There is no way she was getting in that van.

“Don’t worry little girl, you’ll help me, whether you want to or not.” Where Micah’s light brown eyes had been filled with warmth, Dennis Boyd’s were cold and dead. He had a huge pistol pointed at her with some kind of a hunting scope on the barrel. “I’m certain she’ll come back for your funeral.”

That is a really big gun. And it would leave a really big hole in her if she didn’t move her ass out of the way now. “You could’ve just killed me in the shop.”

“It’s harder to drag a dead weight than you think. This way all I have to do is shove you into the van, pull the trigger, and we’re gone.”

“Gone to where?” She had a pretty good idea of what he had in mind, but she had to keep him distracted until Julian and Gabe arrived. And she had no doubt they were on their way. She could practically feel Julian chasing her down, pissed off because she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Scared because of who had her. If I die he’ll never let me live it down.

His smile was chilling and creepy, and not just because he was going to shoot her. “I figured I’d dump it somewhere in the woods near the Red Wolf Lodge. How do you think that big, scary Alpha will feel when he finds out that I’ve killed someone he was supposed to protect?”

“I think his Luna will eat your intestines on toast.” Because, if for some reason she didn’t survive this, Tabby would hit Def Con One. If Rick or Alex didn’t get to Dennis Boyd, Belle would, and it wouldn’t be pretty. The Luna had a seriously wide streak of mean in her that scared Cyn a bit. But it was Alex’s reaction that the man should be worried about. “And if they don’t get you, her mate certainly will.”

Oh how she wished she were one of those mystical Hollywood shifters. Then she wouldn’t need to worry about things like clothing when she shifted into her Bear. She’d just shift and take this S.O.B. down before he could hurt anybody else. And then she’d magically be not naked when she shifted back. Unfortunately, she already knew that if she shifted in her clothes she would wind up hurting herself.

Hurry up, Julian!

“A mate, huh?” Boyd shook his head with a wry grin. “I’d wondered how she’d gotten into the Poconos Pack.” Boyd didn’t realize that Alex was a Grizzly and not a Wolf. She almost laughed out loud. She couldn’t think of anyone who deserved an angry Grizzly mauling more than this man. “Richard Lowell is supposed to be a real hard-ass. I wonder what he did to make her prove herself?”

She’d done absolutely nothing but be herself, and that had been more than enough for Rick and Belle.

Boyd’s gaze narrowed and he braced himself. It looked like her time was up. She closed her eyes, unwilling to watch him pull the trigger that would end not only her life but Julian’s as well. “I love you, Jules.” Why hadn’t she been brave enough to tell him that when she had the chance?

A deep, gravelly roar sounded from right behind her, startling her. She’d never heard anything like it. She opened her eyes to see what fresh hell she was about to face and flinched as a wall of dark brown fur dashed past her. A deep, moaning wail sounded from the behemoth as it swiped at Dennis Boyd, shredding the man’s arm from hand to shoulder. Screeching, Boyd dropped the pistol…but not before pulling the trigger.

The Grizzly reared up on its hind legs and roared once more in Boyd’s face. Julian barely recognized the fact that Ryan was literally ripping Boyd apart despite Gabe’s pleas to stop.

All he saw was that Cyn was on the ground, and she was bleeding.

It didn’t matter that he was naked, that he’d never completed the shift. Her blood poured out from her chest and onto the ground. She was already unconscious, her eyelashes dark against her pale cheeks. He was going to take every ounce of strength he had to heal her, and it might not be enough.

If her soul fled her body, he would follow.

Julian dug deep, tapping into areas he’d never dared touch before, dancing further down the spiral of the healing path than he’d ever been. What he was doing should have been impossible, and would most likely cost him his life, but it was something that he would gladly give up to save her. Ancient prayers repeated over and over in his mind as he begged for the power to do what needed to be done. He battled death itself, and this time there was no one there to lend him strength, no one to save him from himself.

Beneath his hands torn muscles knit back together. Blood vessels repaired themselves seamlessly. The fragments of her shattered ribs drew together, whole once more. The bullet had been large caliber, bouncing around inside her rib cage before exiting and doing far more damage than he’d ever been forced to fix before. Her heart was nicked, forcing it to beat erratically. He mended the damage, making sure it beat properly once more. He moved next to her lungs, doing his best to be clinical and detached, and failing miserably. He wanted to scream at what had been done to his beautiful mate.

The damage was extensive. Cyn’s right lung was practically torn in half. He knitted it back together piece by piece, repairing torn and inflamed bronchi. The pleural cavity had been breached, causing the fluid within to burst forth. He delicately repaired both the parietal pleura along her rib cage and the visceral pleura on the surface of her lungs, rerouting the pleural fluid in between the membranes back to where it belonged as he went.

He was beginning to tire, slowly losing contact with his body. He wasn’t going to survive.

“Julian.”

There was a minor risk of infection, but he boosted her immune system in preparation for that.

“Julian. You need to stop now.”

But he wasn’t done yet. He needed to repair the damage to the bones and muscles of her shoulder where the bullet had exited. If he wasn’t careful, she would never again be able to use her right arm the way she had before. Her career, the living art she lived and breathed for, would be over.

“All right. I’ll try and help, but if I cry I’m so haunting your ass.”

Energy poured into him, feminine energy that was unlike anything he’d felt before. “Chloe?”

“That’s me. Hang tight, Julian. I promise, you’re not going anywhere.”

It was just enough. He was going to be able to complete his work. He’d hurt, and hurt badly, but thanks to Chloe and their connection he’d live through it.