Chapter Twenty-Four

Kassian

He was fighting for his life, but that didn’t mean every moment he could he didn’t glance over at Rosie to ensure she was okay.

Which meant he’d seen her mad dash toward the dropped tranquilizer guns. Kassian wanted to shout out, to tell her no, to go back. But he couldn’t. He was in his bear form, and there were wolves everywhere. He couldn’t spare the time to go to her side. It pained him not to be able to protect his mate, to leap into harm’s way. The bullets wouldn’t have hurt him much; they were too small to do him any real harm. But even just one of them could kill Rosie.

At that moment though, Kean stumbled from an attack, and was almost immediately mobbed by the wolves. Kassian and one of the newcomers went to his side, fighting to free him. Kassian was fighting like a demon, but it was beginning to wear on him. His blows were coming slower now, and he missed with a punch. The allied bear went down hard, and by the time Kassian, Kean, and another of the unnamed Green Bearets managed to free him, it was clear he was out of the fight. His rear leg was mangled into ruin, and it would be a long time before he could stand on it again, let alone fight.

The numbers were starting to turn the fight against him and his allies. He needed to do something! They couldn’t keep up this fight forever. The guns of the two human guards sounded, and Kassian whipped around to see what was happening. He lashed out with his right paw, sending a wolf tumbling backward, though the blow hadn’t done anywhere near enough damage to knock it out of the fight, and merely stunned it.

Rosie! No!

He was forced to turn back to defend himself, and the next chance he got to glance over, he saw one of the guards crumpling to the ground amongst the grass, and Rosie emerging from cover, running faster than he’d thought she could. The remaining guard was firing at her. Just as she cleared the wall, Kassian was tackled by one of the bears. He went down, and the two rolled for several seconds before Kassian was able to disentangle himself.

He swiped dirt into the attacker’s eye, momentarily blinding him. Taking advantage of the lull, he watched Rosie rise up and take aim. He saw the guard do the same. The tranq gun recoiled at the same moment flame emerged from the barrel of the man’s rifle.

A six-inch-long sliver of metal flew across the distance, and embedded itself in the guard’s neck. He fell.

Kassian’s attention was dragged back to Rosie. She was standing, unharmed. He started to smile in relief, but the expression was wiped off his face as he was thrown back down to the ground by the bear shifter. The animal’s huge claws ripped open his flank, and Kassian couldn’t contain his bellow of pain. He rolled, swatting at the other shifter, trying to drive him off. He needed to get some space, to regain his feet. But the bear pressed the attack. Wolves came at him from the side as they saw the opportunity to finally end their hated rival. Kassian was in trouble. Deep trouble.

One of his brothers roared and tried to come to his rescue, but half a dozen wolves cut off his approach, driving him back toward the others. Kassian was cut off. Alone.

Someone coughed.

The bear went still, and then fell over.

Dead? Kassian wondered. Without the huge beast attacking him, he was able to drive off the wolves for a moment and regain his feet. He suddenly saw Rosie, behind the body of the bear, advancing toward him.

NO!

A wolf lunged for her, but Kassian got there first. He took the animal to the ground, his massive jaws closing around the back of its neck. His front paws kept it pinned and he yanked with all the power in his frame, ripping half the spine from the beast. Another wolf went for Rosie, trying to sneak around behind him.

Not today.

Kassian’s rear leg kicked out in a donkey-like move, and the wolf yelped loudly as he crushed its lungs. Battle-rage had given way to fear for the safety of his mate as she came to his side, and Kassian found himself suddenly imbued with renewed strength and stamina. Two more wolves came at Rosie, but they found the two-thousand pound bear always in their way, leaving them rent and broken in his path.

Rosie aimed the gun, then looked at him. “I don’t know who to shoot!” she yelled.

Kassian, not wanting to take the time to shift, did the first thing he could think of. He growled and swatted at the nearest wolf corpse.

“Oh, right,” Rosie said sheepishly. She took aim, and stared firing.

Her magazine clicked on empty. One wolf was down. Kassian winced at her accuracy. Now she was out. But to his surprise she ejected the magazine and pulled another one from the waistband of her pants.

“I brought a spare,” she said.

