Mated To The Alpha Bully

35

I pressed down, but nothing happened. Kaden fell to the ceiling with a thump. Immediately, the growling outside stopped. I pushed the seat belt button again, but nothing happened. “f**k! I’m stuck.”

Kaden cursed, just as a gray wolf snapped its jaws through his shattered window. “Try to get out. I’ll hold them off as long as I can."

I nodded and continued fidgeting with the seat belt. Dammit, I thought. Of all the times…

Kaden's door wouldn't open either. He bent the metal out of place, the screech of it loud enough to drown out the remaining growls, and then the moonlight spilled inside. Kaden leaped out, shifting into a huge black wolf halfway, and I heard his growl join the group. His shadow blocked the entrance to the car as he turned back and forth, snarling and snapping at our attackers. I saw them lunge at him, and heard the sounds of fighting.

I yanked at the seat belt one last time, trying to use some of my strength to yank it open. It didn’t do a damn thing, and I let out a whimper, the thought of shifters tearing the car apart to get to me playing out in my mind. Or worse, letting Kaden fight them on his own and getting injured...or killed.

I considered shifting but wasn't sure if that would work to get me out, or if I'd just be a trapped wolf. I looked outside again. The moon. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my mind, to access that part of me that knew how to use my powers, and then I was blinking at the wrecked car from fifty feet away.

I let out a breath. None of the shifters had seen me yet, all of them surrounding Kaden as he fought them off by himself in a flash of fur and fangs. I ran back over, trying to be as quiet as possible, then shifted into wolf form. I wasn't as quick or as smooth as Kaden, but I was able to launch myself onto one of the gray wolves and sink my teeth into its neck, releasing a heavy dose of my Ophiuchus poison from my fangs.

The wolf shook me off, sending me slamming back against the side of the car. He turned and growled at me, snapping his teeth, still very much alive. He didn't even look slightly woozy. What the f**k?

They're Taurus pack, Kaden told me through our pack bond. Immune to poison. Like all the earth signs.

Oh s**t. I'd forgotten about that. All the packs had some natural ability related to their element—water signs like Cancers could breathe underwater, fire signs were immune to fire (obviously), and air signs could fall from any height without taking damage. It was one of those things I so rarely thought about because it never applied to me, and it hardly ever came up—until now, of course.

If these were Taurus, that explained how that wolf was able to wreck our car too, just by standing in front of it. When a Taurus used bull stance, their pack power, they became totally immovable and nearly impossible to damage. That made fighting them difficult too, especially when we were so outnumbered. Really, was there anything that would give us an edge against twelve shifters who couldn’t be slowed down or moved?

Shit, this was bad. I’d never faced so many shifters before, and I doubted Kaden had done so without more pack members to back him up. But he flashed his fangs and fought back anyway, not hesitating like I was. He was the alpha of the Ophiuchus pack, and that meant he was going to fight this to the bitter end. I moved into a defensive position, snapping at the wolf who I’d just bitten as he tried to come closer again and go for my throat. I would go down with Kaden too if that was what it took.

A swell of determination went through me, replacing the despair, and when I glanced skyward I felt a surge of hope. I had the power of the moon to help me, and Kaden did too. Even the Sun Witches had feared me, though I wasn't sure why, or how to tap into the power I'd shown them. But we could use some of that power now to help us.

When the Taurus tried to bite me on the throat, I disappeared, making him chomp down on nothing but air. I reappeared behind him and clamped down on his back leg with my fangs, shaking it like a dog with a bone. That got his attention. When he turned back to swipe at me with a claw, I teleported again, moving to his other side, leaping on his back. I did it again, and again, traveling through moonlight, wearing the other wolf out until I was able to take him down with my fangs.

Kaden had caught on to what I was doing and he went invisible to confuse the wolves around us, who suddenly couldn't see his attacks. As four wolves surrounded where he had to be, I blinked into the middle of them, nudging up against his shoulder. A second later, we were on the other side of them—and I was invisible too.

Working together, using our gifts from the moon goddess, we took more of the Taurus down. I stopped thinking and let my wolf take over, trusting my instincts to guide me. My body moved with the expert precision Stella and Kaden had helped me train into it, and the moonlight shining down on us gave me strength.

And then I looked up to find the remaining Taurus shifters bolting into the dense trees behind us, and Kaden panting at my side. Half a dozen wolves lay dead at our feet, and I hadn’t even remembered dealing most of the killing blows.

Once we were sure the remaining Taurus had fled, we shifted back and stood there naked under the moonlight on the side of the road, which thankfully seemed pretty empty this time of night. The Taurus must have purposefully picked a remote area for their attack.