Page 31 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

When he pressed on a particularly sensitive spot, I sucked in a surprised gasp and glanced down.

I didn’t see anything abnormal, the darkness inside the barn making it hard to pick out fine details.

But when I reached down and felt the spot, my fingers found a small protrusion.

A hard one, just beneath my skin and not much bigger than a grain of rice.

“What the hell?” I racked my brain, trying to figure out what it could be. Almost immediately, something jogged my memory, and my stomach twisted with dread. “Get it out.”

At the sudden shift in my tone, Jagger tensed and looked up at me.

“Get it out!” I shrieked, not bothering to hide my panic. When he didn’t move fast enough, I started to claw at my skin with my blunt nails, ignoring the pain as desperation filled me.

“Brielle, stop!” Jagger ordered, but I was too incensed to listen. When I continued to claw at my skin, he grabbed my wrists and halted my frantic movements.

“Let me go,” I wailed, struggling to break free.

He crushed me against him, his powerful hold instantly rendering me immobile. I fought anyway, but it was useless.

“Jagger, please,” I begged, my breaths short and erratic against his chest. “I need to get it out.”

“Tell me what it is first,” he replied in a voice much calmer than mine. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I-I don’t know. At my parents’ house, I felt a sharp sting and thought it was a loose nail on the doorframe, then completely forgot about it after that high-frequency device switched on.

Now I remember seeing what looked like a needle tip sticking out of the lock hole.

I think the supernatural hunters injected something inside me. ”

Despite my panicked explanation, he continued to hold me. His hand slid up my spine to grip my nape, and the firm hold was somehow comforting. Feeling his steady strength through our bond, I soaked it up like a sponge, grateful when some of my panic started to fade.

“Good girl,” he said, holding me a moment longer before finally letting go. I reached for my waist again, but he stilled my hands, his touch gentle this time. “Let me do it, Brielle. Please.”

At his earnest expression, I felt myself surrendering.

Submitting. I trusted him not to hurt me, to protect me, even now.

When I nodded, something flooded our bond, an emotion I felt so deeply that my very soul warmed.

Fresh tears filled my eyes, and I hurriedly blinked them away as Jagger knelt before me.

“I need to make a cut. Just a small one,” he said, and I watched with rapt fascination as the nail on his index finger slowly lengthened, curving into a black claw.

I wasn’t jealous of his ability to shift at will, but it sure would be cool to do that whenever I wanted.

As the sharp tip made contact with my skin, I felt him hesitate.

“It’s okay, Jagger,” I quietly assured him. “I trust you.”

He released a shaky breath, then gripped my opposite hip to hold me steady.

As he prepared to cut me, I braced for the pain to come, but it was over in a flash.

I’d barely felt the sting before he was pushing the tiny object from my skin.

Seconds later, the small cut healed over, leaving behind only a few drops of blood.

“You okay?” he asked, looking up at me.

I quickly nodded, my gaze glued to the bloody object he held. “What is it?”

He stood to his feet so we could both inspect it. After a moment, he said, “I think it’s a tracking device. I’ve just never seen one this small before.”

“They’re tracking me?” I squeaked, fresh panic filling me.

“Not anymore.” He pinched the device between his fingers, and it crumbled to dust. “But we should assume they’re heading this way, so we need to leave. Now.”

Pausing only to hurriedly don our clothes, we made our way out of the barn. Jagger opened the door, but when I tried to leave ahead of him, he blocked me with an outstretched arm.

“Wait,” he murmured, staring out at the barren landscape blanketed in white.

Suddenly realizing how exposed we’d be on the trek back to my car, I went on high alert.

Jagger inhaled, and I followed his lead, scenting the air for danger.

It was hard to smell anything past our intermingled pheromones, but after a long moment, he slowly lowered his arm and whispered, “Stay close.”

As he slipped out into the night, I followed close on his heels, wary of any movement or shadow.

He cut a path through the snow, and I placed my feet in his footsteps, trying not to make a sound.

It had been hours since I’d left my parents’ house, which meant that the hunters could already be here.

