Rockhead, and within seconds, the door to Joystick opens, and Addie and ten more of her pack members come piling out.
Drag whistles low, and we all take off at a run. The plan is to sneak up behind the “unsuspecting” misfits and attack them, while Drag takes Addie. Not that we’d let that fucking happen.
Herrick and Lafe race ahead of me, heading straight for Addie.
Drag notices and growls. “Hey! I said she’s mine!”
I ignore him as I pump my legs faster, trying to reach Addie’s group before Pack Rockhead does. No fucking way are we letting a single shifter touch her.
Her group is walking together through the otherwise empty parking lot, seeming completely oblivious to the ambush running up behind them. Herrick and Lafe’s feet hit the pavement first, but the other Rockhead wolves are hot on their heels.
I force myself to run faster, and right before the oncoming Rockhead shifters reach Addie and her group, she and the others drop the unsuspecting act and turn around to face them. This takes Rockhead by surprise, and several of their steps falter, but with an order from Drag, they keep going.
Jordy, all skin and bones in his human form is a fast fucker, and nearly beats us to reach Addie. Addie braces herself, but Herrick leaps onto Jordy’s back at the last second, his teeth digging into Jordy’s side, sending him to the ground.
As soon as he’s flat on his back, the rest of Rockhead is here, and the two packs clash together. Fights break out as several of the Aberrants move to the forefront, protecting their other packmates. Hugo purposely chose some of his enforcers to be present, since they’re the ones best trained to fight.
I finally reach Addie, with Lafe flanking her other side. She smiles at me. “Right on time.”
Hearing a snarl, we look back to see Jordy smacking off Herrick’s coyote with a powerful kick to the belly. Herrick is dislodged and thrown off, and Jordy has menace in his eyes as he gets to his feet. Herrick curls his spine and bares his teeth, ready to meet Jordy with his own attack, but Jetta suddenly appears out of nowhere. She assaults him with a barrage of lightning-fast movements—a strike to his stomach, a kick to the back of the knees, and well placed temple hit, and he’s out like a light.
She looks down at him like she’s disappointed it didn’t last longer and then shoots Herrick a cocky smirk. “Told you I’d protect you preds.” Herrick yips and she bounds away, light on her feet, off to go help some of the other Aberrants. Now I’m really fucking curious as to what her animal is.
The members of Pack Rockhead are mostly big, muscled, arrogant shifters; whereas Aberrant look more like a bunch of nerds. But underneath their graphic tees and glasses, the misfits are surprisingly capable, and they take several Rockheads off guard. Still, we’re outnumbered, and Hugo didn’t want to send all obvious fighters with Addie, in case Rockhead got tipped off, so some of them are barely holding their own. I look around for our back up, but they aren’t here yet.
“Get the girl!”
Drag’s voice cuts through all the noises of fists punching, people grunting, and shifters growling and snapping their teeth.
He’s pointing at her, looking at me expectantly as he levels a misfit with a fist to the jaw. I grab Addie and yank her behind me. Herrick and Lafe flank me, so that we’re standing as a united front when he comes stalking forward.
“You fucking double-crossers!” he yells, his skin mottling red with his rage. “You’re preds! What the fuck are you doing protecting a shifter like her?”
“She’s our mate, and she’s ten times the shifter you are.”
He rears a fist back and aims it for me, but I crouch down and then launch myself at him, catching him in the stomach with my shoulder. We both go down hard onto the pavement, in a whirl of fists and feet, and my skin starts rippling with fur, my animal desperate to come out and attack the male who’s threatening our mate.
Drag uses his massive body size to toss me off, and my head slams against the pavement. Before he can get to his feet, Herrick and Lafe are there, biting his wrists and ankles to keep him down.
“Addie!”
My head whips around at her friend Zoey’s voice, and when I turn, I see that fucking sleazebag Jordy dragging Addie away. He’s got a