There was a group of three lean, young male employees chatting several aisles away. They were casually standing with hands in pockets, or leaning on shelving. As she drifted closer, they grew quiet.
“Can I help you with something?” The male who spoke already faced her. His tone said get the fuck out.
I’m getting warmer. “I’m just browsing while Chayton finds what he needs.”
The other two males turned and a cloud of hostility bloomed. None of them were Thomas, but she’d bet they worked for him in more than just the store.
She pasted on a friendly smile. “I’m surprised by the amenities offered in this place. I don’t see a comprehensive setup like this in many colonies. It’s usually just a shop on Main Street.”
They stared at her. She suspected they communicated among each other.
The one who spoke to her originally narrowed his eyes. “What’s Chayton looking for?”
She waved her hand nonchalantly. “Something for a satchel he made. Impressive work.” She snickered. “No way I could do that. My Home Ec teacher flat out told me I was a lost cause.” No reaction. “I’ll let you get back to work. I don’t get to shop much anymore so I’ll take it while I can.”
Wandering away, the space between her shoulders itched. If their glares were silver-laced daggers, she’d be squealing on the floor.
Three males seemed suspicious about what you were here for. None of them Thomas. Same pack, perhaps?
I’ve passed two more employees. None of them him, either. There can’t be that many more workers on shift.
The lumberyard? There wasn’t much of the store she hadn’t wandered.
It’d be too obvious if we went there.
Obvious, or probable cause? Not to sound conceited, but the only time I get that hostile reaction from a dude is when I’m about to go Guardian on his ass. Those three are up to something and they don’t want us around.
She rounded an end cap of the aisle. Chayton was squatting and hefting various metal rings, all slightly bigger than the one on her favorite tote. His stark features while meticulously choosing a ring for his project opened a yawning pit deep inside her. At first, she’d only known him as proud and pompous. She’d seen him at his worst and still fell for him. What the hell was she going to do after witnessing him carefully choosing a ring for his leather-working hobby, dressed as a combat action figure, his face relaxed after catching up with a loved one? She feared after seeing the real Chayton that moving on was futile.
He frowned and rose. “Where’s my auntie?”
They both pivoted to look around. Only the lingering scent of Shilo was found.
His dark eyes grew concerned. “She said she’d be right back after clocking out for break so we could chat.”
He inched his hand up to his hip where his gun was holstered.
The general atmosphere in the store grew dimmer. The lights were on, the sky was clear, but something was coming for them.
She pulled her gun and held it pointing downward, but she was tensed and ready to use it.
They both crept to the end of the aisle, Kaitlyn facing forward, Chayton at her back, covering her from behind. She crested the shelving in time to see a shadow dart away. She cleared each direction and they edged out in the same position, working in harmony like a dance.
Two steps and she peeked around the next set of shelving in time to see a menagerie of items thrown at her. A cacophonous clang of metal showered around them. She ducked back, screws and nails clattering past.
Chayton cursed. Can you keep advancing?
There’s a door to the back of the building twenty feet away.
Kaitlyn sensed another presence behind them, a change in the air. She trusted Chayton to have eyes on it.
During her calm but swift forward momentum, she caught sight of a male jumping on top of a shelving set. He tipped it into the next one to create a domino effect. Heavy shelving groaned, intermixed with screeches of metal on metal. The entire monstrosity toppled against the next set.
More crashes from the other end of the store, and yard utensils flew into their path from the falling units. Each end cap they cleared, shadows darted.
They’re herding us toward the back, Chayton said, and yeah, she’d come to the same conclusion.
The familiar rush of adrenaline lined her blood vessels. Most people would be scared, most shifters, too, but her Guardian blood thrived on this.
Finally, we can get this over with.
He snorted behind her, probably thought the same damn thing.
I’ve got your five, he warned before he shot.
A male yelped. She smirked. They approached the back door. As she was pivoting to go through, she anticipated a reaction from their tormentors. They’d been predictable in their efforts, flitting back and forth, only the three of them.
