VICTOR

Don’t trust the children and don’t kill anyone. Dammit, I forgot the gun.

Victor looked back over his shoulder at Onyx and Errol who were following. Onyx was in her black wolf form, Errol was carrying the gun and running in his human form.

At full speed and not having to carry a fighting tiger along with him, they were able to cross the distance in only a few hours’ time. From the scent of the trail Nicole left behind, Victor estimated that he was about fifteen minutes behind her.

He pushed hard trying to close that time gap.

When the scent of the Rafi pack began to permeate the air, Victor knew he was getting close and slowed down so he could figure how best to get into their camp without killing anyone.

Stupid freaking rules.

Onyx and Errol slowed behind him and the three of them listened carefully to the forest noise. A huge brown bison burst from the forest nearly knocking the gun from Ian’s hands.

The black she-wolf leapt up and clamped her huge jaws into the neck of the shifter taking him down so hard the ground shook.

Shit. Everyone heard that.

Victor rushed to the West. He gave the camp a wide berth in the hope he might find a way to get through unnoticed.

“What the hell is that thing,” Errol yelled from the same area where Victor let them.

“Dammit, Errol you dropped the gun,” Onyx said having shifted into her human form.

Victor kept going. He could smell Nicole, her scent getting stronger. He could hear a man talking but not what he was saying.

“Can you help us?” A small boy asked stepping out in front of Victor.

“No,” Victor said much more gruffly than he would have without the warning from Angeline not to trust the kids.

The little footsteps behind him made him turn back. A tiny toddler was following after him with her hands stretched out toward him. The boy following behind her.

“Get away from me, both of you,” Victor said feeling foolish. The little girl opened and closed her hands, silently pleading for him to pick her up. It was difficult to imagine how this tiny baby girl could hurt him.

With a sigh, he began to bend forward to pick up the baby. She fell forward onto her hands and the earth where her hands hit turned black and smelled of rot.

Victor leaped backward. “Shit. What the hell?”

Onyx rounded the thick oak tree. “What is it?”

“Don’t let the kids touch you.”

Onyx looked down at the earth and nodded. “He’s covered them in the poison Demitrus used. It will kill them eventually too if we don’t get it off of them.”

“I’m getting Nicole first.”

“Go,” she said nodding.

Victor raced into the camp. If Rafi was willing to kill the children to get to the Rizer pack coming than what would he be willing to do to Nicole?

The drag marks in the dirt to the large tent made his heart nearly stop beating. He was moving as fast as he could but it still felt too slow, like a bad dream.

Ripping the tent open he found Rafi preparing to rape Nicole.

Rafi shot through the roof of the tent when he saw the look on Victor’s face. He nearly leaped up through the torn ceiling after Rafi but Nicole wasn’t moving.

Dropping down beside her he pulled down the skirt of the white dress to cover her. Her heart beat was slow and her breathing calm. She was waking and blinking. “You look like you’ve been drugged with the same stuff I saw Demitrus use from the Herod pack.”

Her body tensed slightly and her gaze was behind him.

Rafi.

Victor spun catching an arrow by the shaft. Nicole’s blood was on the arrowhead. If he’d not caught the arrow by the shaft he would be human without any shifting power.

Rafi backed up while loading another arrow.

Victor started searching the tent for the cure to the paralytic Nicole was given. He couldn’t leave her vulnerable like this.

“He is trying to kill her,” Rafi told his pack. “Save Nicole from him.” Shifters ripped away the walls of the tent. He was surrounded. Victor wasn’t going to fight any of them until he helped Nicole.

“This is why I wasn’t supposed to forget the gun,” Victor told Nicole hoping he was helping her not to be afraid.

A shifter with long spiked horns charged at him. Victor took hold of his horns and tossed him up and over the wall of people surrounding them.

“You fucking misfits,” Rafi roared. “Kill him.”

Two shifters rushed forward, their eyes filled with fear and doubt. It was clear why he shouldn’t kill them. One touched his shoulder as he reached for the blue vial finally spotting it in a box under the makeshift table.

Electricity burned through his system. He yelled out in pain and when it stopped he crumbled to the floor.

“Again. Kill him,” Rafi commanded.

Victor snatched up the vial, uncorked it and crawled over to Nicole. Opening her mouth, he poured a few drops before the electric volts shot through his body again. Just before the world went black he thought he saw Nicole’s finger twitch.

Thank the Lord. Give’em hell Nicki.