by Codi Gary
He shrugged. “Then I won’t bother. I’ll just have to settle for him watching you die.”
21
Xander caught Pax’s musk just past the wreck and his heart kicked up a notch. The scent of Greer’s terror mingled with the cat, and Xander growled. He launched himself into the air, running after the fading trail. About five miles down, he crossed the two-lane country road with the others right on his heels.
He wasn’t thinking about anything but getting to Greer. To finding her alive and in one piece.
He stopped suddenly moments later, and the rest of them crowded behind him. Up ahead was a small, wooden cabin with a light on in the window. The curtain moved to the side and Xander saw Pax peering out.
He snarled.
They all shifted, including Jill, until they stood naked in the shadows.
“I don’t see Dakota or Greer,” Xander said.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Clyde said.
Xander could smell Greer, but he had no idea if Pax was waiting behind a door rigged with explosives, planning on blowing up the first shifter who charged through that door.
A black truck pulled up the driveway, and parked. Xander watched Dakota jump out of the driver’s seat, but then the rest of the doors opened, revealing six more people.
Correction. Shifters.
One of them was Patty Simcox.
So, Dakota and Pax have been busy recruiting.
The new shifters stood out front like a wall as Dakota went inside. Xander didn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have guns tucked away in the back of their jeans.
“What the hell is your plan, son?” Clyde asked.
Xander contemplated his options as he surveyed the scene. They had no weapons themselves, except teeth and claws. What they needed was a diversion.
“I want to get to that truck.”
“Why?” Luke asked.
“I’m going to drive it into the cabin.”
All of them stared at him like he’d lost his damn mind.
“That’s insane. What if you hit her while using it as a battering ram?” Derick asked.
“She won’t be close to the window. They’d put her back further, harder to get to.” He tried to sound confident, but he wasn’t so sure. It was more of a hope and a prayer.
“I have a better idea,” Clyde said.
“And what’s that?” Xander asked.
“We wait for the cavalry to arrive.”
Xander cocked his head, completely confused. “What do you mean? Who is the cavalry?”
A black wolf stepped out of the shadows, followed by a white wolf, a black wolf with white paws, and another black wolf with white dots across his muzzle. Fifty more wolves stepped out from the trees, surrounding them.
“Who are they?”
“Just some old friends I called in a favor to.” Clyde shot him a sheepish grin. “What can I say? I like a stacked deck.”
With Greer’s life on the line, he agreed and appreciated the backup. “Thank you. Thank you all. I know this isn’t your fight, but I appreciate you being here.”
He turned with a quiet snarl and shifted. The Larsen’s followed suit. Jill was a little slower than the rest of them but getting better every time.
Xander sprang from the trees, racing toward the six shifters, who stumbled back in terror as the wolves swarmed them. Xander didn’t stop, letting the rest of the army take care of them.
He needed to get to Greer.
He jumped, shattering the window as he crashed into the cabin. Glass stuck in his coat, but he didn’t dare shake. He couldn’t take his eyes off Greer.
Greer was on the couch, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles locked together with thick rope. Dakota sat behind her, a gun pressed against her temple.
Xander’s heart lurched as he watched her, studying her for any injury, but besides a gash on her swollen cheek, she seemed uninjured.
Pax stepped out of the back room, and the minute Xander spotted him, he growled.
“Xander Thorson. I must admit, meeting you in person for the first time is quite thrilling. I’ve heard so much about you from your family and your pet human here. She really is a darling creature. I don’t know why you haven’t claimed her yet.”
Dakota jerked on Greer’s arm and Xander took a step toward them, his chest rumbling a warning.
“Make one more move, and I’ll kill her,” Dakota said.
“You don’t have the stones,” Greer said.
Xander wanted to scold her and praise her at the same time. His brave girl still cracked jokes in the face of danger.
Dakota cuffed her up the side of her head. “Shut up, you stupid cow.”
“Dakota, I’ve told you. Only I am to lay hands on her.”
The wolf-bitch threw Greer away from her and she hit the side of the ugly green couch. She lay so still that Xander wanted to rush to her.
“I don’t understand why I can’t just blow her brains out. You said you wanted him here to watch; he’s here.”
Greer stirred, scooting back up until she was sitting upright against the couch.
“Don’t you want to know why Pax doesn’t want me dead Dakota?” Greer asked.
Xander didn’t know what she was going to say, but it was obvious from her defiant expression it would piss Dakota off. He wanted to tell her to be quiet, but he was afraid to shift and lose his only weapon.
“What the hell is she talking about?” When he didn’t respond swiftly enough, she shrieked, “Paxon, what is she talking about?”
“Nothing, dearest, she’s just trying to rile you up.”
Greer’s laughter was laced with snark. “That’s not true, dearest. He told me when you were gone that he plans to bite me in front of Xander and make me his mate, just before Pax kills him.”
Xander saw the gun in Dakota’s hand shake. “No.” She swung the gun away from Greer and pointed it at Pax. “Tell me that’s not fucking true.”
“Darling, why would I want her when I have you?”
