“You won’t shoot. Women are too weak to kill,” the man laughed. He took another step toward me, and Jared leaped.
He took two men down by surprise, ripping them to pieces. At the same time, a third man tried to grab me. I dispatched the threat as the man reached his hand out to try to take my pistol.
Another man raised his rifle. He shot Jared in the shoulder, side, and leg. Jared fell to the ground, and the man took aim again. I jumped on Jared’s body.
“No,” I screamed, turning my weapon toward the shooter.
He aimed his rifle at me, and I dispatched him as well, aiming for center mass, as I had always been taught. He went down, and I turned to the last man, who was fleeing into the woods. I figured he was going for reinforcements. We didn’t have much time.
There was no way I could help Jared on my own, regardless of what form he was in. I simply wasn’t strong enough to carry him, especially with my leg still hurt.
Panting hard, I felt as though I couldn’t get any air in my lungs. I knew I had to stop, or I would hyperventilate, and then I would pass out and be completely useless. Telling myself that I could panic when this was all over, I rummaged through the sacks. I had seen Jared with a satellite phone. I dug it out. Gasping for air, Jared told me how to use it.
I was terrified. I wanted to sit down and cry, but I didn’t have time for that. Jared was having a hard time breathing, and he was losing blood.
Just as I was about to call for backup, I heard rustling in the woods. I covered Jared the best that I could and yelled, “Identify yourself,” just as three men burst into the area.
“Don’t shoot them,” Jared said. “They are the other men I told you about,” he rasped out.
They briefly stated their names, as now was definitely not the time for formal introductions. The three of them quickly assessed the situation. They looked at Jared’s wounds while I described what happened.
We didn’t know when the man would be back with reinforcements. While they could stay and fight them, their first mission was to rescue me, and the second, now, was to save their buddy’s life.
It was decided that their animal forms would be best. The men quickly undressed, and I followed them around, picking up their clothes.
I said, “Wow, I feel like I’m your wife. You’re leaving your socks and underwear strewn everywhere.”
They chuckled at my lame attempt at humor and my attempt to make the situation less tense. My muscles were so tight that I felt my legs cramping.
It was funny that I had never seen a naked man before Jared. Now, there were three of them sitting in front of me, and I didn’t even blink an eye. I felt no discomfort or embarrassment.
“Do you think he should try to shift to human form, or stay in wolf form?” Damian asked.
This was a big question that the men thought about as they prepared to shift.
“It takes a lot of energy to shift, but a lot to maintain his wolf form, too. Plus, we don’t know how bad his injuries are,” Gage said.
“I think he should stay in the wolf form, and once we figure out how bad his injuries are when we get a chance to look at him, we can decide,” I said, putting my two-cents in.
“I think the lady speaks sense,” Gage said.
Lucien transformed into a dragon. I would have been in complete awe of seeing this amazing creature that I thought only existed in fairy tales, but my thoughts were so completely focused on Jared that I didn’t even pay attention to it.
Damien and Gage lifted Jared up and positioned him on Lucien so that he wouldn’t fall off. Then, Lucien immediately took flight into the air. He didn’t even need a running start. Again, I would have been completely awed, but for now, it didn’t seem any more extraordinary than the thought that I shot and killed two men, or that I had been kidnapped, to begin with.
Gage transformed into a huge grizzly bear. Damien lifted me up on his back, settling me behind Gage’s haunches.
“Hang on to anything you can,” Damien said.
“Just try not to rip out too much hair. My wife hates it when I end up with bald spots.”
I laughed. “I’ll do my best,” I said.
Damien turned into a beautiful tiger, and then we were off running.
It took all my strength to duck and dodge the tree branches that tried to knock me off of the bear. Brambles from the bushes grabbed my clothes, my hair, and my skin, as well as the bags that I had on my back.
With each footfall, I felt as though my teeth and brain were going to be shaken out of my head. My stomach contents were shaken up, and I really hoped I could hold everything in. I didn’t want to embarrass myself by being sick, and I was sure that Gage would not appreciate it.