, but before I could make another move, Callie, a cinnamon wolf like Ashlynn, spun around and attacked Vash, nipping at his sinuous torso and yipping at him. As soon as she attacked, the males with her followed suit, leaving me no choice but to attack from my flank position since shooting at him only endangered my people.
With a curse, I shifted again, wavering for a moment from the energy drain of shifting back and forth without resting between. I heard the soft tearing of fabric, and Agnarrson chuckled, grinning broadly at me when I glared at him.
“Sorry, mate. It never occurred to me some of the less exciting issues of being a shapeshifter.” I glanced at the tear up the side of the shorts.
“My ass is covered. Be grateful.” He laughed again and raised his micro 9mm in both hands.
“I’ll cover you, and when you attack, I’ll head toward the city.” I nodded then sent a silent admonishment and repeated my command for them to withdraw. The only remaining Venatores hunter clutched his rifle to his chest and gulped then leaned out from behind his cover and shot at Vash, bullets glancing off his natural armor but driving him back a few feet.
Vladikk and I glanced at each other and without the need for words. The rapport we’d developed over dozens of missions we’d run together kicked in, and we changed the plan. I leaped out from behind my meager shelter and roared at the Fae prince, my long lupine legs eating the distance between us. Gunfire sounded behind me and my chest constricted again, thinking of the ways that Agnarrson could take me out now that I couldn’t protect myself. None of the bullets hit me or Vash, but between the gunplay and my attack, we were able to swing him around and place me between him and my packmates.
Vash struck out at me, his body whooshing across the ground with only a whisper of sound as he attacked, and I dodged to the side and rolled out of his way, coming around again to back him up still farther with the aid of the rifles behind me. The cliff was in sight, and I shed the tattered shorts and shifted to full wolf form, leaping from one side to the other, avoiding his bird talons as my jaws snapped just short of his wings. Up close, they were leathery in appearance, silver, but not scaly like the rest of him. Weaker than the armor that the scales provided over his arms and torso.
I shifted to the other side again and snapped at the other wing and felt a bullet whiz past my head as I dropped and rolled out of range of the creature’s whipping tail. Another leap over his body and another bullet just above my head.
No way Agnarrson would’ve missed twice, I thought to myself and chose to ignore
the man shooting behind me to twist the serpent around on himself again, dancing out of the way of his poisonous talons as they swept past the fur of my throat. The beast in me roared, and I let it out, challenging Vash even as I turned him sideways again, hoping Agnarrson had understood my purpose. A bullet tore through the delicate, veiny skin of his wings and Vash screeched his pain heavenward, giving me the chance to race toward him and swipe at his snout.
Bullets started pelting the ground around me, and I backed away, letting Agnarrson and his fellow hunter continue pushing Vash toward the cliff edge. I heard howls from the wolves as they made it over the crumbling outer city walls and nudged Agnarrson, telling him that it was time to retreat for real. He kept shooting, and with a growl I grabbed his sleeve in my teeth and tugged hard enough to send his next shots wide.
“Get down,” he snarled and batted at me. I dodged and bumped him with my head, shoving him backward before whirling on Vash and beginning our dance again, snapping and spinning to avoid the whipping tail and swinging claws. “I’m not going back without you, wolf. You don’t get to refuse me my right to kill you by dying out here.”
A spray of bullets flew over my back and Vash screamed again, backing closer to the edge of the plateau with each flash of full the metal jackets against his steely hide. “Those should’ve blown a hole in him you could see through!” his companion gasped, and I agreed that it was a bad sign for us.
I let my legs elongate and watched my moon shadow grow taller under me as I shifted again, using my tallest form to continue fighting. “Agnarrson, retreat or I will leave you behind,” I growled, flinching at the answering spray of gunfire just to my right that kicked up stones and dust.
He snorted at me and laid more cover fire just ahead of me. “You worry about yourself. I have my own work to do.” One more short burst of gunfire turned Vash away from me again, and I backpedaled as his tail whipped at my head. I grabbed it with both hands, digging my claws in for purchase between the hard scales as I flung the tail toward the cliff with all my strength.
Vash slid and recovered but not before Agnarrson and the other hunter advanced, pelting him with rounds from their semi-automatic handguns. I picked up an abandoned rifle and tossed it to Vladikk and made one last rush at Vash, aiming low on his eight-foot plus frame to throw him off balance. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder just as Agnarrson yelled, and a second later he flew into me, sending us both careening off to one side as the creature’s claws swished past my muzzle.
The hunter let out a low grunt and slid off my back, hissing as he held his shoulder, a thick gush of blood seeping through his fingers and oozing with metallic sweetness and the now familiar tang of poison.
I yanked him to his feet and threw his arm over my shoulder, grateful that he was tall enough to support without carrying him. I was saving his hide and thinking ahead to what I might have to do to save him from the venom now working its way toward his heart.
We staggered past the hunter I didn’t know, and watched as he fired a micro 9mm at Vash until he slid over the edge of the cliff, his face contorted in not fear but anger and frustration. “He’s not dead, is he?” Agnarrson asked hopefully, and I waggled my head in the negative.
“Good news, bad news, right?” I scoffed, wondering when my Fae backup was going to arrive to claim their prince.
“What’s the bad news?” Agnarrson gasped as he stumbled over some loose shale and dropped the muscle and skin he was still trying to hold in place on his upper arm.