Xander crept closer to Greer, who was struggling to get loose.
Dakota’s doubt seemed to waver, and then she brought up her other hand, steadying the gun as she leveled it at Pax.
“Tell me you love me,” she whispered.
“Of course, I do.” His voice oozed with sweetness. “Give me the gun, and I’ll shoot Xander. He’ll never bother us again.”
“And her?” Dakota swung the gun Greer’s way.
There was a flicker across Pax’s face that lasted barely a quarter of a second, but Xander had seen it.
And so had Dakota.
Pax seemed to realize the moment he lost her, because he lunged at her. She got off one shot before the two fell back to the floor. Pax reared up over Dakota, his hand shifting into a claw as he started to bring it down.
Dakota pressed the gun into his chest and pulled the trigger.
22
Greer managed to get her hands free as another bullet exploded into Pax’s chest. It was as though once Dakota pulled the trigger, she couldn’t stop. Greer wondered if it was almost a release for her; in just the hour she’d spent in their company, she’d known Pax and Dakota’s relationship wasn’t healthy.
Greer watched Xander as he shifted back into his human form, but Dakota didn’t seem to notice either of them. She’d pushed Pax off her body and scrambled back against the wall, holding the gun loosely between her hands.
“Dakota,” Xander said softly. “Give me the gun.”
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight.
Greer moved forward, ignoring Xander’s vehement gesturing for her to stay back. If she could just reason with the other woman, maybe they could all get out of there alive.
“Dakota, it’s going to be okay,” Greer whispered.
When the other woman opened her eyes, they burned with hatred.
“You. This is all because of you.”
Dakota dropped the gun.
“I’
m going to rip your throat out!”
Greer scrambled away from the deranged woman as she shifted. Saliva dripped down her fangs to the floor just before she launched herself at Greer.
“No!” Xander yelled, tackling Dakota to the floor. Dakota spun on him, ripping out a chunk of flesh from his up arm.
Greer screamed as blood sprayed the wall and she threw herself at the wolf, punching, and gouging with her fists and fingernails. When her thumb went into Dakota’s left eye, the wolf howled in pain.
Greer spotted the gun on the floor and rushed on her hands and knees, trying to get the piece.
She didn’t even get close before white-hot pain exploded on her right shoulder. Hot, rancid breath burn her flesh and sharp teeth tore so hard into the muscle that it scraped bone. Greer couldn’t stop screaming as she tried to get away, to just get her hands on the gun.
A roar shook the cabin and Dakota’s weight on her was gone. Greer belly crawled across the floor until her left hand wrapped around the gun. Her shoulder blade throbbed as she rolled to her side to see what was happening.
Xander’s wolf self was tearing into Dakota, even as Jill’s cougar jaws were locked across her throat. Dakota struggled to get away, but the two of them were too strong for her.
Greer closed her eyes, trying to block out the image and the sounds. Several wet, furry muzzles pressed into her cheek and hands and she realized she was crying. She opened her lids to find herself surrounded by wolves. They were nuzzling and licking her, as if reassuring themselves that she was okay.
When Dakota was finally still, Xander turned her way, his white fur stained red. As he crawled toward her, he shifted. By the time he reached her side, his hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace. She cried out as his arm brushed her wounded shoulder blade. He turned her to get a better look and she knew from the way he stiffened it was bad.
“Am I…I…going…t…to…turn?” Her teeth chattered so bad she could hardly get a sentence out.
Xander’s face was pinched with regret. “God, baby, I’m so sorry.”
Greer dropped her forehead to his shoulder and drew in a long, shaky breath. “It’s not your fault. How is your arm?”
His hand smoothed over the back of her head, a comforting gesture that made her eyes sting. “Already healing.”
“That’s good at least.”
He carefully wrapped his arms around her, which only made her cry harder. “I…appreciate you…coming to my…rescue. I tried to…tell him you…wouldn’t.”
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
“Because it’s the truth.”
Xander pulled away, cupping her chin in his hand. “You didn’t think I would come for you?”
“Not for me, but you would come for your revenge.”
He shook his head. “God, Greer, I stopped caring about revenge the minute I knew you’d been taken. I was so wrong, putting my agenda before everything else and I almost lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“You’re just saying that now because I’m going to be a werewolf,” she snapped.
He looked so incredulous, she’d have laughed if she wasn’t so miserable.
“You can’t actually believe that.”
“Why not?” She knew she was lashing out, but raw anger ate at her and she had no where to unleash it except the man in front of her. “You were the one who said yourself that I would never understand you because I wasn’t a shifter.”
“You are taking that completely out of context.”
Greer pulled out of his arms, wincing at the ache in her shoulder. “I can’t do this right now. I want to go home.”
“I’ll take you—
“No.” She climbed to her feet, aware that an audience of shifters was watching their exchange, but she didn’t give a rip. Not right now. It was all too much. Her life, her choice had been torn away from her and she couldn’t handle anyone else’s emotions, not even Xander’s. “Jill can take me. Clyde can take me. Anyone can take me but you. I need some time.”
“How much time?”
