Page 332 of Secret Shifters Next Door

When we crested the hill leading to the valley, there was a collective gasp in the truck cab. The place didn’t have it’s typical smattering of tourists. It looked like Antonio had cleared them all out. Even the guy running the basket cart was missing.

Hundreds of men and women in black fatigues trampled the flowers. All of them were heavily armed. There were far more people than we’d anticipated.

Antonio was visible at the front of the group. Like a good little fake soldier, he wore the same fatigues as his men and had a pistol in a thigh holster.

Tate parked, and the four of us sat there for several seconds. He turned around and looked at us. “I love you guys. Let’s go.”

The five of us clambered out of the truck and walked slowly toward the massive group of hunters.

The murmur of conversation faded as we neared. Antonio saw us walking up, his lips flattening. There had to be at least three or four hundred of them. It was the biggest group of hunters ever gathered. Even old legends said the huge hunting parties of the Middle Ages were only around a hundred strong.

My fingers tingled, and it was all I could do to keep my breathing calm. My panther was pacing and anxious.

“We’re here,” Tate called.

Antonio laughed. “You’ve made this too easy.” He glanced around. “Five men against my army? I’ll barely be able to call it sporting.” His smiled vanished as he snarled. “But I will kill you, nonetheless. You filthy beasts have taken everything from me. You are abominations against God. That’s all you are.

“And you!” He jabbed a finger in Tate’s direction. “It was one of your kind that took my wife from me. The love of my life was stolen and killed by a filthy flying lizard.”

His eyes slid to Jared, and his scowl became more disgusted. “Jared. Such a disappointment. I should have had the men put a bullet in you when we found you.”

“Shut up!” Jared screamed, his sudden outburst making me jump. “You’re such a fucking liar. All these years, you tried to make it sound like that dragon alpha stole your wife. She left because you were a shitty husband and father. She left to be with someone who loved her and took care of her. You had her murdered when you found her. You couldn’t look at her because you were disgusted. Stop trying to change history.”

Antonio went rigid, his body shaking with anger. “Liar,” he hissed.

“It’s not a lie!” Tate called out. “Maybe after repeating it for so long, you’ve tricked yourself into believing it, but it’s the truth. You killed her for leaving you. She left and took your daughter because you’re a fucking monster. We know all about you. All your dirty little secrets.”

Antonio’s face was as red as a tomato. I hoped he might keel over with a heart attack. Instead, he sliced a hand through the air. “Lies! All fucking lies. She loved me. She would never leave.No oneleavesme.” He jabbed a thumb into his chest for emphasis. “I am Antonio Lowry. I say when people get to leave.”

“Right,” Miles said. “You’re always in charge. Like you were in charge when you twisted Marianna’s mind into a crazed shifter hater. You fucked her up bad enough that she tried to kill her adoptive brother, but accidentally killed herself in the process.”

A murmur of confusion swept through the crowd of hunters. They had all known Marianna and they’d heard Antonio’s official story. This revelation surprised them. It was too much to hope that we could turn his soldiers against him, but at least we could reveal some of his lies to them.

Antonio was apoplectic, saliva spraying from his lips and hanging in strings from his mouth as he shouted at us. “Filthy fucking animals! Liars! Bastards! Pieces of shit! I fucking hate you. I hate you! Lies! You killed my daughter!You!”

Tate shook his head. “Believe what you want, but this is the last chance you get. Leave now, and you can keep your life.”

The rage in Antonio’s face vanished and an incredulous smile appeared. He looked back at his men, then at us, and laughed. “You want us to leave? This is your last chance. The five of you against this?” He swept his hand back at his army. “How do you think that will work?”

Tate smirked. “Even though you like to think so, you do not always know everything.”

He put two fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill, ear-piercing whistle. Silence accompanied the whistle, but an instant later, a howl erupted from the forest to the right of the field. A howl that was soon joined by others until dozens of wolves howled into the morning sky.

Antonio’s men turned to look toward the sound, but their heads jerked to the opposite side as the roars of bears exploded from the other side. Soon, the roars and howls became a cacophony of noise echoing back and forth across the valley.

Before we’d left the office, Tate had put a call in to the other alphas who’d come to town. We’d told them what was going down, where to meet, and to wait for the signal. Dozens of them were hidden in the woods. There were also a dozen of Gio’s men—the ones who hadn’t been at the house for the attack. We were still outnumbered, but we had the element of surprise.

Antonio turned to look at us, his face twisted in rage. As he pulled his pistol from his holster, he screamed, “Kill them!”

Chaos erupted. The idyllic field of flowers turned into a hellscape of battle. Our allies poured out of the forests toward the hunters. Wolves, bears, and a few panthers descended from the woods with Gio’s men. Gunfire exploded around us. Miles, Steff, and I shifted and sprinted into battle.

As I descended into the midst of battle, I let my panther take over. His instincts were better than my own, and his lust for battle more intense than mine. I did my best to stay focused and kept looking around to check on my brothers, but the bloodlust and mayhem made that difficult.

Antonio fired his pistol gleefully. His main target was Tate and Jared, who’d yet to shift. “Change, you fucker!” Antonio shouted. “I want to see that scaly skin. I’ll peel it from your corpse!”

I plowed into the depths of battle. I watched as the hunters fired at our allies. Several shifters and some of Gio’s men hit the ground, bullets piercing their sides, chests, and faces.

The horror of death consumed me. A group of hunters had formed a small cluster and were firing into the crowd of enemies. I barreled into them, leaping and extending both my front paws. My claws shredded the neck of a woman firing an assault rifle toward Steff and a man who’d been reloading a pistol. Their blood sprayed into the faces of their friends, blinding them for a moment. Before they could clear their eyes, Steff crashed into them, shattering their bodies with his bulk and trampling them with his massive paws.

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