“I think you saying that is pissing him off,” she informed him. “And it’s damn sure pissing me off.”
“Savannah, I don’t want you to die for nothing. I don’t want you to die for a crazy man. What if I go feral and I kill you?” Austin’s voice was bleak and despairing.
“Oh, for dog’s sake!” she snapped. “What if we mate, and nothing goes wrong, but then ten years from now I get hit by a bus?”
Before Austin could say anything, they saw the barrel of a gun poke through the slitted window.
Quickly, he pushed Savannah out of the way, closed his eyes, and sent out a wave of power. They heard screams of pain as he forced the men outside to shift. Smart thinking. In animal form, they wouldn’t be able to shoot. Savannah could feel the thick wave of power, and she fell to her knees and crawled to the corner of the room.
The gun barrel vanished. Howls of agony twisted up through the air outside the bunker.
She watched Austin as he stood there, power flowing from him, warping the air around him. She knew he wouldn’t be able to hold them forever. After a few minutes, he stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, panting for breath, and she heard shouts and groans as the men outside changed back.
Roy just sat there, staring blankly at the door. Savannah thought about asking him to help them, but she was afraid she’d just set him off. At least he wasn’t currently trying to kill them.
After a couple of minutes, the gun barrel poked through the window again. Once more, Austin sent out the wave of power, and held them for a few minutes before releasing them.
This time, it took about five minutes for them to recover.
Finally, there was a weak, whining shout through the window. “You can’t last all day, shithead! Give up now and we’ll kill you quick! You don’t cut this shit out, we’re going to tear your heads off!”
“Come try it!” Austin yelled back. “After I finish gutting you, I’m going to rip the fur from your flesh! I’m gonna skull-fuck your eye sockets, bitches!”
“Eww, gross,” Savannah winced. “I mean, well-deserved, but gross. Also, could you maybe do the first thing but not the second thing? Because if you did the second thing, I feel like it would flash in front of my eyes at the wrong moments and ruin all future boinking sessions.”
Roy’s shoulders started shaking. He was making an odd noise.
Savannah looked at him in alarm. His lips were curled up. Was he laughing while in wolf form?
Outside, she could hear angry muttering. She and Austin stood there, leaning against the wall. The men outside were frustrated. They couldn’t get close enough to shoot into the room without Austin knocking them on their mangy asses with his power. Same thing with pulling the door of the bunker open.
They were at an impasse, but she was sure they hadn’t given up.
As the minutes ticked by, she grew angrier and angrier.
She didn’t want to die like this. Not betrayed by her own kind. Not for money. Not when she’d met her mate, the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life arguing with.
Suddenly, she heard the crack of gunfire and screams of pure agony twisting up into the air.
There were different people nearby, she could scent them. Not the Deep River Pack.
Austin stepped in front of her. “My brothers!” he said. “My packmates. I smell them.”
Roy went very still.
“Austin, it’s Cliff! Can you hear me?” a man’s voice called out from right outside the little window.
“Well, if I couldn’t, then how the fuck could I answer you?” Austin yelled back.
“Fuck yourself right up the ass, Austin! Stand back!” a man’s voice yelled. “We’re blasting the door open!”
They hurried to the back of the room, and Austin pushed Savannah up against the wall, shielding her with his body. Roy just sat there by the door, tongue lolling out, eyes fixated on the handle.
“Damn it, Roy, get over here!” Savannah screamed at him.
He twitched an ear but didn’t move.
An explosion sounded outside the door, ringing in Savannah’s ears and making her teeth ache. She smelled a bitter, acrid scent. After a minute, the door fell straight outward and landed on the ground with a clang.
One of the men facing them screamed, “Look out!”
Roy lunged straight for his throat.
