Protecting His Fox's Sass (Sass And Growl Book 2)

by Dawn Sullivan

  “I will stay here with Athena,” Miracle said, stepping forward and capturing Teine’s gaze with her own. “I promise you, Teine, I will guard her with my life. I won’t let anyone get to her. I won’t let you down.”

  Teine smiled, hugging Miracle close. “I know you won’t, Miracle.”

  “Emery, Briar, and Brayden will stay here, too,” Knox told them, his hand in the center of Emery’s back.

  “No, I won’t,” Briar argued. “Teine needs me, and I’m going.”

  “I need you,” Emery said softly, leaning into Knox’s touch. A hand went to her stomach, and she smiled. “Please, Briar. I need you here.”

  Briar’s gaze flew to her hand, then back to her face. Inhaling deeply, a slow grin spread across her face. “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yes.”

  “We are going to have little baby bunnies running around here soon?”

  “I guess it’s better than baby skunks,” Brayden broke in, laughing when Knox glared at him, baring his teeth.

  “Wait, you mean skunk shifters really do exist?” Emery whispered, her eyes wide.

  “Yes, I’ll stay,” she promised, taking Emery’s hand in hers. “We can talk about skunk shifters later.”

  “Somebody better tell me the truth!” Emery snapped, her hands resting on her hips as her eyes narrowed on Knox. “And, you better call us and let us know what’s going on often, Knox Channing! I won’t be kept out of the loop just because I have a bun in the oven!”

  Teine choked on her own laughter at the look on Knox’s face. She wasn’t sure if he was worried about leaving his mate home without him when she was pregnant or just plain scared of the bunny. One thing was for sure, she didn’t have time to stick around and figure it out.

  Giving Athena one last kiss, Teine handed her over to Miracle. “Come on,” she ordered, walking toward the doorway. “We need to get going. We can come up with a plan on the way. It’s going to take us hours to get there.”

  Emery raised an eye when she walked past, and she heard the other woman’s laughter in her voice as she said, “I’m going to love having Teine for a sister-in-law. Get moving, boys! Bring her back to us, and make sure you have her sister, too.”

  Fourteen

  Nolan listened closely to his mate’s directions, knowing how important it was to plan a surprise attack if they wanted to get her sister out alive. As much as he hated the idea of Teine being a part of the rescue mission, he knew there was no way she would stay back, and he didn’t expect her to. Not only was she an enforcer, but it was her sister they were going after. There was no way in hell he would stay behind if it was one of his sisters they were rescuing.

  “Alpha Bond is from the stone ages. He never changes how things are run, no matter who tries to tell him that he should. He will be holding my sister in this building here. It’s where the cells are that we keep the prisoners in.” She pointed to an image on a crude map she’d made. “The place will have two guards on it at all times. Normally, one in the front of the building, and one in back. This is where the alpha lives.” Pointing to an image several yards away from where the cells were, she went on, “and all of these surrounding places are for his enforcers.”

  “Wait, I thought you said you lived with your sister?” Noah interrupted. “If you were there, right smack in the middle of it all, how did she hide from everyone for so long?”

  “Not all enforcers are required to live there,” Teine explained, raising her head to glance around the darkness surrounding them. They were about two miles from where her skulk lived, and she seemed to be on edge. “I was offered one of the small cottages near the others, but I preferred to stay with Nadine. She grounded me, made me happy. I loved all of our late night chats. Sunday movie nights. I loved her. There was no way I could leave her.”

  When her eyes filled with tears, Nolan asked, “What is it, baby?”

  Biting her lip, she looked over at him, then whispered, “I forgot to ask Aurora about my grandmother.”

  He instantly knew what she meant. Was Idelle alive, or had she suffered a painful death?

  “Let’s worry about your sister right now,” Knox advised, turning their attention back to the task at hand. “As soon as we get her free, we can find out what happened to your grandmother.”

  Teine nodded, dragging her attention back to the map. “Even though there are several cottages surrounding the alpha’s house, there is a severe weak area.” Slowly, she traced a large circle around the cells.

