In the Company of Wolves(34)

Brandon and Caleb snarled and launched themselves at Eric without warning, fangs extended and claws out. Jayna expected Eric to get out of the way or leap at one of the werewolves—something. But he only stood there with a slight smile on his face. He hadn’t even shifted to protect himself. It was like he was frozen.

Jayna didn’t realize she’d moved until Megan grabbed her arm. Not that she could have done much to help Eric anyway.

Smelling an easy victory, Brandon went in low at Eric’s right side, while Caleb attacked from his left.

She cringed. This is going to be bloody.

But at the last second, Eric darted to the side and punched Brandon in the chest. The blow stopped the omega’s forward momentum cold, knocking him ten feet back across the lobby.

In the same motion, Eric turned and snatched Caleb out of the air. The omega’s claws dug into Eric’s chest and shoulder before the SWAT cop tossed him across the room, crushing several chairs and a sofa in the process.

Eric spun around to focus on Brandon. Jayna was shocked see that the cop hadn’t shifted yet. If it wasn’t for the four tracks of blood marring his shirt, she would have thought he was just playing around.

Brandon growled but went at him more cautiously this time. Eric blocked most of the openhanded swipes Brandon threw but didn’t go on the offensive himself. Jayna frowned. Why wasn’t Eric attacking?

But just then, Brandon overextended himself with one of his swipes, leaving his ribs completely exposed for just a fraction of a second. Eric’s fist came up in an upper cut, connecting solidly with Brandon’s ribs. There was a thud and a crack, and when Eric tossed Brandon aside this time, the big omega didn’t get back up.

Jayna had a ridiculous urge to run over to Eric and hug him. But before she could follow through with that crazy idea, an insane roar echoed in the room. She whipped her head around just in time to see Caleb charging Eric. The omega’s claws and fangs were fully extended now, his eyes practically glowing. Oh crap. Caleb had completely lost it. A couple cracked ribs wouldn’t be enough to end this now.

Jayna wasn’t the only one who moved to help this time. Every other werewolf did too. Not that it would do much good. Caleb was already on Eric.

She might have shouted something. It was hard to tell over the snarls and the other people yelling. But Eric and Caleb ignored everyone around them, intent on the struggle that was likely to end with one of them dead.

Caleb didn’t even try to take a swing at Eric. The omega was so far gone, he just opened his jaws wide and went in for the kill. Eric’s hand shot out, catching Caleb by the throat and flipping the ravaging omega backward, slamming him down violently against the tile floor. Then Eric leaned forward and cut loose with a growl of his own that was so powerful Jayna and every other werewolf in the room stopped in their tracks.

Eric had shifted completely, farther than she’d ever seen a werewolf go before. Besides the long fangs and claws, Eric’s shoulders and arms had bunched and spasmed, like they were trying to twist into a completely different shape. Jayna could have sworn his nose and jaw had actually pushed out some. But that was obviously impossible.

As stunned as he was, Caleb struggled to free himself until Eric leaned even closer and put his face right into the omega’s, then growled so loudly people two blocks down must have heard it.

Caleb immediately stopped struggling. His fangs and claws disappeared, his hands coming up in surrender. Jayna had never seen anything like it. Eric had forced Caleb into submission with nothing more than a growl—although those impressive canines of his might have had something to do with it. Eric could have easily torn out Caleb’s throat if he’d wanted to.

But Eric didn’t lunge forward. Instead, he shifted back to his normal appearance and reached down to pull Caleb to his feet. Then he thumped the dazed omega on the shoulder as if saying, “Good fight, dude.”

On the far side of the room, Brandon was only now climbing to his feet. He threw Eric a venomous glare as he curled one arm protectively in front of his broken ribs. Eric would have to watch his back around that jerk.

A few of the omegas and some of the Albanians gathered around Eric, smacking him on the back and laughing, but they moved aside as Kostandin approached. The Albanian underboss regarded Eric with his sharklike eyes, then slowly reached behind his back. Jayna immediately tensed, sure he was going to pull out a gun, but instead, he came out with a big, long knife. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. She’d seen Kos use that knife on a few of his victims. He especially liked cutting off fingers with it.

Kos tapped the tip of the knife against Eric’s chest. The SWAT werewolf didn’t react to the threatening gesture other than to lift his chin a little higher.