Page 74 of Alpha Hunt

“The fucking meds are inside, goddammit! These tranqs won’t do shit – they’ll be back up in minutes, and we’re not gonna lock them all up in time.”

I take a step forward, and one of them backs away.

“You run, you die!” Crag’s voice cuts through the chaos as he dares his men to turn tail. He’s come in from behind, flanked by a group of them.

Casey’s fingers tighten in my fur. “Edirn,” she whispers urgently.

I know what she’s asking. She wants me to take them out. But there are too many of them. Even if I could avoid the darts, I couldn’t protect her from all of them at once.

The wolves at our back begin to growl and snap, their fear and anger boiling over. The men tense, their fingers tightening on their triggers.

We’re trapped between two deadly forces with nowhere to run. A streak of pink hisses through the air past me, and a second later, a dart hits a white tile and bounces away harmlessly. Another one flies by.

I hear a roar behind me.

Fuck!

But it turns out that bracing for an attack is unnecessary. A black blur propels itself through the air, hurtling just beyond my shoulder. It hits the front guy with such force he staggers back, knocking down two others.

“Get them! Get them now!” someone shouts.

The man on the floor is releasing bloodcurdling screams accompanied by the sound of crunching bone and tearing flesh as the wolf rips into him.

I stop listening after that. The wolves around us are unleashing hell. We’re seven to their twenty…which puts the odds in our favor. Especially since we have pure rage on our side. Even with the tranquilizer darts, I don’t rate their chances very high. But Casey’s vulnerable as she hangs back behind the clash of fur and firepower.

Stay back!

I wish there was some way that I could communicate with her the way she was able to connect with me. I know it’s not possible, but when our eyes meet, it’s as if she knows. As she keeps a safe distance from the fighting, I lunge for the nearest man. My jaws close around his arm, and I wrench him off his feet. He screams as I shake him like a rag doll, feeling his bones snap between my teeth.

The wolves are a blur of fur and fangs, tearing into the men with a vengeance. Blood splatters the white tiles, and the air is filled with the sounds of screams and snarls.

I release the man and spin around, searching for Casey. She’s darting between the wolves, trying to stay out of the fray. But then I see a dart hit one of the wolves, and it staggers, its legs going limp.

Shit!

We didn’t come this far to leave one behind.

Casey rushes forward and grabs the wolf, trying to drag it out of the line of fire. Another dart streaks past her head, missing her by inches. If that thing hit her, there’s no telling whether she’d survive in her human form. They’re designed to take down wolves.

Rage consumes me. I lunge for the man who fired the shot, my jaws clamping down on his throat. His scream is cut off with a gurgle as I rip out his windpipe.

The battle is brutal but brief. The men are no match for us. We tear through them like they’re made of paper, leaving a trail of broken bodies in our wake. Gore drips from the walls and smears the pristine tiles.

Finally, we break through the lab doors and spill out into the hallway. More men are waiting for us, but they fall just as quickly as the others.

And then I see him.

Crag.

He’s standing at the end of the hallway, a gun in his hand and a sneer on his face.

“You think you can take me, dog?” he taunts.

I stalk toward him, my lips curled back in a snarl. This is exactly as it was meant to be. Retribution is in my hands.

I told him I would end him. And I always keep my promises.

He raises the gun. He’s confident that I won’t outrun a speeding bullet. He’s wrong. I lunge for him, ducking away as my senses pick up the whistling sound of the silver slug. Maybe his men would have fared better against us if he’d armed them as well as he is. Right now, I don’t care either way.

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