Head Hunter

by Layla Nash

The wolf pushed aside the thought. She was fine. They would find her.

  A man screamed, though it cut off quickly, and Silas growled. Men shouted, boots pounded the ground, and rifles cocked. Dodge charged into the melee that Silas instigated, and collided with the fat prick who smelled faintly of Persephone’s blood. There were drops of it on his pants and shirt. He’d hurt her.

  Everything blurred in a red rage. There were only teeth and throats and blood. All their blood.

  It didn’t take long before bodies littered the yard outside the buildings, occasionally twitching but never going to rise again. He shook his head and scented the air, searching for Persephone. She had to be close.

  Sounds from the tiger’s cage drew his attention immediately. The tiger grumbled and gave soft roars or growls. Either way, the wolf knew it meant hunger and hunting. Reacting to the blood, maybe, or to something in its cage. Silas started moving the second after Dodge did, charging toward the enclosure.

  The tiger prowled through the grass, its attention on something that lay in a heap on the far side of the enclosure. Dodge lowered his head and sniffed the grass, his chest constricting with dread. Persephone was inside the enclosure, covered in blood. Too weak to move.

  All sense left him. His thoughts splintered as sheer terror almost overwhelmed him and the wolf at the same time. His mate. His mate was in there.

  Silas bolted to the other side of the cage as Dodge fixated on Persephone and the tiger that paced closer, one silent paw at a time.

  Chapter 36

  Percy

  I tried to talk, even though my lips cracked and pain ignited in my cheeks. The tiger kept moving around the enclosure. I heard him circling closer, chuffing and making other curious tiger noises. I wished I’d spent more time with him, talking to him, feeding him treats. Not that that would have saved me if he was really hungry and I looked like a pile of raw hamburger.

  My voice cracked as I whispered, “It’s just me, handsome boy. Just your friend Percy. You don’t want to eat me, do you?”

  I would have laughed, it was so ridiculous.

  We both paused and looked over as a ruckus kicked up somewhere near the buildings. Men screamed and shouted, and growling cut through the night.

  The tiger trotted over to the fence to investigate, his head lifting to scent the air, and I pushed myself into a sitting position. I wouldn’t have much time to make it to the door to the enclosure, but I wasn’t moving very fast. Trying to run or crawl would no doubt catch the tiger’s attention. The screams faded into nothingness, and a new, eerie silence rocked the sanctuary. The tiger remained frozen in a half-crouch in the middle of the open space, scanning the fence for danger or temptation.

  I didn’t dare close my eyes, in case I woke up and it had all been a hallucination. Maybe I hadn’t bullshitted Geordie as much as I’d thought, and Dodge’s pack actually came to find me. Hoping hurt too much, but I wasn’t about to look a gift wolf in the mouth. While the tiger was distracted, I started the long, inching trek to the doors. If I could just get behind the gate, I could eventually get to a phone and call for help. All my attention went to the gate. I could make it. I was strong enough to do it, and I wasn’t going to let Dodge down. He’d died trying to help me, so it was time for me to help myself. Tears burned my eyes but I ignored them, along with the pain in my hands and knees as I dragged myself along.

  I would make it. I would survive.

  Chapter 37

  Dodge

  Dodge didn’t break stride as he raced toward the massive fence that surrounded the tiger enclosure. Silas growled and charged at the other side of the enclosure, drawing the tiger’s attention, as Dodge launched himself up and then over the fence, clawing desperately to get over the top. The barbed wire along the top pulled at his fur but he ignored the tickle of pain as he landed hard on the ground and absorbed the shock into his already sore chest and shoulders.

  He wasn’t healing fast enough; the gunshots had taken their toll. He’d need a week of rest and a shitload of protein to recover fully. He wouldn’t have that luxury until he knew that Persephone was safe. Dodge kept his eyes locked on where she lay, only a few feet from the massive rock the tiger probably used as a perch. It looked like she’d moved a bit since the first time he saw her, when she’d been plastered against the rock and unmoving.

