“I don’t know what the hell is happening here, but you need to stand down.”
Caleb’s smoky eyes were locked on her. She pressed deeper into his mind. There was a shield there, one she hadn’t noticed before during her little “test,” because she hadn’t probed deep enough. If she could just—
Don’t remember inviting you inside.
Her knees locked. If a wolf could smile, well, Caleb would be grinning right then.
Think you can control me?
“Stand down.” Her whisper held a tremble of fear. Think again.
He leapt at her. Sarah didn’t even have time to scream before he had her on the ground. His weight suffocated her, taking all her breath away.
All wolves aren’t the same. His snarl.
Caleb, no! She pressed her power at him, shoving with all she was worth. Go, run away! You don’t want to kill me!
The scent of blood and wolf filled her nostrils. Yes, I do.
His head lowered. His teeth hovered over her throat. Call them. His taunt echoed in her mind. Tell them to come and save you.
Lucas and Dane.
His teeth scraped her throat. Call them, he ordered.
Sarah swallowed. Lucas! Dane!
Caleb nuzzled her throat. Good girl.
The earth shook around her. The wolves were racing to her rescue. And Rafe? What was he—
A motor gunned to life.
Escaping.
Dane growled. Get the f**k away from her.
Lucas didn’t bother with an order. He just plowed right into Caleb. They rolled off her, twisting and turning, banging into the concrete.
Sarah scrambled off the ground and ran a hand over her throat. Caleb could have killed her in an instant, but he hadn’t.
Why?
Now Caleb lay on the ground, Lucas at his throat, and the white wolf wasn’t fighting. Wasn’t moving at all. Just waiting for death.
And death was coming. Lucas snarled and went in for the kill.
“Stop!” She jumped to her feet. Dane raced in front of her. She wasn’t sure if Dane was trying to protect her or tying to keep her from stopping Lucas. Either way, she didn’t have time to touch his mind and find out. “Stop, Lucas!”
Lucas’s teeth snapped together. He swung his head toward her.
“He’s not fighting anymore,” she whispered. “Don’t kill him.” Not until we can figure out what’s happening. Why he betrayed you.
The black wolf’s head jerked, but then Lucas surged forward and caught Caleb’s neck between his teeth.
No, I told you not to kill him!
With his jaws closed around Caleb’s neck, Lucas lifted the white wolf, then slammed Caleb’s head down into the concrete. Caleb’s eyes fell closed, but his chest kept rising and falling. Still alive.
Her breath rushed out. Lucas loped back toward her, his sides heaving, his gait slower now. How much silver was inside him? Eating at him?
“Lucas?” She held her hands out to him. His head butted against her palm. His eyes closed.
Then he fell at her feet.
Chapter 11
Dane drove the van at breakneck speed. He’d pulled on a pair of jeans—Sarah didn’t know where the hell he’d gotten those—and the van careened down the road. There was a woman in the back of the van with them. A familiar, bound woman who stared at her with wide eyes and kept trying to choke out something behind her gag.
Sarah knew she should probably try to help her, but the woman wasn’t in any immediate danger then and—
And she wasn’t about to let go of Lucas. He’d shifted after he’d collapsed, and Dane had carried him into the van. His blood was everywhere, his breath rasping out, and Sarah was . . . scared. No, terrified.
They’d left a pile of dead coyotes behind them. Left Caleb. Sarah didn’t know what would happen to the white wolf, and right then, she didn’t care. All that mattered was Lucas.
“Got to . . . get the bullets . . . out . . .” His voice was so weak.
She stared down at the mess that was his stomach and didn’t know where to start.
His head lay in her lap. He tried to heave up to check out the damage.
“No.” Her hands tightened on him. She couldn’t control him anymore, but she damn sure didn’t want him to see the damage. “Don’t look.”
His blue eyes weren’t so bright anymore. “Been . . . shot . . . before.”
“He got you with silver.” She would not cry. But . . . this was her fault. The whole thing had been a trap. Rafe hadn’t been holding Dane. If she hadn’t gone out on her own, this never would have happened.
“Been . . . hit . . . with silver . . . too . . .” The words seemed softer. “Can dig it . . .” His claws ripped through the tops of his fingers. “Out . . .”
Her nails dug into his skin. “They were some kind of—of exploding bullets.” Had to be based on the damage. They’d shattered on impact. She’d seen something like this once before, and that poor bastard hadn’t survived. Lucas will. “You can’t just dig them out. They’re in pieces, fragmented.” Smart ass**le. Rafe had known exactly what he was doing.
“Let me see him.”
Her gaze flew up. Piers was awake. His eyes were narrowed, and dried blood marked his face. He’d shifted twice already in the van. Shifted twice, then passed out. But he seemed to be back with them now, and most of his wounds had healed.
He reached for Lucas.
She bit her lip.
His fingers skated over the wounds, and his breath hissed out when he saw the full extent of the injuries. “Can you shift, man?”
The lines on Lucas’s face had deepened. If I could . . . I . . . would . . . have . . .”
But he’d wasted all his energy, fighting for her.
“We need to get him to a hospital,” Piers yelled to Dane. The woman with the gag froze, her eyes huge.
Sarah slid her fingers down the side of Lucas’s cheek. “A hospital isn’t going to work.”
“We have to get the silver out!” Piers snapped. “Either we dig it out or—”
She grabbed his hand, held tight. “It’s in his blood.” Her voice was low, but she knew Lucas still heard her. “Don’t you understand? It’s fragmented, in his organs, in his blood—in him.” Burning him alive, from the inside out. The legends about wolves and silver had been so true. Some called it an allergy. A genetic quirk.
But silver could truly kill a wolf shifter. The more intense the exposure, the quicker the death. And you didn’t get more intense than a blood exposure. “We need more than a doctor,” she whispered and felt just as she’d felt months before. Helpless. Because Sarah was very afraid that Lucas would be dying in her arms.