It was supposed to be an easy job. Get the phone and run like hell. Make a few hundred bucks for food, a nice hot shower, and a warm bed to sleep in for a night or two if I'm feeling greedy. I was fast on my feet, could blend with any crowd, and kne...
"We have to get everyone downstairs," I could hear Sylvia try yelling over the panic, but fear had overtaken them all.
Children were left standing alone, frozen in place, crying from their parents. The sounds of growling and people being ripped apart were coming from all over as I grabbed a few people, and pushed them toward the stairs leading to the bunker.
My worry took over as a sea of young and old shifters flooded the hallway. Where were Lexi and Steven? I hadn't seen them or heard them yet. Lily wouldn't leave me without someone she knew, and I couldn't leave everyone else here like this.
"Go to the bunker!" I yelled at everyone I grabbed from the ground before being trampled. "Get downstairs!"
Where were Emmett and the warriors? Where was the small team of trackers who stayed behind as our last line of defense? We would have known sooner if they were all killed in battle or from an attack nearby. I couldn't link with Emmett, but Sylvia and others should have been able to link with their mates to let them know what was happening here. How far were they?
I saw a glimpse of Steven running into the living room. The same room where most of the deathly sounds came from. Samual was pushing to get out, but from the crowded hall and everyone shoving to get downstairs, I couldn't let him, even if I wanted to. The change would hurt too many, and I wasn't sure Samual could control himself in this chaos. I needed to get into a more open space with fewer innocent people and somehow get Lily downstairs where she would be safe.
The crowd began thinning as I pushed through when a large black wolf basted down the front door. A large scar nearly split his nose, and he was missing half an ear. His golden brown eyes locked onto me as I shoved Lily behind me on the floor, begging her to run down the stairs with the others.
She screamed, making me look back at the now charging wolf, but his eyes were no longer on me. Those disgusting eyes were on Lily!
As soon as it crossed my mind, I shifted. Samual took over my mind and body within a blink of an eye, latching our fangs into the wolf's neck and body slamming him into the floor. Snapping our jaw once more, I could feel the bones in his neck break under the pressure.
Dropping the body to the ground, I turned to Lily with a whine, worried she would have been injured or frightened, but her wolf was nipping at the dead one's paw before it shifted into his human form. She growled before taking off into the living room, making Samual run after to try to stop her.
A scream rang out. One that chilled me deep inside. Steven. Samual didn't stop to look around the room to see what was happening. There wasn't a second to waste as the smell of blood filled our nose. We jumped over Lily's puppy form. The next thing I knew, a copper taste filled my mouth. Sharp pain sent from my side and ribs, but Samual didn't stop as he tore into brown and white fur.
"Where's Steven and Lily?" I asked him. Trying hard to look around us, I couldn't see anything past his peripheral vision, reminding me that I had no control over my body or what was happening anymore. It was under Samual's control.
"Kill," Samuel snarled before throwing his head from side to side, tearing a hole in the other wolf's flesh. "Danger first."
He was right. Worry consumed my thoughts, but he wasn't. He knew what to do first, and I needed to trust him. Taking care of the danger was what would keep everyone we loved safe. Instead of looking for what happened to Steven, I needed to watch out for other wolves attacking. We didn't know how many were in here or how many would show.
Menitely nodding to him, I watched as he tore into this wolf without mercy. My stomach turned at the sight, but catching movement next to us, I looked to see another wolf. "Gray wolf to the right!" I yelled, and Samual immediately turned to face our new attacker.
In doing so, I had a clear view of what happened in this room, but all too quickly Samual and the wolf began tumbling over one another. I could feel each bite and claw mark that landed, making the already painful sight more real. Each new painful wound made me lose another piece of my humanity, seeing nothing but red by the time Samual killed the fifth wolf.
Pulling weight on a hind leg, caused a searing hot wave to rush over us. Samual whined between panting. I could feel him having trouble holding us up with how badly he shook. My mind was blank of what happened during the fighting, but seeing Steven still lying on the ground with blood all over him, holding Lexi's body in his arms, made me not care how much pain I was in anymore. My wounds would heal, but Lexi..., Was she alive? Lexi..., I needed to see.
Falling to the ground from exhaustion after a few wobbly limps, Samual agonizingly crawled the rest of the way to them. Lily's wolf was curled between them, trying to lick Lexi's face.
"Help her," Steven sobbed, but putting my paw in a pool of blood made me look down to see what I feared. This blood wasn't Lexi's.
Samual shifted us back, making me want to scream from the pain as I held my ribs, no doubt broken, but that was the last thing I cared about. I grabbed Lexi's arm, trying to find any injuries, but only found a knot on the side of her head.
"She's fine. Steven, let go. I have to look at yours," I told him. "This is your blood, not hers."
"They hit her... into the... the chair. She won't wake up." His face was turning pale, and his breathing began to shorten.
"She's just knocked out. Steven, please. We need to get out of here before more show up. Lay back so I can look." With that, he loosened his hold around her.
Laying Lexi to the side with Lily's pup on guard over her, I focused on Steven. Lifting his torn shirt revealed several deep wounds from a bite mark. I needed to stop the bleeding as soon as possible before trying to move him, so I ripped the rest of his shirt off, putting as much pressure on the wounds as possible.
"Lily. Sweetheart, please tell your wolf to look around the room for whatever you can find to tie around Steven's stomach," I told the white pup, hoping Lily would understand me.
Turning back to Steven, his eyes were beginning to close, and I had to help him lay down, calling his name and trying to keep him awake. Something ripping behind me caught my attention, but seeing my little pup tearing down the curtains made me feel proud.
She whined back to us but helped rip the long cloth so I could tie it over Steven. Just as I finished doing that, I was getting ready to carry him to a safer part of the house. Lily began growling as intimidating as a pup could. She started barking and howling at the front door, making panic wash over me.
Samual took over before I had time to look up, shifting again. He stayed low over Steven's body, and I could feel the hair down our back rise. We watched the smashed-in door. Silence seemed to fill the house for a second before a few red blurs dashed through.
They were fast. It took me a moment to realize they were foxes before three stopped in the living room frame. Samual jumped for them as quickly as they came, but they were faster, and three against one wasn't much of a fair fight when we had Steven, Lexi, and Lily to worry about behind us.
First wolves, and now the foxes. Were we really alone in this place? A place filled with children, and barely any shifters that could fight.
***
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