We would get our omega back, together.
They howled behind me, furious as the SUV peeled off behind the human men. My wolves moved to follow but the team fired off a number of warning shots. One bullet grazed my paw and it burned hot. I snarled in pain as I realized what had happened.
They had silver bullets. They knew our weakness.
This was trouble.
I paused, furious.
“They have silver weapons,” I snarled. “Be wary. Circle around and do not engage unless you are close enough to take one of them down in a single blow.”
A number of wolves stood at my back. Rebecca was one of them.
“I will not leave your side, alpha. The omega is important to me too,” she snarled next to me, furious at what she’d seen so far.
“I will not see you hurt, beta,” I replied harshly, and I could see her shudder at the gravity of my tone.
“I’m not going to be,” she growled in return, and she crouched low to the ground, gathering her strength for the opportune moment to strike. The men spread outward into a pointed formation, training their weapons upon us and readying themselves to fire.
Their irises were even more yellow then before, almost as if they were changing right before me. They had seemingly grown in size, filling out their combat gear even more than when I’d first laid eyes on them. I studied them more closely now, noticing that their beards seemed thicker, their noses longer, their nails sharper.
They smelled distinctly of human but there was a very faint scent of wolf there. It felt like it didn’t belong together.
I rolled my upper lip when the man in charge took a step toward me. He was careful to keep his gun aimed directly at my head. I took a step forward in challenge and he faltered just the slightest bit. I growled more loudly this time and a glimmer of fear crossed his features. He was scared and rightly so. Even though they were carrying silver bullets and weren’t entirely human, I was the alpha wolf and that carried with it a certain invincibility that none of the other shifters were privy to.
Sure, silver was fatal to me, just like it was to my betas. There was one very important difference for me though. It took time and quite a bit of it to really hurt me. Eventually, it could take me down, but it would take a lot. A whole lot.
He’d have to empty that entire clip into me before I was able to reach him and rip his head from his shoulders. The likelihood of that was slim to none. I crouched, readying myself to attack. Beside me, Rebecca trembled with eagerness. She wanted to fight, and I did too. The others were restless just like the two of us.
“I don’t want to lose any wolves today,” I said carefully to them.
“Our lives are yours, alpha. For the omega,” they all replied in unison.
“For the omega,” I echoed. “Wait for my word.”
I could feel the presence of my betas moving into position in the nearby woods, using the cover of the brush to hide their coats while the men’s attention was kept focused on me and the small group of wolves at my back. A second segment of my pack was circling around the soldiers, closing in on them from behind. Like a vise, we would close in on them from the front and the back until they were no more. They’d taken my mate and they were going to pay for that with their lives.
“Hold,” I ordered.
My wolves tensed, preparing themselves.
The soldiers stilled, watching us closely with a sense of confidence that I couldn’t wait to destroy.
“Hold,” I said once more. My betas moved in behind the men. They were so close that I could see the golden glimmer of their eyes amongst the dense brush.
I took a single step forward, wanting to test the soldiers.
All at once, the front line of men shrieked, a sound that reminded me of the yip of a young pup. In a flurry, I watched as they shifted right in front of me. I narrowed my eyes as I took in the sight of their bodies transforming, their fingers elongating and their nails lengthening into long claws. Their fur wasn’t as thick as ours though and their front paws didn’t descend all the way down to touch the ground. Instead, they remained upright on two feet.
Their snouts were elongated. Their ears were pointed as ours were, but they didn’t turn into full wolves. Instead, there were elements of both human and wolves, as well as the presence of certain features that were distinctly werewolf in origin. It was as though someone had taken features from each of those three beasts and mixed them together as one.
I snarled.
These weren’t men. They weren’t shifter or werewolves either. These were monsters. Genetically engineered soldiers designed to fight for the people who ran this place. If I was a gambling man, I’d bet that they were created right here in a lab deep underground and I’d also wager that was exactly what Dawn had found before she’d been discovered and taken from me.
The hideous monsters growled in return, holding the front line while a number of men still pointed guns at us stood in back of them.
My betas were in full position behind them.