Well it was too late to worry about that now. He should have considered these factors sooner. Had Blake? If so, he hadn’t said anything.
Mishca’s golden eyes locked on his and he swung his head to his left, indicating where he wanted her to go. She ducked her own head in acknowledgement and turned to pad away, keeping her supple body low to the ground, a kind of motion he’d expect to see in a domestic cat stalking a bird.
Chogan would need to take the two guards poised in the middle, with the hope that Michael would be on alert if he got into trouble. He suspected the soldiers busy with the fence were also armed, though he was unable to see their weapons at the moment. As soon as the military were alerted to the fact they were under attack, Chogan and his team would lose their one advantage and be seriously outnumbered. He also expected, and hoped for the sake of Blake’s team, that soldiers nearby would come to the aid of their friends, so again increasing the number, but hopefully leaving an area unmanned.
He paused, breathing in a huff of air through his nose, centering his self and his wolf guide. They would be lucky to make it out of this alive.
Thank you, my friend, he silently told his wolf. For all you have shown me.
He checked each side of him, making sure the other two were ready, and then above his head where Michael was perched. He hoped Blake was ready with his group.
Making no other sound, he scraped his front paw along the ground, like a horse, or a bull about to charge. The signal to go.
Chogan bounded forward, his eyes locked on the two men directly ahead of him. They spotted him immediately, swinging their weapons in his direction. Predicting the shots, he leapt to one side, avoiding the first round which blasted through the air. To each side of him, both the leopard and the jackal had attacked. Both of their soldiers also fired, both missing. Mischa reached her guy first, leaping through the air at him. He managed to lift his gun and fire another shot, but she landed directly on top of him, knocking him backward, the gun flying from his grip.
Had she been shot? He couldn’t tell. Besides, he had his own problems to deal with. As he reached the two soldiers, the eagle plummeted through the sky, talons outstretched. Michael’s arrival caused chaos, a thrashing of wings, claws, and a lethally sharp beak. The man under attack seemed to forget his weapon, automatically using his arms to ward off the massive, screeching bird.
Chogan took on the other soldier. The man lifted his gun again, pointing it directly at him. Chogan braced himself to be shot, even as he made his attack. The blast was loud, right beside his ear, but Chogan’s attack had put the soldier off, and the wolf hit him straight on. He fell back, Chogan landing on his chest. The helmet the soldier wore protected his face, but he was able to sink his teeth into the place where the man’s shoulder met his neck, and he bit. He didn’t want to have to kill the soldier. The man, or perhaps even boy, was only there because he had been ordered to be. He hoped the bite would keep him down, without needing to end his life for good.
He risked a glance to his side. Danny had also managed to bring a soldier to the ground. The speed at which they had attacked, with no warning, had made this part easy. It was the next part that would be the difficult part, but the most important. This fight needed to continue if it meant they could lure soldiers away from other parts of the perimeter nearby.
The men who had been raising the fence had dropped what they were doing. Some had been able to react more quickly, their hands free to pull their weapons, but others were in the middle of operating heavy machinery—an oversight on the part of their commander—and weren’t able to react so fast. Shots whizzed through the air toward them, hitting the ground with sharp thwacks. A burning sensation appeared in Chogan’s right shoulder and he realized he’d been shot, though he wasn’t sure if it had just happened or if the first soldier had managed to make target. He growled in pain and anger. He wouldn’t let the sons of bitches get away with shooting him.
He set his sights on the nearest man and attacked. The soldier managed to get off another couple of shots, but neither of them hit. Chogan snarled and clamped the man’s arm between his teeth, shaking it like a terrier with a rat. The man quickly let go, screaming in pain. With the gunshot wound still burning in his shoulder, Chogan reacted purely on instinct, an instinct to survive. One fierce bite to the man’s throat put an end to his screaming for good.
Chogan lifted his head, fighting his wolf’s instinct to gorge on the warm flesh and blood. His keen eyes took in the scene. Someone else was on the radio, calling for backup, he assumed. While part of him wanted to take the man out, he knew the call was needed to draw men away from Blake and the others. He just hoped the resources wouldn’t be more than they could handle, though he suspected this was a fight they would lose. Even so, he intended to fight till the very end.
More shots fired and, nearby, Danny yelped in pain. Chogan’s heart sank. He hoped the youngster wasn’t badly hurt, remembering his promise to Lexie.
Michael continued his aerial attack, the confusion and uncertainty about where he would strike next doing as much damage as the physical attack. Shots were fired in the air, but he was an adept flier, darting down, and quickly switching direction.
From the distance, came a mournful howl of a wolf. Blake! Had something happened? Or was he telling him they had made it safely through already?
But even if Blake was safe, Chogan couldn’t just stop the fight, couldn’t call it quits. He was in this until the bloody end.
Another noise filtered through to his ears, a familiar thrum. The call the man had made earlier had also alerted those positioned farther out.
Thorne’s threat of a chopper hadn’t been an empty one.
