Page 36 of Bad Medicine

My head lolled as I eyed him,but seeing his face—along with a few seconds of not getting kicked or punchedby the wolves—was enough to stir the beginnings of rage inside me.

He grinned, and there wassomething unrecognizable in his eyes. “Well?” he asked. “Do you know, wolf? Doanyof you know what’s stronger than a wolf shifter?”

I could only imagine his wolvesnursing their bloody knuckles and darting confused glances at each other.

“No? I’ll tell you, then. Ashapeshifter. A shapeshifter is stronger than a wolf shifter!” He laughed.“Come on, Kait. You’re not done yet. Let’s kick some fucking wolf ass.”

Sam?I tried to ask, butmy mouth wouldn’t form the words.

He put his forehead againstmine, but only for a second. “Go deep inside, Kaitlyn. The silver won’t lingerforever. Shift, my friend.”

But I could not.

“Jared,” I screamed. “Jared,force my shift.”

But Jared wasn’t there and myscream was more of a mumble sent through swollen, split lips and broken teeth.He wasn’t even on the phone. I understood then that Jared had shifted and wasrunning through the night looking for me, despite Adam’s threats. He’d find me,eventually. He’dfeelme, and that feeling would pull him straight tome.

Sam let me drop to the floor,then grabbed my ankles and began to drag me toward Max, leaving a wide,bright-red smear of blood on the concrete floor as we went.

And despite not having backup,not yet, from me or anyone else, Sam the shapeshifter took advantage of hisstrength, his speed, and the wolves confusion, and he left me propped againstSam’s knees—and out of the way—as he turned on the wolves and began, quitebrutally, to rip them to shreds.

Because he had the ability to shiftto human form, he couldn’t shift to animal form—but he didn’t need to. Thewolves thought he was their alpha, and they were accustomed to letting theiralpha do whatever he wanted to them. Even killing them.

I couldn’t take my swollen eyesoff the shapeshifter. When the wolves finally figured out he wasn’t their alphagone crazy, they began to fight back—but it was too late.

I closed my eyes as I leanedagainst Max’s legs, willing myself to shift, to heal. Did Max know I was awolf? I couldn’t remember. My brain was…scrambled. But in the grand scheme ofthings, it really didn’t matter. Because if he didn’t already know, he wasabout to find out.

I screamed, bubbles of bloodballooning from my lips, bursting into the air, and my scream became a howl…

And then, nothing. I was heldtoo strongly by silver and by brutal, savage injuries, and I could not bring mywolf. I could not shift.

Two of the wolves remained—Ericand Elaine—and they had long since shifted. They cornered the injuredshapeshifter, and God, I would have given anything,anything,to havebeen able to tear into them.

Sam no longer looked like AdamThorne, but I was viewing the world through blurry, swollen eyes and could not seehis true face, if indeed he was even wearing it.

Then someone else burst intothe room, and the shapeshifter stood back and let the alpha—myalpha—take over. Sam glanced at me once, but his face was a pale, featurelessmoon, and then, as the room began filling with strangers, he fled.

Abruptly my people surroundedme. My mother, the detective, Joe. Eli, Jared’s beta, and some of his warriors.Dr. Hayes and Nurse Belinda.

But they all parted for thebloody alpha, whose shift from wolf to man was as fast and seamless as any I’dever seen, and then I was in his arms, and for the first time since I’d beentaken, I was good.

I was fucking good.

ChapterEighteen

Ben Hayes gave me something tocounteract the lingering effects of the silver, but the silver was alreadyweakening before he and his nurse began working on me. I needed to shift, butmy body was too injured to accept it. Even if Jared had tried to pull my wolffree, it could have killed me before I had a chance to heal.

I should have been dead.

Lucy came in to see me once,but abruptly horrified, had burst into tears and hurried from the room. Until Iwas deemed somewhat stabilized, neither my mother nor Jared left my side.

Both of them told me quiteangrily that I could not sacrifice myself for anyone, ever again, because thatwas my greatest weakness. Once the enemy knew they could control me by takingsomeone I cared about, no one would ever be safe. Especially not me.

“You don’t hand yourself over,”my mother said, her voice thick with tears. “You do what Jared did and use yourbrain to find the person, and then you go in and you—” Abruptly she buried herface in her hands and didn’t finish what she’d been about to say.

“Max?” I asked, though it hurtto speak. Apparently my jaw was broken. All of me was broken.

“Max will be fine,” Jared toldme. “Don’t talk, Kait. Sleep.”