Her feet were clumsier than usual but she kept pushing through throngs of people when she noticed the nondescript sign hanging above a small cluster of vending machines. “Service Exit” was painted above a giant white arrow pointing toward a set of double doors.
Hoping and praying this was the one Jai meant, she sped up again and pushed toward the sign. She didn’t slow as she shoved the double doors open and Emery heard the bear’s heavy breathing just a few steps behind.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She was doing everything she could not to panic. She didn’t know which way to head when the hallway split into two directions—either left or right. Steps from her decision, Emery chose right and was rewarded with a large set of hands that clasped around her biceps and hauled her off her feet.
Instinctively driving her knee up between herself and her attacker, Emery’s brain scrambled to remember the few things Jai had taught her over the past two weeks of daily training. She suddenly wished she’d paid more attention.
“Emery, stop! I have you!”
Sage’s voice forced her attention up to her “attacker’s” face and she nearly cried in relief at the sight of his handsome, and furious, features.
“I’ve got you now, little bitch!”
Emery sucked in a breath at the sound of the bear shifter, who’d obviously just come through the double doors in pursuit of her. Sage set Emery on her feet behind him and it was then that she noticed Caleb and three other wolf shifters from the pack running from a hallway behind them toward Sage.
Reinforcements. Emery sagged in relief against the wall.
The growl that came from deep within Sage was unlike anything she’d ever heard in all her years as a shifter. It was more than just angry—it was a promise of violence and vengeance that reverberated throughout the poorly lit hallway.
In half a breath, the shifter realized the battle in front of him and smiled.
“One wolf versus one bear?” He grinned as he rolled his neck. He’d obviously failed to hear the approaching Boulder Pack members. “I like those odds.”
Sage stalked forward.
“I don’t need odds, motherfucker,” he snarled, his voice deeper and more threatening than ever. “I’ll rip you limb from limb with my own two hands for trying to put your hands on her.”
Emery believed him, too, but was glad to see the other wolves fall in line behind their Beta. The bear wasted no time and shifted into his animal form—he obviously knew that five against one in human forms was suicide. In his bear form, he was far sturdier and stronger and probably felt like he had a chance.
The wolves shifted next, all five of them, but not before Sage turned and yelled to Emery to keep running to the exit.
She moved like he told her, but she also watched him shift into the most beautiful sable and white wolf she’d ever seen. He was massive, too, and not all that much smaller than the young bear standing a few feet down the hall. Emery considered shifting, too, her wolf was pushing at her to let her free, but wisely knew that she’d be a distraction right now. The Boulder Pack wolves back there looked like they were used to fighting as a unit and Emery might make it harder.
Instead, she did what Sage asked and she ran for the door that led outside.
She’d just pushed the final door open to find the sun beating down on her face when she heard the sound of an animal shrieking in unimaginable pain, followed by a cacophony of growls and barks. The bear was dead, she knew that much.
“Get in, Emery!”
Sienna’s voice pulled Emery completely through the door and searching the parking lot to where she was sitting inside a dark SUV. Emery ran to the vehicle and jumped into the front passenger seat across from Dane who had the wheel. The car sped off, racing out of the parking lot toward pack lands.
Chapter Seven
Sage
The bears had to die, that much was clear. He’d made the first one fast and brutal in that narrow hallway after he’d made sure for himself that Emery was fine. She’d looked banged up and a little out of it which had only made him and his wolf even angrier, but as soon as she was safe outside, he’d let the full force of his rage through.
Motherfuckers had attacked his pack members and one of them had hurt Emery. The bear squaring off with him, the one that’d called Emery little bitch hadn’t put up nearly the fight that all his shit talking had promised. Sage had ripped the shifters throat out before his pack members could even position themselves to be of any help.
Brody, Caleb, and Jai had rounded up three more of the bears with the help of Mark and Drew. Two had been dragged out back and killed on the spot. One had the inglorious privilege of being beaten, bound, and taken back to pack territory to be questioned.
Dane had taken the women back in the SUV Sage and Brody had arrived in. The relief Sage had felt at seeing his sister waiting safely with Dane behind a row of trees in the parking lot had been short-lived when he didn’t see Emery with them.
“She distracted the bears with my sweatshirt,” Sienna said in a rush as Brody ran his hands over her face, looking for any damage. Sienna was completely untouched thanks to Emery. “She’s in there with them chasing her!”
Brody put Sienna in the car with instructions for Dane to drive if anything came near them but to wait for Emery as long as possible.
Sage was already running to the service exit when Jai came running from somewhere on the right.
“Where’s Sienna?” He asked, his eyes panicked.
“Brody has her in the truck over there,” Sage clipped. “Where’s Emery?”
A quick shake of his head indicated Jai didn’t know, but he started running toward the green service entrance again with Sage behind. He was waiting for the truck full of Boulder Pack males who’d just arrived at Brody’s request. He motioned for them to follow him through the door Jai had just run through.
It all happened in a blur after that. He’d just started building a boiling rage in that damn endless hallway when he caught Emery’s scent on the air. It held the same fruity, sweet smell that entranced him, but it was also mixed with a healthy dose of fear. And blood. What the holy fuck?
