Darien’s focus had to remain on the wolves in the room first, more deadly with their powerful bites, more of a threat than any of those in their human forms. But as soon as Crassus grabbed Lelandi’s throat, Darien had to get rid of the wolf he was fighting, then he aimed for the bastard. No contest existed between a wolf and a human, and he’d hoped the beast would have changed so he could take care of him wolf to wolf.
As soon as Darien bit Crassus’s arm, he screamed and released Lelandi. He ripped off his shirt, though his swarthy face exuded pain, and he struggled with the effort, his arm dripping with blood.
The twin cops who had entered the room initially, quickly turned wolf to deal with Peter now that the other reds were dead. Darien bit one of them while he waited for Crassus to change.
Lelandi was still clutching her throat, trying to draw air into her lungs when Carol cried out. She slid to the floor, her eyes dazed, her throat dripping with blood from a nasty gash. Lelandi skirted around the four wolves battling each other and reached Carol, her hand on her throat, stemming the blood. “Ohmigod, Carol. You’ll be… all right.” Some reassurance. It didn’t matter that Carol’s death would be the easiest solution now that she knew they were lupus garous. Lelandi desperately wanted her to live.
Silva was already on the phone. “Angelina, call Nurse Matthew right away and dispatch him to Darien’s home. We have multiple injuries.” She clicked off the phone and punched in numbers. “The new male nurse is on his way,” she said to Lelandi. She paused. “Charlotte? It’s Silva. Come right away to Darien’s house. We’ve got casualties, but the fight’s still ongoing.”
Silva hung up the phone and climbed over the bed to get to Lelandi, while Crassus ditched his trousers and shapeshifted. “Is she going to live?”
Lelandi yanked a pillowcase off one of the pillows and applied pressure to the wound. She didn’t think Carol was going to make it. The woman’s heartbeat was fading, and she was bleeding too much. “I… I don’t know what to do.”
“I’ll get some of that leftover bandaging Doc gave me to use on your wounds.” Silva climbed back over the bed and raced into the bathroom.
Standing as a wolf, Crassus bared his teeth at Darien. Crassus looked so damned arrogant. Didn’t he know he was no match for a gray alpha pack leader?
The two circled each other while Peter and the remaining red stopped to watch the fight between a leader and a subchief. Silva returned with the bandaging and she and Lelandi bound Carol’s wound. Darien lunged at Crassus, but the wolf twisted away so hard to avoid Darien’s snapping jaws, he fell on his butt, then quickly retreated.
“Hell, there’s more of them!” someone shouted from downstairs.
Lelandi took her eyes off Darien and Crassus to look at Silva. She looked as worried as Lelandi felt.
“No, they’re going after the reds.”
Lelandi’s mouth dropped slightly. What reds in their right mind would fight Bruin and his pack here? Then anger welled up to volcanic proportions deep inside her—not her emotions, but her brother’s, the symbiotic reaction she had when her sister or brother’s feelings ran high. Leidolf was here.
Darien took a chunk out of Crassus’s ear, and he fell away in a panic, his ear bleeding. But Darien didn’t wait for another run. He cornered the red, bottled him between the sofa and the wall and leapt in the air.
Crassus yelped before Darien planted his teeth into his neck. It was the last sound the bastard would ever make as Darien’s canines snapped the wolf’s neck in half, then released him.
“Where are you, Lelandi, Silva?” Nurse Grey cried out from downstairs as lamps and tables crashed downstairs.
“Upstairs, end of hall, Darien’s room. Hurry!” Lelandi shouted.
Darien eyed the lone red wolf standing next to Peter, but he tucked tail and lay down on his stomach.
Nurse Grey and Matthew bolted upstairs with a medical kit. “Oh my, what’s happened?”
“Can you take care of her?” Lelandi asked, holding Carol’s hand.
“Yes, let me get in there and I’ll see what I can do.”
“I’ll… I’ll be right back.” Lelandi dashed out of the room and down the hall.
“Lelandi!” Silva shouted. “No, wait!”
Darien chased Lelandi down the stairs, and she was sure if he could, he would force her back into the bedroom to keep her out of harm’s way. But her brother was in the thick of it, and she couldn’t let anyone in Darien’s pack kill him, mistaking him for the enemy.
“No!” she yelled, trying to get beyond the grays to get closer to her brother, but one of the grays snapped at her, keeping her away from the reds battling each other. Her brother was fighting Bruin, and the grays were letting him? Then she saw another familiar red, her uncle, tearing into Bruin’s youngest brother, Cindon—as mean-hearted as Crassus and Bruin. It was rumored their father was a real psycho and bullied them until they became just like him.