  “Alpha Bond is obviously more worried about his own protection than that of the people in the cells,” Noah mused.

  Teine let out a short, humorless laugh. “He doesn’t give a shit about whoever he throws in those cells. He puts them in there to rot, leaving them there with very little food and water to die.”

  “Then what makes you think your sister is there?” Nolan asked in confusion.

  “Because he’s hiding the fact that she lives from the rest of the skulk.” Nolan swung around, his gun up, when Aurora appeared behind him.

  “What the hell, woman?” Noah groused, his hands going to his hips as he glared at her. “You were to stay home with my sisters and help guard the baby.”

  “Your sisters don’t need me,” Aurora said, her gaze going to Teine. “Teine’s sister does.”

  “Dammit,” Noah snarled, “don’t tell me she is one of your new charges or whatever the hell you call them.”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  “How the hell did you get here, Aurora?” Noah growled, taking a step toward her.

  She glanced his way, casually flicking a hand in his direction. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so I won’t waste my time. Stand there and behave, bear. I have a job to do. Now, back to your sister, Teine. You are right, she is in those cells. The bastard has her in one that seems to be underground, though. There is no light, no windows, no nothing. Just a small, empty space that is about the same size as the other cells.”

  Nolan’s gaze narrowed on his brother, and he cocked his head to the side, watching as Noah tried to move, but couldn’t seem to go anywhere. When he opened his mouth, Aurora held up a hand, and not a word emerged. Nolan wanted to laugh, but knew there would be hell to pay when she let him free of whatever magic she was wielding. It also worried him, because Noah was already against witches and anything to do with magic. What would he do when Aurora let him free?

  “We need to be as quiet as possible when we infiltrate the area around the cells,” Teine told them. The cottages are far enough away that we might be able to get in without anyone noticing.”

  “Leave that up to us,” Aurora told her, her eyes on the map. “You all sneak in from over here, we will put up an illusion, so if anyone happens to look over, there is no way they will see you.”

  “Us? We?” Nolan glanced around, wondering who she was referring to.

  “You don’t think I came alone, do you?” Aurora asked, her gaze going to her mate. “That would be stupid, immature, childish.”

  Noah glared at her, a mutinous expression on his face.

  “Oh, wait. Let’s not forget crazy and acting like a lunatic.”

  “Aurora?”

  Aurora quieted down when Teine whispered her name, shaking her head. “Just go. We will be there. I promise.”

  “But I don’t understand?”

  “I brought some friends to help us, is all.”

  Nolan smiled when three women stepped forward from the cover of the darkness. “Ah, part of your Coven. Nice to see you again, ladies.”

  He froze, realizing the way he said it with his lazy drawl; his mate could interpret it to mean anything. After the way his sister had thrown him under the bus, now he was going to be worried about every word that came out of his mouth regarding another woman.

  “Thank you,” Teine said quietly, stepping forward to greet them. “I appreciate all of you coming more than you know.”

  A low grunt emerged from Noah, and Nolan raised an eyebrow. “
You have something to say, brother?”

  “Time to go,” Aurora broke in, fading into the darkness with the other witches. At the last moment, Nolan saw her wave her hand slightly, then she was gone.

  “God, dammit!” Noah bit out darkly, stalking in her direction. “I am going to turn that little witch over my knee and beat her ass!”

  “We can talk about your kinky foreplay later, brother, right now we need to go get Nadine.”

  Teine shook her head, rolling her eyes at them, before turning and melting into the darkness herself, Nolan following closely behind.

  ***

  Teine let her gaze wander slowly around the area near the building that held the cells, taking time to scan for danger. It looked as if she had been right. There were only two guards by the building — one in front and one in back — as had been the case when she was part of the patrol. It looked as if all of the lights were on in the alpha’s house, and there was a party going on, which was the way most nights had been before, too.

