by Chloe Cole
Amalie grinned, and the sight was chilling enough to make the hair on Billy's arms stand up. His alpha had chosen his mate almost as well as Billy had. She was bad ass.
"Been a while since I was the defenseless woman in the woods, Mikhail. You think you can still take me?"
Mikhail's laugh turned to a growl as he shifted in mid-step. He wasted no time, breaking into a loping stride to close the twenty-yard distance between he and Amalie.
Billy didn't have to think about the change. The second he saw his alpha's mate under attack, his wolf burst into being, his muscles lengthening and shifting with a snap.
Before he'd even taken a step toward her, Amalie's mind tapped at his and he opened to her.
He’s mine.
Liam wouldn’t approve, but he understood Amalie’s need to exorcise this particular demon, so he hung back for the time being, ready to step in the second she needed him.
The other man shifted then, turning into a small silver wolf. He was fast, and streaked by so quickly, it was a blur. He was headed straight into the fray, snarling as it descended upon Amalie from behind.
Billy sprang from his spot to land on the smaller wolf, pinning it to the ground and sinking his teeth into the animal’s thick shoulder muscle.
The silver wolf howled in pain, but Billy didn't let go. Not until he heard the crack of bone. The animal whimpered and scrambled to its feet, its speed no less impressive as it ran off into the night.
Billy considered following, but he couldn't leave Amalie here until Mikhail was defeated. In any case, that wolf was incapacitated for the rest of the evening at the very least. One down.
Mikhail and Amalie continued to fight as a giant, tawny wolf came barreling from the woods, lunging toward Billy, all teeth and blood red gums. He might have been a threat, except he was as slow as he was big, and with one slash of teeth to his throat, he was on the ground in a heap.
Mikhail let out a howl that was cut short as Amalie closed her teeth over his jugular. Elation soared through Billy in a rush.
They were winning. So far, none of the wolves had even gotten close to entering the house, and they were dropping like flies.
Amalie sent him a mental warning and he wheeled around just in time to see another rounding the corner.
Even at first glance, this one was pathetic. In fact, aside from Mikhail, none of the wolves were as strong as he’d have expected. Why would the Kotke send these weak-ass, mangy animals to take point on this attack? Surely their alpha would know that any one of the Pray wolves would be able to dispatch this riffraff with little trouble.
He was in the midst of doing just that with his most recent attacker when another came, equally as scrawny. And then it hit him, sending his heart dropping to his stomach like a stone.
This wasn't the attack at all, these poorly trained, subpar wolves coming one at a time. This was the diversion. They'd sent the B team to fight this battle because the A-team was busy trying to win the war.
And the war was Amber.
* * *
WHEN THE GLASS of the French doors shattered, she barely flinched. Something had told her it would come to this. Instinct, or a premonition of some sort. Whatever it was, she’d known she wouldn’t be just a pawn in this fight.
She would be a soldier.
She leapt up from the chair she’d been sitting in, pistol in hand, right as Chandra reached for her.
“Panic room, now,” Chandra shouted, moss green eyes lit with urgency.
The woman yanked her down the hallway toward the room as the glass continued to shatter in the great room followed by the thump of paws and scrabble of nails on hardwood. By the time they reached the massive steel door, Amber’s heart felt like it was going to explode.
Did the breach mean the rest of the Pray pack had fallen? Dear god, what if Billy was dead? What if he was injured and needed her help?
“Are they okay? Can you hear their thoughts?” she asked, heart in her throat.
“They shut me out the second they left. They didn’t want me to hear something that scared me, knowing I’d come running. Now come on,” Chandra shouted, releasing Amber’s arm to shove the door open.
The decision was made on a dime, but, just like her choice to stay with Billy, she felt the rightness of it all the way down to her bones.
She blocked out the noise behind her and leveled the pistol at Chandra.
“Get in.”
