Mate Bond

She didn’t care. She only saw Bowman’s wolf form light up with electricity as he landed with Ryan, the arcs from his Collar and the wall’s wiring zapping him over and over again.

Kenzie burst the partition in two, becoming wolf all the way as she dove through. She dragged Bowman by the scruff away from the spaghetti-like live wires flailing on the floor and landed on top of him, using her weight to smother the sparks in his fur.

Ryan’s face was wet with blood and tears, but he didn’t break down as he struggled with his chains. “Dad, you are awesome! Mom, I can’t get out of these, and Turner’s coming!”

Kenzie changed to her half-beast again, her brute strength breaking the links of Ryan’s chains. He shifted to wolf at the same time she did, the cub climbing onto his mother’s back for protection.

“So,” Turner said. He had come through a back door in the booth Kenzie had sat in, which must lead to his main control room, his face scarlet with rage but his voice still too calm. “The instinct of Canis lupus shifterensius is to preserve the entire pack. That gives me much to write about. This symposium will be interesting.”

He brought up a semiautomatic, aimed it at Kenzie and family, and shot.

* * *

Bowman heard Kenzie’s shriek inside his head as a bullet caught her. She had turned and slammed herself backward, protecting Ryan, which had exposed her belly and throat. Blood blossomed on her soft fur, paler on her stomach than her back.

Bowman’s reason left him. He felt the bond between himself and Kenzie lessen, and the pain of that was unbearable.

I love you, Kenz was Bowman’s last coherent thought. Then the world became a blur.

Bullets whizzed past him. Some of them struck him, but Bowman didn’t notice. He ran at Turner, his claws ripping into the man’s skin. He bit down and tasted blood.

Pain burned his side, and Bowman’s own blood flowed. His Collar shocked him, agony streaming through every nerve, but Bowman ignored it. He bit, tore, and shook, and blood sprayed.

Turner’s gun slipped out of his hands to clatter to the floor, but the man kept fighting. He was strong, and Bowman was losing blood. Turner managed to slide away from Bowman and try to run back the way he’d come, through Kenzie’s booth. But Kenzie was there, ready to kill.

Turner had just enough time to turn and race down the hall to the steel door Bowman had entered through. He pounded four numbers into the keypad next to it and yanked it open.

He found two Shifters, one with a sword, one with massive fists, waiting on the other side. Behind them stood a tall dokk alfar with fire in his eyes.

Graham grabbed Turner, but the man had a few more dirty tricks in store. He Tased Graham, ducked under Pierce’s reach, whipped his Fae dirk across Reid’s face, and sprinted through the lab and down the main hall.

Reid was the fastest after him, with that weird Fae speed, but Bowman wanted Turner for himself. He bounded past the others, even as blood poured out of him, chasing Turner the length of the hall.

At the door to the stairs, Turner had to halt, confronted with Cristian, who was supporting a shaking Brigid. She was indicating, with wild gestures, one of the chained refrigerated rooms.

“It is here,” she said, her dark eyes wide. “I know it. I remember the aura of it.”

Bowman knew exactly what she meant. He ran for the steel door she was staring at and broke its chains. He had no time to howl a warning, but Cristian was already pulling Brigid out of the way.

Bowman brought his weight down on the door’s giant handle and released the beast within.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

A monster similar to the one they’d fought at the roadhouse filled the hall. This one was a little bit different, with a Feline body; huge, taloned paws; a face that was so distorted it was difficult to tell what it was supposed to be; and a tail that could only belong to a dragon.

Manticore was the word that flashed through Kenzie’s head, but it didn’t matter what it was called. It was big, powerful, and very, very angry.

The thing struck out, its flailing claws and tail catching walls, ceiling, doors, Shifters, Turner. Turner screamed as a huge paw smashed him in the stomach.

“Whistle,” he yelled at Brigid, who came at him. “I control it with a whistle . . . !”

“Do you mean this one?” Brigid straightened from Turner’s fallen body with a silver object in her hand. “What a pity. It appears to be broken.”

Turner gasped as he scrambled up from the floor. “You stupid bitch!”

He went for her. Cristian stepped in front of Brigid to protect her, then Bowman’s charge caught Turner, and they both went down.

Kenzie, human again, shoved Ryan back inside the room with the booths, ignoring his “But, Mom!”

Bowman was fighting Turner, but Bowman had been hit worse than Kenzie had. Though fiery pain seared her stomach, she could last long enough to get Turner. She snatched up the piece of rebar Bowman had dropped and ran to help.

Bowman was all over Turner, and the monster beast was all over Graham, Reid, Pierce, Brigid, and Cristian. Help was barreling down the hall in the form of Jamie, Cade, Gil, and other trackers, but there wouldn’t be enough of them to stop it, Kenzie realized. She’d had twice as many Shifters fighting with her against the first monster, and they hadn’t been able to make a dent in that beast. Only Bowman’s quickness with the truck had saved them, and even then, the monster had chosen to run off. Or perhaps Turner had summoned it back with his whistle, now in pieces in Brigid’s hand.