Raising my head as little as possible, I tried to see what was happening, grateful for my excellent night vision. The wolves were everywhere. I heard men screaming, more gunshots, and then I noticed another black wolf, almost identical to Adam, over at the tree line. He was limping and dragging something large with him.
Then I realized what his package was.
Sasha.
Before I could decide if I should stop him or just let him have her, something occurred to me. Where was Sebastian? He’d shown up before all hell broke loose. Before Sasha got knocked out with a tranquilizer dart. I didn’t see him anywhere.
I turned back toward the van and saw a familiar face. Cyrus.
He raised his gun at Adam and adrenaline shot through my veins. “No!” I jumped to my feet revealing my position. “Leave him alone! I’ll go with you.”
The second his eyes flicked toward me Adam attacked. Gunfire deafened my ears, and a giant silver wolf knocked me to the ground. I struggled, not certain if I was being attacked or protected.
I rolled out from under the large wolf and rocked up on my knees. Relief swamped my entire body when the black wolf with a bullet hanging from his neck stood over a body growling. Cyrus didn’t struggle. In fact, he laid deathly still.
“Retreat!” A male voice shouted.
Doors slammed and an engine started up. None of the men tried to rescue their fallen leader. The red taillights of the van grew smaller as it drove away. No license plate. Nothing.
A high-pitched whine broke the spell. At the sound, Adam left Cyrus’s mangled body and galloped over to the silver wolf who had knocked me down. He nudged at the silver wolf with his snout and huffing at the Alpha. He wasn’t getting up. I knelt beside the wolf and quickly found blood spreading across his fur.
“Oh God, he’s been shot,” I whispered as the wolves circled around me.
Adam whined again, pushing at the silver wolf’s nose. I ran my hands down his side, grateful when I felt his flanks moving. He was still breathing. I needed to stop the bleeding, fast.
The entire area reeked of blood. I’d never seen anything like it. While I searched for something to use as a compress, my stomach retched, and a dry cough escaped my lips. I forced myself to keep moving until I found one of the Nero agents motionless on the ground, his throat ripped wide open. For a second the horror of it short- circuited my brain. I wasn’t sure where to start with this body.
I looked back at Adam with the silver wolf, his father. The image brought me back, forced me through the fear. I didn’t want Adam to lose his family. Staring back down at the body, I decided not to try to pull his shirt off. I wasn’t sure how well his head was still fastened to his body, I thought all too easily. Instead, I ran to his feet, ripping off his shoes so I could get to his socks.
I hurried back to Adam’s father, fell to my knees, and pressed a sock against the wound, hard enough to enter the bullet hole. The silver wolf whimpered, and I stroked his head gently, hoping it might calm him.
“I’m sorry it hurts. I’m trying to stop the bleeding. Just rest now.”
But instead of resting the wolf started to pant. Hard. His muscles tensed and trembled under my fingertips.
“What’s happening?” I looked over my shoulder, but the big black wolf with the silver bullet around his neck was gone. “Adam?” I called out. “Where are you?”
The hollow sound of joints snapping and popping drew my attention back to the injured wolf. His large body convulsed, and I suddenly realized what was happening.
“You’re shifting.” My eyes welled with tears. “No.” I shook my head. “No, you can’t waste the energy.”
I had no idea if he could understand me. But he was mutating back into a man whether I wanted him to or not. Maybe that’s what happened when they were injured or…dying.
As his fur vanished, leaving smooth tanned skin behind, I saw the exit wound of the bullet through his back. The hole was larger than I’d expected and glistened with fresh blood. I folded the other sock and bent over him to press it against the exit wound. The change was nearly finished, and the man moaned, wincing as I applied pressure.
“We need to get you to a hospital.” My heart was racing. There was too much blood.
“Jason, go change. Now.” The sound of Adam’s voice startled me.
I spun around to find him standing right behind me. He was naked in the moonlight, his jaw set, his eyes determined. One of the tan wolves with orange eyes—Jason, I assumed—raced off into the trees.
“You’re a man again. How?” Forming full sentences felt like performing high level math. “The moon is still full. I…”
Adam answered in spite of my inability to verbalize. “Yeah. It hurts like hell, but we can shift back by force.” Moonlight glistened in the sweat all over his face and chest. “Takes a lot to control the wolf during a full moon, but we can if we have to.”
He knelt beside me, and I met his eyes. “He’s losing too much blood.”
Adam took his father’s hand. “Stay with me, Dad. Jason will be here in a minute. We’ll get you all fixed up.”
The older man’s lashes fluttered and finally opened. There was no denying the resemblance.
“Introduce me,” he whispered. “I want to meet your…mate.”
For a moment Adam’s expression softened. He took my hand, laced his fingers with mine. “This is Lana.” His voice trembled when he looked at me. I could see his pain and his fear for his father, but he cleared his throat and pushed his emotions back when he looked back down at him. “Lana, this is Malcolm, my father and my Alpha.”
My eyes brimmed with tears as Malcolm placed his palm over our joined hands. His mouth curved into a warm smile and his eyes moved between our faces. “Welcome to the Pack, Lana…” His breath wheezed. He winced, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his gaze locked on mine. “I accept you as my son’s mate.”
Adam’s eyes shone in the moonlight, his jaw slack. “But you told me—”
“I was a fool.” He fought to swallow and catch his breath. He glanced at me, and I swore his green eyes sparkled. He stared up at his son. “She’s pregnant, Adam. You didn’t tell me.”
Shock and disbelief shot through me. “You told me you have to bite a woman and convert her before you can have a baby.”
Adam nodded and looked back down at his father. “It’s impossible. I didn’t bite her, Dad.”
He coughed and moaned. “I don’t know how, but she is. Concentrate on her scent.” He pulled in another shallow breath through his nose. “Beyond the jaguar. There’s more. There’s almost your scent mixed with hers.” He nodded to himself. “She’s definitely carrying your child.”
I’m sure my face must’ve looked as shocked as I felt on the inside, my heart racing out of control. I was about to tell them I felt fine—I was pretty sure I’d know if I was pregnant. I wasn’t sick or tired. But before I could say anything, another naked man rushed to kneel beside Malcolm.
He glanced over at me. “Can you give me some room?”
I nodded and got up. Until then I hadn’t even noticed that Malcolm was nude too, but none of it mattered.
Adam watched the man’s every move. He carefully lifted the sock I’d been using for a compress and inspected the wound. Malcolm groaned and hissed as his Packmate explored the wound with his finger.
When he leaned back, he replaced the compress. “The bullet grazed your liver. I’m going to need to do surgery right away.”
Malcolm shook his head, his face glistening with sweat. “No. Just patch me up here.”
The doctor looked up at Adam. “He’s bleeding internally. We’ve got to get him to a hospital.”
“Too risky to the Pack,” Malcolm rasped. “The needs of the Pack come first.”
Adam squeezed his father’s shoulder and looked at the doctor. “Jason, talk to him. He has to understand.”
Jason stared at his patient. “I can’t do surgery here even if I wanted to, Malcolm. I don’t have any of my equipment and not enough light. I can fix this, and you’ll be fine. We just need a hospital.”
Adam got up, his jaw tight and eyes stern. I noticed the black wolf with the injured leg was limping back to
