Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Axel stood outside with Ryder, close enough to see the cabin light through the front window and too far away to put his hands on Wade.
He was supposed to stay back.
The order sat in his body like a chain restraining him. Ryder held the tablet angled low, the drone feed bright against the dark. Axel kept his eyes on it because it was the only thing keeping him from moving. Reese was still on the couch, her hands now free. Wade was beside her, drinking a beer.
Then the ram hit the front door. The sound cracked through the clearing, and the whole cabin jumped on the screen. Wade lurched upright. His beer dropped. Reese flinched. Wade grabbed her and yanked her off the couch so hard Axel’s vision went white at the edges.
Wade dragged Reese backward, away from the door. Her body twisted as he pulled her in front of him. Then Axel saw the gun.
It had been in Wade’s hand the whole time, but it had been out of their sight line. Now it was aimed at Reese’s face. The wolf hit Axel’s gut, and the restraint inside him snapped.
The second hit blew the door inward. “He’s armed,” Axel shouted through the comms. But Dom was already through, holding up his shield.
Axel could see all of it on the tablet and through the window at the same time. Blaze dropped the ram just inside the threshold and went for his rifle. Siren entered tight behind them, weapons up.
Wade had Reese locked against him at the back of the room, against the kitchen counter near the stove. Wade was using Reese as a shield.
“Back up!” Wade shouted.
Dom drove the shield forward half a step, then stopped.
Blaze shifted his rifle around the edge of the shield, trying to find an angle that did not exist. Siren moved to the other side, weapons steady, but Reese was in the line of fire.
Axel shoved the tablet back at Ryder and ripped the comm from his ear. Ryder caught his arm, but Axel was already past the point where a hand was going to stop him.
The shift tore through him. Bone cracked. Skin pulled. The world sharpened around him as his hands fell onto the gravel and became paws. His vest strained, then split at the seams and fell away. The wolf hit the ground running.
“Axel!” Ryder snapped.
Axel didn’t stop.
He went low across the clearing, past Wade’s van, behind Dom and Blaze. No order came. It wouldn’t have stopped him if it had.
The cabin door hung broken against the wall. Dom was inside with the shield up, Blaze behind him, Siren moving at his shoulder. Axel slipped in behind them, claws scraping over broken wood.
The room hit him all at once. Smoke from the fire. Spilled beer. Wade’s sweat.
Reese stood at the back of the room, trapped against Wade’s body with his arm locked around her chest. Fear poured off her in waves. The pistol was raised beside her face.
Wade fired toward the breach. The shot cracked through the cabin, so loud the room seemed to split around it. Reese flinched, but Wade’s arm held her upright, locked hard across her chest. The round hit the wall beside the broken door.
“Drop the gun,” Dom ordered. “It’s over. You’re surrounded.”
Dom drove the shield forward another step, closing the distance by inches, careful and relentless. Blaze moved with him. Siren stayed tight at the edge of the shield, waiting for a line Wade wouldn’t give them.
“You don’t want to do this,” Siren said.
Wade pulled Reese tighter against him. Axel saw her feet slide on the floor, her hands grab at Wade’s forearm, and the pistol jerk back beside her face.
Axel ducked past the team, ready to rip Wade’s throat out. But Wade saw him before he made it across the floor.
“Axel, stand down,” Dom shouted.
Wade’s gun hand moved away from Reese’s face, and he turned the pistol on Axel without losing his grip on her. Axel lunged forward. There was a small break in Wade’s grip on Reese. Axel kept coming as Reese’s knees bent and she dropped out of his grasp.
Wade aimed and fired at Axel. Axel cut sideways, and the shot tore past him toward the front of the room. Blaze shouted behind the shield, but Axel kept moving, claws scraping over the floor.
Behind Wade, Reese pushed herself up near the stove.
“Drop the gun!” Dom shouted.
Wade fired again. Axel tried to dodge, but he was already too close. The bullet tore across his shoulder and knocked him sideways into the kitchen table. Chairs scraped across the floor. His front leg gave out, and he hit the floor hard.
The team pushed forward from the doorway, but the table and the tight room slowed them. Siren moved with them, weapon up, still without a clean line. Axel tried to get his paws under him. His injured leg wouldn’t hold him up.
Wade stepped toward Axel, the pistol aimed at him. He tried to move again, but his injured leg folded beneath him. Blood ran hot through his fur and onto the floor.
“Siren, now!” Dom shouted.
Wade did not look away from Axel.
“I don’t have a clear shot,” she screamed.
Reese’s hand closed around the handle of the cast-iron skillet, and then she lifted it with both hands. Wade took another step toward Axel. For one breath, the whole room narrowed to Reese and the skillet in her hands.
Then she swung. The cast iron hit the back of Wade’s head with a dull, sickening crack.
Wade’s body jerked. His hand spasmed around the pistol, and the gun fired into the floor beside Axel.
The blast punched through the room. Wade collapsed face-first onto the floor and did not move, blood darkening his hair.
The pistol skidded across the wood toward the team.
Siren kicked the pistol, and the team moved forward.
The skillet slipped from Reese’s hands and hit the floor.
Axel was still down, blood running through the dark fur high on his shoulder. He tried to push himself up again, but his front leg shook and gave beneath him.
“Axel,” Reese said. She stumbled around Wade’s body and dropped to her knees beside him. She reached for his shoulder, then stopped when she saw the blood in his fur.
Axel lifted his head at her voice, dazed but aware.
“Don’t move,” she said, her hand settling carefully against his neck.
Dom was beside Wade, one knee braced on the floor as he checked for a pulse. Siren moved to Reese, eyes cutting over her face, her hands, the front of her body.
“Reese,” she said. “Are you hit?”
Reese shook her head without looking away from Axel.
Dom lifted his fingers from Wade’s throat. “He’s dead.”