“There is a lot about you we don’t know about, Maddox. We’re a pack. A unit. We all have a life. A past. You refuse to tell us about yours. Why?” Caleb asked.
The alpha was coming forward and he wasn’t liking what he was seeing or hearing.
David remained tense, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
The man before them sighed. “Because my past isn’t exciting. It isn’t full of enjoyable memories. You’re right, I don’t heal that fast. The scars on my body were done before my first transition.” He removed his jacket followed by his shirt, showcasing the complete expanse of his scars. “Take a good look at them, boys. This is what you get when you piss off your foster dad or mom. Yeah, I got one of those bitches that liked to hit as well. Only she liked to use a belt. Sometimes she’d even warm up the belt buckle for good measure.”
David felt sick to his stomach. “Your parents?”
“Don’t know what happened to them. I was found in a dumpster. No one wanted me, so I was put into the system. That young girl I met the other week—I know what it’s like to be her. To go through the transition and not know what the fuck you’ve done. I did that. My foster dad was hitting me, again, and again. I felt bones break beneath the crush of his boot, and then the next thing I knew, I woke up in the middle of the road, naked. No one was around, thank God, but I knew. That’s my story. That’s why I’ve never been with a pack. I learned the hard way in life that you can only take care of yourself. Down in that pit, I was all alone. I killed to survive and the first person in my entire fucking life to show me any shred of human kindness was Heather. In that pit … she allowed me to feed.”
David wasn’t going to point out the obvious. Heather was a vegan. She’d already told him every detail of what happened down in that pit.
“I owe her my life. She is the reason I follow your pack,” Maddox said.
Caleb’s hands clenched. “Then why are the hunters here? They came right to my front door.”
Maddox opened his mouth but then closed it. His head turning to the side and he inhaled the air.
The ripple of his body let David know he was close to turning.
Just then, he got the scent. The hunters hadn’t left. They had just found another point of entry.
The first bullet hit Caleb in the stomach.
They were surrounded.
David had no choice.
No hunter could be left to survive after what he was about to do. Before he got a chance to do it himself, Maddox turned into a wolf. The clothes tearing from his body and David knew without a doubt the men had seen him as the rain of bullets ceased. The human hunters had just seen him change. Fuck. They were all fucked if they got away.
“Caleb!” Bethany came out of the house, yelling.
“Get back inside,” Caleb yelled back. Blood covered his stomach.
Heather was there, grabbing Bethany, hauling her back into the house, and shutting the door as more bullets started.
Within seconds, Caleb changed, turning into his wolf form and getting to his feet without a single scratch on him.
David followed next, as did Brian, Reese, and out of the house came Heather’s uncle, Benjamin.
“We’re surrounded,” Caleb said.
“They saw me turn. I want them all dead. I want to drink their blood.” Maddox sounded more feral in his wolf form.
“Focus,” David said. “We cannot let any of them escape. You fucked up big time.”
“Oh, please, I did us all a favor.”
The scent of their ammunition was heavy in the air. The burnt smell made David’s nose tingle.
“All of them have to die tonight,” Caleb said.
David was more than happy with that. He charged toward the forest, finding one of the humans fumbling with his machine. Wrapping his mouth around the man’s neck, he snapped it quickly.
All that kept going around his mind was how he had to protect his mate. She was the most important person in his life, and the only one he wanted to protect. Of course, he wanted to be there for his pack, but his Heather, nothing could happen to her.
Pushing through the forest, he slowed his moves to a crawl, gaining on the next hunter.
Irritation rushed through him as the man stopped to load up his weapon. They came with so much ammo. How did they track Maddox and Heather down here? Their home was off the grid.
The man looked up at him.
David smiled, and before the human could even shoot off a round, he was on top of him, snapping his neck like he had the first one.