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Years of ingrained training kicked in. I was out of my bed and dressed in tactical gear in minutes. I was lacing up my boots when the door burst in.
Yelping, I stood, ready to fight, but instead of an enemy, the guards rushed in. Heedless of me, the two massive fallen angels nearly fell over each other as they pushed through the door. The biggest one slammed the door shut behind him while the other grabbed a decorative cabinet and shoved it against the door. Then, the two shoved every piece of movable furniture into a barricade against the doorway.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.
The two men looked absolutely terrified. Sweat sheened their faces.
“Are you gonna answer me?” I walked over to them. One was on his ass, pressed against the barricade. The other was bent over, hands on his knees and panting.
I glanced at the door and heard the screams outside. Uneasy fear filled me. What were they trying to keep out?
They still hadn’t answered me. I grabbed the one who was bent over and slapped him. “Tell me what the fuck is going on. Now!”
My slap sobered him a bit. He blinked at me. “It’s not good. The show was shut down, but when the showrunners arrived…” he trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief. “They had some kind of argument. That was when news came that war had broken out on the mainland. First reports are that the Eighth Pack invaded the lands of Seventh, trying to get a jump on them before they were attacked. It’s gone to chaos back home—riots, fighting in the streets. Even the human city of Black Rock has been overrun with fighting wolf shifters.
“Anyway, a bunch of the magic staff heard their families back home weren’t safe. Von and the others tried to calm them down.” He took a few deep breaths and looked into my eyes. The fear I saw there made my knees weak. “But they left.”
“Wait. What do you mean they left?”
“Gone. Not all of them, but most.” He grabbed my shoulders, almost as if he was trying to hold himself up. “When they left, the wards around the mansion were weakened. It takes a full staff of witches and fae to keep the barriers up.”
“What are you saying?” My voice trembled.
“Reject Mansion is no longer safe. The creatures and beasts of the island are infiltrating the grounds. They’re inside the fucking house.”
The news sent me reeling. War back home? I was too late. If the fighting had already started, my pack was in grave danger. Any of the more powerful packs could descend on our pack lands and try to lay waste to them. But right now, everyone inside the mansion was in even worse peril. The monsters were loose inside the walls.
“Where the fuck is Von? The other show—”
A wolf’s howl cut me off. It was full of rage—the battle cry of a shifter. I recognized it immediately. Wyatt.
Leaving the guard, I ran to the window. The howl had come from outside. I peered through the glass, but the rain made it impossible to see anything. If Wyatt was out there, it meant he was fighting.
A few minutes later, his howl came again, but this time, it was from downstairs. He was inside now. He was trying to get to me.
“Get out of the way!” I shouted, rushing toward the door.
I pulled a chair away from the door, slinging it aside. When I heard thesnap-snapof a bullet being chambered, I froze, turning to find both guards leveling their weapons at me. I sniffed the air, catching the metallic and bitter stench of silver. Both men looked terrified.The Reject Projecthad probably hired the biggest, baddest-looking motherfuckers they could, but being big and able to bench press four-hundred pounds didn’t mean you were battle-tested.
“You freeze right fucking there,” the smaller one said.
“I need to go help my friends,” I said, the seconds ticking away like bomb blasts in my head.
“Nope. Not today, bitch. Show’s shut down. We don’t have to protect you anymore. Now, it’s every man for himself. If you move that barricade, I will fill you with so much silver, they’ll make fucking jewelry out of your guts. Back up and get away from the door.”
“Yeah,” the other one said. “Von’s already gone, left on the only fucking helicopter with the other showrunners. They all left us here high and dry. If you put us in danger, we will blow your pretty little head off. Got it?”
My mind was still having trouble wrapping itself around all this. What could have caused this much chaos this fast? Von was gone? Had he really just cut and run?
These two assholes weren’t going to stop me. I’d dealt with worse in the TO. Dammit, I’d dealt with worse on this stupid island. Panic and fear did weird things to people. They became irrational and dangerous. These two guys were massive, and yes, they had silver bullets aimed at my head, but Wyatt was out there. Wyatt needed my help, and I would be damned if these two fuckers stopped me.
Holding up my hands in surrender, I said, “It’s okay. I get it. We’re safe here. Sorry. I lost my head.”
The two didn’t lower their guns, but relief crossed over their faces. The one on the right raised his pistol, pointing the barrel at the ceiling. The other moved his finger off the trigger guard. Both were mistakes. Mistakes they would pay for.
With one swift movement, I kicked at the chair I’d pulled off the barricade, catching it with my toe and flinging it toward them. Even as the chair flew, I was moving. When the chair hit the guy on the left, it struck his hand, knocking his gun away. I slid, kicking out at his leg, knocking him off-balance. He fell forward. As he did, I grabbed his outstretched hand, pulled it away, and pressed on the back of his head, forcing him to the ground even faster. His face smashed into the hardwood with a sickening crack, blood spurting from his broken nose. He was snoring before I leaped to my feet.
The other guard, dazed by the rapid escalation of events, barely had time to turn his gun toward me. My left foot lashed out at him, breaking his wrist, and sent the pistol tumbling. I slammed my elbow into his chin, knocking a tooth loose. My fist crashed into his sternum, sending an explosion of breath out of his lungs. Before he could gasp for air, I kicked, my foot connecting with his stomach. He flew backward, his head slamming into the wall. He slid to the floor, vomiting on himself.
