The moon isn't anywhere near its full power, but in my eyes, it shines a little brighter. A sharp feeling moves through my body, coming from inside out.
All my senses have been pushed to the max, with the main one being anything that brings me closer to Leena. I close my eyes and feel something pulling me in a particular direction.
“I'll find her.”
I howl into the night, sending her reassurance and hoping she hears me as I run towards her. All the other scents take a back seat to my mate.
I can already picture having her in my arms again. I can picture how happy we'll finally be once this is all behind us.
The smell of her blood grows as well, scaring me. Soon, I spot a fresh trail and follow it, seeing the signs of claw marks in the dirt. The bad news is that the footsteps of heavy boots are also present.
I let the pull take me where my mate is, running tirelessly. The wolf pack is around, probably still hunting me, but I'm much faster than they are.
Leena's scent gets so strong that it's almost intoxicating. I scramble to a stop when I hear voices ahead of me. Neither one belongs to Leena.
“Let me do it, Carrie,” a male voice says. He cocks his gun, ready to fire.
“Calm down, Jimmy,” Carrie laughs. “We can all get a taste of her suffering. She has nowhere to run.”
My eyes go to the spot in front of them and I realize that the black heap on the ground is my mate.
Her breathing is shallow, and she's clearly struggling, but the faint rising and falling of her fur shows me that she's alive. That's all I can ask for.
“I say we shoot off all her limbs and see if she can still run around,” Carrie grins sinisterly.
“You got her in the leg, let me shoot her paws off.”
They aim their guns, and everything in me kicks into overdrive. I jump out of my hiding spot and attack the two. I slash the man across the face, sending him into a frenzy as he falls to the ground.
Carrie is much faster than her counterpart. While the man yells in pain, she keeps a firm grip on her gun, ready to fire.
“You're the other one, aren't you?” she chuckles. “I knew you'd come and find her eventually. It's why we've been waiting. Two for the price of one.”
Jimmy continues to writhe in pain, unable to do anything else. I stalk him, keeping my eyes on Carrie. She moves her gun away from me and points it at Leena just as I open my jaws near his neck.
“Don't you fucking dare,” she growls. “Get away from him or I'll shoot her head off.” I can tell she feels the same thing I do—the uncontrollable urge to protect your partner. Our standoff is only a couple of feet apart.
I can get to her in time.
“Step away from him,” she says. “I won't kill your girl if you step away.”
I have no reason to trust her, so I dig my legs into the ground, ready to jump. As soon as the grip on Carrie's gun shifts, I leap on her immediately.
We struggle as I try to aim for her neck. I dig my claws into her sides, but the clothes offer too much protection. The gun goes off, sending me flying back. Leena manages to crawl away in the commotion.
I do my best to recover quickly, but the damage is massive. There's a large wound in my side, exposing my insides to the harsh air.
Every breath is excruciating as healing does its best to occur, but the silver burns. I dig my claws into my body and pull out the bullet, dropping it to the bed of pine needles before I fall too.
“Imagine being so powerful and still having a weakness,” Carrie says, getting up. She spits on the ground. “Pathetic.”
She tries to shoot me, but I dodge out of the way. Her second shot is blocked when I duck behind a tree. She approaches me in frustration.
“Stay fucking still!”
I jump out as soon as she gets close to the tree, slashing her hands with my razor-sharp claws. The gun falls to the packed earth, and I grip her neck before she can scream in pain.
Just before I can crush it, I hear Jimmy rising to his feet. He tries to shoot me, but I move Carrie in his path.
