by Maia Dylan
“Take. Your hand. Off. The girl.” Brendan’s wolf was very much in his voice. The words were slightly garbled, signaling that his canines had dropped forward. He was close to losing control to his wolf. Fuck, they all were. The fact that this man had these children afraid of him, and dared to lay a hand on one of them in force, drove them crazy with the need to rip him to pieces.
As if sensing the danger he was in, the man released the girl and raised his hands slightly. He was obviously trying to portray to the three men that he was harmless, but his eyes blazed with fury.
“Now, gentlemen, you can’t blame me for being protective of my children, can you? If you have any questions, you will ask them to me. My children have been through enough.”
Now see, Tyler never took kindly to anyone telling him what to do. In fact, it surprised the hell out of everyone that knew him that he had made it through the academy without killing one of his instructors. Tyler understood and respected authority, but this asshole? He could kiss his ass.
Stepping forward, he invaded the man’s space a little, letting some of his alpha power loose. His wolf growled happily as they watched fear leak into the man’s gaze. “You will step back and allow us to speak to this girl.” Tyler dropped his voice and let his wolf forward. He knew his eyes had changed to the arctic blue of his kind as the man’s eyes widened in horror. “Now.”
Tyler held his gaze, the man frozen in fear, as Brendan moved around them both and gently coaxed the girl over to his ambulance. Only once the girl was safely inside the rig did Ty drop his glare. He turned his back on the man, the ultimate insult from his kind, as he exuded absolute dominance him. If he were to attack, Tyler knew without a shadow of a doubt he could kill him without breaking a claw. Heh.
Tyler moved off to join Brendan in the rig. Trent stood at the open door, watching intently. As Tyler was about to step into the rig, Trent grabbed his arm.
“There is something here, Ty.” Trent’s gaze never stopped moving once, as if he were searching for something. “My wolf is about to go crazy, like there is something here that he needs, and I can’t figure it out. It’s almost like—” Trent slammed his jaw closed and took a deep breath.
“Like what, bro?” Tyler asked.
Trent stared intently at his brother. “Like the Quickening.”
What the fuck? Tyler knew that as the oldest, he was the stronger of the two. He had always sensed that Trent had not been able to close off the mating bond as well as he had. Hell, they both felt the loss of that bond. If it had ever been cemented, it would have made them whole. Complete.
As it was, it felt as if there was constantly something missing. Tyler had, on occasion, caught his brother looking out over the ranch they had hoped to share with Faith one day with so much yearning and distress that his wolf would lay down and whimper. Tyler had never for one moment loosened the tight grip he had placed around the burgeoning bond that had started to from the moment they scented Faith. He had always wondered if the reason Trent seemed to suffer more was because he hadn’t been able to close it off as completely as Ty had.
Not wanting to let the memories and what-ifs crash down on him, Tyler moved into the rig and crouched down on the floor in front of the gurney where Brendan had placed the scared girl.
“OK, Sophia, why don’t you tell me what this place is?” Tyler deliberately kept his voice soft and nonthreatening. The girl’s gaze lifted, and he watched as she seemed to gather her strength before she spoke.
“This is home.”
Tyler had to lean a little toward the girl to hear her properly.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. My mother—”
Tyler’s heart clenched as Sophia’s voice caught and tears threatened.
“Mom, died about fifteen months ago. The Reverend buried her in the cemetery out behind the chapel.”
Tyler felt all the muscles in his body tense. Cemetery? Just how many people had lived and died here?
“Just before the tornado hit today, all the adults were out in the fields. I don’t think they made it to any of the bunkers.” Sophia paused as she looked up at Brendan.
“Sophia mentioned that there were four other adult men and two women in the compound, and our guys are still searching for them.” Brendan looked pointedly at Tyler, and his words from earlier echoed in his mind—five dead and one unaccounted for. OK, so we only have potentially one more person to find.
