She knew he would bring the bat down hard on her mate’s head.
The cat sprang. Covered the human’s face. Found purchase with teeth and claws. Raked and bit.
The human toppled backward, and the wolf instantly lunged at his mate’s attacker. Sunk his teeth into the man’s throat and tore it out with a vicious yank.
Lungs burning, heart pounding, the wolf backed away from the corpse and took a moment to glance around. The ground was littered with bodies—some human, some shifter; some dead, some close to death. There were many still standing, and most were shifters.
He noticed his Alpha male and Beta male savagely mauling a human in a wild frenzy. Pallas cats were crawling all over the humans, tearing into them with claws and teeth. A wolverine bit savagely into the shoulder of a fallen screaming human while a margay cat raked at the human’s chest. Another wolverine had clamped his jaws around the flamethrower, mangling it with his bone-cracking teeth.
Hearing a whoosh of air, the wolf turned and saw a machete heading for him. He ducked, but it sliced off the tip of his ear. The wolf yelped at the harsh burn of the blade.
The cat readied to leap at her mate’s attacker, but a mace slammed into her head, dazing her. She shook her head, cleared the dots from her vision, and sprang with a vicious snarl. The human tried to bat her away, but she was too fast. Went right for his face.
A hand gripped the scruff of her neck as she bit into his scalp. Shaking his head, he desperately tried to pull her away. She dug her claws harder into his face. Refused to let go.
Having delivered the killing bite to his attacker, the wolf turned to his mate. She was clinging to a human who was punching her head. Growling in fury, the wolf crashed into the human. Knocked him flat. Clawed through skin and muscle, scraped bone and—
Something stabbed deep into the wolf’s flank. Something sharp and cold. It happened again and again. Yelping, he sliced at the human’s stomach, gutting him. The stabbing stopped.
The wolf collapsed, his sides heaving, pain pulsing through him. He tried to pull himself to his feet. Failed. Ribbons of agony rippled through him. The shock of it was so strong, he involuntarily shifted.
Dominic lay there panting, his vision blurring. He slapped a hand to the vicious stab wounds on his side, knew they were deep. Blood was pumping out of them, pooling on the ground beneath him.
Sleep lured him, but he fought it like a bitch. He needed to stay with his cat, who was butting him gently, as if urging him to rise. He weakly stroked her head. “I’m okay.”
Surging to the surface, Mila forced her cat to retreat so she could examine Dominic. The blood drained from her face as she saw how bad his wounds were, and a hellish dread wrapped around her chest like a tight band. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Her hands trembling, she pressed them over the wounds, helping him put pressure on them. He cursed with a flinch, and Mila winced. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” But she pressed harder, swallowing hard as his warm blood trickled through his fingers and hers. “Ally! Helena! Sam! Taryn! Someone!” she yelled over her shoulder.
Mila caught sight of Taryn lying pale and weak against her mate—not dead but drained from healing others. Glancing around, Mila found Ally. The she-wolf was busy healing Tate while Luke gave him CPR. Sam was nowhere to be seen. And Helena, where the fuck was Helena? Mila couldn’t see her anywhere. The smoke hazing the air certainly wasn’t helping.
Coughing, Mila looked back at her mate. “Someone will come over soon to help you. We just have to wait a minute.”
Dominic blinked up at her, his lips parted, his eyes stinging from the smoke. Fuck, his side hurt. What hurt more was seeing the fear on her face and feeling it echo through him. No, fear wasn’t a strong enough word. It was a soul-deep, all-consuming terror. Cupping her face, he breezed his thumb over her cheekbone. “I’m gonna be okay.”
“I know.” But Mila didn’t know. Not really. He looked far from okay. He was just so pale. Seemed so tired. And an odd sort of glaze was falling over his eyes.
Her cat never fretted about anything, but right then, her heart was beating as frantically as Mila’s was. The feline truly feared for him. And it wouldn’t take much to send