“Same as the good, hunter. We’re going to get another chance at him. We’ll probably die, but at least we won’t have to explain to the outcast queen of the Fae how we lost her son.” He groaned, and I knew it was only partly at my lame humor. I could feel his body temperature rising as we approached the outer wall and lifted him over with the help of his companion.
He patted the other man on the shoulder as we set him down inside the remnants of a building just inside the inner wall. “Thanks, Cole. You really held your own out there.”
Cole mumbled something about it not being a problem. He seemed uncomfortable with the praise, and when I could see his face, I understood why. He was as green as a Venatores could be, his eyes full to the brim with fear as he tried to understand what he’d just witnessed and fought.
Glancing around the broken hut at the other hunters, I couldn’t find one who looked like he was legal drinking age. There had always been more men in the Venatores ranks than women, but there wasn’t a single feminine face in the lot, which was also disconcerting. Sophia was nowhere to be seen, even though action by the Venatores smelled tainted by her ineptitude. Agnarrson had been so blinded by whatever spell or promises of sex she held over him that he’d let her maneuver him into a corner he almost hadn’t made it out of.
I watched his men try to make him comfortable even as they shied away from the smell that was emanating from his wound and amended my last thought. She’d killed him. He just didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Caroline stepped in, shooing the younger men away and examining Agnarrson’s wound for herself. The look in her eyes told me the purulence had spread to the point of no return. Nick and Ashlynn stood with me as she attempted to make him as comfortable as possible, and the master vampire rubbed the back of his neck in a human gesture of dismay that startled me.
He scratched his chin and surveyed the young hunters watching us care for their mentor. “Are we going to give him the choice we made for Somayo?” He glanced at me, and I schooled my face as blank as I could.
“Is that really an option?”
“We can’t let him die and save Somayo, Clay,” Ashlynn interjected.
I scoffed and turned my back to Agnarrson and Caroline. “The hell we can’t.”
“We need him to help us keep the hunters in check. They don’t trust Somayo and Simi. Didn’t you see the way they stared back at camp?” While my mate had a point, the thought of giving Vladikk and all the prejudices he brought with him even more power turned my stomach.
“He’ll never choose to live as an abomination like we are,” I hissed. “Why give him the room to insult the honor of the shifters or suggest to his hunters that we’re trying to corrupt him?”
Nick gripped my shoulder and winked then carefully knelt by the big hunter’s side. He spoke, and Vladikk mouthed words he was too weak to say aloud then found me with his gaze and our eyes met. Nick nodded and stood, brushing himself off before giving me a shrug.
It’s you he wants to do the deed, Clay, Caroline’s thoughts rang out in my head. I always knew that righteous indignation of his was only skin deep, she added, sending me an image of her rolling her eyes. I ducked my head to hide a smile. It wasn’t for the hunter, and I didn’t want him thinking that I relished the thought of my power saving the life one of the few creatures on the planet I’d been waiting to send off to the Maker.
“You want to live, Agnarrson?” I called out so his “men” could hear me. He nodded, and I sighed. “I can’t promise you won’t be infected by this . . . this power,” I continued. “I can save you, but there’s a chance you’ll be something else when you’ve finished healing. Maybe Nick would be better . . .”
“No,” he wheezed, trying to sit up. “No vampires.” Caroline helped him to sit up, her face calm, almost serene, even though she was caring for a man who’d helped others try to assassinate her. Hell, he’d probably planned most of the attempts on her life himself. “I’ll take my chances with becoming a wolf. Then at least I’ll know we had a fair fight when I kill you.”
I turned to glare at Nick, growling low in my throat at the tic I saw in the corner of his eye as he tried to hide his mirth. “It’s not worth it, man. It really isn’t.”
“Look at the bright side, Clay. Maybe he’ll die heroically, saving us all from the end of the world,” Caroline offered sweetly. I glanced at her, my lips pressed in a thin line.
“We should be so lucky,” I muttered without smiling
. Agnarrson just moaned in reply, clutching his arm to his side and turning over to vomit on the rough stone floor next to him. Caroline shrugged at me, her eyes filled with equal parts sympathy and rebuke. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me as I forced my body into the wolfman shape of horror movies.
I bowed to the young Venatores in the room, and the one I’d carried over the wall bowed even deeper. Upon examination, I could see that Vash had actually caught Vladikk over the heart before scraping the flesh away from his arm. The skin rolled back from his ribs like he’d been dragged over a giant straight razor but wasn’t as full of blood and pus as his arm, leaving the striated muscle and peek-a-boo ribcage almost clean compared to the limb next to it.
With a sigh that I knew barely touched the surface of the self-pity I felt, I took Agnarrson’s uninjured forearm in my hands and raised it to my mouth, curling back my lips from my fangs. There were gasps from the far side of the little hut, and I glanced at Nick for reassurance that he’d handle the hunters if they got testy about me defiling their leader. The vampire master nodded at me and moved between his wife and the hunters, leaving Ashlynn cover my back from anyone, or anything, that might come through the open doorway.
I lifted the arm to my mouth and scraped my teeth along the tender flesh on softer skin on the inside of it, turning it over so I could watch his pulse jump just beneath the surface of his swarthy skin. Vladikk flinched and let out a hiss as his other shoulder banged against the ground.
