The bullets stopped damaging the wooden siding. Silence descended, heavier than any thunderstorm.
“I have not hired you as an Enforcer yet. Besides, you’ve been hit,” Seth snapped, reaching for his flank to rip out a silver bullet. Fire and pain flashed through his skin, and he bit back an expletive, tossing the offensive object onto the hardwood. Whoever did this would die slowly and with great pain.
Erik looked at his bleeding shoulder, calmly reached up, grabbed a butter knife off the counter, and shoved it into the bloody hole.
“Stop, Erik,” Mia said, shoving his hands away. “Let me.” Her fingers trembling slightly, she rose onto her knees and gingerly dug the knife into Erik’s shoulder. He didn’t so much as twitch as he focused on the far wall. The bullet popped out and fell onto the floor, pinging across the uneven boards.
“There we go,” Erik growled. “You two stay here.” Without waiting for an answer, he dove out the door, shifting into his wolf form as he did. Power cascaded on the air behind him, knocking several envelopes off the table to swoosh onto the floor.
Mia looked at Seth, her eyes wide in her pale face. “I’m fine, go ahead. I’ve got my gun, and I have another loaded with silver bullets in the closet. I’ll grab it.”
Seth lifted his head and scented for threats. The shooters had moved far enough away from the cabin that he couldn’t smell them. It was shocking that the other two women in the cabin were still sleeping, both lightly snoring. Apparently, the bullets had sounded like hail. “I’ll be right back.” Lunging through the doorway, he shifted faster than Erik and soon ran full bore in wolf form around the lake, following his brother’s scent.
Colors brightened, and the world narrowed into predator and prey. They headed north and reached an old logging road with fresh tire marks. Erik was sniffing around, his fur bloody across his head and shoulder. It took a while to recover from a silver bullet.
Seth looked at the area, nodded his head to the east, and started to run. The ground was wet under his paws and easy to find purchase. He caught a faint scent but couldn’t identify it. Erik followed, and they circled almost half the lake, heading up into the mountains before finally pausing. Seth shifted back into his human form, his muscles protesting. He waited for Erik to do the same. “What did you get?” he asked.
Erik shook his head, blood still sliding from his wound and running down his muscled torso. “Not much. Whoever it was did a good job of masking their scents. They either rolled in pine or crap—or both.”
“I caught tones of spruce and heavy cologne,” Seth muttered. He couldn’t identify the shooters, either. He’d scented wolf shifters, but whatever they’d used to mask themselves had been good. He couldn’t even tell if it was somebody from his pack or a different one. All he knew was that the would-be assassins had definitely been wolf shifters. That was as far as he could get. “You catch anything else?”
Erik shook his head, and more blood dripped from his forehead wound. He angrily wiped it off his cheekbone.
“We don’t even know if they were aiming for me or for you, or if it matters,” Seth said grimly.
“Good point.” Erik nodded. “They could’ve been hoping for either of us. Or Mia,” he added softly.
Seth’s chest puffed out. Fury still flowed through his blood, heating to rage. Violence prickled beneath his skin, growing hotter, swelling his muscles. The idea that anybody would aim at his mate, his vulnerable and currentlyhumanmate, thickened the cords in his neck. Her body wasn’t accepting the strength from mating, so she was still fragile and human. “We will find who did this.” And when he did, they’d beg for death. It’d be a long time coming.
Erik nodded. “There are still folks unhappy that our Alpha mated a human and not a wolf. I promise I’ll find out who they are, just so we know. If they’re the ones who attacked us, I’ll take care of them.”
Not if Seth discovered their identities first. He’d show no mercy to anybody who tried to harm Mia. “I need to go back and check on her.” Seth leaped into the air to shift, fluidly becoming an animal. More than ever, he needed to feel her heart beating against his. The primal urge to lock her down was rising too fast inside him, and the beast at his core wanted control. Now.
The trek home was quick as his mind reeled. Somebody could have shot Mia, and he would’ve been standing right there. He needed an enemy in front of him to strike, and he didn’t know which direction to go in right now. That, as much as anything else, spurred his anger.
They reached the cabin to find Mia outside on the deck, two guns in her hands, scouting the area. “Did you find them?” she asked.
He shifted back into his human form, his bones creaking and objecting the three quick shifts. “Nope, we don’t know who they were, and we’re not even quite sure who they were aiming at.” He kept his tone calm and his voice low. By the slight widening of her eyes, she understood his mood. It wasn’t good.
Erik shifted behind him and stood, shaking out his hair. “Regardless of the target, they weren’t very good shots.”
“No, they were just spraying bullets,” Mia answered grimly. “It’s not a good sign. And you guys have no idea who they were?”
“Nope,” Erik said. He looked at the two of them and then took a step back from the deck. “I’m going to scout the entire area again. I’ll report back when I can. First, I’m going to jump in the lake and get rid of this blood.” He took several long strides and dove into the water, quickly swimming far enough away they couldn’t see him.
Anger pummeled Seth, along with a sense of frustration he hadn’t felt before. He had to find out who had just tried to kill his mate.
She looked up. “What now?”
“Now, we figure out the rest in the morning.” Moving quickly, he plucked her off the chair and headed back into the cabin, rage pouring off him. This sensation of fear was new to him. So far in his life, he hadn’t really cared much about what would happen to him. Now, he had Mia, and she was everything. How would he keep her safe? “I’ll tuck you in and go searching.” He had to run off some of this anger.
She nipped his jaw, and desire flashed through him, hot and sharp. “I have a better idea,” she murmured.
He silently climbed the stairs to her room, clocking any sounds outside the cabin. Nothing but wild animals, while two human females slept peacefully downstairs. The time was coming for him to move all three of them to his house. It was secured much better.
Although the two other women wouldn’t understand the urgency, and Mia would fight him.
She wouldn’t win that one.
