Mate Bond

Bowman’s Collar was going off as he fought Turner, and that and his injuries slowed him. Turner took advantage and drove his Fae dirk blade under Bowman’s foreleg, deep into the fur and skin there.

Bowman’s snarls turned murderous, but blood bubbled out of his mouth. Kenzie shrieked and smacked Turner with the rebar.

Turner dropped, but the next moment, Kenzie was flying through the air, the beast batting her aside. The thing grabbed Bowman as well, tossing him the other way, its tail sending him sliding across the floor to slam into the cement wall. Bowman lay still a moment before he climbed unsteadily to his wolf feet, shook himself, and stumbled back toward Kenzie.

The beast had Turner. Its claws ripped into him, spilling out blood, guts, bile. Turner screamed and screamed, alive and in agony. The sound burst into Kenzie’s skull, and even with all the horrible things Turner had done, Kenzie started to crawl to him, to help.

Bowman reached him first. He shifted to human, got behind Turner, seized his head in his strong arms, and broke his neck.

Turner fell dead at his feet. Bowman’s throat was lit up with his Collar, and the beast, deprived of its victim, attacked Bowman instead.

* * *

Bowman heard Kenzie shouting, but he was too busy to call out to reassure her. Giant arms came down to crush him, claws bigger than any Shifter grizzly’s raked across his stomach.

Speaking of grizzlies, one filled the hall, Cade’s roar a match for the beast’s. Cade jumped onto the creature’s back, teeth and claws deadly, but he barely slowed the thing down.

But there was Jamie, leaping with his cheetah’s speed. Cristian was darting in and out as wolf, Pierce came in with his sword, and Reid was fighting with twin iron-bladed knives. Brigid had retrieved Turner’s dirk and fought alongside Cristian, stabbing and dodging with incredible speed.

Kenzie was hurt. Her body was covered with blood and mud, her face streaked with cuts. Her stomach was a mess of black blood, and the way she staggered told Bowman she wasn’t doing well.

He wasn’t either. The beast came at him again, and Bowman fought with madness that kept him on his feet. The charm on the necklace Gil had given him flopped uselessly against his chest, below his crackling Collar.

Where was Gil? Bowman distractedly saw that the man wasn’t fighting with them, but he was battling too hard to see what he was doing.

No, there he was, supporting Kenzie, taking her out of the way of the fight. Kenzie leaned against the wall, her face paper white, too much blood on her skin.

Bowman saw Gil stop a little way from the beast, hold up both hands, and start shouting in a strange, phlegm-clogged language.

The beast stopped. Turned. Cade and Jamie fell from its back, as did the huge wolf that was Graham. The beast swung all the way around, its bizarre face moving as it sought Gil.

Gil didn’t look happy to be skewered by that gaze, but he kept chanting, hands held high. The beast began swaying back and forth, following Gil’s voice as though mesmerized by it.

Pierce took the opportunity to shove the Sword of the Guardian into the creature. Deep into it. Pierce’s hands remained around the hilt as he struggled to pull the blade out again.

The beast blinked. It shook itself away from Gil, turned and caught Pierce with one giant fist, sending him flying, then fixed on Bowman again.

Rage lit its eyes. It pulled the sword out of its side, raised it in clumsy paws, and plunged it toward Bowman. Bowman rolled to keep the sword from hitting his heart, but he felt the blade go into his abdomen and all the way through him, down into the floor.

He lay there like an insect pinned to a board, blood running from his torn body. The beast roared and raised its fists to strike him again.

Kenzie leapt up the monster’s arms as they came down, climbing it as though it were a giant, animated tree. She slammed onto its back, her strong legs clamping its sides.

“Mom!” Ryan shouted to her from below, and tossed her the rebar she’d dropped.

Kenzie raised the iron bar, her other hand locked around the creature’s head.

“Stay the fuck away from my mate!” she yelled, and drove the bar straight through its throat.

The beast roared. It thrashed, gurgled, sprayed blood, caught the others with its tail as they tried to get out of the way. Ryan sprinted back inside the lab, disappearing from the hall.

Walls cracked. The steel door the beast had come out of bent from its hinges and fell to the floor with a loud clang.

Kenzie was thrown off of the monster, landing on her back on the hard floor. Cristian grabbed her and hauled her out of the way. Bowman, stuck to the floor by the sword, could only thrust his arms over his face as the beast fell.

It struck the ground with a wet slap, like a giant water balloon. Blood sprayed everywhere with a stink that made Bowman start to fade into unconsciousness.

The great tail hit him, dislodging the sword and a good chunk of Bowman’s flesh with it. Bowman rolled, every movement torture, and rescued the sword before several thousand pounds of dead animal could smash into it.

Bowman staggered to his feet, covered in his own blood and the beast’s, struggling to stay upright.

“Here,” he said to Pierce, shoving the sword at him. “Go for the heart.”

Pierce, his face so pale freckles Bowman never knew he had stood out on his skin, closed his hand around the hilt and moved to do his job.

Bowman limped to Kenzie. Cristian held her in his lap, and Kenzie fought to breathe, blood trickling from her mouth. Ryan was with her, his small hands squeezing hers. “Mom,” he whispered.