Caine steps forward again, his voice calm and commanding.“We change the plan.Max, you and Calum take the ridge.Quietly.Disable the shooters.”
“On it,” Max says, already moving.
“Talon,” Caine continues, “you and Peyton handle extraction once the traps are neutralized.”
Peyton meets his gaze, fierce and steady.“We’ll get them out.”
Caine looks at me.“You stay with Grayson.You tell us where not to step.”
My chest tightens.“I won’t be wrong.”
“I know,” he replies simply.“I trust you.”
We move in unison.The ghosts guide me as we descend, pointing out the shimmer of silver wire barely visible in the moonlight, the subtle depressions where pressure plates wait hungrily beneath loose gravel.I murmur directions under my breath, and the pack adjusts without question, flowing around danger like water around stone.
Shots crack from the ridge, suppressed but sharp.Max and Calum are moving fast.One of the captives stirs in his cage, a weak sound escaping him.My wolf snarls, furious and protective.
Almost there.Then a trap misfires.Silver explodes upward from the ground in a spray of dust and wire, catching Grayson across the side.He grunts, staggering back as the metal burns into his flesh.
“No!”I scream, lunging for him.
He catches himself, teeth clenched, blood already darkening his shirt.“I’m fine.”
He’s lying.Rage roars through me, hot and blinding.The ghosts scream in unison, a sound that rips through the night and makes the air vibrate.
“Move!”they shout.“Now!”
I don’t think.I act.I shove Grayson aside and surge forward, calling out directions faster than I can process them, weaving the pack through the last of the traps with instinctive certainty.Hunters shout in alarm as their perfect plan unravels, gunfire erupting from the ridge before Max and Calum silence it completely.
The cages open and we pull the captives free, weak and shaking, alive.
By the time it’s over, the quarry is quiet again, littered with discarded weapons and the groans of defeated Hunters being bound for later judgment.
Grayson leans heavily against me, blood soaking my sleeve.
“You’re hurt,” I whisper.
He meets my gaze, pain and something else warring in his eyes.“You saved everyone.”
I shake my head, tears spilling over.“I lied to you.”
“You were scared,” he says.“We’ll talk about it.”
Out of nowhere a man charges, a raised gun in his hand.The ghosts don’t have time to warn me before it is too late.He fires, missing my mate by an inch and my wolf loses it.The shift is so fast, I never stood a chance at controlling her.She tears through clothing and emerges in a blur of cream fur and fury.
She lunges at the Hunter and pushes him to the ground before ripping out his throat.I listen in satisfaction as he wheezes and blood bubbles before he dies.Sitting on his chest, she throws her head back and howls to the moon, others joining in.
The ghosts begin to fade, their frantic energy easing now that the living are safe.The woman with the shattered ribs smiles at me, relief softening her features.
“You chose right,”she says.
I shift back and make my way to Grayson to check on him.Desire flares in his gaze as he takes in my naked form, blood covering my chest from what my wolf did.Max hands me an oversized t-shirt before he moves toward my injured mate.
As the pack regroups and prepares to leave, I slip on the t-shirt and kneel beside Grayson, my hands shaking as I press them to his wound.The truth cost me something tonight.But it also saved us all.
And as we turn back toward the Katu compound, the Hunters defeated and the dead finally quiet, I know one thing with absolute certainty...
I will never be silent again.