Chandra’s eyes narrowed and she took a step toward her. “What the hell are you doing?” Chandra hissed. “We have no time to—”
“Exactly. So every second you argue with me is another wasted. I need to go. That’s non-negotiable. If you come with me, and something happens to you…” she trailed off, overwhelmed with emotion. “You almost died because of me once. I won’t let that happen again. So my choices are limited. I can shoot you with this tranquilizer gun and shut you in there. Or you can agree to shut yourself in and protect your unborn baby, while I try to help the pack.”
The sounds were growing closer, and Amber said a silent prayer. She didn’t know if she had it in her to shoot Chandra, even if it was for her own good. One last try at convincing her.
“If you make me tranq you, I’m pretty sure Jax will kill me anyway.” She lowered the gun and pleaded with her eyes as well as her words. “Please, Chandra. Let me try to help the pack. I owe you both that much.”
She could almost hear the gears grinding in Chandra’s head when a wolf came skittering around the corner, snarling. This time, she didn’t hesitate. Pulse banging, she turned toward it, leveled the tranquilizer gun and fired.
The animal dropped to the floor with a yelp, twitched once, and went still.
She turned back to face Chandra, who had slipped a protective hand lower to cover her belly. She met Amber’s gaze and nodded slowly.
“Go, then. Find our mates. Help protect the pack. You’re one of us now, Amber, in every way that counts.” Chandra stepped back and yanked the door closed. The locks tumbled and she pressed a hand to the tiny glass window.
Relief coursed through Amber and she sucked in a steadying breath. Chandra was safe. If Amber met her maker tonight, she would go knowing she’d done at least one thing right.
She hefted the gun higher and headed back down the hallway, skirting past the felled wolf as she went. If Billy was alive, he needed her now. And if he wasn’t?
She shoved the thought aside and made her way to the closest exit, a side door that led to the grounds through the garage. The second she stepped outside, she could hear the sounds of fighting. Snarls and yips, howls and growls. They were coming from every direction and she closed her eyes to focus.
Which way should she go?
A protracted yowl sounded in the far side yard and she moved in that direction. It was only when she heard the crunch of leaves behind her about ten yards in that she realized her mistake. There was a wolf behind her.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and the world spun as a dump of adrenaline coursed through her in a rush. Fight? Or flight?
She couldn’t die out here. In the cold. Away from Billy. Now when she didn’t know if he was alive or dead, and she’d never even gotten the chance to tell him how much she loved him.
The crunch of leaves and brush as the animal padded closer seemed to reverberate through the icy night air.
Make a decision.
If she ran, there was a one hundred percent chance the wolf would catch her. Fight was the least worst option. And if she was going down, she was going down fighting.
She turned to face the massive creature loping toward her. It moved slowly at first, but then more quickly. Amber’s skin broke out in a cold sweat as the animal sped up to a flat-out sprint. She raised the gun and closed one eye. She had six darts in a holster at her side, but only one fit in the chamber at a time. She had to wait until she had the perfect shot, and that meant close.
Its fangs seemed larger than life as it came leaping at her, jaws snappin
g. She couldn’t wait any longer and squeezed the trigger. The dart went whizzing by the wolf’s head and she screamed as the animal landed on top of her, sending her sprawling back into a pile of branches. A jarring pain shot up her side as the creature’s rank, hot breath washed over her face.
All she could think in that moment was that Billy was willing to fight for her. Hell, maybe even die for her and she’d spent the last few minutes they’d ever have alone together being angry at him.
I’m so sorry.
Instinctively, she covered her face, waiting for the tear of teeth, but it never came. A second later, the weight of the creature was gone and it lay by her side, bloodied and still.
What the hell had happened?
"Run back toward the house,” a low, male voice called from what seemed like overhead. “There are two there waiting, but there are four more coming down the pathway behind you. I will stall them if I can.”
She looked around wildly, trying to discern where the voice was coming from in the inky darkness of the thick tree line, but came up empty. Was that the best course of action, or just a trap?
