Two of the hyenas stalked toward Bastian as Carter began to search the interior of the truck for a weapon. Anything. Too bad Carter was a bit of a neat freak and his truck was spotless.
A howl made him jump.
“Fuck!” Carter murmured. “Now what?”
Legolas let out a happy bark. This sounded much different to the ferocious ones he’d been releasing.
“What is it, buddy?” Carter asked. Yes, he was talking to his pup like the little one could answer him.
The howl was answered by a roar.
The hyenas around him froze. The leader on Carter’s hood lifted his head toward the trees. Following where the hyena’s attention had gone, Carter was watching as Axel stepped out from beyond the trees with a bear, lion, wolf, panther, and whatappeared to be a dog covered in flames. Holy shit! What was that thing?
Even though Axel was the only one approaching that was still in human form, the look on his face screamed he was not one to be messed with. Carter definitely wouldn’t want to be one of the hyenas.
Axel zeroed in on the leader of the hyena pack. “You wanted my attention? Now you have it. Bring it!”
The hyena leapt off Carter’s truck, launching himself toward Axel and the other shifters.
The chaos was instant.
Axel ran forward to meet the hyena leader as the other shifters raced past him. Carter clutched the phone in his hand while watching the lion knocking down the hyena closest to Bas.
It was obvious that the new group was used to working together. As Axel caught the hyena leader by the throat and tossed him to the side, the flaming dog snapped at the neck of the other. The wolf and panther worked back-to-back, nipping and snarling at two hyenas that had tried to run back into the forest.
Thunder cracked in the sky as it began to darken.
Carter had to crane his neck to see a huge bird above them flapping his wings. He had to resist rubbing his eyes, shocked by everything that he was seeing. This was the big secret in town. Carter was seeing for himself what being surrounded by paranormals really meant.
An SUV screeched onto the scene, and Aaron had the door open and was running for Carter’s truck before the vehiclecame to a complete stop. Carter fumbled with the door handle, managing to fall out of the truck in time for Aaron to wrap his arms around Carter’s waist.
“Are you okay?” Aaron was panting as he squeezed Carter tight.
“I’m okay.” Carter ran his palm down Aaron’s back, hoping to calm him. Carter pulled Aaron close as a steady rain began to fall. “I’m okay.”
It was hard to ignore the whines, grunts, and wails of pain from the fight. The clash with the other shifters hadn’t gone well for the hyenas. It hadn’t even been a long fight. Axel and his family had arrived immediately, taking the hyenas down.
“What now?” Carter asked. His voice shook and he cleared his throat.
“Gavin is trying to put out the fire with the rain,” Aaron said. “At least until the fire department arrives.”
“The hyenas?” Carter asked.
Aaron peered up at him before pressing his lips together.
“What?” Carter questioned.
“They’ve killed people, humans.”
“Okay?” Carter didn’t like when Aaron pulled away from him.
“Bo is going to take them to face punishment,” Aaron said quietly.
“Bo?”
Aaron pointed over as the flaming dog turned into a tall man dressed in black leather.
What the hell?
