Ruby by Ashlynn Monroe

world into brilliant, glittering detail beyond anything his human eyes would see. Standing perfectly still for a few seconds gave him his bearings. Sol was right beside him. The beautiful coat of his brother’s wolf shone in the sunlight. The wolves looked at each other, and their eyes glowed.
    “We’ll save her,” Sol thought to him.
    “Yes. We will. Those bastards will be sorry.” Isser returned the communication.
    They leaped out of the shuttle at the same time. Another shout directed them to run around to the right side of the craft. Two armed men stood with lasers pointed at their woman. The brothers pounced, and they each landed on a different man. Ruby had killed the one who’d busted through the door. He lay in a heap next to the corner of the ship. The tigress was on top of another man with her jaws clenched around his weak human throat. He screamed. His gun erupted, but he was too far gone for an effective shot.
    The man under him pointed his gun at Ruby. Isser tore out his throat without a second thought. Sol yelped as the man he’d pounced on kicked him off and began to run away. Isser was ready to pursue, but Sol crouched low. The younger wolf sprang forward. With only a few powerful strides, he was on the man’s back. The kidnapper screamed. Sol grabbed the man’s neck and ended his life with a single jerk. Isser frantically turned, searching the area with all his senses, but he saw no more attackers. The man under Ruby was dead. She snarled. Blood dripped from her chin. He felt the animal far more strongly with her than he did with other shifters, and it worried him.
    “How many men took you?” Isser sent her the question.
    “Five,” she replied. He was relieved. She was still in there. The tiger hadn’t taken her from him.
    Pain shot through him. He growled, and the sound became a scream as his body contorted. Incredible misery contracted his muscles. Isser doubled over, and he looked down to see his body in a state of half-man, half-animal transition. “Fuck.” The word roared out of him like a howl. He reached behind his left shoulder with his right hand. The tiny dart zapped him as he pulled it out and tossed it onto the ground.
    Electricity was playing dirty. This was one weapon with the power to truly terrify him.
    Sol was still completely wolf.
    “Are you in trouble? I’m coming.” Sol projected his anxious thoughts.
    “No. Keep going. Stop the human. I’ll protect our woman,” Isser replied. Ruby was half-cat, half-woman now. She went to his side. Even in her transitional state, she was beautiful. He reached up and touched her face. Wretchedness gripped him, and he fought it. He didn’t want her to see just how much he was suffering.
    “I see him. We can’t leave any of them to tell Lilymann we have her. The lackeys have to die. I don’t care if they can shoot me with electricity darts. I’m going after them!” Sol took off running. A man’s scream echoed through the clearing, and then silence. Isser was suffering too much to go after his brother. Ruby held him. He felt her fear and her uncertainty. Being helpless and feeling out of control weren’t feelings he was accustomed to, but it seemed Sol had taken care of the kidnappers. He sighed and lay back in the dirt. He tried to relax his body in the hope it would speed up the process of involuntary transformation.
    Isser’s relief was short-lived as he saw a figure step out from behind a tree. The man carried an electric prod. One touch, and it would send a shifter into a cycle of change and return, only it wouldn’t be like the dart. The dart was small. A prod could deliver a big voltage over a wider area for a prolonged period.
    Electricity was a fatal natural weakness in the shifter’s biology. The agony would be unbearable. There were a lot of ways to die, but this had to be one of the worst ways for a shifter to go.
    The shadows weren’t obscuring his face anymore. Isser’s heart sank. “I see you’ve found my