17. Chapter Seventeen

None of us were expecting a black sedan to come down the drive. We ran for the car, and I was able to shove Gwen into the car with the bag as the car got closer, pushing her head down, so her face was obscured by her hair.

"This is bad," I murmured.

"Definitely," Heath agreed, nodding to his left.

I glanced in that direction and saw a large werewolf walk out from the trees. It had been downwind of us, no way of us catching its scent, but it probably caught ours. I cursed under my breath.

"They had a watch on the building we missed. No way we would have known without risking one of us going into the woods, which we didn't have time to do. Very effective." I stood beside Heath, who locked the car, using the key fob. My sister sank into her seat, but the windows weren't tinted enough to block someone from seeing her face.

"They knew someone would come, eventually. There's probably a second guy out there with a fucking phone who made the call," he agreed. "We don't have time to drive off, and I don't want to risk them opening fire on us. This thing isn't bulletproof, and we have no firepower."

"Agreed."

The sedan stopped with the driver's side toward us. Heath didn't move from my side. The driver stayed in the car, but on the far side of the car, both doors opened, and two large men got out, looking over the roof at us. I used my body to shield Gwen from their view.

"Doctor Duray," one greeted with a nod, directed at me for some reason. I nearly smiled. He thought I was Gwen. A thick Russian accent made it clear we were dealing with the very werewolves we didn't want to be. He wore a suit, a small indicator this was a werewolf with money or power, probably both. "And a werewolf." He sniffed the air and frowned. "Is that a werecat in the car? Did you convince some werecat to protect you? Foolish."

"What do you want, Alexei?" Heath demanded. Now I knew a name for the werewolf in front of me. The other one bared his teeth at Heath's words, but it was the first one who spoke again.

"You know me?" He seemed confused, looking at Heath with new interest.

"You're the fourth of the Russian werewolf pack. What you're doing in Minnesota, I don't know, but I know your name and face, yes," Heath answered.

"How do you know me?" Now there was distrust on Alexei's face. Fourth in the Russian werewolf pack. Would he know North American werewolves by face and name? How did Heath know who he was?

"That's not the question you should be asking," Heath whispered in a cool voice that made me concerned.

Alexei's eyes narrowed as he took in Heath, then flicked back to me, and his nostrils flared.

"You aren't the doctor…" he realized.

He must have realized I'm not the human scented one. Damn, so much for playing that ruse. Good at a glance, but I should have figured it wouldn't have held up for long.

"No, I'm not," I confirmed. There was no point in lying, they would have caught that immediately.

"How does a werecat take the face of a human?"

"That's for me to know." I wasn't going to confirm a relationship with Gwen. Not yet, anyway.

A click made me glance at the other werewolf, who took a picture of Heath and me, his phone still in position. There was nothing I could have done to stop it, so I didn't let it bother me. He said something in Russian, a language I hadn't attempted to learn yet, then Alexei nodded.

"Well, we'll know who you are soon enough."

"That's fine," I said, shrugging. My mind started kicking into high gear. We needed to leave, which meant we needed to convince these guys to let us do that without bloodshed. "But since there's only a few of you, I think we're going to get in this car and drive away, okay?" I smiled. "Because even with that wolf in the woods, his partner, and you three, all in human form, you can't beat me. I shift a lot faster than you."

"We have guns," he growled, definitely catching my overconfident threat.

"Good for you," I purred. "But killing me won't work in your best interests."

The second werewolf started talking again, showing his phone screen to Alexei, whose eyes went wide. The text must have quickly confirmed who Heath and I were, which was an interesting turn of events. Whoever they were talking to must have recognized our faces.

That's a horrifying problem to consider another time. Werewolf packs making it a priority to know who we are. Great.

"Tell whoever you're talking to, attacking a daughter of Hasan won't work in your favor," I growled as Alexei looked up, his eyes showing me just how furious he was. "Doctor Duray is in my care, and you can ask some of the werewolves on this continent how well it goes when someone tries to take away what's mine."

"We're not leaving here without her," Alexei growled. He reached beneath his blazer and pulled out a small handgun. "You, werecat, don't get to shove your nose into werewolf affairs. I don't care who you are."

"Put the gun away, Alexei," Heath said, maintaining a calm approach. "Don't ask for trouble. Your pack will suffer for it."

"Don't tell me what my pack needs. We need that doctor. Let her out of the car and give her to me."

I flicked a glance at Heath, then stepped out of the way of the door.

"Gwen, I'm going to open the door and let you out," I said, a plan coming together. I opened the door, and she came out slowly, lifting her head to see Alexei. I watched his eyes narrow.

"How is this possible?" he asked, looking between us.

"You're right. As a werecat, I can't get into your affairs, but as Doctor Duray's twin sister, there's no such limit to my actions. Gwen, get back in the—"

"Then both of you will come with us," Alexei ordered, the gun in his hand going to my sister. "Now."

I looked at Heath, wishing I could talk to him openly. Since I was in human form, I couldn't telepathically talk to him. There's no getting out of this, Heath. They aren't going to let us drive away. This is going to get bloody. That was what I wanted to say.

By the look on his face, I didn't need to say the words. He knew. He had probably figured it since the beginning but, like me, had been trying to find another way—any other way.

"Fine," I agreed, nodding, and lifted both my hands. "Gwen, stay beside me."

"Okay," my sister murmured, sticking to my side.

Alexei gestured for us to walk around the car and come closer, so I walked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the werewolf draw closer, another coming out of the woods behind it.

Targets. I needed to know all the targets.

