Page 37 of Blade's Battle
“Please, Blade.”
At the sound of her voice, Blade pushed past his wolf, forcing the animal to submit. The second Blade regained full control, he shifted to human form. He found himself lying on his side, naked with dozens of bites and claw marks. The pain was too great, but there was no need to move. Anna was squatting in front of him, and the other shifters had backed away from her. She was no longer in danger.
“Hi,” he said, struggling to get that one measly word out. His memories were a bit foggy at the moment, with images of his wolf shoving him aside and taking over prevalent in his mind. That had never happened before, and he hoped it never happened again. Being out of control was terrifying. He couldn’t even remember what had started it. Only snippets of what had happened, images of being surrounded and taken down filled his brain.
“You okay now? You back with me?” Anna was kneeling at his level, tears streaking her face.
Suddenly all the old fears burst through. They had hurt her, and he’d failed to protect her just as he’d failed to protect his pack. Blade reached up to wipe away her tears, which only brought on more tears for some reason. She was so beautiful, so sweet, so vulnerable. He needed to get her out of here. He lifted his head finally. A dozen guards had formed a circle around him, with Liam standing only a few feet behind Anna.
“When he’s healed, bring him to me,” Liam ordered the guards as he broke through the circle and disappeared.
“You’re only alive because of her,” Ravirez said from somewhere off to his left.
“This is all your fault!” Anna rose and stormed toward the shifter.
Blade tried following, but his left leg was in bad shape and one of the guards planted his foot on his wounded knee, immobilizing him.
“Anna,” he called, trying to warn her away from Ravirez, but nothing seemed to be stopping her, not even the guards who parted as she broke through the circle and headed straight for the shifter.
Ravirez’s eyes lit as if he looked forward to her confronting him. Of course, he did. The shifter would cut her down if she gave him the excuse.
“Liam has a soft spot for the females he fucks,” Ravirez said.
That was it. Blade kicked the shifter standing on his knee in the balls and forced himself up on one leg—in time to see Anna punch Ravirez right in the nose. The sight caused Blade to hesitate long enough to be tackled to the ground again.
Ravirez started shifting. Anna took the chance to kick him in the ribs, but it wouldn’t be enough to save her as Ravirez’s wolf, a brown wolf, bared his teeth.
Blade was as helpless as a newborn, standing there pinned to the ground while Ravirez leapt at her. Before Ravirez could reach Anna, a tan and white wolf body-slammed Ravirez to the ground. More guards moved in, guarding Anna from Ravirez who shifted back to human form.
“Everyone cool it!” Griff shouted seconds after shifting back. He’d been the one who’d body-slammed Ravirez. He motioned for two of the guards to escort Ravirez back to the make-shift hospital and another two to escort Anna, though he didn’t tell them where to take her, merely to guard her.
Then two guards lifted Blade by his arms, which hurt like hell, especially since one guard was intentionally digging his hand into the open bite wound on his bad shoulder.
“You,” Griff said as he stabbed one of his fingers into the middle of Blade’s chest, are going back to the cabin. If you even think about causing trouble, I’ll have you tied to a tree for the insects to feast on.”
“And if I’m good,” Blade bit back, not sure why he was aggravating the shifter who had saved Anna. Perhaps it was because it was Griff and not Blade who had saved her.
The blond shifter glanced over his shoulder at Anna who was standing only twenty feet away, her curls blowing in her angst-filled face. “If you’re good, Scout, I’ll let her see you. Ifshewants.”
Blade slammed a door down on his wolf. He’d do nothing to irritate Griff or the others, not until after they brought Anna to him.
Chapter Seven
BLADE
Three days had passed since he’d attack Liam’s guards, and Anna still hadn’t visited him. Were Liam’s shifters keeping her from him, or was she avoiding him? Blade wasn’t sure, but he knew if he didn’t get out of this cabin soon, he’d start ripping it apart. He was going stir crazy and his wolf was clawing at him over being caged, both within Blade and within the cabin. Hearing the guards claim that Anna was fine did nothing to soothe either Blade or his wolf. They both needed to scent her, totouchher to know that she was well.
Blade threw a chair at the window. The glass shattered into dozens of pieces.
“I’ve had it with you, Hernández,” Daaven yelled from outside. “One more outburst and I’m going to hogtie you and shove a rag down your throat so far that Anna won’t be able to pull it out if she decides to visit you.”
Anna?Now Daaven was on a first-name basis with his Anna? And what was that about ‘if’? Didn’t she want to see him?
Blade barreled to the door. He wasn’t going to sit in the cabin one more minute. He pulled the door open only to have a large hand shove him back inside.
Rage flashed in the shifter’s brown eyes, drawing out yellow flecks, but Blade had never been so happy to see Callen.
Instead of a slap on the back or even a brief hug, Blade’s packmate shoved him further into the cabin. “What the fuck, Callen?”
