Her Dream Come True [Blackwood Falls 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Sarah Blake

  “Look Adam, don’t do anything stupid. Talk to Luke, he might be able to give you some advice,” the one not sitting on the bag said as he stood up. That’s when Luke noticed these were the two friends dating the Alpha’s twin sisters. Paul nodded good-bye to Luke as he walked away from his friend. Luke took his seat, wondering what was going on.

  “What’s up? You going on vacation?” he asked, pointing to the bag. Adam didn’t answer, just looked away. “Come on Adam, tell me what’s going on.” That was when Luke noticed some changes on the young man. He seemed to have filled out since the last time he had seen him. Adam also looked a little older and would no doubt be taller when he stood up. The boy had matured into an adult wolf.

  “I’m leaving,” Adam told him. “Happy? I’m leaving Blackwood.”

  “What the hell for?” Luke asked shocked.

  “It’s for the best,” the guy said and Luke didn’t have a clue what the other man was talking about. After asking him what he meant, Adam sighed, looking defeated. “I matured three days ago. Before then, me and Sky were really into each other. And that was fine, but when I saw her after I matured, I knew. She’s my mate.”

  “And you think Brax will kill you if he found out?”

  “I don’t think, I know. That’s why I’m leaving. It’ll give her a chance of at least a little happiness. If I stay, and she matures, she’ll want to mate with me. I can just imagine how Brax would take that. If I go now, she can have some sort of a life, even just a little with someone else. If I stay, I won’t be able to stay away from her and then Brax would lock me up for the rest of my life.”

  “And what about you? What about your happiness?”

  “I don’t care about me. As long as Sky’s okay, that’s all I’m bothered about.”

  “And how do you think she’ll feel when she finds out you’ve left? I bet she won’t be happy.”

  “No but she’ll get over me. She’s so bright and beautiful and full of life. I can’t destroy that by letting her know we’re mates, but I can never claim her. I just can’t do it.”

  “And you think running away will keep you away from her? Because it won’t you know. No matter how far you go, you’ll come back for her. Not that you won’t try to stop yourself, but it won’t work. The mating pull is too strong.”

  Just as Luke was about to tell Adam he had to talk to Brax, his phone started ringing the emergency ring tone. Grabbing his cell while jumping to his feet, he noticed it was a text with a location. Moving before Adam had the chance to ask what was wrong, Luke ran flat out, heading to the location. It was about forty-five minutes along the border from where Luke was. He knew Liam was patrolling that area. Adam followed. The young man couldn’t keep up with Luke, but was following his scent.

  When Luke was approaching the location, the smell of blood became stronger and stronger. Dread filled him.

  What he found brought him to a halt. Liam was lying on the forest floor with a pack soldier, Scott, next to him, applying pressure to the deep, ugly claw marks along his chest. The soldier was telling Liam to stay with him as he worked. Josh arrived moments after Luke, and Adam moments after him. The arrival of the head Sentinel snapped Luke out of his shock.

  “What happened?” he asked, running over to Liam. His face was a mess of blood.

  Scott spoke, the fear and panic in his voice loud and clear. “It was rogues. Four of them. I was meant to be taking over his shift. He didn’t show at the meeting point so I came looking for him. When the rogues saw me coming, they ran. I started going after them, but Liam needed help. They went northwest.”

  “Fuck. Adam, start making a gurney. Use two big fallen branches, thick enough to take Liam’s weight,” Josh said as he took his coat off. Luke followed suit. “Use these as the bed. I’m going after them. Luke, stay here and help get Liam to the closest track a car can get to.”

  Josh shifted the second he finished speaking. Tyler and Lux arrived shortly afterward. They followed Josh when Luke filled them in. Before moving Liam, he called Brax, and arranged a car to be waiting for them. It was a good hour away from the hospital and he prayed Liam would make it. The man hadn’t moved since Luke had arrived.

  Brax met Luke, Scott and Adam halfway to the car. The Alpha took over from Luke carrying Liam so he could go back and track the rogues. He shifted, shredding his clothes as soon as he told his Alpha what was going on.

