Page 39 of Save Me Enemy

We’re closing in on him slowly, working as one entity, shrinking the circle until he’s pinned between us all.

“My creator told me it took two whole packs to take down the first experiment,” Corey sneers. “And he also said I’m much stronger than that. I’m almost fully a wolf! You four have no chance!”

Corey shifts fully back into a hairless, grotesque monstrosity, snarling viscously as foam drips from his muzzle.

“We don’t have to kill him, we just have to get him away from Cricket long enough to get her out of here,”Cole says to all of us.

We know our chances here are slim to none, but if we can just get him to chase us…

Cole lunges first, throwing himself bodily into the monster and biting his flank in midair. His teeth sink in and he pulls, like a dog with a rope, trying to drag the monster away. I jump and put myself between him and Cricket, distracting Corey long enough for Ryder and Chase to sink their teeth into him. They look like a roiling ball of fur attacking the bubbling blistered skin of a wolf that’s been burned alive.

The smell of Corey’s blood and the all-too human scream coming from his muzzle makes my vision blur. I back towards Cricket, fully intent on picking her up and running away while my friends have him distracted. They know this, they’re pulling him away, giving me an opening.

Screams for help come from the direction of the cabin. It sounds like women, and my blood runs cold. I feel my fellow wolves register the sound as well and fury fills us all with strength and a blood lust like I’ve never known before. I lose control of my mind, lunging at Corey and going for his neck.

My jaws clamp around his slick skin, my teeth sinking in without hesitation. His blood tastes worse than it smells, and it fills my mouth like tar. I’m gagging, choking on the toxic taste as it floods my mouth and drips down my throat. I need to kill this thing, letting him escape isn’t an option. He’s got to die. Now.

Corey roars in pain, twisting desperately. We’re hurting him! Getting through his thick hide! He begins shifting back to a human, sobbing pathetically as he slips out of my jaws, then laying on the ground like the scum of the earth he is. Slowly, we all back away. He’s surrendered, pitifully, and I sneer in disgust as he writhes like a worm as he tries to stop his bleeding.

“You’re monsters! All of you!” he shrieks and stands, spinning around and trying to face us all at once. “First you kill my wife, then you steal my child, and now you’re trying to kill me? What did we do to you? Why would you do this?”

Ryder and Cole exchange looks of disgust and disbelief. Corey’s truly disillusioned. The screaming from the cabin becomes more shrill, as if someone’s in a great deal of pain.

“Jax, check your woman,”Cole says.“Chase, check the cabin. Ryder and I will keep this pitiful creature under guard.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s over, we have this monster under control. We have the cabin. We’ll rescue whoever is inside and end the monster who’s doing this to people.

I turn, facing my woman, finding she’s deathly still. My heart sinks as I walk slowly towards her. Cricket’s so weak, the chances of her surviving an attack like this… My world begins to fall apart. If Cricket’s dead, I’ll never survive her loss. Sniffing, I approach carefully. I don’t want her to be dead but I can’t make my body move faster. I should be running to her, licking her everywhere, waking her up, but I can’t. I’m frozen with fear.

“Get away from him!” I hear Catherine scream, and my head whips around as she pulls a shotgun out of the wrecked vehicle and fires.

Ryder jumps in front of Cole at the last second and the slug rips through his shoulder and sends him flying into Cole. Both wolves land in a heap of blood and fur, and I register Corey’s shifted again in a split second. He runs at Catherine, and she grabs the mohawk of fur on his back as he drags her bodily away.

I watch in horror, her ruined body being dragged as she screams in pain, but Corey doesn't slow. Chase runs towards us, hearing the shot, and sees the Alphas down. We’re stuck, torn between chasing our enemy and loyalty to our leaders. Loyalty wins. I’m shifting before I know it, wrapping my arms around my woman, thanking the moon when I feel her suck in a ragged breath, and bringing her back to where the Alphas have fallen before Chase has even arrived.

Ryder and Cole have shifted, lying unconscious on the ground in a pool of blood. The slug went right through Ryder’s shoulder and is lodged in Cole’s breastbone. A trickle of blood is seeping from his wound as he struggles to breathe. Cole’s holding Ryder, trying to breathe himself as he also tries to make sure he’s okay. Chase skids to a stop in front of them, sniffing and licking Ryder’s wound instantly, cleaning it, trying to stop the blood.

Cole looks at me with wide and fearful eyes and I kneel beside him as he takes his first breath. As my Alpha recovers from the impact of the bullet that went through Ryder, Cricket stirs and wraps her arms around my neck. She looks around and starts to sob uncontrollably. All the blood, all the gore, and her brother is down and unconscious.

“I’m so sorry!” she shrieks, looking at everyone like this is her fault. Like it’s something she’s done directly to us.

No one can speak, no one can form a single syllable. Cole recovers enough to hold pressure on Ryder’s wounds as Chase shifts back to human and runs back to the cabin for medical supplies.

“Thank you…” Cole says to Ryder.

Ryder chokes on laughter. “Instinct!” He coughs, blood dripping from his mouth, and he cranes his head around to find his sister. “Is she okay?” he asks, trying to sit up, but Cole holds him to the ground.

Ryder looks at him and narrows his eyes, but he barks out a laugh when he sees Cole’s chest. “All the good taking the bullet for you did, it’s embedded in your chest!”

Cole looks down, touching the bullet lodged in his body with a wince. “That will have to come out…” he says, unbelieving, in shock.

“No shit!” Chase says, returning with bandages and gauze.

I stroke Cricket’s hair gently, showing Ryder that she’s slowly recovering from shock, and he reaches out and takes her hand in his as Chase begins to treat his wounds.

I look off into the woods where the monster and Catherine disappeared. Why did she defend him? Why did she attack us to save him? What’s going on here? “What’s it like inside?” I ask Chase.

He visibly trembles as he closes his eyes. “It’s a nightmare,” he says quietly. “There are half transformed bodies in a corner, thrown away like garbage. There’s a woman in a cage, I told her I’d come right back…”

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