Page 44 of Dominion

She yanked open the back door as the sound of gunshots and growls still filled the air. The vehicle seemed empty. She stepped in to peer into the trunk. No one.

She climbed out. A high-pitched animal whine sent a shot of terror through her. Heart in her throat, she aimed the gun toward the sound. Ben was tussling with a man as several others fired shots into him. She pulled the trigger.

She missed, but the men turned and aimed their guns at her. She crouched down and ran for the next car. A driver still sat behind the wheel, which probably meant Melissa was in there. Staying bent in half, she raced around the car and popped up, pointing the muzzle of the gun through the open window, right at his temple.

“Where is she?”

Unnervingly, the man didn’t look ruffled by the pistol she aimed at his head. “Not here,” he said.

“Where?” she hissed through clenched teeth, tapping the gun against his head.

He shook his head. “She isn’t here.” He gave her a greasy smile. “Too bad for you.”

She wanted to shoot him. She thought about pulling the trigger, but morality won out. She wasn’t prepared to take a life, even if they had killed her sister.

She backed slowly away, keeping the gun aimed at his head. The air still rippled with the confusion of shouts and growls. She backed toward the third car, but the man she held the gun on pulled out a gun of his own and fired it at her, but thankfully missed.

A flash of black fur flew over her and Ben was upon the man in the vehicle, tearing him out of the window, but taking at least five shots in the belly in the process.

“No,” she screamed, running toward them.

The gray wolf sideswiped her, shoving her in the direction of her car. When she started again toward Ben, he bared his teeth at her, blocking her way.

“Zolla?” she asked, frightened of him despite the fact that she knew he was a friend.

He lunged forward, butting her legs with his head, once more pushing her toward her car.

“I have to find Melissa,” she said, and darted around him the other way, to the third car. She pulled open the door and looked inside. Empty. Unless her sister was in the trunk, the man had told the truth—she wasn’t here.

A low moan of despair rose in her throat as her legs carried her, running, toward her car. What had happened to Melissa? Was she lying dead somewhere? Had they meant the same fate for her?

She leaped in her vehicle and started it up, backing up with a screech of tires. Sirens sounded in the distance and she gunned the engine, shooting out the parking lot before the cops showed up. As she tore away, her phone rang in her purse. Pulling it out with shaking hands, she glanced at the caller.

Melissa.

When the policecars screeched around the corner and entered the parking lot, he and the other two wolves disappeared under the protection of the shadows. He hadn’t recognized any of the men, so he was no closer to knowing who was behind this attack, nor had they rescued Melissa. And dammit if Ashley hadn’t nearly gotten herself killed, several times over. He couldn’t focus for most of the fight, because he’d been too worried about protecting her.

She had blatantly disobeyed his instructions. They would be discussing that before all this was through.

Zolla and Mark followed him, slinking through the darkness until they reached Mark’s car where they shifted. All three were covered in blood, both their own and the men’s. He regretted their injuries, and making sure they were all right became his first priority, since they had acted under his command.

Zolla opened the door to his car and handed out clothes. Ben shook his head. “I’ll run back. I need the fresh air. How are you two?”

Mark looked down at the bullet wounds leaking blood on his torso. “Fine,” he said in a clipped tone.

“You?” Ben asked Zolla.

The smaller wolf was panting, weakened by his injuries. “Nothing serious,” he said.

“Are you sure? Can you drive?”

“I’ll drive,” Mark said decisively, his status outweighing Zolla’s. Turning to Ben, he asked, “Did you recognize anyone?”

Ben shook his head. “Not a one. Any sign of Ashley’s twin?”

“There was no female but Ashley,” Zolla said definitively. “I sniffed all three cars. They didn’t bring her.”

Ben swore softly.