Sophia suddenly grabbed Tyler’s hand, her grip strong for someone so small. “Please, you have to find her. The others were all mean to us. They hurt—” Sophia stopped as a growl sounded through the rig.
“Who hurt you, Sophia?” Tyler’s voice held more wolf than before and came across a little harsh. The fact that this young girl didn’t waver showed how rattled she was.
“That doesn’t matter right now. No!” Sophia’s voice raised as Tyler had been about to protest that statement, and the stubborn way she pushed her little jaw out and glared at him a little impressed the shit out of him. “You have to listen to me! He put her in the hole late yesterday afternoon, but we don’t know where it is. It’s somewhere in the forest. She is still in there and could still be alive. Please, you have to save her. Please.” Tears formed and fell steadily down her face, leaving behind wet streaks in the dirt. Tyler never could handle tears so pulled her into his arms, petting her to calm her like he remembered his mama used to do for him.
“OK, sweetheart. We’ll find her for you,” Tyler promised, and his gaze rose to his brother’s. He recognized the look in his brother’s eye and knew that they would strip this forest from top to bottom in order to find the woman that meant so much to this young girl. Ty handed the now-sobbing girl over to Brendan and stepped out of the rig.
He stalked silently past his brother and turned toward the lone surviving adult in the group, his footsteps silent even over the debris-strewn ground. He watched as the man grew agitated, then scared at the look of fury that was no doubt evident on his and his brother’s faces.
“That girl is a liar. Everything she told you is a lie. She needs to be beaten—”
And that’s as far as his crazed rant could go. Tyler’s fingers around his throat were an effective silencer. Never breaking eye contact with the man, he dragged him forward and up onto his toes until they were eye to eye. Even though Tyler could feel that man’s hands around his wrist, desperately trying to prize his hand from his throat, he never moved.
“Where is the hole? The one you have somewhere in the forest where you like to place people?” Tyler spoke softly but with deadly intent. He watched as the man’s eyes shifted guiltily and shot quickly off to the right. OK, so it was out that way somewhere.
“What gives you the right to treat a person that way?” Tyler’s wolf growled strongly in his voice, his words almost whipping the man before him with their intensity.
“I am Reverend Jonas Parks,” the man gasped out, “a prophet sent to those who need strong guidance. I recognize sin and evil in people! It is my gift and my burden in this life to lead them into salvation. I—ack—”
Tyler tightened his hand, effectively cutting off his airway.
“You are no fucking prophet.” Tyler snarled between clenched teeth and threw the man to the ground before the impulse to crush his windpipe became too strong to ignore. He watched dispassionately as the Reverend spluttered and gasped on the ground. Then he felt a tug on his jacket and looked down into the round eyes of one of the younger children.
“Please, sir, you have to find her.” The girl was younger than Sophia, perhaps around ten, but her eyes spoke of an experience and fatigue beyond her years. “He put her in there yesterday when she tried to help me. He was hurting me, and she stopped him. Faith stopped him.”
* * * *
Trent felt his heart almost shudder to a stop. Faith! He knew he had felt something here, as soon as he stepped out of his truck. There was a humming in his blood, a humming he had not felt in two years, a humming that spoke to him
, but because he had put a firm stranglehold on the fledgling mating bond he had with his mate, he hadn’t been able to interpret what that hum was trying to say. Hearing that young girl utter his mate’s name drove it home for him. Faith was here!
Trent, too, had noticed the telltale flick of the Reverend’s eyes to the right, and he wasn’t going to hang around when his mate might need him, so he turned to sprint into the wooded area off to the right, with all the speed of a shifter, uncaring if anyone unaware of the shifter world were to see. His wolf so close to the surface, Trent felt his canines drop. Even though they ran silently across the ground, Trent knew his brother was hard on his heels.
The two shifters sprinted into the wooded area and came to a stop as the shadows of the darkened woods closed around them, their eyes changing to show them the area that surrounded them more clearly.
“She’s here somewhere, Trent.” Ty’s voice was almost unrecognizable his wolf was so close to the surface.
