The cold sapphire eyes slid toward me and back to Chris. I stepped closer to bring him within range and draw his attention off Chris and the dart gun.
“Peter, hey, it’s me, Liam.” I spoke as though he were a spooked horse. The wulfan focused on me. He lifted his lip to show fangs and let out a low rumble.
If Peter was in there, he was buried deep.
Keen answered him, moving up beside me. I sensed her confusion at Peter’s actions, but there was no doubt where her loyalty lay. Havoc hung back, uncertain, his tail stiff.
Josh stepped out of the bush from behind Peter, his dark fur blending with the shadows, bits of shredded cloth hanging from him, too. I looked into his unusual emerald eyes and my heart ached. I didn’t see anything there but wulf.
“Ready?” Chris asked.
No. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t think of another way.
“Peter first. Have no idea how Josh will react, so brace yourself.” The pain in his voice made me wince, but his grim resolution terrified me. I thought of the real gun tucked into his waistband and swallowed.
Wulfan mate for life.
The dart gun made the softest of sounds, and the dart appeared in Peter’s shoulder as though by magic.
And all hell broke loose.
If the human in Peter had been aware, he’d have known Chris fired the dart. But the animal in him was focused on me and Keen, and when the dart hit, he came at us with a roar. I fired the Taser.
Both probes hit him in the chest, and he convulsed in mid-leap, landing in a twitching heap almost at my feet. But it didn’t completely incapacitate him, and I yanked Keen back from his snarling, snapping teeth and slashing claws. Havoc barked hysterically, not understanding what was going on.
Chris had already reloaded the dart gun and raised it to cover Josh, who crouched low to the ground, lips peeled away from his fangs. I’m sure he growled but I couldn’t detect him over the ruckus Peter and Havoc made. Peter’s legs flailed and his back arched as he clawed the air with jaws wide open. His movements lost power as the dart’s drug took hold, and with a final cry, he collapsed.
My heart threatened to leap straight out of my body, but as Peter’s noise subsided, I became aware of Chris’s voice, and the emotion in it made me ache. I looked at the black-haired wulf and experienced the smallest blossoming of hope. For I could see what Peter’s eyes had lacked: recognition. Josh was in there and he was listening to Chris.
With my hand buried in Keen’s ruff, I felt her attention shift. Sniffing hard into the wind, my human nose caught the faintest of scents. Sam. She closed in behind Josh, moving into position in case we needed her. I couldn’t scent Garrett, but he must be there, likely moving up on the other side.
Chris took a step closer to Josh and crouched, lowering the gun to the ground. My heart skipped a beat, and I remembered Alec—he’d trusted him too. My finger trembled on the Taser’s trigger. If Josh went for him, Chris was too close for Sam to get there in time. I didn’t have a great Taser shot from this angle, but I would be the best chance of stopping the wulf.
Josh shook his head, and I spotted the heavily kinked human hair among the fur of his dense mane. Chris kept talking, his voice low. I winced at his pleading tone. “Come back to me, I’m here, please Josh, come back . . .” Over and over he said it, putting every ounce of his heart out there for us to see. And something sparked in Josh’s wulfan eyes.
It’s working.
The change began so subtly that it was half over before I knew it had started. Josh huddled there, naked, covered in filth, but human.
In a fluid, swift motion Chris gathered Josh in his arms, wrapping around him so tightly I could barely see him. I let go of Keen and turned away to give them a moment of privacy, which was wrecked by Havoc attempting to lick any exposed part of Josh.
Sam stepped out of the bush in human form and I froze, transfixed by smooth skin and luscious curves. When Garrett emerged near her—six foot three of solid naked muscle—I barely restrained myself from snarling at the man.
He saw the intent in my eyes and held up his hands. “Hey, easy. Although I must point out, she will exact retribution.”
Castration. Right. Although from what I had just—accidentally—seen of Garrett, it was clear that the threat might be an empty one.
Although Sam had to be conscious of my stare, she didn’t issue her usual warning. Instead, she reached to rearrange Peter’s wulf legs, which further tested my resolve to keep my eyes where they should be. Fine silver lines traced along her back and across her right buttock—more scars, old ones, barely visible against her pale skin. She turned and caught me looking, and for once I stared straight at her, daring her to say something.
She did, but not what I expected. “Let’s get him into Beast.” How many wulfan—or wulfleng bodies—had the vehicle pulled out of the field?
We lifted Peter into the box, and Garrett fetched thick metal cuffs from the storage compartment. He fastened them around the limp wulf legs and then snapped them onto loops welded to the box. Were they custom jobs or designed to tie other things? Perhaps it was best not to know. Once he secured Peter, he pulled out a tarp. We covered the silver-furred form and strapped it down like cargo. I doubted there was much human traffic in this area, but I guess one never knew.
Chris helped Josh to his feet, and Garrett plucked a pair of sweats and a tee shirt out of