“Run,” he urged in a low, gritty voice.
She stood, still frozen with indecision as another wolf came trotting toward her. She was scrambling for a sharp branch when it shifted right before her eyes.
Maggie.
"You humans are so fucking stupid sometimes," she growled. "You heard the man. Run, god damn it!" A naked Maggie shot a glance over her shoulder and then took Amber by the arm, half-dragging her down the path, back toward the house.
She could see the house, lights glowing in the distance, only twenty or thirty yards away now, just through the next row of trees. If they could get there, maybe they’d be all right.
And just maybe she'd have a chance to tell Billy how much she loved him.
By the time they got back to the front entrance of the compound, her lungs burned and there was a searing pain in her side. She winced, and pressed a tentative hand to it.
"Were you bit?" Maggie demanded, slowing her stride for the first time to glare down at her.
"I don't think so, no. The branches cut me."
Her savior blew out a long sigh. "Thank god for small favors. Come on then, we're almost there. Once we're inside, stay the fuck put," she grumbled.
Amber had to resist the urge to hug the woman. Because whatever she had to say about it now, the fact remained, when push had come to shove, she had treated Amber like one of theirs. Whether that was for her sake or Billy's, she couldn't say, but whatever the reason, it gave her hope. Hope that, if they all got through this alive tonight, and she was allowed to stay, maybe they could be friends.
“Have you had any contact with the rest of the pack?”
Maggie shook her head. “I’ve reached out and gotten bits and pieces, but in a fight, it’s chaos. Better to let them focus on what they’re doing than distract them.”
Amber shoved back her disappointment and resisted the urge to press. Maggie knew better and she wasn’t about to make herself an even bigger burden.
They'd made it down the winding pathway and were heading to the porch when Maggie stopped dead in her tracks. She lowered Amber slowly to the ground. "Get behind me," she whispered.
The words had barely registered when she heard it. Movement behind the shrubs in front of the house. Two wolves, one brown, one white, converged on the porch. Both had their gazes locked on Maggie, and the fur on the ruffs of their necks stood up.
Amber swallowed hard, willing herself not to throw up. This looked bad. Two, large, male wolves against one smaller wolf and a wounded, pathetic bag of meat and bones that half their kind considered part of the food chain.
Still, Maggie had proven time and time again tonight, that she was a real, bad ass bitch. Surely that meant they had a chance.
"If I get them both occupied, do not waste a second. You run. Get around to the side of the house, and into the panic room." The wolves were moving toward them now, in slow, deliberate steps, their bared teeth and trembling lips like something out of a nightmare. "Do not stop for any reason," her words were clipped and coming faster, the urgency more and more apparent. “And whatever you do, don't look back."
Amber nodded, but inside, she was screaming. There was no way in hell she was leaving Billy's packmate and friend at the mercy of two murderous wolves. Not even if it meant that she would die right along with her. She couldn’t live with that.
"Got it." She lied without remorse, already searching the ground for some sort of makeshift weapon.
Luckily, Maggie had turned her attention to their attackers. She laid a hand on one hip, seemingly unconcerned about her nakedness… almost flaunting it, even. "I sure hope you assholes have a couple friends hiding in those azaleas, because if not, this is going to be a real snooze-fest," Maggie drawled. Gone was urgency in her voice. It was replaced by sheer confidence. Balls-out bravado, and, for a second, Amber forgot her fear under the sheer weight of her awe for the woman’s inner fortitude. Whatever faults she had, she was a warrior and damn if Amber didn’t want to be her when she grew up.
The two approaching wolves exchanged glances, and for a second, it seemed like they were confused, but it was fleeting. Almost as if by tacit agreement, the moved faster, loping toward Maggie and gaining speed with each step.
The animals’ incandescent eyes glittered in the light of the moon and Amber shivered with fear and revulsion. They wanted to kill her and Maggie both. To rip them apart like they were rag dolls. She'd never felt like prey before today and she found herself wishing she could turn like Maggie, if only so she never had to experience the sensation again.
