Chris came to stand between Elizabeth and Mark. He flexed his wrists, and spring-loaded knives infused with silver shot out. He’d made them himself with materials and tools from the shop. Said he’d found the schematics online. He rocked his head back and forth, neck popping loudly in the silence.
“What is this—” the wolf started.
But that was as far as he got.
Even before he’d finished the hard end to the first word, we were moving. No sound was made aside from our feet in the dirt. I didn’t even think they were aware of what was happening until it was almost too late for them.
Jessie saw us coming and didn’t wait to be rescued. She brought her right foot up at an angle, her thigh pressing up against her stomach. Then just as quickly, she kicked her foot down into the wolf’s knee, knocking his sideways, the bones cracking wetly as they broke.
I didn’t even give him a chance to register the pain before I brought the crowbar up in a golf swing upside his head, knocking him back. Blood and teeth flew into the air as he landed on his back, leg out at an odd angle.
The wolves snarled around us as they attacked each other, teeth and claws biting and tearing. I grabbed Jessie and dragged her away from the fight. I felt the wards rush over me as we passed through them. “You stay here,” I snapped at her. “Don’t come one step closer. They can’t get to you here.”
“Ox—”
But I didn’t stay to listen to her. I turned and ran back through the wards, directly toward the wolves snarling and growling behind me.
An Omega, half-shifted, eyes crazed with rage, bellowed and headed straight for me, claws outstretched as it leapt. I slid to my knees into the dirt, sliding swiftly even as my pants tore, rocks digging into my skin. I lay back as low as I could go as I slid toward the wolf. It flew over me, its teeth snapping near my neck, claws trailing along my skin. I brought up the tip of the crowbar and shoved it upward. The wolf’s skin bubbled and smoked as the silver cut into it. Bones cracked in his rib cage as I thrust it up as hard as I could, his momentum carrying him over me, splitting him from his chest down to his stomach. He landed awkwardly on his shoulder, crashing into the ground and rolling away. He didn’t move when he stopped facedown, blood pooling beneath him in the dirt.
Behind me, gunfire erupted.
I turned back toward the sound.
Elizabeth had her teeth sunk into the neck of a wolf below her. The wolf was on its back, legs kicking feebly as she tore into it.
Mark was bigger than any of the other wolves, almost by half. He took down two of them even before I could move, teeth soaked with blood.
These Omegas were far less coordinated than the ones that had come before. I didn’t think Richard Collins had sent them. They fought against us, but they didn’t fight together. They moved independently of each other. They weren’t bonded.
Robbie yelped as an Omega clawed his back. He twisted and snapped his teeth over his shoulder, trying to bite at the Omega’s legs. I didn’t wait for him to reach them. I ran full speed toward them, knocking the Omega off him. We hit the ground, the Omega scrabbling above me, teeth near my throat.
Before I could throw it off, Chris was there. He punched the wolf in the back of the neck, knife shooting forward from his wrist and into the spinal cord. The wolf convulsed on top of me, legs skittering and scraping against my skin. Chris jerked his arm back, the wolf’s head rising with his arm until the blade slipped free. Chris was moving again even before I pushed the dead wolf off.
Tanner and Rico were moving in tandem, standing back to back, arms extended, firing into any wolf that came near them. They kept moving in a slow circle, firing in short, even bursts. When one reloaded, the other watched their back.
One wolf slunk in low from the side, trying to remain undetected as it stalked toward them both. Its teeth were bared and it crouched, ready to jump.
“Two o’clock!” I shouted at them.
Tanner ducked immediately as Rico whirled around, arm sweeping over him, moving until the wolf fell within the gun’s sight. He fired once, the bullet catching the wolf in the throat. The wolf fell back, and I knew that the bullet was breaking apart internally, the silver spreading in the bloodstream, poisoning the Omega, slowing its healing enough that it wouldn’t survive.
The sounds died down around us.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Rico and Tanner lowered their guns.
Chris was already running toward Jessie, who stood behind the wards looking shell-shocked.
Pain flared briefly in my arm. There was a gash near my shoulder, not deep, but long. A tooth or a claw had caught me at some point. I probably needed stitches or it would scar. I didn’t think it mattered one way or another. Scars showed what I’d been through. That I was still alive. It was bleeding sluggishly. It’d be fine. For now.
Mark was standing near Robbie, growling at three Omegas who hadn’t shifted during the fight. They were near the bridge, the fear evident on their faces. I didn’t know if they were here by choice or if they’d been forced. Thomas had told me once that Omegas were lost, mostly. On their way to being feral. Marie certainly had been. I didn’t know if they’d be able to find their way back or not.
Elizabeth was standing over the wolf that had been doing the talking. He was conscious, still, body burning from the silver. I knew he’d heal, eventually. If I let him.
There were six dead wolves lying on the ground. The gunfire would be noticed soon. We didn’t have much time.
“Rico,” I said.
“On it,” he said. He pulled out his phone and dialed 911 as he started to walk away. “Yes, hello? I think I hear gunfire. Has anyone called that in? It sounds like it’s coming from out near the south end of town, so hunters? Maybe in the woods?”
Which was in the opposite direction.
I walked over to Elizabeth. She was growling low in her throat, a consistent rumble as the wolf below her bled and choked.
I ran my hand down her back as I knelt beside her. She pressed into the touch, but didn’t look away.
“Gah,” the wolf said, a bubble of blood bursting from his mouth. A thin red mist dotted his cheeks and forehead. “Gah.”
“You should have told me your name,” I said quietly. “But that wasn’t your first mistake. I wouldn’t even say coming here was your first mistake. Do you know what was?”
“Gah. Gah. Gah—”
I said, “Your first mistake was underestimating me. My pack. I may be human, but I run with wolves.”
I stood and moved toward the other Omegas.
Mark and Robbie had herded them up against the wall of the bridge. They cowered as I approached.
Mark and Robbie parted briefly to allow me to step between them. They crowded my sides immediately, pressing their warmth against me.
“You didn’t shift,” I said to the Omegas. “Why?”
There was fear in their eyes as they watched me. None of them spoke.
I took another step toward them.
They whimpered.
And then bared their throats at me.
I stopped.
Because that shouldn’t have happened. That was only for—
I wasn’t—
I couldn’t be—
Something in my scent or the beat of my racing heart must have given me away, because Mark was there, Robbie was there. Elizabeth was there, all three touching me, running their noses on my legs and arms. Rico and Tanner and Chris were there too, somewhere. I could feel them in my mind, bright and loud. Robbie’s thread was stronger than it’d ever been before, and it pulsed with friend and home and packpackpack.