  He raced to the spot where Liam was found then followed the other Sentinel’s scent. When he started picking up the rogues’ scent, that’s when it hit him. He knew the scent of the person who killed the deer and sent the piss-soaked letters. It was a rogue wolf called Kenny Tate. The son of a bitch had caused trouble for Water Sun a few years ago, before Luke had joined the SEALs. That fucking bastard, Luke thought as he closed in on Josh. Lux and Tyler were there as well. Shifting back into his human body, he told the others what he knew about Kenny.

  The four split into two groups and went separate ways. The group of rogues had split up. Two went south, the other two, including Kenny, went east. After twenty minutes of tracking, Luke and Tyler pulled up short when they came face-to-face with Josh and Lux.

  “That son of a bitch,” Luke shouted as he shifted back. “He fucking set cold trails for us.” Then it dawned on him. “Oh fuck. It’s a diversion. The whole fucking thing, even the attack on Liam. They did it to get us away from the town.” His words were met with curses as the four shifted back. None of them had a phone on them. They’d been left where they shifted.

  They raced back to their clothes, digging for their phones. While Josh, Lux and Tyler started calling Brax, Danny and other soldiers who were on patrol closest to town, Luke ran to his own clothes. He had to call Trish and make sure she was okay and to get somewhere safe. Panic nearly over took him when he got her voice mail three times. The other Sentinels caught up to him after he called her cell two more times before the clinic. No answer. Fuck.

  “Brax knows. He was literally dialling my number when I called him. There’s a group of rogue wolves surrounding the clinic’s entrances and exits. He doesn’t know how many are inside yet. Let’s go,” Josh told him before again shifting back.

  “Go,” Lux told Luke. Lux was the fastest one of them on foot and he had collected everyone’s clothes before heading to town.

  * * * *

  Trish smiled as the young pup she had just treated waved her good-bye as she left with her mother. The poor little guy had been climbing a tree and slipped, falling to the ground and cutting his arm and knees. As she was finishing the pup’s paperwork at the nurses’ station, she heard her name being called from behind. “Yes?” she asked the woman who had called for her. Trish didn’t recognize the absolutely stunning brunette by name but knew she was from Water Sun and had seen her around town.

  “Trish Shipley?” she asked again. “Hi, I’m sorry for bothering you at work, but I wanted to apologize in person. My name’s Emma.” As soon as Emma said her name, Trish knew it was the woman who had texted Luke the other night, asking to meet up. “Look, I’m really sorry about texting Luke. I completely forgot about him mating. I’ve been having a bad time of it at the moment and it honestly slipped my mind.”

  “Oh, right. Well thanks for apologizing. It means a lot,” Trish replied, feeling better for it.

  “No need to say thanks. I wanted to talk to you about something else as well. I don’t know what Luke told you about me, but we didn’t just hook up every now and then. We were actually good friends and worked well together. We haven’t seen much of each other in a while and one of the reasons I texted was to see if he wanted to go out for a drink.”

  “You worked with him?”

  “Yeah, I was a soldier for Water Sun. Me and Luke got on so well because he wasn’t intimidated by my dominance and strength. Most of the other Sentinels were and never failed to remind me of how they were higher in the pack than me. Mark hated me really, but used me because they were short on soldiers.” Trish could see the woman was
still angry about that fact and she couldn’t blame her. “I hope you don’t have any problems with me. I don’t want to cause you and Luke problems. I’m actually really pleased he finally found his mate. I hope me and you could become friends also.”

  Trish could feel the honesty coming off the woman and hoped the two could become friends as well. “Thanks. Listen, why don’t you come over to dinner on Friday night? I know Luke hasn’t had much time to relax with his friends lately.”

  “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

  The two women stood talking for another few minutes when they were interrupted by a smell that turned Trish’s stomach.

  “Emma, what ya doing here?” asked the man who had knocked the waitress over at the café when Trish and Sarah were having lunch.

  “Clint,” was all Emma said to the man. She seemed revolted by his smell as much as Trish was.

  When the man just stared for a few moments, Trish decided to see what he wanted.

