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A golden eagle swooped from a heap of clothes and dove with claws extended to catch one of the vampires in the face. Aaron’s battle cry rang through the tunnel. The beam of the fallen flashlight sparked across the bright feathers of his hugewings.
A wolf kicked out of West’s jeans, its ruddy silver-tipped fur gleaming in the wavering light. He clamped its jaws around one of the vampire’s legs and heaved. The vampire tumbled to the tunnel floor with a crack of her head against one of the subway rails. The wolf whirled to charge at another attacker. Something gleamed starker red on his chest. Had she hurthim?
A large black jaguar pounced into the fray. Marco knocked another vampire onto the ground, pinning him. His sleek tail lashed back and forth as he slapped the vampire across the cheek. The crack of a broken neck echoed off thewalls.
The violence was horrifying, but at the same time the strength and speed of my shifter mates took my breath away. These weren’t just forms they put on like some kind of costume. Theywerethose animals, down to the center of their being, and they moved likemagic.
My hand squeezed tighter around Kylie’s. My heart was thumping in the base of my throat. The guys had taken down some of the vampires, but the others were still fighting, swinging daggers and baring their fangs. I should be out there with my mates, doing my part. It was for me that all of us were downhere.
But what could I do with this human body against those undead creatures? In the damp tunnel air, I suddenly felt more useless than I ever had in my life. I had no weapons, no claws except the ones scrabbling in my chest. If I threw myself in there and tried to fight, all I’d be doing was giving the vampires a chance to grab me and turn the tables on thealphas.
If I could shift... If I could join them as an equal, prove I was worthy of the risks they were taking forme...
I pushed Kylie toward the wall. “Stay there,” I said. “No matter what. Don’t get any closer tothem.”
She nodded, at a rare loss for words. I balled my hands, staring into the midst of the fight. I knew how the transformation was supposed to feel. I’d glimpsed the feeling in my memories. That stretching, unfurling sensation that would rip through my body. I wanted it now, sobadly.
I reached inside to the frantic scraping of those internal claws.Burst out. Break free. Let loose the dragon inside. Iwasthat dragon. I knew it, as much as I’d known my mother when I’d seen her scaled form flying overhead in my memory. I could taste the charring of fiery breath on mytongue.
But my body didn’t comply. My form stayed completely human. The dragon remained locked inside me. I groaned, wrenching at myself with all my will, and it was still me just standingthere.
My memories had been unlocked. Mom’s magic had fallen away. Why was it still so hard for me to follow my truenature?
In front of me, a vampire slashed at Nate’s side, drawing a dark red streak through his bear’s chestnut fur. He bellowed and swung his paw, but his attacker darted away. Another bloodsucker was struggling on the ground with Marco. She sank her fangs deep into the jaguar’s foreleg, and he let out a painedsnarl.
The memory of the lioness sinking her teeth into my sister flashed through my mind. It shook loose other fragments, bits of the past I didn’t want in my head right now. A warthog stabbing its tusks into the side of a great tawny mountain lion.Daddy. A polished floor streaked with blood. My mother’s fingers clutching mine so tight a stabbing pain shot through my bones. A whimper fading into a gurgle with the slitting of athroat.
A hoarse rumbling chuckle that seemed to echo all around me, rising higher as the blood flowedfaster.
My stomach flipped, threatening to spew my hasty lunch up my throat. I gripped the wall to keep mybalance.
“Ren!” Kylie said. She hugged me from behind. I let myself sag into her just for a second, and then I pushed myselfforward.
I had to help somehow. I couldn’t stand back through anothermassacre.
I flailed for some kind of weapon. A length of bent pipe lay by the opposite wall. I snatched it up, spun around to look for a target to whack across the head—andstopped.
There was no one left to whack. While I’d been caught up in my memories, my alphas had finished the job. The wolf was just backing away from a vampire whose throat he’d gouged out. The grizzly slammed our last conscious attacker against the wall one more time, and the bloodsucker slumped onto the ground. Aaron and Marco had already shifted back into human form. Blood dappled Marco’s arm and side, and Aaron limped a bit as he moved toward his discarded clothes, but otherwise they lookedfine.
And I meanfine. Even with fighting adrenaline still rushing through my veins, I couldn’t help appreciating the full view of their impressive physiques. The gods had really outdone themselves when they made this quartet ofmen.
Aaron’s impressive, er, apparatus and equally spectacular ass disappeared into his boxers and then his jeans. Marco sauntered over to another of the fallen vampires, looking as if he didn’t mind showing off all his equipment to anyone who felt like taking an eyeful. No, he definitely didn’t mind at all. He shot me a glance over his well-muscled shoulder and winked at me. My faceflushed.
“Ren,” Nate said, man again. He strode toward me and then stopped as if realizing his big, brawny body plus nakedness might be a little overwhelming. I suspected his clothes hadn’t survived his transformation. Aaron shoved his shirt into Nate’s hands. Nate gave me a sheepish smile as he tied it around his waist for makeshift modesty. “Are you all right? They didn’t get toyou?”
I shook my head and looked over at Kylie. She was okay too, but her knuckles were white where she’d balled her hands around the hem of her tank top. “Is it over?” I asked. “Did you... kill all ofthem?”
“They’re not dead,” Marco said, nudging one guy’s leg with his toe. “Or, not any more dead than they already were. But they won’t be bothering us anytimesoon.”
“When vampires are injured severely enough, they go into stasis while they heal,” Aaron explained. “They’ll be out for a few hours atleast.”
“They didn’t bargain for running into a bunch of alphas,” Marco said flippantly. “That’ll teach them to be thatcocky.”
Aaron shot him a warning look. “We don’t want to be cocky either. They may have backup on the way. They’ll definitely be reporting the clash as soon as they’ve recovered. When they do, the local vampire lord isn’t going to be happy with us. Theydidhave the right to question and attack us after finding us on theirterritory.”
Marco shrugged, but Nate’s expression had darkened. “We need to get Ren out of here fast,then.”
Aaron nodded. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay at Marco’s house any longer either. That’s the first place they’ll come looking for shifters who’ve recently passed through. Are there any shifter settlements we can make it to today while still giving ourselves somedistance?”
