Leo slammed into the nearest male, tearing through cloth and flesh and disarming him before moving to the next nearest male.Auron was a blur of white fur and sharp fangs, with the gryphons diving from above and hauling people into the air and tossing them away.Rami scraped his talons across a male’s face, his screams cutting through the melee.
Pack members came in behind the humans, subverting the walls of flames and bringing claws and fangs to help.They tore into the humans, scattering them.The forest was pure chaos.Gunshots cracked, embers popped, and screams filled the air, mixed with howls, calls, and roars.
Mira swooped low right in front of Leo, striking a male who was raising his rifle at Leo.She ripped the weapon from him with her paws, sending it sliding into the underbrush.
He pulled a blade from his hip and grabbed at her tail as she flew by, jerking her backward.
She screeched in dismay as she tumbled to the ground.
Leo leaped at him as the male swung a blade at her belly.He clamped his jaws down on the male’s arm until bone cracked, and he bellowed, beating his free fist against Leo’s head.Leo shook him like a doll, the bones crunching with the motion, and tossed the male aside.
Something dark caught Leo’s attention, and he saw a male swing a heavy pipe at Mira as she rolled to her feet.He hit her side with the pipe, and she shrieked, her body lifting into the air with the force of the blow, and then hitting the ground.
His vision hazed with red.
He lowered his head and growled.
How fucking dare that male hurt his mate!
He launched at her attacker, taking him down by the throat and biting hard, blood spraying across his muzzle.Leo turned into a full-blown protector, taking down male after male who seemed intent on coming after Mira.Her family joined him, her dad slashing with his thick claws, the gryphons and eagle attacking from overhead.
The pack helped beat the males back, the momentum shifting as the humans realized they were losing.They broke ranks and fled, stumbling over their dead.
Leo stood next to Mira, panting hard, blood dripping from his muzzle.Around them, the clearing was littered with the bodies of the humans.The pack howled a victory, and Leo joined in, the sound carrying to the stars above.
The gryphons landed next to Leo, Mira, and Auron, adding their call to the echoing howls.
Adrenaline pulsing through him, Leo shifted back to human, as did her family.Mira panted on the ground, eyes glazed in pain.She wasn’t bleeding, but she’d taken a pipe to the midsection.
“Shift, baby,” he said, touching her head.“It’ll heal faster.”
“You can do it, honey,” Rami said.“Just let go of your beast.”
She began to shift, stopped for what felt like forever, and then finally shifted back to human.He knelt next to her and touched her abdomen.“Is anything broken?Do you need the doctor?”
She hugged him, crying.“I…I’m okay!Are you okay?I thought we were all going to head to the afterlife!”
“I’m fine,” he said.“We’re all alive and that’s the only thing that matters.”
He held her close, thanking the fates that she, as well as he and her family, were safe.
That had been one damn close call.
Pack members arrived to put out the blaze; the accelerant was mostly burned out, but trees and brush were still smoldering.Their group returned to the alphas’ house, finding Adam and Brick shifting back to human and dressing swiftly.
“Without your air assault,” Adam said, looking at the gryphons, “I don’t know what might have happened.Those assholes were lying in wait for us, and they knew just what to do to cut off the group.It took us way too long to get around the fire and come in behind them.Thank you for protecting my pack members and your family and helping us take out those anti-shifter humans.”
“We’re allies,” Rami said.“We’ll fight to the death for your people.”
“We will for yours, too,” Adam said.
Cinder and Mira’s mom and sister brought clothes for everyone to change into.Mira hugged her family, sniffling and wiping at stray tears.Leo stood with Adam as Brick took security team members into the woods to round up the dead bodies to burn in the fire pit.
“We won the fight,” Leo said.“But Foley is getting more and more dangerous.I don’t know what he’ll do next.”
“I don’t either,” Adam said.“All we can do is our best to be prepared.I’m fucking thankful for your in-laws, I’ll tell you that.”
“Me too.”
