~

 

Agatha had turned her head at relief at the sound of her name, but that moment of distraction was when someone had rushed towards her from the opposite direction. She’d tried her damnedest to turn back in time, to raise her free hand and ward off the danger with her magic, but the hard grasp of his biting fingers dug into the flesh of her wrist, and she was wrenched sideways on her feet…

Away from Liam.

Away from safety…

The biting pain of being yanked so viciously blinded her mind to concentrating on her magic, and it focused all of her attention on the pain…

“Let her go!” Liam growled, mindful of the fact that his wolf had pushed so far forward that the beast’s fur was prickling his skin from the inside…

“Damn it…” Marco growled out…

He’d scented the wolf in the tunnels, but he’d hoped to have the witch in his grasp and be gone before the shifter showed up – leaving only Kent alone in his wake to take the wrath of her mate…

Marco knew that he had a problem, and it was a big one…

The wolf was in front of him, the witch was struggling within his grasp, and Kent was closing up fast behind him, and none of that boded well for an escape plan…

He needed to think fast and act faster.

 

~

~

~

 

Liam rushed towards his mate without a thought or a care for what happened to him.

He saw the danger that she was in and a red veil came down over his moral compass and his rational mind.

He needed to kill the bear shifter and rescue his mate. That was all. That was everything to him … and if the man harmed one hair on her head then he’d kill him, find a damn way to bring him back to life, and kill him again and again…

His wolf growled and clawed within him. The beast wanted exactly the same thing and the damn wolf wouldn’t be sated until the bear shifters were dead…

He fully intended to make that plan a reality…

The roar that rose through his broad chest and burst from his lips wasn’t his alone. That sound of intention was owned by both man and beast, working in harmony, determined to kill the threat as they saw it…

“Easy, wolf…” Kent growled from somewhere behind Marco… “Let the woman go…” He demanded, but Marco had other ideas…

“Are you challenging me?” Marco growled back over his shoulder, but before Kent could answer – Liam had come within thumping distance of the man…

There wasn’t enough room in the damn tunnels for what Liam had in mind, but he made do…

He reached out one large hand that was aiming to have a connection with Agatha’s face, but he wasn’t reaching for her, he was reaching for Marco. That cowardly bear was using his mate as a human shield…

His fingers wrapped around Marco’s neck and he took great pleasure in squeezing … the sound of his mate gasping in a breath in pain made him loosen his hold on the man’s throat…

“Kill me, I kill her…” Marco rasped against the restriction of air to his lungs…

Liam’s eyes flicked towards Agatha for just a second … just long enough for the bear shifter to toss his mate straight at him, and Liam had no choice in the matter – he had to let go of the man and collect his mate within his arms … for that split second, her safety was all that was important to him.

He turned his body in the confines of the tunnels and put her behind him – the hard fist that he took to the side of the head pitched him sideways and he almost lost his footing – almost crushed his mate against a wall…

“You … here…” Connor wrenched Agatha back into the wider opening where the tunnels converged…

Liam shot out his fist and connected with the side of Marco’s head as the man tried to retreat…

The bear shifter roared – his beast was more than ready for the challenge, and done with the thought of retreating; Marco rushed towards Liam, bulldozing into the man and carrying him backwards through the tunnel under his weight, his willpower, and his raw rage…

Connor saw the shifter’s coming their way and pushed Agatha away from him – a heartbeat later and the shifter’s combined weight had hit him like a freight train, forcing him along with them, and practically crushing his body between them and the nearest stone wall…

The vampire groaned in annoyance…

“Hit him…” Connor bit out…

Liam was already doing just that. Both men were locked together, throwing whatever punches they could manage at each other, and Connor would have inspected his nails if he could have got his hand up that far…

“Don’t tickle him – hit him…” Connor groaned…

“I … am … hitting … him…” Liam offered back, through punches thrown and taken, and through the grunting and growling that his wolf offered…

When Connor got a fist to the face from a stray punch thrown by Marco – he’d had more than enough…

With one large thrust – he was away from the wall at his back – forcing the wolf and the bear shifter backwards into the open space, and sidestepping the pair of them – just in case he ended up trapped once more…

“Idiots…” Connor bit out.

He looked for Agatha, and his eyes found her – just at the exact moment that Kent wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her body against his…

Then the bear shifter headed towards the nook, and the exit out of the tunnels … leaving Connor to bite down on the futility of the two shifters that were pounding all hell out of each other…

“Shifter’s got your mate…” He offered, and noted the way that Liam’s ears pricked up…

With another roar, Liam was done trying to beat the man to death out of some sense of vengeance…

He flicked out his claws and swiped his hand through the air, connecting with Marco’s face, and neck, before he lifted his foot and booted the man away from him. Then he turned to follow the vampire…

He’d had enough of all of them…

He was more than ready to kill someone…

He reached out and yanked Connor backwards, swapping places with him as he stalked towards to nook, following her scent…

The way was barred by a heavy wooden door, and he slammed his palms against it to open it, but it was solid – possibly having been wedged from the other side…

He backed up and took a small run at it. Hitting it hard with his shoulder and bouncing backwards…

With a grunt, he repeated his actions…

“Inwards…” Connor offered…

Liam hit the door with everything that he had, and he felt it move … he stepped back and did it again…

“Inwards – the damn door opens inwards man!” Connor shouted…

“Could have said so sooner…” Liam growled, reaching for the edge of the wood with his claws, digging them in, and yanking the door open.

“Works better that way, no?” Connor grumbled, following the man through into the light of the bedroom…

Liam dropped his chin down towards his chest and growled a long hard warning at Kent, and the man growled back…

All in all – there was only one truth, and that was that Liam was fit to kill him…