Page 44 of Triumph of the Wolf
“Screw you, Luna. You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” Chad glanced at my purse again, then also at the medallion. Avarice and calculation gleamed in his eyes. “Ryder, Baxter!” he called. “I found some wolf relics for your boss.”
I blinked in surprise. I’d expected him to call Cameron, not other allies.
Branches snapped on a hill to one side of the draw, and two men with rifles charged into view. I cursed. Had they been there the whole time? They didn’t have paranormal blood, or I would have sensed them. I didn’t detect magical bullets in their rifles, but that didn’t mean their weapons couldn’t hurt me.
Chad startled me by throwing the magic detector at me. I ducked, and it bounced off my shoulder. He sprang toward me, lunging for my purse.
I recovered quickly enough to club him in the head with it, then sprang back. He stumbled but snatched again for the purse. I spun on my heel and kicked, planting the sole of my shoe in his stomach. With a pained grunt, he pitched forward, but the fightwasn’t over. The other two men charged down the slope and into the draw.
The wolf magic roared into me. I wouldn’t be able to keep from changing, not with this new threat barreling down on me.
“Get her purse,” Chad rasped as he gripped his abdomen. “And the necklace.”
“It’s a medallion, asshole.” I flung down my jacket, phone, and purse, and kicked off my shoes, but there wasn’t time to remove the rest of my clothing.
My skin flexed, muscles and bones morphing, as the change took over. Fur grew from my flesh, and I dropped to all fours, the medallion remaining with me through the transition. It hung around my neck, glowing against my black fur as it emanated power.
The one who’d once been my mate—Chad—stared as, for the first time since we’d met, I changed in front of him.
“Shit!” The men who’d been sprinting toward me halted, their arms flailing as they gaped at me.
One recovered and pointed his rifle toward me. At the same time, Chad lunged for the bag I carried as a human. Though such items had little significance to a wolf, I recalled and sensed that a powerful artifact lay within, something important to my people. I sprang toward my ex-mate, both to keep him from reaching the bag and to escape the rifleman’s aim.
My enemy fired, but I’d moved in time, and the bullet did not strike me. I bowled into Chad, knocking him back, and he landed on his ass in the mud.
I bit into his thigh, drawing blood. I might have done more to ensure he couldn’t steal my belongings or endanger me further, but both rifles had shifted to point toward me. The men might have hesitated to shoot a woman, but now that they believed me a wild animal… Their eyes promised they would have no trouble firing.
I rushed into the ferns, hoping the fronds would hide me. But I wasn’t a small wolf, and the foliage moved with my passing.
The men fired into the foliage. One bullet grazed my flank as the other flew over my head.
Fear and pain prompted savagery, the rising of my wild instincts, and the magic threatened to steal all rational thought. Forgetting where I was and who these people were, I rushed through the ferns until I drew near the riflemen, then sprang at them.
One might have had time to fire again, but his eyes widened with fear, and he stumbled back, heel clipping a root. The rifle flew upward as I smashed into his chest. He released the weapon, and it clanked onto a rock several yards away. I bit and tore, ripping into my enemy’s arms and torso to ensure he couldn’t attack me further.
To the side, the other man clubbed me with the butt of his rifle. My hard muscles armored my body, and the blow didn’t hurt badly, especially not with magic and adrenaline flooding my veins. I turned, leaving the first man, and lunged at him. My foe jerked his arms up to protect his head and neck, almost but not quite dropping the rifle.
I bit into his side, my fangs slicing through clothing to tear away a chunk of flesh. The man screamed, the noise so loud that it hurt my ears, and he tried to club me again. I bit deeply into his leg.
When he jerked his arms down, trying to knock me away, I clamped my jaws around his rifle and flung it into the woods.
“Stop right there, Luna,” came Chad’s voice from ten feet away, surprisingly calm.
When I turned, I saw the reason. He’d picked up one of the fallen rifles and was pointing it at me.
I crouched, debating whether to spring at him and try to knock it aside before he could fire, or to leap into the bushes, hoping to dodge when he did.
“Do I…?” an uncertain voice asked.
It was one of my offspring, his brown hair dangling around his jaw. He crouched a step away from Chad, staring at me with round eyes.
I froze, not wanting him to be harmed and also remembering that I hadn’t wanted him to see this, to witness me turning into a wolf and fighting his father.Hurtinghis father.
Chad leaned on his good leg, not putting much weight on the one affected by my bite wound. His torn trousers were dark and damp with blood.
“Get the purse,” Chad ordered without looking at Cameron.
Human words didn’t entirely make sense to me when I was in wolf form, but I got the gist.
