Page 60 of Wolf Betrayed

He couldn’t tell exactly where she was hurt, but his wolf howled to get closer.

“Get the guards on the side that are coming for her, Shane,” Bram ordered. “I’ll get the ones on the other side if Kameron can get the ones in the middle. Walker? Get Charlotte out of here.” Bram paused. “No survivors. Not this time. We can’t.”

It echoed Gideon’s and Kade’s earlier assessment, and Shane knew things were changed once again.

Though Shane didn’t want anyone else to take Charlotte, he knew Walker would be the best bet as it looked as if she desperately needed a Healer. As soon as the final words had left Bram’s mouth, the three of them were off, taking care of what they needed to.

The three men on the side of the building Shane ran to were familiar.

Too familiar.

He’d fought alongside these men, battled insurgents by their side when they’d been in war. He’d saved their lives, and he knew they had done the same for him. They had been his brothers in arms, and he’d thought brothers of his soul.

He had been wrong.

Oh so fucking wrong.

When he came into their line of sight, they looked shocked for a moment then raised their guns to shoot.

The betrayal of that action slapped at Shane, but he ignored it. They had betrayed their country, betrayed Shane, and betrayed their own sense of honor.

He was a wolf now, and had a new set of priorities that should have aligned with those in front of him, but not any longer. These men had signed their death warrants, and Shane would do what he had to in order to protect his people.

Before the soldiers could get off the first round, he had one guy down, his neck snapped. Shane’s wolf was at the surface, guiding him as he learned to blend his old knowledge with his newly developed skills.

He took down the other two easily enough, though one bullet did graze him. It burned like hell, but he ignored it. After taking a look around and deciding that was the last of them for now, he went back to the front of the building to see if he could help.

The others had been busy, their wolves in their eyes as he made their way to them. Walker was on the ground, Charlotte in his arms as he worked on Healing some of her wounds.

Shane went to his knees at Walker’s side. “Char,” he bit out.

She smiled painfully at him. “I got out myself.” She words were hoarse, and he couldn’t help the pride that flowed through him.

“Hell yeah, you did.”

“We need to get out of here,” Kameron growled as Bram hurried toward them. Relief covered Shane’s mate’s face for a moment before he was all wolf once again. “I don’t know how many others are in the building or who could be coming. We don’t have any time.”

Walker picked up Charlotte and held her close. “I’m not her Healer, and my magic shouldn’t be working at all, but it is enough that she should be good until we get her to the Redwood Healer or until Gideon brings her into the Talons. The mating bond with you is making things a little funky, but I’ve stopped most of the bleeding.”

Charlotte sighed and reached out for Shane. “Get me to the Talon den and I’ll let Gideon finish it. We have to go.”

Shane’s wolf howled with purpose, and he kissed Charlotte’s bloodstained hand before squeezing it. “Let’s get you home.”

They were sitting ducks where they stood, but Charlotte was safe for now. She’d somehow saved herself, and for that, he knew she would always have a renewed sense of worth within herself she might have doubted before.

But things weren’t over. Montag had to be creeping around, perhaps even watching them now, and that meant they needed to move. Shane wouldn’t feel safe until they were within their den wards, surrounded by his Pack and those he trusted.

As they ran back to the SUV in order to head to the Talons, he let those words filter through his brain. So much had changed since he’d first learned of the shifters, and yet, he knew this was how it was always supposed to be.

Before he had been a soldier because that had been the only thing he imagined he could be. He’d formed connections to others, but never as strong as they could have been. Now he was a wolf, mated to a man and a woman he knew he loved, though he had yet to say the words. And he was on the run from a man he had thought he respected enough to die for in the heat of battle because things were never as he thought they were.

His world had shifted, and yet he knew he could live with the outcome.

He just prayed that he would live long enough in the end to make sure the others knew it had been worth it to become wolf the way he had.

The war was here, and they were on the front lines.

And no matter what, Shane would do anything to protect his Pack and those he loved.

Anything.

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