AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Shoot him," I said quietly.
"What the fuck?" Winsloe scrambled up to glare at me. "Who's giving the orders around here? You don't tell me what to do. Not ever."
"He's caught," I said. "He can't finish and he can't Change back."
"We'll wait."
"It won't--"
"I said, we'll wait."
"Then move back." I forced myself to add, "Please. Give him some privacy."
Winsloe grunted and shot me another lethal glare, but waved the others back, though the other three guards were already ten feet from the thicket. Bryce couldn't resist one last prod. As he pushed his rifle forward, Lake's hands flew to his sides.
"Watch--!" I began.
With an inhuman shriek, Lake pushed off on his arms and flung himself at Bryce. The guard fired. Lake squealed and tumbled backward, hit the ground, and skittered into the undergrowth, trailing blood in a slug's path behind him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Winsloe bellowed. "You shot him!"
"He attacked--"
"Get back!" Winsloe shouted, spittle flying. "All of you. Get back. Now!"
The undergrowth rustled. Everyone jumped. Bryce and another guard lifted their weapons.
"Guns down!" Winsloe said. "Put the fucking guns down!"
We all froze and listened to the silence. Lake's smell was every where. I swiveled my head, homing in on it.
"Okay," Winsloe said, inhaling deeply. "Well, that was a royal fuckup. Now, here's what we're going to do, and if I hear one more goddamn gunshot, it better be from me. Is that--"
The bushes exploded. Bryce raised his rifle.
"Don't you fucking dare!" Winsloe screamed.
Lake's misshapen body sailed through the air. Two shots rang out. I dropped. The ground shuddered once, then twice. A moan. A very human moan. I lifted my head to see Bryce beside me on the grass, his head to the side, eyes locked with mine. His mouth opened. Bloody foam bubbled out. He coughed once. Then he went still. I tore my gaze from his dead eyes and looked around. Lake lay on my other side, a bloody hole in his forehead.
I struggled to my feet, trying to figure out how Lake could have killed Bryce so quickly. As I stood, I saw the bullet hole in Bryce's chest. Behind him, Winsloe flung his pistol to the ground.
"Can you believe it?" he shouted. "Can you fucking believe it? I ordered him not to fire. A direct order. He killed my werewolf. He fucking shot my werewolf."
Only Pendecki moved, but his limbs wouldn't coordinate. He dropped awkwardly, knelt beside Bryce's corpse, fingers trembling as he felt for a pulse.
"Dumb fuck!" Winsloe shouted to the sky. He clenched his fists at his sides, face purple with rage. Stepping forward, he kicked Bryce's body. "I ordered him not to fire. Did anyone hear me order him not to fire?"
"Y--yes, sir," Pendecki said.
Winsloe spun on me. My heart stopped.
"Get her out of here," he said. "Take her back to her fucking cage. Go. All of you. Get out of my fucking sight before I--" He strode to where his pistol lay in the grass.
We were out of his sight before he turned around.
CHAPTER 25
NURSE
