Pain. A crushing weight on top of her pressed until she had no air in her lungs. Rayven pushed with her fists. Something hard covered her body, not giving an inch, but she managed to open her eyes.

Large steel-gray eyes gazed at her with an intensity that made it hard to concentrate. The concern laced in his expression as his gaze flickered over her face shocked her. Then reality hit.

“Can’t breathe.” She gasped for air, and he rose to his palms and knees, hovering over her. Air washed blissfully over her, and her lungs expanded, then she missed the warmth of his body. A crazy thought, especially when every cell in her body hurt.

But, wow. From the close-cropped blond hair to the squared jaw covered with matching stubble, he looked downright…tempting and fierce. An angel? “Who are you?”

“Enforcer Breslin Taggart, Ms. Karndottir.” He responded without blinking, the earlier concern gone and his voice so emotionless, it gave her chills.

She might as well be speaking to an automated response system. Yet, his stone-blank expression and the cold glint in his eyes told a different story. A deep layer of fire ran through him, one she’d always associated with others as hate. And he directed it at her. How could he bottle such rage against someone he’d never even met? For she’d remember him if she’d ever seen him before.

Karndottir’s men comprised some of the most dangerous shifters she’d ever tangled with. But the tension coiled in Enforcer Taggart’s body, the lean, hard muscles pressed against her, spoke to restrained power and discipline.

Then she remembered.

He wasn’t a member of her clan. He most certainly wasn’t a friend. This was the man tasked with delivering her to the tribunal. The assassin Ghost, who Jacob had snidely informed her was coming to fetch her.

Too bad. She could have used someone with his formidable skills on her side for a change. Her list of enemies was already far too long.

Then her world tilted sideways. A dizzying look to her right confirmed a crushed car door and a rock ledge visible through the cracked but still solid window. A glance to the left didn’t help. Open air.

Panicked, she took in the crushed roof. Her neck ached and her chest burned as she searched for another way out.

What happened? Last thing she remembered, she’d tried to avoid Sam after he shifted and aimed a claw at her head.

“This looks bad.”

Taggart was busy checking out the interior of the vehicle when the car lurched again. He didn’t bother answering her and bent, reaching beneath her seat. A moment later, he resurfaced holding a small hand-sized tool, a LifeHammer.

Since she couldn’t shift, she’d spent too many hours traveling by car and always carried one in her glove compartment. Fortunately, she’d never needed to use it.

The vehicle jerked a few inches, and the seat belt, somehow caught beneath the crumpled side door, dug across her midsection. She ground her teeth and closed her eyes at the fiery pain.

Better to go this way than in the alpha gauntlet. For that was what awaited her. But the children of the clan still needed her.

“Don’t count on dying yet,” he replied.

She hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“When I’m done, we’re going to move fast.” Taggart gained her attention as she tried to keep the dizziness from consuming her. He glanced from the strap covering her from her shoulder to breast, and evidently decided the binding at her waist was the place to start. One quick slice and—ahhh, she could—well, almost breathe. Then he sliced the rest of the seat belt from her.

The vehicle slid left with another metal screech, and she landed on her broken arm. A moan tore from her as she tried to move and her ribs protested. “Might as well leave me here. I doubt your alpha plans to keep me around for long anyway.”

“My alpha’s motives are never what they seem.” His voice rolled over her, smooth and calm, almost soothing. Odd for a killer, but she’d wanted to kill so many people and she could be nice. Who was she to judge? “Close your eyes.”

Why? But she scrunched her eyes shut as he smashed open the door and vaulted. Air breezed across her body, and the vehicle jerked again. Her stomach pitched.

Bad. Way. To. Die. She swallowed hard and edged toward the opening. Her good arm wouldn’t reach. Biting her lip, she braced herself as the vehicle slid again. She looked in time to see Taggart on a ledge above her in cougar form. The effect of her downward motion made it look like he was moving away. Confused and half-conscious, she still stretched toward him.

Her arms didn’t reach, and one hurt like hell as frustration welled up inside her. She wasn’t finished with her mission yet. Too many in the clan still needed her help.

Jaws wide, the cougar stuck his head through the window and grasped her arm. She didn’t have time to scream, much less struggle, as he clamped tight and the vehicle fell away from her body. Stripped free of metal, rubber, and oxygen, she hung from the cougar’s maw.

The cat stepped backward on the narrow outcrop, his grip astonishingly gentle as he pulled her with him. The backs of her knees hit the edge, and her bound arms jerked. The one arm wrapped in a thick wad of cloth screamed with pain. Unable to help, she lay on her side, shivering as he dragged her free of the edge.

When he released her, she waited for a pounce. Waited for teeth and claws to rip her to shreds. When neither happened, she risked a glance over the side of the outcrop toward the river and then up past her captor’s thick tail to the next ledge. Ten or twenty feet stood between them and the edge of the road above them. “How are we getting up?”

“We’re not.” Startled, she focused on his appearance. Shifted back to human, though shirtless and wearing only jeans and boots, he swept her up and pulled her tight against him.

A fragment of rock crumbling behind his broad shoulders punctuated his comment. Rock splintered near them where her head had just been. “Someone is shooting at us.”

“M98B rifle. Likely a Lapua round.” He growled and grasped her tighter. “Which is why we’re going down.”

That was mad. He was crazy. “No!”

But he’d already stepped off the edge with her in his arms. Wind whipped her curse away, and frigid water covered her body. As she fought against the rush of blackness threatening to suck her away, she made a fervent vow. If I survive, I am going to make Enforcer Breslin Taggart regret he was ever born.