Almost as if Fate had delivered her to him at just the moment his legendary control was about to splinter, Emery came crashing around the corner right into his eyes. The bear’s taunt had come quickly after that, so Sage got a fraction of a second to revel in the relief of holding Emery safe and sound for just a moment.
And then the greasy bear bastard had to die.
In all, five bears had died that afternoon and one was taken back to the Boulder Pack “shed” for questioning.
Sage was going to enjoy that part the most.
***
An hour later, the Alpha pair, Emery, Sage and the sentinels were assembled in the pack lodge. The pack healer, a quiet young woman named Sadie, worked on Jai who’d suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken wrist. Dane had been patched up earlier by Sienna.
Emery had refused to let anyone look at her until Sage threatened to hold her down himself while Sadie checked the massive bruise she likely had at the back her skull and the busted nose that had bled down her shirt.
“Nothing major, thankfully,” Sadie said with a smile as she handed Emery an ice pack for the back of her head. She’d winced as soon as the cold pack hit the tender spot.
The lone bear shifter they’d brought back still needed to be questioned, but Brody was waiting for Pax to arrive. The Beta had a reputation for being a master interrogator and resorted to measures even Sage wasn’t comfortable with when it came to getting answers.
Grayson, the Canyon Alpha and local sheriff, was busy trying to make five massive bear corpses disappear, which probably wasn’t the easiest task at the moment.
Sage still hadn’t spoken directly to Emery yet. He was still so angry at her for her foolish self-sacrificing ideas that he was afraid if he tried to talk to her, he’d say something overly harsh and start a huge brawl. The rest of the pack was incredibl
y grateful to her for her quick thinking—and rightly so. But the fact that she’d just put her own safety on the line made Sage and his wolf furious.
He’d been crazy with worry as the vehicle raced to the mall. He’d been sick to his stomach when he didn’t see her with Sienna and Dane. And he’d nearly lost his shit when he smelled her fear and blood on the air.
Sage closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, willing the memory of it all to fade so he could concentrate. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Emery had her slate blue gaze locked on him. He didn’t miss the blush that crept to her cheeks, either, but he was thrilled when it didn’t cause her to look away.
His wolf rumbled his approval and Sage was the one who had to break the trance when he heard Brody clear his throat.
“Emery, whatever you need from me, whenever you need it,” the Alpha said. “You have it. That, and my eternal gratitude for what you did today.”
The sentinels nodded their approval. Sienna dabbed at her eyes.
“You’re stuck with me now,” she said, her voice cracking. “That was some serious female bonding you did today.”
Emery was obviously uncomfortable under the intensity of every gaze in the room, but Sage thought she took it like a champ.
The meeting finally adjourned when the call came that Pax was on pack land and headed toward the “shed.”
The sentinels ran ahead to meet Pax’s truck and Brody stayed behind to see Sienna settled in and comfortable in their room upstairs.
Sage waited at the door for Emery and her ice pack to walk through.
“What are you doing the rest of the night?” he asked casually. He was feeling anything but casual at the moment, and Emery Wilkins was the reason why.
“Homework, probably,” she said with a shrug. “I’d ask you the same, but I have a feeling I don’t really want to know the answer.”
Sage nodded.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “You don’t want to know.”
He walked her slowly toward her cabin, knowing he had pack business to attend to, but also knowing he could steal just a few more minutes with her.
“I’m going to stop by later,” he said simply, not giving her the option of refusing. “There’s a couple things we need to talk about.”
That surprised her and she looked over at him abruptly.
“Like what?” She’d stopped walking but Sage kept moving forward, forcing Emery to catch back up.
“You’ll find out when I tell you,” he said as they arrived at her porch. As usual, he waited at the bottom of the stairs for her to go up. As usual, she turned and gave him a small, bewildered wave when she reached her door. His enhanced hearing picked up a muttered curse that Sage could have sworn sounded an awful lot like “cocky bastard,” making him smile.
Most nights since her arrival, Sage would turn and leave and let the thoughts of Emery Wilkins rob him of sleep. But unlike every other time, however, Sage had every intention of returning that night.
Chapter Eight
Emery
Holy crap, she was losing her mind.
Emery couldn’t concentrate on her homework and was pretty certain that at this rate, she was never going to get her Master’s degree. No, she was going to flunk out and the only logical reason she’d be able to offer anyone who questioned her was that she was too preoccupied with the gorgeous Beta of the Boulder Pack.
Her heart hadn’t stopped the racing thing it did in his presence from the moment she’d literally ran into him in that hallway. Once the danger was over, she thought her reaction would subside, but each time Sage’s eyes had met hers in the lodge, her stomach plummeted again and she was powerless to look away, no matter how heated her cheeks grew.
Her wolf chuffed in appreciation each time the Beta looked at her, the little sell out.
When he’d left her at her doorstep tonight, there’d been something more in his voice. Something extra. But what? Was she making the whole thing up in her head because she’d become infatuated with him over the past few weeks?
And why did her wolf ride her so hard whenever he was away for extended periods to see him again?
