Chapter Twenty

 

Noah

 

I heard Chloe take off to my right while Ellie bolted for the side of the warehouse to my left, and despite everything, I was grateful. These damn greliaran instincts were screaming for me to kill everything in reach, and the girls were a distraction I didn’t need right now.

Because if a gorilla ever existed in quasi-human form, it was my cousin.

My hands gripped Wyatt’s shoulders and my feet dug into the gravel as I tried to drive him backward. He twisted in my grasp, attempting to use my own force to throw me. I shifted my balance to stay upright, and then adjusted a second time as he tried again.

He snarled. Chloe was getting farther away. He wanted to join the chase.

Something slammed into me from the side. I hit the gravel and rolled, coming back up fast and looking around for whatever had just barreled into me.

Uncle Richard stood where we’d been. Flecks of red light glowed in his eyes. Cracks no wider than pencil lead twisted along his arms.

And that was it. He’d knocked me down, and he’d barely even changed yet.

I made myself keep breathing. Against Wyatt, I’d stood a chance.

Richard was another story entirely.

“Wyatt, go,” Richard ordered.

His son scrambled to his feet and took off after Chloe. Richard twitched to the side, blocking me when I moved to follow.

Heart pounding, I stopped, my gaze flicking from him to my cousins and back.

“You really want to do this, Noah?” he threatened. “My boys are going to tear that girl apart either way.”

A growl slipped from me.

His lip curled as his skin changed. I tensed, knowing what was coming.

He charged.

I braced myself as his shoulder hit me like a battering ram, driving me backward to the ground. Twisting, I avoided his fist as it slammed down where my head had been. I punched at him, succeeding in knocking his head to the side.

But nothing more.

He snarled.

His fist landed hard. Stars scattered across my vision. I swung again blindly, hitting his midsection, though it made less difference than if I’d hit a wall.

“Disgrace,” Richard spat. “You’re just a fucking–”

A gunshot inside the warehouse cut him off.

He shoved away from me. Rolling to the side, I coughed and spit blood onto the gravel.

My ears were ringing, but I could just make out the sound of Ellie’s voice, though her actual words were a garble over the noise in my head. Richard heard her though. I could tell from the rage on his face.

I thought he’d looked mad at me.

I’d never seen anything like his expression now.

He took off around the corner of the warehouse, and the door that must have been beyond it.

I shoved up from the gravel and went after him.

He heard me coming, and before I could reach him, he spun, grabbing after me. Ducking fast, I evaded his grasp and then punched hard at his side. He tensed, taking the blow, and his fist came back like a jackhammer into my ribs.

I stumbled.

With a furious noise, he thrust me aside and turned for the warehouse again.

And then he froze.

I looked over.

Several yards away, Zeke stood, his eyes on Richard and a shotgun in his hands. Large bandages dotted his legs randomly and burns scarred his sides, and even from this distance I could see him shaking. Ellie hovered a few feet from his back, her gaze darting between us and Zeke as if she couldn’t figure out which of us to stay farther away from.

A low growl built in Richard’s chest.

Zeke aimed the gun at my uncle. “Back off,” he ordered.

“Where’s my son?” Richard snarled, the words barely human.

Zeke inched in the direction of Baylie’s car, keeping the gun level. Ellie hurried to stay behind him. “You heard me.”

Richard’s growl got louder. Zeke tightened his grip on the gun.

Police sirens carried over the fields, the sound so faint Zeke and Ellie gave no sign of noticing. But I could tell Richard heard. His head twitched to the left, toward the noise, and the growl cut off.

Zeke’s brow drew down cautiously.

I hesitated. Baylie shouldn’t have called the cops. She knew it wouldn’t help anything. But perhaps someone at the grain company had heard the gunshot over the distance. Or Ellie’s grandfather had called in his allies.

Neither option was good. The police would be a serious problem, because chances were that Brock was dead in there, given the size of the gun Zeke was holding and the fact my cousin hadn’t left the warehouse this entire time. At close enough range, a cannon like that would do serious damage, even with our defenses. It was hard to feel sorry. I knew I probably should, since Brock was technically family and all. But that knowledge didn’t make the feeling come.

And didn’t change the fact cops would mean all of us getting arrested and Chloe ending up squarely back in her parents’ hands.

I looked to Ellie, catching her eye. I tilted my head toward the car with an urgent expression.

Swallowing hard, she inched to the other side of Zeke and started for the vehicle, keeping her attention on my uncle. Without lowering the weapon, Zeke followed.

Richard shuddered, clearly torn between pursuing them and continuing toward the warehouse.

I moved cautiously after Ellie, and saw Richard’s head twitch again when he heard my feet on the gravel. Watching me from the corner of his eye, he gave another low snarl.

Backpedaling, Ellie put more distance between herself and him even as Zeke did the same.

Richard strode for the warehouse door.

Ellie ran as Baylie began driving toward us. Keeping the gun pointed toward Richard’s back, Zeke followed at a hobbling walk.

And that wasn’t fast enough. Not if the cops were coming. Not in the time it would take Richard to confirm that the dehaian had just killed his son.

The dehaian Chloe loved.

I shivered, watching him, and then drew a rough breath, driving away the instincts and the darker things I didn’t want to think about as I forced my skin to change to human again.

“Run,” I told him, a growl still lurking in my voice.

His face tightened. He kept retreating at the same pace.

“Damn you, run.”

“Can’t.”

His gaze flicked to me, all dark and challenging and really making me want to punch him just for existing. Fighting hard against the impulse, I glanced to his legs and the silver threads hanging there as though they’d grown from his skin.

The growl grew stronger. I shook my head, turning the sound to a curse. “Come on,” I snapped.

I strode over and snagged his arm, throwing it around my shoulder.

“Where’s Chloe?” Zeke demanded, his words coming in short gasps while he attempted to keep pace at my side.

“On her way,” I replied, hoping it was true.

A roar sounded from inside the warehouse.

My heart climbed my throat. Zeke grunted, adjusting his other hand on the gun as he tried to move faster.

Baylie pulled her car up in front of us. Ellie tugged open the rear door before retreating quickly to the opposite side of the vehicle.

I barely kept myself from throwing Zeke in. Gripping the top of the car, he managed to climb inside while I hurried for the other door.

Richard raced from the warehouse.

I swung into the passenger seat.

“Chloe?” Baylie cried.

“We’ll find her. Go!”

She hit the gas. Gravel spewed from beneath the tires as she whipped the car through a tight turn and then sped back toward the road.