“Go!” Freddie shouted at Izzy again. But she remained frozen, half in, half out of the helicopter, the rotors slowly spinning above her head. She stared at him, stupefied. He’d just walked up to an enraged werewolf on the verge of a shift and clobbered him. With his freaking crutch.
“You have a broken leg, you idiot!”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Mom and Dad” was all he said, blasting her into motion.
She buckled back into her seat and was about to spool up the engines when she realized that Dev was no longer in the pilot’s chair. “Wha—”
Luke jumped into the seat instead. “Let’s go. They’ll be right behind us.”
She took one more look at her brother. He had a shotgun resting against his shoulder. Despite the cast on his leg and a crutch under one arm, he looked strong and capable. Probably because he was.
“All right. Strap in,” she told Luke.
“Yes, ma’am.” She shot him a dirty look and he held up his hands. “Not joking. That was amazing, sugar. I wish I could’ve seen it from up here. If I hadn’t been so busy hanging on, I would have been humming Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’”
Heat rose in her cheeks. Her body had a dumbass sense of timing. “Just doing what needed to be done.” She pulled up on the collective and swung them around. “Pack house?”
“Yes,” Luke said. “We don’t know what we’re going to find. I’d prefer to not have you anywhere near this shit. Any chance you’d hunker down somewhere safe? I’ll beg.”
She slid her eyes to him. That question didn’t even warrant a response.
“Right. Didn’t think so.” He scrubbed his face. “What are you doing, Isabelle?”
Duh. Hello. Flying. Trying to take care of the only family she knew.
Obviously reading her expression, he said, “I mean, what are you doing to the mate bond? It’s like you threw up a wall or something.” He rubbed his fingers over his heart. “I can barely feel you.”
Izzy touched her own chest. Now that she thought about it, her wolf had been pretty quiet. Was that why it hurt? When they’d found the bodies, she’d wanted to stamp out anything to do with lycanthropes. Everything bad in her life stemmed from being one, from being around them.
She didn’t know what to say. Hell, she didn’t even know what she wanted from him. She went with the simple truth. “It wasn’t intentional. But...”
“But you’re not unhappy about the situation.” He sighed. “I love you. Don’t shut me out.”
Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them away. Hank and Abby needed her. She couldn’t afford any distractions. No matter how much she ached to take the pain from his voice. “Luke, please. I can’t do this right now.”
He was silent for several seconds, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, leaving goose bumps in his wake. “All right, sugar. Later.”
Looking at him would have been an enormous mistake, so she kept her eyes firmly on her flight path. The pack house was visible in the distance, and she descended to skim the top of the trees, increasing their speed. “Eyes sharp, coming in hot.”
“Huh?”
There was no time to answer as she buzzed over the top of the huge log-and-stone house. Luke swore as she banked sharply and brought the helicopter around to the front.
In the wide, circular driveway, a sheriff’s department SUV that looked like a contestant in the demolition derby lay cockeyed on two flat tires. Beside it, Dean fought with a man swinging a crowbar, and a large gray wolf.
Two more snarling wolves came out of the trees and stalked toward the fighters.
“Are those—”
“Get me down there,” Luke said. “Now!”
Not pack. Got it. “Are you armed?”
Furious gold eyes and lengthening fangs answered her.
“Right,” she said, under her breath. Like he needed any more weapons.
The dense tree line on one side of the yard and the house on the other made maneuvering tricky, but that’s what Uncle Sam had trained her for. Izzy came in fast, dropping down to hover right over the combatants. That caught their attention.
The rotor wash wasn’t strong enough to topple a guy Dean’s size, but the wolves had a little more trouble keeping their feet. The downburst forced them to crouch and it rocked the crowbar wielder back on his heels. Dean took advantage and kicked the guy into his truck. Literally. He knocked the guy through the windshield, into the SUV. Hoo-ah!
Luke whooped, then stroked his knuckles down her cheek. “Get your parents, sugar. Then get to safety.” He flung open the door, wind whipping his wavy hair everywhere. “I love you.”
Then he leapt from the helicopter.
* * *
Luke landed in a crouch, claws and fangs at the ready. A brown-and-gray wolf he didn’t know immediately leapt for him. Luke spun and kicked the sonofabitch in the head, sending him sailing across the yard to slide into the underbrush at the edge of the forest.
The racket and wind from the helicopter faded, and Luke turned to square off with the other unfamiliar wolf. Snarling and the sounds of fists hitting a solid body carried in the sudden quiet, but he didn’t take his eyes off the rogue. Dean could handle himself.
The wolf stalked nearer. More cautious than his partner, he watched Luke’s every move. He was a big beast, tall and solid. Twice the size of any natural timber wolf. His brindled gray fur bristled, and he wrinkled his snout at Luke, baring sharp, yellow fangs.
Luke’s wolf snarled in his head, wanting out to fight. Not yet, Luke told him. To the rogue, he said, “What? Never hear of a toothbrush?”
The timber wolf darted left, feinting a swipe at his calf. As Luke pivoted to counter the attack, the rogue twisted and sprang at him.
Luke’s head smacked the ground, but he rolled backward, using the rogue’s momentum to carry them over. Luke tossed the bastard off and popped to his feet, pouncing onto the wolf’s back before the beast had a chance to regain his footing. With a wrenching twist, Luke broke the male’s neck.
Snow fountained up next to Luke’s knee, and he rolled to the side, even before he registered the sound of gunfire. A stranger, sporting a beard and camo pants, lunged out of the woods pointing a pistol at him. Luke was already diving for the cover of Dean’s demolished truck when he heard his mate.
“No!” she screamed, drawing the guy’s attention and aim. And then, damn it to hell, she walked toward him, firing a gun as she went. Her hands were steady and her face grim as she put one bullet after another into the bastard’s torso. Two, three, four shots. The male fell and didn’t get up.
Luke collapsed to his knees. The wall of ice she’d built around their bond throbbed in his heart. Goddess, she could have been killed without them ever having a real relationship. He wanted to shake her.
“Luke! They’ve got Nate!” Dean shouted, his voice filled with agony. “They’ve got my boy!” Without waiting for a response, he jumped over the body of the wolf he’d been fighting and took off running toward the lake.
Oh God. Luke choked back a roar of fear. He looked at his mate, who had horror written large on her face. Indecision turned his limbs to lead. He couldn’t leave her alone.
“Go! Find him,” Isabelle told him, holding up her gun as if offering evidence of her ability to take care of herself. Then she proved it again, by spinning on her heel and taking aim at an approaching SUV.
She dropped her stance just as quickly, and Luke realized the same thing she must have: Rissa was behind the wheel.
Looking over her shoulder at him, she said, “Go. We’ve got the house.”