Alpha Wolf Defender (Awakened Shifters Book 2)

by Keri Hudson

  Jack clapped his jaws, knowing he was too far from her for contact. But it kept Cindy embroiled in their fight and kept those lethal claws from tearing his head off. She had superior strength and she was agitated, driving her attack to a new, fevered pitch.

  The stage supports kept bending, sections of the stage jutting downward quickly but not falling, supports barely managing to hold them up.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  On the forklift, Layla tried to pull herself up, arms reaching toward her bound ankles, the only thing keeping her from falling to that hard, concrete floor. She strained, bending and twisting, fingers reaching, closer to that rusty metal. Layla finally managed to grab hold of the prong with one bound hand, then the other. She could now push her legs off the prong and hang right-side up before dropping herself down onto the floor.

  Layla landed in a heap and rolled, quickly reaching down to untie her ankles. She looked up at the clock above them all, gasping to return her attention to her bound legs.

  Jack looked up at the bomb too, more particularly at the timer: 06:48, 06:47, 06:46…

  Jack jumped at Cindy and she swatted him off with another powerful swipe. Jack flew into another column of metal support beams, hard metal smashing his ribs as it bent. Jack fell to the concrete, the metal continuing to creak above him. Its integrity violated, the incredible weight it supported wouldn’t stay up there long.

  Jack charged again, this time hitting Cindy head-on. She reared up on her hind legs. Jack bit down on Cindy’s throat, jaws clamped tight, head shaking to tear her fibers loose, do enough internal damage to initiate the end of the fight, and of Cindy’s life. Cindy retreated, the two animals scuttling backward, fast and blind and headed directly for Layla. Cindy fell back and the two combatants rolled, their combined weight and energy virtually unstoppable.

  Layla looked up just before the two smashed into her. Jack knew instantly that she’d be crushed beneath their combined weight, thousands of pounds rolling at a mile a minute. She screamed and rolled and Jack did not feel her beneath him as the big shifter rolled over him and they passed the point where Layla had been lying.

  Jack looked over to see Layla inching away to a safe distance. Jack returned his attention to his adversary, knowing he had to end the fight and quickly.

  05:22, 05:21, 05:20…

  Layla untied her legs, looking around before trying to free her own wrists. Jack was engrossed in his battle with the big ursine, but he took note of her movements, her whereabouts. He recalled where Cindy’s gun had fallen when she shifted, and Layla seemed to deduce the same thing.

  The gun seemed to have slid under the forklift, judging by how Layla rolled onto her belly and reached under the vehicle.

  Another glance at the timer on the bomb revealed their dwindling chances of survival: 03:59, 03:58, 03:57…

  Cindy wound up on top of Jack, who could only snap at her, trying to regain his hold on her throat and then bite through to her windpipe. But Cindy had the advantage, and she bit down at Jack, her jaws reaching for his throat as well. She was bigger and stronger, and Jack’s throat lacked the thick, fatty layer of protection that prevented his own attacks on Cindy’s neck. He knew that if Cindy managed to get her jaws around his throat, he’d be dead.

  From the corner of his eye, Jack saw Layla pull herself out from under the forklift. She turned, rose to her feet, and took aim at the big ursine, who was facing Jack down and ready to charge again.

  Bang! Layla shot at the bear, hitting it dead center in the creature’s big side. Bang! Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!

  Cindy turned to Layla and roared. Above, the muffled crowd erupted with new panic, replacing the murmur from the collapsing stage with new screams of terror, their charging feet making the whole place tremble.

  Cindy looked like she was ready to finish Layla off once and for all, and Jack saw his opening. He reached up and bit into Cindy’s ear, exposed by her turned head. He clamped down tight and pulled hard, the ear pulling away from her skull along with the thin layer of muscle and fur. Cindy howled in pain as Jack shook his head, the ear pulling out of its cradle, floating loose on the side of her head. Cindy’s skin stretched as Jack pulled hard, making her screech in agony.

  Cindy seemed to throw all her strength into shifting her body, pulling Jack off the floor and throwing him off her. Her flesh ripped and she wailed, Jack flying away from her and toward Layla.

  Jack spat out her ear and the scrap of meat and fur sticking to it. He refocused on Cindy, roaring and bleeding from her mangled head. She pulled back, about to launch another charge when a loud metallic screech drowned out her own. Just as she leapt, a tower of metal supports crashed down on top of her. A riser fell several feet and froze at an odd angle, directly above Cindy. Its weight would keep that metal pressing down on Cindy. She wailed and scrambled to free herself, but with every effort, the collapsed tower seemed to sink down even more, further trapping Cindy in its deadly web.

  02:01, 02:00, 01:59…

  Jack shifted, standing next to Layla in his naked, human form. He took Layla’s hand. “We have to get out of here before that thing blows.”

  “What about… her? It?”

  Jack looked at Cindy, writhing under the twisted tower, the heavy riser precarious above her, the bomb ticking away.

  “She’s finished. Let’s go.” He pulled Layla away from the trapped ursine, Cindy roaring behind them, her pitiful cry echoing in the vast chamber even as the stage and its metal supports went on creaking and twisting around her.

  00:58, 00:57, 00:56…

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Jack and Layla ran back toward the double doors leading out of the under hall and to the stairs. The stage creaked, metal bending, Cindy roaring behind them. It seemed certain to Jack that the crowd had all evacuated, and when they finally ran through those doors, he was relieved to see nobody there. They ran up the stairs, one flight and then the other, footsteps echoing in the concrete chamber. They made it to the door marked Stairs, and it only occurred to Jack then that the door might be locked, trapping them.

