Chapter 16
Levi
The second Daniel pointed the gun to Mason’s head, something inside me snapped so hard it felt like bone breaking. Not yet, I reminded myself, although the thought barely held.
My wolf surged forward, claws scraping against the inside of my skin, teeth aching to tear, to rip, to end this before Mason even had time to flinch.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to move, to cross the distance, to put myself between him and that weapon.
I shut my eyes briefly, and forced a slow and controlled breath through my lungs.
Across the clearing, headlights still blazed, turning everything into harsh gold and black. Mason stood there, rigid, Kai clutched to his side.
Daniel’s gun was pressed close enough to Mason’s temple that I could see the faint tremor in Mason’s shoulders, or maybe that was mine.
To my left, hidden in the shadows, Gino shifted his weight.
I didn’t look at him, didn’t need to. I could feel him. The steady, coiled focus of a hunter lining up his shot. \
“Easy,” I breathed, though I didn’t know if I was talking to him or to myself.
My wolf snarled inside me. Wait, I reminded him.
The crack of Gino’s rifle split the night. One of the humans jerked, his body snapping backward before he hit the ground hard, gun clattering from his hand.
For half a heartbeat, everything froze. Then the world exploded.
“Move!” I roared. “Mason, take Kai and hide!”
I didn’t wait. I shifted mid-stride, bones cracking, muscle tearing and reforming as fur ripped through my skin. The pain barely registered. It never did when adrenaline hit like this.
One second I was human. The next, I was a wolf with his teeth bared. Hunger and fury fused into something primal and unstoppable. Gunfire erupted.
Sharp, deafening cracks split the air as bullets tore through the space where I’d been a second before. One grazed my side, hot and sharp, but I barely felt it.
I eyed my targets, the threat to my Mason, to the pack.
I hit the nearest human full force, my weight slamming into his chest and driving him to the ground. My jaws closed around his arm before he could even scream.
Bone gave way, blood flooded my mouth. He howled. I released him just long enough to lunge for the next. Around me, my pack moved like a storm breaking loose.
Another tracker was already in wolf form, a blur of gray and teeth as he took down another man trying to raise his weapon. One of the enforcers tackled a second, dragging him down into the dirt before the gun could fire again.
The clearing filled with chaos, shouts, gunshots, and snarls. The metallic tang of blood thickened the air. I caught a glimpse of Mason through the madness.
He was running, gripping Kai’s arm as they disappeared through a nearby tree line. Good, I thought.
Get out of the chaos, and get safe. That was all that mattered.
A shot rang out behind me. Pain exploded across my shoulder as something grazed me again, closer this time. I spun, snapping toward the source.
A man stood there, wide-eyed, gun shaking in his hands. He was too slow. I lunged and he fired, the bullet went wide. My teeth didn’t miss.
I slammed into him, jaws closing around his throat this time, cutting off the scream before it could form. He went down hard, body going limp beneath me.
Another scent hit me, fear and running. I turned just in time to see one of the humans bolt toward the trees, abandoning his weapon in his panic.
I gave chase. There was no escape for our enemies.
The world narrowed to movement and instinct. The forest swallowed him fast, branches snapping under his feet as he ran blindly into the dark.
I was faster. Within seconds, I was on him. I tackled him from behind, sending both of us crashing to the ground. He hit hard, air whooshing out of him in a strangled gasp.
“Let go me of me, you animal!”
My jaws hovered at his throat. For a moment, all I saw was red. All I felt was the echo of Mason standing there, helpless, a gun pressed to his head. I ended him quickly.
“Levi!” The shout cut through the haze. Gino, who remained human form. “Did you get him?”
I growled in assent, and returned to the rest of the team. When I burst back into the clearing, it was already ending. Two of the humans lay unmoving.
Another was pinned beneath one of our enforcers, struggling weakly as restraints were forced onto his wrists. We were going to question that one. I counted them.
Five. Was that right? My stomach dropped. There had been six.
“Where’s the last one?” I demanded, shifting back mid-stride, barely registering the cold air hitting my skin.
“I thought you had him,” said one of the enforcers in confusion.
“I took one into the trees. He’s down,” I agreed, “But I count five.”
Silence fell, heavy and wrong. My heart started pounding again, harder this time. This wasn’t finished.
“Mason?” I called, turning toward the trees.
No answer. Fear spiked sharp and immediate.
I moved before anyone could stop me, grabbing a pair of pants from where I’d left them and yanking them on as I ran toward the direction Mason and Kai had gone.
Branches whipped past me. The forest felt too quiet now. I shifted back to wolf form so I could track better.
“Levi!” His voice came back, strained but there. Relief hit me so hard my knees almost gave.
I followed the sound and found them crouched behind a fallen log, Kai clinging to Mason like he was afraid to let go. Mason looked up at me, eyes wide, face pale.
“I’m fine,” he told me. “Kai’s okay too.”
Kai nodded quickly, though his hands were still shaking. Relief hit like a tidal wave, powerful enough to drag me under if I let it.
For a moment, I just stood there in my wolf form, chest heaving, lungs dragging in the cool forest air, eyes locked on Mason like I needed the constant proof that he was still there.
I stepped closer, lowering my head, nudging against his shoulder. I rumbled low in my chest. Mason’s hand came up automatically, fingers threading into the thick fur at my neck.
