Page 103 of Tangled Hearts

I shifted into a cheetah, blending into the grass before jumping on one of the guards, sinking my teeth into his neck. The next guy threw fire at me, but his aim was awful so I jumped on him, sinking my claws into his chest.

He yelled from the pain and I dragged my claws down. Soren and I worked our way through the men that were left behind and when we finally got through the gate, my heart stopped. The man working for Laima was throwing magic everywhere as dozens of wolves tried to fight back. My gut felt heavy with remorse that these people didn’t deserve this.

This fueled my anger as I started killing people trying to find Oria in the mess. I felt our bond and I followed it until I was hit with something knocking me back. I growled when I was pinned down by an unseen force. Something pushed against my throat, blocking my airway and I thrashed, panicking, desperate to get away, when I decided to shift.

I shifted into a gorilla, immediately seeing the woman who was using her power against me. I felt her magic against me, but I was pushing against it with all of my might. I saw a rock on the floor and I reached for it, throwing it at her. It released her power on me, allowing me to jump on her. I wanted to kill her, but a part of me couldn’t, so I hit her hard enough to knock her out.

It was absolute chaos as I looked around at the scene. Then I felt a sharp pain in the bond. My legs threatened to give out and I knew someone was hurt. The pain was excruciating as I pushed through it, seeing Oria’s blonde hair. So many people were hurt as I passed by them, but I only had eyes for Oria.

A scream pierced through the noise and I knew it was my Sol. I was tearing through the men quickly ripping limbs off, but there were so many people. That’s when I smelled dark magic. She was too close to Oria. I pushed myself harder, finally reaching her when she started to glow. Her shine was so bright, I had to look away and that’s when I felt her magic brushing over me and every other wolf who was around me.

She was healing the pack. Wolves got off the floor, but there was a stillness in the air.

“Come back, Oria, and no one else gets hurt,” Laima’s voice echoed. “I will?—”

A loud boom stopped her words and the chaos ensued. I ran for my mate, anxiety clawing at me, the need to see her was drowning out my other senses. I dodged people, throwing them out of my way, making a path to her.

Her eyes widened when she saw me. As soon as our eyes met, she relaxed. Ryder growled next to her. I shifted quickly, reaching for her to make sure she was ok.

“Max,” she whimpered in my embrace, her voice sounding exhausted.

She ran her hands over my back like she was making sure I was ok.

“I didn’t know if you were ok,” she cried frantically.

“I’m ok,” I said against her head that was tucked against my chest. “We need to get out of here.”

I pulled away from her, checking our surroundings, but it seemed we were behind a wall of wolves. I felt Ryder's commands as well as Wyman’s. They were roughly the same size, but Ryder was slightly bigger.

“I can’t leave them,” she said, immediately turning around, pulling a charm off her necklace that only had a few stones left on it.

Her eyes scanned the area until she found what she was looking for. She whispered her incantation, throwing it at a particular area that had a lot of men in it. When it hit the floor, a few men yelled in agony. A few made it through the barrier and I shifted immediately to a panther. I was agile enough to weave in and out of the wolves taking down men, hoping they didn’t mistake me for the enemy.

“No!” Ryder's yell made the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I scanned for Oria.

I expected to feel pain through the bond except all I felt was anger.

“No!” he yelled again as I saw him jump in the air, hitting the ground. A ripple of power originated from him, knocking down the men all around.

I saw blond hair weaving between the wolves, and I ran toward her, taking out a few men on the way. As soon as I reached her, I saw Ryder’s baby brother on the floor gasping for air.

Oria wasted no time in healing him and I felt it again. She was healing the pack. Wolves all around me were glowing in gold as she healed them.

Goddess, she was amazing.

I turned around to protect her so she could continue healing him and the pack. Two men jumped on me, and I snarled, feeling something sharp pierce my back.

“Get away from my mate,” Oria snarled.

One of the men was pulled off and I fell on my back, turning quickly to swipe at the man below me. I hit him a few times before he looked unrecognizable. I looked over at Oria who was holding onto the man and he was screaming in pain as she glowed.

His screaming stopped when she let him go, but her eyes were wide like she couldn't believe what she had done.

“Oria!” Laima’s right hand yelled, he was close, and I shifted, reaching for Oria, taking her far away from the fighting.

Ryder followed us as a boom threw us forward. I covered Oria with my body, falling on my back to protect her. Howls and screams filled the air. They were getting too close.

Ryder shifted, helping Oria up.

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