“Move, princess,” he muttered. Just another inch or two. Enough so the bullet wouldn’t rip through the lycan’s chest cavity and burrow directly into her.
Crawling forward, the werewolf snarled at Bast. It whipped its large head from Bast to Alice, then back to Bast. It stood paralyzed with indecision, seemingly wanting its original weaker prey but recognizing the danger it faced in the armed vampire.
Bast kept tracking the damned thing, waiting for the right opportunity. The wolf raised its muzzle, staring Bast down with a swirling mix of gold and brown in its feral eyes before it made a low sound in its throat. Instead of the warning Bast expected, the wolf’s low keening struck him as if the very sound scraped against raw nerves.
An answering howl, fast on the heels of the lycan’s whimper, shot out of the night air. Somewhere beyond the line of trees bordering the airfield. Jaw tightening, Bast waited for the next howl and the one following.
So here were the werewolves he was supposed to meet. Not quite their original chosen destination. Instead of letting him come to them, into their hold, they’d met him and his charge.
Fuck them.
Whirling quickly, he squeezed the trigger in the direction of the trees. Hoped for a distraught yelp. Wasn’t surprised when he didn’t get one.
He did study their bulk in the not-sunlight, still shining bright, and managed to count six before returning his attention to the threat standing between him and Alice.
“That thing touches her, and every one of you dies tonight,” he shouted. Movement to the left. From the direction of the plane. “And I promise on my life, it won’t be quick.”
“I’ve got your back, boss,” Pope yelled.
It would be a help, especially if the pilot was armed and ready as well. They were both trained soldiers, ready to defend themselves against their kind’s current threat. Whether or not either man had seen action in their lives couldn’t be helped, but really Bast wanted nothing more for them to point their guns in the right direction and fire. Even a single second of not having to track six lycans would help him focus on the important one. The one standing in front of Alice.
Heat licked along tense muscles. It massaged itself into his arms, coiling around his torso until it stretched down the lengths of his thighs. When it finally bottomed out, having no place else to spread, Bast jerked upright as it rushed up his body again.
He didn’t need this. Not now.
But the heat ignored his silent plea, pushing at his back as if determined to create an exit for the furnace within if he wouldn’t give it a place to escape. Sweat rivulets clung to his brows, threatening to dribble into his eyes, drop by stinging drop. He blinked once. Twice. A quick toss of his head to fling the distractions away.
Movement from the trees.
“Vampire,” a male voice called.
A figure approached, walking not with boldness nor stealth, but with a casual indifference that pissed off Bast. His nudity didn’t bother Bast; the knowledge of what lycans could and couldn’t do during a physical shift wasn’t news. He just wished he’d had an opportunity to explain some of it to Alice, who couldn’t be understanding any of this.
“Lower your weapon,” the man continued. “We’re not here to take you out. If we were, you’d be dead already.”
As fucking if. His gun hand didn’t waver.
“Let her come to me. Right by my side. Then we talk.” He kept his eyes on Alice. “You asked for this meeting, Locke, and this is how you treat me and my guest?”
“We were detained,” Locke answered. “I’d hoped to catch you up here. And it seems we have.”
No one so much as twitched, which didn’t fill Bast with good feelings.
“Tell your dog to move,” he growled. “The woman goes safely into the plane, and then the eight of us can figure out who’s got the biggest dick.”
The werewolf growled deep in its throat, a trail of saliva spilling from black lips.
Locke chuckled. “Wilde doesn’t seem to like that idea. But if you insist on training your gun on him while I deliver my message, I’ll allow it, as I’ll be brief. That being said, she stays where she is for now.”