Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
The wolf beneath him howled in agony and collapsed as the other spun to charge again. But Dirge charged free and spun toward his remaining attackers, still moving quickly despite the blood trailing from his open wound.
I wanted to cheer as the wall slid open, Shay arrowing out like an avenging angel intent on destruction. She barreled into the side of one of the wolves before they knew what hit them, sending him tumbling paws over tail, and leaving Dirge to focus on the only wolf left standing.
They pounced in unison, each of them downing their wolf with ease. I looked away when blood and fur started flying.
They’re okay, and that’s all that matters.
When the room fell quiet again, I looked back up to see Dirge leaning into Shay’s side while she licked his muzzle.
I was sure he was mentally chastising her for risking herself, but the bond between them was obvious from outer space. It sent an ache through my chest as I thought of Gael.
Would we ever get to that place? That level of inherent trust and devotion?
I hoped so.
Both wolves on screen perked up, sinking into defensive stances as the sound of wolves running down the hall reached us over the speakers.
But the sound of scraping stone over stone drew my gaze away from the distant threat and to the more immediate one. I scooped up the gun once more and hollered over my shoulder, “Everybody into one of the side rooms. Lights off and lock the doors.” I used my alpha bark, cocking the gun in my hands and sighting it on the section of stone that was swinging slowly inward.
I heard the sounds of obedient feet racing toward the bunk room and the bathroom, but Ivy jogged to my side instead, shooting me a wicked grin as she stripped off her borrowed clothing. I only spared her a short glance before focusing back on the threat.
“I’m not afraid to fight.” She shifted at my side, and a small part of me was glad to have her. I didn’t know her like my girls, but I liked her immediately. And she must have been pretty damn strong to ignore my alpha command.
“If they come in one at a time, stay next to me so I’m free to shoot. If they come in a pack, try to stay off to one side.”
She yipped her agreement a second before the door stopped moving.
A blood-soaked darker gray wolf I didn’t recognize burst through it, arrowing toward us with his maw stretched wide, sharp canines glinting under the LEDs.
I didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger. It hit him in the shoulder, but he kept coming. Ivy rocketed forward as a second wolf ran in, bulldozing into the darker gray wolf at the lead and knocking him clear so I could take aim at the second. I’d only gotten off one shot to his chest when the sounds of many, many running feet echoed off the stone hallway beyond the opening.
Shit, shit, shit!
I was a decent shot for a target head-on, but I had no hope against as many as I heard coming. I dropped the gun on the chair and shifted, bursting out of my clothes in a flash. Ivy had already finished off the first wolf, his naked male form now lying bloodied in front of one of the gun cases.
Snarls and the sounds of fighting reached us just before the third wolf burst in. Ivy and I were like a well-oiled machine, each of us splitting off to come at the gray wolf from opposite sides. She hit his flank at the same time I latched onto his throat, his claws grinding uselessly against the stone as we both tore chunks out of his hide.
His blood filled my mouth, my wolf reveling in the cruel efficiency of the kill. Ivy peeled off to tackle the next wolf as I shook him, cracking his neck.
I dropped him when he went still, turning to see if Ivy needed backup.
She was going to have to figure it out for herself, I thought grimly as five more wolves in varying shades of gray poured in to circle us. She dispatched her target and then backed up to me so we were tail to tail, covering each other as the five enemies circled.
This was not good. I wasn’t a trained fighter, and even if I were, more than two-to-one odds weren’t great.
One of them shifted, shaking his head as he stood tall.
“It’s only a couple of bitches, and neither of these looks like the Alpha’s mate. Aren’t we supposed to be looking for a white wolf?” the man asked the wolf closest to him.
Why are they attacking us if they don’t even know who we are?
They must have communicated through the pack bonds because he nodded in response to something we couldn’t hear.
“Well then, there’s no need to keep them alive. Take them out, and then we’ll search the place.”
I thought of Brielle, of all the innocent women hiding behind me. I thought of Gael, my mate. But most of all, I thought of my sweet, innocent Petal, whose life depended on mine. There was nothing standing between these bullies and my baby but me, and I was sure as hell not going to lie down and die.
Fuck that all the way to next week.
I leapt at the man’s bare throat.
THIRTY-THREE
Gael
We cut a blood-soaked path through the castle, picking off wolves from seemingly the back of the attack force who were checking side rooms along the way. My gut felt like it filled with lead as we followed the trail of blood and stench straight toward the kitchen.
We’d torn through no fewer than ten wolves by the time we reached the exposed tunnel inside the pantry. If Cristian had gone this way, he’d have closed it behind himself to protect the females.
But how the fuck did the Hungarians find out about the tunnels in the first place?
We raced through without stopping, the scents of unfamiliar wolves burning my nose as we raced through the twisting tunnel toward the bunker. We picked off two more stragglers in a straightaway and then raced unimpeded down the last stretch. I was the tip of the formation, Kane and Sergei flanking me as we burst through the open door into the bunker.
The sight before me made a red haze drop over my vision. Leigh was in wolf form, her jaws locked around a human man’s bare throat from her position atop his chest as two other wolves leapt at her back. I howled, the sound a promise of death as I flew across the distance faster than I ever had to protect my mate.
I knocked one of the wolves aside before he could reach her, but the other was on the far side, and he knocked her to the hard stone floor as I eviscerated the first wolf with grim efficiency. I spun from the dying shifter toward the one who was tussling with Leigh, clawing at her side.
Her tawny fur was streaked with red, and my wolf took control. We sprang for her attacker, a scrawny gray wolf who was too big to be this gangly. I took him by surprise, clearly in the midst of a battle haze as he attacked my pregnant female with glee.
When my wolf started tearing chunks out of his side, he didn’t stop until his guts littered the floor like gore confetti, and he began to shift back to his human form under my muzzle.
The room had gone quiet, and when I scanned the area, none were left standing except Leigh’s wolf, another female, who was pinned against her shoulder to shoulder, and the three of us.