Page 35 of His Curse

Three guards on the other side.

Armed but only with tranq guns.

Excellent.

For us anyway. It looks like my body count is going up from my last escape attempt but I could give a rat’s ass at this point. Those guards, every single person that works for Dr. Kentworth is a soulless, heartless piece of shit if they can just sit by and watch as the most horrific things were done to me, done to my friends, to my goddamn pack. Everyone here deserves whatever hell comes for them, and I don’t really give a shit about my body count on my way out to go get those demons that will bring it crashing down on them.

My wolf ducks under the staircase as the guards get closer, as the panel on the other side beeps and the lock clicks, and I just watch from our shared view. Watch and wait. We wait in the shadows, watch from the veil of darkness until three men appear—big men,newmen that I've never seen before, and that makes me grin.

They are going to shit their pants.

We watch them step through the doorway, covering right, left, and the stairs, perplexed looks on their faces over the trail of blood that seems to stop directing in front of them before it disappears. A trail of blood we’re dragging with us everywhere.

The mark of war.

And we just keep still, tracking our prey, anticipating their moves, breathing in their fear. We even remain motionless when the guard covering the stairs walks closer, tilting his head to look around them, straining his eyes to look under them.

Then we attack, lunging out of the shadows, our teeth tearing through flesh, our claws shredding cloth and skin. We don’t stop, not until all three guards are dead—one of them actually shitting their pants in the process—and as soon as their bodies do nothing but occasionally twitch, I run.

My wolf takes off through the door, running as fast as she can through the yard, darting around bushes and trees as we narrowly avoid drawing any more attention.

We’re so close. I’m so close.

So fucking close.

I can practically taste my freedom; smell it, feel it.

My wolf pushes herself harder, running faster with each second that ticks by and after ten minutes, when the massive garage finally comes into view, fuck, that's when things start to go south.

A bullet, arealone, tears into our left shoulder, my wolf howling in pain because those things are made of lead and coated in silver and wolf’s-bane poison. Her foreleg burns from paw to shoulder blade but we don’t slow down. We keep running, keep moving, and just as my wolf lunges at the side door of the garage, three more bullets hit us from behind.

Right lower ribs.

Just right of my spine.

Left ass cheek.

The bullets force a shift immediately, that amount of metal and poison something even the strongest shifter couldn’t withstand, but even with a nearly lethal dose in my system, we manage to make it into the garage, throw the lock into place, and start searching for any vehicle left with a key inside.

One I find almost immediately because there isn't any need to keep the garage as safe as the rest of the buildings on the property; there’s never been a need since no one has ever gotten this far before. And when I wrench open the door of the Hummer, drag my battered body into the seat and jam the key in the ignition,fuckingDickthrows open the bay door.

"Stop right there, bitch!" he yells, hoisting the shotgun up on his hip and taking aim through the windshield. "Doc says if you're a good little wolf and listen, he'll only send you to the Black Box for two months this time.” Dick grins like the fucking bastard he is as he points his shotgun at me with one hand, the other fighting to get his fly zipped. "But he also saidshoot to killif it came down to it, and since you've already got nine guards under your belt, I think it's come down to it."

I stare at him as he comes toward me slowly, his shirt untucked, belt unbuckled, and at least I know Ginger did what I asked her to and most likely didn't rat me out based on how long it took for Dick to get here. Which might mean she wants out bad enough to actually help me.

Thank fuck for that.

"Be a good little wolf, now. Listen to Dick.” He slowly creeps closer as four more guards appear in the doorway behind him, all of them pointing similar guns at me. "Think about what's best for you. That poison is going to stay in your blood stream until the bullets are removed, and if they're in there long enough, they’ll kill you. We wouldn't want that now, would we, bitch?"

Heisright about that.

If I don't get these bullets out within the next day, day and a half tops, they will kill me, and that means I need to quit pussyfooting around with this asshole.

So, I smile because this is absolutely goodbye for now, throw the Hummer into reverse, and hit three other vehicles before I straighten out and point the car right at Dick and his henchmen.

"Bitch!" Dick yells. "You fucking bitch!"

My eyes narrowed, my plan solid, I fucking lay on the gas and gun it in forward, laughing my ass off as Dick bounces off the hood of the Hummer, then laugh even harder as I blast through the garage’s accordion wall and run over the four other guards.

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