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An enormous silverback gorilla strode slowly through the trees on massive, powerful arms, his glowing gold eyes trained on Derek.
Lucas.
Chills, chills, chills.
The feline roar of something terrifying sounded through the woods. The falcon was circling above, and Gunner…Gunner was cool, calm, and collected.
“The police station is right down the road,” Derek murmured. “My family and all my followers know where I have come. Even if I disappear, they know where to look.”
“Aaah. See, the police feel that they can’t do anything until you’ve harmed Hallie. I don’t have those constraints. And see that gorilla out there? His mother is the sheriff around here. I know exactly how this story will be spun.” Gunner blinked slowly and then slid an empty gaze to Derek. “You posted about coming here after Hallie. You found her home. You sent your creepy fuckin’ stalker letters. You harassed her cousin at her job. Hallie went to the police already, so they have the pictures of her battered face. They have the story. They know.”
“I’ll get locked up for a few months, then money will talk and I’ll be out with my family before you know it, and you will still be worthless, and Hallie will still be a shifter’s whore—”
Gunner blurred to them, and then the gun was gone. Simple as that. The metal was released from her temple and the click of weaponry sounded before three pieces of the gun hit the deck, and before she even registered anything, Gunner had thrown Derek against the big tree in the middle of the yard.
The silverback beat his fists on his chest, and now she could see a tiger slinking around the corner of the house.
She would’ve been terrified of the animals before, but not now. They were here to help her. To save her.
Derek was on his hands and knees, yelling in pain. Gunner was approaching him slowly, stalking forward, his hands in his pockets like they had never left, his head cocked. “You think you’re above consequence, and that’s why you got away with this for so long,” Gunner told him.
“You can’t just kill me,” Derek gritted out.
“Why not?” Gunner asked, kneeling down in front of him. He shook his head, and Hallie could see how empty his gaze was from here.
Gunner could be terrifying.
“I probably won’t even remember it,” Gunner said. “Not unless the bear allows it. I won’t have remorse. I won’t feel guilt. No one will come for me.”
“My family will come for you.”
“Ooooh,” Gunner warned. “You better hope they don’t.”
A man’s scream echoed through the woods, and Gunner pointed to the sky. “You hear that? That’s your help.” Gunner leaned closer. “Did you pay him enough?”
Another death scream echoed through the woods, and then a grunt, and then silence.
“Ready?” Gunner asked.
Derek looked terrified there on his hands and knees. His eyes were so wide, and he was panting in fear.
“You shouldn’t watch this,” someone said from behind her. Lucia stood in the open doorway of the back door with a grim expression.
A roar sounded, and the wind kicked up to a hurricane. It flattened Hallie on the deck, and she struggled to look up into the sky. A massive darkness covered the dawn light, and she gasped in horror as an enormous blue dragon flew just above the tree line.
A stream of lava and fire spewed from his mouth into the woods, and a deafening roar sounded, shaking the trees.
“We gotta go,” Lucia rushed out, dragging her backward by the arm. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
But for the rest of her life, Hallie would never be able to banish the vision of Gunner’s grizzly ripping out of him, or the dragon’s fire engulfing the trees behind him. She would never forget the scars on the bear or the emptiness in his eyes, or the sound of Derek’s last scream.
“Gunner!” she yelled as she was dragged into the house.
“He’ll be okay! Damon knows he’s here!”
Lucia pulled her by the hand out the front door and toward her car. Time slowed as fear consumed her. Each second was a minute as she ran for her life. Smoke was rolling across the yard, and the heat was blistering from the trees on fire.
“He’s circling back,” Lucia yelled. “Cadence, let’s go!”
