Niki jolted upright, the surprise in her eyes quickly giving way to resolve. And respect. “Yes, Prima.”
“Turn here,” Sylvan said as she felt Max’s call.
Andrew drove down a narrow overgrown path between a narrow strip of trees and the river’s edge just south of the city. Across the broad expanse of water, a train whistle blew. Overhead slashes of blue-black clouds skated across the face of a brilliant full moon.
“That’s the building up ahead. Stop here and we’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”
When they climbed out of the Rover, Drake stared up at the moon. Her skin tingled and heat balled in the pit of her stomach. Max stepped out of the darkness followed by two incredibly beautiful young blonds—the male was slightly taller than his sister, both were nude except for pants, both as perfectly muscled as a Michelangelo statue.
Immediately, the three newcomers crowded around Sylvan and she stroked each of them in turn.
“What have you found?” Sylvan asked.
“There are seven inside, Alpha,” Max said. “Including the one we tracked from the park across from the Vampire’s lair.”
“And you’re sure that one is the shooter?”
“Yes, Alpha,” the blond female answered briskly. “His scent is thick with silver. Blowback from the ammunition he used.”
“Well done, centuri.” Sylvan gripped the shoulders of the two young lieutenants. “Jace. Jonathan. Welcome to my guard.” Brother and sister immediately dropped to one knee and touched their foreheads to Sylvan’s thighs. She caressed them briefly, then urged them up. “Max, take Jace and Jonathan and secure the rear. Andrew and Niki—with me.” She spread her arms wide. “Come, my wolves. To the hunt.”Drake tried to watch the centuri shift, but all she could discern was a faint shimmering before their shadows blurred in a dark, hypnotic dance. Within seconds, it seemed, Sylvan was surrounded by five fierce wolves. A huge gray—Max; a lean, muscular red-gray—Niki; a svelte red—Andrew; two white and grays—Jace and Jonathan. Only Sylvan remained in skin form, and yet she seemed no less dangerous or less powerful than the animals who crowded against her.
“I’m coming with you,” Drake said.
“No. I can’t risk losing you.” Sylvan dragged Drake forward and kissed her ferociously. “Wait in the Rover. I love you.”
“Sylvan!” Drake called as Sylvan loped away, as graceful as her wolves. From deep inside, Drake heard—felt—her other self call to her, claiming her place. Sylvan must not go alone. Her midnight wolf was the sky to Sylvan’s star. She knew her destiny and what she must do.
Drake took a step, then another, then she was running. Running free. The hot summer air danced across her tongue, carrying teasing hints of prey scurrying in the underbrush, the acrid taste of drug-frenzied rogues, the sharp tang of the centuri. And the powerful, hot rush that was Sylvan. Drake covered the ground in huge, bounding strides and reached Sylvan’s side just as Sylvan prepared to breach the warehouse doors.
Welcome, mate. Sylvan reached down and buried her fist in Drake’s ruff. Together, they leapt at the door and crashed it inward, Niki and Andrew soaring past them to land in the midst of a startled ragtag group of rogues. Most were half naked, covered in haphazard remnants of tattered clothing. Several looked and smelled sick. Three males carried automatic rifles, and as they brought the weapons to their shoulders, Niki, Andrew, and Drake launched themselves as one.
Drake didn’t think. Her only imperative was to protect her mate.
The guard went down with her teeth in his neck, and she shook her head and shoulders with instinctive ferocity. He went limp and she dropped him, racing back to Sylvan’s side. Niki and Andrew drifted toward the shadows on either side of Sylvan. The other rogues had all run, leaving a single blond male standing in a shaft of moonlight that filtered through a broken skylight high above them. Unlike the other renegades, he looked fit and healthy. His dark shirt and pants hugged his muscular frame as if tailor-made. His sharp blue eyes were clear and filled with hatred.
“Sergi Milos,” Sylvan snarled, her voice echoing throughout the cavernous space. “Your mutts called you Rex.” She laughed. “You could live a thousand lifetimes and never deserve that name. But you won’t have the chance.”
“Just like your mother,” Rex sneered. “You let your centuri fight for you. Now I’ll kill you just like I killed her.”
“You already failed.” She spread her arms, displaying her unblemished torso. “Only a coward uses bullets instead of teeth and claws.”
“Your Pack should be mine,” Rex raged.
“Is that what the Blackpaw Alpha promised you when you led the raid against my mother? When you ambushed her?”
“Her guards were lucky and managed to defeat my lieutenants, or I would already be Alpha. Bernardo promised me half of your territory.”
“Bernardo ordered your execution as part of the new treaty after the failed campaign against us.”
“Bernardo is a weakling.” Rex laughed. “As you can see, he failed to put me down.”
“I won’t.” Sylvan growled. “You destroy your own species with drugs. You’re not fit to lead anyone.”
Rex trembled with anger. “When I put you down like the bitch you are, I will claim the Timberwolf Pack and all its territory.”
“I accept your challenge,” Sylvan said softly. “Here and now.” Rex’s eyes flickered around the room. “You ambushed my guards. I have no witnesses.”
Max appeared behind Rex, dragging two stunned Were guards with him. He tossed the male and female onto the littered floor. “Here are your witnesses.”
“Shift,” Sylvan ordered, “and bring your challenge.” With a vicious snarl, Rex’s face contorted and then his body transformed. Not as fast as the centuri had shifted, but within a minute, a huge white wolf with mad dark eyes stood slavering a few yards from Sylvan.
Drake caught her breath, wondering why Sylvan, her face completely calm and composed, remained in skin while allowing her enemy to assume his stronger wolf form. Then with no warning, Rex launched himself at Sylvan’s throat, jaws snapping. But Sylvan was no longer the standing target he had anticipated. Instead, a silver wolf collided with him in midair, grabbing his neck in her jaws as she undercut the arc of his leap. His claws raked her chest and underbelly and blood drenched her silver pelt. Drake growled, quivering, barely able to restrain her instinct to propel herself into the fray. But Sylvan was her Alpha and her mate, and she trusted her, believed in her. Drake held her ground, growling threateningly when one of the rogues would have crawled away.
Rex was heavier than Sylvan by forty pounds, but despite the blood streaming from her wounds, Sylvan’s jaws locked tight, her wolf-gold eyes molten with fury. The wolves crashed to the floor, their bodies a roiling mass of muscle and blood. The air vibrated with their growls of rage. Rex tore at Sylvan’s soft flank, trying to dislodge her.
Drake felt the searing pain as his teeth sliced Sylvan’s side. Infuriated by his attack on her mate, Drake reached out to Sylvan with her heart and mind, sending all her love and strength. Now, love. Take him now.
With a tremendous burst of force, Sylvan wrenched her head viciously back and forth, tearing Rex’s neck open in a froth of crimson.
He dropped onto his back, convulsing in her grip. Straddling his twitching body, Sylvan raised her blood-spattered head and howled in victory. She glimmered with power and pride in the moonlight.