“You killed people; the police are going to be looking for you.”
“They can’t find their own noses. Do you think they can find me?” He points at me. “Don’t get your hopes up, because you won’t be going anywhere unless I want it.”
“Where are we?” I was knocked out, so I don’t know how long we were on the road. I know that Hunter is a good tracker, but how can he possibly track someone in a car? Maybe the cameras that the Wolverine MC have throughout town caught Jason driving through. They know what he looks like. Maybe they will catch a glimpse of him on a camera and be able to track his car like that.
Jason walks towards me, but instead of flinching away like I would previously have done, I stand my ground and look up at him. He takes hold of my upper arm again, his other hand taking hold of my jaw and squeezing as he looks down at me. A sadistic grin lifts his lips as he looks over my face. I can see changes in his face that I hadn’t noticed before. There are slight lines on the corners of his eyes, eyes that stare at me in a cold, unfeeling way.
Closing my eyes, I imagine Hunter, the tender look Hunter always has when he looks at me, the fluttering in my stomach at his touch, my racing heart at his closeness. “Open your eyes,” Jason yells as he squeezes my face painfully. I open my eyes and glare at him. He may hurt me, may even kill me, but one thing he won’t take away from me is my memories of Hunter.
I have always been sceptical about those fairy-tale romances that every woman aspires to have, about that one person who completes you, who fills your heart to the brim until there is nothing more than just what you feel with them. That is, until I met Hunter. Now I know what it’s like, and the pain of not seeing him again is worse than any torture Jason could inflict on me.
I see Jason lowering his head, and flinch, trying to get away, but his hold doesn’t let me. His lips are forceful on mine, but I refuse to open them. His fingers tighten even more around my jaw, forcing my mouth open. At the first contact of his tongue, I gag, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he continues forcing his kiss on me. I again close my eyes, but all I see is darkness as my head starts to spin. I feel the light-headedness overtake me, and I’m pleased at the fact that I won’t have to feel this man’s abhorrent touch.
I can’t let him touch me after what I have had with Hunter. I will die before I let this man defile my body. My last thought before everything goes dark is of Hunter’s eyes, shining in rage.
HUNTER 17
He has Dakota. He has my mate. The realization explodes in my head. The knowledge that I wasn’t here to protect my woman from this motherfucker has my fury mounting to the point where I know no right from wrong. This man took my mate. I will find him, and I will kill him.
“Get down on the ground,” someone is shouting, but I don’t care. All I care is that I need to go after Dakota. I need to get her back, need to keep her safe. “Get down or we will shoot.” My eyes focus on the speaker, and I see one of the police at the door to the room, pointing his gun at me, ready to shoot. There are two more behind him, all of them looking ready to shoot.
“Wait, wait, his woman is missing. The shooter must have taken her.” I hear Gunner’s voice, but now I don’t care. All I care is that my woman is out there, and I need to get her back. I close my eyes and take in all the nuances around me, and then the smell of blood overwhelms me, Dakota’s blood. My eyes snap open, and I look around until I see a small patch of blood on the floor near the window. He hurt Dakota. He made her bleed. I will have no mercy.
“He hurt her.” My voice is unrecognizable, but the exertion I’m placing on myself not to change is momentous. I need to see everything and know everything before I set out to get my woman. I can’t afford to be wrong about anything.
“Get down on the floor,” the officer calls again.
“It’s fine. You can go downstairs,” someone says from behind them. I see the one who just called out tense.
“But, Captain, he—”
“I said stand down. I will deal with this. Now leave.” At the captain’s command, the three men step back and lower their guns, reluctantly leaving. Gunner rushes inside, Blue beside him.
“Now tell me what this is about,” the captain says as he walks into the room and looks around.
“The shooter took his woman. Looks like that might be your motive,” Blue says as he places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes in compassion.
“How do you know it was the shooter, and do you know who the shooter was?”
“Trust us when we say it was the shooter, but no, we don’t know yet. It could be one of two suspects,” Gunner says as he looks around the room. “One is an ex-boyfriend who has been stalking her for years, and the other is the Hades MC.”
“I need to go before he gets too far,” I state as I start making my way out of the room.
“Wait,” the captain calls.
I hear him, but I’m not listening. The only thing I’m interested in now is that my woman is out there with a killer and I’m not there to protect her.
“Sir, please let us go,” Blue says. “I promise you, we will identify your shooter and bring him to you.”
I hear the hesitation in the captain’s voice when he gives his permission. There is more, but I’m not listening as I follow my instincts. That Dakota’s pull now is barely noticeable has my wolf wanting to howl in pain. My woman is hurt, and it’s my fault.
“Hunter, hold up,” Blue calls, but my instinct in now on the hunt. He went out the back. He must have been carrying her, because there is no scent of her on the ground. I feel a hand on my upper arm holding me back, and I growl. I need to get to my mate.
“Hunter, listen to me. Going out without a plan won’t work. He’s a psychopath. He will kill her if you confront him. We need to have a plan; Gunner went to call the others.” I know that Blue is right, but I can’t just sit around. I need to find Dakota.