  “Can I help you?” she asked him. The smile Clint gave Trish in way of a response was so creepy and full of menace, a chill went down her spine. He looked down the corridor that led to the entrance. When he turned back to the women, he checked his watch and laughed.

  “Right on time. Emma, you weren’t meant to be here, but seeing as you are, I guess I can kill two birds with one stone.”

  Before either woman had the chance to ask what he was talking about, Clint pulled a gun from the waistband at the back of his jeans and shot Emma in the chest. The woman dropped to the ground, blood spreading across her white top.

  Trish fell to the ground seconds after Emma, thankful she was behind the desk of the nurses’ station. Clint took off running down the corridor toward the entrance and Trish scrambled round the desk to Emma. Just as she reached her, she heard shouts, screams and another gun shot from the direction Clint ran. “Emma!” she shouted to the woman lying on the ground. She got no response and started dragging her to a cubical when a group of about ten men she didn’t know came down the corridor.

  The man in front of the group raised his arm as he walked closer and aimed his gun at Trish. “Leave her,” he said as he grabbed hold of Trish by a fistful of her hair. She tried to get free, but he placed the gun against her head. “Unless you want to join her, I suggest you behave and do as you’re told.”

  “What do you want?” she asked. She was so scared she was surprised she could talk.

  “Nothing to do with you, bitch,” he snarled at her, spit flying all over her face. He dragged her by the hair along the corridor, finally stopping at the entrance to the large room used for patients waiting for X-ray or scan results. She was glad only one of the ten beds in the room was occupied. The twenty-one-year-old had had an accident with a nail gun resulting in three long nails being embedded in his right leg.

  The man holding Trish’s hair pushed the door open and shoved her into the room. She landed on her side after crashing into one of the spare beds. Just as she was righting herself, the door at the other end of the room burst open. What she guessed to be all of the staff, visitors and patients from the waiting area of the clinic’s emergency room were pushed in by more armed men.

  The door she was brought in from opened again and more staff and patients came through, looking just as frightened as she felt.

  Once the room was full of what Trish guessed was every person from the first floor of the clinic, everyone’s cell phones, pagers and any other electronic device were taken out. Trish noticed Clint standing by the man who had brought her in, a smug look on his face. There were only six armed men left in the room now—Clint, two men at each door and the man that had brought her into the room. She guessed from the way the others, especially Clint, were talking to that particular man, he was the leader of the group. Her guess was confirmed moments later when he spoke.

  “Right then, now we’re all here.” He laughed. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Kenny, your new Alpha.” Trish was stunned by the announcement, as were all the other gathered hostages. Where’s Luke? she asked herself, worried for her mate.

  “Trish.” She heard her name being whispered. She looked over and saw Kirstie making her way through the crowd toward her. Trish hugged one of her closest friends when Kirstie reached her. “You okay? Did they hurt you?” the other woman asked in a whisper.

  “No, no, I’m fine. What about you?”

  “I’m okay, they knocked Phil out though. I checked him over and he seems okay. I hope so anyway.”

  “Do you know what’s going on? What they want and where Brax and the Sentinels are?” Trish asked.

  “Yeah, before they knocked Phil out, they told us they were taking over the pack. Their leader, Kenny, is planning on challenging Brax. There’s no way he’ll stand a chance alone against Brax so I’d bet he’ll play dirty.”

  When Kirstie finished talking, both women’s attention was brought back to Kenny as he shouted at Clint. “What the fuck do you mean you haven’t got Brax’s number?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I wasn’t able to get hold of it. Give me a few minutes. I’ll check the phones we took off these. One of them is sure to have it.”

  Kenny backhanded Clint across his cheek before letting him leave the room. Trish didn’t know what she could do, but she knew she had to do something.

  * * * *

  Luke and the other two sentinels made their way through the shop that Brax, Liam, Scott, Adam and few other soldiers were holding out in. The front of the shop faced the hospital and the back was only a few feet from the forest.

  “What’s happening?” Josh asked the Alpha as soon as they were all in.

