Chapter Twenty-Two

Kassian

Rosie had accomplished her mission.

He’d already known she’d done the most important part, but there had been multiple aspects to it. Get the weapons for the women from a supply cache Mila had told her about. Inform his homeland what was going on. And most importantly, seek reinforcements for the battle he’d known was coming.

As much as he was relieved to note that it appeared she’d accomplished all aspects of that, he didn’t have time to think about it. The flare would accomplish its job, but it had had another, somewhat unexpected side effect. The impressive group of shifters the director had assembled took it as a signal to begin. They charged. Including the two bear shifters facing Kassian.

He leapt forward at the one he had pegged as the more dangerous. This was no time for obeying any sort of code or set of rules. This was a fight for survival, plain and simple. Which is why he’d launched himself right for the shifter’s head. He bore the man to the ground, having surprised him with his attack. Kassian landed, his hands slamming the big shifter’s head into the earth with as much force as he could muster. It stunned his opponent for a split second, but that was all he needed.

Kassian’s thumbs dug deep into the eye sockets as he gouged the shifter’s eyes out. The bear shifter screamed, a high-pitched sound of agony that grated on his senses. The feeling on his thumbs made him want to vomit, but there was no time for that. Mission accomplished, he flung himself forward into a long dive-roll, putting some distance between him and the other shifter he knew was coming at him from behind.

Spinning as he rose, Kassian saw the shifter stumbling off-balance as he swung at the place his head had been. Taking advantage of it, Kassian stepped forward and delivered a brutal kick to the side of the shifter’s knee. Multiple things gave way under the blow, and the shifter’s knee buckled, suddenly unable to support his weight. Kassian leaned backward, pulled his leg in, and then lashed out with another kick at the bear’s head. It snapped around and the shifter fell to the ground. He wasn’t dead, but he wouldn’t be much of a harm in this fight any longer.

His initial danger dealt with, Kassian turned to dash across the field toward his brothers. They were vastly outnumbered by the wolfpack and the additional bear watchers that the director had planted in the forest. He needed to get to their side immediately, to aid them in the fight.

Almost before he’d finished his turn and started running though, he skidded to a halt. The wolves weren’t going for his brother. Almost as one, the entire pack had turned and was racing toward their chosen target: him.

“Oh fuck,” he muttered.

One wolf was nothing. Even three or four he could handle. Half a dozen, maybe, if the situation was right. Fifteen? With fifteen he was fucked.

In the lead came the biggest of them all. The Alpha. The Arctic wolf. Lundgren.

The Nose.

Kassian smiled. “You idiot,” he muttered out loud, and did the last thing he hoped the wolves would expect out of him. He charged straight forward.

The pack faltered in their unified front. Some slowed, some curved out wide, and some, like Lundgren, came right at him without slowing down. Kassian chose one of the smaller dire wolves loping along on the left of The Nose, and aimed directly at him.

Almost instantly the wolves altered course slightly. Not much, but just enough to put Lundgren at the front. Kassian aimed to the wolf on his right, and again the pack swung slightly, the targeted wolf dropping back enough that the Alpha was between Kassian and him.

“This is why nobody has respect for wolves,” he said aloud. Lundgren wanted Kassian for himself. But Kassian wasn’t in his bear form. He wasn’t the slow—comparatively—lumbering beast that the swifter, more agile wolves would be best against. Instead, he’d decided to stay in his human form. This left him as the more agile one, with far more ways to lash out and strike his foes.

And Kassian had every intention of doing just that. The space between them closed in a flash. At the last moment, as Lundgren surged forward with an extra bit of speed, desperate to get there first, Kassian dodged to the right. The wolf saw him go, and leapt at him.

Almost as soon as his right foot landed though, Kassian was moving back to his left. It had been a feint. The wolf sailed through the air toward empty space. Kassian landed, pushed hard off his left foot this time, and launched himself back at the wolf. Instead of taking him square on though, he came at him from the side. A big, meaty fist hit the wolf right square on the tip of the muzzle. The huge creature yelped pitifully as it was sent flying.

“Seriously, how are you still the alpha of this pack of mutts?” Kassian taunted.

He landed again, pivoted, and his spinning backfist took another wolf in the flank as it leapt at him. A third nipped at his leg, drawing blood, and a fourth went for his thigh, though he managed to give it a knee to the gut for its troubles.

Kassian flung himself up and over another wolf, and into a dive roll. He came out of it and snapped his fists out to either side. Two wolves reeled away, taking the blows right on the head. One of his knuckles popped, but it didn’t matter. A wolf landed on his back, paws ripping away at his shirt and skin. Kassian stood up, tumbling the wolf back into several of its packmates.

He spun with a vicious kick, snapping the foreleg of one wolf and actually crushing the skull of a second one with the steel toe. The wolf fell, dead on the spot. That created a bit of a lull as the other wolves noticed their fallen comrade. Sadness was almost immediately replaced by anger though, and they came at him again.

Kassian had kept moving though, and now they had to run to keep up. He was closing in on his brothers, who were currently working to defeat the six bear shifters that had emerged from the woods. Two against one was not good odds. He needed to get there, to help them. With the wolves and the bears intermixed, he and his brothers would have a better hand on things, forcing them all to work together.

Considering wolves and bears were notoriously terrible for getting along, he knew it could only help his side. First though, he had to reach them. The wolves were faster than he was in a flat-out footrace, and it wasn’t even close. They caught up to him with ease, and once again he was in the midst of the pack, hitting some, getting hurt by others.

The wolves were getting in the way of each other though, and it was hindering them from doing full damage. Lundgren, seemingly recovered from the blow to his wolf nose, snapped and snarled orders, and almost immediately eight of the surviving wolves dashed off. That left Lundgren and five of his compatriots to deal with Kassian. Still not great odds, especially with the Arctic wolf leading them.

Ahead, Kassian saw his brothers go down under the wave of Institute reinforcements.

Behind him, the gryphon was stalking back and forth in front of the helicopter, as if waiting for its turn to join the fray. The looming threat was there, and the big shifter would still be there, even after the Institute was dealt with.

He turned to Rosie even as Lundgren and his fellows launched their coordinated attack. “NOW!” he yelled. “DO IT NOW!”

Then the wolves bore him to the ground, and all he knew were paws, teeth, fists, knees, and feet as he fought for his life.