What the hell was wrong with me?

Why couldn’t I move?

As irritated as I was, I almost pissed myself when I felt the wolf approach me.

Only this time, I heard them.

It wasn’t just him, it was them. All male, all alpha. I sensed that like I sensed that they were natural. I also discerned they were big. Their padding noises were heavy, indicating a large weight, and that just—

Fuck.

Why would I hold any interest to them?

I was a shifter.

When one of them sniffed my butt, that had me instantly defrosting.

I was not about to be fucking mounted by a goddamn wolf!

Whipping around so fast I knew I surprised them, I snarled at them, my head dropping to the ground, fangs bared as I declared my outrage at their behavior.

They weren’t cowed, not by any means. And Kali Sara help me, there were eight of them.

Eight big bastards who were so much larger than me.

Terror filled me at what their intent might be, and then, when I feared I might die, or be wolf raped if that was even a thing, he was there.

I heard him, his pounding gait, his swift run. He was racing toward me, flat out, and I felt his energy in the air.

God, it made me want to sing.

But the naturals? They took my relief as a weakness. The leader, the nastiest with scars on his face, his thick silver fur looking charred at the ends with how black it was, his eyes a watery green that were loaded with hunger, went to pounce.

I flinched, waiting on his attack, but before I could, Austin sailed into the clearing.

He wasn’t there one minute, and the next, he was.

The naturals were smaller than him, and I only just registered how big he was, but there were eight of them and only one Austin. I was useless in this situation, like an ice sculpture, but I wanted to help, even though I knew, more than likely, if I did, I’d only get in the way.

So I watched on in horror as Austin took them all on at once.

I’d never seen anything like it outside of a documentary, and even then, I’d changed the channel because I didn’t want to watch wolves tear each other to shreds.

My God, that was what they did too.

This was unlike Ethan’s challenge. Nor was there any of that choreographed shit like you saw in movies where they fought one on one.

The pack attacked him en masse, and he was only one goddamn wolf.

He was going to die.

My mate was going to die.

Blind panic had the ice in my veins dissolving in an instant and, shifting back, I wished, “I need a gun!”

It was there, in my hands after a split second, and thanking my father for the one thing he’d done right in my childhood—taught me how to shoot—I took aim.

I had to be careful because Austin was in the fray, and the wolves were a blurring, snarling pile of fur and growls and blood—Kali Sara, some of which belonged to my mate. Aiming at the back, at where I figured the weakest would be, I made a shot.

The second the gun exploded in my hands, the bullet snarling its way through the atmosphere to hit its target, the beast’s yelp sounded. It was high-pitched and loaded with pain, so unlike the snarl of rage of seconds before, that it was like night and day.

The creatures froze, and I had no choice but to pick off a few more, leveling the fight, even if I only injured them enough to back out of the match. Some I missed entirely, wasting precious ammunition.

When I pulled the trigger and the slide locked back, empty, I snarled, “I need a gun!”

And for the first time, I didn’t get what I asked for.

I stared down at the weapon, clicking the trigger uselessly and wishing, “I need bullets! Please!”

By this point, there were four wolves against my man, but the odds were more in his favor than before.

My heart was in my throat, and my stomach was in knots as I watched them tear strips out of his hide, ripping into bone and muscle like a knife through paper.

Fist against my mouth, terror in my veins, I watched as Austin released a howl so high and loud that it made my ears ring.

I knew what it meant.

He was sick of being attacked. This was the end.

Because I knew that, my heart slowed down a little, letting me breathe without feeling like I was going to choke.

I watched as his maw snapped around one of the wolf’s throats and he tore it out, and he treated the others to the same reward. Slicing through them as he pounced and nipped, leaped and fought for both our lives.

How had this place gone from paradise to hell?

When the alpha was the only one standing, I saw with relief they were both injured.

Because of the way they’d fought, I knew the beasts had to have been hurting each other to get to him.

A little like Ethan and Brandon had earlier, they circled around one another, trying to find a way in, trying to find a weakness, a means of survival.

The thought that Austin might die made me flop forward, my hands falling to my knees as the sheer notion gutted me like he’d been gutting some of those wolves.

I couldn’t live without him.

I couldn’t.

God, I loved him.

I loved him.

I needed him.

And I hurled that at him, mentally demanding he listen and hear me through his focus on besting the other wolf, as I cried, “I love you!”

Maybe that was all he needed to hear. Maybe it was like Ali goddamn Baba, but he pounced through the air and leaped onto the alpha. They tumbled and rolled, but within a minute, it was over.

Austin fell back as the alpha took his final breath, and I rushed over to him, watching as the other animals in the pack retreated to lick their wounds.

When I dropped to my knees at his side, I whimpered when I saw just how much damage there was.

“Shift back?” I pleaded, hoping that would heal him like in the books, but he just lay there, looking at me, and…

Fuck.

Was he going to die?

He couldn’t!

He just couldn’t.

No!

“I need you to save my mate,” I pleaded.

Nothing happened.

Again.

The blood stayed on his coat, he continued panting like he was winded, his eyes flickered like he wanted to drift to sleep, and I watched as he bled out onto the ground around us, staining the grass with the precious ruby liquid.

“Please,” I rasped, stroking my hand over his head before I shoved myself against him, coating myself in his blood just to get close.

“I’ll do anything!” I screamed. “Please!” I roared when I felt his breathing start to slow even more.

Terror flooded me in a way I hadn’t experienced since I was younger. Since I’d lost my baby.

I held him tight in my arms, as much as I could when he was a wolf and not a man, and I ground out, “Whatever you want of me, I offer it freely. Just don’t let him leave me.”

I knew the instant it happened—when my offering was granted.

I shuddered, hearing his heart against my ear, hearing his breathing strengthen. His body began to twitch, and he started to move and shuffle around like he was coming out of unconsciousness.

Within seconds, he was back to being a man, and he was in my arms and I could hold him with ease.

“Thank you,” I murmured to no one, to the air, to the spirit, Lidai, or the totem, whoever was fucking listening and in charge of this place.

My throat grew tight with tears, and I fought them, struggling before I let them fall.