Head Hunter (City Shifters the Pack #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,9

didn’t see or feel, and something swirled in the air that charged into static and made the hair on my arms stand up. I wobbled back a step.

What. The. Fuck.

Chapter 6

Dodge

Dodge knew he’d made a mistake a heartbeat after it was too late. He hadn’t checked that the doors fully closed behind him and latched. They knew Silas couldn’t work the latches on the cellar doors with his deformed hands, so they relied on that, in part, to keep him contained down below. But the wily bastard was far more observant than they’d given him credit for. The moment Dodge turned his back to retrieve a cigar, Silas leapt.

He slammed into Dodge and knocked him off balance, breaking the chains meant to slow him down, and burst through the cellar doors like the goddamn Kool-Aid man. Dodge snarled and lunged after him, catching the back of the bastard’s tattered pants but missing the tail that raised like a flag.

And then the monster was gone into the midday sun. Just like they’d all feared.

It was all his fault. Dodge muttered under his breath as he charged after Silas, shouting at the prick to listen to him and stop fucking around. His heart jumped to his throat as he caught sight of Deirdre and the architect still standing in the empty lot. His chest tightened as Silas changed direction, toward the human, and her face turned curious, confused, and finally horrified.

Terrified.

Dodge’s wolf nearly burst free. The wolf was better prepared to fight Silas in his monster form, but Dodge doing a full shapeshift in front of a human wouldn’t have improved the situation. He shouted for help and put on some speed, hoping he could reach Silas with his shambling lumber before he got his deformed paws on the architect. Dodge growled in warning to the other wolf. He wasn’t going to touch the girl. She was Dodge’s. That was it.

Which nearly stopped him in his tracks.

Only real fear that Silas would kill her kept Dodge moving, and it was like an out-of-body experience, as if he watched from somewhere high above. Deirdre didn’t freeze, unlike the architect, and whipped up some of the magic that made Dodge queasy to watch. It was unnatural. The wolf hated it, even though he acknowledged that it was a useful weapon to have in the arsenal.

And damn good thing, too, since it saved Lawson.

Silas ran into some invisible fence as Deirdre moved her hands and chanted, and bought Dodge enough time to slam into Silas and knock him down. The wolfman wasn’t strong enough in the half-form to fight Dodge off, though he did his damnedest to worm free. Dodge growled and pinned him, twisting his arms back to restrain him, then snapped in the prick’s ear, “Cut it the fuck out, asshole. That’s a civilian you almost ran down, and a female as well. Leave it alone.”

Some of the tension ran out of Silas. Maybe the former soldier was still inside enough to know when he’d violated the rules they’d followed their entire careers. Dodge didn’t look up as Evershaw barreled up, Trent on his heels, with more chains. “It was my fault. He saw an opportunity and took it. Make sure the girl – the architect is...”

He looked up when he heard a car door slam, and saw the architect’s shitty car start up and peel out fast enough to leave smoke drifting in the air.

“Well, fuck,” Deirdre said. “I don’t suppose she’ll come back on her own, hmm?”

Dodge shoved to his feet after Trent got the chains on Silas and started dragging the wolfman back toward the storm cellar. “No fucking way.”

Evershaw turned on him, rigid with fury. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“I told you it was my fault, I made a mistake.” Dodge didn’t back down. He wasn’t scared of Evershaw, and he sure as fuck wasn’t intimidated by some alpha posturing. Dodge was in the pack and a follower because he didn’t want responsibility. He respected Evershaw enough he didn’t mind taking orders from the wolf. But that didn’t mean Dodge would hang around for bullshit brow-beating. “I’ll fix it.”

The alpha’s face stayed red and a growl boiled up in his chest. “My mate was out here. She could have been hurt.”

“She wasn’t,” Dodge snapped. “I wouldn’t have let him hurt them.”

“Perhaps you boys should just whip out your dicks and have a literal pissing contest,” Deirdre said coolly. When both men stared at her in consternation, she arched