He expected an argument, so it caught him off guard when Hadley jumped up and took off running. But a few seconds later he realized his soul mate wasn’t escaping. She was racing toward Lydia and Kat, who was conscious now, though she still looked really out of it as Hadley tried to get her to her feet.
Okay, that could work. Carter would just have to hold Strickland’s attention a little longer until all three of them could get away. Hopefully, Kamden would remain safe inside the warding circle even after Kat left. Because a glance out the corner of his eye confirmed that the guy was still out cold.
Unfortunately, allowing his mind to wander for even a fraction of a second was a distraction he couldn’t afford. Out of nowhere, a booted foot was slamming into the center of Carter’s chest, sending him flying backward again. Once again, he heard the grating sound of bones cracking as he crashed to the ground yet again.
He barely rolled aside in time to avoid the booted heel that came down right where his head had been. Carter’s heart thumped faster at the realization of how close he’d just come to dying. Werewolves were hard to kill, but a crushed skull would definitely do it.
Strickland snarled in frustration, coming at Carter again, rage on his face. “You can’t possibly defeat me so stop wasting my time. Or I promise I’ll take it out on your mate.”
The threat enraged Carter more than anything else Strickland had said, and he finally felt his inner omega awaken, providing a little burst of power that had him growling as he got to his feet, claws whistling through the air as he slashed at the skinwalker over and over, refusing to even think about letting this monster get anywhere near Hadley. His right arm was still weaker than his right, but Carter ignored the problem and kept slashing.
But no matter how many times he got his claws into the man, it didn’t seem to matter. Strickland was too strong and the damage he was inflicted wasn’t doing anything to change that.
“Get him into the circle!” Kat shouted
Carter chanced a glance that way to see her pointing urgently toward the warding circle—the circle with Kamden inside it that was still shimmering with that slight green haze.
He didn’t have a clue why Kat wanted Strickland in the circle with Kamden, but not having a better idea, Carter dropped low and then shoved into the skinwalker’s chest, driving him backward toward the circle like a tackling dummy.
Carter moved Strickland about ten feet—a few yards short of the edge of the circle—before the big skinwalker dug in his heels, stopping the backward slide. Before Carter could even consider a different approach, Strickland was raining blows down on his back, driving him to his knees. Then he slammed down on Carter’s right collarbone so hard it shattered. His right arm fell limp to his side, completely useless now.
“I don’t know what you think you’re going to achieve, but there’s nothing in that circle that will stop me from killing you and everyone you know and care about,” Strickland roared.
Looking up from where he knelt on the ground, Carter snarled at the man lurking over him. “You’re wrong. You might be able to kill me, but you’ll never stop the rest of my pack. And you’re never going to hurt my soul mate.”
Strickland smirked. “Knowing she’s your soul mate makes killing you and eating her that much better.”
The skinwalker lifted his fist high, no doubt intending to crush Carter’s skull. With his right arm wrecked, there was little chance of actually stopping him, but if he timed it right, he could latch his fangs on Strickland’s throat. It probably wouldn’t kill the creature, but all that blood loss would hopefully slow him down enough to help Hadley and the others get away. It didn’t matter what happened after that, as long as Hadley got away.
If you were ever going to pick a time to help, he told his inner omega, now would be that time. We need to hurt this guy as much as we can.
Not having the time to see if his message had gotten through, Carter tensed legs, ready to launch himself at Strickland’s throat even as the skinwalker started to swing. But before he could deliver the blow, Strickland let out a shout, his face contorted in pain.
Hadley was on her knees behind the skinwalker, both hands wrapped around the handle of a small shovel, the blade of which was buried two inches deep in the back of Strickland’s thigh.
“The circle,” Hadley yelled before Strickland shoved her so hard she flew through the air and hit the ground with a thud and didn’t move.
“No!” Carter howled.
His omega snarled, finally deciding to show up. Lunging to his feet, he slammed his right shoulder into Strickland’s gut, lifting the skinwalker off the ground and shoving him backward toward the circle. The pain from his shattered collarbone was dulled by the arrival of his omega, but that didn’t mean the arm on that side worked any better. Forced to let it hang useless, he instead wrapped his left arm around Strickland’s right leg and yanked it off the ground, continuing to move forward at the same time.
The skinwalker planted his left leg behind him, trying to resist the force Carter and his omega were applying. But the damage to his hamstring was too severe and Strickland could do nothing more than scream in pain and frustration as his back slammed into the green shield around Kat’s circle.
That hazy curtain that had been absent from Carter’s mind for the past couple days started coalescing again as his omega threatened to take over. Carter was fine with that. He needed his omega’s strength to finish this.
Carter’s feet churned, shoving Strickland against the shield. For a moment, nothing happened as the shield resisted no matter how hard he pushed. Then there was a soft pop sound and the resistance disappeared, both of them tumbling to the ground inside the circle.
With his bad shoulder making it impossible to hold onto the skinwalker, Strickland slipped out of Carter’s grasp and scrambled back, falling over Kamden’s unconscious body. Carter thought Strickland might go after Kamden, but instead, he jumped up and charged at the glowing green wall of magic that encircled them. Only to promptly bounce right off the thing. If the situation wasn’t so dire, Carter would have laughed. But then Strickland spun around and launched himself at Carter, snarling in rage.
Carter felt his awareness of the world start to go fuzzy as his omega finally took even more control. He didn’t consider trying to stop it. If anything, he was more than ready for it to happen, to let his omega deal with Strickland once and for all, trapped here in this warding circle.
Together he and Strickland tripped over Kamden’s unconscious body, punching and slashing at each other ferociously. Carter’s claws, driven by his omega rage, tore long gashes into the skinwalker, severe enough that the creature seemed to take notice this time. As his omega took over, the heavy curtain that descended over him served to dull the pain of his shattered collarbone enough for him to finally use his right arm.
But while Carter was delivering a lot of damage, the skinwalker was as well, the punches Strickland was throwing breaking bones one after the other. Even in the omega haze, Carter knew that he was in trouble. Sooner or later, Strickland would land a shot that would inflict more damage than Carter could survive. He needed to end this before that could happen.
Barely aware of what was going on, Carter hung back and watched as his body lunged forward without him controlling it, pushing Strickland over Kamden’s prone body and then scrambling atop the skinwalker to continue punching and slashing in a blur of movement.
And then, as if in slow motion, Strickland opened his enormous jaw and Carter’s right fist simply disappeared into the gaping abyss. He immediately tried to yank his hand out, but it was already too late. The skinwalker’s viciously sharp teeth clamped down on his wrist. The grating of tooth on bone was excruciating.
