Page 37 of Hunted Ink by Trisha Linde

My beast tore from my skin, leaping into the brush mid-shift, our nose already working to detect the familiar scents among the snow, earth, and loam. Pater’s scent was here, along with the other elders. We could easily pick up the hunters, their animals too, stronger than they’d ever been. But the part that worried me most was the acrid burn of gunpowder.

Run, I begged my wolf. Please, run.

And as fast as he was already going, he managed to dig even deeper, putting on a surge of speed.

I felt so helpless, trapped in the background, but there was no one else I trusted with our mate’s safety. No one but my wolf could get us there in time. Our claws dug into the earth as we pounded through the forest, tongue lolling, panting breath emerging in silvery clouds that drifted away behind us before they could take shape. Branches snagged at our fur, our pulse pounding loud in our ears, but nothing would keep us from our mate.

Not even death.

Helpless as we ran, I pictured Kedi’s smile, always so sexy and mischievous. Fuck, I missed him so much, with his vibrant hair and glinting piercings, and the way he took care of me in every way. I’d been so focused on my responsibility to the other hunters that I’d neglected the man that meant more to me than anyone. I hated so much that I hadn’t even seen him round with our child. As soon as this was over, I was going to make it up to him. I was going to lavish so much attention on him that he’d be begging me to leave him alone for five minutes.

Lost in my thoughts, when I caught a whiff of his crisp scent of apples and sap, I thought I was imagining it. But then my wolf whined, and I knew he’d smelled him too. We were close.

But the hunters were closer…

And then, the eerie stillness of the forest was broken with a sharp crack of gunfire and a cry of pain. No!

My wolf dug into his energy reserves and put on a final burst of speed, built from the purest love the universe could’ve gifted me. We erupted from the trees into a scene of utter chaos. Shouting, growling, no clear lines drawn in battle. The peaceful scents of the forest were overwhelmed by gunpowder and the copper tang of blood.

No matter how many hunters there were, the shifters weren’t going down without a fight. Before my eyes, a massive jaguar pounced on Elder Robert, razor-sharp claws tearing straight through his hunting gear. I could already see one body lying in the dirt, gray fur stained red, ribs heaving with each breath. Gods, who was it? Brave Sierra? Sweet, eager Ricky? Reserved Oliver?

When Elder Gabriel swung the barrel of his gun around toward me, my wolf leaped forward. We didn’t hesitate. This was what my wolf had been waiting for all these years. A chance for a little payback. We sank our teeth into his arm, his blood pouring over our tongue. We gave a rough shake of our head, and kept shaking until he cried out, his fingers grappling futilely with our muzzle to try to prise himself free. Finally, we felt his grip on the gun loosen, and it fell on the ground with a clatter. When we finally let go, Gabriel fell to his ass with a whimper and shuffled back, cradling his arm to his chest, blood gushing all down his front.

Joel darted forward, as fast as his very-pregnant body could move, and he grabbed the weapon with shaking fingers, looking frantic and lost as he tried to figure out how the hell to work the thing. He was going to shoot someone by accident if he wasn’t careful! Finger on the trigger, he hoisted the gun up in one hand, panning the barrel back and forth, unsure of where to aim it without hurting one of our own. With his other arm, he kept Wick safely behind him as they backed away from the fight.

They seemed to be safe, outside of the hunters’ focus, but where the hell was Kedi?!

All across the clearing, the remains of the pack’s makeshift camp had been trampled. A campfire had been kicked loose of the ring of stones, lighting one of the tents on fire. Dancing light and shadows painted them all in a macabre dance of blood and violence.

There! my wolf yipped. He’d caught sight of our mate on the other side of the clearing.

I wished more than anything I had the time to admire how he’d changed in our time apart, basking in his pregnancy glow, but no such luck. This was war, and I had to believe we would have all the time in the world once this was put to rest.

Kedi might not have been able to shift, but he was wielding an axe like a sexy wood-chopping lumberjack influencer, and his eyes were all wolf. He took a swing at Castor when the hunter got too close, but Castor stepped back, frowning, arms down at his sides, his hunting knife held loosely in his grip. He didn’t want to hurt a pregnant man, and if my plan was working, then he had a shifter inside him begging him to stop.

Pater, however, had no such morals.

In the firelight, his grin was all predator’s glinting teeth and eyes bright with menace. And he’d set his sights on my mate.

Go! I shouted at my wolf, but he was already in motion. Darting around grappling bodies, we lost our footing in the slick melting snow, and for one desperate moment, I thought we would be too late. But then our claws dug in, muscles flexing, and right as Pater pulled the trigger, we launched ourselves in front of Kedi.

There was no doubt, no regret, as the bullet punched into our shoulder. We fell to the ground with a yelp, warm blood soaking our fur, but we still managed to crawl to Kedi, trying to shield him with our body.

“No!” Kedi cried, cradling our head in his lap, pushing his hands over the wound to try to stem the flow of blood. “Please, no,” he moaned, his tears dripping onto our face.

The shift was pure agony, but if I was going to die, I needed to tell him how much I loved him, that he was my world, through this life and the next. As muscles shifted to human anatomy, trying to work around the bullet, it felt like shrapnel was tearing through me again, a shiver of searing pain shooting through me.

“Hey, baby,” I grunted out through gritted teeth.

“Why did you do that?” he scolded raggedly, blood leaking through his fingers where he clamped them back over the wound in my chest. “You shouldn’t have done that, you stubborn ass.”

“Kedi, you are my everything. I would die a thousand deaths to know you’re safe,” I vowed, but we didn’t have time for a proper reunion.

I felt him before I saw him. I quickly rolled to face Pater as he aimed the gun at me a second time, this time with the intent to kill. The world spun around me as I struggled to keep my footing, guarding my mate as best I could.

“To think that I once considered you my son,” he said with a sneer.

“Says the man who murdered my real father in cold blood and then drugged and brainwashed me into believing you were the good guy,” I barked back, with a low growl rumbling in my throat. In that moment, I saw a flash of my father’s face at last, smile full of pride, green eyes like mine crinkling in humor, and it filled me with love and bravery. “You’re all nothing but small, angry men playing at being gods.”