“You’d be in wolf form all the time,” Adam finished for him. “A week living outdoors and we’re both wild.”
“Wow,” Max whispered, still feeling stunned. “We’re really half wolf. We can just as easily live as one all the time. The only reason we don’t is because we were raised human. I wonder what happens to wild wolves when they have human puppies.”
“Wild wolves don’t have human puppies.”
“Really?” Max asked, stunned he didn’t know that. “I thought all werewolves have human puppies.”
“Nope.” Adam shook his head. “Wolves who have sex in wolf form have wolf puppies. They won’t be able to change forms until they’re full-grown and if they’re living in a wolf pack outdoors—who knows, they may never change forms.”
Max stared ahead, wondering if there was a time when all wolves were actually part human, if all those wild wolves their people just assumed were only wolf were actually werewolves whose ancestors had long ago stopped attempting to change forms and became a weaker, easier to kill life form susceptible to sickness and death. The same could be said for humans. Perhaps their ancestors had also stopped changing forms and their species had forgotten how. Perhaps werewolves were just a small faction in the middle who had never forgotten and had evolved as half of both species.
“We’ll need programs in place before Susie and I become mated,” Max whispered. “We have to teach the wild werewolves how to be human some of the time. To procreate as humans and have human offspring so our people can endure as a species.”
Adam snorted. “Who’s teaching those classes?”
This was an important discovery, one Max was excited about. He ignored Adam as his mind ran wild with programs he could create to combat werewolves’ natural tendency to become more wolf-like than human when forced to live outdoors in wolf form for survival.
“MAX!”
The sound of Susie’s voice, shrill and terrified, jerked Max out of his thoughts. He blinked in shock, staring down at the seats below the balcony. Susie was standing, staring at Max and Adam above. Even from the distance he could see the terror on her face.
It was then that he smelled them. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the wild, dirty stench of death only rogue wolves could carry. There were dozens of them, he was certain of it.
“Save the queen,” Adam growled, his voice low with the wolf in him. “Nothing else matters.”
In the blink of an eye Adam sprang over the edge, changing forms as he went. Max was balancing effortlessly on the balcony railing, having leaped there without thought. He saw the way Adam nimbly landed on the edge of a movie seat and then jumped into the walkway, now a sleek, swift red wolf who ran towards the doors rather than Susie.
Max was careless of the humans who screamed as rogue wolves came into theater, hackles raised and teeth bared as they hunted for prey. He didn’t care about John or his reaction when Max followed Adam’s lead and leaped over the railing, changing forms when he went.
All that mattered was saving Susie.
John, who was surprisingly clear-minded in the face of the sudden chaos grabbed Susie’s arm. He turned to pull her down the aisle away from the wolves, his face set and determined, but he didn’t get far.
Max leaped over the seat, stopping in front of John who pulled up with a gasp because Max had obviously moved too fast for him to see. John shoved Susie behind him and Max didn’t have time for John’s heroics.
He changed forms and reached around John whose eyes widened in shock at seeing Max in front of him rather than a great white wolf. Susie tripped over the seat when Max pulled her to him, her hands flying to his chest as if she were planning on fighting him. He swept her up in his arms and was running towards the entrance on the other side of the theater before John could voice his shock or Susie could complain.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Susie screeched when she found her voice. She started kicking her legs and struggling out of his arms when the fear in her command caused him to stop abruptly. Even threat of death wasn’t enough to ease her hold on him if she felt like inflicting her will over his. “We left John!”
“He’s not mine!” Max’s voice was completely inhuman. John wasn’t his to protect. He wasn’t one of his pack, not even one of his people and Max certainly wasn’t going to risk his mate’s safety to rescue him. “He can die.”
“Argh, dominant wolf,” Susie growled, her voice also inhuman as she spun around, breaking free of Max’s hold when he reached out to stop her.
Susie pushed past humans racing for the exit, making them gasp in shock because she had moved too fast for them to see. Even Max was having a hard time seeing her as she raced to get John with an agile grace he would have admired if his heart wasn’t in his throat and his entire being weren’t focused solely on catching and saving her.
The rogues must have realized John was a good target, with Susie’s scent bleeding off him. John was looking around wildly, obviously intent on spotting Susie, which was slowing his escape while the wolves leapt over the seats in their haste to capture their prey. Others rogues were in human form, dirty and smelly with long, stringy hair and eyes that glowed deadly silver in the near darkness. The movie still playing gave the entire scene an unearthly feel as flashes of black and white glowed in the smoke flooding in from the lobby, making it difficult to breathe.
Though Max was close on her heels, Susie reached John before Max could stop her. There was a flash of silver as a rogue in human form threw a knife, but Susie grabbed John’s hand before it could hit him. She jerked him past the final seat in their row, causing him to fall flat on his face in the aisle under the force of her strength.
It all happened so fast Max could barely register Susie jumping on John’s back and crouching protectively, issuing a low growl so fierce the wolves stopped for a brief moment as if unsure of their decision to attack. Then she did something that stopped Max in his tracks.
Susie changed forms.
Max blinked, gaping at the beautiful, snow-white arctic wolf standing on John’s back. She was bigger than any other female of their breed. She was also far more intimidating, giving off a pulse of aggression so powerful he could taste it past the bitter tang of fear in his mouth.
Time seemed to stand still as smoke continued to flood the movie theater. Max wasn’t the only one frozen in surprise. The attacking wolves all shifted apprehensively. It was it obvious they hadn’t counted on dealing with two full-grown alpha wolves in this planned attack.
Susie capitalized on their astonishment, growling and barking as a deafening boom of energy burst out of her, knocking everyone in the theater, man and wolf, off their feet from the force of it.
