Panic surged throughout her body, cold and suffocating. One of the wolves escaped the melee and stalked toward her, saliva dripping from its snarling maw. Taryn and Luca battled the other wolf, spraying blood.
Then another blur of motion tore out of the tree line.
Solomon.
Nadia knew it was him without seeing his face. In wolf form, Solomon slammed into the attacker mid-air, jaws locking around its throat as they hit the ground hard. She scrambled backward on hands and heels, her injured wrist throbbing, blood slicking her palm.
The fight was brutal and fast.
Caidrik and Merritt tore into each other with raw violence, snow and dirt spraying as they crashed through trees and rock. Merritt fought dirty. Caidrik fought to end it. The Alpha’s strength broke through first. His jaws closed around Merritt’s throat, crushing and relentless, until the other wolf went still.
Taryn fought like fire.
She moved with terrifying precision, ripping into the wolf threatening Luca, her teeth and claws working in ruthless coordination.
Solomon finished the last wolf moments later, though Taryn was already there, backing him up, blood staining her muzzle.
Silence fell hard.
Caidrik shifted back mid-stride and ran for Nadia. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she said faintly.
He angled her wrist toward the firelight. “You’re bleeding.”
Taryn shifted too, rising naked and fierce in the firelight, snow falling over her shoulders. “Why didn’t you shift?”
“I don’t know,” Nadia said. “I couldn’t.”
“Me either,” Luca muttered, blood sliding from his mouth. “Must’ve been the darts.”
How long would the drugs be in her system? She needed to shift to heal herself.
Caidrik crouched and studied her wrist closer. “You might need stitches.”
“I can heal it,” she said stubbornly, even as her body felt hollow and off.
“We’ll see,” Caidrik said softly.
She looked at the dead wolves. At the blood in the snow. At Taryn, who had fought like a warrior while Nadia had failed to shift at all.
Luca spoke quietly. “They brought us in a vehicle. It’s just around the bend.”
“All right,” Caidrik said. He lifted Nadia into his arms, holding her close against his heated chest.
She rested her forehead against him, shaken and exhausted. Blood flowed freely from her wrists, and her head felt like she’d been kicked in each ear. Worse yet, her heart ached. In the fight, she’d been of absolutely no use at all.
Chapter 21
Caidrik climbed the side of the mansion and slid through Nadia’s window, pulling it shut behind him as the storm picked up again. Snow rattled against the glass in short bursts, the sound sharp in the quiet room. He brushed as much white from his shoulders and hair as he could and then turned toward her.
She sat propped against the headboard with a blanket over her legs, a fragrant mug of hot chocolate balanced on the nightstand beside her. Several journals lay open across the quilt next to a legal pad with pages filled in. The female seemed to be working hard. She looked up when he moved closer, her face still pale, dark shadows smudged beneath her eyes that hadn’t been there a few days ago.
“I wanted to check on you,” he murmured.
“I’m better.” Her voice was steady, but there was a hollow note underneath that made her seem even more fragile. “I called to warn Emily and my father about the snipers, and they both think Merritt was lying, but their enforcers have been notified, anyway. Also, the tranquilizers are out of my system, so I can shift again if necessary.” Her gaze dropped to the bandage wrapped around her left wrist. “I healed the right one. I cut myself deeper on the left.”
He didn’t like how small she looked sitting there. It wasn’t just physical. Something in her had drawn inward. He kicked off his boots and sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping under his weight. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “That they got to you. I had enforcers on you. There should’ve been more patrolling around your location.”