Trent turned to look at his brother and was shocked at what he saw. His eyes were wild with pain and need, jaw tense, and breath coming hard and fast. Trent realized there was going to be only one way to find her.
“Ty, we have to open the bond.” Trent heard his own wolf in his voice. He watched his brother’s jaw tighten further and swore he heard his teeth crack with the pressure, but then he nodded.
Trent closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then reached deep within himself to find the barrier he had placed around the link to his brother and mate, then released the stranglehold he had placed on the mating bond two years ago. His wolf whimpered as the feelings of love, loss, pain, and need came crashing down on him.
Trent fell to his knees under the onslaught, the palm of his right hand pressed against the deep ache within his chest. His body shook with the intensity of it, and he threw his head back and shouted his mate’s name to the sky. He heard an answering shout of the same word from his brother, who had fallen beside him. The woods echoed with their combined pain, and for the first time in two years, Trent could sense his brother in his mind.
Telepathy was a power gifted by the gods to all wolf shifters. Wolves from the same family could communicate with each other, but as pack alphas, they had common pack bonds that led them to all members of their pack. Then there was the link that bonded together those who were fated to be mates. This bond was formed as soon as fated individuals came within scenting range of each other.
Because Faith had left them two years ago—and to be honest, Trent was starting to think that there may be more to it now—he and Tyler had blocked their bonds, not only the mating bonds to each other and Faith but also their common bonds to the pack.
Now that they had torn those barriers down, he heard and felt the pack’s pleasure and joy that their alphas had reconnected with them. Not wanting to spend the time or energy thinking about that and acknowledging the guilt that would no doubt come to him later because of this, he looked toward the link that connected him and his brother to their mate.
He concentrated on that link intensely. He could feel his brother at the other end. It pulsed with pain and a rage that surprised Trent.
He followed the link that would lead him to Faith, but he could follow it only a short distance before he came to what felt like a void, a barrier that the weak bond to his mate disappeared behind. He pushed his senses out further to try to feel something, anything behind that barrier. He felt a sudden blast of cold, a pressure on his chest that made it difficult to breathe, and a fear so deep it left an acrid taste in his mind.
Trent’s eyes flew open with a growl of rage, and he jumped to his feet as he realized those feelings were from his mate. Faith was cold and afraid and had somehow closed her link to him and his brother. He had never heard of that being possible, but somehow, she had been able to do it.
“This way,” Trent sent to his brother along their link, talking telepathically to him for the first time in two years instinctively, like they had never been without the gift. Not waiting for his brother, Trent moved swiftly to his right, deeper into the forest, following where that stench of fear was strongest, knowing that it was coming from Faith.
Heading into the forest, he brought his wolf closer to the surface. His vision cleared further, and just ahead he saw some large boulders on top of what looked like a metal crate door of some sort. He rushed forward, his brother at his side, and they used their shifter strength to move the huge boulders out of their way. When they got down to just the door, Trent ripped it off with a roar and threw it into the forest with such strength it buried itself into the trunk of a large tree.
Heart in his throat, breath slamming from his chest, Trent fell to his knees next to his brother, looking into the shallow grave-like space. He felt his brother tense beside him. Then Ty threw his head back and howled, his voice more wolf than human, but Trent could barely hear him over the roar in his own ears. His eyes locked to the figure lying at the bottom of that shallow grave. Faith Abrams. Their Faith. Mate.
“Oh God, brother. Our mate.” Trent’s voice sounded anguished to his own ears. He reached forward and pulled Faith from that grave, gathering her against his chest and pushing her hair away from her face, fumbling as his wolf was so close his claws had formed. His rage surged to the surface again as he took in the bruises that lined both sides of her jaw. There was blood that had dried against her chin from the split in her lip, her left eye was blackened, and her skin had a deathly gray pallor to it that scared the shit out of him.