A bear broke off from the main pack and charged at them.

“I shoot him, right?” she asked nervously.

Kassian roared and prepared to stop the animal if she didn’t shoot him sooner. But the gun made its peculiar coughing-like sound and vomited another six-inch-long metal dart into the shoulder of the approaching bear. The huge beast dropped like a stone, skidding across the pavement before its momentum bled off.

Idiot. He identified himself by breaking off and attacking us. Stupid thing to do.

The sudden reduction in numbers was working just as intended. The Institute shifters were falling back. Which was the stupidest thing they could have done. That allowed Kassian to move to the side of his allies, showing Rosie just who she had to attack. To her, all the bears looked alike. To a shifter, it was easy to tell who was friend and who was foe.

Now though, with a clear line, Rosie emptied the rest of the magazine into the retreating bears. Suddenly there were no more left on their feet. Only seven wolves remained, including Lundgren.

Kassian shifted back into his human form, and walked toward the huge Arctic wolf. Lundgren changed as well, walking across the distance.

“Listen,” the regal, Nordic-looking shifter began as they closed, his nose once again attracting all of Kassian’s attention. “We’re just mercenaries, doing this for the money. It’s nothing personal. We’re out of here. I—”

Kassian’s fist slammed into the other shifter’s face. Yet again his nose broke.

“’Eally?” he asked several moments later, staring up at Kassian from where he had risen to a sitting position on the ground.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled. “If I ever see you or that ridiculous beak of yours again, I’m going to drive it so far back into your head it’ll look like part of your damn spine. Got it?”

The Arctic wolf shifter nodded angrily. “Gob ‘ib” he said, rising and quickly retreating with his pack. The seven shifters ran for the forest, disappearing quickly.

He hated letting them go, but there had been enough death that day. There was only room for one more. He turned to look at the helicopter, and Director Burnatawiz standing slightly in front of it, next to the massive gryphon.

Right. That.

Rosie appeared at his side. “I’ve still got a dart,” she said quietly. “Will that put down a gryphon?”

He frowned. “Probably. But don’t shoot it just yet, okay? Let me do the talking here.”

It was obvious she was unhappy about it, but Kassian just looked at her until she gave in.

“By the way,” he said out of the corner of his mouth as the others approached. “That was really stupid of you.”

“I thought it was brave,” she replied.

“The difference is usually whether you live or die,” he returned.

“Hey, remember, you’re not allowed to talk down to me,” she said, reaching out to give his hand a squeeze, to let him know she was teasing him.

“Well, kind of hard when you’re down there,” he joked, making fun of her height.

It felt weird to be making jokes just then, but Kassian didn’t care. He was complete. He and Rosie could be together now. Forever. He just wanted to gather her up into his arms, to profess his undying love, and to feel the sweet, tender touch of her lips as he kissed her. It had been too long since he’d done that. In the end though, he had her, and she had him, and nothing was going to stand in their way any longer.

In front of him, the gryphon shrieked its battle cry.

Okay, almost nothing.

High-pitched maniacal laughter carried across the distance. Although it was almost a shrieking noise in and of itself, it certainly wasn’t coming from the gryphon. The huge, powerful beast moved aside to reveal Director Burnatawiz standing near the darkened doorway of the helicopter, his head thrown back.

“You think you’ve won?” he asked, finally getting himself under control. “Valiant fight, I must admit. You and your friends, whoever they are, are to be commended for that. But you’ve forgotten the most important piece. Yes, you defeated my other guards, but now you’re all hurt and tired. Gregory here, he’s rested and unharmed. Do you really think you can beat him?”

Kassian just stared at the human, his eyes glittering with hatred. To the right, Maximus still lay in the field. He could see his brother’s body moving slowly up and down, indicating he was breathing, but so far he hadn’t moved a muscle. Had someone drugged him when Kassian wasn’t looking?

“You can look at me like that all you want, but it’s not going to change what happens in the end,” the director told him, wagging a finger. “Enough of this though.”

The head of the Institute turned to the gryphon. “Gregory, deal with them.”

The gryphon’s head swung around to look directly at Kassian.

The bear shifter licked his lips in anticipation.

This was going to be fun.