Savage Hunger(35)
Scooping up the tranquilizer gun, Warrick shook his head and moved to the door. “I’ll get him.”
He jogged out into the night air, at ease with the knowledge that the shifter wouldn’t get far. But his calm immediately vanished.
No.
He blinked in disbelief at the sight before him. His blood chilled, and for a moment he went numb.
Sienna ran toward the van, and the wolf that was slowly stalking her was just seconds from an attack. With the state that wolf was in, she’d be dead in seconds.
The image of her bloodied and lifeless body flashed through his head, stabbing terror into his heart and adrenaline into his blood. Warrick dropped the gun and sprinted forward. A fucking tranquilizer sure as hell wouldn’t save her now.
Sienna swallowed the fear in her throat as she closed in on the van, glancing around but seeing nothing in the early dawn. They hadn’t spotted her yet. And in a moment she’d be inside and speeding off to the airport.
She reached the van door, fumbling to get the key in the lock with her hands trembling so badly. The keys slipped from her grasp, falling to the ground in a loud jangle.
“Shoot!” she muttered, her pulse quickening as she reached to retrieve them. She stood again and choked on a gasp.
The wolf stood just feet away. Foam dripping from its mouth as it watched her. In its eyes was the promise to kill and a snarl vibrated deep in its throat.
She lost the ability to breathe, her whole body went cold and the keys slid from her limp fingers once more.
“Sienna!”
Warrick. Her head jerked up, her pulse quickening with hope, even as she knew he’d never get to her in time. The moon’s light showed that he was only halfway between the barn and the van.
She couldn’t move. Fear paralyzed every muscle in her body, and she had the feeling that Warrick’s face would probably be the last thing she saw before the wolf attacked…before she died.
Would it be horribly painful? Or would it be over quickly? The possibilities flashed through her head, horrifically gruesome, and she prayed for the latter.
Time seemed to slow, even as it appeared Warrick sped up. His body became a blur and his muscles contorted almost impossibly as he charged across the grass. Another savage roar ripped through the air. But it wasn’t from the wolf. It was from Warrick.
She blinked, convinced she was seeing things.
When her wide gaze fell where Warrick had been a moment before, he was gone. In his place was a large black wolf, eyes glowing gray as he streaked forward.
Or maybe she wasn’t seeing things.
But…
The blood drained from Sienna’s head and she stumbled back against the van, trying to deny what she was staring at.
How…?
The world around her spun, faster and faster.
Warrick. A wolf.
Her stomach roiled and her knees buckled.
Not human…
She struggled to hold on to the van as the staggering realization sank in.
Warrick didn’t just work with the shifters. He was one of them.
The feral wolf in front of her sprang forward with a hideous growl, its teeth flashing and claws flexed. Burning pain seared her arm, so intense the contents of her stomach pitched violently.
Fight or die.
Sienna struggled to free herself from the wolf’s grasp on her flesh. She punched at him, kicked, but his teeth sank deeper.
Fiery, sharp agony rocketed through her and her mind went white with pain.
Die.
Shit, so not the option she’d been hoping for.
Her legs buckled and she fell into the darkness that rushed up with greedy claws to drag her under.
Chapter Eight
Warrick unlocked his jaws from the dead wolf’s neck and let him drop to the ground. His stomach twisted as he shifted back into human form. It was hard not to glance down at the carcass of the wolf, see the wildness in its yellow eyes or the foam that still dripped from its mouth. Foam that was red from Sienna’s blood.
His vision narrowed and his pulse thundered with a combination of rage and fear. He turned and approached where Sienna had crumpled into a heap on the ground.
“Holy shit.” Footsteps sounded across the grass. Hilliard arrived to kneel down by the dead shifter. “You fucking killed him.”
Warrick didn’t respond, just slid his arms beneath Sienna’s limp form and lifted her gently from the ground. Blood spilled from the vicious bite on her arm, the cotton of her sweatshirt and some of her skin ripped to shreds.
“You killed a wolf?” Rafferty asked, out of breath, as he rushed to join them. “Damn man, this is going to be a mess.”
Right now he didn’t give a fuck about what killing one of his own entailed. He knew it was bad. That thought had slipped through his head for about half a second before he’d thrust it aside and made the decision to save Sienna.