Savage (Wolf Ranch 4)

“Donald.” I kept my voice low. Even. I’d never met the fucker before, but there was no one else who he could be.

“You killed my cousin. Put a bullet in his head.”

“He broke pack law. Robbed convenience stores and murdered innocent humans.”

“We take care of our own,” he countered. He tipped his chin down to stare even more intently.

I had to stall him, keep his attention on me, off Becky. He’d know she was here. The scent of her, my cum and her arousal was heavy in the air. With the front door open, the room was getting colder by the minute. I could barely feel it, but I knew Becky would begin to chill.

“I don’t make the decisions. I just follow orders. The council’s judgement was delivered and completed.”

“You killed him,” he seethed. Spittle fell from his lips, and he used his empty hand to wipe it away.

“I did.” I heard Becky’s slight intake of breath, and I kept talking to cover it, but Donald’s gaze flicked to the unmade bed. “Shifter justice is my job.”

“You didn’t even fight him like a wolf. You ended him in human form. You put a bullet in Jarod’s head. Your mate will get the same fate. Then you’ll know how it feels to have someone you love taken from you. To live yet be dead inside.”

Oh Fates. He wasn’t here for me. He was here for Becky.

“You went to her house to kill her,” I realized out loud.

Todd wasn’t the intended target.

“She wasn’t there, but the male human was, taking her TV. He saw me break in, knew my face. He had to die.”

Todd’s asshole ways had gotten him killed. If he’d just left Becky alone, he’d be living his miserable life in Meade. But he’d had to keep fucking with her, and he’d had his throat ripped out.

If I hadn’t kept her with me, she’d have been at home. He’d have broken in, and she’d have been defenseless against Donald. In human form and especially as a wolf.

A growl rumbled deep in my chest at the thought of her dying at this asshole’s sick idea of vengeance.

“You’re just like your cousin.” I tried to keep his focus on me. If he shot me, I’d survive. Not if he shot me in the head, but he had lots of other places to aim for. “You both went rogue. You bring danger to our kind. You’ll be put down like him.”

His body tensed. Every muscle practically quivered. “Enough! She dies.”

He stepped toward the bed, arm extended with his weapon pointed in front of him. Before I even knew what I was doing, I leapt over the corner of the bed and picked him up with shifter strength. No, more than shifter strength. It was shifter with an endangered mate strength. The power coursing through my limbs went beyond what I knew I was capable of. When I threw him, he flew across the room and crashed through the bedroom window.

Glass shattered as he fell through and onto the snow-covered ground outside.

“Stay inside, Becky. Don’t come out,” I warned and dived out the window after him. He would be on his feet quickly. I needed Becky inside with Donald out. Bullets wouldn’t go through the log walls.

I tucked and rolled, bumping and scraping over rocks and fallen branches, coming back to my feet. Glass probably cut me, but I couldn’t feel it. I was solely focused on Donald.

The wind whipped around us, my feet sunk deep in snow up to my ankles. Headlights cut across the trees as several vehicles sped in and skidded to stop at the cabin. My pack had my back.

Thank fuck. I didn’t know how they knew to come, but thank fuck. One of them would protect Becky while I finished this shit.

A shot rang out. It went wide, but chips of wood flew from the bullet hitting a tree to my right, nicking my skin.

“Can’t even shoot a gun,” I taunted. “Can you even shift?”

I wanted him in wolf form. I wasn’t an alpha, but I’d been made an enforcer for a reason. Threats like him had to be ended. The battle was to the death. I was prepared for it every time I’d gone out and hunted a rogue shifter. This time, it was different. This time, I was protecting my mate. My unborn child.

I couldn’t save them in human form. I had to get him to shift.

He did. Angry as he was, his wolf had pushed forward, taken over. He probably couldn’t even resist the pull. He crouched and the sounds of shifting, of bone and muscle rearranging, then the renting of fabric filled the air. The gun fell uselessly into the snow.

His wolf was tan. While big, he wasn’t as large an animal as I was.

I stalked toward him, shifting at the same time. By the time I was on four paws, he was turning tail and running away. Going after him, I herded him to the far side of the cabin to the open clearing. I wanted room to fight, room for others to arrive, to witness the elimination of the threat to my mate.