“I need to find her,” I mutter as I shake his hand free and continue making my way through the house until I’m standing outside. The scent becomes faint, which tells me that he had a vehicle parked at the back here.
“He had a vehicle here,” I state.
“We can find him on the cameras. Come on, let’s go inside,” Blue suggests, which has me turning and rushing inside towards our comms room. Only now do I realize that the captain has been with us every step of the way. It’s a good thing I didn’t let my wolf out, or we would have had a lot to explain. Entering the room, I find Goliath already there, looking through footage of the evening.
“He had a vehicle at the back. He took Dakota through there,” Blue states, which has Goliath turning towards another screen and manipulating the recording of the last few hours. After a few minutes, we see the fucker walking out the back door. My heart starts to race when I see the fucker with Dakota over his shoulder. He is wearing a black hoodie and what looks like black jeans. He must be strong to be carrying my woman over his shoulder like that and walking at the speed he is.
Goliath stops the image and zooms in. It’s dark outside, but what light there is highlights some of his features. “It’s her ex,” I whisper. The rage racing through my body is volcanic. “How did he find her and get here without us knowing?”
“You know this man?” the captain asks.
“He’s Dakota’s ex. He’s been stalking her for years,” Goliath says.
“I’m going to need a photo of him and of the girl. We will find them.” He has no idea. We will find them, but it’s not going to be the police. I’m going to find this fucker, and I’m going to show him that he should never touch another man’s mate. I stare at the image of Dakota hanging over his shoulder, my hands fisting as I see her hair hanging down, obscuring her face, her body limp, telling me that he knocked her out.
“What have we got?” King says as he walks in. He approaches and places his hand on my shoulder. Someone must have told him already that Dakota is missing. I hear Goliath giving him a rundown of what we have found, but my mind is centred
on the thread of energy that I can still feel from my woman. She’s alive. That is all that matters for now.
“Goliath, try to find which direction they went. The rest of you, let’s go.”
“I will send some men with you,” the captain states, already turning, but King stops him with his next words.
“No.” The captain stops and turns to face King. “You know we can do this. If he knows anyone is on to him, he might hurt Dakota. We will find him, and we will bring her back. This is personal. We will do this alone.”
“But he killed three people, I can’t just turn a blind eye.”
“We will bring him in, and we will give you all the evidence you require to close this case, but we do this alone.”
“Shit, this is against my better judgement, but okay, you have twenty-four hours.”
“We don’t need that many,” King states as he starts making his way out of the room. The others have all gathered around, waiting for orders. When it comes to our pack, we all stand together, fight together, and if need be, fall together. I follow King out of the room and down the corridor to our bikes. As soon as we are on the road, I will follow my instincts and my mate’s pull and find her.
When we reach our bikes, I am about to sit on mine when King calls to me. “Can you sense her?”
“Earlier the pull was weak. I think because he knocked her out, but I think she’s conscious now, because the pull is much stronger. We need to go.” I don’t look at any of the others as they start their bikes, but prepare myself to leave. It’s only as we ride out that I realize that I haven’t got a weapon. I left mine in the woods before walking down to join the group of people earlier.
As soon as I’m on the open road, I let my instincts take me. It’s not always that easy, and sometimes, I turn down certain streets only to stop and turn around when I feel the pull weaken. The closer I get, the stronger the pull. I feel pain engulf me at one stage, and I know the motherfucker is hurting my mate. I can’t concentrate and have to stop my bike. Getting off, I start pacing until it gets too much, and then I roar in pain.
I feel arms around me, but I don’t pay attention to whose arms they are. All that matters is that my woman is being tortured and I can’t do anything to help her.
“Hunter.” I hear my name being called as if from a distance. “Hunter!” This time, I make out King’s voice. “I know this is fucked up, but you need to calm down. Come on, Hunter, you can find her.”
“He’s hurting her.” My voice is but a whisper, but I know that they all heard when I hear angry mutters from the others.
“But she’s alive, and the sooner we get to her, the sooner it will all stop.” I feel a vice squeezing my heart. My woman is in pain, and I can’t do anything about it. “Calm down, brother. Take in a deep breath and find your woman.”
Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath, then another. I still feel all the emotions suffocating me, but I find that slim thread of sanity that I need at the moment and try to find my sense of direction. When I once again sense which direction Dakota is, I rush to my bike and take off. I hear my brothers all riding behind and know that no matter what, I have them at my back.
We must have been riding for about twenty minutes when I know exactly where I need to go. The pull to my woman has once again weakened, but I am close. I know I am. I pull over and switch off the bike. I don’t want this fucker to know I’m coming. I look behind me once everything is once again quiet and see the others taking off their helmets and looking to me for direction.
“He’s close,” I say, and turn.
“Let’s go get your woman back,” King states from next to me. I nod before I start heading in the direction I know Dakota is. There are cars that drive past and slow, and I’m sure they are wondering what a bunch of bikers on foot are doing walking this road at this time of night, but I continue my pursuit until we arrive at an intersection. To the left is a motel. The entrance to the motel is through the side road, and I know that my woman is in there.
