Mate Bond(59)

Bowman held a rebar. He had a talisman that did who-knew-what around his neck, and the ability to become wolf. That was it.

Kenzie went through the setup in her head, hoping it conveyed the  situation in detail to Bowman. He wasn't looking at her, however, but at  Ryan, who was speaking carefully.

"Dad," Ryan said, shaping the words so Bowman could read his lips. "The latch is the switch."

Bowman frowned at his son, unenlightened. Kenzie repeated Ryan's words in her head, hoping Bowman could hear them.

Bowman continued to frown, then he snapped his gaze to Ryan's door.

Turner's voice clicked on. "I will give you another thirty seconds to  make your choice, Shifter," he said. "I have other things to do today."

Can you get out of those chains? Bowman asked Kenzie in her head.

I think so. She hadn't wrested herself free yet, though, because Turner had threatened to kill Ryan if she didn't behave.

When I move, you move, Bowman said. I'm not sure this will work.

Kenzie tensed. Good to know.

Ryan's got an interesting idea, but your gun might still go off. I can't see the wiring.

Kenzie had no idea what that meant, but she dragged in a breath, ready for whatever he was going to do.

Bowman, she said silently, sending every bit of caring and love she could through whatever link they were sharing.

Bowman's hard gray eyes softened for a brief moment. Yeah, I know, his whisper came back. Love you too.

He stood absolutely still for a few seconds longer. Turner waited, his fingers poised over the keyboard.

Then Bowman leapt forward and smashed the rebar through the wooden  bottom half of Ryan's door. A moment later, Bowman dove for the hole  he'd made and let his Collar go off.

Electricity sparked and exploded. Bowman's body jerked with it, a howl  of pain escaping his throat. The door broke, but the frame remained  connected to the wall, the latch in place, and Kenzie's shotgun stayed  silent.

For now. With something as strong as Bowman smashing through it, the  door could fall out of its frame any minute. Kenzie understood that  Bowman had tried to short-circuit the wiring with his Collar, to disrupt  electricity going to the switch Turner had put into the door, but a  stray spark might set it off anyway.

Turner, red with anger, brought his hands down on the computer keyboard.

But he wasn't as fast as a Shifter. Bowman leapt through the wreckage of  the door, shifting in midair, to catch Ryan and his chair and slam both  out of the way as the shotgun in Ryan's room boomed.

At the same time, Kenzie shifted, letting herself linger in her  between-beast state-a formidable cross between wolf and human, with the  advantages of both. The form was difficult for most Shifters to maintain  for long, but it got the job done in the meantime.

The shotgun in her room went off, pellets scattering everywhere. Kenzie  ducked the worst of it as her chains broke, though shot grazed her,  embedding in her fur and skin.

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.                       
       
           



       

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.