Free Sigma by Annie Nicholas Page A

humans. The police wouldn’t be happy about Sam being in beast form in public. It was frowned upon. Who knows, some mortal could have a nightmare or something equally idiotic. The rifle wouldn’t help, but she wasn’t willing to let it go yet. Those Pal Robi jerks might still be around. Growing up on a small farm had taught her a few useful skills. Shooting was one of them.
    Sam ran behind an abandoned store and set her by the Dumpster. He shifted back to his man form and she spotted the bleeding wound on his thigh.
    She knelt in front of him and assessed the injury, controlling her base instinct to lick at the blood. “I thought shifters healed when they changed forms?” It would need stitches if not.
    “We do unless it’s caused by fucking silver.” He grimaced and limped to the wall where he slid to the ground. “Fuck, that stings.” He offered her a little smile, but sweat beaded on his forehead and the color drained from his face.
    * * * *
    Sam’s heart drummed in his chest. The bullet graze hurt, but the silver poisoning in his blood caused him the most pain. If it got worse, he wouldn’t be able to shift. “Call Daedalus again. See what the fuck is going on.” He closed his eyes and caught his breath while she dialed.
    Clementine gasped and glanced at her phone before responding. “Luke?”
    That name had his eyes flying open. The vampire at the park had Daedalus’s phone. Ah, shit. And a pile of it. That explained everything.
    “What did you do to Daedalus?” Clementine’s voice grew quiet. “I don’t believe you. It would take an army to kill him.” A tear trickled from the corner of her eye.
    Sam grabbed the phone and shut down the connection. “He’s lying, babe.” He held his arms open for her. She fit so perfectly within them. She’d been amazing in the park, fighting at his side like a she-demon.
    “I’ll call Spice. She might have heard from them by now.” He dialed and listened to the ring. And ring. Wake up, already . Spice’s voicemail answered. He hung up and dialed again. She always answered. She was the pack alpha female and with Eric gone on a mission, she ran the pack. The phone kept ringing. “Something’s wrong at the safe house, Clementine. Spice sleeps with one eye open. She wouldn’t miss a call. She’d have pounced on the first ring, waiting on Eric.”
    “How can something be wrong? It’s a safe house. No one is supposed to know about it but us and Daedalus…” Her fingers fluttered to her mouth. “You don’t think they could have really captured him, do you?”
    “Fuck no, he’d never betray Sugar. I’m not his biggest fan, but when it comes to loyalty, I know she’s his highest priority.” He scratched his head. “Luke has D’s phone and texted us–” Gaping at the device in his hand, he wanted to smash his head against the brick wall for being so stupid. “They traced the fucking text to the apartment. Oh, shit.”
    He stood, his hurt leg almost giving out. “I have to get back. They’re my responsibility. Fuck, Sugar can’t even run and Spice is pregnant.” Could shifters die from heart attacks? Because he was having one right now. He smashed the phone against the ground, shattering it into pieces. “We need to get away from here. Luke could have traced that last call.”
    Reaching for his beast, he tried to shift, but it wouldn’t rise to his call. His knees gave out and he landed hard on the asphalt.
    “What’s wrong?” Clementine clasped her hands around his face.
    “The silver from the bullet is in my blood stream. It doesn’t take much to weaken a werewolf and I can’t shift.”
    Cold claws of fear gripped Sam’s heart. Spice had told them about her experience when she couldn’t shift when Chen had poisoned her with silver. He’d shrugged it off, but now he knew his alpha female had balls of steel for keeping her head together through that ordeal.
    He curled over his knees, pressing his forehead to the ground, and called to