Page 59 of Dominion

“I want you to suffer the way I have suffered. The way Mia and Sofi and Ana suffered.” He bent Ashley over the table and lifted her skirt.

Ben tensed, his vision changing, a roar in his ears.

As if from a distance, he heard Sandoval saying, “You’re going to watch while every one of us has his way with your woman and then you’re going to watch her die.”

Ben shifted before Sandoval had finished speaking, launching for his throat. Sandoval fired a bullet into the back of Ashley’s calf and she screamed. Two wolves met Ben’s launch midair and brought him down, snarling.

“Freeze or she’s dead,” Sandoval shouted, the gun at Ashley’s temple.

A second gunshot rang out at the same moment the glass in every window of the room broke. Ben leaped once more for Sandoval, but he already lay on the floor in a confusing pile of blood and bodies. Ashley was under him, screaming. Wolves were flying in through the windows, snarling and attacking the South American pack. He recognized Zolla and Mark, Stanley and others.

He tore Sandoval from Ashley and found him dead, shot through the back of his head. Crouching over Ashley to protect her, he bared his teeth and growled, but no threat came. Though jaws were still snapping and bodies still tussled, the Denver pack had taken control. A few moments later, they subdued the remaining South American wolves to whimpers and tucked tails.

He whimpered and licked Ashley’s bloodied face. She moved her face away from him, but did not seem wholly conscious. His heart beat in his throat.

The wolves around him began to shift back to human form. He was dimly aware of Mark taking charge of the scene, reporting to law enforcement and requesting an ambulance as sirens sounded in the distance.

Ben shifted as well, blinking to take in Ashley. She was covered in blood and he couldn’t tell how much was hers and how much was Sandoval’s. Her eyes fluttered open, but her face was pale. “Ashley, oh, God. Where are you hit?”

“Don’t rip my clothes off,” she said with a weak smile. “It’s just my leg. I’ll be okay.”

He scooped her up into his arms and held her tight to his chest, cradled her like a baby.

“Get the pack out of here,” Mark said to Stanley.

“Everybody out,” Stanley barked and his pack shifted, slinking out the doors and windows, disappearing before the police arrived. The South American wolves disappeared as well, and Mark let them go. When it came to managing human law enforcement, wolves preferred to handle things on their own.

Mark and Zolla had already put on clothes. His were torn and tangled around his body from when he shifted with them still on. Zolla handed him a pair of pants and took Ashley from his arms while he yanked them on.

“How did you find this place? I didn’t give you the address.”

“I traced the location on Ashley’s phone,” he said.

He took Ashley back into his arms. “Thank you,” he said, his voice choked.

Mark looked around at the broken windows and bloodstains all over the floor. “This is going to be a hard one to explain.”

Ashley’s body had begun to shake as shock settled in. Her face grew even paler and she appeared to be losing consciousness.

“Ashley!” he cried.

“Listen to me,” Mark said sharply. “Ashley was kidnapped to lure Ben in. He came, but first notified Zolla, who called me. When I arrived, a fight had ensued between the South Americans—some were fighting to help Ben, some against. The windows were broken in the process. I shot Sandoval after he shot Ashley, and the rest of them got away. Got it?”

“Yeah, okay,” he said, his heart pinching as he watched Ashley’s eyelids slide closed again. The police and ambulance pulled up at the same time and he ran outside, carrying Ashley still crushed against his chest.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You never move the victim. Put her down there,” one of the EMTs barked, pointing at the grass.

“No,” he said in a hard voice, walking straight to the back of the ambulance and stepping in to lay her on the gurney. “You need to help her, right now,” he said.

“We’ll take care of her,” one of them assured her.

“Sir, step away from her please,” a cop said, his gun drawn.

Mark appeared at his side, his FBI badge out and on display and took his elbow, leading him away. When Ben shook him off, Mark said in an undertone, “Keep it together, Stone. This is going to be tricky enough as it is.”

The surgeon walkedin and gave her a warm smile. “Well, you are one lucky young lady,” he said. “Your initial x-rays showed a severe fracture, but when we went in there to put the bone back together, all I found was hairlines. So you don’t have any plates or metal in you at all. The bullet is out, and you’ll keep this hard cast for six weeks, followed by a soft cast for another four,” he said, rapping his knuckles on the cast on her foot.

“What? No color?” she teased. “I wanted pink.”