Maggie was apparently not a fan either, because she was done playing the victim. Rather than letting them come to her, she began to run toward them, her pearly white skin gleaming in the moonlight, long, lean legs eating up the distance before, an instant later, she shifted into wolf form.
The fight was fast and furious and, by the light of the moon, it was hard to see who was winning. At one point, it seemed as if Maggie might do it. She had one wolf by the haunch while the other lay at her side, bloodied and still. Right when Amber’s hopes were highest, the motionless wolf let out a snarl and leapt up, lunging for Maggie’s shoulder. She released the haunch of the larger wolf to focus on this latest attack, and then it was done.
The wolves worked as a team until she was well and truly pinned to the ground, blood running heavily from a wound on her hip.
She was out of time and out of options. Praying for strength, Amber made a dive for a rock she'd spotted on the ground a few yards away. She ran forward, and Maggie met her gaze. She could almost hear the woman’s voice in her head, demanding she go. But she blocked it out and focused all her energy on staying silent as she moved toward the thrall.
She raised her arms high, and swung with all her might, smashing the rock into the skull of the smaller of the two wolves. It yelped and instantly released the hold it had on Maggie’s leg, and she shot to her feet, back in the game one on one. Amber eyed her quickly recovering target and swung again, grimacing as the rock hit its mark again, this time right over the animal's eye.
It rolled to its side, and rapidly began to change. Dark fur became tanned skin and a second later, a man lay at her feet, bleeding and swearing profusely as he pressed a hand to his bloodied eye. Before she could get off another shot, he rolled onto his feet and took a menacing step toward her.
"You stupid cu-"
It happened so fast, it was a blur. One second he was standing. The next, he was flying through the air, as a huge, tawny wolf—her wolf—mauled at him.
Billy had come to save her. And right on time, too, she realized as her vision blurred. Her muscles shook with fatigue and shock, and even if she had managed to hit her target one more time, she wasn't sure she could stay upright beyond that.
A soft chuffing sound caught her attention and she turned to see Maggie’s wolf struggling to all fours before falling
back to the ground in a heap on top of her felled opponent.
"Don't get up," Amber called, squeezing her eyes closed to stave off the dizziness. She needed to be strong now. Strong the way Maggie had been. "I'll help you." She stepped closer, yanking off her sweatshirt as she went. When she reached the sable wolf's side, she scanned her for injuries. The one on her hip seemed to be the worst of it, and she leaned in to examine it.
The jagged laceration was deep enough that she could see bone, and she winced. "I'm going to apply pressure to stem the bleeding all right?"
Maggie growled low in her throat, but she didn't pull away. A moment later, Billy’s wolf was there, sniffing at his fallen comrade before stepping back and shifting to human form.
“Are you okay, Mags?”
She inclined her square, sable head and he patted her gently.
“Good.”
A long, wavering howl sounded, and Billy turned to lock eyes with Amber.
“Jesus, thank god,” Billy muttered, bending to carefully scoop his injured comrade up in his arms. “That’s the Kotke’s surrender. They’re calling back what’s left of their pack and admitting defeat. We need to get inside and hope that they are the only ones who suffered losses.”
They crossed the yard together and headed into the house, tension still high. As relieved as she was that Billy was okay, she knew the condition was fleeting if something had happened to one of the pack. They stepped through the door to find Chandra standing there wrapped in Jax’s arms, sobbing.
Amber’s heart stuttered as she took in the scene. “Is everything okay? Is the baby…”
“The baby is fine,” Jax said with a nod. “Thank you for what you did, Amber. It means everything to me.”
Her cheeks warmed and she shrugged. “I didn’t really do anything.”
“You did.” Chandra turned her red face toward Amber, her moss green eyes filled with gratitude. “And thank you for it. I’m so glad you’re all right.” She turned to Billy who set Maggie on the couch. “How is Maggie?”