Page 76 of The Billionaire Alpha Surrogate

“Those fucking dragons had to interrupt our fun,” a third one said.

The coyotes were talking telepathically, but Micah and Conner could hear them loud and clear.

Conner sent a telepathic message to Zac and Ian, letting them know where the shifters were.

“Who do we have here?” a voice growled from behind them.

Micah and Conner whirled around and stared at the four coyotes standing behind them.

“Do you want to join our little pack?” one of them asked.

“Not hardly,” Conner said.

“They’re wolves. Of course, they wouldn’t join us. They’re too good for that,” another said.

“Then whatever shall we do with them?” a third coyote asked, trying to sound a little snotty.

“Why, sir, I think we shall kill them.”

“Zac, Ian, you’d better hurry,” Conner yelled telepathically.

Micah and Conner got into position, nose to tail just as six of the coyotes jumped on them. The rest of their makeshift pack was calling out bets as to which of the wolves was going to go down first.

One of the coyotes jumped on Micah’s back and tried to take a bite out of his neck. Micah slammed the coyote into a tree just as a second leaped for Micah’s throat. The coyote on his back yelped and the other nipped the side of Micah’s neck.

The two coyotes yipped and leaped again. One of them managed to take a huge bite of flesh out of Micah’s side while the other raked Micah’s face with his claws. Micah jumped toward Conner because he was trying to fight three coyotes and one had a firm grip on Conner’s throat.

Micah rushed the coyote, ducked, and managed to slash deep gashes into his belly. Meanwhile, the two Micah was fighting continued to claw and fight. Just then, the rest of the wolves leaped from the bushes.

All ten of the coyotes jumped into the fight. Teeth gnashed and claws slashed. Sadie bit the throat of one of the coyotes Micah was fighting and ripped it out. The coyote lay dead on the ground.

Micah whirled around and managed to get his other attacker on the ground. This time, he stayed down.

After several minutes, all of the coyotes were either dead, dying, or badly injured. Micah collapsed on the ground. He and Conner were badly hurt.

“I don’t think we have time to get them back down the mountain,” Zac said. “Kayla, can you and Ian ask Helga, the witch who lives up there by the top, if she will help?”

The two wolves ran off.

“Everyone, shift,” Zac ordered. “Helga will help. Let’s grab these two and haul them up to her cottage.”

Although everyone had suffered various injuries, Conner and Micah were severely hurt because they had fought several coyotes before the others had arrived.

It seemed to take forever as they trudged up the mountain. Helga was waiting for them with herbal tea for the pain and other herbs for their wounds.

She treated Conner and Micah first. “You two are going to stay here for a few days. You can’t go back down that mountain. You won’t survive it.”

“I have to get back to Lucy,” Micah said.

“I’ll talk to Lucy and let her know you were injured in the battle and will be home in a week or so,” Zac said.

“I don’t know where you think you’re going, young man,” Helga said. “At least until I take care of you.”

Helga dished out tea brewed from wild lettuce that had the same pain-killing effects as opioids. She put poultices on several scratches and bites.

“Lucky for you, I just made a big pot of rabbit stew. I caught two in my garden this morning. Keylala told me that I would be having a lot of company for dinner tonight,” Helga said.

There was barely enough room for the eight of them, plus the Keylala, Helga’s familiar, but they managed to squeeze in and get some rest. The next morning, after more stew, Zac told Micah and Conner, “We’re all going back. I’ll let Lucy know you’re okay.”

---