Ripper (Hunter #1)(31)

Ours.





Chapter Six





“Run, Kelsey,” Gray commanded as he started firing into the nearest wolf. The wolf’s body bucked with the impact of the large caliber bullet. He slammed into the brick wall across from us and his body slumped down with a whine.

Ignoring Gray’s orders, I selected a smaller brown wolf, or rather he selected me because he roared toward me at a breakneck speed. I aimed and fired and managed to hit the wolf right between the eyes. I was proud of myself for staying cool and accurate under pressure, and as the wolf’s head whipped back, I opened my mouth to make a crack to Gray about splinters working pretty well when you lodge them in someone’s brain. Yes, I was about to point out Gray’s mistake in underestimating my little no-silver-bullets .38 Special when the brown wolf got back up and growled my way. He seemed more annoyed than dead, so maybe the time had come to follow orders. Gray wanted me to get help. He was a Texas Ranger after all. He probably knew what he was doing.

“Kelsey, I am f*cking serious,” Gray growled as he fired his pistol into the throng of wolves coming for him. They were starting to surround him. “Get your ass out of here. Get back in the restaurant and call the Dallas PD for some backup or we’re going to die out here. Move it!”

He kicked out at the black wolf running for him. His booted foot connected with the wolf’s jaw, and the sound cracked through the air as it broke. Gray moved with a fluid grace that spoke of long training sessions and an innate ability to fight. I started to back up because I didn’t have any real training in this type of confrontation at all. I avoided it and I would only end up being someone Gray had to save. As he was twisting to get another shot off, I saw that his eyes were changing. They were a deep purple, but hints of red were starting to form.

“Please, Kelsey,” he practically begged and I realized that he really needed to change in order to properly fight, and he didn’t want me to see him that way. He would rather lose than allow me to see that part of him. I backed up, hating the fact that I was going to leave him, but I didn’t see what else I could do. I couldn’t physically fight off twenty wolves. I glanced around and wondered if I had miscalculated. There were so many.

“I’ll make the call,” I shouted over the howls, growls, and moans of pain. “You hold on.”

I turned, sick at my stomach because they were so ferocious. Even as I rushed out of the alley, I still saw the image of Gray in the middle of all those teeth and claws and I started to run. The sooner I heard those sirens coming, the faster I could get back to Gray. He said he had all the strength of a demon. I had to hope he healed like one, too. I had to hope that without me around, he would give in and change and get some fangs and claws of his own. My mind was racing with all those thoughts so it took me a moment to register the fact that my path was blocked.

I stopped on a dime and just avoided falling on my ass as I backed away from the men walking toward me. I dropped my gun, but then it had proven fairly useless, so I left it as I tried to back away from the men coming at me. They weren’t tourists out for a late-night stroll. The two men walking with purpose toward me were werewolves. They hadn’t fully changed yet, but then they needed opposable thumbs to drag me back to the fight. There were two of them, one dark haired and the other a blond with icy eyes. He strode forward, fully confident in his ability to handle me.

“You’re not going anywhere, honey,” the blond said with a little smile. He had almost platinum hair and it curled, making him look a bit angelic in the face. His hands were already sharp claws, those icy eyes predatory. He might have been good-looking if he didn’t seem like he was going to kill me at any moment.

My heart pounded. They pressed in, herding me back toward the alley. There was nowhere else to go. If I ran they would catch me and then I wouldn’t be any good for Gray. I turned and called out for Gray, and then I didn’t care about who was behind me. Big, strong Gray was being held down by four wolves who had taken their human forms again. They pinned him, each with one of his limbs in their claws. Blood welled up from where those vicious claws sank in. He struggled, trying to buck them off, but a fifth wolf walked up, changing in mid stride from a big gray wolf on four feet to a bulky man on two powerful legs in the blink of an eye.

He looked straight at me as though he wanted to communicate something. He dropped to one knee and took Gray’s neck in his powerful hands. The threat was right there, unmistakable. He would twist Gray’s neck until the spinal column snapped, and there was no coming back from that no matter how good his healing powers were. It was a neat, bloodless form of decapitation.

“Kelsey!” Gray fought harder as he realized I wasn’t where he’d hoped I would be. He shouted at the men holding him down. “You leave her out of this.”

I got my glimpse of his fangs as he snarled at his captors. Stark white and curved slightly inward, those fangs were substantial. They weren’t meant for a feeding. They were meant to tear and destroy. I could see he desperately wanted to use those fangs on his captors, but there were too many of them. He couldn’t get a decent position to fight. He was completely helpless and my heart ached to see him that way.

“Please,” he said when he realized he couldn’t win. I could tell he was used to the fangs in his mouth because they didn’t change the way he spoke at all. His voice was still deep and solid. “She’s a human. She can’t hurt you. Let her go and I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”