  “There’s a group of about twenty rogues. They’ve formed their own little pack and plan on taking over Blackwood. Half the soldiers round the town were darted with a tranquilizer. That’s how the rogues made it to the hospital. You were right, Luke, it was that bastard Clint,” Brax said. Before he could say any more, two soldiers came in through the back door.

  “Alpha, we’ve found out how they got past half the patrols in the forest. We found a tunnel underground not that far from Clint’s home. There must be another one further into the forest near the border,” the first one said.

  “Also,” continued the second, “there’s a tunnel under Clint’s garden shed, half the floor of which is fake. It leads a few hundred feet into the forest not that far from the other one we found. That’s how he must have been getting out of his house without us knowing. His house was a fucking mess. We know how he covered his scent as well. We found clothes, covered in the scent of who we’re guessing is one of the rogues. There was a large chest in the shed that contained a number of water bottles, but there was piss instead of water in them. We think that’s how he was covering his own scent and what he was using to soak the letters. The rogue who was donating the piss must have been saving it in a barrel or something for months.”

  “Shit,” Luke said. His mate was in that hospital with Kenny. He knew the bastard was crazy. He had to get to Trish.

  “Luke,” Brax shouted. “You can’t go in there by yourself. There’s too many of them. We need to form a plan.”

  Lux walked in just then with all their clothes. As Luke just finished dressing, he had to take a few moments to calm his wolf down. It was going mad, needing to protect his mate.

  Shortly after Lux, three more soldiers arrived. “Alpha,” one called Kim said. “We’ve been right round the clinic, there’s three ways in and out. At least two people guarding each door. We’ve been round all the businesses, told them to lock up and sit tight till they hear from us. We also told them to call round everyone in the pack, let them know to stay inside,” she finished.

  “Just two?” Tyler asked.

  “Yeah, but they’ve both got weapons. At least two guns each from what we could see.”

  “That’s too easy. They must have something else we don’t know about. Was there anything else at Clint’s house, Alan?” Josh asked.

  “No. Nothing that we
could find to help the rogues.”

  The ringing of Brax’s cell brought all conversation to a stop. Luke was shocked at the power his Alpha had to use to keep him and Tyler, whose mate was also in the clinic, from running in and trying to get them.

  “Trish?” Brax asked when he answered the phone. Luke’s entire body went on alert at the name of his mate. He gave his full attention to the phone to see if she could help give them info on what was going on inside.The sound of male laughter came from the other end of the phone, however.

  “No, afraid not. The good doctor is not available at the moment. I however, have something to say. Blackwood pack will soon be under a new rule. Mine. Kenny Tate. So listen up Sentinels, I know you’re listening and this is your soon-to-be Alpha speaking. When I kill Brax, your choice is very easy. You either stay under my rule, or leave.”

  Growls from all the Sentinels in the room had Kenny laughing again.

  “Now now, boys, enough of that. Now I bet you’re wondering why there are only two of my men guarding the doors. Well it’s simple. There’s currently a small bomb in the center of all the staff and patients here on the first floor of the clinic. Each of my men on the doors has a remote control for the bomb and has instructions to blow it if they come under attack. So let’s not try anything funny, shall we? Brax, you have one hour to get your affairs in order. I want you outside the clinic not one second over that hour. It’s safe to say I want you alone. If I see one person come near you, it’s bye-bye to nineteen members of the pack.” Kenny hung up.

  “Fuck,” Brax said as he put his phone away. “I knew it was too easy. Shit.”

  Luke was on edge. He needed Trish. He needed to protect her. Kenny was one dead motherfucking man.

  Brax’s phone rang less than a minute after Kenny’s call. “It’s the clinic’s number,” he told the room before answering.

  “Emma?” he asked when he answered the phone. “Slow down, slow down, okay, say that again.” As Brax was speaking, Liam groaned and coughed up blood. “Shit, look Emma, I’m going to put you on speaker phone okay? I need to help Liam.” He turned his speaker phone on and placed it on the table before making his way to the fallen sentinel. The man didn’t seem to be healing and Luke suspected the claws used to rip into his chest were soaked in poison. It was what Kenny had done before.