Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,32

had collapsed into it, blocking my way. A window to my left, near the fireplace. One to my right, and I could see the trees beyond it.

Or the front door.

Four choices.

“Okay,” the man said. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we? Here we go. One.”

My fangs dropped.

“Two.”

Hair sprouted along my face and neck as my jaw began to stretch.

“Three.”

My claws dug into the wall, black hooks four inches long.

“Four.”

My eyes flashed, and I saw the world with the sharpness of a wolf.

“Five.”

I dove to the ground as the gunfire rang out. I loped away from the open door, bullets whizzing around me, plaster and shards of wood raining down around me. A bullet hit the ground less than a foot from my hand, creating a divot and causing the floor to splinter. I looked up in time to see a bullet hit the photograph on the wall, right between the two adults, the glass shattering. It fell to the floor, the frame broken and bent.

I went for the window to the left near the fireplace but snarled when a bullet grazed my arm, the burn excruciating. I pivoted right and was met with more gunfire.

A table lay overturned toward the back of the room. I leapt toward it, landing hard on my shoulder on the other side, curling my legs against my chest, trying to make myself as small as possible. Bullets struck the table, causing it to vibrate, the wood splintering.

My arm ached, the wound not healing.

“Hold up!” the man shouted, and the guns stopped firing.

get up, the moon whispered. get up little prince get up and shift and run and hunt and kill

“You still alive, Omega?” the man called. “Thought I heard something in there. But I’m getting old, so it might’ve just been wishful thinking. Hearing’s not as good as it used to be.”

I was angry.

So fucking angry.

My hands shook.

My heart raced.

My fangs tore my bottom lip as I bit down.

I growled, low and deep.

“Ah,” the man said. “There you are. Heard that before. Cornered animal. Has a particular sound to it. Desperate. Pissed off. Willing to do anything to save itself. What will you do?”

“Boss,” a woman said. “I think I heard something in the woods. There’s—”

The man sounded annoyed when he said, “You didn’t hear shit, darlin’. The wolf is in the house. And he’s alone. He’s an Omega. There’s nothing else here.”

“But—”

“I swear to Christ if you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll come over there and shut it for you.”

The woman fell silent.

The man said, “Come on out, Omega. There’s nowhere else for you to go. I’m doing you a favor here. Don’t you want it all to stop? I’m told that turning Omega is like losing your mind. I can help you. I can—”

“Boss,” the woman said, her voice shaking. “There’s something in the woods. I swear it. Can’t you hear that? Can’t you—”

“Did you hear what I fucking said?” the man snarled. “Bitch, I’m going to shove my fist down your throat if you—”

From the woods came the snarl of a furious wolf.

And I recognized it.

“No,” I whispered as the hunters outside the house began to shout.

Gunfire erupted again, but it wasn’t coming toward the house.

I rose from behind the table.

I saw the bright lick of fire erupting in the dark from the guns the hunters carried. I vaulted over the table and ran toward the door, my clothes tearing as I let the shift come over me.

I burst through the doorway, knocking the beams from the porch out onto the hunters. One of the men glanced back at me over his shoulder, his eyes so wide it was like they were pure white. He started to swing his gun toward me, but I landed on top of him, roaring down at his face. I was still half-shifted, and he screamed at me, a high and pitiful sound. He tried to raise his gun, but I bit down on his arm, feeling his bones crunch between my fangs. I twisted my head sharply, and blood spilled out onto my tongue.

He took in a gurgling breath before his eyes closed and didn’t reopen.

I looked up to see the others still firing into the woods. I thought I saw a flash of movement in the shadows between the trees, and I wanted to howl, wanted to sing because it was familiar, it was—

A timber wolf burst from the trees, eyes violet and blazing. His massive head swung back and forth, taking in