Page 16 of Wolf Revealed

As a werewolf, Lark was fast. But she’d never been in a fight before, much less one with guns. Still, this was her son they were talking about here. She’d do whatever she needed to do to keep him safe.

Kal stumbled and fell, knocked aside as Khaki took down the guy who’d been holding him. Lark was immediately at his side, pulling him upright. He wrapped his arms around her, holding onto her tightly. Lark wanted that hug more than anything else in the world, but as gunshots started going off around her and people all over the park began running and screaming, she knew this wasn’t the time or the place.

“We need to go!” she said urgently.

Kal didn’t hesitate, holding tightly onto her hand as they ran for the park exit. Unfortunately, her ten-year-old son wasn’t old enough to go through the transition from child to wolf yet, which meant he couldn’t run much faster than any other kid his age. Getting away from the park and back to the safety of the SWAT ops truck would take longer than she preferred. But it wasn’t far. They’d get there okay.

“Mom, that was Dad, right?” Kal asked excitedly. “Shouldn’t we help him?”

“Yes, that was him,” Lark said, quickly blending the two of them in with the other people running from the park, heading back down Hallsville toward the parking lot where they’d left the RV. “He’ll catch up as soon as he can.”

She could tell Kal didn’t really like that idea, but he kept going, even as Lark threw a quick look over her shoulder, needing to know if Mike truly was okay. But the area around the monument was flooded with people, and she couldn’t see Mike at all. That worried her.

Part of her wanted to shout into her radio, to make sure Mike was okay. But if he was busy fighting Roman, any distraction could get him hurt—or worse. So, she hurried Kal along, reaching the end of the block and turning toward the parking lot where Carter had parked the ops vehicle.

But Lark was forced to stop at the sight of a large man standing right in the middle of the parking lot driveway, blocking their path, one hand hidden under his coat. She had no doubt what he was holding in that hand.

Then she caught a whiff of that acrid chemical scent. The guy was one of Roman’s supernaturals.

“What’s wrong?” Kal asked as Lark spun them both around to head back toward the park.

Another one of Roman’s men stood in the middle of Hallsville Street to block their path in that direction, too. She glanced around, desperate for a way to escape, her gaze locking on a tall, brick wall at the far end of the street. Lark could have gotten over it easily on her own, but Kal definitely couldn’t.

Taking the only escape route left open, Lark tugged her son to the left, down the gravel path between the two closest apartment complexes.

“Mike!” she shouted, hoping he heard her on the radio. “Kal and I are running down Clyde Street toward a gravel road between two apartment buildings. Roman’s men are behind us. We need help. Fast!”

Chapter seven

Mike’s heart froze at the fear in Lark’s voice. That was the absolutely worst thing he could have done, considering he was in a fight with a supernatural who was somehow faster and stronger than a werewolf. One second of distraction, and Roman was kicking him in the chest with enough force to send him flying ten feet across the park, where he bounced off the stone monument like a crash test dummy. He’d barely managed to climb to his feet before Roman was on him again, hitting him in the jaw so hard it broke bone.

Since they were in the middle of a public park, Mike had been trying to keep his inner wolf under wraps. It was one of the rules the Pack lived by. Never let anyone see you shift. There had been times in the past when some of his pack mates had pushed that rule to the breaking point, but Mike had always advised caution.

At the moment, though, with both Lark and Kal at risk, Mike understood why his pack mates had never heeded his warnings. People he cared about were in danger. Right then, he didn’t care if someone saw something they shouldn’t. He needed to get the hell out of here and find Lark and Kal.

Now.

Roman came at him with another punch, but this time Mike ducked under it, letting his claws extend as he slashed his right hand across the other man’s chest. Roman let out a roar of pain as he stumbled back. Mike took advantage of the man being off balance, swinging another strike at his face.

Roman avoided this one, but the move left his torso wide open to another attack. Mike obliged, kicking as hard as he could and slamming his right boot into the man’s stomach. The blow lifted Roman off his feet and sent him tumbling to the ground.

The urge to throw himself on the man and finish him was damn hard to resist, but Mike couldn’t waste any more time. He needed to go if he wanted to have any hope of saving Lark and Kal.

Turning, Mike sprinted for the exit, letting his claws retract and mentally pulling up the map of the area around the park, at least what he remembered of it. Cops were supposed to have a good sense of the area to do their jobs, but Dallas was a big city. He wasn’t quite sure where Clyde Street was located.

But his instincts drew him in a very definitive direction, and he followed them, trusting them to lead him to where he needed to be.

People scattered out of his way as he ran, but there were lots of people running, so he garnered little attention. Not that he cared. He was too focused on using all of his senses at his disposal to find Lark and Kal.

Mike had just about reached a tall brick wall at the end of Hallsville when he picked up their scents. He spun to the right onto a gravel-covered pathway, immediately catching sight of Lark and Kal about halfway down, between him and the street on the next block.

The three big men surrounded them, one blocking their escape to the next block, two others standing between Mike and his family. The men’s odors left no doubt they were supernaturals.

A small part of Mike wished he had his handgun, or even better, his SWAT-issued M4 carbine. But those thoughts faded away rapidly as anger began to burn through him and his body began to partially shift, claws extending yet again. But this time, his fangs did as well, rage pushing them out until the upper canines were extending down well over his lower lip.

For a fraction of a second, he wanted to completely shift and take on his full wolf form. But even though he was one of the fastest members of the Pack when it came to shifting, he still couldn’t do it in the middle of a run. He’d have to at least stop and pull off most of his clothes. Even then, it would take fifteen to twenty seconds before he was in wolf form. That was way too long in this situation, no matter how much his inner wolf wanted to come out to attack.

But as his claws extended an inch and a half beyond his fingertips, Mike promised it wouldn’t make any difference. He was going to neutralize the men, no matter what he had to do.