Page 97 of Chosen Destiny

Jasmine tugged Bodey and me into a link, saying,Callie, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on my brother.

Bodey inhaled, and the rush of air into his lungs vibrated my ear.

I swallowed a snicker. He didn’t like his sister asking me to protect him. I knew, without a doubt, he had every intention of making sure that if one of us got injured, it would be him, not me. But that went both ways.

I’ll make sure I do that,I promised, causing his eyes to dip toward me.

He leaned down, his scruff tickling my face as he kissed my lips.

The padding of paws stopped, followed by an eerie silence.

They’d found us. I turned around. The sixty shifters in animal form all had their hackles raised.

A wolf howled on the enemy’s side, the sound of battle roaring in my ears.

“Attack,” King Sutton commanded to Russell and the other nine men in front, who were only a few feet back from the witches. He gave the order so everyone on both sides would know what was going on. “We have no time to lose.”

He was right. We had to reach the house and eliminate Kel before backup arrived.

As I moved, the guns hit my hips. I tried not to focus on the firearms and tapped into my wolf, concentrating on the noises and scents in front of me. The enemy wolves raced toward us, and from what Russell and the others had observed, there would be only twenty.

There were more than enough of us.

As I tried to calm my breathing so I could hear over the pounding of my heart, the first wolf raced from between a fir and a pine. The moonlight glinted off his silver eyes, making him look even more menacing.

He launched at Russell, homing in on the man he thought was the bigger threat as five more wolves charged through the area outside of us. Russell removed his dagger from its sheath seconds before the wolf was on top of him.

Our wolves hurried forward, moving quicker than those of us in human form. Reggie launched an attack, sinking his teeth into the neck of our enemy. The scent of copper hit my nose. Within a minute, the fight had become bloody.

Come on,Bodey linked, taking my hand.

The nine front witches, King Sutton, Edward, the royal advisors, Bodey, and I, split from the fight and rushed toward the house as planned. We’d stay in human form so we could get inside and kill Kel.

I moved toward the back of the group, trying to keep an eye on the people behind us. Our group of nineteen moved steadily but slower than normal, needing to make sure we didn’t go too fast for the witches.

With every step we took, the scent of enemy wolves picked up. Tapping into my hearing, I detected three sets of steps following our group and getting louder. They were in wolf form, so I stopped and turned to face the direction they were coming from.

I’d removed my dagger when Bodey appeared at my side. His eyes glowed as he removed his firearm.You were going to fight without me.

Stab. Not fight.The wolves had to be planning something.

We have incoming,Bodey linked with the royal advisors.Three wolves heading this way.

The wolves spread apart, the three sounds coming from different directions.

I’ll stay with you, and we can catch up with the others after we’ve handled them,Miles replied as his footsteps slowed and he headed back to us.

The wolves were already on us.

A wolf leaped at me from the thick brush, her large green eyes wide as she opened her mouth, aiming for my neck.

I swung the knife, but she jerked her head back and countered the move. Her body slammed into mine, and I crashed onto my back with her on top.

Bodey turned as the other two wolves charged from his side and attacked him.

The wolf lurched for my neck again. I dropped the knife and gripped her throat, using all my strength to keep her jaws from reaching me. She jerked her head, trying to slash at my upper arms, but that gave me time to curl my legs underneath her and push her up. I kicked toward my head, flipping her wolf body behind me. She landed on her back.

I jumped to my feet and spun around to see the darker enemy wolf bite into Bodey’s shoulder.

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