Page 45 of Stolen

She kept moving, wanting to make sure his attention stayed on her. “You have to catch him first,” she said. “I don’t know where he is.”

But she was calling him—her wolf was calling. Hawk! Hawk, I need you. Come to me!

“He’ll come soon enough when I start hurting you,” Rico sneered. “He’s besotted with you. My men will keep you screaming until he hears.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” she said, still wanting to believe it, even after what he’d said to her in the road. “Not to a woman, not to me, your sister.”

Rico spat on the ground. “You’re a whore and a traitor,” he said. “And you will pay.”

He stared at her, his eyes deep pools of evil. “Now come here, little sister. As your alpha, I command you to obey me. I compel you!”

Dimly, she felt the command brushing at her mind, but it had no hold on her now. She stood her ground, and laughed at him.

Fury contorted his face. He’d always hated being laughed at. “I said come here!”

Ariana drew the combat knife from its sheath on her leg, knowing it was only a token, but an important one. “You cannot compel me,” she said. “You may torture me, and you may kill me, but you cannot make me obey you.” She used the knife to rip through her shirt, at her left shoulder, and pulled down the cloth so he could see Hawk’s claiming mark.

“My true mate has claimed me, now and after death. Whatever you may choose to do, you have no power over me.”

Rico stared at the scar on her shoulder, his eyes glowing gold. “You dare!” he snarled. “You are mine! You have no right to give yourself to anyone, let alone that traitor. When he comes, I will—”

His words were drowned out by a furious howl. Hawk, in wolf form, came bounding over the wall behind Rico and launched himself in the air, knocking her brother to the ground.

Rico Changed, and the two of them rolled over and over among the plants, snapping and tearing at each other with killing ferocity.

After one stunned moment, all three of Rico’s remaining men trained their guns on Ariana. One of them yelled, “Apartate, Halcόn! Retirarse! We will kill her!”

Hawk backed off, snarling, and as soon as there was space between him and Rico, two of the gunmen turned to him.

“Don’t!” she yelled, as their fingers tightened on their triggers.

The rattle of gunfire filled the air, and Ariana screamed. The three cartel men crumpled to the ground. Ariana looked up to see Hawk’s friends from the helicopter atop the wall. They vaulted down into the garden.

In that moment, when everyone was distracted, Rico leaped at Ariana.

Hawk was on him in a second, his powerful jaws tearing at Rico’s throat, his belly, the tendons in his legs. Crippled and bleeding, Rico’s wolf sank to the ground. Hawk’s wolf stood over him, head down, panting.

It was time for her to finish this. Time for others to stop fighting her battles.

Ariana snatched up a pistol from the ground near one of the fallen cartel men, and went to stand over her brother. “You were my older brother once.” She aimed the gun at him, and his form shimmered and Changed, so it was her brother gazing up at her with eyes that looked human. But she knew better.

“Now you’re just a monster,” she told him.

Before her finger could tighten on the trigger, there was a single gunshot from off to her left. A bullet entered cleanly into Rico’s skull, leaving a small round hole. His eyes glazed over.

Ariana looked up, and saw Boomer’s brother kneeling on top of the wall, the barrel of his pistol letting out a single wisp of smoke.

He looked her dead in the eye for a long moment, face impassive as always, and then holstered his gun and dropped down from the wall, out of her sight.