Warrior Wolf (Protection, Inc 4)

The fear that she hadn’t had time to feel when they’d been falling struck her like a blow, taking her breath away. She didn’t know if he was dead or alive, and was terrified to find out.

Then she realized that she was still on top of him. If he was alive, her weight might be hurting him.

She scrambled off him, as gently as she could, and knelt beside him to peer at his face. His eyes were closed, his skin white as bone.

Raluca reached out a trembling hand to touch his cheek. It was cold. “Nick?”

He didn’t stir.

She had to force herself not to grab and shake him, which might worsen his injuries. Instead, she bent over and put her ear to his chest. For a terrifying instant, she could hear nothing but her own pulse throbbing in her ears. Then she heard the steady thud of his heart, and felt his chest rise and fall.

Nick was alive.

Her mate had protected her, but not at the cost of his own li

fe.

Tears welled up in Raluca’s eyes, making burning tracks down her cheeks. But they were tears of relief. Nick was badly hurt, but he’d survived terrible wounds before. He was tough. She just needed to alert Protection, Inc., and they’d save him.

When she heard approaching footsteps, she thought with puzzled relief that the team had somehow arrived already.

Then she saw moonlight glint on metallic hair. Grigor was approaching, with Price right beside him. They were backed by not only the other two men from the rooftop, but eight or nine more with the same look: hard and mean. They had to be more of Grigor’s hired assassins and Price’s gangster wolves.

Raluca looked around wildly. She and Nick had fallen into a dark alley between two tall buildings. There was no one in sight but their enemies. The dragonsbane still burned on her arm, so she couldn’t shift.

Grigor, Price, and their henchmen began to close in on her and Nick.

Those men meant to kill her mate. And her too, of course, but that seemed unimportant compared to the threat to Nick. He was wounded and unconscious, unable to protect himself. Even if he woke up, he’d be unable to fight with one leg and his dominant hand disabled.

If nothing else, Raluca could place her body between Nick and his enemies.

She leaped to her feet. Her dancing heels clattered against the concrete. Grigor laughed, reminding her of how absurd she must look in her corset and miniskirt. How helpless.

A blazing rage flamed up within her soul, searing away her fear. Raluca stood over her wounded mate, and her voice rang out to the rooftops with protective fury. “BEGONE, OR I WILL BURN YOU TO FUCKING ASHES!"

Several of the henchmen took an involuntary step back, and two flattened themselves against the walls. Price froze.

Grigor gave them all a scornful glance, then turned to Raluca with another contemptuous laugh. “With what? A cigarette lighter? You’re nothing but a spoiled princess. You can’t shift. You can’t fight. Give it up. You have nothing.”

A voice spoke from behind her. “She has a mate with a gun.”

Raluca whirled around. Nick was sitting up, with his right leg twisted in front of him and his right arm hanging limp at his side. The right side of his face was scraped raw and bloody, and the left was white as paper. But he held a gun absolutely steady in his left hand.

“Raluca, get behind me and down!” Nick shouted.

She dove behind him, her heart singing with relief.

Gunshots rang out, making her flinch. But Nick’s back stayed straight— he hadn’t been hit. Raluca couldn’t see anything. But she heard a lot of running feet and metal clattering, amidst a flurry of more shots.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

“I got two,” Nick whispered back. She could hear the strain in his voice, and wondered, her heart lurching, how badly he was hurt. “The rest ducked behind dumpsters and stuff. Get my phone out of my right pants pocket and call Hal.”

Relieved to have something to do, Raluca slid her hand into Nick’s pocket. He flinched slightly when she touched his hip, making her wince in sympathy. But she gritted her teeth and reached deeper. Her fingers touched something sharp. She pulled out a handful of black fragments.

“Oh, fuck,” Nick muttered. Then, louder, “Behind me!”

Raluca ducked back as Nick fired his gun several times, his shoulder moving as he swung his arm in a wide arc. She heard the ping of bullets hitting metal, along with more gunshots from farther away.