Page 97 of Savage Mates

We rushed the cage, Titus ripping at the lock, yanking it off after the second attempt. Almost immediately, our mate rushed toward us.

Fuck. Some of my strength had been sapped in the fight.

“I was so worried I’d never see you again.” She threw her arms around Titus first, but her head was turned in my direction.

“You can communicate with them?” Carrie asked. She was tentatively walking closer.

“Yes. I’ll explain later and no, I’m not sure why I can read their minds, but I can.” She crouched down in front of me. “Oh, myGod. Thor. You were shot. Peter. Carrie. We need to get Thor to the medical facility.” She could read our minds. She could hear us.

She was safe. She was…

Another white-hot jolt of agony caught me off guard. The gunshot.

“She’s right,”Zeus snarled.

The pain was suddenly biting, shifting into a moment of agony unlike anything I’d felt. My weight suddenly was too much and I could no longer feel my legs. When I dropped onto my side, my vision instantly became blurry.

“Thor! No. Stay with me, Thor. You need to stay in your lion form. Do not shift. Not now. Okay? Can you do that?”

“Listen to her, Thor,”Titus told me, but even the mental tethering was garbling his words.“You’re vibrating. Stop the shift.”

“I can’t.”

“Come on, just hold on. I’ll remove the bullet and everything will be okay,” Lauren implored. “That’s the only way I can really help. I’m not a medical doctor. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“What do you mean shift?” Peter asked. “What in the hell is going on?”

“Too much blood!” our beautiful mate called. I heard her loud and clear. “He’s dying. Help me. Please help me.”

My eyelids were heavy, my pulse very rapid.“Lauren…”As I closed my eyes, my body shivered uncontrollably. I could feelher hands on me, her sweet breath tickling my fur. Her voice echoed as she cried out.

“No. No. No!”

CHAPTER 21

Lauren

“Blood. I need more fucking blood,” I commanded.

A million emotions tore through me.

Rage.

Fear.

Need.

Longing.

“We don’t have any. There were only the six liters and we used five on the lioness,” Carrie said, as exasperated as I was. We were supposed to bring more lion’s blood that had been stored in case of injury. Something else they’d lied about.

Hissing, I glanced at the door. Zeus and Titus had left only moments before to ensure the compound was secure since Kyle, the two damn pilots, and Dr. Mother-fucking-traitor Abbott had managed to escape.

I barely remembered racing toward the laboratory, horrified that Thor lay dying. Unfortunately, in his weakened state, he’d shifted. That allowed for Zeus and Titus, who’d also returned to their human forms, to carry him into the clinic. However, I had no idea what that could mean. Was the DNA altering again, making his human side more dominant? I just didn’t know at this point.

Seeing the mauled and mutilated bodies had horrified Carrie and Peter, but deep down inside, in the darkest places of my soul, I’d been thrilled.

Even Dr. Douglas had stared down at their corpses. Maybe he was starting to realize that what he’d been a part of had created monsters. And I wasn’t talking about the lions and other creatures forced to live their lives as shifters.