  He took that as a good sign, but that didn’t mean he could afford to revel in the small victory. Dodge slunk through the enclosure, keeping a wary eye on the tiger as it stalked and charged at Silas’s antics. He reached Persephone and pressed his nose to her hair, inhaling so deeply it ignited new pain in his chest, and he closed his eyes in fury. She smelled of fear and pain and blood, and grievous wounds covered most of her visible skin. They’d hit her in the face, too, until her cheeks and jaw and eyes were swollen and dark with bruises.

  He growled and she tensed, fighting back to consciousness, and dragged her arms up to shield her face. “You’re a handsome boy, just don’t eat me. Don’t eat me. I’ll bring you so many treats.”

  Dodge cocked his head, trying to understand, then realized she thought he was the tiger, showing up to finish her off. He grumbled and nudged her with his nose, whining and wishing she could walk. He fought with the wolf for control of their body, but the stubborn bastard wasn’t giving up. Their mate wasn’t safe yet; the wolf wasn’t about to give up and shift to the weak human body until they had Persephone safely tucked away, or the tiger was dead.

  The man side of him gave up on shifting. Instead, the wolf gently took a scrap of her clothing in his teeth and started dragging her across the enclosure. Persephone forced her eyes open and shivered. “What - who are you?”

  He grumbled and moved faster, not liking that the tiger had looked back to see what moved in its territory. Dodge fixed the big cat with a predator’s glare, hoping the feline got the message that Dodge wasn’t an easy meal and wouldn’t let Persephone be any kind of meal. Silas snapped and snarled as he charged the fence and slammed into the chain-link, drawing the tiger’s attention back to him. It bought Dodge enough time to haul Persephone all the way to the small door that let humans into and out of the enclosure. There was a double door, so if he could just get her behind one fence, they would be safe from the prowling feline.

  Except the damn thing was locked. He nosed it and clawed at it and slammed his shoulder into it, making the whole fence shake, but the chain and padlock remained in place. He growled and paced, furious. He didn’t dare leave her alone and the fucking wolf wouldn’t let them shift. Not that his bare hands would have been much help against a heavy-duty padlock.

  Persephone stirred when he growled, and she reached a hand out to touch his side. “Don’t hurt him.”

  He crouched next to her, nosing closer, and tried to make reassuring noises. Who the hell was she talking to?

  She groaned but kept patting his leg. “I don’t know who you are, but please don’t hurt the tiger. It’s not his fault. They starved him. He’s just a tiger. He doesn’t know. Please don’t kill him.”

  And damn him if a tear didn’t slide down her cheek.

  Dodge licked her cheek and held tight to the warm feeling she ignited in his chest. She was too good for him by far, to be injured and afraid and still wanting to save someone else. He thought he couldn’t love her more than he already did, but Persephone proved him wrong. His heart wasn’t big enough for her. He’d spend the rest of his life trying to make up the difference.

  He nudged her closer to the fence so he could lay down between her and the tiger, trying to keep her warm and out of shock with his body heat. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her what happened and that help was on the way, but the wolf wasn’t convinced. The tiger wouldn’t be distracted for long. Dodge concentrated enough to convince Silas to take off, to get the pack. Not that he’d be able to shift and ask for help, but the other wolves would know. They would follow him back to the sanctuary and then they’d be able to help Persephone.

  Dodge licked
her hand again and she sighed, her voice wobbling. “I’m so sorry about Dodge. It’s all my fault. He’d still be alive if I – if I...”

  She trailed off and a small sob escaped. He studied her, nosing her cheek until she forced her eyes open, and his whole world fell apart. She thought he’d been killed. Thought he was dead. She cried for him, blamed herself... He wished he could have killed the bastards who’d hurt her a few extra times, just to make it count. He’d tell her as soon as he could.

  He kept his attention on the tiger and hoped that Silas ran like the fucking wind. He didn’t want to kill the tiger, but he’d fight to his last breath to keep her safe.

