Page 58 of Wolf Fated
"Fuck yeah." One of the men laughed, his belly shaking. "They'll be able to smell her for miles away. Woot! Let's get ready. I can't wait to blast some werewolf brains all over the place."
They all spread out around me, hiding behind trees, and crouching behind bushes. After about twenty minutes, a hum of a small plane flew overhead and low too. I cringed, worried it would buzz the tops of the trees. It flew over again before disappearing.
"Be ready," the cigar man said in a harsh voice. "Don't wait until they're fully changed, shoot them between the eyes. Only good werewolf is a dead one.”
"No, please." I stood on my good leg, my other one felt like it was on fire. "Please don't do this. They're just men like you."
"And I'm President of the United States," one of the men called out.
People were going to die, and I was going to try my hardest not to let it be my men. As soon as I felt the hairs on my arms lift, telling me someone was coming, I shouted, "It's a trap! Get out of here! There are seven of them with guns!"
"Fuck! Shut her up," cigar man cursed.
Stephen was closest and smacked me in the forehead with his fist. Pain splintered across my skull, and I stumbled backward. Axel's roar filled the air as he leapt onto Stephen from out of nowhere. Stephen fell backward, the gun flying out of his hand from the impact.
Axel's fist hit Stephen in the face over and over again.
The men shouted as two wolves charged into the clearing. One with brown on the base of his tail that I recognized as Nathan. He tore into one man's throat.
I should be appalled. I should be screaming and looking away. But I couldn't. Not when my men were in danger.
Cigar guy dropped his smoke but aimed his rifle at Drake.
"Watch out!" I yelled.
Drake dodged past a tree and the bullet hit the branch above him, shattering the wood.
"Are you all right?" Axel yanked on the chain, trying to remove the stake, but it was like it was cemented into the ground.
"Yeah. Get me out of here." I wanted this over. I wanted to be back at the cabin or the mansion or hell even the fishing boat and in their arms.
"With pleasure." Axel winked.
Then a shadow rose behind him, and my scream caught in my throat. Stephen slammed his gun down onto Axel's head. He dropped to the ground at my feet. Disbelief and sorrow crushed into my chest.
"No!" The word tangled with my soul. My world shifted and all I could see was red with Axel unconscious at the center of it. Drake and Nathan were too far away to help, too involved in fighting the other hunters to stop this.
"Tell your wolf bastard goodbye, Brookie."
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"Wait," I screamed, not sure of what I could even do or how I could help. "Don't do this."
"Maybe she's right." The young man moved between me and Stephen. "We shouldn't kill nobody."
Stephen nodded, then pointed his gun at him. "Move out of my way or I'll shoot you."
The boy swallowed hard. His legs shook as he hung his head and moved away.
Stephen laughed and smacked into the back of Axel's head with a sickening thud, thud, thud. Half the blows hit Axel in his neck or upper back while Stephen sweated and beat him.
"Stop." Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, and I grasped the metal chain and heave as though my will alone could force the stake pinning me to the spot, free.
Drake and Nathan raced toward me. A gun fired and Drake stumbled. Blood covered his hindquarter and he limped at the shooter.
Nathan barred his teeth and lunged for another man, going after the arm holding the gun. The misfire struck a tree. But the man yanked out a huge knife and stabbed Nathan in the chest.
"No, no, no." I felt like my world was flying apart at the seams and wouldn't ever be able to be woven back together again if I lost any of the pieces. And I couldn't lose them, couldn't lose Axel or Drake or Nathan.I am theirs and they are mine.
