Oh shit. I'd forgotten about that. All the packs had some natural ability related to their element—water signs like Cancers could breathe underwater, fire signs were immune to fire (obviously), and air signs could fall from any height without taking damage. It was one of those things I so rarely thought about because it never applied to me, and it hardly ever came up—until now, of course.
If these were Taurus, that explained how that wolf was able to wreck our car too, just by standing in front of it. When a Taurus used bull stance, their pack power, they became totally immovable and nearly impossible to damage. That made fighting them difficult too, especially when we were so outnumbered. Really, was there anything that would give us an edge against twelve shifters who couldn’t be slowed down or moved?
Shit, this was bad. I’d never faced so many shifters before, and I doubted Kaden had done so without more pack members to back him up. But he flashed his fangs and fought back anyway, not hesitating like I was. He was the alpha of the Ophiuchus pack, and that meant he was going to fight this to the bitter end. I moved into a defensive position, snapping at the wolf who I’d just bitten as he tried to come closer again and go for my throat. I would go down with Kaden too if that was what it took.
A swell of determination went through me, replacing the despair, and when I glanced skyward I felt a surge of hope. I had the power of the moon to help me, and Kaden did too. Even the Sun Witches had feared me, though I wasn't sure why, or how to tap into the power I'd shown them. But we could use some of that power now to help us.
When the Taurus tried to bite me on the throat, I disappeared, making him chomp down on nothing but air. I reappeared behind him and clamped down on his back leg with my fangs, shaking it like a dog with a bone. That got his attention. When he turned back to swipe at me with a claw, I teleported again, moving to his other side, leaping on his back. I did it again, and again, traveling through moonlight, wearing the other wolf out until I was able to take him down with my fangs.
Kaden had caught on to what I was doing and he went invisible to confuse the wolves around us, who suddenly couldn't see his attacks. As four wolves surrounded where he had to be, I blinked into the middle of them, nudging up against his shoulder. A second later, we were on the other side of them—and I was invisible too.
Working together, using our gifts from the moon goddess, we took more of the Taurus down. I stopped thinking and let my wolf take over, trusting my instincts to guide me. My body moved with the expert precision Stella and Kaden had helped me train into it, and the moonlight shining down on us gave me strength.
And then I looked up to find the remaining Taurus shifters bolting into the dense trees behind us, and Kaden panting at my side. Half a dozen wolves lay dead at our feet, and I hadn’t even remembered dealing most of the killing blows.
Once we were sure the remaining Taurus had fled, we shifted back and stood there naked under the moonlight on the side of the road, which thankfully seemed pretty empty this time of night. The Taurus must have purposefully picked a remote area for their attack.
Kaden leaned against the car, letting the metal frame take most of his weight, pressing a hand to his hip. "See if there's anything salvageable in the car."
Both of us were covered in blood, most of it from the Taurus, I hoped. I looked for something to wipe us down within the upside-down car and found one of the Walmart bags untouched behind my seat. The others had been strewn open, and I didn’t bother hunting around. Who knew how long we had before the Taurus pack came back with more shifters? And if they bring Leos as well… I shuddered. I didn’t think I could go for round two right now.
I crawled back out of the wreckage to see Kaden’s head tipped back, an expression of pain pinching his features. When he saw me emerge, I watched him fight the emotion off of his face.
“You’re injured." I motioned to his hip, which had a lot more blood trailing down it than when I'd left.
“I’m fine,” Kaden said gruffly, pushing himself off the frame of the car.
I shoved him back against the car, meeting his eyes with a challenge, then grabbed his hand and yanked it off the wound. The cut was huge. Someone had caught him with a claw and ripped along the flesh, and I hadn’t heard him make a single noise of pain when it had happened.
“I’ll heal," he said, slapping his hand back over the wound, which dripped blood all down the side of his leg and onto the ground.
“Not fast enough. We need to be able to move without you leaving a trail of blood for the Taurus—and Leo—packs to follow.” I stepped up to him, preventing him from limping further away from the car. “Sit down and let me heal you. I’m an Ophiuchus now, after all.”
Kaden gritted his teeth hard, muscles flexing in his jaw. “No."
I raised my eyes skyward in exasperation. His stubborn ass was going to get us killed. “Fine, I’ll do it with you standing up.”
I set the bag down on the ground and opened it. Snacks and bottles of water were nestled in with a few changes of clothes, and I took a bottle out and twisted it open. Kaden watched me but didn’t do more than jut his chin out stubbornly. I took it as a go-ahead and upended the bottle over one of the shirts in the pack until it was soaked. Then I brought it to his side as gently as I could, though Kaden still hissed out a breath as the wet cloth hit his wound. I daubed at the skin gently, trying not to pull it apart any further and create any more damage. A car passed by, but the wreckage blocked us from view, and they didn't even bother to slow down. We were in the middle of nowhere, but I wanted to get out of here before any human authorities came to investigate the accident.
I tossed the shirt to the side after I was fairly certain there wasn’t any dirt in the wound, and then glanced up at Kaden. His eyes were dark on mine, unreadable, and I held his gaze as I slowly lowered myself onto my knees. Kaden’s nostrils flared, and he looked away sharply. Being this close to him, bare as the day he was born, made my senses go wild, along with my wolf. Kaden's smell filled my nose, and it didn’t escape my notice that I was naked too, or that the last time we’d been in this state was when I'd gone into heat.
I closed my eyes and focused. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted by how hot Kaden was, or how much I wanted him. When I was I was fairly sure I had myself under control I opened my eyes and didn’t glance back up at Kaden again. I could feel the heavy weight of his gaze on me anyway, prickling at the top of my head, as I lowered my mouth to his hip.