Ready for hell, hunters?

He smiled and knew that his growing fangs would show. “Your scream will distract them when they rush inside. They’ll want to help you.” While he had the chance to attack them. “Time to pick your side, wife.”

Then the fire of the change swept through him. A white-hot explosion of pain as his bones broke, reshaped, as his muscles stretched and his body contorted. Fur burst along his flesh. His hands became paws. His body hit the floor, and when he opened his mouth again, the growl of a beast broke from his lips.

His gaze found Kayla’s. She stood where he’d left her, against the wall. Her eyes were on his. Wide. Deep. Afraid?

Another growl came from him as he took a step toward her. He could smell her fear. A hunter, afraid of the prey she’d deliberately sought out. What the hell?

She could handle him as a man, but his beast made her shake.

A normal reaction for most humans, but Kayla was far from normal. He’d find out the rest of her secrets. He had to.

But right then he leapt for the shadows on the other side of the room. The hunters were closing in now. Three, two—

The cabin’s door burst open. The men rushed inside. Still wearing their dark clothes and with ski masks over their heads. The muzzles of their guns swept the room—and froze on Kayla.

Bait.

“I told you she didn’t go willingly,” one of the men said. The leader. The leader always talked first and stormed onto the scene like he was some big deal. Gage had learned that lesson long ago. He watched, still and silent, as the guy pushed past the others and hurried to Kayla’s side. “Where the hell is he?” The masked guy demanded as he reached for Kayla’s arm. “Where—”

Gage’s snarl seemed to echo in the small cabin.

Three men. One wolf. Perfect odds.

Gage leapt forward. Clawed the weapon from the first dumbass. Used his teeth on the second. They screamed and yelled, and their blood flowed.

Too easy.

The wounded men tried to slip back out the door. Fleeing. He guessed the humans couldn’t handle a little pain. Hunters weren’t big on courage.

Except for Kayla.

His head swung back toward her. That jerk with her was aiming his gun. The muzzle pointed right at Gage. Was that supposed to scare him? His hind legs shoved down, and he leapt into the air. He wasn’t faster than a bullet, so he’d take the hit, but then he’d take out the fool who—

“No!” Kayla shoved the guy’s weapon away.

Choose your side. It looked like she just had.

“Kayla, what the hell—” The human began, but that was all he had the chance to say. Gage’s paws drove onto his chest as he took the hunter down. They hit the floor and the human tried to jerk away.

Gage wasn’t letting him go. The leader wasthe one he wanted. The one that he’d use to break the group targeting his pack.

Gage brought his mouth to the guy’s throat. He could rip the man wide open in less time than it took to breathe.

“Don’t!” But, suddenly, Kayla was there. Coming right up next to the beast. “Don’t hurt him. Please.” A ragged breath slipped from her. “He’s my brother.”

Gage felt an ice-cold pain in his chest. So cold. But . . . since when did the cold burn?

As the cold spread through him, the wolf slumped away from the hunter on the ground, and he knew he’d made a fatal mistake. He’d been distracted. He’d heard Kayla’s cry and his attention had slipped away from the hunter.

Second weapon. He should have known the guy would have one. All damn hunters did.

The asshole in the ski mask still had his gun up. When he’d fired, the weapon hadn’t made a sound, but its bullet had torn straight into Gage’s chest.

Kayla’s presence should have distracted her team.

Not me.

Gage’s form convulsed, and he shuddered as pain lanced through him. The pain—that was coming from the shift. His body was transforming rapidly—too rapidly—back into the body of a man. Gage stared down at his chest. That wasn’t a normal bullet.

Something was hanging out of the back of that bullet. Like a—feather?

Then he knew. Fuck me.

Tranq.

“Bastard . . .” He managed to wheeze the word. Speech was near damn impossible.

He couldn’t control his body. Couldn’t stop the shift. Couldn’t do anything but hit the floor as the tranquilizer poured through his veins.

“What have you done?” Kayla’s voice came from a distance. She sounded afraid. Angry. Then she was there, touching him, holding him. “Gage?”

He couldn’t speak.

The hunter could. “So it’s true . . .” Disgust flowed through the man’s words. “The others told me . . . they said you were getting too close to him.”

Why couldn’t he feel Kayla’s fingers against his flesh?

“I didn’t want to believe it.” The floor creaked as the hunter came closer to her. “Not you. You couldn’t be working with a dirty animal like him.”

Things were starting to dim. Just how much of a dose had the guy emptied into him?

“Help us, Jonah,” Kayla said. She was pleading with the guy. “Help me get him out of here before the others—”

Too late.

More footsteps raced from outside. More humans coming in, when the wolves should have been there to have his back.

Understanding hit him even as he fought to hold on to consciousness. Kayla had been telling him the truth.