Chapter Seventeen
BLAKE KEPT HIS group as far from the perimeter as possible, while still allowing him to see what was going on. A clearing of about four hundred yards lay between here and the cover of the next line of trees. In the center of this clearing, the soldiers were planning to erect their part of the fence. He prowled between the line of trees on their side, keeping his shoulders dropped, his head low. The stink of man and metal filled his wolf’s nostrils, and he longed to turn his back and head deeper into the forest, to lose himself in the primal urges of his wolf—that of running, hunting, fornicating. Except he had nowhere to run, and the other shifters were relying on him.
From what he could tell, at least ten soldiers stood guarding this part of the perimeter, each standing at intervals. The pieces needed to complete this part of the fence still lay in stacked piles of metal poles and panels of wire fencing. They must be waiting on the machinery needed to erect the fence, waiting for the part where Chogan was to be completed before they moved on.
His biggest worry was trying to keep Lexie hidden. The huge bulk of the bear, combined with the snow-white of her fur, was the hardest thing he could think to hide in the middle of a forest in the dark. The moon kept making a frustrating appearance from behind the clouds, seeming to direct its full power onto the white of Lexie’s massive behind. Of them all, Toby was the most silent when it came to moving, and the enormous bat flitted between the trees. Blake had instructed the boy to alert him if he noted any change with the soldiers.
Keeping back, Rhys stood with Tala in his arms. The weight of the part-shifter must have been straining Rhys now, the muscles of his arms and neck bulging, but if he felt any discomfort, he didn’t show it.
Distant gunshots cut through the night, making Blake cringe. Chogan must have made his attack. Would any of the other team, or even Chogan himself, have been hit the first time? He’d made no secret of his anger toward his cousin, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see him dead, even if on the odd occasion he had imagined himself performing the act. And Chogan seemed different now. Blake didn’t know if it was because of the change in society his actions had created, his guilt over the people they’d lost, or if it was simply because Chogan had grown up a lot in the ten years Blake had been living away from the reservation. Or perhaps
he’d never really known his cousin at all. Whatever caused the change in him, it wasn’t like his cousin to sacrifice himself for others. Blake could only hope he’d make it out alive, and bring the others with him.
When they all got out of this, he would find Autumn, Blake swore it. He had seen something pass between Chogan and Autumn in those last few minutes before she’d been dragged away, and it had cut him to the core. He’d tried to pretend that he didn’t have space in his heart for her, that all of the thoughts and memories of the past had left no room for a new relationship, but the truth was Autumn was his whole heart. He’d not understood until the moment when he’d realized he might lose her to his cousin. What a fool he’d been.
But right now he needed to concentrate on his job to lead the others—Toby, Leah, Harry, Julianne, Garth and Jerome, Lexie, Rhys, and of course his sister, Tala—to safety.
As Chogan had predicted, the distant shots got the attention of the soldiers. They all straightened, turning toward the sound, their weapons raised. Blake’s sensitive hearing picked up the sound of their radio intercom warning of an attack, of help being needed, to reconvene at the north-west point of the perimeter. They spoke a few words to one another and then began to run in the direction the shots had come from.
Now, he thought. And he lifted his nose to the sky and howled, a long mournful song he knew would carry through the forest, a sound he hoped Chogan would understand as an indication the plan was working.
He swung his head, using his nose to nudge the remaining shifters on the ground, Harry, Garth and Jerome, to get them moving. Above his head, the birds burst from the trees they’d been resting in, and took off into the sky. The silent, flitting black shape of Toby followed.
They moved quickly as a group across the clearing, knowing at any moment the soldiers could return. Blake was amazed they’d all left in the first place, leaving none to guard this part of the perimeter. They clearly thought Chogan’s team was enough of a threat to warrant the risk of leaving a portion unguarded. He hoped this meant Chogan and the others were winning their fight. He wanted to see the other group when they’d made it to freedom.
He looked back to check everyone’s positions, and pulled up short. Where the hell was Lexie? How ironic, that he’d worried about her being the one who would blow their cover and get them spotted, and yet she’d somehow made it away from the rest of the group without being seen.
How could he lose someone that large?
The rhythmical thrumming of engines approached from above. The military must have called in choppers to help deal with the attack, but the helicopters would pass right above them. It would be impossible for them to be missed out in the open like this.
Go, he shouted in his head. They needed to get to the cover of the next patch of trees, and quickly. Blake stood still while the others ran past, keeping his eyes peeled for Lexie the whole time. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind.
The sound of the chopper grew closer, huge beams of searchlights from the aircraft bouncing across the tops of the trees, and down onto the ground. Blake lowered his body to try to make himself appear smaller, though he knew it would be in vain.
Rhys was slower than the rest of them. He ran across the terrain, clutching Tala. She struggled in his arms, a wing outstretched. She lashed out, catching Rhys in the cheek, and blood started to pour down his face. But still the tattooed man kept going, pushing forward though he was clearly struggling and must have been in pain. Blake growled, lowering his chest to the ground. Why hadn’t Rhys knocked Tala unconscious as planned? He didn’t want to see his sister hurting any more than she already was, but if Rhys went down, Tala went with him.
