Page 73 of Vicious Luna
There’s only one way to describe what ensues next.
Utter. Chaos.
People are shouting, wolves are snarling, bullets are flying. I get separated from Avery within minutes, and I’m suddenlyon my own, dodging shots from my former allies and fighting beside my former foes. It’s a complete mindfuck, especially because I recognize so many of the men behind the Guild tactical gear they’re wearing. Shooting at strangers is one thing, but shooting at the guys I used to live and work with feels like madness.
I spot Collins ducking behind a tree to take aim at a wolf sprinting past, and I don’t allow myself to think- I just react. I line up a shot and squeeze the trigger, my bullet piercing the fleshy part of his bicep. His rifle falls from his hands, but then another bullet whizzes past my ear, embedding itself in a tree trunk right behind me. I pivot in the direction it came from and pop off another shot, my bullet tearing into Studebaker’s thigh and dropping him to a knee.
Diving into a thicket of brush for cover, I reload my weapon, my mind racing to piece together The Guild’s strategy behind this mission. Judging by the number of vehicles they brought, this can’t be all their forces… unless there are more of them moving in on foot from another location. Still, this doesn’t seem well-planned enough to be their big extermination effort. It’s too risky. It doesn’t make sense.
Remaining keenly aware of my surroundings, I move swiftly through the dense brush with my rifle at the ready, still searching for Avery. That pull inside seems to be directing me west, so that’s the way I start to go while chaos continues unfolding all around me. Each time a soldier steps into my line of sight, I fire off a shot, and every time I do, another little piece of the old me dies. As I go through the motions of battle, the hollowness inside me grows.
Then I see Avery. She kicks up dirt as she sprints to take cover behind a tree, her blonde ponytail streaming behind her and a Guild soldier in hot pursuit. I pop off a few rounds to intercept him, managing to clip his shoulder, and while it doesn’t take him down, he falters enough that she’s able to getaway. I line up another shot and squeeze the trigger, but all I hear is the click of the firing pin. I’m out of ammo.
I quickly duck behind a tree and lower my rifle, shoving a hand into my pocket for a fresh magazine to reload. The moment my hand closes around it, another Guild soldier steps into view.
Matty and I lock eyes, his baby blues widening at the realization that it’smehe’s got his gun pointed at. My heart leaps into my throat as it registers that he’s got a clean shot, his finger on the trigger.
I grit my teeth and brace for impact, but he doesn’t shoot. Instead, another gunshot comes from my right, grazing my arm like the slice of a hot blade. Pain sears up my limb and shoots into my fingertips, and I whip around with a snarl as I yank the magazine from my pocket and shove it into place, ready to return fire.
Except my world stops when I see who took that shot at me.
There’s no trace of compassion in his eyes, no hint of care or familiarity. Jonathan Knox is stone cold as he lines up another shot, and though my finger is on the trigger of my own gun, I hesitate.
The man who raised me doesn’t.
He fires at the same moment Avery appears from out of nowhere and takes me down to the ground. The force of the impact knocks the wind out of me for a second, but my beastie doesn’t miss a damn beat. She immediately rolls over, aims her gun toward my former father, and fires.
He manages to dodge it, diving behind the safety of a tree, and Avery seizes the opportunity to pop up to her feet again, offering me an arm. We lock eyes as I grip on, and as soon as I’m back on my feet, we skirt the wide tree trunk to put ourselves out of the line of fire.
“Fall back!” a familiar voice calls out, and some of thegunfire immediately ceases, my anxiety climbing to new heights.
What the fuck are they up to?
The soldiers start making their way back toward the road, falling into formation to cover one another. I hear doors slamming and tires squealing, but by the time Avery and I make it to the road, three of the SUVs are already speeding away. The fourth is still parked, but no other Guild soldiers are in sight.
Realization dawns like a slow-motion car crash in my brain, all the air whooshing from my lungs as I snap my head toward Avery in panic.
“Get away from the car!” I roar, and her eyes fly wide as my warning registers.
I told her about the bombs they were planning to build. About the explosives experts my father called in; about the supply drop for materials he’d kept me in the dark about until the reinforcements showed up and he finally clued me in. He wasn’t able to plant the bomb on a body, soof coursethis would be his next move. Start a conflict, draw out the werewolves, then flee the scene and let the explosion do his dirty work. I’m only mad it took me this long to figure it out, because now everyone in the vicinity is in grave danger and I have no idea how much time we have left before it detonates.
“It’s a bomb!” Avery screams out, and panicked yells rise up all around us, everyone turning to run for the woods.
The two of us take off, but a yelp of pain has me skidding to a stop, glancing back over my shoulder. Sloane’s on the pavement- she must’ve tripped in her haste to get away. I immediately pivot, running back to help her up. I’m not thoughtful or gentle about it- I just grab her underneath her armpits and haul her onto her feet, snatching her hand and yanking her with me as I dash for the trees again.
Before we can reach them, Sloane’s hand is abruptly torn from mine as Madd swoops in, scooping up his mate andflinging her over his shoulder like a ragdoll. He runs for the woods, and that’s when I see Avery has paused to wait at the treeline, eyes wide with fear.
“Go!” I shout, racing toward her.
She doesn’t spin around and take off again until I make it closer, but then the two of us quickly fall into step with one another, running side by side in a dead sprint. The earth suddenly rocks beneath our feet as the explosion detonates in the road, sending us sprawling to the ground, and I dive to cover Avery’s body with my own as we go down.
A high-pitched whistle rings in my ears and a sharp, acrid stench burns my nostrils. Dirt and debris fly while splintered wood and twisted metal rain down all around us, black spots clouding my vision until everything goes dark.
34
Icould kill Ares for opening his big mouth.
We’ve got enough to deal with right now in the aftermath of The Guild’s attack. Funeral arrangements need to be made for the two squad fighters who perished in battle, all hands are on deck in the infirmary to help aid those who were injured, and now we’ve got to regroup and strategize as to how we can beat the hunters before they ambush us with another surprise attack. The last thing we needed to add to the pile was the bomb Ares just dropped about how my mate was the one who alerted everyone to the explosives- andoh yeah,he’s also a hunter-turned-shifter that we’ve secretly been holding captive for days.