“I’m okay,” he murmured again, softer this time. For me.
I exhaled slowly, pressing into his touch for half a second longer than I should’ve. Then I forced myself back.
Focus. One was still missing.
The unease hadn’t left. It coiled tighter in my gut now, sharper, more insistent. The forest around us felt wrong. Too still. Too quiet. Like it was holding its breath, watching and waiting.
I lifted my head, nostrils flaring, dragging in scent after scent. Blood, gunpowder, fear, and underneath it was a faint and unfamiliar scent. The missing man. My hackles rose instantly.
Mason must’ve felt it too, because his hand stilled against my fur. “Levi?”
I didn’t take my eyes off the trees. Something moved. A shift in the shadows, barely there. The kind of movement most people would miss. Not me, and certainly not my wolf.
A low, warning growl built in my chest, teeth baring as I stepped forward, putting myself between Mason and the direction of that scent.
“Stand down.” The cold voice cut through the trees like a blade.
My blood ran ice. Daniel. He stepped out from between the trees, shotgun already raised, barrel steady and unflinching as it pointed straight at me.
Every muscle in my body locked. My wolf exploded forward again, rage slamming into me so hard it made my vision blur at the edges. Not yet, I told him. I could end him. I knew I could.
The distance between us wasn’t much. One good lunge, and he was a goner.
The shotgun shifted from me to Mason. I couldn’t do a thing as Daniel moved so close, he pressed the barrel against Mason’s forehead. Everything inside me went still.
Daniel smiled. He knew he had the upper hand now.
“Much better,” he said softly.
Behind me, I could feel Mason freeze. Could hear Kai’s breathing hitch, fast and panicked. I growled at him.
Daniel huffed a quiet laugh. “You’re not in a position to make demands.”
I tracked every movement. The angle of his arm. The placement of his feet. The way his finger rested on the trigger. I was looking for an opening, but there wasn’t one. Not yet.
“Funny thing,” Daniel continued, almost conversational. “I was starting to think you wolves might have pulled a victory over us, but I’m still alive.”
Mason didn’t move, didn’t speak, but I could feel him. The tension in him and the fear.
“I’m going to need you to take a few steps back, wolf,” Daniel ordered.
I didn’t move. The barrel pressed harder against Mason’s skin.
“Now.”
Every instinct screamed at me to ignore him. To rush forward and to tear him apart before he could pull that trigger.
But if I miscalculated, if I was even a second too slow, Mason would pay for it. And that wasn’t a risk I could take.
Slowly, deliberately, I took one step back. Then another. My gaze never left Daniel.
“Good,” he said. “See? Cooperation.”
He was close now. Close enough that I could see the faint sheen of sweat on his brow and the tension in his shoulders.
The way his grip on the shotgun wasn’t as steady as he wanted it to be. He was rattled. Good. That meant mistakes. I just needed one.
“Now,” Daniel went on, voice dropping, “here’s how this is going to—”
A blur of movement. A sharp, sudden impact. Kai.
I barely saw him move. One second he was behind Mason, the next he’d lunged forward, foot slamming hard into the back of Daniel’s knee.
Daniel shouted, stumbling forward. The barrel jerked away from Mason’s head.
That was it, the opening I needed. I moved without a second thought. I slammed into Daniel with full force. He hit the ground hard, the shotgun flying from his grip as we crashed into the dirt.
He tried to scramble, reaching for something, another weapon, maybe, but I was faster. Daniel wasn’t going to escape a second time. My jaws closed around his arm before he could recover.
He screamed. The sound was sharp and high. I bore down, pinning him, teeth inches from his throat now.
“Wait!” he gasped, panic finally breaking through that smug control.
Too late, I ended it with a clean and decisive bite to the throat. Silence followed, broken only by my own breathing. The forest seemed to exhale all at once.
I stepped back slowly, shifting again, the world tilting as I forced myself back into human form. My chest rose and fell hard, my hands were still shaking, but it was over.
It was actually over.
“Mason.” I turned before I even finished saying his name.
He was already moving toward me. The second he was within reach, I pulled him into me, arms wrapping around him tight enough that I felt his breath hitch.
“You’re okay,” I said roughly, pressing my face into his hair, into his scent, grounding myself in it. “You’re okay.”
“We’re okay,” he whispered back, voice shaking.
I tightened my hold around him without thinking. Kai hovered close, still breathing hard, eyes wide.
“You did good,” I told him hoarsely, reaching out to grip his shoulder briefly. “That was real brave.”
Kai nodded, swallowing hard. Then I pulled Mason closer again, unable to help it, unable to let go.
“It’s over,” I murmured against his temple. “You hear me? It’s done. He’s not touching you. He’s not touching your brother. Not ever again.”
Mason let out a shaky breath, his body finally sagging into mine like the fight had drained out of him all at once.
“I thought for a second there…” he started, then stopped.
“I know,” I said quietly. “I know.”
I tilted his chin up gently, meeting my eyes.
“You don’t have to worry anymore,” I told him. “I’ve got you. We’ve got you. That’s not changing.”
Something in his expression broke then, relief, disbelief and finally, hope.
He nodded, just once. And I pulled him back into my arms, holding on like I had no intention of ever letting go again.