Cursing, Sawyer jumped to his feet, the muscles of his back and legs twisting and spasming to give him more speed as he ran to help her. Multiple bullets tore through his body, and it was the worst pain he’d felt since Odessa. But he pushed all that aside, running faster even as a voice in the back of his head told him he’d never get there before the big shifter either crushed Erin’s throat or snapped her neck.
He was still twenty meters away from his teammate when a snarling blur crossed in front of him, slamming into the gigantic shifter so hard Erin was pitched ten feet through the air. The impact of her body as she hit the stone flooring was hard enough to make Sawyer feel it.
Then Caleb was on top of the creature, attempting to smash in his face with a boot he’d picked up somewhere—a boot that seemed to have part of a leg and a foot still in it. Sawyer found himself absently wondering where the rest of the man’s body might be at the moment.
Praying the omega could handle the shifter, Sawyer skidded to a stop long enough to make sure Erin was still alive, then turned and headed back to Harley. Every instinct he had screamed to get to her side and protect her. And even though it was obvious she could take care of herself, those instincts couldn’t be denied.
Sawyer got to Harley’s side and helped her get a better grip on Misty.
“Stay behind me,” he said. “We need to get her out of here.”
He ignored what he was sure was a complaint about being able to take care of herself. Instead he turned and charged straight at Yegor and the cluster of guards with him, emptying the rest of his handgun magazine into the middle of them as he cut loose with a snarl that shook dust from the ceiling. Some of the men went down from the gunfire, while the others froze, eyes widening as he came at them with fully extended claws and fangs.
The first guy he got to went down under his claws, something Sawyer had never done before. Refusing to dwell on that fact, he scooped up the submachine gun the guy had been holding and started blazing away at full auto.
He wasn’t sure when Forrest showed up, but out of the corner of his eye, Sawyer saw him take Misty from Harley, cradling her protectively and freeing up Harley so she could fight. Sawyer would have preferred if she stayed behind him, but that was never going to happen. While her claws and fangs might not be out, there was little doubt that Harley was an alpha werewolf to her core. She snarled and fought with an anger and intensity that had people stumbling back to get away from her.
When Jake and Elliot arrived, Yegor must have realized the numbers were against him because he started to retreat, edging toward the main doors. There was no way in hell Sawyer was letting that son of a bitch get away.
Reloading the MP5 he’d taken away from the guard, he swung it around, aiming straight for Yegor’s head. Before he could pull the trigger, Yegor grabbed Brielle, dragging her in front of him like a shield and putting a gun to her head, forcing Sawyer to ease up on the trigger.
Brielle immediately struggled to get lose, but Yegor kept her in front of him, one arm wrapped around her neck as he backed toward the door. A younger guy who looked a lot like Brielle ran over to help her, but Seamus appeared out of nowhere to plunge his knife into the man’s shoulder.
Brielle screamed, her dark eyes going wide with terror, and she fought Yegor harder than before. But Yegor merely backpedaled until they were both out of the room along with a handful of his men. Seamus and the rest stayed behind to cover their boss’s retreat.
“Yegor’s getting away!” Sawyer shouted over the radio.
He had no doubt Yegor would head straight for the aerial tram and probably kill Brielle along the way. She might work for Yegor, but apparently, she wasn’t that valuable anymore.
Over the gunfire going on around him, Sawyer heard Adriana screaming for Kristoff to get down and vaguely remembered that was the name of her boyfriend. He assumed that meant some of the captives had gotten free and had come into the room. Somewhere in the midst of the fighting, Erin shouted over the radio for Rory again and again, wanting to know why their teammate wasn’t responding. Sawyer hated like hell to go there, but he knew it was probably because Rory had already been killed. They hadn’t heard a word from him since the shit hit the fan.
Over by the doors, Seamus suddenly disappeared. Sawyer barely had a chance to wonder where the hell he’d gone when the damn guy popped back into existence next to the big green shifter, where the creature was still brawling with Caleb. Sawyer cursed, expecting Seamus to go after Caleb with the knife, but instead he slapped a hand against the creature’s shoulder. A split second later, both Seamus and the shifter disappeared into thin air, leaving Caleb standing there in shock.
Sawyer stared in disbelief. He hadn’t realized Seamus could do that.
It took less than thirty seconds for the last of the guards to realize the fight was over. They dropped their weapons and lifted their hands in the air, giving up. Jake shouted something about tying them up as Sawyer shoved his way through them to get to the doors. He sprinted for the aerial tram, Harley and Erin right behind him.
Yegor and the green shifter were already on the tram, Brielle lying on the ground, unconscious. Seamus must have gone back to grab Adriana because he was dragging her into the car. Surely, he knew how close he was to getting fried right then.
But right as blue sparks began to dance over Adriana’s skin, the guy in the leather jacket burst out a side door and raced over to them. Punching Seamus, he shoved him into the tram just as it pulled away from the station. Wrapping an arm around Adriana, he urged her off to the side.
The moment Adriana was clear of their line of fire, Sawyer, Harley, and Erin started shooting, scattering the few goons who’d been left behind by their boss. Sawyer didn’t blame them for bailing when it was obvious the Ukrainian didn’t care if they lived or died. But whether they realized it or not, even the few seconds they’d held their ground were enough to allow the tram to slide a few hundred meters down the cable.
Sawyer brought his submachine gun up to his shoulder, slowing his breathing and sighting in on the glass-enclosed car carefully. There was nothing but glass between him and Yegor, and that wasn’t going to be enough to keep that bastard alive this time. But he had to make the shot before the car was out of range.
Ignoring the tingles he suddenly felt all over his body, he started to squeeze the trigger when a blur of movement appeared in front of him, blocking his view. Sawyer only had a fraction of a second to realize it was Seamus, popping into existence centimeters away from him, before a searing pain erupted in his chest.
Harley’s scream echoed in Sawyer’s ears as he stumbled back. Confused, he looked down and saw the knife sticking out of the center of his chest. Bloody hell, that hurt like a son of a bitch. Seamus had shown up long enough to shove a knife through his chest before popping back into the moving tram. The bloody fucking bastard waved at them as the car continued to descend, already too far away for the rounds Erin was busy firing at it to do any damage.