  Holding up a hand, she motioned for the others to follow her, praying Aurora and her friends were able to do what Aurora had said they could do. Although, the way she’d stopped Noah in his tracks led Teine to believe that the woman could do just about anything.

  Teine slid along the side wall of the building, stiffening when one of the guards turned in her direction. Torrence. He was a pup, definitely not seasoned enough to pull guard duty on prisoners with just one other enforcer, even if they were all behind bars. What the hell was he doing out there?

  Just when he had about reached her, he stopped, shaking his head slightly, and looked around. Something seemed to capture his attention a few yards away, and he took off at a trot, cradling his rifle he held in his arms. He didn’t even have his finger on the trigger. Shaking her head in disgust, Teine quickly crossed the distance to the door, slipping as quietly as possible inside the building with Nolan and Knox right behind her. Noah was to stay outside and guard the perimeter until they returned.

  Making her way down the narrow path between a row of filthy cement cells with dirt floors, Teine wrinkled her nose in distaste, trying to block out the unclean smells of the prisoners. There were six cells on each side, and three of them held people. She hurried past them, not wanting to take the chance of freeing them before her sister, and then drawing the attention of the guards and not getting a chance to get Nadine out, too.

  Teine was aware of Nolan and Knox stopping to assure the prisoners that they would be back for them, but she kept going, fear pushing her onward. The moment Aurora had described the place Nadine was being held, Teine knew where it was. In the very back of the large building, there was a set of stairs that led deeper into the earth. At the bottom was a trap door. Beneath that was a hole where the alpha kept the people he really had it in for. The ones he hated with a passion. Those who chose to defy him and speak out against him and the rest of the skulk. That was the only place her sister could be.

  Racing to the end of the building, Teine took the stairs lightly, down to the hard-packed dirt floor below, her gun drawn just in case there was anyone guarding below. When she reached the bottom, she took a moment to let her eyes adjust, and then crossed the room to where the large wooden trapdoor stood open in the middle of the floor.

  “My mate will come for me! He will come, and you will all be dead!”

  It was her sister! She would recognize Nadine’s voice anywhere.

  Teine fought tears as she grasped the Glock tightly in her hand and looked back to where Nolan and Knox appeared. Motioning to the open trapdoor, she placed a finger to her lips.

  “Your mate isn’t coming, bitch. If he was, he would have been here by now.”

  Anger filled her, and Teine had to fight to keep from rushing across the floor. It was Reardon, an enforcer she’d considered a good friend just the year before. They’d spent a lot of time together, and she’d even halfway wished at one point that he was her mate.

  “He is coming!” Nadine insisted, screaming it at him. “Casen is coming back for me. He told me he was, and he wasn’t lying!”

  “Yeah, well, maybe someone made it so he wouldn’t make it back,” Reardon said snidely, and Teine froze when there was a loud thump, and she heard Nadine cry out. “Maybe they found out you were seeing a good for nothing bear, and so they killed him and buried that fucker deep in the ground.”

  “No!” Nadine screamed and they heard a loud smack. “No, I don’t believe you!”

  “I’ve told you before, and I will tell you again, the man you claim is your mate is gone, Nadine. He is not coming back. Ever. Just like that bitch of a sister and freak of a child. Gone!” There was another loud slap, and then another.

  “No, no, no!” Nadine was screaming, her voice full of lost hope and anguish. “Casen. Athena. Teine.”

  Teine had heard enough. Not waiting to see if her mate and Knox followed, she crossed to the door and leaped, landing on her feet several feet down, facing the man who used to be her friend.

  “You son of a bitch,” she snarled, raising her gun to level it at him. “How dare you lay a hand on my sister.”

  Reardon’s eyes widened in shock and he stood still, staring at her. “Teine?”

  “Who else would it be?” Teine snarled, not moving when Nolan dropped through the hole above, landing on the ground beside her. “How dare you lay a hand on my sister, you asshole.”

  Reardon’s gaze turned calculating, and he made a move toward Nadine.

  “I would think twice about that,” Nolan growled, stalking across the small area, and leaning down to help Nadine up.

