Jake was shouting into the radio that the rest of the team would be there in seconds, but Brielle wasn’t sure if that was going to be fast enough. The bad guys were closing in from both sides, getting near enough to angle shots into the server room where Misty was standing right out in the open, completely defenseless.
Brielle had no idea why she was so sure, but something about how the attackers were coming at them convinced her that Misty was their primary target. She knew if the supernaturals got close enough, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill the technopath. Brielle couldn’t let that happen, so she followed Caleb’s insane lead and charged into the fight.
A flick of Uriel’s hand sent her flying sideways through the air, but her newfound abilities let her come down in a graceful roll, then she was up and moving even faster than before. Brielle didn’t realize how fast she was running until she nearly ran into one of the pale-skinned men garbed in rugged tactical gear. Her sudden appearance must have surprised the guy because he hesitated for a fraction of a second before lifting his assault rifle.
His mistake gave Brielle time to get her weapon up first. She pulled the trigger and put a three-round burst straight into the man’s chest and stomach, momentarily marveling at how much easier it was to shoot a weapon now compared to a few seconds ago. Then again, these new abilities also made it easy to shoot another human being at point-blank range without batting an eye, too. That was something she’d normally never even consider being able to do.
Her gift worked in strange ways sometimes.
Jake’s voice in her ear announced that he and the others had arrived, but she ignored him and focused on moving before the bad guy she’d shot had a chance to hit the floor. She pulled back to intercept another attacker heading straight for the door of the server room, his weapon blasting away in Misty’s direction. Brielle fired on the run, desperate to stop the man before it was too late. The first several rounds missed and slammed into the floor to ricochet down the corridor, but then one hit him in the upper leg, distracting him enough to stop shooting at Misty.
Brielle immediately regretted gaining his attention, though, as he ignored the leg wound and spun in a blur of motion to send a hail of bullets in her direction. She dived to the side, tucking and rolling, but still felt a slight pinch right above her hip bone. It took a second—and the sight of blood staining through the right side of her shirt and coat—to realize she’d been shot.
She froze, instinctively waiting for the pain to assault her. She knew lying there unmoving on the floor in the middle of a firefight wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she’d never been shot before. So she tried to cut herself a little slack. But when the pain came, it wasn’t as horrible as she expected. Maybe increased tolerance to pain was another aspect of the abilities she’d absorbed.
She pushed to her feet and moved to put herself between Misty and the next attacker. There might not be a lot of pain, but it was obvious that the bullet wound she’d suffered was serious. Would her abilities hide the pain right up to the point that she bled out? Or would she heal like they could?
There wasn’t much time to ponder that question as she found herself face-to-face with two more of the eerily pale-skinned, dark-haired men coming at her fast. Out the corner of her eye, Brielle saw Harley and Sawyer charge into the main corridor, weapons out and blazing, hitting multiple attackers.
There was no way they’d reach Brielle in time to help. And dealing with two of the supernaturals at once, while injured, was likely more than she was ready for, even with her recently borrowed abilities. But she still took a step back to block the doorway into the server room, ready to protect Misty as long as she could.
The two bad guys lifted their weapons in her direction and began to fire, but before she could even consider diving to the side, a bone-rattling howl shredded the air, and a blur rushed in front of her. The second she saw the blazing blue eyes, fangs, and claws, she knew it was Caleb—and that he’d completely lost control for some reason. Worse than she’d ever seen.
He wasn’t carrying the Colt handgun she was used to seeing him with. Instead, he was holding one of the attacker’s assault rifles by the barrel, smashing it back and forth like a big club. Even when Uriel ripped the weapon out of Caleb’s grip with a single flick of his hand, he kept going, picking up one of the black-garbed men and physically tossing him at the telekinetic supernatural, putting both of them right through a wall.
The next few minutes seemed to last a lifetime. Her teammates were fighting all around her while Uriel smashed people into walls and deflected bullets like he was swatting flies. If it hadn’t been for Caleb and his berserker strength and fury, they would have been overwhelmed already.
Then, as soon as it started, it was all over. The supernaturals in black were fighting one second, then pulled back in an all-out run the next, leaving two of their own dead behind. Brielle started to breathe a sigh of relief until Caleb let out another growl and moved to take off after them.
Brielle stepped in front of him without a second thought, ignoring the snarls and the rage-filled eyes. Dropping the rifle she was holding, she reached out to put her hands on his chest, pushing against him a little. But even with the enhanced strength she’d borrowed, she didn’t have the muscle to hold back an out-of-control werewolf. Caleb tried to move around her, his hand coming down to her hip to push her aside.
She grunted in pain when his fingers touched the bullet wound. That seemed to be the thing that finally stopped him.
Caleb looked down at his hand, where it rested against the blood that had soaked through her jacket, then brought his fingers up to sniff the red stain there. His growl changed to a tortured whine, then he let out a snarl, his fangs growing another half inch to jut out well below his lower lip.
He snapped his head up, staring down the hallway that Uriel and the attackers had fled, and Brielle knew, without a doubt, that he was going to go after them because they’d hurt her.
Brielle slid her hands up his chest, ignoring the evidence of his injuries as she got up on her tiptoes and weaved her fingers in his hair until she had a good grip. Then she dragged his head down until he was close enough to kiss.
“Calm down, Caleb. I’m okay,” she murmured against his mouth, nipping at his lower lip to get his attention. “You don’t have to go after them. I’m fine. Now, calm down.”
He resisted for a moment, like she had caught him off guard, but then his hands were sliding around her, one along her lower back and the other cupping her butt, pulling her close. Then his mouth was on her, his kiss urgent, his tongue slipping out to tease hers, the growls turning into a rumble of pleasure.
It was different kissing Caleb when his fangs were out this far, but she definitely didn’t mind. In fact, Brielle could see herself getting used to them.
“You’re bleeding,” he finally whispered against the tender skin of her neck, his warm breath making a shiver race from her core and up her spine even as his fangs remained almost fully extended. “How bad is it?”