Howl for It (32 page)

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Authors: Cynthia Shelly; Eden Laurenston

BOOK: Howl for It
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Gage tensed. That scent . . .
The hunter jerked off his ski mask.
Jonah.
“Everyone just—stop!” Jonah shouted.
The wolves weren’t stopping. They were attacking. Killing.
The hunters fought back. No one was listening. Shamus was transforming slowly back into the form of a human. Lyle was trying to grab another weapon.
And more asshole hunters were attempting to get at Gage and Kayla.
Kill them all.
They could end this now.
“Screw this!” Kayla’s voice. So sweet and vicious. That was his lady. His head jerked around and he saw her bend down. She grabbed a gun from the holster on Jonah’s ankle. “Silver?” He heard her ask.
Jonah nodded.
Kayla lifted the weapon. Aimed it at Lyle.
“Silver!”
she screamed.
But even as she fired, two hunters pointed their weapons at her.
Gage took one of the assholes out with a slash of his claws across the guy’s legs.
The other hunter—Jonah shot him in the arm.
And Kayla shot Lyle. Her bullet ripped into his chest. Lyle flew back and fell onto the earth. Smoke drifted up from his wound. Smoke . . . as the silver burned his flesh.
And the hunters were watching him. Every. Second . . .
“What the hell . . . ”
“How the fuck . . .”
Many stood now, lost, confused. It was the perfect time for the wolves to take out the humans. So easy. Like slaughtering sheep.
“He’s a wolf!” Kayla shouted. “He’s been lying to us, tricking us all along!” Her voice seemed to echo in the night.
The men and women in their ski masks still had their weapons. But they weren’t fighting. Not yet.
Some were too injured to fight. The scent of blood was strong in the air.
Some were too scared. A wolf always knew the scent of fear.
“Gage and his pack . . . they aren’t evil.” Kayla’s voice was clear and strong. “They haven’t done anything to the humans in this city.”
Well, nothing that the humans hadn’t asked for. The wolves weren’t exactly perfect.
No one was.
“We don’t have to destroy each other!” Kayla’s eyes burned with intensity, just like her voice. “We can just . . . walk away.”
If the hunters didn’t start walking in less than five seconds, they wouldn’t have a choice in the matter.
The wolves were standing back, for the moment, but it would just take one roar from Gage to send them into action.
Just one roar . . .
Then Jonah strode forward. “We aren’t killers.” His words carried easily. There was a heavy edge of command in his words. “We protect. This
isn’t
us.”
Lyle was digging the silver out of his chest.
A few of the hunters lowered their weapons.
“A
damn shifter? All along . . . ”
A woman yanked off her ski mask. Her face was pale. Shaken. “What . . . what have we been doing?”
“Following the wrong path,” Kayla said with a sad shake of her head. “And it’s time to change that. It’s time for all of us to change and to make this right.” She was at her brother’s side. “Walk away from the wolves. These shifters aren’t the ones who are evil.” She swallowed, exhaled, and said, “To them,
we’re
the evil ones. We’re the ones who came after them when all they were doing was trying to live.”
Silence.
The wolves were straining forward. So eager to finish the fight.
Gage didn’t give the order to attack. Not yet.
“Put up your weapons. Clear out of here,” Jonah said. His words held the unmistakable whip of an order. “This fight isn’t ours.” His gaze slanted back to Lyle. Still on the ground. Still clawing at his chest as he tried to dig out the silver. Disgust tightened his face. “And you sure as hell aren’t our leader.”
The rest of the hunters lowered their weapons. Then they slowly headed back to their vehicles.
No more fighting. Just . . . walking away?
Well, fuck me.
Kayla had been right. They weren’t out to kill blindly. They weren’t killing at all.
“I’m sorry,” Gage heard Jonah say to Kayla. “I should have trusted you sooner. Hell, you’re the only one I
should
ever trust.”
Her hands reached for his.
Gage’s eyes narrowed.
Get to her.
He raced toward them, his claws tearing over the earth.
Faster, faster . . .
“Everything’s gonna be okay now,” Jonah told her, and he pulled her close for a hug.
Gage opened his mouth and roared.
Jonah jerked away from Kayla and saw Lyle—charging right for them. Bleeding, but with the silver gone, the guy wasn’t done yet.
Not even close.
“This isn’t how it ends!” Lyle screamed as spittle flew from his mouth. “Not for me!” His claws lifted. “Not for you!” He went for Jonah’s throat.
Gage locked his teeth around Lyle’s leg and jerked him back. He’d wanted his pound of flesh, and he
had
made a promise to the other wolf.
You’re dying.
A promise was a promise.
“This
is
how it ends,” Kayla said as she backed up, pulling her brother with her. “So have fun in hell, asshole.”
Lyle was shifting. Fighting. Clawing. “Your father—you know he begged to live!”
Kayla flinched.
“Begged!” Lyle spat. His face was elongating, his eyes burning bright. “So did your bitch of a—”
Gage slashed his throat.
The bastard stopped screaming.
You won’t hurt her anymore.
The other wolves closed in.
And Lyle didn’t scream again.
 
