Free Escape (Dark Alpha #4) by Alisa Woods Page A

the ringer before it could give him away. Meanwhile, Mace had strutted to where Arianna crouched in the grass. He stroked himself as he loomed over Arianna, obviously getting off on the whole sick ceremony. Jak gritted his teeth and drew his gun out of his holster. He gauged the distance, but there was no way he could sprint across the lawn and get close enough to shoot Mace before they all saw him.
    Shit.
    Jak holstered the gun, his strained breath steaming the cool night air. He started to calmly walk toward the group. If he could just get close before they realized what he was up to—
    Suddenly, Mace shifted and started rubbing his snout against the side of Arianna’s face. Then he clamped his jaws on the back of Arianna’s neck, forcing her submission deeper, and even from the fifty feet or so away, Jak could hear her wolf whine. Jak’s own wolf was snarling and stomping to be released.
    He lurched into a run, one hand on his gun underneath his jacket. If he could just get close enough to shoot Mace while he was in wolf form… Beck noticed Jak first, barreling toward their pack. He snarled, and then Alric turned as well. Meanwhile, Mace was working his way behind Arianna, moving into the claiming position. He clearly meant to take her any second now, in the middle of the lawn, with Thomas smirking and watching.
    There was no way in hell Jak was letting that happen.
    He pulled his gun. “Get away from her, Mace!” He held it in front of him with both hands while still running toward the pack. Mace whipped his head toward Jak. For a split second, long enough for Jak to get a few feet closer, Mace did nothing. Then he roared and leaped away from Arianna, toward Jak. Which was exactly what he wanted. Alric and Beck had already shifted and were charging toward him, closing fast. Jak waited a heartbeat longer, just long enough for a clean shot at Mace without endangering Arianna.
    He squeezed the trigger just as Mace’s betas reached him.
    Jak shifted, twisting away from their snapping fangs and leaving a mouthful of jacket in his wake. While Alric and Beck tangled with his clothes, Jak charged toward Mace, who was snout down in the grass. Jak’s bullet must have found its target. His heart surged with hope, but before he could reach Mace to make sure, Thomas, the third beta, finally clued in and intercepted him. Thomas lunged in front of Mace, protecting his alpha and going for Jak’s throat.
    They went down together, rolling across the lawn, snapping and clawing and drawing slashes of blood. Jak yelped as Thomas’s teeth sunk into his side, but then he rolled hard and flung Thomas free. Jak scrambled up, veering to avoid Beck and Alric who were after him again, and lunged towards Mace. He was still down, but he was moving.
    And then he shifted to human form.
    Goddammit.
    Jak leaped over Mace’s body. The moonlight and smears of blood made it difficult to see where the bullet had gone in, but apparently Jak had only clipped his shoulder. And given Mace’s enhanced shifter healing, without a clean shot to the head or through the heart, he would live. Jak wrenched his gaze from Mace’s cringing form and loped to Arianna’s side, just to make sure she was okay. She was still cowering in her wolf form in the submission pose.
    Arianna! he sent a thought to her even as he dashed to the side, evading the betas chasing him. You need to shift!
    Now that Mace was back in human form, she should be able to. And he needed her in human form to escape—otherwise the mating bond would be too strong. With his first shot only wounding Mace, running was now their only option.
    Arianna whimpered, but she managed to shift. Jak couldn’t circle back to her—he was too busy zigging and zagging through the open space, trying not to get trapped by Mace’s betas. He circled back toward his clothes, praying he could get hold of the gun, but Thomas was already there, in human form, rifling through Jak’s clothes. Jak galloped toward