Page 38 of Hunted Ink

“And you’re nothing but a mangy dog about to be put down for biting its master.” He spat on the ground at his feet. But then his gaze shifted over my shoulder to Kedi, and a manic kind of glee filled his eyes. “The only good shifter is a dead one, and it looks like he’s two for the price of one.”

Pure rage burned through me, fangs and claws punching through in a half shift. I rolled to my feet and barreled toward him, vowing to take him down with me. His eyes widened, and he brought the gun up to my head. I braced for the pain I knew would come, but before he could pull the trigger, a giant monster of a beast tackled him to the ground, slamming into him like a freight train. I stared in utter disbelief at the sheer savagery of the animal, its short speckled brown fur and bottomless black eyes reminding me of something you would see on the nature channel. Was that… a hyena?

Pinning him to the ground, it clamped its jaws over Pater’s screaming face and crunched down with no mercy, silencing his cries with a wet crunch. In the silence, it pulled back with a cackle that made goosebumps erupt down my spine. I knew that laugh… The hyena was Seth!

It seemed to trigger the shift in all of them. All around us, animals were bursting from skin, only to turn on the very masters who’d suppressed them all these years. Castor’s clothes split as he doubled, then tripled in size, thick brown fur covering him in a heavy pelt, until he emerged as a 600-pound grizzly, and with one paw, he flattened Elder Grant, rendering him unconscious. Moros lengthened into a large black snack, wrapping Elder Ethan in thickly muscled coils and squeezing until the man could no longer draw breath, face turning an ugly purple, eyes bloodshot.

But then Brahm unleashed an almighty roar and exploded into a tiger, and that put an end to the war right there. No one dared stand against him.

“Thanks, guys,” I muttered, right before my knees gave way, and I collapsed toward the slushy ground.

Arms caught me before my head could hit, and I stared up into my mate’s beautiful eyes, filled with panic. “I’m okay,” I whispered.

“The blood pouring down your side says otherwise.” He whipped off his coat, exposing a pair of ridiculous red suspenders, one of which he used to hold a makeshift bandage in place.

“Nah, it’s barely a scratch,” I said as I fought to keep my eyes open. Even now, I could feel the bullet being pushed out of my muscle, the wound healing faster than humanly possible. I would’ve waved him off, but I kind of loved having my mate fuss over me for a minute.

Footsteps headed our way, and I peeled my eyes open to find Seth crouching naked beside me, his chin and chest smeared with gore. “You still with us?”

“All thanks to you. I owe you one.”

“Nah, you don’t owe me, not after all you did for us. And it truly was my pleasure,” he said with a wicked grin, and I felt like he truly meant that. I was just glad he was on our side. “Besides, he had it comin’, trying to hurt our Alpha.”

I jolted at the title, whipping my head around to him, but he just offered me a cheeky wink then strolled off to join the others. I listened to their whoops and excited chatter as they bragged about how awesome their beasts were.

“Will you really be okay, Apollo?” Kedi asked, wiping tears from his cheeks.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. But maybe… call me Conroy?”

His smile was pure sunshine. “I can do that.”

Chapter 23

Kedi

Joel was the one who was supposed to be carrying twins—not me!

“Are you sure?” I asked, even as another contraction clamped me in a vice. “Like, sure sure?”

Sierra popped up from between my bent legs, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. “One…” she began, pointing to the squirmy screaming baby I’d just pushed out, freshly cleaned up and now being swaddled by his papa. He’d come out fiery and all alpha, raging at the world with his furious squalling. “Two.” Now Sierra pointed straight at my ass where there was no hiding the second baby trying to squeeze its way out through the birth canal.

I wasn’t prepared for this! One baby, that was what I’d thought I had to get through, not two! Oh gods, what if there were three?! I knew I should’ve gone to see a human doctor like Joel did.

The contraction passed, and I flopped back on the bed, trying to rally.

“Come on, sweetheart, you can do it,” my mate said, bringing our son to my side. “Look at the incredible prize you get for all this hard work.”

Tears collected on my lashes as I gazed at the adorable face of our son. Hard to say which one of us he looked more like, since it wasn’t like he’d come out with green hair or piercings, but I couldn’t wait to watch him grow.

I whimpered a little as another contraction built. “Just one more?”

“Just one more,” he confirmed, waiting until I was mid-push before he tacked on a muttered, “Probably.” Jerk.

“That’s it,” Sierra encouraged. “They’re almost here…”

The pain was sharper somehow this time, like I was being torn straight down the middle, but I forced myself to bear down, squeezing the hell out of Conroy’s free hand. With a rush, the second baby came out, and Sierra caught them, grinning. “You did it! It’s a girl!”

I was filled with such incredible awe. A girl! Just like that we had a son and a daughter.