Dom narrowed his eyes as he glared at Jarrod. “What do you want?”
“For you to die!”
“Funny.” Dom chuckled. It wasn’t a happy sound. “Your father wanted the same thing right before I ripped his throat out.”
“You killed my father?”
“I did,” Dom admitted. “He was trying to kill my brother.”
“Another abomination?” Jarrod snarled. “He deserved to die.”
Dom lifted an eyebrow. “So did your father.”
Keeland’s jaw dropped.“Really?”he asked silently.“Now is the time to piss off the crazy man?”
Dom shrugged. He knew he was antagonizing Jarrod, but he wanted to make the man enraged enough to let Keeland go and come after him. Dom couldn’t do anything until the blade of the knife moved away from his mate’s throat.
“Kill him!” Jarrod shouted.
Dom tensed and glanced around, preparing to fight, but no one came at him. He hoped that meant Gabe and Chay had taken care of the guards in the house. He smirked as he looked back at Jarrod. “Looks like you’ll have to do your own dirty work.”
Jarrod roared and launched himself at Dom, pushing Keeland to the side, which was exactly what Dom wanted. He braced himself, expecting Jarrod to run right into him. He wasn't prepared for the man to pull a gun and shoot him in the chest.
Dom grunted and fell back on the ground, the burning agony stealing his breath. He felt like an idiot. He should have been prepared for anything, but he'd been stupid and egotistical to think he could play a game with an insane man.
He prayed his mate didn’t pay the price.
“No!” Keeland screamed.
Dom turned to reassure Keeland he was fine, even though breathing seemed entirely optional at the moment, only to find him in a struggle with Jarrod. Dom tried to roll to his side to get up, but he couldn’t seem to catch his breath enough to move.
Chay’s head appeared above him. “You need to shift, Dom.”
Dom groaned as he shifted. It hadn’t hurt this bad to shift since the very first time. He felt as if every bone were breaking and reshaping before melding back together. Once in his panther form, he panted heavily. He could feel his body striving to heal itself, but it would take a few more shifts. It was hard to kill a shifter, but not impossible.
As soon as he thought he could manage it, Dom shifted back to his human form. He wrapped his hand around Chay’s wrist to gain his attention. “Ke-Keeland.”
Chay glanced up.
When he winced, Dom thought he was going to die. He drew as much air into his lungs as he could and shouted, “Keeland!”
A loud scream sounded, and then Keeland’s beautiful face entered his line of vision. Dom reached for him and pulled his mate close to his side.“Okay?”he asked silently because it was easier than talking, and less painful, too.
“I’m okay, Dom,” Keeland replied out loud. “Jarrod didn’t hurt me.”
Jarrod!
“Where…where…”
Chay shook his head without moving his gaze away from whatever he was watching. “You’re not going to believe this, man.”
“What?” Dom asked. “What are you looking at?”
With Chay and Keeland’s careful assistance, Dom sat up far enough to see what had both men so shocked, and then he knew exactly how Chay felt. Jarrod lay on the ground several feet away, unmoving. He was surrounded by forest animals who were biting at his skin, ripping him apart piece by tiny little piece. Squirrels, raccoons, birds, field mice.
It was weird…and gross. Very gross.
“How…” Dom frowned. “Shifters?”