Landing flat on his back from the surge of power that pulsed out of Susie caused Max to recover from his shock. He sprung to his feet and cleared an impressive distance. His body draped over Susie’s, likely breaking a few of John’s ribs as he stood on his back and leaned forward to issue his own warning growl at the wolves trying to scramble to their feet. Max remained in human form, but the sound of his anger was no less furious as he curled his lip back and flashed long, deadly teeth.
Taking advantage of the rogue’s uneasiness at facing two alpha wolves when their wolf instincts had them wanting to back down and submit, Max grabbed Susie and then John beneath her, knowing leaving him behind wasn’t an option. He ran up the hallway rather than deal with the fire now flooding into the theater. Red and orange flames of death were dancing in from several of the open doorways.
Max looked above him, judging the balcony’s height. He could make it with just Susie, but John was a huge human. He dropped John who scrambled to his feet. Max leaped with Susie under his arm, catching the balcony far above their heads with one hand. Still in wolf form, Susie used his shoulder as leverage to crawl over the balcony and then switched back to her human form, her eyes wild and silver as she leaned over to look past Max.
“Save him!”
Max groaned, but let go of the railing to land on his feet. In the short time it took him to deposit Susie on the balcony the wolves attacked. John punched one in the nose, knocking the vicious rogue off its feet. He lashed out, kicking at another, his polished black shoe connecting with the wolf’s chest when it would have launched itself at him.
Mildly impressed, Max was inclined to watch the show but Susie screamed from above, “Maxwell!”
Max lunged at the rogue when he came back for a second attack, catching him by the neck in one large hand. He shook the wolf impatiently, easily breaking his neck and then tossed the body aside. Having made his point, he growled to the others who would attack, making it clear he had no problem killing them.
“What are you?” John rasped, his blue eyes wide as he stared at Max as if he’d never met him.
“I’m the big, bad wolf.” Max’s voice was completely inhuman and he knew his eyes were likely silver. “Lucky for you the big, bad wolf’s the good guy in this particular story.”
Max took a page out of John’s book and kicked at another rogue who found the nerve to attack. The wolf’s body flew across the theater, hitting the wall with a sickening thud.
Max got the impression these rogue wolves hadn’t counted on Max being there because few attacked him. They had obviously assumed they were launching this attack on Susie and her boyfriend alone, but there was dominance in numbers. If they decided to come at Max all at once, they could eventually overpower him. All that was playing in his favor was the wolves’ survival instincts that told them attacking Max was likely a death sentence.
He reached for John, who gasped in complaint and attempted to wrench his arm out of Max’s steely grasp. Max jumped before he could get more than a few choice words out.
He caught the balcony with one hand and hefted a struggling John up with the other. “Grab the railing!” Max snapped and then glared at Susie when she leaned over to help John up. “Your damsel’s a real pain in my ass!”
“He doesn’t know how to deal with a pack of rabid rogues,” Susie huffed in complaint, her voice still gravelly with the wolf in her. “We’ll go through the projector’s booth. Where’s Adam?”
“He went to hold off them off.” Max crawled over the balcony once John and Susie fell back into one of the chairs. He smelled more wolves than they were currently dealing with and knew Adam was likely the reason only a scant few had made it into the theater. “He probably started the fire to keep the others back.”
Susie cupped a hand to her mouth. “Is he okay?”
“He’s a red wolf.” Max walked past the seats to the aisle, heading to where the projector’s booth still ran the movie above their heads. “Adam’s a son of summer. He can handle a little fire.”
It was more than a little fire. It was turning into a raging inferno. The smoke was blinding, choking the air out of the theater. Sweat dripped at Max’s temples. He had the urge to rip off his clothes for relief from the suffocating heat.
Breaking through the projector’s booth was easier said than done, but smoke was pouring in from under the closed exit door to the balcony. The extreme rise in temperature told him the fire was far too close for comfort. There was a very good reason Susie wanted to go through the projector’s booth. Adam may be a son of summer, but Max and Susie were winter.
They’d never survive a fire.
Max jumped up, punching his fist against the projector’s booth, knocking the glass and wood clean out of the frame as the movie projector crashed to the floor, plunging them into smoky darkness.
“Jump up. You can help John through,” Max said to Susie. “I’ll hand him to you.”
Susie sprang up, catching the edge of the window and crawling into the small booth. Once she was clear Max grabbed John, desperate to get out of the theater. The heat was making him irrational. The smoke made his eyes water and burn.
“Hold on, Romeo. I’m done being carried by you.” John struggled out of Max’s gasp, taking several steps back. He tripped over one of the seats, obviously blind in the darkness without wolf senses to help him, but he shook his head in denial. “I don’t want your help.”
“Fine.” Max shrugged indifferently. He bent his legs to jump, determined to go after his mate and get them both out of the heat
“Don’t even think about it, Maxwell!” Susie growled as she leaned out the window.
“He’s not mine,” Max reminded her, feeling more wolf-like than anything. “
You’re
mine!”
“Hand him to me,” Susie said in response, her voice low and demanding in a way that was impossible for Max to refuse.
“Cooperate.” Max grabbed John’s arm in irritation, jerking him forward hard enough to make him stumble, but he was no longer complaining.
Max had hypnotized him into obedience, something he should have done a lot sooner. He hefted John up and jumped. Susie caught him, easily supporting John’s two hundred plus pounds as she worked at helping him through the window. His wide shoulders were making it more than a little difficult. Max landed back on his feet, watching the struggle to get John through the small window.
“If you can’t get him through, then forget it. I’m definitely dying in this fire. What a horrible way to go.”
“We’ll get you both through,” Susie growled, her face flushed with raw determination. “You’re always prone to dramatics. Shit!”