Page 44 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Pilot
My clothes tore away as my body expanded, silver-gray fur erupting across my skin.The pain was excruciating and exhilarating at the same time.I had denied myself this release for too long.
My massive paws hit the concrete floor as I completed the shift, standing taller at the shoulder than most timber wolves, muscles rippling beneath thick fur.Logan emerged behind her, and together, we flanked Victoria, moving with the synchronized precision of born predators.
“Stay back!”Victoria shrieked, holding up the detonator.“I’ll release everything!The whole valley will die!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Felicity working at her bonds, using the distraction to loosen the ropes.
Victoria backed toward the chemical tanks, her finger hovering over the detonator button.“You’ve forced my hand,” she snarled, suddenly calm in her madness.“Just like your father.Roberts men never know when to surrender.”
Her body contorted as she initiated her own shift.Her wolf was smaller than either of us, with tawny fur streaked with gray, but her jaws were powerful and her eyes glittered with the dangerous edge of insanity.
She lunged for Felicity, using the chair as a shield against our advance, but Felicity had freed herself enough to roll sideways, sending the chair crashing into Victoria’s path.The detonator flew across the floor.
I moved instantly, pouncing across the room with deadly grace.Victoria recovered quickly, spinning to meet my attack with bared fangs.We crashed together in a blur of fur and fangs.Her jaws snapped inches from my throat as I drove her back into the rock wall.
She fought with the desperate strength of madness, her claws raking across my muzzle, drawing blood that matted my fur.I felt no pain, only icy hot rage.This wasn’t just about protecting my territory or my mate.This was justice for my father, for the town she’d poisoned, for the legacy she’d corrupted.
Logan circled, looking for an opening, his black form coiled tight as a spring, and waiting for the chance to strike.Victoria sensed his approach and twisted beneath me, nearly breaking free.Her jaws clamped onto my foreleg, teeth sinking deep.Pain lanced through me, but I didn’t release my hold.
Through our bond, I felt Felicity moving toward the detonator, keeping low and out of the fight’s path.Be careful, I projected through our connection.
Victoria bucked beneath me, suddenly freeing herself with a surge of strength.She darted toward the chemical tanks, clearly intending to rupture them directly if the detonator failed.
Logan intercepted her, slamming into her side, sending them both crashing into the wall.Victoria’s claws found purchase on Logan’s flank, tearing a ragged wound that immediately gushed with blood.
I leapt forward, jaws closing on Victoria’s hind leg.Her eyes darted between us, her madness giving way to the cold realization that she was outmatched.Still, Victoria fought with the ferocity of a cornered animal.She feinted toward Logan, then twisted suddenly, lunging for my exposed side.
I anticipated the move, pivoting with a speed that belied my size.My jaws snapped shut inches from her throat as she twisted away, her smaller form allowing her to slip through a narrow gap between us.
Logan circled wide, cutting off her retreat toward the tunnel entrance.Blood matted his midnight fur, but his movements remained fluid and deadly.Through some unspoken understanding, we coordinated our positions, tightening the circle around Victoria.
Felicity had secured the detonator, pressing herself against the far wall to stay clear of our savage dance.Her presence kept my wolf’s rage focused and controlled rather than a berserk rage.
Victoria’s golden eyes, fever-bright with madness, fixed on Felicity.I read her intent instantly.She was going to take my mate hostage as her final play.
Before she could launch herself across the room, Logan and I attacked.He drove forward from the left while I came from the right, giving her nowhere to retreat.Victoria reared up, meeting my charge with bared fangs, but the maneuver exposed her underbelly to Logan’s attack.
His jaws closed around her hind quarters, dragging her off-balance.I seized the opportunity, my massive weight crashing into her as my teeth found her shoulder, tearing through muscle and tendon.Victoria’s yelp of pain echoed through the control room.
One of her claws caught my eye, sending white-hot pain through my skull.I maintained my hold, tasting her blood, feeling bone crunch between my teeth.
She thrashed beneath me, her smaller wolf form writhing.Trapped between Logan and me, she struggled frantically, her golden eyes wild with hatred and fear.She managed to sink her teeth into my foreleg, grinding down with punishing force.Pain seared through me, but rather than weakening my resolve, it only fueled my determination.
With a single powerful movement, I closed my jaws completely.Bone and sinew snapped beneath the crushing pressure.Victoria’s body convulsed once, twice, then went still, the madness finally fading from her eyes.
Logan released his hold, stepping back as I did the same.Victoria’s wolf lay motionless on the stone floor, blood pooling beneath her matted fur.The threat she had posed to both our families, to Angel Spring, to my mate was finally, permanently ended.
The silence that followed seemed deafening after the savage sounds of combat.My wolf remained at the forefront, vigilant and alert, unwilling to relinquish control until I was certain all danger had passed.Logan’s black wolf circled the room, checking for any remaining threats, his movements cautious as he favored his wounded side.
“Tanner.”Felicity’s voice broke through the wolf’s consciousness.She approached slowly, respect in her movements rather than fear.“You did it.It’s over.She’s gone.”
I turned toward her, my massive wolf form still towering over her human height.Blood matted my silver-gray fur, some Victoria’s, some my own.The wound above my eye throbbed in time with my heartbeat, and my foreleg burned where her teeth had sunk deep.
Felicity reached out with one steady hand.“Come back to me,” she whispered.
The gentleness in her voice reached my humanity.I pressed my muzzle against her palm, breathing in her scent.The battle rage in my body began to ease.
Shifting back to human form after such an intense battle was like swimming up from the depths of a dark lake.It was painful and disorienting.Bones reshaped, fur receded, consciousness expanding from the wolf’s animalistic simplicity to human complexity.I dropped to my knees on the concrete floor, naked and vulnerable in the aftermath of violence.
