Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,30

was hard for me to get out of the car.

Just for a second. Then the need to protect my sister, and the need to live up to who I saw myself as, took over. I threw open the car door and Penn and I headed toward the big white farmhouse. It was the nicest house on pack lands.

A thumping sound from one of the upper windows drew my attention.

I half-ducked, ready for a fight, my hand on my gun, as I looked across the row of windows. It might be a trap. But there was my sister, hammering on the glass. Her eyes were wide, her face scared.

She held up two fingers.

“Did you see that?” I asked Penn, suddenly proud of Rosemary for thinking of a way to help us strategize even when she seemed terrified.

“Yep. Looks like we’ve got two friends waiting for us—if she’s been able to get a good count.”

Penn moved to one side of the door, ready to burst in, and I took the other side. We had to expect someone with a gun was waiting on the other side of the door. We’d already have drawn a lot of attention to ourselves; no one ever strolled onto pack lands unnoticed.

Penn pulled the smoke grenade out of his inner jacket pocket and held it up. I nodded.

Then I came around the corner, kicking in the door. There was a crack of a gunshot, but it missed me. I kicked again then threw myself to one side. The door swung in as I whipped back around the corner. More gun shots pierced through the walls as Penn and I both ducked, but Penn was already tossing in the grenade.

It detonated, my heart racing as my ears buzzed, and smoke flooded the room. The two of us dove in immediately. Penn shot the shifter that came toward us, and I shot the one that popped from behind the kitchen doorway.

The smoke choked me and I put my shoulder up to my mouth, trying to smother my cough while I kept my muzzle steady, my finger in the trigger well ready to fire again. The two of us went quickly up the stairs, covering each other.

We found ourselves in a long hallway, but most of the doors stood open; there was only one room locked from the outside. I nodded to Penn, then he covered me while I kicked the door in. The door flew open.

Rosemary said, “Lex.”

Her voice was full of fear and relief intermingled at seeing me, and that was all I needed to know for sure I made the right choice.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing her arm. I pulled her with me out into the hallway. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Now, Lex,” a voice floated up the stairs. “You’ve got to know it can’t be that easy.”

Fuck. That was the alpha. Penn looked to me, waiting for my reaction, and Rosemary’s eyes flooded with tears of panic. I didn’t dare touch her—I needed to be ready to move—but I winked at her, trying to reassure her it would be okay. She was so panicked, she didn’t even see me.

“Just let us go,” I said. “I’m just trying to look after my sister. We don’t need any trouble.”

“I’m not the one with trouble, boy. You’re the one who came back here in pack territory when you’re not one of mine anymore.”

“You’re right,” Penn stepped up next to me, and I frowned, wondering what the hell he was thinking. Whoever was waiting for us down below at the end of the stairs couldn’t see us; I wasn’t sure how many weapons were trained on those stairs right now. There was no easy way out.

And I’d just killed two Kiereny pack assholes, men that I used to know. I’d only briefly glimpsed their bodies to have an idea who they were, but I knew I’d try to puzzle that out later. Their faces would haunt me at two o’clock in the morning as I stared up at a dark ceiling, trying to convince myself they were just a pair of assholes who deserved it.

Penn gave me a trust-me grin that didn’t entirely comfort me.

“Lex isn’t part of your pack anymore,” Penn said. “He’s part of mine.”

“And who the fuck are you?”

“Penn. Alpha of the Carolina pack.”

“Is that so. I knew your dad, and I remember you.” In a quieter voice, the alpha said, “Smartass little shrimp.”

He’d meant to be overheard. But the important thing was, two laughs answered his