Reed (Nano Wolves #4) - Donna McDonald Page 0,18

tried to call her name, but all that escaped his mouth was another ear-shattering howl that hurt his own ears. He stalked to the nearest man staring at him, lifted his body, and threw him as hard as he could into the nearest tree. The man made one guttural sound, slid to the ground, and lay still.

Since stopping the one bad guy hadn’t been hard to do, Stewart looked around and headed toward another one. Three tranquilizer darts suddenly hit his body all at once—one in his shoulder and two in his chest. Howling at the sting of them, he gripped the projectiles with clawed fingers and ripped them out. His skin rippled and churned at the mercy of whatever stuff the darts contained, which upset him more.

Furious at being shot, Stewart glared at the shooters and howled loudly again.

Their sudden yelling retreat as they ran away shocked him and made him pause to wonder why. When he realized they were all disappearing back into the surrounding trees, he scanned the sanctuary area once more before chasing after them.

Some part of his mind said following them was stupid—and that part definitely sounded like Kent in his head—but still he couldn’t stop. He had to know where the attackers were going. He had to find Katarina. She’d fought them off so he could escape with Terra.

The trees finally gave way to a clearing. In the field beyond them was something that looked like a helicopter, but its take off was silent except for a hum. The nearly invisible blades sliced the air soundlessly as the giant metal machine rose high into the sky with at least twenty men still climbing up metal ladders to get inside it.

No. They couldn’t leave. Where was Katarina?

Stewart burst out of the trees and howled over and over as the craft flew rapidly out of sight. He strained to watch until it disappeared from his vision. The world wavered around him in the sudden absolute quiet left behind. His body shook and wavered too.

He wished Kent and Aggie were there with him. They’d know what to do about the silent helicopter getting away.

He would get his Mom to call them so he could talk to them, but first he needed to rest. He was so tired. And his entire body hurt. The pain was way worse than his legs just growing.

He fell instantly asleep as soon as he hit the ground.

6

Stewart moaned as he felt his body being jostled. Someone was running with him. “We have to follow the helicopter. They took Katarina.”

“We know. We’ve got someone tailing them now. They won’t get far,” the male carrying him said.

Stewart decided the man’s voice seemed familiar, but his hearing was messed up… or something. It relieved him when the man finally stopped moving and laid him down onto some kind of bed. “No more running. I hurt all over.”

The man chuckled a little. “I imagine you do. When you wake up, you can tell us what happened.”

Stewart shook his head. He put a hand to it—then pulled it away. He blinked at his human fingers through the black haze covering his eyes. All desire to shift was gone now. Instead, he was relieved to be his human self again.

He blinked up at the man looming over him. His eyes finally focused. “Dad?”

“Yep. That’s me,” Gareth said.

“Where’s Mom?”

Gareth pulled a seat up next to the cot Jon’s wife had provided. “When your mother saw the dead bodies, she went a little insane. You were mumbling about a silent helicopter when we found you. You even told her which direction it flew off in when it left. She took Reed and Jon with her to chase the bad guys.”

“Good,” Stewart said. He swallowed. “Is Terra okay?”

“The dart that hit her had enough tranquilizer to take out a bear, but thankfully she will live. The bear who brought her to Jon said you rescued her.”

Stewart groaned in pain. It even hurt to talk. “Katarina helped me rescue Terra. Dad… I turned into something, but it wasn’t a wolf like you or Mom.”

Gareth put a hand on his nearly grown son’s head. “Does that bother you?”

Stewart nodded. “Yes. I wanted to be an actual wolf. Not a freak.”

“No one thinks that about your shifted form, especially the bears. If you hadn’t acted quickly and used all you had in you to fight the attackers, they no doubt would have gotten some of Jon’s people before we could have stopped them. The