Page 104 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"We have to figure it out," the shorter one said hatefully. "We all have too much on the line if we fail. Besides, we don't need some woman alpha thinking she can rule over us. She needs to be put in her place like any bitch with visions of grandeur should be."

He sealed the deal.

Shorty would be my first target. Maybe I should stand over him all alpha-like as he choked on his own blood.

Okay, I didn't mean that. Even the idea of killing that dickhead turned my stomach, but I would kick his ass.

What's the plan?Griffin lifted his gun, aiming for the one on the right.

The problem was I had a hard time with the concept of killing people who weren't even aware that they were in danger. Call me a glutton for punishment, but it just never felt right.We'll charge them and try to incapacitate them by hand. If they raise their weapons at us, then we shoot in order to survive.

I love that you don't want to just kill them, but wouldn't that be the safer solution?Griffin asked as he touched my arm, bringing my attention to him.

Then we'd be the same as them.We couldn't throw our humanity aside and kill because they might attack. What if they didn't? Some of these guys didn't have horrible intentions radiating off them. They might be at the mercy of whoever had leverage over them.

Okay.Griffin sighed.Let's do it your way.

Our relationship had changed so much in such a short amount of time. He used to argue and fight with me, and now he was giving in because he could sense my inner turmoil.Let's go. I'll take Shorty and you take the other guy.

Rising to my feet, I adjusted my grip on the guns in case we had to fire. I couldn't foolishly pretend these men weren't going to attack. In fact, I knew they would, but I had to see it with my own eyes.

The two of them were so focused in front of them that they didn't see us move until the breeze shifted and blew our scents toward them.

Shorty stiffened and turned, his cold, dark eyes focusing on me. He hissed, "Stupid bitch. But this makes the job easier for us." He raised his gun, but before he extended his arm completely, a gun fired, and a bullet hit him between the eyes.

"Bo," the other guy hollered, and he charged at me. "You're going to pay for that."

However, he focused his attention on the wrong person. I wasn’t the threat.

The next shot fired, and the guy's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. Griffin fired off two shots, each hitting the center of the enemy's torso. He clutched his chest—as if that would stop the blood—then dropped his gun. Tears streaked his cheeks, and he dropped to his knees as the life began to leave his body.

But I couldn't feel bad. They’d forced our hands. We’d tried not to come at them with weapons first thing.

Forcing myself to turn away now that neither of the men was a threat, I raced with Griffin toward the cave. The gunfire had stopped, and fear dug inside me.

Please let them be alive,I chanted internally, over and over again.

The cave came into view, and I scanned the area for threats. All I found was body after body of the enemy, dead on the forest floor. However, I couldn’t see Killian and Sierra from my position. All I saw was the dark opening.

"Who's there?" Killian called out. "Don't take another step toward us or you'll force us to shoot." He could hear us but wasn't able to tell who we were.

I counted bodies and realized that, between the two groups we'd killed, all twenty of our enemies were dead. "It's us. They're all gone."

"Sweet Jesus," Sierra gasped. "I didn't think we were going to make it out alive."

That made two of us. "We need to get out of here in case they have backup coming." If their leader didn't hear back from the crow or someone soon, there was no telling how many people they would send next time.

The two of them stepped from the corner of the outside wall of the cave and into view. Neither appeared injured, so that was another miracle that we all had to be thankful for.

"Why didn’t you guys go inside?" I asked.

Killian shook his head. "They were firing right at us, and if we ran in, it would’ve been directly in the line of fire…so, we found a divot in the side where we could shoot from our angle, and they had to come into our line of fire to see us." Killian frowned when his eyes landed on the spot of blood on my shirt. "What happened?"

"I got hit, but it's already healing." I took Griffin's hand and squeezed lovingly. "Griffin removed the bullet—that's why it took us longer to get back to help you."

"You shouldn't have gotten hit in the first place," Griffin grumbled, as his guilt slammed into me.

"It wasn't your fault." There was no way my injury could've been prevented. He and I had done the best we could under the circumstances.

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