  She stared at him, a shaky hand lifting toward his face. “Casen?”

  “No, sweetheart. My name’s Nolan. Nolan Channing. I’m Teine’s mate.”

  “Where’s Casen?”

  Nadine slowly rose to her feet with Nolan’s help, her gaze meeting Teine’s. Teine wanted to fill Reardon with bullets when she saw the deep, dark bruising covering not only her sister’s face, but the rest of the skin she could see as well. She looked as if every movement hurt, the rags on her body barely covering her.

  “Teine?”

  “I’m right here, sissy,” Teine whispered, pulling her gaze from Reardon’s just long enough to assure her sister. “We’re going to get you out of here. You are coming home with me.”

  “But where’s Casen?”

  “Honey, I don’t know who Casen is.”

  Nadine’s eyes clouded with confusion, as her gaze went from Teine to Nolan. “Casen Channing. My mate. He’s coming back for me. He promised.”

  Shock filled Teine, and her eyes flew to Nolan. Casen Channing? So, there were more Channings out there. And one of them was her sister’s mate.

  Suddenly, Reardon made his move. Before Teine knew what was happening, he was lunging for Nadine, a knife in his hand.

  “Nolan!”

  Nolan spun around, his arm going up to block the downward motion of the knife. Teine cried out when the blade sliced through her mate’s skin, blood seeping out to drop to the floor. “No!” Baring her teeth at Reardon, she leveled her gun on him and fired three kill shots, all in the head. Breathing heavily, she held her gun on the bastard, daring him to move, even though he was dead.

  “Are you okay?” Nolan growled, his stark white fangs showing in the darkness as he stood crouched over her sister.

  “Yes. You?”

  The blood was slowly dripping onto the floor, but he nodded. “I’m fine for now. We need to get out of here in case someone heard those shots.” Slipping his arms under Nadine, he gathered her into his arms. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you out of here.”

  “Casen,” Nadine whispered, laying her head on his shoulder.

  Nolan’s eyes met hers, and he shrugged, looking helpless. Teine knew he didn’t know what to do, the problem was, she didn’t either. She was lost. According to Nadine, Casen Channing was her mate. If that was true, where the hell was he?

  “Get the hell up here,
you two,” Knox hissed from above. “I can hear some kind of commotion outside.”

  “Can you make it up the ladder with her?” she asked softly. It was an old rope ladder thrown down in the hole to retrieve the bodies when they were done with them. It would be difficult for Nolan to climb out with her sister the way he was holding her, but it didn’t look like she would be able to make it on her own.

  “I’ll help him, little sister,” Knox promised, leaning over so they could see him.

  Nadine lifted her head weakly from Nolan’s shoulder at Knox’s voice, her eyes searching for him in the darkness. “Casen?”

  “No, sissy, that’s Knox. He’s going to help us get out of here.”

  Tears flowed from Nadine’s eyes as she rested her head back on Nolan’s shoulder, deep sobs racking her body. “Where is he? Where?”

  Teine’s heart hurt for her sister, but she had no answers. Quietly, she followed Nolan up the rope, and then up the stairs to the main floor. Quickly slipping past him, she stopped to help the other prisoners, but found the cell doors open, and the cells empty.

  “Aurora,” Knox muttered, shaking his head. “That woman is going to give my brother a heart attack.”

  He was right. Teine smelled the other woman’s scent in the building, where it never should have been. It wasn’t part of the plan. She and her coven were just supposed to supply an illusion while Teine, Knox, and Nolan went in after Nadine.

  There were loud shouts coming closer and closer to them, and a loud roar split through the air. Teine knew there was no way they would make it out the front door. “Come this way,” she whispered, taking them down to the other end of the building to a side door. Opening it slowly, she inhaled deeply, then motioned for them to follow as she slipped outside.

  They’d almost made it around to the corner of the building when something made her glance back. Alpha Bond himself stood glaring at her, his arm raised, a gun pointed in her direction.