Chapter 177

Julian’s POV

A bullet hit the dirt near my leg. I scrambled at once, dashing out of the way, as five more consecutive shots fired, each hitting behind me. Three pierced the side of the car. One into a nearby tree. And the final nearly into my chest had I not stopped at the last second.

A figure appeared in the door way of the house. He tossed aside a six-shooter pistol, then lifted the barrel of a shotgun. The scatter of a shotgun was much harder to dodge.

And I was tired of running.

Growling, I half-shifted as I lunged toward the figure, recognizing him halfway as a Healer from the hospital – Healer Kevin?

Had he been the one poisoning my Mom?

My confusion left me confused for a moment, and as I was lunging, Kevin lifted the gun with his own werewolf speed and fired.

The scattershot peppered into my legs. I landed awkwardly, not quite making it all the way to Kevin.

The wounds were burning, not healing like typical shots.

Gods, he was using silver bullets!

I shifted back to human, hoping the human side of me would contain the silver poisoning more than my werewolf side would. Still, it burned as it sent tendrils of pain weaving up and down my legs.

With this pain, I was unable to stand, but I pushed myself, struggling back toward the car, crawling through the dirt, as Kevin came out of the house.

He put two new silver cartridges into his shotgun.

“Kevin!” Tony shouted from the other side of the car. “Was it you all this time? Did you lure us out here just to kill the Alpha?”

Kevin seemed stunned, looking up at Tony. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I knew you hated Amber, but to kill your own Alpha because of it? And it’s been you, hasn’t it? You are the one who has been poisoning Aunt Gloria?”

Kevin’s brow rippled, with a large line forming down the middle. “Are you playing some kind of game? Now isn’t the time for –”

At once, Tony shifted into his full wolf form and then leapt, jumping over the car. He crashed into Kevin, pushed him down to the ground. He showed the man no mercy, his teeth going straight for Kevin’s throat.

I blinked, surprised to have seen such reflexes from Tony. I’d never known him to be particularly brave or bold. Usually he left the tough choices to other people.

Yet in this moment, when my life had been on the line, he had come to my rescue.

With Kevin dead, his throat torn out, Tony shifted back to a human. His face was covered in Kevin’s blood. He spit at the corpse at his feet. “Gods, I hate that taste.” Looking over at me, he said, “You owe me for this.”

“Yeah,” I said, and couldn’t say much more through the pain. “Thanks.” Then I groaned. The silver was unbearable.

Tony reached down, grabbed me under the arms, and started pulling me back to the car. When I was secured in the passenger seat, he walked around to the driver’s seat.

As he entered, I said, “Wait… Alice’s necklace…”

“Julian,” Tony said. “You really think there was a necklace? That asshole was just using that to lure us out here so he could kill you.”

“Check. Please check.”

Alice deserved that necklace. Even if it was remote, if there was any chance at all that there was something here that could help her, I had to find it. Or at least try to.

Tony grumbled but got out of the car. He patted down Kevin’s body, then ran into the cabin. He came back after a few minutes, empty-handed.

“Sorry,” Tony said. “Now let’s get you back before you die, yeah?”

I dropped my head back onto the headrest, angry with myself. All of this with no positive result. Instead of helping Alice, I almost died. Gods, the silver burned so badly, maybe I wasn’t even going to survive the car ride home.

In the driver seat, Tony threw the car into reverse and flew backwards down the dirt road we had come up. It was much bumpier the second time, or maybe I just felt it more. Each dip and swerve in the road jostled the scattershot of silver within me, sending fresh waves of pain through my body.

“I’m sorry, cousin,” Tony said. At first I thought me meant for the pain. As he had nothing to do with that, I was going to tell him not to worry, as soon as I stopped clenching my teeth long enough to talk. Before I could, Tony continued, “I can’t believe I fell for that asshole’s trick. I should have known better!”

As the car veered out onto the main road, Tony turned so that the nose of the car was positioned back towards the capital. Once it was, he slammed his foot on the gas and the car lurched forward with a thunderous roar.

Here, the road was smoother, and I could reply.

“You saved my life,” I told him. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

Tony’s POV

I waited for Julian to turn away from me before I allowed the smirk to curve my lips. Everything was going exactly how I wanted it to.

Kevin was a loose end, one that needed out of the way.

And now I had Julian’s trust.

Family was important to me. I didn’t want to kill my own family.

But just because I wouldn’t kill them, didn’t mean I wouldn’t take what I wanted.

With Julian’s trust, I now had many more doors opening for me.

And with those opened doors came new ways to push Julian off of his high horse and out of the pack.

I just needed a little time.

Amber’s POV

I was sitting in Gloria’s room, looking over the toxicology reports again, when suddenly, my hands went weak and I dropped them down to the ground.

The supervisor was shocked and stepped toward me. “Amber? What is it?”

A sudden sharp pain zipped through my legs, like pin-pricks, scatted all the way form thigh to ankle. Following the initial shock of pain came burning. As I sat there, I felt the burning spread as it weaved its way through my bloodstream.

“Amber?”

I blinked, trying to focus on myself.

I knew I wasn’t the one feeling this pain, it was merely an echo through the mating bond.

But that meant this was happening to Julian.

Gods.

I dug through my pockets and retrieved my phone. Unlocking it, I tried to call Julian, but the line went straight to voicemail.

Where was he? Was his phone turned off? Or did he simply not have signal?

“Amber, I need you to tell me what’s going on?” the supervisor said, more insistently. He moved closer and put himself right in my line of vision, forcing me to focus on him.

“Something’s happened to Julian,” I said. I tried to focus, forcing my Healer mind into action. I was a Healer. I could diagnose this pain. “Gunshot I think.”

“Gunshot?”

“Silver,” that part I was sure of. It would account for the burning. Looking up at the supervisor with fresh urgency, I said, “We have to prepare the emergency room. Julian’s been shot with silver bullets.”