Page 61 of Racing the Storm

And then… “We take them out. Half-shift, go for the throat.”

It was cruel. It was war again, but I wasn’t about to let this go. When Danyal took a step back, I realized I couldn’t let him go like that. So, I reached for him without thinking, crowding him back against the tree, and took his mouth in a furious kiss.

“I’m falling in love with you, and I am not done with us,” I said with a growl, right against his lips. “Do you understand?”

His claws pricked against my side, and he nipped at me. “Yes. Now, let me go. Let’s finish this.”

I felt a rush of anger and frustration as he dragged himself from my arms, but I let him go. Crouching at the base of the tree, I put myself into a defensive position, letting the half-shift ripple through me. I would be faster this way and stronger. If I was hit by the bullets or if the humans unleashed the gas, they’d take me down.

But if they came out into the open before they fired, I’d be able to get the jump on them. And after all this time, after decades of war, what were a few more deaths at my hands.

And when they were on the ground, bleeding out, I would handle it. I would…I would find out how they found us, and I would make them pay.

Danyal’s first howl sent shivers up my spine. The sound bounced around us, and I tilted my head toward the sky and joined mine with his. The echoes crashed into one another, like a cacophony. Like a pack, which made my chest ache in desperation for my own.

But my mate was here with me, and protecting him was enough to give me the strength I needed.

Danyal howled again, and on the edge of mine, I heard a shot fire. It went wide, hundreds of feet to his left, but the fact that they’d aimed for him was enough to turn my vision red. I crouched low and waited for the sound of footsteps.

There were a few—with heartbeats to match. At least five of them, which would be enough to take down, but I could smell the scent of their gas, and I knew I had to reach them before they could fire.

I took a breath, then my heart squeezed painfully tight when Danyal moved before me. He was glorious—half-human, naked, claws long, teeth bared. He was nothing more than a blur after a moment, and then I smelled blood.

There was a cry, and a shot went off, and I jumped into action.

Following the scent of my mate, I pushed through the brush and saw them. There was a sleek black car parked by the side of the road, one dead human and four crouched low with weapons at the ready.

Another one fired, and the bullet grazed my arm. With a loud snarl, I charged toward him and just as my claws sank into his neck, there was another heartbeat—a fast one—and a familiar scent of not quite human, not quite Wolf.

“Go,” Arturo snarled through his fangs, his eyes now glowing Alpha yellow. He was wearing jeans and a jacket that was slightly shredded, and he had blood on his hands.

His single, barking command snapped me into action, and I realized the two surviving humans had reached their car. The claws on my feet dug into the ground as I crossed the distance between us, and as I grabbed and twisted the metal of the driver’s door, I heard the click before the gas went off.

I stumbled back, coughing, but they weren’t fast enough. Arturo and Danyal were on them, and as my vision darkened from the chemicals, I smelled their blood as it hit the ground—a mockery of petrichor, their heart beats began to slow.

And then stop.

I felt hands on me after that, dragging me away, and eventually the fresh air began to replace the gas that had flooded my lungs. I was weak, and my wolf had retreated far back away from the pain, but I was alive.

“Mikael.” That was Danyal, gently laying me against the side of a tree. His gentle fingers poked and prodded at me—at the bullet wound that was bleeding sluggish without my ability to heal and then at my eyes, which were blurry and burned.

“I’m fine,” I gasped, then went into a coughing fit. New hands tilted my face up, water pouring into my mouth, then spilling over my face.

It wasn’t enough to counteract the chemicals entirely, but my vision began to clear a little and I could see Arturo’s frown and his now-brown eyes.

“You did this,” I said through clenched teeth. “You brought them here.”

“I realized I was being tracked about five minutes before I caught your scent,” he said. His hand pushed through his hair as he stood up and started to pace a little. “I had just enough time to get ahold of Mari and make sure they weren’t after her.”

I heard what he wasn’t saying. He would have abandoned us to this if she was in danger. But she wasn’t. Which meant the baby was also safe.

“Where are they?” I grunted with the effort it took to sit up fully, and Danyal put a careful arm around me. For a moment, I hated the show of weakness, but it didn’t last long. It was easier to lean into him and take the small comfort.

“I can’t tell you. Under your Alpha’s orders,” Arturo added as I opened my mouth to argue with him.

I swallowed thickly, but Danyal beat me to the question. “Does he know about the baby?”

Arturo said nothing, and I wasn’t sure what sort of answer it was this time. “I have a plane waiting, and you have my keys.”

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