  Chapter 38

  Percy

  I felt really cold. Cold and numb, although it was a relief to not feel quite so much pain. The giant wolf who lay next to me radiated heat like a furnace; his fur was rough and thick against my unbroken fingers. For a second I’d thought his hazel eyes looked like Dodge’s, but that didn’t make sense. I’d seen the man shoot Dodge, and Dodge fell to the ground in a puddle of blood. He hadn’t moved. Just laid there in silence.

  He was dead. I was just making things up to try and feel better.

  I saw the wolf fly over the chain-link fence to get into the tiger enclosure, so maybe he really was a hallucination. I was pretty sure even shapeshifter wolves didn’t fly.

  It was probably just wishful thinking as I hoped the pack wanted to save me. I’d even thought I recognized another wolf running around the outside of the enclosure as the one who’d chased me that very first morning when I met Deirdre and Evershaw. Silas. The crazy one who had been cursed by the evil sorcerer and was stuck somewhere between a man and a wolf. I snorted a laugh, though it made my head ache, at the absurdity of the previous few days. Evil sorcerers and men who changed into wolves.

  The one next to me grumbled and tried to edge closer, but he froze when I grunted with pain. The tiger grew closer, slinking low to the ground like he meant to charge and attack. The wolf tensed, too, and I whispered again that it wasn’t the tiger’s fault. I felt awful knowing they’d starved the poor cat for days before they dragged me in there. The tiger had already suffered enough in a circus and a roadside zoo. It wasn’t his fault.

  It felt like I blinked and then everything was lit up in a blaze of white and gold. I tried to lift my head as a grinding sound sent sparks flying, and the tiger fled to the other side of the enclosure, where a bunch of people tried to keep his attention. People?

  Shouts muddled into indistinguishable noise, though I was pretty sure they were trying to tell me what to do. The wolf next to me didn’t move, and instead started to growl and bare his teeth as the people managed to cut through the chain and lock on the door. I couldn’t breathe and my vision blurred. They’d actually come to find me. I hadn’t really believed they would...

  Someone said, “Persephone, we’re going to get you somewhere safe. We just need Dodge to move away. Hold still.”

  Dodge? I struggled to sit up, using the wolf for leverage, and swayed as I went lightheaded and wobbly. “Don’t hurt the tiger.”

  The words slurred together until even I couldn’t understand them. The voice, a deep masculine rumble that made the wolf beside me tense, reached me again through a revving engine. “What was that, Persephone? Say it again.”

  “Don’t. Hurt. Tiger,” I managed, though the effort left me breathless. I leaned against the fence so I wouldn’t get blood all over the wolf, and struggled to re-inflate my lungs.

  A long pause reached me, then the man said, “Sure. Okay. We won’t hurt the tiger. Dodge, get the fuck out of the way.”

  The wolf snarled, bracing against me. But he didn’t move.

  I knew I needed help. I needed an ambulance and a hospital, and oxygen, and something for pain. Anything for the pain. But the wolf refused to leave, guarding me against the help I needed. I sighed and worked my unbroken fingers into his fur. “It’s okay.”

  He went still. I cleared my throat a few times to make speaking easier, though it didn’t really help. “They have to get in. You need to move away. I’ll be fine.”

  The wolf hesitated, still growling, but eventually eased to his feet and retreated. His dark eyes glowed in the light as he stared down the crowd of people who burst through the gate and into the enclosure. They even had a stretcher. I was impressed they were so prepared. As someone I didn’t recognize bent over me, I tried to keep my eyes open despite the lights that made my vision blur. “Men here. Bad men. Be careful.”

  “They’re all dead,” the guy said cheerfully. He put a plastic cup over my nose and mouth and slid a little strap around my head. “Breathe deep, friend. This is oxygen. We need to get you on the stretcher, then we’ll be on our way. I’ve got a little morphine for you, but this is going to hurt.”

  I inhaled and the cool rush of air against my face nearly made me dizzy. A little pin-prick against my hip wasn’t really noticeable, not when the numbness retreated and the pain roared back to life. An odd, cold sensation rushed into my muscles and then the agony melted away. I tried to nod but someone wrapped a hard plastic collar around my neck and I couldn’t move.

