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“Get down here and face me like a man.”
“You’re an eager little pup, aren’t you?”
“This eager little pup wiped the ground with you before. I won’t hesitate to do it again. Don’t make me come up there.”
Derek took a step forward.
“Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast!” Cyrus shouted.
His goons started appearing around Derek’s group, snarling down at them from above. The pack leader simply smiled, unfazed by their advantage in numbers.
“Quality over quantity, Cyrus. Your men are no match for mine.”
But the smile on Derek’s face dropped when Cyrus pulled out Bruce from behind the spotlight. He pressed a knife against his throat.
“Bruce!” called Derek.
“Not so confident now, are you?” laughed Cyrus.
“Put him down. Let’s talk this out.”
“You ought to choose your words a bit better.”
Cyrus pushed Bruce off the second level of the mansion balcony. Bruce tumbled through the air. Derek lunged forward and landed under the boy, cushioning the impact.
The kid sprang up and ran behind a pile of debris as the shifter rogues jumped down. Derek, Mason, and the others wasted no time before shifting and engaging in combat. In an instant, the courtyard became a bloodbath of violence and gore.
Heads rolled as Derek tore through the opposition. The iron taste of blood in his mouth, coupled with the nonstop action, pumped his heart rate sky-high. The sounds of whimpers, growls, snapping, and clawing filled the air.
A force pushed Derek to the ground. He turned as jaws clamped down on his shoulder, drawing blood and a deafening scream. He lunged forward and bit down on his opponent’s throat so hard that the life left his attacker in a split moment.
Wincing through the pain, he stood back and went after two rogues assaulting Mason. Headbutting one to the ground, he ripped its throat out and then turned to his beta, who now had the upper hand on his own target.
A nod from Mason gave Derek the go-ahead to return to Bruce. The kid immediately jumped to his feet at the sight of Derek, hugging him around Derek’s furry neck.
“I’ll take you to the others; they’re inside.” Bruce led him to an open door, where they were met with three adversaries. Derek leapt forward like an arrow from a bow, taking out the leading enemy with a single bite.
He kicked out his rear legs at another, knocking the rogue out as he took care of the final guard. Bruce took him to a basement door, where Derek shifted into his human form. Yanking a curtain off the window rod, he wrapped it around himself as best he could.
“Stand back,” he ordered.
He ripped the door off and started down into the basement, frightening the children as they scurried in each direction.
“Kids, it’s me, Derek. I’ve come to take you home.”
One of them switched on a light as they all returned to him, some crying from relief.
“Let’s get you all outside … Wait, where’s Lila?” asked the pack leader, realizing the woman who had been watching the children with Ava was unaccounted for.
“They took her away, but no one knows where.”
“Bastards,” growled Derek under his breath. “Follow me.”
He led them outside to the courtyard where his men had shifted back into human form, dressed, and were waiting for him. Corpses of their enemies littered the lawn.
“Mason, they still have Lila. You and the others take the kids back to the pack house while I search for her,” he declared, trading his curtain for proper clothing from his bag.
“I can stay behind with you.”
