Page 39 of Guardians

Lexie’s entire body tensed at the sound of his voice. This bastard was the driving force behind the Griffin Project. He’d sanctioned the worst of Nuevo’s experiments. She was about to tell him to shut the hell up when Kane took care of it for her.

“You’re ineligible for the alliance,” Kane reminded, his deep voice cold and cutting. “Shut your mouth or leave the clearing.”

“What the hell are the rest of us supposed to do?” Babcock argued. “You can’t just leave us here to starve.”

“If all the eligible females join our village, your supplies will last twice as long,” Diego pointed out. “That should get you through the worst of the winter.”

“And then what?” Babcock persisted, arms crossed over his chest.

“Then you learn how to hunt and fish,” Malik jumped in. “Food is plentiful in this valley. You just have to develop the skills to go get it.”

“We’ve tried!” a dark-haired male called out as he shoved his way to the front of the crowd. His name was Stan Luden. He was one of the lab supervisors, so he’d been in the middle of everything that took place on the Nuevo outpost. “The wolves took all of our weapons and most of our supplies. We’re not entirely useless. I could make fishing poles and rudimentary snares, but I don’t even have a knife.”

Apparently tired of the arguments, Kane took the knife out of the sheath at his waist and threw it at Stan. It imbedded itself in a tree near the man’s head.

“Are you insane!” Stan cried. He jerked the knife from the tree then rushed over to stand next to Babcock.

Ignoring the outburst, Kane turned back to the group of females. “If you come back to the village with us, you’ll sleep in a warm bed tonight. You’ll be safe, cared for, and appreciated.”

“You can take a shower and eat a hot meal before you crawl into that warm bed,” Tara added with an encouraging smile.

“Don’t forget thatthreehybrid males will be waiting in that bed,” Babcock sneered. “Do you really want to spread your legs for a good meal and a warm?—”

An energy pulse streaked through the air, obliterating Stan’s face and splattering Babcock with blood and gore. Babcock screamed at the top of his lungs, visibly shaking. Stan’s body crumpled to the forest floor as a howl echoed through the forest. For one stunned millisecond everyone looked around, unable to comprehend what just happened. Then lupine hybrids rushed in from every direction, attacking the unsuspecting humans.

Wolves charged in a moment later, but these were wolves unlike any Lexie had ever seen before. Larger and more muscular than the wolves found on Earth, the pack howled, and the hybrids echoed, until the entire area pulsed with the eerie sound.

Shocked and terrified, Lexie stood there paralyzed by fear. Kane yanked a pulse pistol out of the back of his pants and started firing. Malik and Diego surrounded her, shielding her with their bodies as they fired at the wolves. They maneuvered her into a thicket, using the trees to protect her while they shifted position and did as much damage as possible.

Lexie crouched down, making herself as small a target as possible. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, a large rock or stout tree branch. There was nothing. Her anxious gaze shifted back to her mates and she gasped. Their eyes were glowing, and their features had partially transformed. Their cheekbones were sharper, noses broader, and long fangs were visible between their lips. Each male was still recognizable, but they appeared more feline than before.

A shrill scream drew Lexie’s attention away from her mates. All around her humans scattered, diving into tents or sprinting into the forest. Their attempts to escape did little good. The wolves were ruthless and focused. A few of the hybrids had pulse pistols, but most of the damage was being done by the wolves. They ripped out throats and shredded their victims with long, sharp claws.

Sudden movements drew her attention back to her mates. Kane stood in front of her, firing his pulse pistol at everything that moved. Malik and Diego were stripping off their clothes. The action was so bizarre that she glanced away. What the fuck were they doing?

A massive lion leapt into her field of vision and Lexie could barely breathe. She’d heard that the hybrids could shapeshift, had been told that they could by people who would know. Still, her mind just seized, refusing to accept what she was seeing.

A deafening roar whipped her head back around and Lexie screamed. A tawny lion crouched where Malik had been moments before, and Diego was… transforming. His features distorted for a moment as his human shape gave way to his much larger lion form. His body expanded as well, growing thicker and longer.

This couldn’t be real. She was having a stress-related hallucination. Shapeshifters. Were they all shapeshifters? The word echoed through her mind while she struggled to accept what was going on all around her.

Her lion mates charged past her and joined the fight, attacking every wolf they encountered. Their powerful jaws easily snapped the wolves’ necks and then they tossed the lifeless bodies aside.

She stood there shocked and horrified, hand covering her mouth. For the first time since hearing of Nuevo Biotech, Lexie understood the decision to exile the hybrids to Rydaria. She’d known they were dangerous, but she never imaginedthis.

Everywhere she looked there was blood and chaos. Diego and Malik had been joined by three other lions. Were they from the Shadow team? The lions were much more powerful than the wolves, but they were greatly outnumbered. The wolves killed every male they came across, while females were tossed over their shoulders and carried off into the forest.

As if triggered by some silent signal, the focus of the attack changed. The wolves no longer bothered with the females. They went from tent to tent, dragging out the males or ending their lives where they stood. Then they casually turned around and went looking for other victims. The only word for what was happening was massacre.

A sharp movement drew Lexie’s attention to her right. A lupine hybrid lunged for Kane, ready to plunge his long blade into Kane’s chest. Lexie screamed and knocked Kane off balance. He twisted and fired as he went down to one knee. The energy pulse hit the hybrid squarely in the chest. The impact drove his body backward. He slammed into a tree and then crumpled to the forest floor.

Kane looked at Lexie and grinned. “Nice move, mate. I’m pretty sure you just saved my life.”

His reflexes were incredibly fast, so she wasn’t convinced. Still, it felt good to have contributed something other than screaming.

The entire attack lasted less than ten minutes, but when the wolves finally retreated, fourteen females were missing and onehundred and nine humans had lost their lives. One hundred and seven were male. Two were female. Stunned and horrified by the brutality—not to mention the reality of shapeshifters—the survivors gathered the bodies of their friends and colleagues and laid them out in neat rows. Blankets were draped over their faces while the survivors solemnly debated what to do next.

Lexie and Claire knelt by one of the bodies. The redhead was weeping, and Lexie was trying to comfort her. Lexie felt numb. The attack had been surreal, so savage and senseless that her mind refused to process what she had seen. Nearby she could hear her mates speaking in urgent whispers. Diego and Malik had shifted back into their human forms and quickly redressed.

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