Hungry Like the Wolf(99)

She searched Gage’s face, silently begging him to give her a hint, but he was focused on Hardy. Then, faster than she could have imagined, he moved in a blur, slipping inside the open door of the hangar with them, and disappeared into the darkness. The rapid move shocked Hardy just as much as it shocked her. The man turned, yanking her around with him like a shield.

“I’m telling you—I’ll shoot her!”

A low chuckle came out of the darkness. “Then what will you do without a woman to hide behind?”

Hardy moved slightly away from the corner he was hiding behind, careful to keep her in front of him as he tried to get an angle on Gage. Now the thug couldn’t seem to figure out who he wanted to cover with his pistol—her or the patch of darkness where Gage was hiding.

“Come out and show yourself, Dixon,” Hardy ordered. “And you’d better not be holding a weapon, or we’ll both get to find out what I’ll do without her to hide behind.”

No answer.

Mac strained to see in the darkness. She couldn’t even guess where Gage was. Could he shoot Hardy while the man was hiding behind her?

Hardy backed out of the hangar and onto the tarmac, the pistol still firmly planted against her head. “Come out where I can see you, Dixon, or I’ll kill her!”

Mac gasped as a shape moved out of the shadows. For a moment, her eyes couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. The tall, broad-shouldered figure she’d expected was instead replaced with a large gray wolf.

Gage.

He’d told her he could turn into a wolf, but she hadn’t expected him to be so…so…huge. Or so beautiful. All Mac could do was stare at him, transfixed by his amazing presence.

“What the hell…?” Hardy muttered.

Gage bared his teeth in a snarl as he charged, moving so fast he was nothing more than a big, gray blur.

Mac barely had time to scream before Gage slammed into her and Hardy. The blow probably would have broken her in half if Gage had actually struck her squarely, but his big front paws skimmed over her right shoulder, hitting the taller Hardy with the force of a moving truck.

Still, the glancing blow sent her flying. She hit the ground hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.

Hardy’s gun went off, but the sound was drowned out by Gage’s snarl. Heart in her throat, Mac rolled onto her hip to see Gage clamp down on Hardy’s arm with his enormous teeth. After a few savage shakes, Hardy cried out in pain and dropped the gun.

Mac lunged for the weapon. She didn’t know if Gage needed her help, but she was determined to give it to him anyway. She scrambled to pick up the gun, cursing as she fumbled to get her hands around the large grip. She turned around just in time to see Gage going for Hardy’s throat.

She quickly looked away. Even after everything that Hardy had done to them, she knew this wasn’t something she wanted to see.

When she looked back a few moments later, Gage was standing over Hardy’s lifeless body. As if sensing her eyes on him, Gage turned his big head toward her. He gazed at her with those mesmerizing gold eyes she’d come to love. They were filled with so many emotions that she almost cried.

He took a slow step toward her, then another and another until he was right in front of her. He seemed even bigger up close. She set the gun on the ground, then went up on her knees so she could look him in the eyes. Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his soft, thick fur.

Movement off to the right caught her attention. She lifted her head a little, expecting to see the rest of the Pack, but instead it was Roscoe Patterson. Something glinted in the glow of a distant airfield light—a gun.

And he was aiming it at Gage.

Without thought, Mac grabbed the pistol from the ground, somehow getting both hands around it on the first try, then instinctively aimed it like Gage had taught her. She squeezed the trigger as smoothly as her thundering heart would allow.

The boom from the thing was deafening, but that was nothing compared to the shockwave that reverberated through her. She’d planned to fire a second shot, but found herself sitting on her ass, the gun somewhere on the ground. She threw a quick glance in Patterson’s direction as she frantically searched for the weapon and was stunned to see him lying on the ground. He wasn’t moving, and in the darkness, she could see the big stain slowly spreading across his chest.

Oh, God. She’d killed him. She’d done it to save Gage’s life, and would do it again if she had to, but still…

Gage ran over to check anyway. He sniffed the body once, then loped back over to her. His eyes searched her face, as if asking, Are you okay? She sank her fingers in the fur around his ears, tugging him closer. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck again and buried her face in his scruff like before.