Page 92 of Wolf Bound

“Now look what you’ve done!” Nicolai shouts at Pru, who is staring wide-eyed at Jax. “You and your goddamn family have been fucking up my plans for years, and now you got my prized medical miracle shot. You couldn’t behave and hate the demon like the rest of us? You had to go make friends with him and nowlook—he’s probably going to die tonight just like your mate is.”

“No, stay away from him!” Pruitt cries when Nicolai passes her off to another guard who holds her tight against his chest. “If you hurt him, I will kill you! I swear to God, I will rip you to shreds!” she screams at the back of Nicolai’s head as he makes his way down the stairs to me.

As always, he walks with an air of arrogance around him. When he grins down at me, I see the sharp points of his own fangs, and his eyes shift into their wolf form. And when he takes the place of one of the guards and stands behind me, I expect to feel his claw wrap around my throat. Instead, I feel the hard metal of a gun barrel pressing into my back.

“Any last words for your little mate before I kill you?” he asks with a sneer.

I look at Pruitt, who is thrashing and fighting to break loose from the guard holding her in place. The whole time she keeps her eyes on me, never removing them from my face, and the look of pure panic and fear on hers breaks my heart.

“I love you,”I tell her through the link in our heads.

“I’m going to enjoy watching you bleed,” Nicolai growls at me before pressing the gun harder against me.

42

Pruitt

Everything I was trying to avoid when I left them is happening before my eyes, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Remington is pressing her jacket into Jax’s chest to slow the bleeding from his gunshot wound. Elias, Ransom, and Ranger each have a gun pointed at them, and then there’s Ryker. Ryker is covered in bleeding bite and claw marks, and Nicolai stands behind him with a gun pressed to his back, fully intending to shoot him while I watch.

My heart is beating so fast and loud I can’t make out what Nicolai says to Ryker. Ryker doesn’t respond to Nicolai. Instead, I hear him in my head, telling me he loves me. Having his voice in my head is usually calming, but the way he says, “I love you”sounds like goodbye, and I refuse to accept that.

Irefuseto sit back and watch as the family I’ve created for myself is killed. Irefuseto be a pawn in Nicolai’s sick game.

“Don’t do it!” I shout as I kick and scream against the man holding me back. At one point, I’m able to break free of his hold for a second, but I only get a foot away when his arms wrap around my middle, and he hauls me back. My feet aren’t even touching the ground anymore as he holds me against his chest.

My wolf is going nuts in my head. She’s fighting and growling just as hard as I am to get free. I feel the same panic she does, knowing her mate is in grave danger. I feel the same amount of desperation as she does, watching Nicolai stand with a sickening grin on his face behind Ryker.

“You really should have listened when she told you to stay away,” Nicolai tells Ryker before the deafening sound of a gun going off echoes through the night.

My whole world stops as I watch Ryker’s body jerk as the bullet enters his back and exits through his chest. His beautiful blue eyes blink slowly as he looks away from me and down at the spot on his chest where a bloodstain blossoms. His blue eyes find me again, and already it looks like a light has gone out in them. I hear the twins and Elias roar as they watch from the sidelines, and all I can do is watch as Ryker slumps over and falls to the dirt on his back. I can’t breathe or move anymore—just watch in horror as my mate collapses at Nicolai’s feet.

My wolf howls so loudly in my head, I flinch at her cries of pain. With a tenacity I’ve never felt before, she crashes against the binding that keeps her trapped inside. I hear her pounding against it, and it almost sounds like someone banging on bulletproof glass. Just this dull thud over and over again.

The man holding me allows me to fall to my knees in front of him, and every ounce of pain rushes forward, and I scream, “No!” at the top of my lungs.

And then I feel it. Something shatters inside of me, and an overwhelming amount of power rushes forward. The banging sound silences and I know it’s because she’s no longer behind the glass. My body shakes and spasms as she rushes to the surface. My human screams of pain turn into howling and snarling. My hands that were digging into the ground below me shift into paws.

I fell to the ground as I human, but I rise for the first time as a wolf.

I’ve never felt stronger in my life, and I refuse to let that strength go to waste. Through new eyes, I look up and take in Nicolai. He still stands above my wounded mate, but the look on his face is no longer full of arrogance. Instead, a look of panic now sits there.

Good.

I don’t test the waters of being a wolf. I don’t take a couple steps to find my footing and figure it all out. I don’t have time for that. Instead, I launch myself down the stairs in one fluid movement, landing right in front of Ryker and Nicolai. No matter how much I want to look at Ryker and see if he’s still breathing, I can’t draw my eyes away from my enemy. I lower my head, and my ears flatten when I let out a menacing snarl.

“If I had known getting your wolf out to play only required I shoot your mate, I would have done it days ago,” Nicolai snarls at me.

I bare my teeth again at him before I use all my strength to catapult my body into his. My front—paws—ram into his chest, and I send us flying backward. He lands on his back with a satisfying grunt. He tries to sit up and he can back away from me, but I put my large paws on his chest, stopping him from escaping. I wish I could communicate with him now and tell him I will savor the taste of his blood on my tongue, and I will enjoy watching the life drain from his eyes. But by the look of fear on his face, I think my intent is pretty clear.

I snarl at him one last time before I shoot forward with a speed I’m not used too. I sink my new, sharp teeth into his throat and bite down as hard as I can. The coppery taste of blood fills my mouth while Nicolai struggles against my hold. He pushes at my head, but I don’t budge. I refuse to let go of him. I hear him gargle and struggle for breath. Seconds later he isn’t moving, and I want to let go of him, but something instinctual overcomes me, and my wolf wants to hold onto her kill.

I hear footsteps come up from behind us, and I growl, warning that person to not get any closer.

“Pruitt…” Elias says softly, trying not to spook me. “You can let go of him now. He’s gone.”

Another low rumble comes from my chest, and I back up.

“Listen for his heartbeat.” Elias squats low, so he’s eye level with me now. “It isn’t there anymore. You can let him go now, he can’t hurt any of us anymore.”

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