Page 10

Gabriel POV

Pain exploded across my left cheek, but I didn’t even feel it. Adrenaline coursed through my bloodstream.

Calm down, I said through mine and Axel’s mind link—a power that allowed shifters in the same pack to converse telepathically. Let me explain.

Axel cursed loudly and shook his hand out. His body began to violently tremble.

He was beginning to shift in his wolf form.

“No, Axel! Not in here!” I yelled, glancing around the small hospital hallway.

If Axel shifted here, he could hurt someone. He could even kill someone. My stomach fell just thinking about Summer or my son getting injured.

My son.

Those words seemed foreign to even think. How could I ever say them out loud? Of course, over the years I’d imagined having kids with Summer if she ever found it in her heart to forgive me for breaking our bond, but my brain would conjure up images of newborn babies, not a beautiful boy who could walk, speak, and think for himself.

But there was no time to think about the tawny-haired boy that I had seen. I had to get Axel out of here before he shifted.

“No! You’re not shifting in here!” Summer screamed and darted past me to push Axel’s chest. “Stay away from my son!”

But Summer’s words only spurred Axel’s transformation on. His canine teeth began to elongate, and his nails grew into sharp claws.

Wildly, I looked around for another exit. Since this was a shifter hospital, there were many emergency exits for this exact scenario. But the closest emergency exit was on the other side of the hall.

Axel bowed over, his spine curving. In a matter of seconds, he would be in his wolf form.

Without thinking, I tackled Axel, fighting to hold onto him as he struggled against me.

His body continued to morph into his wolf as I forced him back, my only goal to get him away from Summer and our son. Just when I was losing hope, I spotted a large window.

With a loud grunt, I tightened my arms around Axel and jumped sideways through the window. We both crashed through in a spray of shattering glass. Unfortunately, my head took most of the blow. My skull screamed in pain, but I barely registered it.

While we were still airborne, I transformed into my wolf. I let go of Axel as my body shifted into my other form.

When we landed, Axel and I were both in our wolf forms in the hospital’s courtyard. The last rays of the setting sun made the scattered shards of glass that had fallen around us glint dangerously.

Axel had flattened a rose bush in his fall, but he rolled to his side and stood up. He shook off residual glass fragments. His sandy-colored fur was a bright spot in the fading light. Since Axel was on the shorter side in his human form, his wolf was smaller for a male. But years of sparring him in both of our forms had taught me not to underestimate him. Axel was quick on his feet and wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.

His eyes zeroed in on me, and we began to circle each other. My gaze followed his every movement. If he even looked like he was going to make a break for Summer or our son, I would rip out his throat.

At this moment, Axel was no longer my brother and oldest friend. By shifting into his wolf form, he had put everyone in the hospital in danger—including my Mate and our son.

Because of his recklessness, now he was nothing but my enemy.

I made the first move, digging my nails into the dirt and springing forward, shooting through the air like a bullet.

I crashed into Axel with so much force that he was thrown onto his back, landing on another rose bush. His head hit the ground with a heavy thump.

Our collision made a high-pitched ringing begin in my ears. It sounded similar to a train’s whistle. Maybe I had a head injury from when my head went through the glass to break the window. But I wasn’t going to let a small thing like a concussion stop me from protecting my Mate, our son, and my compound.

I stalked toward him, wanting to end this fast.

Axel growled as I neared closer, but he didn’t scare me. Not in the slightest. He rolled to his side and stood up on shaky legs.

I am your future Alpha, I said through our mind link. You will not be able to win any fight against me, Axel. Leave my compound. Now.

Axel howled with rage and leaped at me, his sharp teeth heading for my neck.

But I was ready for him.

I dodged out of the way, spinning until I was balancing on my front legs, and used that momentum to kick Axel’s stomach with my hind legs. My paws made contact with his ribs with a satisfying crunch.

Axel’s body flew thirty feet through the air and landed in the shattered glass. He howled as sharp edges dug into his fur.

Rage and frustration flashed in Axel’s eyes.

The clinking sound of more glass falling to the ground momentarily distracted me. Summer still stood inside the hospital, just behind where Axel was lying in the glass outside. The wind from the shattered window made her hair whip around her face and showcased her wide, anxious blue eyes. Her head turned to glance down the hospital hallway—looking at the place where our son was.

She was still in her human form, guarding the window in case Axel tried to get in the hospital, but she didn't dare transform into her wolf inside that enclosed space.

But this made her a sitting duck. She wouldn't have time to transform and protect herself against a surprise attack.

Axel’s head turned in Summer’s direction and it dawned on me with cold horror what he planned to do.

Axel and I pounced at the same time.

Axel lunged for Summer through the open window and I leaped toward him. But Axel was only a few feet away from his goal…and I was thirty feet away from mine.

Rage and dread shot through me as I watched Axel’s front paws push Summer to the ground. The two tumbled through the air until they were out of sight.

Summer let out a high-pitched scream. The sound cut me deeper than any knife ever could.

A fury unlike anything I’d ever known pumped through my bloodstream as I flew through the window, but Axel had already sunk his teeth into Summer’s right shoulder. Then, he opened his mouth and lunged for her neck.

With a roar, I barreled into him, knocking him away from Summer and standing in front of her, prepared to defend her, even if I had to kill him.

After what he just did to my Mate, I wanted to kill him.

Summer whimpered in pain behind me.

My heart tore in two. Her pain was my pain.

I stalked toward him and growled, planning the most painful death for him.

Axel's eyes widened in fear. Then, he spun around and leaped back out through the broken window, his movements hindered by his injuries.

I wanted to go after him. I wanted to make him pay for what he had just done. But I needed to take care of my Mate. I kept my eyes on his retreating form, needing to make sure he was gone before I could attend to Summer’s wounds.

As Axel ran away with a slight limp, I heard his voice inside of my head.

I’m going to get you back for this, you bastard. You have no idea the kind of connections I have and the kind of hell you just unleashed on WaterLock. You better sleep with one eye open. I denounce you and your father as my Alpha.

My heart throbbed with pain as the mind link between us broke. His denouncement meant that he was no longer a member of the WaterLock Pack.

Quickly, I spun around to help Summer, my brother's rejection echoing in my head.

As Axel's bite mark on her shoulder gushed with blood, Summer's eyes fluttered closed and her head lolled to the side.