“Carol, I should tell you…”
His words were cut off by a scream. Carol’s head snapped up. Her beast turned its attention in the direction of the scream. Before she knew what she was doing, she was running toward it. Van was hot on her heels, from the sound of thundering footfalls behind her.
They ran through the woods, along a trail littered with beer cans and lost clothing. It smelled musty, like teen infatuation. Summer had struck and already the village teens were out partying.
A familiar landscape unfurled around her. While it felt like forever ago, she and Van had been on this hiking path only days ago. Immediately, she scanned the sky above for any signs of the angry dragon shifter. He wasn’t above, but that didn’t mean she could let her guard down.
Ahead, a group of teens jeered at one another. They gathered around the base of the waterfall. Her heart plummeted and hit the ground below her. Van grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her to a stop. She spun on him, hissing.
There was no way they could leave these kids to the dragon. Just as she thought Van would try to leave, a voice stopped them. It was barely more than a whisper, one kid to another, that they happened to overhear, but it was enough to make them stay.
“I heard the last kid that climbed this waterfall died. I wonder if this loser will go with him.”
Carol couldn’t suppress her responding growl. It was aimed not only at the kids forcing another teen to climb the waterfall but also the dragon that hid behind it. The dragon who might have killed a teenager for trespassing.
She was tired of people who hurt others for fun or just because they could. A rage burned in her chest that made her want to strike out. Instead of snapping at the kids or approaching the dragon’s front door, she realized there was something else she could do. It wouldn’t hurt anyone. No one would hurt her, either.
Glancing over her shoulder at Van, she hoped he understood what she was thinking about doing. He met her gaze, and his eyes sparked. The bond between them seemed to sing. She could almost feel it like a real thing, a tether she could grab out of the ether.
They took a moment to shed their clothes and shift. The teenager at the waterfalls hadn’t quite made it to the top. When Carol next looked, the kid was peering down at his so-called friends with fear in his eyes. They told him to climb higher. The kid trembled against the rock face.
She leapt around and urged Van forward. His lion form was larger than hers. It took him longer to shift and he was tired after, but they didn’t have any time to spare. He needed to move. The kids wouldn’t run away from a wolf, but they would flee from a lion. Especially a lion in the Midwest, where it could be nothing other than a shifter.
She found a trail that would lead them to the top of the waterfall. It was easy to find because it smelled of the dragon. Her beast recoiled from the scent, but Carol assured the creature that what they were doing would be worth it. While the beast didn’t fully believe her, it went along with her plans.
Water splashed around their ankles. Van glanced cautiously at Carol. She tried to wag her tail to show him that she was still in control. She didn’t know if it was very convincing. The beast told her she was doing it all wrong and that it looked awkward. The beast wanted to show her how it was done, but Carol didn’t want to give even an ounce of control to the beast.
Not right now when she had something she needed to do.
Carol’s tail was high in the air. Pride surged through her. She had done the right thing. She’d helped someone. It felt good. It felt right, like she was herself again.
The kids were running away from the dragon’s territory. None of them would wander into the beast’s trap. Van turned and rubbed his cheek against hers. His scent washed over her, warm and smelling of home. He made a low sound in his throat. It could have been a purr, but she wasn’t sure.
He shook his mane and tossed a playful look over at her. The way his eyes gleamed with gold told her that his beast was in control. She couldn’t help but wonder how he did it. How did he and his beast have such an agreement?
Her own wolf growled at her. It was tired of being locked away. Carol’s movements were stiff. Her nose and ears were stunted. Without the beast to command those parts of her form, she was only half of what she could be. But the beast scared her. She feared what it would do if given full control.
Van nudged her again, breaking her out of her thoughts. She yipped playfully at him. Turning to leap toward the trail they’d climbed to get there, her gaze caught on a form on the trail below. Her blood chilled. The sun was behind it, masking the figure in a cloak of shadow, but she knew who it was.
There was no escaping. She would never be free of the curse the doctors left on her. The buyer would always hunt her down. He wanted her, was willing to pay money for her. What else would he be willing to do to get her?
Her beast slashed at her. Pain seared her mind. The beast took the opportunity to grab control. Carol staggered and then she was no longer in control. It was ripped from her. The beast looked to Van and decided not to risk him. Her wolf wasn’t going to ask him to fight for her. As long as they ran, no one would have to fight.
Chapter Fifteen
Van saw the man standing on the trail below. He wanted to curse Harry for following him. Before Van could stop her, the wolf consumed her eyes and she bounded away. Carol disappeared into the woods. He checked his surroundings, making sure she hadn’t gone off in the direction of the dragon.
She hadn’t.
He let out a sigh of relief. Yet, he was still caught. He turned his glare upon Harry below. The young man stared up with understanding in his eyes and his jaw nearly on the ground. Van decided he didn’t have time to scold the young man. Carol was panicking somewhere in the woods. If he didn’t find his mate and something bad happened, he would hate himself.
