Damian swallows. “Because they’ve been trying to figure out a way to unleash our wolves without needing a mate at all.”
Several howls accompany the shouts in the upper recesses of the house as the two mutated beasts in front of us settle into their lycan skins. Their massive heads snap up to face us, lips pulled back in twin snarls, and we study them closely. Filing away how long it took them to completely shift from the time of injecting themselves, how they move, any potential weaknesses.
It’s the only reason none of us attacked them before they could finish shifting; we’re in an optimal position. With only those two in an otherwise empty room, there’s no concern that we can handle ourselves. The problem lies in the daunting realization that Joshua was smarter than I gave him credit for. If these men were carrying a dose around with them, the majority of the house likely is, too. We prepared for a handful of wolves, but the majority of the people here tonight were supposed to be armed humans, not countless lycan monsters. So if we want to have a hope of surviving the night, we need to learn anything even potentially usefulnowbefore we’re completely overrun.
“Plan still stands,” Slade says in a hush, barely moving his lips. We all feel it; the tense anticipation in the air. The extended moment as a predator has you locked in their sights, ready to pounce, and is merely waiting for you to start the game by trying to run. “Lure as many outside as possible.”
A cruel grin spreads across Damian’s face. “Sabrina, love, I need you to do me a favor. Throat, blind spot directly behind them, ankles are relatively pointless because of the upper body strength, headshot preferred after your experience with the last one. Take Slade and go show the others how it's done before they get themselves killed, will you? I’ve got these two.”
Without waiting for agreement or protest, he leaps forward, shifting fluidly mid-air and intercepting the first lycan as it lunges. His momentum knocks both of them into the second, giving us the opportunity to sprint out of the room.
The same time that seven more finish descending the twin staircases.
"Come on." Slade fires off a few shots before yanking the front doors open, encouraging them to follow us.
As soon as we’re clear of the house, he turns on his heel, shredding his clothes and dropping his gun as he shifts. He catches the first by surprise, snapping its neck between his jaws with a vicious snarl. Before he can fully release the body, the next one swipes out a clawed hand, aiming for the side of his neck.
I’m moving before I’m even aware of doing so, pouncing and tearing the arm clean off of the man’s body. My claws rake across his throat, tearing his flesh into a tattered, ruined mess in a single, harsh swipe. Instinct guides my movements without requiring any conscious thought, and my small discomfort at the concept is quickly squashed. His hand almost hurt my mate? Lose the hand. This monster alive and breathing proposes a danger? Remove his ability to breathe. There’s no room for fear, only blistering rage.
A heavy head nudges against me, and I rip my teeth free to peer at Slade, blood staining his dark muzzle. Another nudge, and I follow his prompting to look around at the carnage around us, all of the mangled bodies scattering the steps and entryway. Stepping back, I look down at the remains of my current victim and wait.
And wait.
Yet no matter how many seconds pass staring at the mutilated corpse that I know was a person under the lycan body moments ago, is slowly becoming so again upon his death, I feel nothing for him, not a shred of remorse or self-loathing. Nothing but rage and satisfaction.
Taking the hint, I turn my back on them and get back to the task at hand. We race down the stone steps, leaping down the last few, and tear off through the rain-soaked front yard toward the side of the house that Cinjin was assigned to. Of all of them, he’ll be the most vulnerable.
The plan had originally been to utilize the storm, letting it mask the guys’ scents as Kaige, Hunter, Bo, and Cinjin placed the explosives around the house to give us an advantage over Alodia’s numbers. With only eighteen men capable of shifting in the pack, the weapons were the real threat. No matter how good the guys may be, if shots are coming from every angle, one’s bound to hit its mark. The bombs would take out a decent number right off the bat and send them into chaos, unable to coordinate or narrow in on any of our locations until it was too late. But now, we’re at the same disadvantage.
Claps of thunder accompany the sound of gunshots as Reid picks people off from his position hidden amidst the trees near the top of the hill at the back of the property. Where each explosion went off, it blew a massive hole through the side of the house, giving him a line of sight to the interior as well. The front was left untouched, where the three of us would be to offer as a distraction and buy time for them to set up. Cin and Kaige handled the rear, and Bo and Hunter each took one of the far sides. Better, whatever the hell Cin and Kaige concocted was chemical based, the storm doing nothing to stifle the flames spreading throughout the house, doing part of the work for us, if the screams are anything to go by.
