“I’ve got to find her,” I grunted, following the scent of Lana’s blood toward the trees.
Sebastian stepped back as I pushed past him. “You are already changing, wolf. I will find them. You should go to your Pack.”
I glared over my shoulder and noticed my muscles straining against the fabric of my shirt. “Not until I know she’s safe.”
He shrugged, but kept his distance. It was for the best. His scent was teasing the predator inside. Lana was a jaguar too, but the wolf recognized her as family. It recognized Sebastian as a bastard and potential threat.
We traveled silently through the underbrush and the shadows as Lana’s scent grew stronger in my nostrils. We were getting close. When a howl broke the silence of the night, followed by many more, my head spun in the direction of the call from my brothers, my Pack. My throat burned as I bit back my answering call. When I didn’t reply, another howl echoed. I recognized my father’s plea, my Alpha’s instruction, and primal animal instinct won out over rational human thought. The tenuous hold I had on my change was lost.
I fell to the ground, gagging as my bones popped and mutated, changing my shape from a man into a large black wolf. My shirt tore and the buttons burst from my jeans. When I could finally stand, I was on four legs, my jeans sliding free of my haunches. Panting, I swiveled my head, searching for Sebastian. His scent was still fresh, but I couldn’t see him.
Tilting my head back, I cried out to the moon and to my brothers, my Pack, my family. The answering call told me the Pack was here at the lake, including Aren. In wolf form, my human mind and memories resided along with the wolf’s primal thought processes, so even the wolf seemed to understand my twin was injured. And they were coming to find me. But this night I knew I wasn’t hunting for food or territory like they were. My mate was in danger.
I galloped through the brush, trying to place the pads of my feet on solid ground to keep from making any noise. It was easier to catch the jaguar’s scent in my animal form. There were three now. My ears twitched as the wolf realized that one of the jaguar scents was my mate. With a swish of my tail, I picked up speed until the trees thinned, opening up to a clearing. The moon was full above us, casting light on the three shifters. My eyes locked on Lana. I panted softly, pulling her scent into my lungs. The smell of blood was weak; her wounds couldn’t be serious.
The wolf recognized the other female as an enemy, her name gone from my tongue as the wolf took over completely. My ears flattened, my tail lowered as I maneuvered in closer, every muscle on alert. She had a gun, and my wolf recognized danger. It was also pointed at the male of the trio. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but half of me remained focused on Lana. The wolf wanted to remove the threat to his mate, but I kept him back, kept him tempered. Barely.
My ears pricked up when the rest of my Pack arrived, forming an invisible perimeter around me and the jaguars.
Chapter Forty-One
Lana
“Get out of here, Sebastian,” Sasha hissed. “This is none of your business anymore.”
He started to raise his hands. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man.”
“You would,” she replied, her weapon still aimed directly at him.
He shrugged, lowering his hands slowly. “Perhaps, but you have more moral character than I do. Nero has not beaten that out of you yet.”
I saw her finger brush along the trigger, and my chest tightened.
She tossed her head, sending her dark hair back over her shoulders. “Don’t be so sure.”
Sebastian’s face softened, and for a moment I thought I could see behind the veil of arrogance he wore like a second skin. He stared at her and then shook his head slowly. “Do not let them win, Sasha.”
He looked at me next and his cool demeanor returned. “If you hand her over to Nero, they still will not give you what they have promised.”
“Then I’ll kill her.”
Sebastian raised a brow. “If you kill an unarmed woman, then Nero still wins this battle, Sasha. Instead of having a research subject, they will have broken your spirit.”
I watched her gun start to lower and my blood pressure followed suit. Another howl cut through the night, and all three of us turned to look in the direction from which Sebastian had come. A wolf stepped forward, his dangerous gaze meeting mine.
“Will he recognize you when he’s a wolf?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know.” My mind was racing from hearing Sasha say she was going to kill me. I couldn’t even be sure this wolf was Adam. I tried to remember when he’d first told me about his own shifting. He had been surprised that I didn’t have any memories of being a jaguar when I woke up in the morning, so did that mean he could remember being a wolf? Would the wolf remember being human?
I swallowed as I watched the wolf, large and black as pitch. God, he was so much bigger than a regular wolf. Massive even. Fear lit through me like wildfire, but I didn’t move from where I stood. When his eyes flicked toward me again, I knew. His eyes were a bright green, even in the glow of the moon. And then I caught the glint of silver—the silver bullet still dangled from his thick furry neck.
This massive wolf was Adam.
Part of me wished I could run to him and run my fingers through his fur. I wanted to see this other part of the man I’d come to count on, to love. But I couldn’t reach him. I wasn’t even sure if he’d let me touch him.
I didn’t know how to communicate with him in this form, but I didn’t want him to run at Sasha and get shot. I had to do something. Slowly I looked over at the gun, then I met his eyes again. He tipped his snout down and then peered back up at me as if he understood what I was trying to tell him. I was grateful when he didn’t move.
Sasha kept her eyes on the wolf. “Time for you to go, Sebastian.”
“I can’t let you give Lana to Nero, Sasha.”
“You can’t stop me either.”
Without a warning, without a noise, Sebastian knocked Sasha to the ground. Adam started to lunge forward and I shook my head. He flattened his ears and shifted his weight back and forth on his front feet, but thankfully didn’t approach.
Sasha and Sebastian grappled on the ground and after a moment, he broke free with Sasha’s gun in hand and a pair of red scratches on his face. She had also broken the split on his lip wide open. Sasha was quick to get back on her feet, her hair mussed up but otherwise not looking like he’d hit her.
Her eyes narrowed. “Give me the goddamned gun, Sebastian. Haven’t you fucked up my life enough?”
He tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants. “It is not my intention to ruin your plans or your life, Sasha.” His voice softened. “It never was.”
“Ha!” She shook her head. “You could’ve fooled me. I’ve lost everything, you bastard! All of it. Gone. All because of you.”
The bushes rustled, and my heart jumped in my throat. I couldn’t see the other wolves, but I knew they were there. The Pack was together, and I was a jaguar.
An unarmed jaguar. One Adam’s family wouldn’t recognize as an ally.
I took a step back from Sebastian and Sasha, toward Adam. Before I could get much closer, we were bathed in headlights. Sasha was on me again before I even noticed she’d moved.
She tugged my arm up behind my back until I had to walk on my tiptoes, shoving me toward the headlights. A silhouette stepped in front of the lights.
“Is this our subject?”
I frowned. “I don’t belong to you.”
Sasha rewarded me with jerking my arm up even higher behind my back. My eyes brimmed with tears.
“Yes, this is her,” she answered. “Now give me what I want.”
I don’t think the tranquilizer dart that shot toward her was what she had in mind. Sasha crumpled to the ground, and the pain in my arm ceased. I backed away from the lights and Sasha’s body when Adam bolted from the trees, apparently unable to keep the wolf in check any longer. He stood in front of me, growling and baring his teeth at the men in what I could now see was a black van.