Page 97 of Resisted

With a tilt of Russ’ head, Jason and Jesse moved toward us, ditching their guns for knives. Were knives more effective? With just the right placement, fuck yeah, they were. I just hoped that these fuckers didn’t know that. Jason’s fingers laced in Vince’s hair as he pulled him back and away from me. His body sagged as he struggled to support his weight, the injury from the gun wound more serious than he was willing to admit. But Jesse, well, he wasn’t willing to get that close to us. Instead, he opted to hold his knife out toward Boyce and me, likely hoping that if things went south, he could take us both on. Truth was, he kept his eyes on Boyce, but that was a mistake. I might’ve been weakened, weaker than I’d ever been honestly, but I was willing to use every last ounce of my strength to take out these men if I needed to. I’d do anything to save my subpack.

“The prospect of money no longer suits me,” Russ announced. “Now to decide which one of you should be taken out first.”

“None,” Roth stated, even though talking brought the tip of the knife against his throat, nicking it into his skin.

Russ laughed, and I fucking hated the sound. It was sound I knew would haunt me for as long as I fucking lived. A sound so repulsive that even hearing a single note of it caused nausea to bubble inside of me. “Haven’t you realized that with my knife at your throat, I’ve got all your wolves under my thumb? Look at them, they dare not move.”

“I wouldn’t say all of them.” Roth licked his lips. “Some wolves are untamed.”

Russ looked around. “They seem pretty tame to me. Like lapdogs. Which one should go first, if you had to choose?” When Roth didn’t answer, he looked around the space for a moment before looking over the rest of the team in favor of my small group. “Maybe the one with a perfect bullet wound to his back? Vince, isn’t it? He would’ve been worth a pretty penny. Maybe I could keep him alive for the payout.”

“You’re not getting a payout for my boys.” Roth raised a brow in challenge, sure of his assessment.

“Then I’ll just kill him.” Russ shrugged. “Maybe I’ll keep you alive so their deaths will be on your hands.”

“I don’t think so.” The knife cut on his throat grew deeper as he continued to talk, blood dripping down his neck and soaking into his shirt. “You’ll never get the chance to kill my people.”

“Is that so?” The laugh again. I felt the sinisterness to my core. “Jesse, show him what you’re willing to do to his boy there.”

In a blink, the human had a hand around Boyce’s throat and a knife sliding slowly down his torso. Boyce never had a chance to register the pain of the shallow cut being carved into his body before a ferocious growl broke through the air of the room. A snarl radiated off the stone walls as a massive white wolf appeared from nowhere, its eyes set on the man whose knife was carving into Boyce. The rage emanating off of the animal was so strong, that for a moment, I myself felt fear. But then I inhaled, my senses calm and collected as I took in the scent of my mate.

Bella.

No longer did her wolf lay dormant. Now, it had emerged with an anger that rivaled my own, and she was ready to play.

Chapter 43

BELLA

Now.

Boyce’s voice demanded, and for a moment, I froze. Now? Now what? Now that he’d given me permission to enter the scene, my mind blurred on how exactly I could help them. I wasn’t strong like them. My training was minimal at best. My experience was limited to divinely rough sex with Vincent and that one fight in the fifth grade. How was I going to jump in and save the day, when all I had at my back was Rig? I mean, I respected Rig, but I was afraid his support wouldn’t be enough.

Then I saw the gleam of the knife seconds before it slid through Boyce’s skin, and all thoughts vanished. Anger replaced my doubt, while the need to protect what was undeniably mine fired inside of me, and before Rig could even register my absence from his grip, I was gone.

I was mid step when I felt the first pull of my skin, felt my bones tighten as they formed a different structure, and at first, I panicked. I’d never experienced anything like it, and though I knew the basic information about what it was like to shift, when you experienced it, it was surreal. This. This was what I’d been missing my whole life when all my classmates and family shifted and I could not. But now there was nothing holding me back because I was home. These men, this pack, they would always be my home, and there was absolutely no denying it now. They were mine. I belonged to them as much as they belonged to me.

It was that realization that sparked the change. When I realized that I’d been home all along, I felt the shift, and now, as my body morphed and formed midair and my mind shifted from my own to that of a predator, I had never felt more at home. This was right, I knew it. My animal, who let out a terrifying roar, knew it too.

My feet were no longer on the ground, and in their place, were heavy paws, bigger and more stable than I’d ever seen. I’d heard a rumor once that occasionally, the female was bigger than her pack, but I had yet to see it. Now, I experienced the vast size difference firsthand, and it was surreal to feel my body grow and loom over those that surrounded me. But even as my mind battled to stay connected and I learned to use the new foreign limbs I now possessed, there was one thing that neither of us questioned.

Mate.

Save.

Revenge.

The words pulsed through my head on repeat, reminding me of the task at hand. Reminded me that I—no,weneeded to save our mates and issue our revenge in the only form my wolf could think of.Death.She craved their blood on her tongue, and though I should’ve been repulsed, I wasn’t. The thought of tasting their blood enticed me. I wanted to swallow down the rich coppery notes of their life and show them that they never should have sought to take what was mine. They never should have touched a single hair on my mates’ heads, because it was that act that brought forth their deaths.

Beside me, a wolf sidled to my side, but he wasn’t mine and my wolf instinctually knew that. Rig’s wolf growled menacingly, the sound so intense that even I felt the vibrations travel through me. It was his warning that he was there to assist, but by his position, standing slightly back from me, he acknowledged that it was I who was fully in charge of the situation. My wolf puffed her chest with pride and let out her own howl that echoed into the night. Then she pounced without warning and without mercy, going for the man whose knife was inside her mate’s flesh.

It didn’t matter that none of them had officially claimed her. They’d always been hers regardless of the details, and as her teeth sank into the back of the human’s neck, his blood filling our mouth and bombarding us with the taste of fear, regret, and pain, she showed no mercy for the soul she was about to take. She showed no care for the body she pulled away from Boyce and threw to the ground like a ragdoll, his limbs flailing, right before her claws dug into his chest, scooping out the still beating heart and throwing it to the floor.

She wanted to taste the flesh, she wanted to consume it. But there were bigger things then her desire, and though she craved the satisfaction, she would have to be satisfied with the fact that he was dead. There was no coming back to life after your heart had been ripped from your body and severed from the body that needed its constant beat to function.

I sent a gentle reminder, telling her to focus as I nudged her toward the man that held Vincent’s nearly limp body. A roar of rage erupted as the sight registered, and before I could encourage my beast to reign in some of her anger and gain control, she sprinted forward, her jaw already extended, her mind already set on causing maximum pain to the man who held her injured mate. Her teeth sunk into his forearm, the bones snapping under the strong grip of her teeth, causing a cry of pain to fall from his lips before our claw raised and swiped our razor-sharp claws into his thigh.

He fell to his knee with a howl, blood pouring from both injuries and puddling around him, ruining the white of my fur with the deep vermilion liquid. His hands came up to protect, but there would be no protection from me. “Please, don’t hurt me!”

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