“Come back with me,” Jonah said. The other hunters were long gone—headed back to base or to who the hell knew where.
Maybe some of them would just keep driving. Keep running.
Kayla didn’t blame them. Everything they knew had all just changed. They had to figure out what they were going to do . . . who they were going to become.
Lyle was dead. The wolves were shifting back to their human forms. Turning to their alpha for guidance.
“You don’t belong with them,” Jonah told her. Her brother was standing strong and steady beside her. His hand rested on her shoulder. “Come back with me. We can go forward.”
“Forward to what?” she whispered. When you were lost, how the hell did you know which direction to take?
His hand tightened on her. “Not everything was a lie. Lyle was working for the government. He was a contractor, yeah, but he was being sent out after real killers. Those cases were real.”
“Not all of them.” And that knowledge would keep tearing her apart. “Some of those people that we captured, they were innocents, Jonah. Supernaturals that Lyle just framed because he wanted them under his control.” Or because he’d just wanted to take them out.
“Then we free them,” he said simply. With such determination. When had her kid brother grown up on her? “We find the containment areas that are housing them, and we make sure that they get their freedom.”
She nodded. Yes, yes, that was what they had to do. No matter what it took, she had to give the ones she’d taken justice.
“We can do it,” Jonah said, voice rough, eyes deep, “together.”
Her gaze slipped away and found Gage. Surrounded by his wolves. Standing tall. Powerful. “He told me that you were . . . missing. That you’d disappeared from the compound.”
Silence.
She didn’t need Jonah to confirm the lie. She’d already figured it out on her own.
“He didn’t want me to go back for you.” Her shoulders sagged a bit. It had been one hell of a day. Week—
year.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jonah said instantly. “I was coming for
you
. I saw Lyle burn in that holding cell, I knew the truth, and I was coming to make sure you were safe.”
No wonder he’d been stationed so close to Lyle.
“I figured it was my turn to stand guard,” her brother told her softly.
She glanced back at him. Found his gaze on hers. He looked so worried. So . . .
“I’m sorry.” His voice held a ragged edge. “Oh, damn, Kay, I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I
shot
you.”
“With a tranq.”
He looked away. “You’re the only thing I care about in this world. The only thing that
kept
me in this world, when I was sure ready to leave it.”
She’d known that. She’d seen his eyes. All those long days in the hospital. All the surgeries. All the pain.
It was her turn to reach out to him. “You’ll make it up to me.”
“Following orders . . .” He muttered and shook his head. “I’m not a damn robot, and it was
you.
I should have trusted you. Not listened to the lies about you falling for a wolf.”
Gage’s head snapped their way.
Ah . . . shifter hearing. His eyes narrowed on Jonah. Yep, that was a flash of fury in his gaze.
I fucking love you.
His words whispered through her mind again.
So it hadn’t been a candlelit confession. No roses and fancy dinner and sweet words.
It had just been—Gage. Heat of the moment. In the middle of the fight. Rough. Hard.
Her wolf.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jonah told her. “The wolves—they should just be left alone.”
Her eyes were on Gage. “I don’t want to leave them alone.”
Jonah stiffened. “Uh, what?”
Gage stalked toward her. He was wearing jeans now. Someone in the pack had brought backup clothing for everyone.
Prepared pack.
“I’m not going back,” Kayla said. She’d always feared a wolf ’s claws. Hated the power of the beast.
But Gage was different. His beast made her feel safe.
He made her feel loved.
“Kayla, it was just a job!” Jonah sounded more than a little desperate. “Just a mission gone bad!”
“No.” Gage was almost on them. Her words weren’t really for Jonah anymore. They were for Gage. It was time for him to understand. “It wasn’t just a mission for me.”
“Aw, hell. ” Jonah stepped back in surprise. “You did fall for the wolf.”
Gage’s gaze swept over Jonah. “You’re . . . healing.”
“Yes, well, a slash to the arm can take some—”
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.” Gage flashed his fangs. “You ever shoot at her again and I’ll—”
“I’ll be damned.” Jonah’s jaw dropped. He shook his head, and took a minute to recover before he said, “You love my sister.”
Kayla frowned at him. Did he have to sound so shocked? Gage blinked and looked annoyed. Just the way she felt. Gage said, “I married her, didn’t I?”
It really was that simple. But she’d been too blind—too scared and desperate—to see the truth from the beginning. It wasn’t about packs.
About mates.
About hunters.
It was just about them. Man and woman.
Need. Lust. Desire.
Love.
“But the real question is . . .” Gage’s voice had deepened and his focus was on her. Totally. “Just why the hell did she marry me?”
The wolves were watching. Her brother stared with wide eyes.
Kayla didn’t speak.
Jonah cleared her throat. “Um, see, man, there was this mission . . . ”
Gage shoved her brother away. Shamus grabbed Jonah’s arm before he could charge back at him.
“Was it just the mission?” Gage wanted to know. “Tell me.”
Kayla shook her head. He had to hear the mad galloping of her heart. The drumbeat filled her ears. So loud.
“Then why?”
So many eyes on them.
So many
. She knew how important this moment was. To the wolves. To her.
To Gage.
She lifted her right hand—and realized she was still holding the gun. Jonah’s backup weapon. The one he kept loaded with silver.
She tucked it into her waistband and lifted her hand again.
“Why?”
Gage demanded.
She smiled at him. The pain and horror of the past were slipping away. Her hand touched Gage’s strong chest. “Because you’re mine, wolf.”
She heard the growls of approval from the pack.
Mine.

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