“Mercer!” I screamed.
Thrashing in the chair, I’d almost made it tip sideways when an imposing presence placed a hand on my shoulder. My head snapped up, fresh fear rushing through me until I saw familiar green eyes and a furious expression. Conrad’s gentle touch calmed me, and I relaxed more when I spotted West behind him.
They were both alive.
“Get the fuck away from her,” Conrad snarled at Benjamin.
My bondmate grinned like a maniac, a glint in his eyes. He backed up, but it didn’t feel like a retreat. It felt like he was on the prowl, readying for an attack.
There was something left up his sleeve, and it wasn’t the men he’d brought with him. There weren’t that many of them, and most had gunshot wounds already. The rest had lowered their weapons and were backing away, ready to flee.
What was he going to do? Why did he think he could still win?
My gaze snapped to Mercer.
The bullet had only gotten his arm. The blood loss made it look worse than it was.
But what kind of bullets did Benjamin’s men have in their guns?
Conrad undid my restraints while West trained his gun on my bondmate. I fell out of the chair and crawled across the floor toward Mercer, who rushed forward to meet me.
“Hey, hey.” He wrapped his good arm around me. “I’m fine. Just a flesh wound.”
I pressed my cheek against his chest and glared at Benjamin. He was still backing up, smiling maniacally. We needed to capture him—but I assumed my fathers had men on the way. They would restrain him when they got here. Until then, we just needed to keep him from fleeing or attacking.
“What kind of bullets are they using, Benjamin?” I demanded, still clutching Mercer close despite the blood soaking into my clothes.
He laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know, babe.”
Conrad cursed, dropping to his knees beside Mercer and trying to pry me away. “Talia, he could be?—”
I shook my head.
Benjamin’s emotions raged inside of me. He was shoving them at me, creating a maelstrom that was hard to push through. It was near painful to exist with him like this, but there was a downside for him.
I’d felt his regret, the millisecond of it that had existed.
A psychopath like him wouldn’t regret shooting my alpha, so I could only assume he was regretting one thing: not shooting with feral bullets.
“They weren’t using the bullets,” I said confidently.
Conrad frowned. Mercer tried to pull away. “Sweetheart, it’s not a risk we should take.”
I clung to him, refusing to let go. “Trust me. They weren’t.”
“Oh, how sweet. You trust him.” Benjamin’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “Until he pins you down and takes you like a feral beast, anyway.”
“No. Right now, it’syouI trust,” I shot back. “I trust you to be the evil bastard you’ve always been deep inside. Your emotions told me everything I needed to know. Turns out having me bonded to you is a double-edged sword, isn’t it?”
I was shouting by the end, tears dripping down my stinging cheeks.
A crash sounded in the distance, followed by shouts and gunshots. Benjamin looked over his shoulder, and his desperation became my own.
He was a beast backed into a corner, and he was about to lash out.
What was his plan? Would he go for me? Or one of my mates?
His emotions couldn’t tell me that much as he took a few more steps backward, one hand reaching behind him.
