Feral (Wolf Ranch #3) - Renee Rose Page 0,61

me. Willow took the opportunity to push Markle’s gun to the side and hop to her feet. With both her hands, she gripped his wrist to keep the gun pointing away from her.

I ran into the barn to help, but Markle had strength and fury on his side. He bent his elbow and with his free arm, grabbed Willow by the back of her neck, yanking her toward him.

The gun went off before I made it halfway to them. I saw her wide eyes, the way her shoulders slumped and knew she’d been hit. Markle released her, and she fell to the ground.

I howled, my wolf taking over. I got to Markle and grabbed him, ready to rip his head from his body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Willow lean to the side and grab her gun which she had at her back.

She raised it and fired, point blank at the center of Markle’s forehead. Bullseye. The shot had gotten within a foot of me, but I hadn’t been afraid she’d hit me. Sure, there had been no time to react, but there was no better shot than my mate. Like he had with Willow, I let Markle fall to the floor. There was no question he was dead. The back half of his head was missing.

I didn’t give Markle another look but dropped to my knees next to Willow, looked her over. Assessed.

“Fuck,” I croaked. Blood quickly spread across her torso. I lifted the bottom of her shirt, saw the entry wound.

She whimpered and her body shook. Shock. Fear.

“Willow, no” I breathed. Fear cut through me like never before. We were twenty miles from town. Twenty miles from the hospital, and she’d been shot in the gut.

I leaned over her, looked down into her face. Sweat dotted her brow, the color quickly leaching from her face.

“Hang on. Don’t you fucking die on me now,” I swore.

She panted, her hand coming to her wound to cover it. She hissed. “It hurts. Fuck.”

I grabbed my phone. Dialed. My fingers were shaking so bad I almost dropped the phone as I lifted it to my ear. “Boyd. Willow’s been shot. Bad. Bring Audrey to Markle’s barn. Now!”

I dropped the phone to the dirt and shucked my shirt, pressed it over her wound to stanch the blood flow.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, then winced. Her eyes were filled with pain. Regret. Fear. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t a lie.”

“Shh, angel. I know.”

“How I feel about you wasn’t a lie.”

I leaned over her again, so she could only see me. “Angel, you were doing your job. I know that. You did nothing wrong. I’m to blame. I shouldn’t have doubted you or pushed you away. It doesn’t change what I knew the first second I caught your scent—you’re mine. My mate. My heart. I love you. Now fight.”

Determination filled her eyes, but she moaned in pain. She pulled out her phone with shaking hands. “Call… Vaughn. My boss. Tell him…”

“Okay, I’ll call him. You just hang in there, angel.”

She was going to die. I knew it. There was no way I could save her. Audrey was a doctor and could help, but she wouldn’t be here for at least five more minutes. Then, we still had to drive to the hospital.

“I love you, Willow. You stay with me. Stay with me,” I said. I repeated it over and over as I held her gaze.

Then my wolf instincts prickled. Willow’s eye color changed from green to gold.

All at once, she moaned. Loud. Deep.

I stopped breathing.

Her joints cracked and snapped, her clothing ripped. From one blink to the next, Willow shifted from red-haired human to a ginger wolf.

My wolf did a double backflip of joy. Of relief.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

My mate was a shifter! Which meant she wasn’t going to die.

28

ROB

Willow struggled, rolling to her side, then emitting a yip of pain. She was panicking, her amber eyes wild and almost feral. This hadn’t been one of her secrets. I was sure of it. She hadn’t known she was a wolf—or part wolf—because she sure as hell had smelled like a human before.

Which meant… she’d never shifted before and only did so now because of the pain of being shot. Her biology kicked in to save her life. No one had seen her like this before. No one knew how perfect she was… human or wolf.

I stroked my hand over her soft fur. “Shh… settle.” I put alpha command in my voice. “It’s all right.