The faint, fading sound of dull thudding of paws against the ground has me mentally sighing in relief that I assumed correctly. The few in the house that had a mate were wise enough to get her the hell out of dodge instead of trying to defend the place, slinking off into the shadows to live another day.
No wolves after all, then; only humans and lycans.
As we round the corner of the house, paws skidding on the wet grass, only Slade’s quick reflexes manage to save me from catching a bullet. A dozen men are clambering out of the collapsed wall above us, a couple already dropping to the ground from the wrap-around balcony that encompasses the entire second story, currently missing a decent chunk from the explosion. That gap gives them a clear line of sight to fire at us, and I’m honestly relieved that I’m getting shot at, because it means at least this drug goes for a pretty penny and they couldn’t swing it for the entire household. The relief is short lived, though, as a window shatters on the first floor, a lycan hauling himself through and another few appearing among the fleeing humans.
Eight shots come in rapid succession, men dropping like flies around us. So when Slade snaps a sharp bark at me before launching himself at the nearest beast, tearing his throat out in a spray of blood and gore washed away by the rain, it’s easy enough to interpret. With Reid backing him up, he can handle this.
I don’t question his judgment; he knows what he’s capable of far better than I do. Besides, the rear is going to be ten times worse. If he were pulling some martyr bullshit to try and get me to safety while he stayed behind to buy me time, he sure as shit wouldn’t be sending me into the hotspot alone. So with only a quick glance back, I take off.
It’s pure and utter chaos. The fire dancing on my right sends the entire yard dancing with shadows, the flashes of lightning making it even more disorienting. Shouts, gunshots, snarls, and that goddamn, incessant smoke alarm beeping are everywhere, the storm washing away most of the blood, chemicals, and smoke. Still, it’s sensory overload, murder on my heightened senses, and for a second, I nearly pause to throw up. I don’t though, because I don’t have any time to spare. If I stop, I’m an easy target. Inside the house, where there are walls working to my benefit, or with someone watching my back so that I can afford to have tunnel vision, is one thing. Out here, though? I wouldn’t see the threat until it was on top of me, or bullets were riddling my body.
On the next strike of lightning, I spot a glimpse of Cin on the balcony above before he’s lost to the shadows again, my eyes needing a few seconds to adjust from the sudden flash. As the following crack of thunder comes, I brace for the ensuing pain and throw myself at the glass sliding doors in front of me. They shatter, but shards embed in my side as I crash to the tiled floor of the kitchen, leaving streaks of blood in my wake.
Note to self, it may look cool in the movies, but motherfucker, it hurts like a bitch.
Forcing myself up, I quickly discover that claws and soaked feet aren’t the best combination for a place filled with tile and marble, so I skid a couple of steps before finding my footing. The people I encounter along the way, I either dispose of as swiftly as possible or bypass them altogether. Thankfully, after surviving the staircase without a broken neck, I reach the carpet-laden second floor.
From there, it’s trial and error finding a route that isn’t too crowded or completely sealed off with debris. By the time I’m finally on the balcony, I’m pissed off enough that the three lycans in front of me are a blessing. It allows me to burn off some of the aggression simmering in my veins, their bodies reduced to ash beneath my touch and fading away with the storm before I finally turn to a stunned silent Cinjin.
The clothes plastered to his body make a dull smack as I tackle him to the ground, glaring down at him with a low growl. He holds my eye without flinching away, a silent communication passing between the two of us in the temporary reprieve until the next enemy finds us.
Something’s changed. His counterpart’s changed so much since the last time I looked, he doesn’t even feel like the same person.
A teasing lightness appears in his ice blue gaze before he closes them and tilts his chin upward, baring his throat. “Please, no, I have so much to live for! A wife and seventeen children, a dozen rescue dogs depending on me. Think of the orphans at the soup kitchen that’ll be forced to serve their own dinners if you kill me.”
Huffing an amused breath out of my nose right into his face, I gently clamp my teeth around his neck until I taste blood, then immediately release. Gently butting my nose against his jaw, I imbue as much encouragement and comfort as I can before swiping my tongue over his cheek and pulling away.
