Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Coughing, Derren shut the hatch. “That’s everyone out.”
“Good, because being a spectator sucks,” said Mila as she and Dominic stripped, intending to join the fight. The extremists had begun to back up, so a great deal of the battle was now taking place in the alley.
Eli froze. “What’s that sound?”
Mila smiled at the familiar roar-growl. “That, my friend, is the sound of a pissed-off wolverine shifter.” Her mother. “And she no doubt has my pride with her.” They’d attack the extremists from another angle, effectively boxing the humans in. Some of the pride would also hopefully help put the fire out.
Clasping her nape, Dominic kissed her. “Be careful.”
“Same to you,” said Mila. Then they shifted.
The cat leaped over fallen bodies and sidestepped puddles of blood as she charged into battle. Ears flat, her snarling mate rushed at a human who was swinging a mace. Scrambling up the back of her wolf, the cat lunged at the human. She wrapped her body around his face and sank her teeth and claws into his scalp. Scratched at his flesh. Raked an eyeball. Enjoyed his cries of pain.
The wolf took advantage and barreled into the human. Knocked him onto his back and sliced open his stomach, exposing the man’s guts. The cat approved of the bloodthirsty move.
Gunfire cracked the air, and a blazing heat singed the side of her leg. The cat hissed, furious. She went to retaliate, but a bear reared up on its hind legs and slammed its paw at the offending human’s head. There was a distinct crack.
Satisfied, the cat turned back to her mate. Adrenaline pumping through them, the wolf and the cat worked as a team as they took down one human after another. They bit, slashed, clawed, and mauled. Ducked, dodged, and weaved away from what came at them.
Soon, the whooshing of the fire hoses joined the animal sounds and human cries. Her pride had to be putting out the fire.
Around them, other shifters attacked the humans—disemboweling, ripping out throats, tearing off limbs, crushing bones, severing spinal cords, clamping jaws around throats to suffocate opponents.
The extremists didn’t surrender. Brutal and cunning, they lashed out with their weapons. Even when they abandoned their guns, they kept fighting, sending many shifters tumbling to the ground, defeated and near dead.
The cat’s thick hide and fur acted as good protection, but not good enough. She was soon covered in slices, welts, and other injuries. Blood matted her fur. She was tiring. Slowing from loss of blood. Every part of her body seemed to hurt. But she fought on.
Just as she and her mate finished off another human, the cat turned to seek a new target. A wooden bat crashed into her side, its spikes stabbed into her flank, and she was knocked sideways. Red-hot pain assailed her, and the breath left her lungs in a whoosh. Shelving the burn, she righted herself, winded.
The spiked bat hit her again, tearing into her neck. She hissed at the blinding pain. Swayed but didn’t fall.
The wolf pitched forward and clamped his jaws around the human’s leg. The man lifted his bat, and the feline’s heart jolted. She knew he would bring the bat down hard on her mate’s head.
The cat sprang. Covered the human’s face. Found purchase with teeth and claws. Raked and bit.
The human toppled backward, and the wolf instantly lunged at his mate’s attacker. Sunk his teeth into the man’s throat and tore it out with a vicious yank.
Lungs burning, heart pounding, the wolf backed away from the corpse and took a moment to glance around. The ground was littered with bodies—some human, some shifter; some dead, some close to death. There were many still standing, and most were shifters.
He noticed his Alpha male and Beta male savagely mauling a human in a wild frenzy. Pallas cats were crawling all over the humans, tearing into them with claws and teeth. A wolverine bit savagely into the shoulder of a fallen screaming human while a margay cat raked at the human’s chest. Another wolverine had clamped his jaws around the flamethrower, mangling it with his bone-cracking teeth.
Hearing a whoosh of air, the wolf turned and saw a machete heading for him. He ducked, but it sliced off the tip of his ear. The wolf yelped at the harsh burn of the blade.
The cat readied to leap at her mate’s attacker, but a mace slammed into her head, dazing her. She shook her head, cleared the dots from her vision, and sprang with a vicious snarl. The human tried to bat her away, but she was too fast. Went right for his face.
A hand gripped the scruff of her neck as she bit into his scalp. Shaking his head, he desperately tried to pull her away. She dug her claws harder into his face. Refused to let go.