The ride back to Boulder Pack territory had been tense and emotional and Emery had nearly lost her composure when Sienna grasped Emery’s hand in hers and didn’t let go the entire way. Sienna didn’t say thank you or anything at all, really. She just held on to Emery’s hand while they drove back in silence and let tears roll down her face.
It’d been a powerful moment and for a brief moment, bitter disappointment had eaten at Emery—this is what a real pack was like. It wasn’t that Samuel wasn’t trying with the Tahoes, only that he had so much rebuilding after the damage the old Alpha had done to them all. To be around a pack like the Boulder shifters, it left her very aware of what she’d been missing for so long.
She felt a pang of guilt for thinking like that. Hank Wilkins hadn’t been much, but he’d done everything he could to keep Emery cared for. He taught her how to survive. How to take care of herself and how to stay safe. What more did she need?
With a sigh, Emery let out a long breath. A lot more, it seemed. Turns out Emery’s heart wanted a lot more than just a group of shifters who knew each other’s scents but mostly tried to just stay out of each other’s way.
Emery and her wolf wanted so much more than that.
An hour and a half later, after she’d showered and cracked open her books, she found herself dozing at the small dinette table, drool hitting her page and everything. Rubbing her eyes, she checked the clock and realized it was nearing midnight.
A small amount of disappointment gnawed at her when she realized the pack must have gotten caught up with the interrogation. Or maybe Sage had forgotten. Or changed his mind.
With a shake of her head, she stood and started putting her things away when a sharp knock at her door made her jump.
In a heartbeat, her pulse was racing and she struggled to breathe. He hadn’t forgotten. He hadn’t changed his mind. Sage was here.
“Don’t be stupid,” she chided herself as her heavy feet moved her slowly toward the front door. He was probably looking to ream her ass for involving herself at the mall earlier. Or to talk about her dad. Or her old pack. Why was Emery letting her hormones get the best of her? She was dangerously close to making a fool of herself.
Not knowing what to expect when she pulled the door open, she found Sage leaning against the porch railing. His eyes met hers and he simply stared a moment before walking through the doorway into the small living space.
She noticed he had a bundle under his arm as he passed.
“I need a shower,” he said and walked back toward her bedroom. Part of her protested at this male invading her space with his body and his scent, but the majority of her was simply fascinated and could do nothing more than watch the Beta as he walked through her space like he owned it.
“Okay,” she said with an eyebrow raising.
That was odd. Was he here to borrow her shower? Was his broken?
“Could have just told me in the first place,” Emery muttered with a tad of bitterness, and feeling silly for everything she’d worked this whole thing out to be.
She heard she shower start from the small bathroom that attached to her bedroom. Glancing in quickly, she was suddenly grateful that she’d made the bed and picked up all her dirty laundry from the floor earlier. Not that she’d been planning on having Sage in her bedroom or anything…but still.
With the steam and the hot water, Sage’s pine and spice scent was suddenly everywhere. It was around her. It felt like it was enveloping her and she felt the familiar burning down low in her belly that she always, and always unsuccessfully, tried to push away. Her wolf was having none of it, either. She was luxuriating in the smell of Sage in their personal space—as though he belonged there. As though this was where he was supposed to be this whole time.
The shower stopped suddenly and Emery was hyper aware of all the sounds coming from her bathroo
m. From the towel sliding across skin to the sound of fabric being pulled on and a zipper being closed, Emery’s body was so in tune with what Sage was doing it was freaking her out. She blanched at the realization that she had small beads of perspiration breaking out on her hairline and that she stood in her hallway gripping the wall like it was holding her up.
Holy shitballs, BatWolf, what the hell was happening?
When Sage finally emerged from her bedroom in a fresh pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and bare feet, he looked like some wet-haired Greek god of sex and badness. His sandy brown hair was wet and slicked back and his hazel eyes shone bright as he looked her over, taking in her own ripped jeans and plain white t-shirt.
“What you did today was inexcusable,” was what he went with. She blinked, trying to break the spell she was under.
“I’m sorry,” she tilted her head to the side. Her heart nearly dropped when he took a step toward her, feral look in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
She’d only tried to help.
“You put yourself in danger, Emery,” he said, coming another step closer. If she hadn’t already been up against the wall, she’d have stepped back to keep some distance between them. “You made me crazy with worry. All I could think about was getting to you and disemboweling any prick who touched you.”
His voice was guttural and low and her insides quaked from the intensity.
“You were brave to do what you did and you earned the pack’s undying respect and loyalty,” he continued moving until he was one step away. “But you nearly put me in an early grave and if you ever put yourself in danger like that again, I’m going to take you over my knee and spank your ass.”
She let out a gasp at the threat and without a moment’s hesitation, Sage’s hands slid into her hair and angled her head just how he wanted it before his mouth slaked over hers, his tongue demanding entry.
Emery was powerless to stop it and could only wrap her arms around his neck as his mouth plundered hers in an act of desperate need and possession. Sage’s body caged hers against the wall and fit into her perfectly.
Rocky Mountain Shifters: Complete Series Box Set Page 12