Gabriel crept out of the trees.
“No, Gabe!” Chay shouted silently, his golden eyes going wild with fear. “No, stay back.”
“I can’t, Chay. I can’t let you face him alone.”
“I didn’t believe it when he told me, but it’s true.” Wonder laced Peterson’s voice as he stared at Gabriel. “You really are an abomination.”
Huh?
“Shift,” Peterson ordered. “I want to see it.”
Gabriel shifted into his human form.
“That’s absolutely amazing.”
“Why are you doing this?” Gabriel asked. “What did I ever do to you?”
“You’re a monster,” Peterson snapped out. “He said if you could shift, you’d become a monster, killing anything and everything.”
“I haven’t killed you.”
“But you want to, don’t you?” Peterson laughed. It was a horrible sound that grated on Gabriel’s nerves. “I can see it in your beady little eyes.”
He wasn’t wrong. Gabriel did want to kill him, and he planned on it, if his brother didn’t get him first. “I don’t think he knows you’re here, Dom.”
“Let’s keep it that way until I can get to him,” Dom replied. “Can you keep him occupied?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Who told you all of this?” Gabriel asked.
“Oh no.” Peterson laughed again as he shook his head. “This is not where the villain spilled his plans for world domination because I’m not the villain in this little fiasco. You are.”
“And how do you see that?” Gabriel asked. “I’m not the one with a gun to someone’s head.”
“Him? He’s another one of you. He needs to die just like you do.”
Gabriel saw Peterson’s finger tightening on the trigger of his gun. He let out a shout roar as he jumped at Peterson. A single shot rang out. For just a moment, Gabriel’s heart shredded when he thought the bullet had hit Chay, but then he felt it slam into him. He heard Chay’s cry as he slammed into the ground.
Gabriel shifted, remembering what Chay had told him about a shift healing him. He lay there, trying not to cry out as pain ripped through his body.
Chay’s high-pitched caw and Peterson’s scream made Gabriel push past his pain. He rolled to his feet and glanced over to where Peterson had been standing. The man was on the ground, his hands covering his face as he tried to fight off a very angry falcon.
“Chay!” Gabriel shouted as he raced toward his mate.
The falcon flapped his wings and rose up into the air, turning toward Gabriel. He let out another loud caw and flew toward Gabriel, shifting to his human form as he glided toward him. The second Chay reached him, he dropped to his knees and encircled Gabriel with his arms, burying his face in Gabriel’s fur.
“Oh, baby, I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”
“I’m fine, Chay. He just winged me.” The wound had been a little more severe than that, but he didn’t want to admit that to Chay. His mate was freaked out enough.
“God, baby, I thought you were dead. I can’t lose you.” Gabriel leaned back a little when Chay grabbed him by the muzzle. The intensity in Chay’s golden eyes was a little intimidating. “I love you, Gabriel.”
Gabriel shifted so he could hold his mate in his arms. “I love you, too.”
A loud voice shattered their precious moment. “I shot you. I killed you.”
Gabriel glared at Peterson. “You’re a lousy shot.”
