The next person through the door kicked me hard. I flew backward, landing on something sharp right between my shoulder blades. It hurt like hell, but what I saw come through the door next filled me with rage. Armed guards fixed their rifle sights on Gunnar.
"Sebastian!"Gunnar cried through our link.
"I'm fine."I rolled onto my stomach, but when I tried to gather my paws under me, they went skidding in all four directions.
"Stay down, son." My father pushed between two guards and loomed over me with one Oxford loafer on my damaged shoulder. "If you move, they'll kill the omega."
"Don't move,"Gunnar said."I'm coming for you."
That was the last thing I remembered before my father jabbed the butt of a rifle into my temple. Then, the world went dark.
CHAPTER 18
GUNNAR
That fucker hurt Sebastian,his own son. I'd never understood how family members could turn their backs on one another, but now, with our twins growing inside me, every paternal instinct kicked in. I would kill Ivan Paska, if it was the last thing I did.
"Whatever you do, don't hurt the omega. Our life support systems aren't equipped to handle his sped-up metabolism."
That was good to know. Not only did they want me alive to birth our pups, but they also didn't want to hurt me. Well, I wanted to hurt them.
The armed guards had their sights trained on me, but they wouldn't take the shots. I loped in close to the first, using his body as a shield from the other three. Wolves were infamous for pack tactics and for knocking their victims prone, at least according to my favorite role-playing game. Was that true in real life? We were about to find out.
I circled around the men, keeping one of thembetween me and the others as much as I could. Finally, I was between them and the door. Slamming my flank against the thick metal, I managed to push it shut. I couldn't turn the crank without my hands, but any other guards would be foolhardy to open the door after the noise we were about to make. I leaped at the nearest guard, knocking her to the floor. At the first slash of my claws across her neck, she screamed. The sound soon became a weird bubbling in her throat as blood poured from her wounds.
I circled back to gain more speed, this time tackling a guard in the chest and taking him down hard. He hit the back of his head on the marble tile floor. From the way his arms flopped to the ground on either side, I'd knocked him out cold. The last two guards tried to flank me, so I grabbed the unconscious one by the throat and pulled him backward, my warning growls mixing with his warm blood as it trailed over my gums.
The turning of the crank drew the guards' attention. I bit down hard on the unconscious guard's neck, making sure he would never wake up. Then, I followed the noise.
The sight at the door filled me with glee. Sebastian had shifted back into a man. He cranked the wheel shut to prevent more guards from entering.
"You've already lost," Ivan said. "Locking yourself in here with us won't change anything. You're still outnumbered three to two, and you're weak."
Sebastian leaned against the heavy door, his grip on the circular handle all that held him up. "Fuck you," was all he could muster before sliding to the floor in a heap.
While the remaining guards were still distracted, I jumped them, bouncing from the one's hip to the other's shoulders and taking them both down face-first, their guns skittering out of reach. Biting the back of the neck had worked well the first time. I did it again, shaking my head furiously until I heard a sickening crack. Then, I hopped to the next one, careful to avoid the pools of blood spreading across the floor. The second guard was already on his hands and knees, crawling toward his assault rifle. He reached for the shoulder strap, but I got there first, snatching it up in my mouth and circling to toss it over my shoulder. The weapon fired several bullets upon landing, shattering the glass walls of our cages.
"That'll cost you, omega freak," Ivan shouted.
The man behind me grabbed my back foot and twisted, taking me down hard as the tendon snapped. A sound I'd never heard before gurgled from my throat, and Sebastian stirred.
I turned on the man, snapping my teeth in his face and pulling my bum leg behind me until I could finally latch onto his throat. The man punched me on the snout and shoulders, trying to dissuade me, but I had only one objective: kill these motherfuckers. They'd imprisoned us and threatened our lives and those of our unborn pups. Not a single one of them would leave alive.
I exhaled, forcing the rushing blood from my mouth as I shook him from side to side. Finally, his neck broke and I let him go.
I heard a scrape behind me before pain exploded inmy flank. The healing tendon snapped again, and I howled in pain.
"Stop this!" Ivan held the gun in both hands. He'd swung it like a baseball bat to hit me where it hurt, and now he aimed it at Sebastian. "Today's lab results show that the omega's bloodline is stronger than ours. We could breed him with a human, and his pups would still be shifters." Ivan shook his head in mock sadness. "That means we don't need you anymore, Sebastian."
"I need you!"
Sebastian stayed where he had slumped against the door. If my internal screaming couldn't wake him, he would never know that his own father held a rifle to his head.
I limped back a step, testing my bum leg. It wasn't healing as fast as I'd hoped. Something was out of place, and each step brought a sharp burst of pain followed by heat and burning. Rushing him was out of the question. My irregular gate made stealth impossible on the stone floor. Thankfully, Ivan wasn't paying any attention to me as I closed the distance between us. When he finally looked down, my teeth were mere inches from his calf.
He jerked away, but I caught his pant leg, yanking on it and bringing him down onto his back. The gun discharged into the ceiling, and then toward the back wall. The popping sounds were overloud in the echoing lab.
Suddenly, Sebastian stood over me, his fists balled. With a raised kick, he knocked the weapon from his dad's hands, sending it skidding across the floor once more. Then he collapsed on his side, panting.