The gunfire from Chogan’s direction had fallen silent. What had happened? Blake wondered. Were they all dead, or had they managed to escape? His heart tightened with pain at the thought of the death of his cousin. However much he’d hated him at times, he couldn’t imagine a world without Chogan in it.
Blake saw the aerial shifters rising from the trees where they’d made it to relative safety. No, what are you doing? They were going to get themselves killed. The chopper swung around, the men inside leaning from the open body of the aircraft, firing toward them. The birds and the massive bat dived down at the chopper, careful to avoid the lethal rotary blades. The helicopter dipped down and rose again, as the pilot struggled to maintain control.
Blake realized what the others were doing. They were buying time for him, Rhys and Tala to get into the cover of the trees. Blake refused to find safety until he knew his sister was safe too. He would wait until she made it across before he completed the distance himself.
Go, now, he willed Rhys. He gave a strangled bark and motioned with his head. Never before had he been more frustrated at being in wolf form and not having human speech.
Luckily, Rhys too had noticed the redirection of the shots from the chopper. He still held Tala, though he was struggling with her, or at least what she was becoming. His face was a bloodied mess of scratches, his bare arms and shoulders the same. The bottom half of her face had become the curved point of a beak, and she jabbed and stabbed at Rhys’ face so he had to rear back to avoid her taking one of his eyes out.
Above their heads, one of the shots from the men in the chopper managed to find purchase, taking out one of the birds, though Blake couldn’t tell who from this distance. Even so, he knew it was one of the women, either Leah or the new woman, Julianne. Damn it. She dropped from the sky like a stone, hitting the treetops. Seeing their comrade fall, both the remaining bird and Toby quickly fled.
Rhys was now only halfway across the clearing with Tala, and the chopper was turning back.
Faster! Blake willed them. Quick, faster!
They would be caught out in the open, exposed to the gunfire. He couldn’t let that happen, Rhys could barely move at all, never mind move quickly.
Knock her out, Blake thought. All he needed to do was render her unconscious, and then he could run with her. But Rhys had either forgotten the tactic, or figured he didn’t have time. The skinhead looked to the sky, spotting the chopper spinning back around in their direction. The shots would start again at any moment. He looked over his shoulder, saw Blake still waiting, and mouthed, I’m sorry.
Sorry? Sorry for what? Blake had the briefest moment to think, before Rhys dropped Tala to the ground and broke into a sprint toward the trees.
Gunfire fell down like rain.
No!
Blake didn’t think, he just reacted, and ran toward his sister. All he could think to do was protect her. There wasn’t the time to drag her to safety, and she would fight him every step anyway.
He reached what had become of his sister and stood over her, his massive body sheltering her from the gunfire.
The shots hit him as if someone had punched him several times in the back; the first hit between his shoulder blades, the second time in his lower back. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. His hind legs collapsed, forcing his lower body to crumple on top of Tala. His weight pinned her down.
I can’t move my legs. Oh shit. I can’t move my legs.
He knew he was losing blood, though the sensation suddenly seemed far away, his head dizzy. He lost control of his front legs, too, and his chest dropped down so his full body weight now pressed on top of Tala.
Was this it? Had his time come? At least his sister was safe for the moment. Hopefully the men in the chopper would assume she was dead too, and not bother coming back for her, though he worried his weight would smother her. He felt sure she’d not been shot. Any bullets meant for her were ones he’d taken. He just hoped one of the others would think to check beneath his body to make sure his sister was alive, as long as he’d not crushed her. But in her mid-shift state, she was big and strong. She would be all right.
Another person filled his mind as he fought to stay in the present. His heart broke as he realized he’d never get to see her face again, or feel her touch on his skin. How bitterly he regretted those
last few days. He should never have let her go, and the worst thing was that she’d never know how he really felt.
Autumn, he thought. I’m sorry for what I said to you. There was always room for you in my heart, I was just too stupid to realize it. I hope you know that.
And as he gave himself in to the encroaching darkness, he thought, I love you ...
Chapter Eighteen
THE SOUND OF the helicopter had caught Chogan’s attention, but it was the pat-pat-pat of automatic gunfire that made his heart sink. The chopper hadn’t reached them yet, though more soldiers were running their way. That only left one explanation as to who the men in the helicopter were shooting at. The chopper must have spotted Blake and the others, and was firing on them.
Fuck.
He glanced toward the group of men heading toward them, at least ten new soldiers to deal with. They were severely outnumbered and Chogan was seriously starting to wish he hadn’t gotten the group to split up. But if it wasn’t for the chopper, Blake’s group would have made it through unharmed. He hoped they were all still in one piece.
Some of the soldiers were close enough to start firing, though the distance meant their aim was bad. Michael dropped out of the air, claws outstretched, attacking with brief but intense bursts of activity. Powerful wings beat around the men’s heads disorientating them, but that didn’t stop shots from being fired into the air. The eagle got unlucky, taking a bullet to the wing, with a spatter of blood and feathers. The bird screeched in pain. He managed to glide toward the next copse of trees, but then Chogan heard branches snapping and the crash of leaves as something big and heavy fell to the ground.
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