Unpredictable Sirens (Supernatural Shifter Academy #4) - G. Bailey Page 0,1

step back, ready to fight, but a blur of grey fur slams into the dragon from the side. Shade. Although as a wolf he’s no match for the dragon’s raw power, he has agility on his side, and the giant reptile isn’t able to keep up with his unpredictable leaps and lunges.

A distraction, I realise, just in time for Silas to break free of the other dragon’s grip and pin the second one to the ground. The first dragon makes a move to follow him, but Landon’s voice, now tinged with the sound of his siren’s song, draws its attention away. “Leave him!” he yells, and although the dragon shifter is a male, he isn’t going for mind control. He’s going for pure power. The sound is earsplitting, and the sonic waves from the scream are visible in the air as they send a shockwave across the field which connects squarely with the dragon’s chest. Caught off guard, he’s sent flying backward, tumbling to the ground in his human form. And humans aren’t immune to fire. He lets out a yell of pain as the flames threaten to consume him, leaving Shade, Silas, and Landon to focus on the second dragon.

My ears are still ringing, although whether that’s from my earlier trauma or the fact that I might have just ruptured an eardrum, I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that the rest of the facility guards aren’t just standing by, and my eyes go wide when I see them brandishing weapons.

“Guys!” I yell, my voice sounding pathetically meek in comparison to the others’ shouts. “Guys, we have to go! They have guns!”

As if on cue, a spray of gunfire cuts through the wall of flames. Silas, aware of his relative durability, lunges to the left to take the brunt of the attack, but he doesn’t move quite quickly enough. I’m aware of screaming as one of the stray bullets connects with Shade’s flank, and it takes a moment for me to realise that it’s coming from me. To my surprise, the wolf shifter manages to keep a hold on his form, although his eyes have gone wide with shock. He stops dead in his tracks, going down to his front knees as blood begins to pour out of the wound in his side, and adrenaline floods me. He can’t die. I can’t let him die, not after he saved me.

“Hunter,” I yell. “Put me down! Help Shade!”

“Are you sure?” Hunter asks, his eyes wide.

I nod, surprising myself with my own coherence. “I’ll be okay. Get him out of the line of fire.”

Hunter hesitates for a moment, his gaze stormy, and then sets me gently onto the ground. In a flash, he’s sprinting back towards the scrimmage, almost too fast for my eyes to track.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Shade yells, still in his wolf form, as the vampire shifter comes to a stop beside him.

Silas and Landon are still working on driving back the dragon shifter, and although he appears to be flagging, I’m aware of the rain of gunfire spraying across the field.

“Can you stand?” Hunter demands, the authority and self-assuredness in his voice enough to catch me off guard. He’s come a long way from the insecure guy I met in shifting class all those months ago.

Shade lets out a growl and forces himself back to his feet before shifting back into human form. There’s a gnarly gash on his side, I can see, and my stomach drops when I notice that his clothes are already seeped through with red. “Get in front of me,” Hunter commands. Shade glares at him but does as he instructs, allowing the vampire shifter to cover him from behind as they make their slow way back over to me. Bullets glance off Hunter’s skin like raindrops as they pull back, coming to a stop beside me.

“We have to go,” I pant. There’s a queasy feeling blossoming in my stomach, a mixture of fatigue and panic, and I focus all my attention on the guys. Keep them alive, at all costs. “There’s too many of them. And if they send reinforcements…”

“You’re right,” says Hunter, sliding a hand around my waist to support me. “Can you both stand? I can’t carry you both.”

“Didn’t think you’d ever be the one saving me,” Shade pants as he slings an arm around the vampire shifter’s shoulders. “I owe you one, Ash.”

“Save it,” Hunter tells him, and the three of us begin to