She was his only concern.
Thankfully, his form was fast. He tracked her scent through the woods. It was sour with fear. He understood that she didn’t want to see Harry yet, but he didn’t know why she was so afraid. When he asked her what made her lose control, what she feared, her answer hadn’t been about her family.
It’d been about a buyer the doctors had contacted.
He wanted to kick himself. He would have to wait until he could shift back, though. The way the sun was positioned in the sky cast a shadow over Harry’s features. She must not have been able to see the man’s face. Harry had posed as an interested buyer online, thinking he could save his sister from trafficking. What Harry thought was a strange lie, had been truth. What Carol thought to be a sadistic collector was only her brother.
He needed to explain.
He loped after her, trying to catch up to her panicked wolf. They’d been doing so well. Carol seemed to be working with her beast. They’d been making progress. In a flash, it was all thrown away. He wanted better for his mate. He wanted her to find happiness, but he couldn’t fix the problem holding her back.
Not when it was inside her. That was up to Carol.
Chapter Sixteen
Carol didn’t know if she would ever find freedom.
It had become the one thing she desperately craved. Freedom from the animal voice in her head, freedom from the watching eyes of the pack alpha, and freedom from the man who wanted to cage her.
The buyer.
Run, her beast commanded. Run until you cannot run anymore.
She had no control over her body. It was all her wolf could think as they bounded away from the park. The work they’d been doing together, her and Van, had done nothing. She feared she would never be able to escape everything that was tearing her apart.
Carol felt like she was in pieces. She was nothing more than the shreds of a person. Some shreds were made of fear while others were made of pain. All of the shreds were chaotic and demanding. And she would never escape it.
She’d hoped that with Van’s help, she would be able to see more of herself, of the person she used to be. All she wanted was for things
to go back to the way they were. That would never happen, though. She couldn’t turn back time and erase the bite that had changed her. That small, almost inconsequential, moment had changed her life for the worse.
It was why she’d left her job and family behind. It was why she’d been kidnapped. The doctors hadn’t preyed on shifters like Van who were in full control of their beasts. They’d taken the stragglers like her who had no idea how to protect themselves. In the end, Carol had been saved by a simple human woman, proving that even with her new strength and claws, Carol was useless.
She would be useless for the rest of her life.
That was the fact that would haunt her the most. Not that she would always be afraid. Her whole life, all she’d wanted to do was help. She wanted to be a first responder, someone who knew what to do in an emergency while everyone else was panicking. Now she was the one panicking. She would never be the level-headed person she had been.
Not again.
“Carol!” Van howled through the woods. “Get your ass back here so we can talk! I’m tired of chasing after you.”
His voice made her slow down. It was on instinct alone, as if her beast heard him and was all too happy to listen. She didn’t understand why the creature would listen to him and not her.
He speaks with reason.
Carol was the one to growl this time. She had her reasons, all logically sound.
No. You are all over the place. Listen to your mate. Follow his voice.
And after that, her beast pulled back. It let go of control. Carol’s wolf form pulled back and left her heaving on the forest floor. She sucked in mouthfuls of air as she caught her breath after such a quick shift. She grumbled at her beast, not understanding it one bit.
“Carol?” Van asked the open air, getting closer.
She tried to call out to him, but her throat was raw from running. It took her two tries to say his name. Immediately, she heard him crashing toward her. He dropped to his knees beside her, just as naked as she was.
He drew her into his arms. She expected the wolf to protest at being trapped in his embrace, but it seemed to sink into him instead. It already trusted him so much. It was only when her fear and the wolf’s instincts clashed that control slipped out of her grasp.
“You didn’t get too far,” Van whispered, almost as if he was reassuring himself that she was within reach.
“You don’t have to waste your time chasing me,” she told him, voice hoarse.
“I’ll be damned if I let you go through this alone.”
“When is the last time you went to work? You have your own life, you don’t need to be chasing after me all the time.” The words hurt to say, but she felt them so sharply, she couldn’t let it be left unspoken. It felt like she was turning his life upside down day after day.
There would come a time when she was too much for him, when her panics were tearing his life apart. When would Dante call him back to work? When would their alpha decide that Carol wasn’t worth the time they were putting into her?
She knew he didn’t want to put shifters down, but Carol was the one giving up. She didn’t know if she would ever have a day without fighting with her beast. Each argument, each bout of lost control, was exhausting. If she had to do this for the rest of her life, she didn’t know if she could handle it.
“We can do anything together,” he whispered, as if reading her mind.
“You ignored my question.” Her ear was pressed to his bare chest. Beneath it, his heart beat steady and sure.
“Anyone can bartend. They don’t need me to be in the bar at all times. I can do the really important work in my own time. And, don’t worry, it has been done. You haven’t made me fall behind at all.”
She pulled back just enough to look up at him with a raised brow.
