Page 26 of Flesh and Fury

“Will do, love.”

Ari timed the shutting of the door with the next horrifying howl.

Chapter Eight

ARI

Adrenaline coursed through him as he peeked around the side of the building. In the dark it was hard to see all the moving parts of the werewolf fight which had already begun. The others would be watching from the restaurant windows, ready to come out and start firing as soon as they were armed. But getting to the Charger and back again with the ammunition they all needed to put the werewolves down, wasn’t going to be easy. Even figuring out which werewolves to shoot, would be difficult in the dark. To Ari, they all had glowing yellow circles in their eyes, black hair all over their bodies, and claws that could kill a human with one swipe of a paw.

What he hadn’t known until he saw the two sides squared off, was that it was easy to pick out themiddleform of the two Alphas, Juan and Alvin, who, for all intents and purposes, were both on the side of good. Both Alphas stood on two hind legs in a half human, half wolf form like the werewolf monsters from old black and white movies.

They stood almost seven feet tall and seemed to have the ability to move more fluidly. In this form, they had a longer reach…arms rippling with muscle, elongated muzzles filled with razor sharp teeth, and paws possessing three-inch claws. They were both terrifying and incredibly beautiful. He’d never imagined creatures like this existed and he realized with theAlphas on their side, they might have a fighting chance after all.

He made a mental note of the distance to the Charger and then ducked behind the building before running around the back of it which opened to a vast expanse of desert. Monstrous snarls and howls filled the air. They sent chills up Ari’s spine and he did his best to ignore the feeling of dread creeping over him, shaking his confidence. If they were unsuccessful in defeating Tyler Vallejo, he couldn’t imagine the biker letting any of them go.

Between evil vampires and battling werewolves, Ari wondered for just a moment if he and Eoghan would ever have peace in their lives. He glanced upward, noting the clouds in the sky and thanking his lucky stars it wasn’t brighter, or a full moon. They were supposed to have some sort of power over werewolves. He snapped himself out of his reverie. The werewolves on the other side of the building appeared to be in full combat mode. He had to gonow.

He sucked in a deep breath and took off running, crossing the first one hundred feet with only a little worry, barely hearing the tread of his rubber soled boots on the sand. But he came up short, stopping behind a tree at the asphalt parking lot. It was covered with grains of sand. The remaining hundred feet to the Charger exposed him, and the sound wouldn’t be muffled. He thought of Eoghan, the pregnant female, and all the others in the building who needed him to be successful and sprinted. Praying the werewolves would be too caught up in the fight to notice any sound he made.

His heart pounded in his chest as he gulped in air, his breath sawing in and out of his lungs. He dared not look over his shoulder at the warring werewolves who seemed preoccupied for the moment, hoping other bikers weren’t already on the way to swell Tyler’s numbers. Once he madeit halfway across the parking lot, he began measuring the distance. Fifty feet, forty feet, thirty, twenty, ten to go.

He got to the Charger and inserted the key, because the key fob’s beep would no doubt draw attention to him. He couldn’t afford any mistakes now. Slipping into the front seat, he reached for the automatic door light and flicked it off. It had only been a couple of seconds but hopefully the wolves hadn’t noticed.

He didn’t wait to see if he’d been found out and instead grabbed both backpacks from the backseat, quickly dragging them over the console and as quietly as possible, shutting the Charger’s door.

He chanced a glance over his shoulder, watching only long enough to spot both Alphas and do a cursory headcount. There were only five others still fighting. One wolf lay on the ground on its side. He prayed it wasn’t Edward Walters and took off running again.

This time, the run back across the parking lot was accomplished with greater confidence. When Ari hit the sand he ran all out, doubling his speed and closing the distance to the restaurant. He tapped twice on the door and it was instantly yanked open and shut the moment strong hands had him secure within.

“Oh, thank God!” Eoghan said, grasping both of his forearms. His partner looked totally frantic.

“No time for reunions,” Ari said, instantly pulling the two backpacks off his shoulders and handing one to Chastain who waited for it with his chief and partner by his side. Ari set his on the ground and squatted to unzip it. “There’s full lethal and less lethal werewolf rounds as well as a whole bunch of empty clips in these backpacks,” he said to the three marshals. He handed Eoghan a box of full lethal, silver werewolf rounds and more empty clips, frowning at him. “I think you know what todo with those, Eoghan. Right now, I don’t care about protocol. They came to kill us and that means all bets are off.” He pulled out the can of werewolf deterrent Wordy had made up for them and tossed the empty backpack aside as he stood.

“Technically, they came to kill the other werewolf’s grandson,” Washington drawled, “but as far as I’m concerned, you’re right. I have no doubt once they finish off them three out there, they’ll be comin’ for us to get to Carmen next. Who knows what kind of a blood rage they’ll be in when they come here. I’ll sign off on whatever lethal force we need to use…no problem at all.”

“Blood rage?” Ari asked, feeling all the blood draining out of his face.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Help me load,” Eoghan said, handing him the open box of shells and several empty clips.

He shoved the wolf spray into his tac pants and glanced around the marshals. “Where’re Carmen and the two cooks?”

“Other end of the building,” Carly said, loading empty clips as fast as she could. “She nearly had a full-blown panic attack over her boyfriend being involved in this crap.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, the cooks gave her some pomegranate juice and salmon just to make sure her blood pressure didn’t spike,” Carly said. “Poor girl doesn’t understand why Vallejo decided to bring in his thugs and attack or how he’d even have known where to go. Then again, this is a tiny town. There’s not a whole lot of placestogo.”

“Well, it might have been nice of someone to tell us that Carmen was involved with a biker gang and a pretty mean-looking one to boot,” Ari said, shoving silver bullets into a clip and then slamming it into his gun.

“We knew that there were some bikers livin’ on the rez, but we didn’t know they were the outlaw type of werewolves,” the chief said. “That would’a been useful knowledge, I agree.”

“Well, what are we going to do about this? Simply rush out there and begin shooting?” Evan asked. He looked worried that one of them might take him up on the suggestion. A long howl sounded outside, and the marshal turned to look at the door before turning back to them. The wide-eyed fear in Chastain’s eyes was evident.

Ari’s heart went out to him. He exchanged a look with Eoghan who glanced up from the box of bullets in his hand. “Well, I know this…I’m not waiting for one of those werewolves to scratch down this door. Edward and the two Alphas have been holding their own for way too many minutes as it is.”

Eoghan gave him the barest of smiles and nodded before walking to the door and easing it open. The two of them were the first ones through, followed by the other marshals. They silently spilled onto the sand and then shut the door quietly. Not more than thirty feet away, Tyler and three wolves stood fighting Juan and Alvin in their half wolf forms as well as Edward who was still alive and bravely fighting. Two large men lay on the ground, naked, covered in blood and bites. They had to be dead. Ari thought he remembered somewhere that shifters of any kind couldn’t hold their shifted forms when killed. He was sure he’d read it in the case files Priest had given him as part of his training. Those two wouldn’t be getting up again.

The next time a werewolf snarled, an unholy fear shot down his spine. The frightening sound ended on a loud howl. He was doing his best not to freak out as he thought about the strength of the foes they faced or recalled the deep furrows in Eoghan’s back. The sudden yelp of a dog turned his attentionto two weres locked in a horrific battle. One of them had to be Edward because he didn’t stand out as an Alpha which meant that the second wolf sneaking up at his tail, had to be another wolf from Tyler’s pack.

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