Page 154 of Roaring Flames

With a cry of anguish, I find myself being pushed out of the driver’s seat and all the way into the trunk, where I’m tied up and locked away. Darkness coats the entirety of my vision, a curtain drawn shut.

And I know, without a shadow of doubt, that there will be no coming back from this.

My wolf just took control.

The man no longer exists.

Fifty-Five

IZZY

“Ican’t believe that bitch sold us out,” Ashton growls as he hurries through the forest.

We’ve given up on trying to be stealthy. I can hear at least one of the gunmen behind us, rapidly approaching.

“She was scared,” I reason, my breath coming out in shallow pants. “But can we talk about this when I’m not freaking the fuck out?”

We left as soon as Lacey told the gunmen where we were at. I have no idea what happened to her or to Christian, but I heard a gun go off…

Panic seizes my airway.

He has to be alive.

Hehasto be.

I refuse to accept any other alternative.

A shot rings out, but this time, it comes from behind me, not all the way back at the party. Wood from a tree directly in front of me splinters and explodes in every direction.

“Izzy!” Ashton calls in alarm.

“I’m okay,” I pant.

But the idiot turns around and hurries back to me. At the same moment, the masked man bursts forward and tackles the wolf shifter to the ground. Ashton lets out an audible “oomph” as he hits the ground.

I don’t think, only react.

I jump onto the gunman’s back and wrap an arm around his throat, cutting off his air. In his shock, he drops the gun, and it lands on Ashton’s stomach. Thank fuck it didn’t accidentally go off.

The gunman staggers to his feet with me still clinging to him like a damn spider monkey. I apply more pressure, but he rams me against a tree, loosening my grip. Rough bark scratches against my skin where my shirt has risen up.

With a snarl, I press my thumbs into his eyeballs through his balaclava.

He screams and flails, desperately trying to dislodge me, but I hold firm. Blood wets my thumbs and the fabric of his headpiece.

With a roar, the gunman grabs my leg and pulls me off of him.

I twist in the air, landing in a crouched position, and I brace myself for his next attack.

Only…it never comes.

There’s a loudbangI feel in the hollow of my bones, reverberating through me. The gunman’s head jerks backwards, and he falls to the ground, blood seeping into the forest floor around him.

Ashton slowly lowers the gun back to his side.

“Are you okay?” he asks, never taking his eyes off the now-dead man.

“Yeah. You?”

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