Beside him, his brother continued to scream his anguish to the gods as Trent felt the best feeling in the world—his mate’s breath against his skin. As surprised joy flooded through him, it poured down his link to his brother, whose roar stopped abruptly, and he turned to press himself against the other side of their mate. He met Ty’s gaze above Faith’s head. He was surprised to see tears glistening on his face, and then he realized they mirrored his own.
“She’s hurt. Let’s get her back to Brendan.” Ty’s voice was raspy, and Trent didn’t trust his own, so he just nodded his head. He stood, lifting the slight weight of his mate with no issues, then turned to follow his brother. They ran as fast as they dared back to the remains of the compound, both of them constantly gazing at the limp form of their mate, willing her to hold on and stay with them.
As they neared the compound, Ty called to Brendan along the common link they shared with their beta, “Brendan, we found her! She’s hurt.”
Brendan’s voice came back to them along the link. “Bring her to the rig. I’ll assess her there.” The brothers ran onto the compound, then leapt into the rig. Brendan motioned to the gurney at the side of the rig, and Trent gently placed his mate on the bed, then leaned back. Brendan leaned over Faith, growling his displeasure at the bruises and other signs of abuse on her face. When he went to reach out a hand to touch her, Trent and his brother growled low and menacingly, the thought of this unmated male touching their mate almost too much to bear.
Brendan froze as the power of the alphas pressed upon him. He turned his head toward his alphas, his eyes turning the arctic blue of their kind as he struggled against the pressure mounting in the cabin.
“What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with you two?” He snapped.
“Mate.” The word came from both him and Ty. Understanding—and if Trent was not mistaken, no small amount of annoyance—came into Brendan’s gaze.
“Congratulations, I am truly happy for you both, but as I have yet to master the ability to assess a patient telepathically without fucking touching them”—Brendan’s voice positively dripped with sarcasm—“I suggest you get your possessive heads out of your asses and let me assess your mate!”
Both Ty and Trent heard the chuckle from outside the rig. No doubt Cody had heard his brother’s sarcastic little bitch slap.
“Sorry, B, we have some issues to work on for sure.” Trent took a deep breath to control himself and then turned his gaze to his mate. “It’s hard not to lose it whe
n she is lying there hurt and unconscious, and we have absolutely no idea what happened to her.”
“And feeling the intense need to rip the throat out of whoever hurt her.” Ty’s voice was still all wolf, and his eyes still shimmered blue.
Brendan grunted then turned back to Faith, assessing and muttering at the same time. After a couple of minutes, he moved to insert an IV into the vein in her arm. Trent heard Ty stifle a growl. Brendan looked in his direction with his eyebrow raised.
“Sorry, B,” Ty spoke, less of his wolf in his voice now but still there.
Brendan set up the IV then turned to speak to his alphas. “Your mate has been beaten up pretty bad, guys. She has several facial contusions, and I think I could feel a cracked rib or two.”
Trent felt his stomach churn as Brendan continued to list his mate’s injuries.
“We need to get her to a hospital, as there is a huge egg-shaped knot at the back of her head, and she has yet to regain consciousness. We will be able to do more for her there.”
“I’ll go with her. Have someone bring my truck to the hospital,” Trent told his brother through their link. He sensed hesitation in his brother as if he, too, wanted to stay with their mate.
“Done, I’ll follow you.”
Trent felt the rig rock as his brother stepped down and closed the doors, but he was unable to tear his eyes from his mate. As they left the scene, lights flashing and sirens blaring, Trent realized he had left his brother with the man who had potentially done this to their mate. Heh. He was damn glad he wasn’t in the Reverend’s shoes right now.
Chapter 2
“Wake up, Faith. C’mon, baby, show me those gorgeous green eyes…”
“Come back to us, sweetheart…now!”
Faith had heard voices in her head before. They were often the little warning voices that would turn up to say that maybe she shouldn’t be doing what she was doing and that perhaps the punishment wouldn’t be worth it. They were usually voices she ignored to no positive end, but these voices were different. These were men’s voices, similar and yet different.