Tate probably would have cheered if Mahsood hadn’t chosen that moment to jump up and run off into the woods, barely avoiding Ashley and the feline shifter rolling across the forest floor, tearing each other apart. The ungrateful bastard didn’t make it more than thirty or forty feet before two of the bad guys rose up out of the bush and grabbed him, dragging him away.
“We’re about to lose our prisoner!” Tate shouted.
Chase had gotten to his feet and was now moving toward the man behind the log on their left, shooting as he went. “I’m a little busy here,” he called out without looking at Tate. “Go get him. I’ll catch up.”
Tate cursed and raced after Mahsood, slowing when he got close. Lifting his 9mm, he took slow, careful aim at one of the men leading the doctor deeper into the woods. He lined up his sights on the center of the man’s back, steadying his hands. He was just about to squeeze the trigger when a strangled growl off to his left interrupted him. He threw a quick glance in that direction to see that the feline had Ashley pinned to the ground and was slowly choking the life out of her.
Shit.
Tate shifted his aim from the men dragging Mahsood away to the feline shifter and popped off a quick shot, clipping the shifter in the shoulder. The shot wasn’t fatal, but it distracted the asshole enough for Ashley to push his hands away and rake her claws across the man’s throat with a snarl, killing him. Ashley apparently didn’t know that, because she shoved the shifter off her, then straddled his body, both hands swinging in a blur as she screamed in totally out-of-control fury.
Damn. Had he just shot the wrong shifter?
Ashley leapt to her feet and turned to glare at him, like she could actually hear his thoughts. She growled at him once, giving Tate a look that implied he shouldn’t follow, then took off after Mahsood.
But he did, because he was stupid like that.
She was too fast for him to catch up, so he fired a few rounds in their direction, hoping to slow them down enough for him to line up the same shot he’d been about to take earlier. Instead, it earned him a burst of automatic weapon fire that had him diving for the dirt. He immediately came up and returned fire, cursing as the slide on his weapon locked back on an empty magazine.
Tate was in the middle of his reload when he sensed someone step out from behind a tree ten feet away. He looked up and saw the female wolf shifter standing there with an MP5 leveled straight and steady at his chest.
He was fucked. He couldn’t reload faster than she could squeeze that trigger and obliterate him, and at this distance, any defensive move would have merely delayed the inevitable. He locked eyes with the woman, waiting.
She stared at him for a moment before dropping the nose of the weapon down a few inches and plowing a dozen rounds into the dirt a few feet in front of him. He wasn’t a fool. He didn’t know what that was about, but he took the unexpected gift and got the hell out of there, finding refuge behind the nearest tree.
He finished reloading his weapon but still waited a few seconds before leaning out to take a look around. The men with Mahsood were long gone, and so was the wolf shifter. He caught sight of Ashley just before she disappeared from view into the trees, a furious expression on her face.
Tate was about to go after Mahsood and the men again when the sound of running feet from behind had him spinning around and lifting his weapon. He pulled up sharply as Chase slid to a stop in front of him.
“What happened?” Chase asked.
Tate wasn’t sure himself. Mahsood had run right into the arms of the men trying to kill him while Tate had helped Ashley kill another shifter, and the wolf shifter had let him live after having him dead in her sights.
“That’s a long story we can get into later,” he told Chase. “Right now, we need to get moving if we hope to have any chance of catching up to them.”
Tate started heading in that direction when his phone vibrated. Slowing to a fast walk, he pulled it out and thumbed the green button, then held it to his ear.
“Evers.”
“It’s Landon. I need you in Seattle ASAP.”
“Now?” Tate frowned. “I’m in the middle of a shoot-out with Ashley Brannon and a group of hired guns who just kidnapped Mahsood. If I leave now, Mahsood is probably dead.”
“That’s Mahsood’s problem,” Landon said. “Tanner and Zarina are in deep shit out in Washington, and helping them takes priority over everything else. Get your ass to the airport. Kendra is arranging air transport right now.”
“Shit.” Tate stopped in midstride. Beside him, Chase did the same, a curious look on his face. “I knew I should have gone out there with Zarina. What happened?”
“An old army buddy of Tanner’s kidnapped him. Kendra’s trying to figure out where the asshole took him, and I want you out there to help with the rescue the second we have anything.”
“I’m on the way.” Tate hung up and looked at Chase. “Change of plans. Mahsood and Ashley are now my second priority.”
“What’s your first priority then?”
“Getting to Washington State to help out that lion hybrid I told you about. He’s in trouble.”
Chase frowned. “What the hell am I supposed to do, act like I never heard about any of this shit?”
Tate thought a moment. “You have any vacation days saved up?”
The question caught Chase off
