Chapter Twenty-One
Dereck stopped suddenly, and the rest of them crowded behind him. Up ahead was a small, wooden cabin with a light on in the window. The curtain moved to the side and Xander saw Pax peering out.
He snarled.
They all shifted, including Jill, until they stood naked in the shadows.
“I don’t see Dakota or Greer,” Xander said.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Clyde said.
Xander could smell Greer, but he had no idea if Pax was waiting behind a door rigged with explosives, planning on blowing up the first shifter who charged through or if he thought he could take Xander on his own.
Suddenly, a truck pulled up the driveway, and parked. Xander watched Dakota jump out of the driver’s seat, but then the rest of the doors opened up, revealing six more shifters.
One of them was Patty Simcox.
So, Dakota and Pax have been busy recruiting.
The new shifters stood out front like a wall as Dakota went inside. Xander didn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have guns tucked away in the back of their jeans.
“What the hell is your plan, son?” Clyde asked.
Xander contemplated his options as he surveyed the scene.
“I want to get to that truck.”
“Why?” Luke asked.
“I’m going to drive it into the cabin.”
All of them stared at him like he’d lost his damn mind.
“That’s insane. What if you hit Greer while using it as a battering ram?” Derick asked.
“She won’t be in the way. If anything, he’d be keeping her in the back.” He tried to sound confident, but he wasn’t so sure.
“You’ll get her killed,” Jill hissed.
“Then I’ll skip the truck and go through the window!”
“If you make it passed the decoys, which will probably rip your heart out before you get that far,” Luke chimed in.
Xander was ready to throttle all of them. “Very helpful.”
“I have a better idea,” Clyde said.
“And what’s that?” Xander asked.
“We wait for the cavalry to arrive.”
Xander cocked his head, completely confused. “What do you mean? Who is the cavalry?”
“Us.”
Norma Larsen stepped up beside Xander, scaring the life out of him. Behind her, Paulette and Betty Larsen smiled.
“Clyde wanted to make sure you realized you weren’t alone, so I made a few calls,” Norma said.
The three of them shifted into wolves, Norma’s coat a burnished red, while Paulette and Betty were light brown. Norma trotted into the trees and came back a moment later.
She wasn’t alone, though.
A black wolf stepped out of the shadows, followed by a white wolf, a black wolf with white paws, and another black wolf with white dots across his muzzle. Fifty more stepped out from the trees, surrounding them.
He’d know Tristan, his wife, Barbara, and their sons anywhere.
Xander shifted back into his wolf and greeted the Wolfe alpha, and his family, glad to see his old friends. He glanced over his shoulder at Clyde who had yet to change back into a wolf.
“What can I say? I like a stacked deck.”
With Greer’s life on the line, he agreed and appreciated the backup. He turned with a quiet snarl, and the Larson’s shifted. Jill was a little slower than the rest of them, but getting better every time.
Xander sprang from the trees, racing toward the six shifters, who stumbled back in surprise as the wolves swarmed them. Xander didn’t stop, letting the rest of the army take care of them.
He needed to get to Greer.
He jumped, shattering the window as he crashed into the cabin. Greer was on the couch, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles locked together with thick rope. Dakota sat behind her, a gun pressed against her temple.
Xander’s heart lurched as he watched her, studying her for any injury, but besides a gash on her swollen cheek, she seemed unharmed.
Greer’s eyes widened, filled with terror. “Xander!”
Pax stepped out of the back room, and the minute Xander spotted him, he snarled.
“Xander Thorson. I must admit, meeting you in person for the first time is actually quite thrilling. I’ve heard so much about you from your family and your pet human here. She really is a darling creature. I don’t know why you haven’t claimed her yet.”
Dakota jerked on Greer’s arm and Xander took a step toward them, his chest rumbling a warning.
“Make one more move, and I’ll kill her,” Dakota said.
“You don’t have the stones,” Greer said.
“Shut up, you stupid cow.”
His brave Greer ignored her. “Don’t you want to know why Pax hasn’t let you kill me, Dakota?”
Xander wanted to tell her to be quiet, but he was afraid to shift and lose his only weapon.
“What the hell is she talking about?” Dakota asked.
“Nothing, dearest, she’s just trying to rile you up.”
Greer smirked. “That’s not true. He told me when you were gone that he plans to bite me in front of Xander and make me his mate, just before Pax kills him.”
Xander saw the gun in Dakota’s hand shake. “It’s not true.” She threw Greer to the ground and stood up, pointing the gun at Pax. “Tell me that’s not fucking true.”
Xander would have rushed to her side, but he was afraid of drawing Dakota’s fire. Greer lifted her face to look at him and he noticed the split bloody lip she must have gotten when Dakota pushed her.
“Darling, why would I want her when I have you?” Pax’s tone was cajoling.
Dakota’s doubt seemed to waver, and then she brought up her other hand, steadying the gun as she leveled it at Pax.
Xander crept closer to Greer, watching her jerk on her arms, struggling to get loose.
“Tell me you love me,” Dakota whispered.
“Of course, I do.”
His voice oozed with sweetness.
“Give me the gun, and I’ll shoot Xander.” Pax held his hand out to her. “He’ll never bother us again.”
“And her?” Dakota swung the gun Greer’s way and Xander stopped moving.
There was a flicker across Pax’s face that lasted barely a quarter of a second, but Xander had seen it.
And so had Dakota.
Pax seemed to realize the moment he lost her, because he lunged at her. She got off one shot before the two fell back to the floor. Pax reared up over Dakota, his hand shifting into a claw as he started to bring it down.
Dakota pressed the gun into his chest and pulled the trigger.