Page 27 of Marked For A Bite (Rebellious Mates #2)

"Company incoming!" one of their pack members called from the lab entrance.

Logan's blood turned ice cold as a section of wall he'd assumed was solid stone suddenly groaned open, revealing armed Granite Ridge guards pouring through a hidden passage. Their weapons gleamed with the telltale sheen of poison coating that made his wolf snarl with recognition.

Ambush. They herded us exactly where they wanted us. I knew this was a fucking bad idea.

The underground chamber erupted into chaos as Logan threw himself between the attacking guards and Zoe. His father's hunting knife found the throat of the first attacker while his free hand drew one of his Glocks in a fluid motion that spoke of countless life-or-death encounters.

Behind him, he could hear Lena chanting desperately as ancient magic sparked against the cell door. The sound of metal groaning under supernatural force mixed with Zoe's desperate pleas to her father to stay strong.

"I've got a partial break!" Lena shouted over the growing gunfire.

Logan dropped two more guards with precise shots, but more kept pouring through the hidden passage. His tactical assessment grew grimmer by the second—they were outnumbered and trapped in a killing field with nowhere to retreat.

Where the hell is Kieran's team?

As if summoned by his desperation, familiar voices echoed from the lab entrance as Maya and Kieran's Delta team finally arrived. But even with reinforcements, Logan counted at least twenty enemy combatants against their combined fifteen.

Still not good enough odds. Not with civilians to protect.

"Dad, we've got you!" Zoe's cry of triumph cut through the battle noise as Lena's magic finally shattered the ward on his cell.

Logan cataloged the shifting battlefield dynamics even as his hunting knife found another guard's throat.

Lena had moved to the next cell, her eyes blazing as she worked to release the other twenty-four prisoners scattered throughout the rows of holding cells.

The ancient stone chamber echoed with the sounds of breaking magical wards and desperate groans from victims who'd endured decades of experimentation.

Good. Get them all out. No one gets left behind in this hell.

The flood of Granite Ridge guards had mercifully stopped, leaving exactly twenty combatants for their fifteen allies to handle. Logan's twin Glocks barked in rapid succession, dropping two more attackers who'd been advancing on Lena's position.

Then salvation arrived in the form of their Sigma backup team crashing through the lab entrance.

The odds shifted instantly to something approaching manageable, and Logan allowed himself a moment of grim satisfaction as the underground chamber became an all-out race between killing these bastards and evacuating the prisoners.

Almost there. We're actually going to pull this off.

In a moment of rare distraction—something his enforcer training had drilled out of him years ago—Logan glanced over his shoulder to ensure Zoe and her father were moving toward the exit. The sight of his mate supporting her father momentarily dulled his combat awareness.

Mistake.

The wolfsbane-tipped blade slid between his ribs like liquid fire, finding the gap in his tactical gear with surgical precision. Logan's enhanced senses immediately recognized the poison coursing through his bloodstream, and his wolf howled with agony as the toxin began its deadly work.

Fuck. Should've trained her on blades too, not just bullets and arrows.

"Logan!" Zoe's scream pierced the chaos as she sensed his injury through their mate bond.

He watched her hand off her father to Maya, then sprint toward him with fury blazing in her eyes. The guard who'd stabbed him was already dead—Logan's reflexive knife throw had found his target even while poison burned through his system.

"Wolfsbane," Logan said through gritted teeth, dropping to his knees and pressing his hand against the wound that was bleeding far too heavily. His enhanced healing was fighting a losing battle against the toxin. "Blade withdrew clean. Poison's already circulating."

Shit. The one time I get distracted during a mission.

Zoe dropped to her knees beside him, her hands hovering uncertainly over his wound. "What do I do? How do I?—"

"Pressure," he managed, even as darkness began creeping around the edges of his vision. "But we need to move. Find the antidote herbs?—"

Kieran materialized beside them, his black hair matted with blood from his own battles. "I'll handle these last few guards and help get the prisoners out. Zoe, you need to get Logan out now and find those herbs near the caverns."

Logan tried to protest—his mind screaming that splitting up was dangerous—but his body was betraying him. The wolfsbane was spreading faster than he'd anticipated, and his enhanced strength was hemorrhaging away with each heartbeat.

Can't protect her if I'm dead. Have to trust she's strong enough now.

"I don't know where to go," Zoe cried out desperately.

"Your wolf does," Logan whispered urgently, fighting to stay conscious. "Trust her."

Something shifted in Zoe's expression, a primal certainty replacing her panic. Her eyes blazed golden as her wolf surged to the surface.

There she is. My fierce mate.

The transformation was instantaneous—one moment she was kneeling beside him in human form, the next her magnificent wolf stood where she'd been. Dark brown fur with honey patches gleamed in the dim underground lighting, and Logan couldn't help but admire her beauty for a moment.

Without hesitation, she clamped her powerful jaws around the scruff of his tactical vest and began dragging his weakened body toward the exit. Logan could feel her wolf's determination and absolute refusal to let him die through their growing mate bond.

I should weigh too much for her. But our mate bond... she's drawing strength from me even while I'm dying.

The world blurred as Zoe's wolf navigated the stone corridors with supernatural speed and precision. Logan's consciousness flickered in and out, but he maintained enough awareness to marvel at how his mate moved through the labyrinthine passages without hesitation.

Her wolf knows this Granite Ridge territory. Her ancestral lands.

They soon burst through the southeast exit that the Gamma team had secured, emerging into moonlight that felt like salvation after the underground hell. Logan's boots dragged across the forest floor as Zoe's wolf continued her desperate race against the poison spreading through his system.