She paused for a heartbeat to let one cross at the other end of the aisle. Chayton stalled, too, and waited for her to take the shot.
As soon as she detected movement, she squeezed off a round. She knew she’d hit her target before the shout of pain.
Chayton stuck close as they flowed through the door to a massive section of the warehouse. A giant overhead door was open at one end leading to the lumberyard.
I guess we get to see all their wood. Her words lacked humor.
I will burn it all if they hurt Auntie. Do you have the bullets we can kill these fuckers with?
Not enough. I loaded our backups with the silver. Too bad they couldn’t use them solely for ammo, but it was too risky. They might plug someone who didn’t earn the silver injection, or their own weapon could get used against them. If these were the shifters they were after, and they probably were, it was highly likely these shifters carried their own silver stash.
With Chayton a wall at her back, she started forward progress to the lumberyard. The faint scent of Shilo was laced with fury and fear. Kaitlyn was the first to admit she was relieved—both because the female was still alive and because she wasn’t in on the conspiracy.
The rumble of a growl came from Chayton. He scented it, too.
Kaitlyn tasted the air, inhaling deeply. It was difficult to determine the number. Everyone who’d worked today tainted the area, but she narrowed her focus to any scents involving deception.
The three males that were herding them, plus two more and two females.
Seven to two. Three if Shilo wasn’t incapacitated.
Meh. She’d had worse odds before. Cataloguing her weapons where they pressed against her body, she mentally fortified herself. There’d be little space for thought. Once the fighting started, it’d be all instinct and reflex. The moments leading up to the battle were where some people disintegrated.
They approached the gaping opening. The pathway toward it was lined with pallets of sheetrock and lumber. Outside, even more pallets were stacked with mason blocks and landscaping material. Little movement could be detected. No birds flew overhead, no sounds of nature could be heard. Every living thing sensed the impending fight.
Ready, Cinnamon?
She suppressed her chuckle. Let’s take ’em down, Eagle.
Across the yard from the opening of the door were stacks of bricks several feet high. Her keen eyesight detected a shifter hiding between the shelving. In less than a second, she raised her gun, aimed, and squeezed. The shifter jerked and snarled.
A scuffle sounded behind her. Chayton fired his gun and swore.
I’m switching to silver. This is ridiculous. They’re going to keep coming like Day of the Dead.
He covered her while she shoved the gun with regular bullets back in its holster and withdrew the one loaded with silver-washed bullets. She did the same for him. Both locked and loaded with shifter-fatal ammo.
Taking the turn into the lumberyard, she tensed. Was it going to be an old-fashioned gunfight like the movies her dad used to watch?
She crouched to become a smaller mark.
Lunging to the side, she assessed the sce
ne past the stack of two-by-fours bordering the doors.
Shilo lay on the concrete, a dark-haired shifter crouched above her with a handsaw. Kaitlyn took the shot.
She nailed him in the chest, but more rounds rained down on her. She jerked back into the warehouse, Chayton moving with her.
Your aunt’s knocked out, but they were ready to decapitate her.
An unfamiliar whirring noise and scrape of tires on asphalt drowned out any other sound.
Kaitlyn edged out to peek. They’re charging us with a forklift. She aimed, but didn’t want to waste the precious ammo.
Chayton was firing at attackers behind her, so she bided her time.
The forklift approached. At least two shifters used it for cover, not counting the one driving.
Kaitlyn shoved her gun in its holder and pulled out a knife for each hand.
Slivers exploded near her head. The woodpile shuddered. She ignored it and prepared to jump. The blades of the forklift cleared her hiding spot. She leaped onto the blades and rolled to the other side. It exposed her. Bullets hit metal and asphalt, but her moving form was too difficult to hit. The forklift driver stopped, but she’d already cleared the back and kicked at one of the shifters. The shifter’s gun clattered the ground.
