We looked out as the general made a move closer to his loose cannon. “Let her go, Major. I give you my word, we’ll get you help.”
“Your word isn’t worth shit. It’s too late for that.” He started to smile, a bloody smile as the tendons of his neck strained. “But you were right about one thing. What good would it do me to kill her?”
My brow furrowed as I squinted to see better in the darkness. It almost looked like his neck was getting thicker. Crazed laughter erupted from his bloodied lips as his facial features cracked and mutated. “Why should I kill her…” His speech was garbled, wet. “When your fucking mutation can do it for me?”
His face jutted forward, changing so fast I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Oh shit,” I gasped, pulling in a breath to shout. “He’s shifting!”
Chapter Fifty
Sasha
It wasn’t until Aren yelled that my brain registered what was happening. Blood oozed as Fonthill’s skin ripped and tore, and then healed again in a process that made the gunshot in my leg look like a scratch. Horrific was an understatement. Somehow he shifted his form at will and without allowing his body to completely take the new shape.
Only his head and neck were changing into a wolf. And he still had his filthy hands on my sister.
I drew the Ruger from my calf holster. Thankfully it was strapped to my uninjured leg. I raised my weapon, taking aim, but the bastard’s blood-dripping snout stayed right beside Nadya’s face. I couldn’t risk hitting her.
I forced a breath through my clenched teeth.
Cool head, clear shot.
Wait for it. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
This was all my fault. I dangled her out to lure this monster into the open. I did this.
Steadying my hand, I took a slow breath.
The monster opened his jaws as I tightened my grip on my gun and waited for my shot. Before I could take it, he buried his teeth deep in Nadya’s shoulder.
Her scream pierced my ears, but I willed myself not to move. The second he loosened his grip and moved away, I squeezed the trigger.
Chapter Fifty-One
Aren
When the Pack moved in, time seemed to slow. Nadya screamed, and Sasha fired, nailing Fonthill right between the eyes. His body flew back and hit the ground with a hollow thud.
My ears rang with the gunshot, and the smell of gunpowder stung my nostrils. Nadya crumpled, and Sasha scrambled to her sister, wounded leg and all. She cradled Nadya’s head in her lap as her sister’s entire body seized, floundering in the dirt like a fish out of water. Nadya’s eyes rolled back in her head, and the corners of her mouth started to foam.
Jason moved in beside Sasha, tearing Nadya’s shirt to get at the wound. I winced. Her flesh was already swollen, the bite oozing with puss and blood, blistering.
“Our bites don’t have this effect on humans.” Jason looked up at the general. “Is this normal with the enhancement?”
“We’ve never seen anyone bitten by one of the enhanced soldiers.” He frowned, staring down at Nadya’s prone form.
Gareth pushed through, his face a mask of deadly intention. If Sasha hadn’t just killed Fonthill, Gareth would’ve. He knelt beside Jason, his dark eyes boring into our Pack doctor. “Help her.”
“I’m trying.” Jason shook his head. “You hovering isn’t making it any easier.”
“Let’s give them some room to work.” Adam pulled Gareth back, forcing him to make eye contact. “We need to get Fonthill’s body out of here. If anyone heard the gunfire and called the police, we’re screwed. That’s how you can help.”
Gareth nodded, and he and Jared went with Adam and Miller to move Fonthill’s body. Out of the corner of my eye I saw them carrying the man-wolf out toward the truck. Movies might show dead bodies reverting back to their human form, but in reality, once life leaves our body, so does the ability to shift.
Fonthill went out as a monster, and death wasn’t going to change that.
I turned toward Sasha and almost winced at the sight of her sister’s bite wound.
I’d never seen anyone bitten. It was usually a private ritual between mated couples. But this wasn’t a normal werewolf bite. Nadya’s body radiated heat worse than any fever, and the bite area was discolored and spreading. Splotches of gray ran down her arms, following the trails of her veins, almost as if we were watching the poison moving through her body, changing her.
Sasha met my eyes, her face lined with worry. “She’ll survive, right? She’ll be a werewolf, but she’ll still be alive.”
Jason answered while he tended to her wound. “Fonthill’s mutated DNA string is an unknown variable. She’ll be whatever he was.”
“So even if she lives” —Sasha held Nadya a little tighter— “She’ll end up crazy like he was?”
“I’ll do all I can for her.” Jason reached over to rest a hand on Sasha’s shoulder, checking around us before he lowered his voice and added, “I don’t have any idea how this will affect her yet, but Adam told me she has psychic abilities. I have to believe that will help her through this change.”
“How so?” Sasha kept brushing Nadya’s hair off her forehead.
Jason swabbed out the wound and started dressing it. “Nero has been experimenting, and something about a psychic human’s brain makes the body more compatible with the shifter gene. It worked with Lana being able to shift without being converted, and it’s apparently hereditary because she passed the gene to daughter as well. If anyone stands a chance of surviving this mutated shifter DNA it’s someone with psychic abilities.”
Sasha frowned and I froze, unable to stop what was happening.
“How do you know Lana passed the gene to her daughter? I thought you wouldn’t be able to tell if they’re shifters until they’re older,” Sasha said.
I opened my mouth, but Jason beat me to the punch. “They won’t start shifting until they hit puberty, but we recognized their scents right away. Malcolm’s a wolf, and Madeleine is a jaguar.” He finished bandaging the bite and met Sasha’s eyes. “That’s why we can’t let Nero know they exist. Not only did Lana conceive without being converted, but she gave birth to a girl who already carries the shifter gene.”
“They’ll want the babies even more than Lana,” Sasha said quietly, her eyes downcast.
“Exactly.” He stood up and moved around to Sasha’s other side, near her gunshot wound. “Let Aren take care of Nadya for a minute so I can have a look at your leg.”
I moved to Sasha’s side to take over holding her sister. Brushing a kiss to Sasha’s temple, I whispered, “I’ll explain later.”
I closed my eyes, grateful she was still alive, confident we’d find a way to help Nadya, and feeling like a complete and total asshole for lying to her about the twins.
Sasha moved away without a word.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sasha
Jason cut my pant leg to get to the bullet wound. The pain was a welcome distraction from the worry for my sister and the ache in my heart.
The entire Pack knew about the babies, and Aren lied to me.
More than once.
And why? Because if Nero found out about the babies, they would be in danger.
It was logical. I had worked for Nero; I even came after Lana on their behalf. But it also meant that all the sweet words Aren had been whispering about forgetting the past and being partners, having each other’s backs was all bullshit.