She turned and headed for the door. “I don’t know.”
23
It had been two weeks, one day, and seventeen hours since Greer had been bitten, and so far, not much had changed. Oh, she could shift her body now into the form of a cream-colored wolf with deep brown eyes, but other than that, life was the same as it had always been. She took in clients, she made pretty designs, she got paid, and she stayed in watching Swayze and eating ice cream.
She was on a Kevin Bacon hiatus until further notice.
Of course, the police had discovered that the recent murders had been carried out by a shifter who, thanks to an anonymous tip, was found in an isolated cabin with several gunshot wounds to the chest. They hadn’t discovered who killed him, but they did come upon his last victim down by the river. Case closed.
Clad in only her robe, Greer walked out into her back yard, lifting her open mouth up to catch snowflakes on her tongue. The fall festival had come and gone and now, all anyone could talk about was Thanksgiving and Christmas. The amazing thing about being a shifter was her body ran so hot, the cold hardly effected her.
She heard a twig snap and her gaze immediately zeroed in on a flash of gray and white fur. Damn, Xander. She hadn’t been ready to talk when he’d come by the day after her first shift and she still didn’t. Yet he just couldn’t take the hint.
Neither could the pinch of her heart that missed him terribly.
“I thought I told you to give me space?”
He came out of the woods, trotting toward her. He sat on the edge of the yard, a good fifteen feet from her as if to say, “See? Space.”
“What do you want, Xander? Shouldn’t you have moved on by now? Mission completed, right?”
He just sat there panting, and fury assailed her, making her skin hum with electricity. Her nails lengthened, telling her she was about to lose control and so she did.
Stripping off the robe and kicking her slippers to the side, she shifted. It took all of twenty seconds for her bones to contort and fur to line her bare skin, but when it was over, she shook her head.
Her gaze met his and she leapt off the porch with a snarl as she ran past him into the woods. She could hear his big paws eating up the ground behind her and she pushed harder, faster. She wasn’t really running from him; she wasn’t sure what she was running from.
She was just so mad. She was furious with herself for getting involved with him, and being hurt by him. Of getting bit and having that choice taken from her. When and if she’d ever imagined becoming a shifter, it would have been during a scenting ceremony, like the one Clyde’s wife and daughters had told her about when they’d come to stay with her after Dakota’s attack. Xander would have apologized again about the fight they’d had, and she would have forgiven him. Given time, admitted that she was in love with him and that the sight of Dakota attacking him had sent her into such a rage she was willing to give up her life for his.
Then once they had both admitted how much they needed each other, she would have chosen to let Xander bite her, binding them together forever.
Only none of that would happen now. She was surprised that Xander even bothered to follow her with the way she’d shut him out. She just didn’t know how to get right with what she was and what that meant for her and Xander. Perhaps she was punishing him a bit because the very obstacle that they had both had reservations about was no longer between them. She wasn’t human anymore.
Compared to how Greer had reacted to becoming a shifter, Jill was the freaking poster child for bitten humans. Greer knew that she’d been spending a lot of time with Dereck, whether it was completely platonic or not, she didn’t know for sure. What she did know is that Dereck had decided to stay in town, crashing with Xander. So, if she had to hazard a guess, Greer thought soon the two of them would be making everything official.
Suddenly, Greer was knocked for a loop, rolling until she was on
her back. Xander stood above her, snarling at her and she snapped back, pulling a hunk of fur from his neck.
He shifted swiftly, his body contorting until he was human once more. He held himself over her, glowering.
“Stop it, Greer. Talk to me. Whatever you’re feeling or thinking, if you tell me what you need, I can fix it.”
He wanted her to talk?
She shifted beneath him and as soon as her paws became hands, she pushed against his chest with all her might. The cold of the snow stung her back like needles, but she was too frustrated to care.
He didn’t budge, the bastard.
“It’s the same thing with you repeatedly, Xander. You want me to open up and bare my soul, but you can’t do the same. You dog me even after I ask for space, but I barely press you, and you lash out. If you want there to be something here, then you have to open up too.”
“What do you want to know? I will tell you anything you want if you just talk to me. If you’ll come back to me and be that girl I fell in love with.”
She blinked up at him. “What?”
“I said, I love you. I knew it the first time I held you in my arms.”
She didn’t say anything, couldn’t. Her mouth was completely frozen shut.
“You need more, fine. I walked into my house when I was twenty-three after a bachelor’s weekend in Vegas to find my father on the floor, his skull bashed in. It looked as though they had just unloaded two clips into each of my brothers. And my mother was tortured and raped. That is what I didn’t want to talk about. Can you see why?”
“After that, yes, I was obsessed with revenge. It was all I’d been living for, all that kept me going for five years. Even when I met you, it was hard to give that up. And I am sorry it took you getting abducted to realize that, but even if you hadn’t been taken, I would have figured it out if you ignored me long enough, because I’ve got to tell you, Greer, the last two weeks have been awful. I thought about you every second. Missed the feel of you in my arms and I just need you to know that I’m done running. I want you. Nothing else in my life matters if you aren’t a part of it.”