Page 138 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

I was on my own. At least, for now. I had to figure out a way to give us the advantage—but we were outgunned. I needed to take down these four clowns so I could help the others.

Leftie was at least three times my size. He hissed and ran toward me, no doubt planning to use the force of his weight against me. There was no room for error. One misstep, and he’d have me right where he wanted me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"Augh,"Leftie grunted as he lunged, aiming for my body.

I dropped to the ground on my back. As he flew over me, I kicked him in the nuts and lifted him, causing him to flip over and land onhisback.

A loud thud and groan confirmed that I’d hit my mark.

I climbed back up and into a fighter’s stance with my feet shoulder-width apart, shuffling backward to keep an eye on everything going on around me while I moved into sight of Griffin and the others.

If I wanted their help, I had to position myself so they could see meandmy attackers.

Leftie rolled over and vomited chunky bits of whatever he’d eaten; the stench stole my breath away. My own stomach rolled like it wanted to sympathy barf beside him.

Yeah, not happening. I breathed through my mouth and kept my eyes averted from him. He’d be down for a while.

The firing stopped, and the other three descended on me. They weren’t underestimating me as the other two had.

"Watch her," Hyena warned, and rubbed his neck. "She’s stronger than she looks."

"Yeah, dumbasses." Llama smirked. "She’s a fucking silver wolf. What did you expect? You’ve fought Julius."

"But he’s a man." Hyena waved a hand toward me. "She’s less than half his size, but she delivers a stronger punch."

Dammit. I’d fooled them at first, but the ruse was over. They were aware of what I could do…granted, they didn’t know to what extent. I smiled, hoping I looked crazed. If they were attacking me in groups now, then they were at least a little nervous, so I needed to play into it.

Act deranged.

I forced laughter from deep inside my belly while shaking my head. The sound chafed my throat due to the anxiety mixed within it. As much as they were scared, so was I. Not only for myself, but for my friends.

I was so tired of putting us all in danger.

My blood pumped with the moon’s magic. I took a second to glance in its direction, noting that it was above the trees now. The light shone on me, giving me a silver moon high.

Raising my hands, I watched my skin glisten silver. On nights like these, I could take on the world.

"Dude, her skin and eyes…" Solo sounded awed. "I’ve never seen anything like that before."

Wait. If they’d been around Julius, then they should’ve seen this before now. I glanced at the other silver wolf and noticed a faint hint of silver around him, but nothing like my alpha shimmer, or even like my pack members had. Alpha blood contained the strongest magic, and thus, Dad and I always looked more silver than the others—but they’d still shone brightly in the moonlight.

Maybe he wasn’t my brother, after all.

The thought both comforted and upset me. I didn’t need a family member who was out for my blood, but at the same time, having any sort of family would be nice…even a cousin.I understood that Griffin was my family now, but he couldn’t understand the struggles of being a silver wolf. No matter how hard he might try, he would never fully get there, just like Mom.

"What are you doing?" Julius yelled, turning to face us. "She’s leading you right in front of her friends. Get her ass back over there." He glanced at Rosemary, who was swooping toward us again, and fired a few rounds, stalling her. He shoved me back toward the front door, where Griffin and the others didn’t have a clear view of me anymore. However, when his hand touched me, the warm spot in my chest solidified as our bond snapped into place.

His conflicting feelings slammed into me almost as powerfully as Griffin’s. He inhaled sharply, and his gunfire halted as he shifted his entire focus to severing the connection between us.

Solo, Llama, and Twitcher descended on me like I was the prey they desperately needed.

Llama moved behind me and clutched my arms like he could restrain them permanently behind me. I played along and leaned back against him as Solo pulled out another set of handcuffs—as if those could hold me.

They hadn’t seen what I’d done to the other pair. They’d been downstairs.

As Solo got closer, I leaned back on Llama and kicked Solo in the jaw. He twisted through the air and landed several feet away, his head hitting the ground with a sickening crack.

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