Alexei's comrade was typing on his phone with one hand and had his other hand on a gun at his waist. As I walked, he put the phone away and pulled his gun out, turning it on Heath.

"Don't shoot him," I pleaded softly. "That will get you in trouble with the North American Werewolf Council."

"We'll only shoot him if you try something or he does," Alexei said with a bite. "So, don't try anything."

The werewolves were drawing closer. Alexei grabbed one of my arms and was about to spin when I looked at Heath one more time.

He didn't blink.

"RUN!" I screamed at my sister as I started to move.

In a flurry of action, I twisted my hand from Alexei's grasp and used my other hand to grab the gun by the barrel, shoving it, so it was pointed away from me.

A second later, two gunshots went off. When there was no scream, I prayed that meant no one was hit. My hand burned from the heat of the metal in my hand, but I didn't stop. I kneed Alexei in the groin, causing him to drop the gun. Before he could recover, I grabbed his head on each side and twisted hard.

A snap told me he was down for the count.

I dove for the gun he'd dropped as a werewolf jumped on me, teeth snapping dangerously close to my neck. I held off the teeth as I reached for the gun. Those teeth grazed my cheek as I struggled. My fingers grazed the gun, but my left arm was beginning to tire. The wolf was using its body weight to hold me down. A healthy werewolf could weigh over two hundred and fifty pounds, and some of the biggest could reach four hundred.

A shot rang out, and the wolf over me sagged. Blood began to pour over my face, and I shoved the wolf off me to see Gwen shaking, holding a gun.

I rushed to my feet and gently took it from her. Surveying the area quickly, I saw Heath and someone I didn't recognize fighting in human form over another gun. Alexei's friend was already dead on the ground.

"Where's the last werewolf?" I asked quickly. "Gwen, there were two. Did you see where the last one went?"

"No," she said, shaking her head quickly. "I didn't…I don't know. I have no idea."

"Fuck. Go get in the car and lock the door. I'm going to help Heath."

She nodded and ran for our car. I ran for Heath and his opponent, grabbing the enemy by the back of the shirt and pushing the gun into his spine. Heath didn't realize I was there immediately and gave the werewolf a mean right hook.

"Heath! I'm right here. Be careful," I ordered, looking around the now sagging werewolf.

"Where's the other one?" he asked, coming to his senses. He took in the bodies, and his grey-blue eyes narrowed. "Where's the last one?"

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here. We need to go right now. He probably realized it was a losing fight and went to call for backup."

"Shit." Heath reached out and checked the pulse of the one I was trying to hold up now. "This one is still alive. Should we take him?"

"Yeah. Let's see what they have in their car and hope there's something we can use." I dropped the unconscious werewolf and nodded to the black sedan. "They owe it to us for this fucking bullshit."

Heath nodded, but confusion flashed over his face. "They should have let us go."

"What do you think is going on?"

"They're desperate for your sister. Alexei should have backed off with you and me here. If they had been planning on violence, they would have brought more wolves, but obviously, they just wanted to grab your sister and go." Heath went to the black sedan's driver seat and popped the trunk while I went to a back door and opened it to search the back seat.

"I'm certain they'll be more willing to negotiate once they catch wind of this little scuffle," I said in a huff. "Now they know we're involved, they'll have to. Right? Maybe we can get some fucking answers."

"Hopefully," he agreed. "Found something. They have handcuffs and other shit. Definitely meant for torture and taking captives. They definitely meant your sister harm."

"Didn't need that confirmed," I said with a snap. Heath looked up at me, his gaze severe. "Sorry. This isn't your fault."

"It's been a long night," he whispered. "I understand. Just don't take it out on me. I'm in the middle of this with you."

We handcuffed the werewolf and threw him into our own trunk, which he almost didn't fit in. I checked his pockets and found a cellphone, leaving it behind before closing the trunk on the werewolf. They had my sister's number and could call that if they wanted to talk to anyone. I wasn't going to take a phone I knew they could track. I could only hope they hadn't figured out a way to track my sister's.

"I'm getting the guns," Heath said while I went to check on Gwen again.

"Cool." I opened the back door and slid in beside her. "Sis, answer me truthfully. Were you bitten?"

"No." She looked over her body, shaking her head. "I took cover when it started, then I saw you fighting off that werewolf, grabbed a gun near me, and—"

"That's all I need to know." I was out of the car before she could continue talking and looked for Heath. "We ready?"

"Come help me."

I couldn't see him. I went around the car and saw him checking over the weapons we were taking.

"They weren't using silver," he explained quickly. "They weren't expecting anyone but your sister, which was a good thing, but it's not going to help us."

"Are you really checking all of them before we go? Heath—"

"I wanted to see what we had." He was shoving clips back into guns and held one out to me. "Take it. Keep it on you. It won't kill a werewolf unless you hit the head—"

"And maybe not even then," I muttered. There were humans who could survive a bullet to the head. Crazier shit happened.

"Exactly, but they might have the stopping power to protect us. If we run into any more of them, they might think we're using silver." Before I could step back and head to my side of the car, Heath grabbed me. "Jacky, this is going to get uglier before it gets better. They aren't telling anyone here what they're doing. I promise you, right now, the North American Werewolf Council and the Tribunal have no idea what the Russians are doing."

"I know. I could change that. I could tell Hasan right now what's going on."

"Do you want to?" Heath narrowed his eyes, searching for something, but I wasn't sure what.

"We'll talk about our options in the car. They know you and I are a part of this now. That changes everything."

"It does," he agreed.