One man went to his aid while the other three advanced on Serena and me. Two of them drew Tasers while the last pulled a gun.
I backed up until my hip collided with the Chevy. Serena rounded the hood of the car and stepped in front of me.
I knew what she was thinking: if the Tasers were calibrated to take down a wolf—like the ones the guards had carried at Thornhill—the voltage would stop my heart.
The nearest man pointed his Taser at Serena’s chest as the sound of the engine drew closer.
There was something off about the noise. It was the wrong pitch and volume—more like a motorcycle than a car.
“Look out!” The shout came from the man at Donovan’s side a split second before the wall of cars came crashing down.
6
METAL AND DUST. THE ENTIRE WORLD WAS METAL AND dust. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see and the ringing in my ears drowned out every other sound.
Serena pulled me to the side and I felt a rush of air followed by a thud that shook the ground.
When the dust cleared, a green station wagon was sitting in the spot where I had been standing.
Eyes burning, I followed Serena over the hood of the car. A half-dozen vehicles had fallen into the lane, blocking it like a clog in a drain and scattering the men who had been closing in on us. As the ringing in my ears receded, low moans bled through. Not all of the men had gotten out of the way in time, but I couldn’t tell how many had been trapped or who might be lying in wait. Just as I squeezed through the gap between a battered pickup and an old Camaro, a hand locked around my ankle.
Donovan had been pinned between the truck and the car. I couldn’t see his legs, but his face was a mask of blood and dirt.
“Let go!” I yelled, kicking out as hard as I could. My foot connected with his face, but he just tightened his grip. With his other hand, he pulled a gun from the wreckage.
A low growl sounded from my left. I fought to twist free as a brown wolf launched itself over the nearest car.
Kyle.
His jaws fastened on Donovan’s arm, snapping down like a bear trap.
The grip around my ankle fell away as the gun went flying.
“Come on!” Serena was suddenly there, pulling me through the rest of the wreckage and to an open spot where two lanes met.
I turned back to look for Kyle as the drone of an engine—the same drone I had heard earlier—filled the air.
A motorcycle swerved into the intersection, sending up a spray of slush as it came to a stop. A black wolf followed close behind.
Jason and Trey.
Trey raced past us and launched himself at the rubble, taking down a man who was struggling to his feet.
The man’s screams bounced off the metal.
Jason was already off the bike. In a heartbeat, he was in front of me, blocking the fight from view. “Are you all right?” His eyes raked over my body, checking for cuts and broken bones, before turning to Serena. His mouth twisted. “Your brother was supposed to send a single car over—instead, the whole damn wall came down.”
Werewolf superstrength to the rescue.
Jason shoved his helmet into my hands and pulled me to the bike. “Do you remember how to ride?”
“Not well.”
“Not well will have to be good enough.” He ran a hand through his hair and shot a nervous glance back at the wreckage. “Get out of town. You and Serena both. Get to the interstate and keep driving.”
“I’m not leaving you and Kyle,” I said just as Serena said, “I’m not leaving my brother.”
Jason swore under his breath. He shot a desperate glance at Serena before focusing on me. “Please, Mac. Just for once, listen to me.”
Trey was suddenly there. Still in wolf form, he head butted Serena, trying to push her toward the bike. Something dark and wet clung to the fur around his muzzle, and I tried not to think about the screams I had heard moments before.
“I’m not leaving,” I insisted.
Jason let out a frustrated, strangled sound and hauled out his cell. His fingers moved over the screen, typing something into a GPS app. He handed the phone to Serena and then gripped my shoulders. “Go to that address and wait for us. If we don’t meet you by sunset, then get as far away from Hemlock as you can.”
“Jason . . .”
His grip on my shoulders tightened. “How many men are there?”
I swallowed. “Five.”
“Trey and Kyle can take them.”
I tried to glance back, tried to catch a glimpse of Kyle, but Jason caught my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “Please, Mac. You have to get Serena out of here. She’s the one they’re after.”
I could hear the faint sounds of sirens in the distance.
My gaze slid to Serena. I couldn’t let those men get their hands on her, and she couldn’t be here when the police showed up and found the man she had killed. I was the reason she had been at Thornhill. Without me, this wouldn’t be happening to her now.
I nodded—even though doing so left me feeling as though I had been torn in two.
Jason stepped back. “Head to the end of this lane, then take a right followed by two lefts. That’ll get you out of the junkyard. The GPS will take care of everything after that.” He hesitated, like he wanted to say something else, but with one last glance at Serena and me, he ran toward the sound of growls and screams.
Eyes stinging, I threw my leg over the bike. I tried to pass the helmet to Serena, but she shook her head as she climbed on behind me. “You’re human. I’m not.”
She slipped her arms around my waist as I pulled the helmet on. You’re doing this for Serena, I told myself. A storm raged inside me as my body operated on autopilot and the engine roared to life. You’re not running away; you’re protecting Serena. You have to protect her. You have to keep her safe.
We shot forward and dipped dangerously to the side as I underestimated the power of the bike.
Somehow, I managed to keep us upright.
Serena’s arms tightened around me as the junkyard dissolved into a sickening blur. I repeated Jason’s directions under my breath like a prayer. “A right. Two lefts. A right. Two lefts.”
The entrance loomed ahead. The gate was open, but a dark car had been parked across it. At the sound of our approach, a man ran out of the small hut that served as the junkyard office.
“Hold on!” I yelled, aiming the bike at the narrow gap between the car’s rear bumper and the gate. The man threw himself out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed as we flew past.