AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So I did just that, receding a bit into the background so she could lope forward. As she took over, the remaining six wolves came toward us at once. With three ferals for each of us, Night wouldn’t be able to help me if I got stuck, but if my wolf’s battle howl was any indication, she wasn’t worried about it. The ferals circled around us like sharks, like they were planning out how they wanted to take us out.
My wolf didn’t want to wait. She lunged forward and bit the haunch of the closest feral until bone shifted and collapsed under her teeth. Another feral peeled away from the circling group to try and attack. With her teeth still embedded in the feral, my wolf shifted the feral’s body into the way of the other’s lunging attack. The feral yipped in pain as its own comrade bit through its shoulder.
Night made a sound that was something between a laugh and a pant.
“That’s the spirit!”
He dove into the fray. The ferals pounced on us. My wolf let go of the wounded feral to face off with two others, one behind, one in front. The shifting of paws on the ground behind her told her that the one behind was the more immediate threat. She crouched low at the last second, turning the biting leap into a tackle that would roll both herself and her attacker into the path of the feral in front.
She dug her forepaws into the chest of the feral that had tackled her, using the momentum to kick it into the other. The two ferals became a pile of snapping teeth and flashing claws until they realized that they were attacking each other, not me. By that time, they were both scratched up pretty badly, and my wolf had the upper hand. She lowered her head, growling with her hackles raised.
Behind us, my wolf sensed that Night had just put down the last of the three ferals that had attacked him. He shifted his attention back to us, and ran to stand at our side. These last two ferals, understanding that the tables had turned, didn’t sprint away. Instead, they put all they had into one last rush.
We surged forward and met them there. My wolf, mimicking the attack that had finished Troy, bent low and launched one of them up into the air. It bounced off the ceiling and crashed into the ground behind us. Night simply overpowered the wolf that ran toward him, putting his weight into shoving the feral until it fell onto its back. Then Night ripped its belly open.
Again, I turned away. I had commented on the fact that most of the women in the pack had never seen that much blood and death before, but here I was getting squeamish about my mate’s methods. How could he stand being covered in so much blood? How could he keep going, knowing that he’d taken so many lives? I wished I could understand.
“I hope you’re fucking ready,” Night said, growling as he faced Harlon and Samson. The two had been standing off to the side of the room during the battle, watching instead of participating. Disgustingly, they each had a bottle of beer in hand.
Though Night and my wolf had taken care of their ferals, they didn’t seem at all upset now that they were all dead. In fact, if anything, Harlon and Samson looked disappointed that it had ended so quickly. This felt wrong. This felt like a trap.
My wolf, sensing the same thing, began to recede so I could take over. “Night, wait. Something’s not right.”
“Don’t worry, Bryn. Even if there is a trap, even if they have an escape plan, they won’t get by me. I can promise you that.”
His words were comforting, but the longer the two wolves ahead of us stayed silent, the more eerie the situation felt.
I heard scraping noises behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Evan slipping from the hole that Night and I had found. I relaxed a little as I turned my attention back to Samson and Harlon. With Evan here, the three of us could face whatever trap was coming togeth—
The sharp retort of a gunshot filled the cavern. The sound was so loud, like a canon, and my ears immediately began to ring before they recovered enough that I could hear the muffled grunt of my mate ahead of me.
33
NIGHT
I had Harlon and Samson in my sights, and I was just a few fucking seconds away from ripping the two of them apart and painting the cave walls red with their blood. Before I could, I heard Evan entering the cave, recognized his scent. I didn’t turn to him. Evan was loyal to the Wargs through and through, I didn’t have anything to worry about—
The sound of a small bomb went off in the cave, making my ears ring. At the same time I felt a burst of heat on my right side. A second passed as I teetered on my paws, unsure of what the hell had happened. That second, even though it was filled with confusion, was so peaceful compared to the following seconds.
Pain roiled through my blood, setting my body on fire. The pain was white-hot, blinding, and so intense that my wolf, desperate to get away from it, forced me to shift into my human form. I stumbled forward and fell down onto my hands and knees, trembling all over. Through hazy, blurry vision, I saw my hands pressing to the cold ground, next to a steadily growing pool of crimson.
My thoughts raced, panic pulsing through me in time with my heartbeat. That was my blood. I’d been shot with something bad.
“Night!” Bryn rushed to my side, pressing her cold nose to me. Her presence would have been comforting under any other circumstances, but seeing her here, when I was in this condition, reminded me that she was in worse danger than I could have planned for.
“Don’t shift,” I said, sensing that she was about to. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re a better fighter in your wolf form.”
I forced myself to focus through the ringing in my ears and my spinning, blurry vision to watch Evan walk over to Samson and Harlon. The gun was in his hand?
“Howl, Bryn,” I urged her. “Do it as loud as you can.”
Without hesitation, she threw her head back and let out a long, piercing, gorgeous howl.
“Hey!” Evan’s voice cut right across her howl. “If you don’t want me to shoot your mate again, you’ll shut the fuck up.”
Her jaw snapped shut. Damn. I gritted my teeth as anguish rippled out from my side. I hope someone heard her. I clenched my hands into fists. My body wanted to give out, but I couldn’t lose consciousness. The second I did, we would both be dead.
“Evan!” I pushed my roar to rival his. I needed them to think I still had strength. “Why?”
