Chapter 10

AARON

10

Three days passed without any trouble after that alpha called my Cressida. I was torn between hoping nobody showed up to try to get her and wanting them to come so I could destroy the threat to my mate. Once the people who thought they could use her healing talents were gone, my hope was that we'd be able to avoid anything like this happening again for the rest of our very long lives.

We still didn't know if they were humans or shifters. Not until Artemis spotted four hyenas in the forest near his cave. They weren't indigenous to the area…which meant they were shifters. And there was only one reason they would be sneaking around in the wilderness near our home instead of showing up at Keane's door for permission to be in his territory. They were hunting my mate.

After sending a message to his alpha, the dragon shifter flew to his cabin. Cressida's eyes widened as she watched his descent. "Holy crap!"

Since my mate turned into an even rarer and mythical creature, I hadn't expected her to be so astonished by Artemis's dragon. My wolf wasn't happy about it, but he settled down when I reminded him about how we reacted when we first saw his animal form.

After he shifted back to human, Keane tossed Artemis a pair of shorts. "Not sure they've ever hunted as a pack before. Instead of staying in teams of two, they split off and are approaching separately."

"Amateurs," Keane scoffed, shaking his head.

"Good, it'll make it easier for us to rip their throats out," I growled, my wolf raking his claws against my skin in a demand to get out and hunt down those who sought to hurt our mate.

"I'm ready for action," Leyton called as he jogged toward us.

"Perfect timing." Keane pointed at Artemis, his brother, and me. "There are four of us, and four of them. So we'll each take one down."

"What about me?" Cressida asked.

As much as I didn't want her anywhere near someone who wanted to take her from me, I also wanted to keep her close. To make sure nothing happened to her since I knew that I'd do whatever it took to ensure that my gorgeous mate remained safe. And I figured Keane would feel more comfortable if the target of the men who had invaded his territory didn't remain near his pregnant mate and cub. "You're coming with me."

Relief shone from Keane's eyes, but he still asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I don't want my wolf's attention divided while facing off against our enemy. Knowing they're after Cressida, I don't want her out of my sight," I explained.

"It's your call." He turned his attention to Artemis. "With the routes they were taking, where are the best spots to intercept?"

The dragon shifter laid out a plan that worked for all of us, and then he shifted back to his animal form before taking to the air again. Leyton and Keane ran toward the trees before splitting off from each other to shift into their grizzlies. Then I turned to my mate and crushed my lips against hers. I needed her taste in my mouth as we went into battle.

"Stay in your human form. I don't want them to see your unicorn," I explained, tugging her toward the tree line. "We don't know how much they know about you and your mom, and they're not going to make it out of here alive. But better safe than sorry."

"That's what my parents always say," she agreed, tugging at my shirt so I could strip down and shift to my wolf.

When I was on four paws, I barked at her, earning a smile from my beautiful mate. I raced toward the spot where Artemis said I should be able to attack my target. Cressida must have borrowed speed from her inner animal because she kept pace with my wolf. As I scented the hyena in the wind, I slowed my pace and made a low chuff of noise when my mate did the same.

We were careful of where we stepped, not wanting to alert our enemy to the fact that he had turned into our prey. It took us only a few more minutes to sneak up on the hyena, having circled so I could attack him from behind.

I knew that her dad had taught her how to fight so she could keep herself safe, but Cressida was everything that was pure in this world. I didn't want her to live with someone's death on her conscience, no matter how much they deserved to be killed.

This guy was mine to kill. And my wolf didn't hesitate to go after him as soon as we had the hyena in our sights.

Picking up my speed, I dove for his neck, my jaws spread wide so I could crunch down on the vulnerable spot of his throat. Unfortunately, he realized what was happening just in time to jump to the side, so my bite grazed his left paw instead.

The hyena's gaze darted over my shoulder, and he let out an excited yip when he spotted Cressida. My wolf growled low in his throat, pissed that our enemy's focus was on our mate. He didn't deserve to look at her, let alone have whatever twisted thought had provoked his reaction to her.

I rushed forward, raking his side with my claws over and over again, darting back and forth to evade the strike of his claws. He got in a couple of good swipes, but I ignored the pain. My focus was on what was most important—protecting my mate.

Not even death could tear Cressida from me. She would always be my mate. The only woman I have ever—or will ever—love. My heart, my life, my soul.

But having her near provided more distraction than I had expected. When the hyena got another good swipe at me, she gasped. In the split second that I turned to look at her, he took advantage of the opening and jumped over me to rush toward her.

My wolf pushed every ounce of our determination into our bond, yelling, "Get down!" in our head. It must have somehow worked because she immediately dropped to the ground, curling into a ball to make herself a smaller target and protecting the most vulnerable spots on her body. Not that it mattered because I didn't let him get close enough to touch her, raking my claws against his backside before clamping my teeth on his tail to whip him in the other direction.

Cressida sat up, and I heaved a sigh of relief when I didn't spot any injuries on her curvy body. When I whirled around to face off against the hyena with her safely behind me, a growl rumbled up my chest. That had been too close. I needed to kill him so he didn't get another chance to touch my mate.

With that thought in mind, I leaped toward him, my focus on his throat as my jaw opened wide. This time, I didn't miss my target. I had tired him out enough that he didn't move fast enough to get out of my way. With his fur in my mouth, I bit down and shook my head, whipping his body back and forth in my death grip. He struggled, using his paws to push against my larger body to try to escape, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him go. Not until his blood flowed down my throat.

The hyena was barely moving when I finally dropped him on the ground, not moving an inch while I waited to make sure that he hadn't been pretending to be more injured than he was. Logically, I knew that wasn't possible since his throat was basically torn out. But my wolf wasn't logical at the moment. Not with our mate's life on the line.

As we stood over the dying hyena, Keane, Artemis, and Leyton each called out, "Down!"

The threat to Cressida would be over as soon as this bastard died.