5- Mine

KAZIMIR

The scent of wolfsbane and gun oil clung to the air as I strode through the weapons room. My brothers moved like extensions of my own will, Lev filling syringes with lethal precision, Nikolai loading silver rounds with that fucking grin of his, Dimitri already melting into the shadows without needing orders.

"Perimeter?" I snapped.

Lev didn't look up from his vials. "Sealed. For now."

Nikolai spun his pistol. "Let them come. I'm bored anyways. It's been a while since we got some action."

I grabbed his shoulder, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise. "This isn't a game. If Malhorn manages to get past us..."

"He won't." Dimitri's voice slithered from the darkness near the windows. "But she's the weak link. You have to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble."

My wolf snarled at the implication. I stormed upstairs, taking them two at a time.

The bedroom door creaked open to reveal Ariel backed against the far wall, her hands curled into fists as she stared outside the window. Moonlight caught the defiant set of her jaw, the wild flare of her nostrils.

"Stay here," I ordered. "Don't make a sound."

Her laugh was sharp as broken glass. "Or what? You'll kill me yourself?"

I crossed the room in three strides, caging her against the wall. Her scent, vanilla with a slight hint of lavender, flooded my senses. "If they get to you first," I growled against her ear, "you'll beg me to kill you."

Her pulse jumped beneath my lips. "Worry about yourself. I think they're already here."

A crash shattered the moment. The front gates groaned under the assault.

I was at the window in an instant. "They're here."

Ariel's breath hitched. She walked back to the bed as if nothing had happened and sat on it.

"The fun has just started!" Nikolai called from the doorway, his knives glinting.

I shoved past him. "Keep her alive. That's your job."

The first wave hit like a storm. Malhorn wolves poured through the shattered gates, their snarls drowning out the gunfire. I put a bullet between the eyes of the first one to breach the courtyard.

"Left flank!" Lev shouted, driving a syringe into a wolf's neck. The beast collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

Nikolai fought like a demon, his blades painting crimson arcs through the night. Until two massive enforcers pinned him against the fountain.

I lunged, ripping out one's throat with my teeth just as...

A flash of movement upstairs. Ariel. I turned to look.

The little fool was using the distraction to climb out of her window.

I lost precious seconds watching her drop onto the balcony, her movements too graceful for some stripper. Who the hell was she? Who trained her?

A snarl to my right. I barely dodged the claws aiming for my jugular.

"Eyes open, Kaz!" Nikolai laughed, blood dripping from his lip ring.

I dispatched the attacker with a silver round to the heart and charged after Ariel.

She'd gotten hold of a knife. Of course, she had.

When a Malhorn wolf lunged for her, she pivoted like a seasoned killer, the blade flashing toward his artery. I got there first, snapping the bastard's neck with a wet crack.

"Reckless little..." I hauled her behind a crumbling pillar, my hand clamping over her mouth. "Do you want to die?"

Her teeth sank into my palm. "Get away from me!!!"

The scent of her fear, sharp and sweet, made my cock twitch. Fuck.

Dimitri materialised beside us, dragging a half dead werewolf. "Answers."

The interrogation didn't take long.

"What does your boss want?" I asked him.

"We had intel that a woman he's been looking for for the past few months was here. We had no idea it was your territory, Mr Rossi." The prisoner trembled.

I listened to his heartbeat. He spoke true. If he had known it was my territory or if they had done proper research beforehand, they wouldn't have had the galls to step into my land like that guns blazing.

"And why are you looking for her?"

The prisoner looked at Ariel and then at me.

"She has something he needs. Our boss has been chasing her for the past few months now."

"And what does he want? Her blood?! When did your boss become a bloodsucking vamp?!" Nikolai asked, and the prisoner shook his head.

"Our boss didn't send us for her blood," the prisoner gasped. "He wants her womb."

Nikolai's knife stilled at the man's throat. "Come again?"

"Blood Moon Brides birth unstoppable heirs," Lev murmured, adjusting his glasses. "Her value just tripled."

My vision went red. The thought of anyone....

Ariel's whimper cut through the rage. Nikolai had her wrist in a vice grip, his thumb stroking her racing pulse.

"Who trained you, little wolf? The way you moved..." he purred.

She kicked at him. "Fuck you."

Lev caught her other arm, his clinical gaze dissecting her reactions. "Military training? What do you think Kaz?"

I ripped her away from them. "Enough."

Ariel trembled in my hold, her breath coming in sharp pants. Moonlight gilded the sweat slick column of her throat. My teeth ached to claim it.

"Let me go," she whispered. "I don't want to be here, please just let me go!"

"You don't even want me!" She screamed at me.

Dimitri stepped from the shadows, blood dripping from his gloves. "That's where you're wrong."

Nikolai licked his lips. "Oh, we want you. Just not the way you think."

Lev's fingers twitched toward his scalpel. "The mating mark would deter other packs for the moment. It'll save you all the hassle."

Ariel's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

I fisted her hair, tilting her head back. "Watch me."

The first howl of the next attack cut through the night. Closer this time.

Dimitri met my gaze. "They're not stopping."

I dragged Ariel against my chest, my mouth hovering over her mating gland. "Then we make sure they know exactly what she is."

"Mine."