Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,167

against the side of the mobile.

And the whole time, Lane was running toward them just as fast as he could go, but the thump on the house had been heard. The men around the fire were all starting to move, trying to figure out what was going on. Gabby and Olivia began to walk a little faster. The girl held between them stumbled, clearly in worse shape than the guys. The other woman - hopefully Damon's mate Evelyn - shoved one of the guys forward.

All of it came to a head just at the back corner of that mobile home. One of Damon's men came around the side, saw the group - and froze. Ashley surged forward, shoving between them with her teeth bared. Roman shifted to human, grabbed the closest guy, and hauled him back toward the fence. For just a moment, I thought we were going to get away with this.

And then Damon came to see what the hell was going on. "They're stealing our converts!" he yelled - and then shifted.

But the man didn't have the chance to do anything else before the tigers were rushing forward. Lev roared. Nik just swiped, knocking Damon's legs out from under him. Vic and Jax got the fence down just as Lane reached them. My mate dropped the rifle beside the smallest bear and then shifted to his wolf. Vic and Jax followed, but Scott held his ground, standing on his hind feet to roar loudly.

The three big men reached Gabby's side and changed back to humans. Jax picked up one of the guys. Vic got the other. Lane grabbed the girl from between Gabby and Olivia, freeing the teens to rush back toward us. The two girls were still dressed, so they couldn't easily shift, but the pack was moving in to protect them. Then Gabby snagged Evelyn's free arm, pulling her along with them.

Wolves were rushing in from all sides, but we'd picked the one direction they didn't expect. Once Gabby, Olivia, and Evelyn were through the gap in the fence, the bears and Lane followed. Scott dropped back to all four feet, shifted into a man while crouching, his hands on the ground, and then straightened up to brace the gun against his shoulder.

"Move!" he bellowed.

That was all it took. Roman and Xander turned to follow their pack. Ashley paused for just a moment, but Kim barked as she passed, convincing Ashley to follow. Lev and Nik, however, were taking their time about it. The pair backed toward the fence, hissing and swiping at anything that got too close. It was enough to let the rest run halfway across the field before Damon's pack even figured out what was going on.

Then four wolves rushed in, right at Lev. Sadly, they'd picked the wrong tiger. Lev clawed the first, sank his teeth into the second, jumped the third, and swiped at the last. In that moment, I knew why he'd wanted his son with him. One tiger was terrifying, but two? The sight of them covering for each other made the rest of the wolves hang back, too scared to attack.

Somewhere in all the commotion Damon shifted, and he wasn't willing to quit. Snarling, he made a dash at Nik. A sharp crack rang out, the dirt puffed up between the two, and Damon just jumped back. That had been a gun. Scott's gun, I realized.

"Come on, come on, come on," Heather called.

"When you're full, go," I told her. "Get the converts out of here. I think that's Damon's mate, and if it is, she has a baby."

"Fine, but I'm stopping at the highway," Heather told me.

"I'll be right behind you," I promised, watching as Lane and the bears jump-ran through the long grass with the converts in their arms.

Then Scott said, "Time to go, kitties!"

Both tigers spun, retreating to the fence line. There, they turned back around as if they'd done this a few times. Then Scott turned and ran, making it about fifty feet before he stopped and called out, "Go!"

The tigers and human-bear alternated like that, covering each other as the wolves tried to recover. The problem was that more of the wolves were flanking, slipping through the fence, into the pasture, and racing for the side. They wanted to cut us off, and I wasn't sure our group could stop them.

Then the gun went off again and something yelped. "I will shoot you," Scott bellowed. "Back the fuck off and let us go. If