  But the door pulled open in his grip and they made it out of the stairwell.

  Thoooooommm!

  The bomb exploded under the stage, its ear-splitting report muffled by the distance, by the material which was now debris as it collapsed in the stadium behind them.

  The entire place shook, massive glass panes shattering and sending a rain of razor-sharp shards falling everywhere. Jack pulled Layla toward one of the exits, the lobby otherwise abandoned.

  Fire alarms blared, water suddenly pouring out from hidden sprinklers above. Layla slipped on the wet ground, and Jack turned to pick her up before dragging her to the exit. The glass door pushed open in front of them, Jack and Layla spilling out into the compound in front of the stadium. The area was filled with fleeing fans, firetrucks, and police cruisers. Several uniformed officers ran out to meet them, draping each with a blanket and scurrying them to safety.

  Somebody cried out, “Oh my God!”

  Jack and Layla turned to see Cindy running out of the stadium, naked in her human form, entirely engulfed in flames and propelled by otherworldly hatred and enough adrenaline to resist death itself. She screamed and swatted her arms, spinning and wailing, the crowd looking upon her in shocked silence.

  Cindy’s strength finally failed her and she fell forward, body rolling and twitching, her scream dying away as her body finally lay still. Onlookers turned in disgust, the smell of vomit rising up even through the char of bubbling human flesh.

  Layla buried her face in Jack’s reassuring chest, his arms wrapping around her with gentle strength. Fireman arrived and sprayed Cindy with fire extinguishers, her dying movements cloaked in a white cloud.

  Jack held Layla close, their mutual strength feeding off their gratitude, their relief, and a shared knowledge of the life they’d earned and would share. There was nothing more to stand between them, and everything in the world to keep them together. Jack set
his strong hand on Layla’s belly and she smiled, setting her own hand on his. They shared a smile and a nuzzle, no words needing to be spoken.

  “My baby! My baby!” Jack and Layla turned to see Lorelei and Stewart running up to them. Lorelei wrapped her arms around Layla and pulled her close, closing her eyes and squeezing her daughter tight. “Thank God, you’re all right!”

  “I’m okay, Mom, I’m fine.”

  Stewart looked Jack over, obviously naked under the blanket. “Should I ask?” In the lull of a silent response, Stewart said, “Y’know what? I don’t need to know. I’m just glad you’re all okay.” Stewart looked at Cindy’s body just a few yards away. “My God, I… I had no idea.”

  “I believe that,” Jack said. “I’m sure Sgt. Spangler at the LAPD will agree.”

  Stewart nodded, his smile melting away from his sweaty face. “Well, sure, of course.” Jack nodded back, needing to say no more on the subject. Layla’s fans cheered as the paramedics led Jack and Layla to the nearest ambulance. They climbed in together, Layla offering her faithful throngs one more wave before paramedics closed the double doors behind them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Two months later, Jack and Layla took a stroll through the Bronx Zoo. The big predators were as agitated as ever, seemingly more so with Layla’s pregnant state, just barely starting to show on her lithe frame.

  “They know what’s coming,” Layla said. “But you say they’ve always been like this?”

  “Not as bad, but that’s what tells me something big is happening. They’ve always seen us as competition, the alpha male predators; word goes around of them taking shifters all over the country. Orcas especially; can’t get a shifter anywhere near the ocean on either coast.”

  Layla nodded as they walked on. “Who do you think is going to win?” Jack shook his head, and Layla asked, “What side… are we going to be on?”

  “Whichever side wants peace.”

  Layla sighed. “When has there ever been that?” After a few more moments to think, Layla said, “I wonder if the planet wouldn’t be better off without us; humans, I mean.”

  Jack shook his head. “The human experiment isn’t finished yet. And a world led by shifters, that may not be a place anybody would want to be, shifter or not. No, we’ll be on the human side, no matter who stands against us.”

  “Layla! Layla Shaye!” Jack and Layla turned to see two young women rush up to them, one with a piece of paper and pen in her hand. “Can I have your autograph, please?”

  Layla smiled and took the pen and paper. “Sure. Name?”

  “Maggie,” one said, a smile stretching across her face. Jack looked on in tense silence as Layla rested the paper on his strong arm and scribbled a message onto it. Maggie took the paper and read it, looking up with sudden humility. “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not Shaye anymore, is it?”

  “Billings now,” Layla said, “but that’s okay.”

  “Sorry.”

  The other girl asked, “You’re not really retired, are you?”

  Layla shrugged. “For now; got a family to raise, after all. Besides, I think the world has had enough Layla Shaye for a while.”

  “Not me,” Maggie said. “When you decide to… to un-retire, I’ll be first in line to buy the CD… or download it, or whatever.”

  Layla smiled. “By then they’ll probably just beam it right into your head.” They all shared a little chuckle before the fans drifted away and Jack led Layla onward. There were more important things to think about, but Jack did hope that Layla would share her gifts with the world again, and that there would be a world worthy of sharing them with. He was dedicated to that premise, one for which he was ready to give his life, knowing that would likely be the case when all was said and done.

  But in the meantime, he would raise fine shifter children with the finest woman he’d ever met. Despite the encroaching danger, life held more promise for Jack Billings than ever, humanity more important to him than it ever could have been before—more than anything ever would be again.

  The End

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