To my left, hidden in the shadows, Gino shifted his weight.
I didn’t look at him, didn’t need to. I could feel him. The steady, coiled focus of a hunter lining up his shot. \
“Easy,” I breathed, though I didn’t know if I was talking to him or to myself.
My wolf snarled inside me. Wait, I reminded him.
The crack of Gino’s rifle split the night. One of the humans jerked, his body snapping backward before he hit the ground hard, gun clattering from his hand.
For half a heartbeat, everything froze. Then the world exploded.
“Move!” I roared. “Mason, take Kai and hide!”
I didn’t wait. I shifted mid-stride, bones cracking, muscle tearing and reforming as fur ripped through my skin. The pain barely registered. It never did when adrenaline hit like this.
One second I was human. The next, I was a wolf with his teeth bared. Hunger and fury fused into something primal and unstoppable. Gunfire erupted.
Sharp, deafening cracks split the air as bullets tore through the space where I’d been a second before. One grazed my side, hot and sharp, but I barely felt it.
I eyed my targets, the threat to my Mason, to the pack.
I hit the nearest human full force, my weight slamming into his chest and driving him to the ground. My jaws closed around his arm before he could even scream.
Bone gave way, blood flooded my mouth. He howled. I released him just long enough to lunge for the next. Around me, my pack moved like a storm breaking loose.
Another tracker was already in wolf form, a blur of gray and teeth as he took down another man trying to raise his weapon. One of the enforcers tackled a second, dragging him down into the dirt before the gun could fire again.
The clearing filled with chaos, shouts, gunshots, and snarls. The metallic tang of blood thickened the air. I caught a glimpse of Mason through the madness.
He was running, gripping Kai’s arm as they disappeared through a nearby tree line. Good, I thought.
Get out of the chaos, and get safe.That was all that mattered.
A shot rang out behind me. Pain exploded across my shoulder as something grazed me again, closer this time. I spun, snapping toward the source.
A man stood there, wide-eyed, gun shaking in his hands. He was too slow. I lunged and he fired, the bullet went wide. My teeth didn’t miss.
I slammed into him, jaws closing around his throat this time, cutting off the scream before it could form. He went down hard, body going limp beneath me.
Another scent hit me, fear and running. I turned just in time to see one of the humans bolt toward the trees, abandoning his weapon in his panic.
I gave chase. There was no escape for our enemies.
The world narrowed to movement and instinct. The forest swallowed him fast, branches snapping under his feet as he ran blindly into the dark.
I was faster. Within seconds, I was on him. I tackled him from behind, sending both of us crashing to the ground. He hit hard, air whooshing out of him in a strangled gasp.
“Let go me of me, you animal!”
My jaws hovered at his throat. For a moment, all I saw was red. All I felt was the echo of Mason standing there, helpless, a gun pressed to his head. I ended him quickly.
“Levi!” The shout cut through the haze. Gino, who remained human form. “Did you get him?”
I growled in assent, and returned to the rest of the team. When I burst back into the clearing, it was already ending. Two of the humans lay unmoving.
Another was pinned beneath one of our enforcers, struggling weakly as restraints were forced onto his wrists. We were going to question that one. I counted them.
Five. Was that right? My stomach dropped. There had been six.
