Filed to story: Secret Shifters Next Door Series PDF Free
The men were getting out of the van and the car behind me. Adrenaline squirted into my system. I could almost feel the actual burst of the chemical surging into my blood and rushing to my brain and heart.
Two men rounded the back of the van, waving their hands at me to get out and screaming at me. My panic-addled ears were unable to make out what they were saying. Two more men approached from the back and started yanking on the door handles.
“Get out! Get the fuck out, bitch.”
“No!” I screamed, not knowing what else to do.
The men in front of me trained their guns on me, and I had a moment’s thought that I could try and run them down. Before I could attempt that, one of the men at the doors slammed the butt of his gun against my passenger side window, busting it out in a shower of glass. He was reaching in to unlock and open the door when I heard the growls.
All four men spun and saw a huge inky-black panther stalking toward them. Beside the panther was the largest wolf I’d ever seen. Blayne and Miles.
A relief so great I almost couldn’t stand it rushed through my body, bringing me to tears.
“Shifters!” a man shouted. “Back up. Go on, get away!” He motioned toward Blayne and Miles with his gun.
“Goddamned abominations,” the man at the door hissed.
He raised his rifle.
Fear coursed through me. “Blayne, watch out!”
The gunshots rang out, staccato in the afternoon. I was absolutely certain they’d been hit. I was wrong, though. Watching through the window, I was amazed how graceful the two were. Blayne and Miles moved even more elegantly than wild animals would have.
As the bullets erupted from the guns, the two shifters dodged and dived away, almost like they knew where the bullets were going to be. Blayne leaped up, pressed his paws into the side of the van, and leaped off the car, slashing down toward one of the men with his claws. He caught the hunter’s gun hand. The gun went flying in a spray of blood as four deep gashes appeared on his arm, going all the way to the bone.
The guy clutched his hand and screamed. Miles somehow dodged a barrage of seven or eight bullets and snapped his jaws onto the ankle of the man who’d first opened fire. He fell and dropped his gun. Behind the van, the sound of another engine came roaring toward us.
The other three men scattered, running to their cars and van, leaving their friend at the mercy of Miles and Blayne. As the men peeled rubber, they revealed the source of the other engine. My uncles Sam and Luis had jumped from their car and were running toward us. Sam pulled a pistol out and fired the full clip at the fleeing van. If he hit anyone inside the car, I couldn’t tell.
My door flew open and I almost screamed until I saw Blayne leaning in toward me. He’d shifted back to his human form and was running his hands across my face, shoulders, and legs. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“I-I-I-I…” I couldn’t speak. My breathing wasn’t right, and my heart was racing.
Blayne took my face in his hands and looked into my eyes. “You’re having a panic attack. I want you to take a big, deep breath. Here, breathe with me, okay?”
I looked into his eyes and tried to match my breathing to his. Difficult at first, but soon I was taking deep slow breaths in and easy long breaths out. Soon, I was able to calm myself enough to climb shakily from my car.
Miles was still in his wolf form, his teeth clamped into the hunter’s leg. Blood oozed from his mouth. The man was gasping and cursing, trying to kick at Miles’s head and reach for his rifle. Uncle Sam walked up and kicked the gun away, letting it spin off to the side with a metallic clatter.
Sam leaned down and pressed the barrel of his gun to the man’s forehead. “You think it’s fun chasing ladies, motherfucker?” He pressed the barrel down hard, cracking the back of the man’s head on the pavement.
Blayne walked around to the hunter, holding my hand. Sam glanced up and nodded to the hunter. “Whatcha wanna do with this piece of shit? Me and Luis can cap his ass right now. Stash him in the woods.”
I winced at the callousness of it, but I then remembered the way this one had looked at me. Had he taken me, would he have been any kinder to me? Probably not.
Blayne shook his head. “No. Not like that. Hide him somewhere. We need to get Ava safe. We’ll deal with him later. I’ll take Ava to Gio’s place.”
Sam gave a nod of assent. “You got it, boss.”
Miles let go of the guy and shifted back. He wiped the blood from his mouth and knelt next to the hunter, spitting on the ground. “You taste like shit, by the way.”
Luis and Sam lifted the guy up by his arms, and I could see panic and terror play across his face as my uncles dragged him toward their car. Luis swung a knee up into the hunter’s crotch. The kidnapper heaved a breath out, gagging and dry-heaving.
“Wanna fuck with my baby niece? I’ll show you how fun things can get. You wait and see.”
They tossed the guy into the trunk and slammed the lid before getting in and driving off. Miles grabbed the rifle off the road and unloaded it before tossing it into the back of my own car.
“Can this drive?” Miles asked.
“Uh, I think one of the tires is blown,” I said. I was getting dizzy.
Miles nodded. “Is there a spare?”
I nodded absently, and Miles went to work. Less than ten minutes later, he put on the spare time. The whole time, I stood there, letting Blayne hold me up. The sound of his heartbeat through his chest calmed and soothed me.
“Where did you guys come from anyway? Did you drive?” I asked.
Blayne shook his head. “Would have taken longer to drive. We went straight through the woods. Shifted and ran as soon as I was off the phone with you. Miles and I busted out of the trees right as that asshole knocked your window in.”
