Page 63 of Protected By Her Mate

I take aim, steadying the gun before sending a bullet into her skull.

She flies backwards, her body striking the wall before sliding to the floor.

I lunge at Roscoe who’s fallen to the floor and is dragging himself away from Edie.

“It’s okay, I shot her!” I wrap my arms around his furry shoulders hugging him to me, but he shakes his head and tries to push me away, his giant paws surprisingly gentle.

His body shrinks under my hands and he becomes human again, his injuries now much worse. “Run!” he croaks, his eyes on Edie’s fallen form.

I follow his gaze and gasp. She’s alive! Clearly injured but pushing herself up to her paws. Slowly, she turns to face us. Lifting the gun, I empty the chamber, each bullet hitting her. It doesn’t stop her.

I feel the floor beneath me vibrate just as Edie leaps.

At the same time, Lennox bursts through the hole in the wall, sinking his teeth into her neck and flinging her away. His panicked eyes asses me for injury before he turns back to Edie, stalking toward her, vengeance clear in his every step.

He sinks his teeth into her neck and lifts her, but before he can finish her, the other team members burst into the room.

“You are not the only one she’s injured,” Talon snarls sharply at Lennox. “Justice belongs to all of us.”

Lennox is more wolf than man, his thoughts a jumbled mix of rage, fear and the desire to kill. Every instinct inside him is screaming to destroy the threat against his mate.

I’m inside his head, I know the heroic effort it takes for him to drop Edie.

He does, fixing his gaze on me. Walking toward me, he shifts to human and crouches in front of me.

I release Roscoe from my death grip and Little John quickly scoops him up and rushes him out, presumably to the ambulance waiting for him.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Officer Bates, he… he’s dead, I think.”

Lennox pulls me into his chest. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I should’ve realized Edie was setting us up. I shouldn’t have underestimated her – ”

“Stop,” I say. “We can’t blame ourselves and Edie hid her true feelings toward you.”

He picks me up and carries me from the room, through the debris and past an army of police officers rushing in to arrest Edie. “Won’t they need you?” I ask anxiously. After what I saw her do to Officer Bates and Roscoe, I know mere humans won’t stand a chance of subduing her.

“Talon will help, and she’s heavily injured. You’re a good shot.”

“She was barely fazed by my bullets.” I shudder as he carries me up the stairs and out the main door of the building.

A young officer hurries toward us holding Lennox’s clothes. He takes them and as he gets dressed, he explains, “Shifters heal at a rapid rate, but those bullets should’ve stopped her. She must be on something to enhance her stamina and strength.”

“Or maybe her hatred toward you is so strong she was able to will herself to keep going.”

“I’ll ask her in interrogation,” he says, unbuckling my helmet, pulling it off my head, and tossing it aside. He runs his fingers through my hair, searching my head for injuries. “We need to get you to the hospital. C’mon, there might be room in the ambulance for two.”

“I’m fine, Lennox.” When he tries to argue, I add, “I was part of this bust and I want to be here for the rest of it.”

My eyes drift to the door of the building as ASHRA members are led out, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Officers load them into vans.

“Did you find out what the explosion was?” My eyes search the prisoners being brought out. Six of them so far. I wonder what brought each of them here. How they came to have such hatred toward shifters yet allowed one into their mix.

“The other team tripped a wire, but they had enough time to put distance between them and the explosion. No one was injured, but it messed with our communications.”

So only one person died in the bust. My chest hollows as I think of Officer Bates. Does he have a family? Whose job is it to tell them what happened? Will they know he died protecting me and Roscoe?

Lennox wraps his arm around me, holding me to his chest, infusing me with warmth. “They’ll know he died a hero.”

A sob escapes me and I bury my face against Lennox, crying silently as the New York ASHRA organization is dismantled around us.

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