Page 19 of A Wolf's Heart

Weylin grinned. “You do know bullets don’t harm us, right, little wolf? They may slow us down for a moment while our bodies spit them out, but it’s a mere needle prick for us. Take his offer, leave.”

“I may not know everything about shifters, but these are silver bullets,” I said, hoping to hell my research was correct. Touching silver had caused my skin to burn, so I hoped it was poisonous when lodged into a shifter's body. “I will not leave.”

I almost lost composure when Rainor scoffed. “And where, pray tell, did you find pure silver?” His tone was condescending, though I didn’t miss the way he shifted his body towards Kage as he spoke.

“Ninety-nine percent,” I said, not answering his question. “The purest I could find.”

“Ah, careful, though. There are two different methods of refining silver. Best hope whoever did yours used the correct method.”

The grip on my gun was strong.Ignore him. He’s just trying to get into my head.Now, Rainor was positioned almost in front of Kage.He’s scared.

I cocked the gun. “You will leave town. You will not come onto my territory again. If you do, I will not hesitate to put a bullet through your skull. I carry a gun around all day. It’s no trouble to switch out my regular bullets for silver ones.” I had six bullets, but there were only three of them. I trusted my aim.

“That is not how this is going to work.” Kage growled, stepping forward and pushing Rainor to the side. “I don’t care ifwe have to drag you by the scruff of your neck. You will leave this territory, and you will obey silently. I don’t care if I have to kill that mutt to make it happen.” His eyes were glowing as he spoke.

“You are sadly mistaken. Get over yourself and your ego and get off my territory.”

He left me no other choice. I pulled the trigger, but the bullet didn’t make it to Kage’s arm, where I was aiming. Instead, it was Weylin who cried out. He had moved so fast, stepping in front of his leader.

“Son of a fucking whore in a church on a Sunday morning,” Weylin yelled, his eyes snapping up to me in complete shock as he held his upper arm, blood quickly leaking through.

“Well? What do you think? Is it silver enough?” I asked, fixing my aim and pointing it at Kage’s leg.

“You goddamn glorious wolf.” Weylin’s eyes shifted from confused to a stare of admiration. Was the silver not painful? I could hear the sizzling of flesh from here. “I so can’t wait for your heat. I’m going to pound you so hard, claim you, and make you my baby mama. Fuck, you’re hot.”

My eyes widened in shock. What the hell just happened?

“Enough!” Rainor snapped, causing me to school my expression again.

“You’re delirious,” Kage growled, grabbing Weylin by the back of the neck and manhandling him off the porch. “Stop fighting me, you’re losing blood fast.”

“I will bleed for her!” Weylin shouted.

“I will bleed you first if you don’t get in the fucking car.”

I shifted my aim, and Rainor raised his hands. He hadn’t said much, but when my attention focused back on him, I caught him staring at me, studying me. I was a specimen under a microscope. “What?”

“What are your terms?” Rainor asked.

“This territory is mine. I want a fifteen-foot buffer of neutral land between what’s mine and what’s yours. I don’t care how much land you claim around me, but this is mine.”It’s all I have left. “That’s all I want. You three are not to step foot here again.”

“That can’t happen.”

“But it will.”

“The beast won’t allow it.”

Beast?

“He wants you. The silver is poisoning Weylin, but it’s clear he will want you as well. It won’t be long before your wolf answers, before nature takes its course and you succumb to your animalistic side.”

“I will always be in control. Weylin said I had a choice.” I raised my chin as my eyes wandered towards the car, where Kage wrestled with Weylin to get him in. “Will he live?” I asked, the vise around my heart constricting more.

“Maybe.” Rainor shrugged. He turned to leave, stepping off the porch.

“I will always have silver bullets on me, in case you’re wondering if there's a time I will be vulnerable. I won’t be. I will always be protected.”

Rainor stopped walking, looking over his shoulder. “Next time you shoot, shoot knowing you’re going to kill someone. Then you won’t feel guilty about that possible outcome.”