Pilar and Maverick had arrived at the shuttered steel mill where Hal had instructed Maverick to meet him. He wanted to meet immediately, and, to avoid suspicion, they agreed. She was feeling a little uneasy since they couldn't wait for backup, but it was this, or Maverick would have snuck out without her.
They weren’t sure how this encounter between them was going to go, but they knew this was their only chance to get some revenge on the man that had tried to kill him.
They both opened their doors as Hal stepped around the edge of the building. His face changed when he noticed that Maverick had brought Pilar along for the ride.
“Pilar!” he shouted. “You should leave now. You never even should’ve come. You have no business being here as it seems your business is concluded now that you have failed in your one job protecting him. He clearly has no use for you here, or anywhere anymore for that matter, since you could not do the one simple job you were hired to do.” He laughed at her.
The way he had spoken to his love angered Maverick. “Hal, leave her out of this. Pilar stays. She is with me. Let’s just get on with this,” he responded before Pilar could get a word out.
Hal sneered angrily at them both. “Well, Maverick, a bodyguard won’t be much help to you now.” A grin spread across his face as he snapped his fingers, and a bunch of his shifter goons surrounded them.
Hal was clearly nervous about this whole meeting he had set up. He had bodyguards of his own at his disposal in case things went south. He clearly wanted to show them both just how much muscle he had at his every command.
Hal squinted his eyes up and down at Maverick like he had just now recognized his new appearance. “I don’t remember you being so big, Wilcox.”
“Oh, I've been working out a lot.” Maverick smiled back in response with a knowing grin. Their plan had worked.
Hal had no idea that he had been changed. He thought Maverick was still sick and there to meet for his antidote. Just like Pilar and he had planned all along.
Maverick wasted no time after their trap had been set. It was like he had come alive, and even though Pilar had warned him that he might not be able to shift without practice, just the sight of Hal sent him into a rage he had never felt before.
His shift seemed to be effortless. His clothes were ripped off in shreds, falling to the dirt beneath his large, alpha-sized paws. A lion stood in his place, rippling with pure power, and while part of Pilar was turned on by it, she was more focused on the part filled with pride.
Good thing I told him to pack extra clothes in case that happened.
As soon as he was fully shifted, he lunged for Hal. Hal’s goons intercepted his movement, swiping at her mate and protecting Hal the best they could against Maverick’s angry and vicious strikes. With Maverick’s level of rage, they stood no chance.
Pilar stood back, having not moved from the same place that she had been when they first were approached by Hal. Her face was a mask of shock from watching Maverick shift so quickly.
He didn’t even need practice like I thought he would.Especially with how new to all of this he was. She couldn’t believe how second nature this seemed to be for him.He is an extremely handsome lion. An alpha, for sure.
She had gotten caught up in watching as her alpha defended them. She couldn’t help but be amazed at his effortless attack. His reactions seemed practiced, not those actions of someone who had just become a shifter so recently.
Pilar shifted into her lioness self to fight alongside her mate.Her alpha. Her mate.She couldn’t stop herself as she repeated the phrase over and over in her head.
She couldn’t keep herself from thinking about his quick shift and how proud she was of him, but she needed to focus on the fight.
It had felt so nice to refer to him as hers that she had momentarily forgotten how serious the situation was.
Focus, Pilar. Focus.
There were several bodies to his one, large, handsome self, which made it an unfair advantage … for Maverick. It was like he had broken out of a cage, energy pouring out of him. He threw his head back and roared … possibly the loudest roar she had ever heard. It echoed in her chest.
He dug in even harder, slashing through each opponent effortlessly. He grabbed each one of Hal’s goons, and with the new alpha instincts that must have kicked in, fueled by the rage he had felt, his teeth sank into their skin, ripping them apart.
He didn’t even seem to need her help. She watched as, one by one, the shifters lunged at him in an attempt to overtake him, but they were tossed through the air, hitting the ground so hard that none of them had gotten up. His rage clearly fueled his energy. No matter how big the goon was, how strong, or how fast, he was no match for Maverick and his newly found power.
Pilar just watched him in astonishment. She couldn’t remember having ever seen anything like him before. Especially so fresh out of the new shifter gate.
She was so proud of her mate as he defended himself, as he defended her.
Thereit was again.Her mate. Her alpha.She felt like she was going to burst at the seams from all the emotions pouring through her, but the one that hit her the most was satisfaction. Hal was being taught a lesson about messing with Maverick, and it was a lesson he had not prepared himself for.
When Maverick had finally defeated the last of Hal’s goon-squad shifters, he turned his gaze on Hal, who looked back with notable defeat. His face had paled significantly, and his palms were in fists, contrary to the look of defeat in his eyes.
He had lost the fight. It seemed to hit him all at once, and Hal took off at a dead run from the battlegrounds, a fight he had started but could not or would not attempt to finish himself.
He had sent his minions in there first, as he hoped they would be enough to scare human Maverick into surrendering to him, but he had not realized the true person he was now up against.