“Did you really think I was just a bartender? You think so little of me?” When she didn’t respond, he laughed. “I balance the books for Dante and make all the supply orders. You’d know if I wasn’t doing my job because the place would stop running.”
She furrowed her brows. “Then what does Dante even do around there?”
“He marches around looking important, but don’t let him know I said that.”
They both paused, as if waiting for Dante to shout in the distance, even though they were in the middle of the woods. When no call came, they laughed together. It began as a soft chuckle and grew into a low roar.
Carol leaned into Van. He clutched her tight, a reminder that he would never be far away. Carol didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this, but she relished his presence all the same. He was the lighthouse that would guide her over crashing waves and hidden rocks.
“There’s also something you should know,” Van added.
She stiffened. He rubbed her back, trying to put her at ease.
“It’s not bad. In fact, it’s a good thing. Earlier, when you told me what you were afraid of, you mentioned that the doctors had found a buyer for you. You said you were afraid that the buyer would try to take you away again.”
She said nothing. Her heart refused to beat.
“The person who was on the other end of those emails was your brother. When you disappeared, he went searching for you. He actually found you through that notice the doctors put up.”
She let go of the breath she’d been holding. Her mind buzzed. Thoughts raced from one corner of her mind to the other, barely lingering long enough for her to understand any of them. Finally, she pushed away from Van and shook her head.
“You’re wrong. The person they found…it couldn’t be my brother. He wouldn’t have found that listing. Someone out there is trying to find me. I don’t know what they want me for, but someone is still looking!”
“How do you know that? How do you know the buyer isn’t your brother? I talked to him. He said he found you and that’s what brought him here.”
Van’s words weren’t sinking in. This image of the mystery buyer that she’d conjured gripped her thoughts. It haunted her like a ghost. One she couldn’t shake no matter what she tried. There was no way that buyer could be her brother.
Her mate reached and pushed her hair behind her ears before gently touching her chin. He offered a soft, reassuring smile. With him nearby, she was safe. She reached and clung to his wrist. He didn’t pull back or shake her off. She saw his chest fall and relief fill his eyes.
“Harry wasn’t convinced he’d truly found you until I called him. He knows…a bit about what happened to you. Not just the doctors, but the change. Considering how he found you, I think it’d be hard to hide the fact that you’re a shifter now.”
Harry. Her brother. When she left, he’d been a beat cop on the police force, ticketing drivers for stupidity. She knew his dream had always been to move up to detective. It seemed he had flexed his skills and sought her out.
“He deserves a promotion,” she whispered.
Back on top of the waterfall, the figure she’d seen hadn’t been the mystery buyer. Or, rather, it had been. The mystery buyer wasn’t the evil villain she thought he was. He had been her family all along. The figure on the trail had been Harry.
She buried her face in her hands.
“I think it’s time we go home. What do you say? We could use some clothes and food on the way. Can’t get arrested for public indecency while ordering fried chicken.”
She laughed.
The sensation of his skin on hers left a trail of fire that burned down to her core. She tilted her head back to look at him and felt her heart settle into pleased contentedness. Van’s presence was steady. He was like the turning of the earth, unrelenting and reliable. She wanted to sink into him, to thank him for everything he was doing.
But no words would suffice. There was nothing she could say that would cover the enormity of what Van had become to her, of all the things he’d done to help her. Instead of struggling to find her voice, she slipped her hand behind his neck. The small hairs there tickled her fingers. When she heard the hitch
in his breath, her core tightened with delight.
Her own breath rushed out of her as he leaned closer. This could be her forever. This was what she wanted forever. A mate, a best friend and partner. When his lips touched hers, tender and patient despite the thump of his heart, she melted into him.
His tongue pushed past her lips. She opened to let him in and drew him down toward the ground. The anchoring weight of his body against hers felt like safety. It felt like everything she needed since her change. She only wished she’d seen it sooner.
She seduced Van on the creek bank, leaving them both sweating and panting. Only when their stomachs growled did they remember Van’s promise for food. Her beast was distant, sated by the feeling of her mate’s skin.
They trekked through the woods, her hand firmly grasped in his. Van peered out of the wood-line and checked for people before gesturing for her to follow. They made it to his truck where they grabbed the clothes left in the back and quickly dressed. She’d left her other clothes in the woods near the waterfall and mourned them for a moment.
They were on their way home, with a bucket of fried chicken in Carol’s lap and the sun grazing the horizon, when the phone rang. It flashed across the screen on his dashboard. They fell silent as he stared at the number.
“Is it Rodrigo calling to ask where his truck is?”
Van said nothing. She looked back to the dashboard screen, a sense of unease settling in the pit of her stomach. It was not Rodrigo.
Chapter Seventeen
Van couldn’t figure out why Sadie was calling him. His first thought was of Dante. He almost didn’t want to answer. If the dragon had smelled Van and Carol on the edge of his territory again, he would have gone to Dante. Their alpha would have picked a fight.
Van didn’t want to think of how that fight would have ended.
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