  When they lifted me, I cried out. I couldn’t help it. There were too many hands touching too many painful spots to keep it to myself, but I knew it didn’t matter. It just made me feel better to make some noise.

  The wolf, though, wasn’t having any of it. He heard me and immediately charged. He knocked someone down and more shouting erupted. A crowd of bodies surged forward and tackled the wolf. He almost escaped, throwing people off left and right, but then I was on a stretcher and floating through the air. When I tried to look back, the crowd of people blocked me from seeing anything, but I still heard the growling.

  Then I was inside a vehicle and more people surrounded me, doing things and putting sensors on my chest and taking blood pressure and pulse and starting to put pressure on wounds. But my thoughts stayed with the wolf and his heated gaze. Maybe it had been Dodge. Maybe he still lived. Maybe I really was that lucky.

  Chapter 39

  Dodge

  Dodge heard her cry out and the wolf lost control. He charged, trying to free her from the small army of people who tried to carry her away. Even though the man knew she needed a hospital, the thought that they would take her from him sent him into a spiral. He snarled and fought as more of the pack surrounded him, in human and wolf form, and kept him from reaching Persephone.

  His own injuries didn’t matter. Only reaching her mattered. He’d protected her from the tiger, he’d killed the bastards that hurt her. Dodge struggled with the wolf, to keep from being lost entirely in the beast’s mind. More people piled on and eventually they threw heavy chains over him to keep him from chasing after the SUV that hauled Persephone away.

  He felt her loss as if he’d been shot again, and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The wolf retreated, but didn’t give up control entirely, when it became clear they wouldn’t be able to reach her.

  Dodge reached for her mentally, needing some kind of connection. He hadn’t thought that humans could sense the mate bond or a pack connection, but when the bastards hurt Persephone and she needed strength, he’d felt her. He’d felt her and gave her as much of himself as he could. He only hoped it was enough to carry her through.

  It was only a blink before Evershaw stormed up, newly returned to human form, to loom over him in a cloud of absolute rage. “What the fuck is wrong with you, wolf?”

  Dodge growled but avoided making direct eye contact, since he didn’t want to get his ass kicked in front of so many people. The chains wouldn’t make it a fair fight, but he was pretty sure he could make a good showing against even Evershaw. Silas lingered at the edges of the pack, as if everyone had forgotten he was supposed to be the dangerous one, and avoided drawing attention to himself. But he made sure Dodge saw him.

  Dodge’s chest constricted. At least he still had his battle buddy.

  Evershaw’s shoulders flexed. “Get yo
ur shit together. Persephone needs your stupid ass. Change back and if you can control yourself, we’ll get you to the hospital so you can be with her.”

  If only it was that easy. Dodge struggled against the wolf. The stubborn animal refused to cede control over their body and didn’t want to be in the weaker human form. The human form had been shot, almost killed, and failed to protect their mate. The wolf wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

  When Dodge remained still and in wolf form, the alpha’s expression darkened even more. “Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Dodge used the mental connection to the alpha to convey some of the problem, locking gazes with Evershaw despite the potential challenge to the leader. He wanted to change back and behave himself, but… there were extenuating circumstances.

  “Great,” Evershaw said under his breath. He crouched down and his eyes flashed like boiling gold.

  A sudden tension gripped Dodge’s entire body as the alpha fought the wolf for control. Dodge had never really felt an alpha take their prerogative with a pack member, but he knew it happened. Evershaw had been trying with Silas since the other wolf got stuck. But the reality of what it felt like to have another person seize control of his mind and heart was terrifying.

  The wolf fought, just as terrified, but in the end, Evershaw’s will overrode them both.

  A grinding howl escaped as the alpha forced the shift. Dodge felt his body reshaping itself, completely beyond his control and with none of his usual finesse. The howl turned into a snarl and cry and then a great deal of cursing.

  Dodge lay on the ground, panting, and gripped the earth so he could feel something solid. The rest of the pack stood back, though Todd got close enough to remove the chains when it was clear that Dodge was human once more.