Devon

An estimated forty hunters—as far as I could see—were waiting outside, armed and deadly. Their plan was clearly to wait for us to exit the building, but a couple of shots were fired, so we fell back.

We were about forty strong as well, but only about a dozen of us were a part of our team of fighters, the rest were the abused supernatural prisoners, mostly werewolves, several fae, and a pale black-eyed creature which I could not identify. Looking into its eyes sent a shiver of unease down my spine. I had been tempted to leave it locked up, but Kain had insisted that no prisoner would be left behind, and the vampire queen had assured me it was more or less harmless so I let them have their way without a fight. It huddled at the back of the group, and I set one of the wolves to keep an eye on it.

The wolf I'd put in charge of the creature spoke to me. "Alpha?"

I was watching the forces outside from my vantage point, and I didn't stop to look towards him. "Yes?"

"It's eating one of the hunter corpses."

"Let it." The creature was revolting, but we had more pressing concerns. I turned to the group. "Let your packs know that we're cornered and could use assistance."

"Delta, we're in a tight spot. How's it looking out there?"

"Not great, Alpha. The hunters brought in reinforcements, and we're outnumbered. We had to fall back, and Goldhollow had the same issue."

The other packs reported similar situations, only one had managed to fight through, and they had turned their attention to aiding another pack.

While we discussed our plans, Kain had been leaning off to the side, watching silently. "I'm going to find another exit. Try not to die while I'm gone," he said, and left before anyone could argue with him. I remembered Amber's words about how even a werewolf could stab me in the back, but there was nothing I could do about him now if he was betraying us.

The queen glanced at one of her vampires. "Go with him, and let us know if you find anything."

While the vampires didn't have mind links like we did, they were more than happy to use high-tech human equipment, so their communication was nearly as good as ours. I'd give it to the humans, they might be weak, but they compensated nicely with innovativeness. Shame we didn't have some sort of human tech that could save us from this bind.

At a loss for what to do, I sent the prisoners we had been trying to rescue deeper into the building to get further away from Danger. A couple of them stayed to help and I didn't push them, but most of them did as I ordered without question, werewolf or otherwise. The unconscious people were carried by the more able-bodied.

"So, now what, Alpha?" the queen asked, turning towards me. Our group, thirteen strong, looked pitiful compared to the force outside that only continued to grow.

"Good question, Your Majesty."

She laughed. "Katrina is fine."

"Devon, then."

Her smirk was amused. "I like you. A reasonable wolf."

"On occasion."

"Honest, too."

"Is this really the moment for this, though?" I asked. She was irritatingly calm. Maybe after centuries of life the idea of being killed by hunters didn't bother her, but I had people I wanted to live for, a mate who I loved, a sister I hadn't seen in a very long time, and a pack who relied on me.

"Not much else to do, unless you're volunteering to run out and take all the bullets."

I deeply regretted leaving Amber to come out here, but it was my duty to be at the battle, and my wolf had pushed me to witness firsthand what the hunters did to their prisoners, had done to my sister. Maybe I shouldn't have, but that was easy to see in hindsight.

And the fight wasn't over. I was going to get back to her, back to all of them. No one was dying here tonight if I could help it.

The hunters, as if to disagree, burst through the doors to the prison. We took a few shots at them, but we were trying to conserve our ammo, and every gunshot made my sensitive ears ache. One of the hunters was hit, and they dragged her body off to the side as they took cover. One down, about fifty-nine more to go by my growing estimation.

Because the noise had left my ears ringing, it took me a moment to recognize the sound of the hunters advancing again, towards the corner in the hall behind which we had all taken refuge. We were outnumbered, but we would attack, when the moment was right.

I held up my hand, straining my ears to hear the sneaking footsteps of our enemies. They were nearly upon us, and I signalled the attack with my hand, before shifting to my wolf.

We rushed around the corner, some of the werewolves as wolves, others still as humans wielding guns, and the vampires acting with increased speed as the night deepened. The hunters seemed surprised by the attack, but they recovered quickly, blades flashing in the dim institutional light. A few ear-ringing shots were fired on their side, but they seemed reluctant for fear of hitting their own fighters in the small space.

One of the hunters leveled his gun at me, but I charged and weaved sideways before leaping upon him. I ripped open his throat with my teeth savagely. My wolf delighted in the taste of his blood as we turned to kill another of the hunters, and then another. My wolf was strong, and in a place confined like this, nearly unmatched in brute strength.

Pain slammed my shoulder as a bullet hit me. I growled, pissed off at the sensation, and at the challenge. I whirled to face my attacker, a badass woman with a gun, and I lunged for her arm, snapping the bone. The gun fell to the ground as her hand went limp, and then I turned my attention to her soft, easily destroyed throat.

"Please don't kill me! I surrender!" she begged.

Damn it. Amber would never know if I killed this fighter in cold blood, but that didn't matter. The vampires had killed the last couple of hunters, so I slammed the woman to the ground. I bit her leg and dragged her back out of sight of the hunters still waiting outside.

I shifted back once in the hallway where we were set up. We had lost one of the prisoners in the fight, and several of our other fighters were wounded. We might be able to manage another couple of rounds like this, but eventually we wouldn't be able to hold them back. The only thing that had kept the hunters from surging on us was the relatively small area we were in.

"I say we string up the bodies as a warning to the other hunters," one of the freed prisoners who had stayed to fight said. He smelled more like this institution than anything else, and I suspected he was a rogue, but it wasn't the time to be picky.

The queen smirked. "Good idea. You volunteering?"

He glowered.

"Good choice, they'll shoot you if you try."

I ignored their bickering, and focused on defending until help finally came.