“She’s there,” King says without me having to tell them. “Everyone branches out. Hunter, on your lead.” I head out towards the motel. The closer I get, the calmer I get. This fucker is going to die, but I need to make sure that Dakota is safe first. I stop when I have a view of the parking lot and see the car that we picked up on the video from the house. The car is parked before a row of rooms, but I sense Dakota on the other side of the building.
This asshole is trying to cover his tracks. If he sees or senses anyone, he must have a means of escape planned. Now that we’re closer, my woman’s essence surrounds me, but so does his scent. My eyesight starts to sharpen. Everything turns black and white, and my hearing sharpens to the point that I can hear every breath that my prey takes. I know exactly where he is, and he will not escape.
I move through the night as if a shadow. Anyone on the lookout will wonder if they are seeing a shadow or a person. I am just a few feet away from where my woman is being held. Every fibre in my body is now in tune to every change in the wind, every single movement around me, and any sound that surrounds me. I was in a rush to get here, but now that I am here, I will proceed with caution. I now know that my woman is close, and I will make sure that she doesn’t get hurt anymore.
When I am flush against the wall next to the window that looks into the room, I take in a deep breath before looking into the room, there is a curtain covering the window, but a slither of light is shining through that will allow for me to look in. Making sure not to be seen, I look into the room and tense. Dakota is lying across the bed as if thrown there, and Jason is standing over her, a scowl covering his face.
We can’t breach the room, or he might try to hurt her before we can get to him. Fuck. Moving back, I look at King, who is standing behind me. “We need to get him out of the room.”
King frowns and then nods; he looks towards where Frost is and calls him over. “Change. We need to get him out of the room.” At King’s whispered order, Frost nods and then walks away. A few minutes later, we see Frost in his wolf form approaching. When he is just outside the motel room, he howls. I stand flush against the wall as I hear footsteps from the inside of the room.
The curtain moves, and then I see the fucker looking out. Frost lowers his head and then heads towards the vehicle that Jason used. When he reaches the vehicle, he lifts his leg and urinates on the wheel. I hear King grunt in amusement next to me. If it were at another time, I would have joined in the amusement, but at the moment, I can’t help not being amused.
“What the fuck?” Jason yells from inside, and then he knocks on the window to try to frighten the wolf away. Well, good luck to him, because that wolf isn’t easily frightened. Frost looks back at the noise and then jumps on the hood of the car and proceeds to lie down.
“You are asking for it, you fucking animal,” Jason yells from inside as I hear him walk away from the window, and then the door opens and I am on the move. Before he can walk out, I am on him. My fist connects with his jaw, which has him tripping back and falling in surprise. I don’t give him a chance to get up before I am on top of him and hitting him again.
The son of a bitch lifts his knee to dislodge me and succeeds. I hear the others entering and know that they will be checking on Dakota. I want to go to my woman, but I need to make sure that the threat to her is neutralized. He half stands and then throws himself at me. I take his weight as I turn so that I’m above him and throw another punch that hits him just below his jaw.
“She’s mine,” he yells as he tries to punch me back, but I deflect it as I swerve back.
“That’s where you are wrong. Dakota is mine.” I punch him again, this time straight in the mouth so he can’t spew any more poisonous words, and then from the corner of my eye, I see his hand lifting from his side, and in it, he has his gun. “Duck,” I roar as I grab at his hand, but before I can stop him, he fires.
“Motherfucker!” I roar, and then my hand is at his throat and I am squeezing. I can feel myself
starting to turn, but if I turn into my wolf now, I know that I will tear his throat open, and then there will be lots of questions to try to answer. I feel hands pulling me back, but I don’t release his neck until I am forcefully knocked off him.
“Hunter.” The minute I hear Dakota’s voice, my wolf calms. I turn my head and see her in Hawk’s arms. The way she’s squinting at me attests to some sort of pain.
“Let go,” I order, trying to get free from the arms still holding me back. “Let me go.” The arms reluctantly loosen, and I hurry towards my mate. When I finally have her in my arms, I hug her close. Her fragrance engulfs me, finally calming the rage that filled my being with revenge.
“You came,” she murmurs against my throat; I can feel her tears wetting my T-shirt.
“Shh, it’s over now, baby.” I kiss her hair. “Where does it hurt?” I ask as I pull away slightly to look down at her.
“My head feels like it’s splitting,” she murmurs, which has my stomach tightening in worry.
“The doctor is on his way,” Dixon says from the doorway.
“You’re holding her too tight,” Dash comments.
“Here, have some water, darling,” Fang offers as he holds out a glass with water.
“Maybe take her outside. The fresh air is better than in here with his stink,” Blue suggests as he stands beside me.
“We need a vehicle; we can’t take her back on a bike,” I mutter as I stroke at my woman’s hair. I never thought I would feel like this, but here I am with a woman in my arms. My heart is racing, and there is a knot in my throat wanting to choke me at the power of the feelings of relief coursing through my body.
“We will drive his car back as evidence and give him over to the police. He will be prosecuted. This fucker won’t see the light of day for the rest of his life.” I would rather kill him, and will if they just leave me alone with him, but I know that there will be lots of questions raised if he is found dead, and I will not risk my freedom now that I have my mate.
Bound (Wolverine MC Book 1) Page 13