Wounded(52)

Following his nose, he found Hawk battering at a door, the frame shuddering under his blows. Even though Hawk was huge, almost on par with the size of Eagle, his wingspan easily twenty five feet, he was having trouble knocking the door down. With his wings and body, there was no room left in the hallway to get enough speed to beat down the door.

Nor did he seem interested in anything but the door. Liam didn’t hesitate, just leapt forward, aiming for the back of Hawk’s neck.

But his luck had run out. Hawk spun at the last second and ducked out of the way, his talons coming up to rake Liam across his right front leg.

As Hawk’s legs went by, Liam snapped at them, catching one in his mouth and snapping it like a chopstick.

Hawk screeched, his beak flashing forward, heading straight for Liam’s face. He dodged and managed to grab Hawk’s right wing. Using his body weight and gripping fiercely to the feathers and cartilage in his mouth, he jerked Hawk off balance, throwing him into the wall with a house-shuddering blow.

Stunned, Hawk slid to the floor.

One stride and he was on top of Hawk, the guardian’s neck in his mouth. He chomped as Hawk began to struggle, tasted the sweet blood, the pulse of life fading as he yanked at the spine. He had to protect Louisa; this was not personal in the least. Removal of Hawk’s head; that would do it, much as he wished he didn’t have to.

Three hard jerks with his teeth tearing through the flesh was all it took. Hawk’s head rolled away, shifting back to a man, as the rest of his body convulsed once, twice, and once more for good measure before stilling. The shimmer of a demon’s essence curled around him. Like a ghost it floated, eyeing him up and down. Liam snarled at it.

“We are not done yet,” the demon whispered, lifting its hand. “We will have this world. The doorway is open, and you cannot stop what is coming.” The demon faded as it laughed.

A high-pitched cry of pain snapped his head up. Bear would not be as easy to take as Hawk had been.

He bolted out of the room to see Coyote on the floor, his back bent at an impossible angle, his eyes staring toward Liam.

Bear stood on all fours over Coyote and let out a roar. Liam growled back, letting out a howl he couldn’t help. This was it; he could feel the finality of it in his whole body. Bear and he would go down together, and that in itself would keep Rylee safe. A guardian possessed; there was nothing that could have stopped them, short of another guardian. And there was no doubt that Bear would have gone after Rylee at some point for Orion; it would be just a matter of when.

His heart and mind settled into a steady thrum of acceptance. His only regret was there had been no true goodbye between him and Rylee.

Slinking forward, his belly to the ground, ears flattened to his skull, he bared his teeth. Bear had been a friend of Wolf’s for many years, but the demon in him … that could never be changed.

They circled one another, but before either could attack, the scrabble of claws on hardwood floor met his ears.

The pack slunk into the house, mimicking Liam’s stance, ears flattened to their heads, rumbling growls echoing his.

A rush of emotion flooded through him. Loyalty was something wolves understood, and even though they would die, they would fight for their alpha.

After that, the melee turned into a bloody mess. Bear didn’t hold back, but neither did the wolves and they were as tough as only werewolves could be. Dodging in and out, they took shots at Bear while Liam did the same, always working toward where he could get in a deathblow.

Minutes passed and the house filled with the stink of death, blood, and broken bowels. Half the pack had been killed in that short time, and Bear looked no worse for the wear other than the few bites Liam had gotten in. Coyote lay at his feet as he paused between attacks and the guardian shifted his head to look at Liam. “Hamstring him.”

Liam took the advice. Using the remaining wolves, they taunted and teased Bear until Liam could dive in, driving his teeth into Bears legs, ripping and tearing at the flesh. Bear roared, and from within the house the sound of a woman crying out nearly stopped him. Nearly.

They had to finish Bear off, no matter the pain it brought Louisa. She’d known something was wrong, but didn’t have the strength to stop it.

Tackled to the ground, Bear was held down by the wolves and he shocked the hell out of Liam by shifting back to human form.

“I can see I’m done in, Wolf,” he rasped, the backs of his legs shredded to nothing more than mincemeat. “But I have a message for you, from my master. Orion wants you to know you cannot stop him; he won’t settle for Milly’s child now. He knows about you, about what you’ve done to the Tracker.”