Her uncle turned his head in her direction briefly. He shielded bared teeth instantly, his look shifting from her to Darien standing next to her, his stance protective. Her heart lifted to see both her uncle and brother back together again. But then she cringed when Bruin knocked Leidolf on his hip.
Leidolf quickly recovered and dodged the heavier wolf’s lunge. Bruin weighed at least forty pounds more than her brother, was shorter and stockier and thicker necked. But Leidolf had a regal way of moving, swiftly, silently, dangerously. He’d taken down a stag without a sound, killed a bear that had attacked her mother when they were living in the mountains, and now he seemed even more serious, determined, deadly.
Darien watched, as if he was ruler of all the land, and the tournament was for his and his courtiers’ sport. Everyone’s tongues panted from exertion and blood tinged a fair amount of the wolves’ pelts. A couple sat down. The rest stiffly observed, wary of the fight, promising to take on the pack leader and his brother if the reds who fought them lost the game. Old Mr. Hastings, who had shouted that her brother and uncle had arrived, was the only one in human form.
Darien glanced up at Lelandi and licked her hand. She crouched down next to him, wrapped her arm around his neck, and gave him a hug. “Thanks for avenging my sister’s tormenter.” She spoke loud enough for Bruin to hear.
He jerked his head in her direction, and Leidolf slammed into him, knocking the pack leader off his pads. He crashed into a table and broke one of the legs. Leidolf growled low at Bruin, then savagely attacked his throat. Bruin bit back, but Leidolf held on for dear life, growling. After several seconds that felt like hours, Bruin sank to the floor, dead.
Uncle Hrothgar seemed to smile, then he tackled Bruin’s last living brother, biting him in the face when Cindon turned his head to protect his throat. None could be left standing if they were to oust the red pack from their lands.
Two more of the grays sat down, the fight nearly ended.
Silva came down the stairs and gave Lelandi a somber nod. But Lelandi didn’t know how to take the message. She wanted to check on Carol, but she had to see her uncle win against Bruin’s brother
Leidolf watched their uncle for a minute, then turned his attention on her. He was heaving with weariness, but anger still filled his soul. His gaze shifted to Darien. He knew. He understood she was his now, and she sensed he didn’t like it. He didn’t have to like it. He’d left them to fend for their own, and she’d found her soul mate.
Uncle Hrothgar pounced again at Cindon, this time snapping his neck in two like Darien had done to his brother, Crassus. For several minutes, no one did anything, the grays watching what the red wolves did next, and the reds eyeing Darien.
“My brother, Leidolf.” Lelandi stood and motioned to the red wolf standing next to Bruin’s dead body. “And Uncle Hrothgar.” She motioned to the other.
Darien panted, then licked Lelandi’s hand and ran up the stairs. Still, no one moved, waiting for Darien’s word.
A few minutes later, he returned dressed in his jeans, while he yanked a shirt on, a trail of blood running down his chest. “Leidolf,” he addressed Lelandi’s brother first. Then he bowed his head slightly at Uncle Hrothgar. “Welcome to my pack.”
The two considered Lelandi, then loped out through the front door.
Darien gave her a weary smile and kissed her cheek. “Change, and get this place cleaned up,” he said to his pack. He looked around and frowned. “Where the hell is Trevor?”
Uncle Sheridan jerked on his clothes and gave a disgruntled growl. “I’ll check into it and let you know.” He took off for his truck.
Darien still couldn’t believe Lelandi’s brother and uncle had arrived so unexpectedly, but he suspected Ural must have sent word to them.
Tall for a red, a man walked back into the house, his chestnut hair tinged red, his eyes as jade as Lelandi’s, narrowed, wary. Darien suspected his height had to do with his royal heritage and the fact he was directly related to the first lupus garou—a gray. His body erect, wiry, ready for confrontation, a proud and sturdy jaw, angry lips and brows deeply furrowed defined him. Again he looked at Lelandi like she belonged to him, and he wanted her back. Lelandi’s uncle walked in afterward, somewhat older, same height, more cautious, a lot less cocky.
“She’s mine,” Darien growled, unable to welcome the intruder like he’d intended, unable to curb his feral possessiveness when it came to his mate.
Leidolf cocked his head slightly, his lips curving upward a hint.
Lelandi stood stock still, not saying a word, but her eyes were wide and expressive. She appeared worried that Darien and Leidolf would fight.
Darien took the aggressive red male’s cue though, and bowed his head as Tom and Jake flanked him. “She is mine,” he reiterated, not about to make any flowery speeches.
Leidolf kissed Lelandi on the cheek, and she appeared to be holding her breath, pale and unsure of herself.
“So it seems,” Leidolf said, his voice a deep, threatening timbre. “I had planned to bring Lelandi home to my pack.”