Their shock registered as a rancid tang. She smashed her elbow into his nose. Before he recovered, she’d jammed her knee into his balls. Didn’t matter the species, it was a target that worked every time. The second shifter was trying to circle around behind her. She stabbed with one of the knives, aiming to hit the first shifter’s carotid. He batted it away. She ducked and jabbed him in the gut with her other knife. The blade lodged in his abdomen and she jerked it downward.
He screamed in pain and buckled to the ground. She spun on the second attacker. He raised a gun and she aimed a high kick at his hand. The gun fired at the sky. The forklift lurched forward. She jumped back. Grunts from Chayton told her he’d taken on the driver.
The shifter she’d gutted writhed on the asphalt. She jumped over him to a clear area to fight. Her second attacker bared his fangs and lunged.
Her grin was grim. If he thought to engage her in hand to hand, or that he’d have the advantage once he got her on the ground, he was an idiot.
He grabbed her and she dropped, taking him by surprise. She abandoned one knife to grip his wrist and twist until bones ground together and cracked. While he snarled and adjusted his hold to compensate for the pain, she threw him off to the side and rolled with him.
Her remaining blade flashed in the sun as it arced to bury in his heart. Reaching to grab the gun with the special bullets, she flinched when the forklift jumped again and kept going. It was enough to distract her. The shifter with Kaitlyn’s knife buried in his belly wrapped a hand around her ankle and yanked. She allowed him to drag her, then seized the first chance to slam her other boot into him.
A gunshot echoed. Fire seared through her side, stealing her air. She searched for where the bullet came from. Agony spread through skin. An older female with jet black hair pulled into a ponytail and even blacker eyes strode toward her, a snarl on her lips, and gun raised to shoot again.
The hold on her ankle grew weaker. Kaitlyn extricated herself, fumbled for the gun at her hip, but couldn’t free it before the second shot hit her.
She bellowed as unusually intense pain spread across her thigh. Normal gunshots hurt, but this was like every nerve ending was coated in molten iron.
Silver, she told Chayton.
Chayton grunted back to her. A body hit the ground next to the forklift, but her gaze was on the female, who raised her weapon to the cab.
Gunshots boomed on either side of Kaitlyn. She hoped it was Chayton shooting the female. She used the reprieve to rifle through the pouch in her belt.
Her breaths were coming in pants and she could barely see between the agony and silver toxicity clouding her vision. Finally, her fingers landed on a paper packet. The tremors in her hands made it hard to hold on to.
She brought it up to her mouth and tore the edge off with her teeth. Granules of salt hit her tongue, but it wouldn’t be good enough.
With shaking hands, she upended the packet over the wound in her side.
A ragged yell burst out of her. Kaitlyn blinked away the burning and searing pain to see if Chayton had taken out the shooter.
The shifter was on the ground and sensed Chayton approaching. He raised his weapon and fired one shot into each male she’d tackled.
Kaitlyn wanted to protest from the pain when he lifted her and carried her between the pallets and the forklift for cover. He gently laid her down and squatted next to her to pull out another salt container. She’d packed several, hoarded the damn things, but worried that with the bullets still in her, it wouldn’t be enough. Whether they were made with silver, or washed in it, they were inside of her releasing all the poisonous metal they contained.
Her jaw clenched and she arched as he emptied another packet into her thigh wound.
“We took out five,” he said, probably more to distract her. “There’s at least two more.”
“Sh-Sh-Shilo?” Her full body tremors weren’t decreasing. Not a good sign.
“Alive.” A male shouted from the direction of her prone form. “For now. Guardian, leave the female and come face me. You don’t get to march into this whenever you want and tell us how to run things.”
***
Chayton’s upper lip curled into a snarl. Thomas. Had to be. There was still another female at large.
“So hiding behind rogues and letting them get killed for your dirty work is how it should go?” With steady movements, he withdrew the gun that was the deadlier one of the two from Kaitlyn’s belt. She gazed up at him, her expression so full of suffering it could destroy him. But she was strong.