There was no sign of them, though. All was quiet; the only sound was the soft crunch, crunch of our footsteps.

I was just starting to lower my guard a bit when a sudden buzzing sound broke the silence.

Jagger whirled and grabbed me so fast that I yelped in surprise.

His body covered mine like a shield, his arms like steel bands around me.

A low growl vibrated his chest as he assessed our surroundings for the threat.

The buzzing sound continued, and after another moment, I recognized it.

“It’s just my phone,” I said with a shaky laugh. “I must have dropped it on the way to the barn.”

Jagger tightened his arms around me when I tried to pull away, then reluctantly dropped them so I could search for the device. I followed the buzzing sound and found it seconds later, lifting it into the air with a victorious wave.

“Good thing it’s waterproof, or—” My words ended in a startled gasp as something jabbed into my side. Crippling pain immediately followed, and I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. A second jab struck my other side, and I dropped my phone as a heavy feeling swept over me.

“Brielle!” Jagger shouted, lunging forward when I started to fall.

As he caught me, another jab struck my shoulder. It felt like a dart filled with a strong sedative, but whatever was inside didn’t just make me bone tired. I whimpered as another wave of agony streaked through my veins, the sensation like fire roasting me alive from the inside.

With a furious roar, Jagger yanked the darts from my skin.

I tried to stand but could no longer support my weight, helplessly sagging against him.

Jagger swept me into his arms and took off running.

He only made it a few yards before more darts sliced through the air, this time aimed at him.

Several of them struck his back, and I cringed when our bond lit up with his pain.

He kept going, pushing past the pain in his attempt to reach my car. When several more darts struck him, he finally stumbled, and I cried out, his agony becoming mine.

“Jagger,” I sobbed, my vision wavering as whatever they’d injected me with started to pull me under. I blinked the dark spots away, only for more to take their place, spots that moved and resembled the shape of humans.

No, they were humans.

Struggling to stay conscious, I counted at least eight of them, armed and closing in fast. When I saw them raise their weapons, I screamed Jagger’s name in warning.

He whirled around with a bellowing roar, the sound no longer human but that of a savage beast. His bones began to snap, to shift, to transform. Within seconds, I was wrapped in the arms of a powerful creature born of nightmares, his massive body covered in black fur and standing nine feet tall.

He’d shifted into Onyx’s true form, his demonic form, a version of him I’d never seen in person before.

His regular wolf form was huge, but this was something on a whole other level.

I was child-sized compared to him, but instead of feeling terrified that a monster straight out of a horror movie had me, I felt protected.

Safe. Even knowing how feral Jagger’s wolf was, I knew I wasn’t in danger.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the humans surrounding us.

Onyx bellowed out another roar, the sound booming over the snowy landscape. His dagger-sized claws dug into my skin, clutching me to him possessively. I glanced up and caught a flash of his blood-red eyes, eyes that were locked on the humans who’d frozen in their tracks to gape at him.

For a split second, I thought the terror of his transformation would scare them off.

What human in their right mind would take on a nine-foot-tall demon werewolf?

He could shred them into bloody little pieces without even trying.

He was the predator and they were the prey.

Instinct demanded they turn tail and flee.

But, apparently, I knew nothing about the species I’d been born into. As one, the humans raised their weapons and trained them on Onyx.

“FIRE!”

Darts zipped toward the hulking beast. In a flash, he set me down and exploded forward, snow spraying in his wake.

Screams and shouts rang through the night as the monstrous wolf reached the first human and tore into him.

He was a headless corpse a second later, tossed aside as Onyx went after another one.

“Bring him down! Bring him down!”

Onyx roared as more shots fired and pelted his thick hide.

The great beast stumbled, and I whimpered.

I tried to stand, to help him, but the world tilted and knocked me back down.

I slumped into the snow, feeling weak and helpless.

Dark spots blurred my vision again, but when I struggled to blink them away, they wouldn’t budge.

Pain and darkness consumed me, dragging me down, down, down.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Onyx hunched over, defeated yet still on his feet as the hunters shot him again and again and again.