Shift

Chapter Eight

"Good, your awake." Christian stood over me, holding a compound bow. He let an arrow fly. A second later, a wolf cry wailed through the air. "Can you walk?" He glanced down at me.

"Are you shooting werewolves with a bow and arrows?" I squinted up at him wondering if I was dreaming. If those stupid werewolves had knocked the sense right out of me. It was surreal. I couldn't quite wrap my head around him standing over me like some angry, avenging savior. Golden-brown hair blowing in messy waves across his forehead. Mis-matched eyes narrowed in focus. Handling his bow like a boss. I'd always thought Christian was kind. Making the best of the hand he'd been dealt. I couldn't believe I'd never seen it before.

Christian was a fighter.

Like me.

I climbed to my feet. "How come you never shot my pack?"

"They're asses, but they never tried to kill me." He looked me over and frowned. "You good?"

"Yeah." I glanced around at the werewolves Christian had shot. They were all in some weird half morphed stage of man-wolf. "Wolfbane tipped arrows?"

He nodded. "Let's head to my cabin. We can come up with a plan."

I motioned for him to lead the way and limped along behind him. The wolf bites throbbed with every step, while the gash in my arm trickled blood down my fingers, dripping a bloody trail behind us. Damnit. I needed stitches. Which made me think about Jace. And Scout. Dean. Adrian. Liam. Where the hell were they? "Christian, you haven't seen Scout, Dean or the Triplets, have you?"

"No. Logan had me out on patrol. I heard all the howling and ran. Saw you laying there and that big guy stepping on you. So, I shot him. And here we are."

My stomach twirled at the idea that Scout was still in the Den. Body broken. Throat ripped out. And Dean. He was exhausted. He'd die protecting me. They all would.

A wolf leaped at us from the side. I let out a startled yelp and ducked. Christian strung an arrow, let it fly and continued walking, never breaking stride.

"You're pretty amazing with that thing," I said as the wolf hit the ground and started shifting.

Christian shrugged. "I'm the human son of the werewolf king. I learned early in life, if I was going to survive, I had to find a way to fight back."

"You were bullied?" I didn't know why that surprised me. I'd met his father. He didn't have any issues with unfair advantages, so it's not like he would've stepped in and stopped it. He probably thought he was toughening him up.

Christian shot me a glance over his shoulder and spun, shooting another arrow behind me. A howl rang out. "My father showed me no mercy for not being a werewolf. He tossed me to the wolves. Literally." He swung his bow around his back. "Step exactly where I do. I activated the traps."

"You have werewolf boobie-traps?" I grinned, stepping exactly where he stepped.

He shot a smirk over his shoulder. "Damn right I do."

I stopped talking to concentrate on my footing. Luckily, the grass was damp, and his heavy steps left imprints. I wasn't sure the accuracy of his traps, but I wasn't taking any chances. The better I got to know Christian, the more of an enigma he became. The human son of the werewolf king who could bring a werewolf to his knees.

Two werewolves shadowed us, creeping along the tree line. As Christian neared his cabin front door, they charged me. Christian turned toward them. I thought he would shoot them, but instead he smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. Waiting.

My eyes widened. "What are we doing?"

"Watch."

A camouflaged net fell from the trees landing directly on the werewolves. They yelped and dropped to the ground convulsing. The sizzle of electricity combined with the snap of werewolf bones shifting rang out like a warning alarm to other werewolves.