I wanted to hug Remington and scold him at the same time. As mad as I was that he’d put himself in danger, I’d never been so proud of him.
“Is Ashe safe?” Hugo asked. His pale fur bristled all over, making him look twice his usual size.
“Yes,” I called, lifting my paw to reveal my son nestled beneath me.
Len melted with relief. “Thank the gods!”
“Look!” Sage called. “Morgan’s fighting that buck!”
The twins, who didn’t know what was going on, perked up at the sight of him. “Uncle!”
The pack streamed down the sides of the ridge until they stood in the hollow. Len and Sage came over to help with Ashe. Len shifted to human form to hold him while Sage remained as a wolf to be his bodyguard. The twins cuddled up by Len’s legs, staying safely out of the way.
Their assistance freed me to join Morgan in the fray. I brushed up against my mate, who was breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” I growled under my breath.
“Pissed. And relieved.” He gave a small chuff of amusement. “But fine.”
Now faced with four adult wolves instead of one, Rock balked. “You—you’re a traitor, Morgan! You threw your life away to live with wolves instead of your own kind!”
“Oh, just shut up,” Morgan said, rolling his eyes. “It’s over, Rock. Even someone as stupid as you can see that. There’s nothing left to fight for.”
Even though he was outnumbered and pushed into a corner, Rock still wasn’t ready to admit defeat. He lowered his antlers and charged desperately at Morgan, who sidestepped him with grace. Instead of running off with his tail between his legs, Rock lashed out at us, kicking his hooves and swinging his antlers like a club.
All of us managed to get out of the way—except the injured Remington.
The black wolf yelped as Rock’s hoof crashed down on him. My blood turned to ice. I watched in horror as Rock readied to stab his antlers into Remington’s slack body.
A sudden loud gunshot rang through the air, stunning the entire hollow into silence. A small chunk of Rock’s antler chipped off and fell to the ground.
On the other end of a hollow stood a thin human man with blazing red hair. He lowered the rickety rifle and peered at the muzzle curiously. “Huh. This thing did have a shot left in it, after all. Ha! Talk about poetic justice.”
Sage exchanged a glance with Hugo. “Why does that guy’s voice sound familiar? And, wait, why can we—”
“Oh gods, a hunter!” Rock yelled in terror. “He wants my antlers!”
Rock’s demeanor changed. He went from a desperate bully to a flailing, cornered animal. As he bleated and careened around the hollow, he gave off the same energy as a mute deer instead of an intelligent shifter. He crashed out of the way, tripping on his own legs in his hurry to escape.
The human raised a brow, then shrugged and tossed the gun over his shoulder. “Well, that takes care of that.”
Lupa pointed to the stranger. “Daddy, that human talks!”
Hugo immediately put himself between the hunter and the pack, snarling and raising his hackles.
“What, no warm welcome?” the hunter said, crossing his arms.
Hugo’s hackles fell in confusion. “What?”
The man sighed, running a hand through his long auburn hair. “And after all the effort I went through... You wolves are so mean sometimes.”
“Why can we understand him? And why can he understand us?” Sage asked. “Doesn’t that only happen for shifters?”
We all stared at the stranger until the realization hit us.
“Red!?”
The man winked. “Finally caught on, huh? Are you at least happy to see me for once?”
