There wasn’t a hint of shame or guilt anywhere on his face. A small, malicious smile crossed his thin lips.
“She should’ve minded her business too.” He gestured toward Charlotte. “It was easy getting into her house and using her phone to text you.” He narrowed his gaze on me. “You fell right into our trap.”
Sera nudged her body in front of mine as the wolves’ growls increased.
“This wasn’t all his doing,” the other man spoke. “How insulting. You think a mere human was behind all of this?” He sounded deeply offended.
“Hey,” Pines had the nerve to interject. Like he wanted full credit for committing these horrific acts.
Sera pulled me in her direction along the far wall. The wolves followed our every move. The two men, however, were too engaged in their war of egos to notice us. I did my best not to look at Charlotte sprawled on the table like she was. I didn’t know the woman well, but she had been the one person who tried to help the residents at Creekview.
“Where the hell are you going?” the man yelled, capturing both of our attention. “Neither one of you is making it out of this basement alive. George, Rob, and Josh here will rip you to shreds before making it to the front door,” he threatened.
“Fuck you and those wolves,” I shouted.
He turned toward me, and even though I couldn’t see his actual face, I felt his glare from behind that mask. “You are a little feisty for a non-wolf, huh?” He sounded amused. “This will make getting my revenge against that bastard and his pack even sweeter,” he said.
“I’ve waited a long time to take him down.” He sounded gleeful at the chance to hurt Chael.
If I had any doubt before, I knew that he was a shifter.
“I don’t know who the hell you are, but I know you’re going to jail for all that you’ve done,” I said.
He let out a maniacal laugh. “We don’t do human prisons. Besides, I’m too smart to get caught. Unlike that mate of yours.”
“Fuck you,” I yelled, feeling offended on Chael’s behalf.
He laughed louder.
One of the wolves stepped closer, its growl increasing even more.
I glanced over at Sera to find that her arm was shaking but still trained on the lead wolf. I swallowed, realizing how outnumbered we were. There were at least four other shifters in the room, to her one wolf.
“You think—”
A loud yelp cut off the man’s rant as an arrow flew through the air, straight into its skull. It made a sickening noise as it slowly disintegrated, falling into a black puff of smoke. The wolf fell lifeless to the ground, its body convulsing as it shifted back into a human male. The man lay dead with the silver arrow sticking out of his head.
“You bitch,” Pines yelled at Sera.
“Run,” she told me as she tried to affix a second arrow onto her bow.
I bolted along the far wall, past the table where Charlotte’s lifeless body lay. I had no idea where I was going, but I wanted to put as much distance between those wolves and me as possible.
Right as I approached the second metal table, the man who I thought was dead suddenly grunted and sat up straight.
“You said you sedated him!” the man in the mask said, irritation lacing his voice.
“I did,” Pines responded.
The man grunted again and peered around the room. He lasered in on Sera, his gaze locking on her. Sera looked our way once, then twice, her eyes meeting his again. When the bow in her arms lowered slightly, the wolf closest to her took it as an opportunity to attack.
“Sera!” I yelled at the same time she screamed.
Horrified, I expected to see her shift to defend herself since the bow fell from her hands. She didn’t.
But the man on the table let out an ear-piercing growl and transformed into a wolf right before me. He leaped off the table, and in two strides, he tore viciously into the neck of the wolf that attacked Sera. He twisted and shook his head, jerking the other wolf like it was a rag doll.
A beat later, the red wolf landed against the cement wall and slid limply to the floor. A trail of blood followed it. The animal shifted into a human and lay lifelessly against the floor.
