Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Brandt jerked. “Shit, I just saw something move in the shadows.”
Moira sighed. “You’re being ridiculous.” But she looked just as freaked.
“I did! I saw something! And it’s not windy out there, so how can the doors be slamming shut?”
Nelson suddenly jumped and whirled, scrubbing at his neck with the hand holding his gun. “Something just breathed on me.”
Taking advantage of his loosened hold, Gwen jammed her elbow into his gut and snapped back her head to connect with his nose. As he cried out in pain, she dived for her Glock. At the same time, Yvonne reared up and stabbed Ezra in the thigh with a thick shard of glass.
Gwen grinned in satisfaction as her hand wrapped around the butt of her Glock. She rolled onto her back, shot Nelson in the chest, and then aimed it at Brandt . . . who was about to slam his crutch over Yvonne’s head. But then the painting on the floor whipped through the air and hit him hard, sending him toppling over the banister with a loud cry.
A screeching Moira grabbed Nelson’s gun and fired blindly over and over. Unused to shooting, her body shook with the impact, and her shots went wide. Except for one.
Pain blazed across Gwen’s temple. “Motherfucker.” She aimed her Glock at Moira’s head, but Ezra’s body knocked Gwen to the ground before she could squeeze the trigger.
For the second time that day, her gun went skidding along the floor. As Ezra straddled her, she heard gunfire and then Moira screech, and she distantly wondered if Yvonne had shot her. But Gwen’s attention was on Ezra as she scratched at his face and fought him like a wildcat. His hand fisted her hair, and he rammed her head on the floor. Once. Twice. Three times. He reached up, grabbed a heavy ornament from the round antique table, and smashed it right over her head.
Without mercy, the wolf stabbed his claws deep into his sibling’s flank. He liked hearing his opponent’s yelp of pain. Liked seeing that pain in his eyes. In retaliation, his opponent bit hard into the wolf’s wounded ear.
The fight was fast and fierce. The wolf was brutal in his attack. Fury was in every vicious bite, every sharp lunge, every merciless swipe of his claws.
The wolf had fought his sibling before, but never like this. Never with the intent to kill. His sibling had not fought with honor then, and he did not do it now. Instead, he bit and clawed at the injuries the wolf had sustained in the battle with the trespassers. Fur already matted from blood, mud, and dirty water was now soaked with yet more blood.
The wolf’s chest heaved, breaths sawing in and out of him. Every heave made the deep rake wounds on his sides burn. The wolf was tired from battle, and the blood loss was beginning to slow him down. But the wolf would not submit. Would not be pinned down. He fought harder.
His sibling’s snarls and yelps filled his ears. The scent of their combined blood and rage filled his nostrils. There was something else he could scent: fear. It wafted from his opponent, inciting the wolf.
With a savage growl, his opponent tore a strip out of the wolf’s badly injured side. Agony blazed through the wolf. Made his knees buckle. But he pounced at his sibling again.
A bullet fired inside the house. The wolf’s heart jumped, and he froze. His sibling took advantage and lunged. Tried to wrap his paws around the wolf’s neck. But the wolf fought him off and swiped at his head. His claws raked over his opponent’s muzzle. Blood sprayed on the ground. The wolf bared his teeth in a feral smile as his sibling bounced back with a yowl.
Flattening his ears, his sibling sprang at him. They collided furiously. Brutally slashed and bit at each other. Teeth and claws tore through the wolf’s skin and scraped bone. Pain rippled through him, but he pushed it aside as more gunshots rang through the air.
His mate was in pain. He needed to reach her.
With a newfound strength, the wolf wrestled his sibling onto his back, pinned him flat, and clamped his jaws around his throat. He sank his teeth down hard. Panicking, his opponent swiped at his bleeding sides, struggling. But the wolf used his rear paw to tear open his opponent’s stomach and then clamped his jaws tighter around his throat.
Finally, his sibling’s body went lax beneath him. Dead.
A dark satisfaction flooded the wolf. But he didn’t take a moment to revel in victory. He needed to get to his mate.
He raced up the steps onto the porch and slammed his body at the door. Again. And again. And again. He heard his pack mates and allies howl as they came to join him. Finally, the door burst open. The wolf followed the sounds of a struggle. Bounded up the stairs.