“No way. Rory’s staying with you and that’s final. The only thing you get to decide is whether the two of you are going to follow or head for the rooms holding all the plant employees. Those are closer, so that would be my choice.”
Then, before either of them could argue, he turned and ran, the muscles of his legs and back twisting and spasming as he partially shifted to give him all the speed he could manage.
Even though it took him less than a minute to run from the security office to the corridor outside reactor five, it felt like forever. He reached the intersection that led to the reactor room, having every intention of heading that way, but then the incessant chatter on the radio broke through. Harley, Jake, and Erin were shouting back and forth as they tried to protect themselves from Seamus and all of Yegor’s men, while Caleb contended with the big shifter, Batu.
Sawyer didn’t consciously decide to turn and sprint toward them instead of going to the reactor room. Something inside him wouldn’t give him a choice. After the conversation he and Harley had about The One, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what instinct was guiding him. His soul mate was in danger and his inner wolf demanded he go after her.
The scene at the control room looked like something from a nightmare. Bodies covered in blood littered the floor, along with endless shards of broken glass as men in black tactical gear fired automatic weapons at everything and anything that moved. Kristoff was in one corner of the room, Adriana pale and unmoving in his lap. Caleb and Batu were smashing each other back and forth across the space, tearing each other to shreds. Yegor was yelling at his men to keep fighting as Seamus popped in and out of existence with his knife.
Jake, Erin, and Harley were all bleeding from multiple wounds. As he watched, Harley stepped in front of Erin, purposely taking a bullet meant for his MI6 teammate. A split second later, Harley snapped her head around until her beautiful, blue eyes met his, as if somehow, in all the madness, she’d known he was there.
Words couldn’t convey all the emotion that passed between them in those few seconds of eye contact. All he knew was that when he got the chance, he was going to tell Harley how much he loved her. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid not to admit it before, out in the middle of that field at the microbrewery.
Growling, Sawyer lifted his weapon and started shooting. Most of Yegor’s goons had their back to him, but he didn’t care. He simply emptied the magazine from his MP5 into the center of them, then quickly reloaded and repeated the process. There was hardly anyone left standing by the time they even realized he was there.
Seamus popped up to his left, slicing open Sawyer’s shoulder on that side before disappearing again. He cursed, knowing the bastard was likely going to come at him again any second. Sawyer forced himself to remain calm, reaching out with his ears and nose, praying he could somehow pick up something that would clue him in on which way the man was going to attack from.
Tingles ran across his body as Seamus came at him again, first from the right, then again from directly behind. Sawyer ignored the rapid strikes, his attention snagged by the little tingles he felt right before each attack. With a start, he realized this wasn’t the first time he’d felt the sensation of pins and needles. He’d felt them back on that mountaintop in Greece, right before Seamus stabbed him in the chest.
Hoping he wasn’t imagining things, Sawyer relaxed and let his inner wolf guide him, listening to whatever the tingles were trying to say to him. A second later, when a line of sensation zipped down his right side, he spun that way without thinking, squeezing the trigger on his submachine gun before he even saw anything.
He wasn’t sure if he hit Seamus when the guy materialized on that side because the supernatural disappeared again too fast to be sure. But he’d definitely freaked the bastard out enough to make him think twice before charging at him again.
Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Sawyer fired a dozen or so rounds at the last of Yegor’s men, then popped off a few at Yegor, wanting the wanker to know what it was like to duck and bleed like everyone else. When he was out of bullets, he dropped his submachine gun and took off running straight toward Caleb and Batu.
Based on the way all of their previous run-ins with the huge, green shifter had gone, it seemed obvious that bullets didn’t bother him that much. Caleb’s werewolf claws, on the other hand, definitely seemed to be capable of penetrating that thick, scaly hide. Knowing there was no way they’d get to Yegor without taking down his two lieutenants first, Sawyer decided to try something out of the box.
Caleb’s eyes were glowing vivid omega blue, a clear sign he’d lost nearly every shred of self-control he possessed and was fighting on pure animal instinct. But when he caught sight of Sawyer, he seemed to still have enough presence of mind to keep Batu’s attention focused on him long enough for Sawyer to get a shot at his exposed back.
Sawyer stiffened his fingers and rammed his claws straight into the shifter’s lower back, aiming for the thing’s kidney. Then he wrapped his free arm around the shifter’s neck, yanking him backward as he continued to shove and twist with his claws.
The shifter howled in pain and rage as Caleb began to rip and tear at his exposed stomach and chest. The sound was loud, echoing off the walls and drowning out even the blare of the alarms. It was so deafening Sawyer almost missed the tingle running along his back.
Almost.
Trusting his instincts again, Sawyer heaved, twisting his body and dragging the shifter around to use him as a shield for the attack he knew was coming at him from behind.
Seamus popped into existence right there, knife already coming down. But this time, the supernatural didn’t materialize a few feet away like he had all the other times. Instead, Seamus appeared right in front of him, like he didn’t want to give Sawyer a chance to react.
But that space right in front of Sawyer wasn’t clear any longer. And the look of horror on Seamus’s face when he realized that he had materialized in the middle of Batu’s body, was something Sawyer never wanted to see again.
Sawyer tried to hold up both of them, but when the supernaturals began to convulse violently, keeping them upright became impossible. Seamus and Batu were screaming in anguish as they crashed to the floor.
Just when it seemed there was no way the two supernaturals could survive another second, there was a concussive thump Sawyer felt through his whole body, and the two men were thrown violently apart, each flying ten feet through the air only to slide and roll another dozen feet across the floor before coming to a bone-cracking halt against either wall. Neither one moved. They barely breathed.
Movement from the corner of his eye caught Sawyer’s attention, and he spun around, yanking the handgun from the holster on his thigh at the same time.
Sawyer expected to see Yegor pointing a gun at him or one of his teammates, but instead the man was aiming his automatic at Adriana, where she still lay in Kristoff’s arms. But while the evil smile on Yegor’s face was disconcerting, it was the cell phone in his left hand that really worried Sawyer.