Wolf Queen (A New Dawn Novel Book 6), стр. 34
He had no chance of reaching the heart of his home before being caught or worse. His only chance was to make it to the shared patrol line and hope whoever was there was ready to take on his pursuers.
Dragging in a breath, Toby let the howl build in his chest before releasing the keening sound. Silence followed for one, two beats, and then Dark Shadow answered.
Indiana were close enough for him to feel the vibrations of their pounding feet chasing him through the earth. The border was too far away. He wouldn’t make it. Fear began its slow, icy creep through his blood. His lungs burned from exertion, his mind becoming foggy as dread took over. He could sense the bullet being aimed; his body tensed, anticipating the pain. Gunfire echoed around him, deafening, but instead of pain, a commotion followed.
Whipping around and bracing for attack, relief flooded him. One of Indiana’s men laid dead under the dripping jaws of the large sooty wolf as the other took flight, running in the opposite direction.
Toby’s first instinct was to give chase, but the sooty wolf shook his head, and two seconds later, Mia shot out of the trees, taking the guy to the ground. He aimed his gun, but Mia had already anticipated his move and grabbed his hand, twisting until Toby heard an audible crack. His scream of pain lasted only a moment, the gleam of Mia’s sharp claw running across his throat a beat later, the life draining from Toby’s attacker and coating the earth blood red.
“Are you hurt?” Mia asked as she made her way over, wiping her hand on her jeans.
Toby shifted. “No. Thanks for coming to my call.” Toby eyed the wolf. “Evan, right?”
The wolf nodded as Mia replied, “We were already on high alert. You weren’t the only one attacked, and luckily, Anna managed to get off a warning seconds before they hit.”
“What’s the plan?” he asked Mia.
“All we know so far is this doesn’t seem to be the final attack. As usual, Castor’s being a coward and going for the sly attacks instead of hitting us head-on. There’s more of them out in the forest, but they aren’t putting in a real effort to cross our borders as far as we can tell. Head to Dark Shadow and stay there until you hear more.”
Nodding his agreement, Toby left Mia and Evan, shifting back into wolf form before heading deeper into Dark Shadow territory. He let off a low howl before reaching the second line of defense, letting them know he was a friend, not foe.
“Toby,” Katalina breathed, appearing through the trees, John at her back. “Are you okay?”
Turning to their human form so they could talk, Toby answered, “Yeah, assholes were waiting outside school grounds for me, but Mia and Evan helped finish them off. Do you know any more?”
Katalina’s expression grew hard as John growled the word “Cowards.”
“Bass and Jackson and a select few are out past the outer border tracking the group sent to hit our lands, but they were merely a distraction while they targeted those who live in town,” Katalina explained.
“Shit. Anyone back yet?” The twins popped into his mind, with their mischievous smiles. The pair were always getting up to no good, their childhood innocence not yet stolen by reality.
Katalina shook her head sadly. “I haven’t heard from Bass since he left. Nico and Liv are out there too,” Katalina said.
“Nico’s tough, Kat.”
“I know, but Indiana don’t fight fair.”
“I can’t see how we can sit back and allow them to keep chipping away at us. We’ve no choice. We’ve got to take this to them first,” Toby answered.
“I agree,” John said.
But Katalina said nothing at all, and it was the absence of her words and the secrets clouding her eyes that sent Toby’s stomach diving. Katalina knew something he didn’t, some horrible truth she’d been keeping inside, and as Toby studied her, he knew better than to ask what nightmares she hid within.
Since the day Katalina stepped into his life, she’d taken risks to save others; it was who she was. And whatever burden she carried, she’d do so until the day she died. Toby could only hope it was on a day in the distant future after a long, fulfilling life.
“It’s probably best you head further in, Toby,” Katalina suggested. “Be ready though, in case some of them do get passed both lines of defense.”
“I will,” Toby answered. “Be safe, Kat.”
Once shifted, Toby headed through Dark Shadow, a place he was beginning to know as well as the lands he’d grown up on. Lands he’d protected from the moment he was old enough to fight, and he would keep doing so until the day he died.
Chapter 18
Nico
Olivia hadn’t been back from New York all that long when Nico had been scolded for neglecting his mother. So, a weekly breakfast at his mother’s was his way of making sure he didn’t continue to do that, even if he sometimes felt guilty for taking time out of pack life to see his mom.
Glancing at Olivia in the passenger seat next to him, his heart did a double flip as she smiled, then blew him a kiss. Some days it still shocked him she’d come home, and other days he wished she was still in New York safe from the dangers currently threatening their home. But whatever the day, Nico was stupidly in love, and in awe, he got to call Olivia