Dom turned to her, his expression hard. “You’re not coming with me.”
“Like hell I’m not.” Valeria checked her magazine, her movements swift and practiced. “This is my case.”
“This isn’t a debate.” His wolf pressed against his control, wanting to protect her from what lay ahead. “Dalton’s desperate. Cornered. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“And you do?” She stepped closer, her dark eyes blazing with determination. “You think I can’t handle myself?”
Dom’s jaw clenched. Every instinct screamed at him to keep her safe, but his alpha presence wasn’t working on her anymore. The fire in her eyes told him she wouldn’t back down.
She was already moving toward the tree line. “We’re wasting time.”
A pause filled with the final shots as Gabriel’s team secured the last two mercenaries. Then Heath’s reluctant approval. “Go. But you both better come back alive.”
They ran through the forest parallel to the access road, Dom’s wolf senses tracking the SUV’s progress. The vehicle was struggling with the rough terrain, crashing through underbrush and bouncing over exposed roots.
“He’s heading for the old logging road,” Valeria panted as they jogged through the forest. “Rocky terrain, fallen trees, steep ravines. No way that SUV makes it through.”
Dom could hear the engine straining against obstacles. The man was driving like someone who’d never navigated wilderness terrain, fighting the landscape instead of working with it.
“The ravine bridge is a quarter mile ahead,” Valeria said, checking her GPS. “If we can get there first, we can cut him off.”
The sound of Dalton’s SUV engine grew louder, then began to fade. “We’ll never catch him on foot.”
Valeria was already pulling off her tactical vest. “We need to shift.” She secured her weapon and gear behind a fallen log. “We cut through the forest. You’re faster. Get ahead of him at the bridge. I’ll come up behind, box him in.”
Dom understood the strategy immediately. The road switched back twice before reaching the ravine. His wolf could make a straight line through the forest, while her bear would be a powerful force from behind. He stripped off his own gear, securing it beside hers.
The transformation was swift, born of urgency. Dom’s wolf exploded forward through the underbrush while Valeria’s massive bear form crashed through the forest on a parallel path behind Dalton’s vehicle.
Dom’s wolf moved like smoke through the trees, taking the direct route while the SUV had to follow the winding road. He could hear the engine growing closer, smell the exhaust getting stronger. The wooden bridge came into view through the trees.
He reached the ravine’s edge and didn’t slow. His wolf launched across the bridge in powerful bounds, paws barely touching the worn planks. He made it to the far side just as headlights swept around the final curve. Dom spun to face the approaching vehicle, positioning himself at the bridge’s exit.
He burst from the forest just as Dalton’s SUV roared onto the bridge from the opposite side. Perfect timing. Dom leaped onto the hood of the vehicle as it reached the bridge’s midpoint. His wolf’s weight slammed into the windshield, claws screeching against the metal hood. Through the glass, he saw Dalton’s eyes go wide with shock.
Dalton slammed on the brakes, yanking out a weapon. He fired through the windshield. Once, twice, three times. Dom rolled off the hood as glass exploded outward. Click. Click. Empty.
Dalton threw the SUV into reverse, tires spinning on the old wooden planks. But as he backed off the bridge, a massive shape appeared behind him.
Valeria's bear had caught up, blocking his escape route. Dalton yanked the wheel hard to the right, trying to swerve around her massive form. But the sudden maneuver at high speed on the narrow forest road was too much for the SUV to handle.
The vehicle's tires lost traction on the loose gravel. Dalton over-corrected, the steering wheel spinning uselessly in his hands as the SUV skidded sideways. The passenger side slammed into a massive pine tree with a sickening crunch of metal and glass.
The impact spun the vehicle back onto the road, steam hissing from under the hood. The engine sputtered and died. Dalton sat stunned for a moment, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead where he'd hit the side window.
He fumbled with his seatbelt, trying to exit the destroyed vehicle, but Dom was already there in wolf form, positioning himself at the driver's door. Dalton tried to crawl across to the passenger side, but Valeria's bear blocked that exit, her massive form ensuring he had nowhere to run.
Trapped between two apex predators with backup sirens growing louder, Dalton finally raised his hands in surrender.
Heath read Dalton his rights while Gabriel and Officer Holt secured him with proper restraints. “Frank Dalton, you’re under arrest for the murder of Rebecca Matthews. You have the right to remain silent...”
Dom shifted, grabbed emergency clothing from the nearest patrol car, dressed, and jogged back to where Valeria was waiting in the tree line. Only after she’d shifted back and dressed in department sweats, did she join the rest of the crew with Dom.
“Outstanding work, Officer Raynolds,” Heath said to Valeria. “And you too, Steel.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