He pressed the gun into her hand. She blinked slow, probably didn’t trust herself to try to nod. Her entire body visibly shook, her skin had lost much of its glow. That silver-laced lead had to be carved out of her as soon as possible.
He nodded in acknowledgment and spun to stalk away from the protection of the machinery.
A whistling noise had him lunging sideways as a knife embedded in the lumber on his right.
“That was a shit throw, Thomas.” Chayton raised his gun as the shifter charged toward him. He squeezed off three rounds before the shifter was on him. Chayton was confident he’d plugged each bullet into him, but decades of rage fueled Thomas. Only real silver bullets would’ve been strong enough to fell him right away. Chayton’s were only silver-washed.
He whipped his arms up in a defensive stance, bracing himself for bodily impact.
“You should’ve left after those rogues were killed.” Thomas tackled Chayton before he could kick out.
They flew backward and the gun was bashed out of Chayton’s hand, but he managed to remain upright.
“You should’ve challenged Mato like a real male.” He curled forward to ram his elbows into Thomas’s head. Blood seeped through the back of the male’s shirt.
He should be dead any second.
Kaitlyn might be, too.
He sensed another female enter the lumberyard. Kaitlyn! Was she able to defend herself?
A gun fired, over and over again, until the clip was emptied. Which female was on the receiving end?
Thomas drew back to yank something out of the loop on his carpenter’s jeans. A sharpening rod. He raised it to stab into Chayton, but his movements were hindered by the silver poisoning.
“Why don’t you just die?” Chayton booted him under the chin.
Thomas arched backward and landed on his back, the metal rod fell from his fingers.
His mouth was moving. Chayton barely caught the words. “Mato isn’t fit to lead. Tika is weak.”
Chayton jumped to his feet. “You might be right, but we have traditions and laws for a reason.”
Thomas coughed. Bloody spittle ran out of the corner of his mouth. “They will ruin your life like they
ruined the colony.”
What could Chayton say? They already had.
Thomas’s fingers twitched and the metal rod hovered and flew to spear Chayton. In pure reflex, Chayton turned Thomas’s telekinesis back on him. His own fingers twitched and the rod impaled Thomas’s chest.
When the light left Thomas’s eyes and he was good and dead, Chayton pivoted and ran to Kaitlyn. The stench of her poisoned blood was stronger than any of the deceased. He glanced over his shoulder at Shilo lying on the pavement. No blood marred her. She was even groaning and moving around.
Chayton scanned the area around Kaitlyn. So much blood. Sweet Mother, had the female shifter emptied her gun into Kaitlyn? Even if the bullets weren’t silver, she wouldn’t survive the onslaught with her other injuries.
He swept the area until a new set of boots caught his eye. They were sideways, the rest of the body stretched across the opening of the garage door. The female had come through and rounded on Kaitlyn, who’d filled her full of silver-lined holes.
His mate was amazing.
As he jogged to Kaitlyn, she searched through her pouch to withdraw a salt packet, then ripped it open with clattering teeth and dumped it on her wound. Repeat.
At least ten wrappers were scattered around her.
What a female.
He skidded onto his knees next to her. “I won’t be able to call you Cinnamon anymore with all that salt seasoning.”
A weak smile lit her face for a second before it was overtaken with extreme pain. “F-fucking b-burns.”
“Wait until recovery. This’ll seem like a day at the beach.”
“M-my only day at the beach was when C-Cian pulled me from the lake. It sssucked.” She was feebly pulling out another packet.
He chuckled before falling quiet. “It’s going to be excruciating when I dig the bullets out.”
“D-do it.”
He pulled out a switchblade and flicked it open. The smaller size compared to his tactical knife would be better for digging.
Her bloodied, salt-crusted hand landed on his arm. “Sh-Shilo?”
“Here.” His auntie limped around the forklift and gingerly lowered herself. “I see I slept through all the action.” She grimaced. “Thomas was never stable, but I never thought he was more than hot air.”
Ancient Ties (Pale Moonlight (Wolf Shifters Romance) Book 2) Page 16
