Head Hunter (City Shifters the Pack #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,87
her.”
If only it was that easy. Dodge struggled against the wolf. The stubborn animal refused to cede control over their body and didn’t want to be in the weaker human form. The human form had been shot, almost killed, and failed to protect their mate. The wolf wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
When Dodge remained still and in wolf form, the alpha’s expression darkened even more. “Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Dodge used the mental connection to the alpha to convey some of the problem, locking gazes with Evershaw despite the potential challenge to the leader. He wanted to change back and behave himself, but… there were extenuating circumstances.
“Great,” Evershaw said under his breath. He crouched down and his eyes flashed like boiling gold.
A sudden tension gripped Dodge’s entire body as the alpha fought the wolf for control. Dodge had never really felt an alpha take their prerogative with a pack member, but he knew it happened. Evershaw had been trying with Silas since the other wolf got stuck. But the reality of what it felt like to have another person seize control of his mind and heart was terrifying.
The wolf fought, just as terrified, but in the end, Evershaw’s will overrode them both.
A grinding howl escaped as the alpha forced the shift. Dodge felt his body reshaping itself, completely beyond his control and with none of his usual finesse. The howl turned into a snarl and cry and then a great deal of cursing.
Dodge lay on the ground, panting, and gripped the earth so he could feel something solid. The rest of the pack stood back, though Todd got close enough to remove the chains when it was clear that Dodge was human once more.
Evershaw straightened from his crouch and ran a hand through his hair, the lines deepening around his eyes. “Find him some clothes. Find me some clothes, for fuck’s sake. Todd, stay here and deal with the bodies and clean-up. Are the trucks ready?”
The second-in-command muttered something into his radio, already giving orders, and gestured for someone to throw sweats and t-shirts at both of them. “They just got to the hospital. Get moving.”
Dodge pushed to his hands and knees, every inch of him aching, and tried to stand. The alpha hauled him up and half-carried him toward the waiting SUV. Dodge’s thoughts still searched for Persephone, still needed to re-establish that connection he’d felt.
It wasn’t until they were speeding toward the city and away from that damn sanctuary that Evershaw spoke again. His voice turned gravelly with what Dodge knew was concern and even a hint of fear, though Dodge couldn’t sort out what he had to fear. “She’s really hurt, man. On the edge of death, from what the medics said. They’re doing their best to save her now, but if it’s close… If it’s close, do you want to turn her?”
Dodge stilled, staring at the darkness that surrounded them even with the glow of the city in the distance. He’d never thought of turning Persephone to a shifter. Just the idea that Evershaw and the others were considering an emergency blood transfusion in the hopes that their more powerful shifter healing would keep her alive meant they didn’t think she’d live as a human. His throat closed and the wolf howled with a grief that Dodge couldn’t yet comprehend.
She was the other half of his soul. How could he live without her?
But she was human. She wanted to remain human, wanted to walk away from anything to do with the supernatural. Would she hate him if he turned her without her permission, even to save her life, and forced her to become what she ran from?
He gripped the door and shook his head, dazed. “We didn’t talk about it. She won’t – I don’t think she’d want…”
“She’d want to live, you dick,” Evershaw said, his tone carrying a sharp edge. “As a wolf or a human… doesn’t matter.”
But in his heart Dodge knew it mattered. It mattered to her, so it mattered to him. Dodge struggled to find words. “She would hate me.”
“You’d let your mate die?” The alpha growled and gripped the steering wheel until the leather started to tear. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
All he could think of was his parents and that his mother never had the opportunity to save his father. She said she’d have done it, no matter the consequences, because she needed him that much. That he needed her, too,