Page 74 of The Enforcers: NOAH

Chapter 29

Pure terror shot through Mina. “Brock!” she called out frantically. “Where’s Brock?”

“In here, Mommy.” He came to the front door of the cabin.

“Stay there,” she said sharply. “Do not come out unless one of the adults tells you to.”

“Okay,” Brock said in a small voice.

Mina backed up until she was in front of the door, wanting to go inside and grab Brock, but also needing to know what the danger was.

“Don’t kill me,” Robbie said, holding up his hand and looking at the huge, suddenly terrifying shifters that were converging on him. “I came to warn you.”

Jasmin gave him a shove and he stumbled forward, hitting his knees.

He looked around the clearing, his eyes landing on Mina. “They’re coming,” he said, straight to her. “Carson and Briscoe and their boys know where you are. They’re coming for the white wolf, and they’re going to get Brock too.”

Everyone froze. Then Jesse and Flynn both lunged at him simultaneously. Flynn got there first by a millisecond, lifting Robbie off the ground by his neck. Robbie struggled and choked.

Jesse said, “We have to get out of the open. Where can we take him? The cabin?”

Flynn shook his head. “The crazy shed. It has a lock.” He strode over and opened the door, throwing Robbie inside. Tristan and Jesse were right behind him, both of them with eyes blazing gold. Terin went with them, her lip still lifted in a snarl.

Rafe and Tank stayed near the house, standing sentry. Tank shucked off his pants and shifted.

Brock squeezed out the door and into Mina’s arms. “Why is Daddy here?” he whispered. Mina shook her head, not knowing what to say.

Jasmin and the other shifters Mina didn’t know yet were spreading out, slipping into the forest. They’re going to try to head them off, Mina realized. She squeezed Brock tight, huddled frozen on the porch steps.

Inside the shed, Robbie was still on the floor, with Terin, Tristan and Jesse surrounding him. Flynn stepped out to scan the clearing, and the others were watching him.

Nobody saw what Robbie was doing.

He’d pulled some kind of inhaler out of his pocket. But Robbie didn’t have asthma…

“Flynn!” she yelled.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. Robbie raised the inhaler and pointed it at Jesse. Brock yelled, “Daddy, no!” He turned into a wolf and slithered out of Mina’s grasp, zooming across the clearing so quickly he seemed to blur.

Robbie pressed the sprayer, and a fine mist went out into the air. Jesse, Terin and Tristan started coughing. Flynn stepped back and almost tripped over Brock, who dashed between his legs into the shed and grabbed onto Robbie’s wrist with his teeth a second too late.

Mina ran across the clearing, not caring if fifty gunmen were hiding in the woods. Jesse choked, “Don’t come in!”

Mina slid to a stop. Jesse wrestled the inhaler out of Robbie’s hand and wrapped one arm around his neck, putting pressure on his throat. “What was that shit?” he demanded.

Robbie said, “Shifter toxin. Six hours, max, you’ll all be dead, unless you do exactly what Carson and his boss want.”

He looked up at Mina. “I’m sorry, Mina. You should have stayed with me. You should have done what I said. Then they wouldn’t have made me do it.”

At that moment, Brock shifted back to human, and began coughing too.

As Mina stood frozen in horror, Jesse slammed his fist across Robbie’s face, cold-cocking him. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny plastic vial. He bit the top off the vial and dribbled some of the liquid into Brock’s mouth.

“What’s that?” Mina asked. “What are you giving him?”

Terin was already downing her own vial. “Antidote,” Jesse said. “We reverse engineered the formula from a sample we got from Alexander Grant’s torture master, along with the toxin. It’s a secret, though—if they know we have the antidote, they’ll develop another toxin.”

Mina said, “Does it hurt humans?” Jesse shook his head, and she dashed in and picked up Brock, hugging him to her.