Dirt flew behind him at the force of his strides. Russell caught up to him and ran to his left, making sure not to travel too close.
God help the next living creature that got in his way.
But there was no creature that got in the way of Cullen’s scent. The trail stopped cold at the road. Frantically, Brock sniffed at the air, looking for anything he could use to track whatever they drove off in. An oil leak or burning rubber scent that would trail behind.
Russell gave Brock a quick nod before he ran back to the house. This search was better suited for wheels than paws.
How much of a head start did they have? What were they driving?
Brock paced back and forth along the side of the highway. He had police who could assist in the search, but what could he have them look for? Two females and two males in some type of vehicle.
Judging by the tire tracks on the shoulder, it was a bigger car, so probably a truck or SUV. They already had a ten or fifteen-minute head start. Every minute Russell took to grab a car was one more minute Elsie was being pulled farther away.
Mates were supposed to be connected on multiple levels. Could he track her down based on her essence alone?
He closed his eyes and focused on Elsie. Her smile, bright blue eyes, tight skirts, and the little smile she had when Jackson was being an ass.
Brock opened his eyes again. Nothing. Why couldn’t he feel her? Was she still alive?
He pushed the thought out of his head. They wouldn’t drag her all the way back to their car to kill her. They wanted to use her for something. They wanted to use her to get to him.
Mission fucking accomplished. If they wanted the damn throne, they could have it. He needed Elsie back.
Squealing tires sounded in the distance and Russell drove up in the Porsche he’d let Dani borrow. Brock was in human form by the time the car screeched to a halt in front of him. He jumped in and started to put on the pants Russell always had on hand as Russell sped off in the direction Cullen went.
“We’re gonna find her, man,” said Russell.
Brock said nothing. His fists clenched as he stared out the window, searching for any type of clue.
“Any mate of yours is strong. She’ll be fine.”
Brock couldn’t take his empty assurances anymore. “Any mate of mine shouldn’t have to deal with this shit. She never should be in this situation. We were supposed to keep her safe! You never even liked her!”
Russell’s jaw tightened at the accusation. “It wasn’t like that. Your mating was just pretty quick and sirens aren’t known for pure motives.”
Brock’s fist pounded into the glove box, almost putting a hole in the overpriced leather-covered plastic. “You have no idea what she is to me. Elsie saved my life. Cullen sent a fucking rogue myotis after me, and Elsie shot him. She knew exactly what would happen, but she did it anyway. Elsie doesn’t have a selfish bone in her fucking body and if I ever hear you say anything bad about her ever again, I will rip out your goddamn throat!”
Russell took his eyes off the road to stare at Brock. “Fuck. You’re serious?”
Brock’s glare was answer enough.
“I didn’t know. We’re going to find her. Don’t worry. And I’ll make sure Elsie and I are best friends after we get her back. One big happy fucking family, okay?”
For a few blissful moments, Brock allowed himself to believe it.
Three hours later, with no sign of Elsie or Cullen, he wasn’t so sure.
~~~~~
As the sun set over the water, Elsie kept up her trotting pace. Her legs felt like jelly and her back felt as though a three-hundred-pound man was weighing her down, but she refused to stop.
She’d already taken too many rest breaks and each one made it harder to get up and keep running. Sure, she ran on a treadmill in her human form, but the farthest she’d ever gone was a ten kilometer run.
Luckily her wolf was stronger. Still more than capable of exhaustion, but stronger.
Elsie glanced around again, looking for any familiar ground. A pointless exercise. None of this land was familiar to her. Even using her super powered nose, she couldn’t pick up any scents that reminded her of her mate.
Head to the ground to pick up any scents to verify she was on the right track, Elsie kept running. She didn’t hear the other wolf until well after the sunset.
The snapping branch to her left caused her to jump up, pivoting in midair to face any threat.
The hair on her neck raised and her lip curled up in a snarl. A brown wolf gracefully stepped out of the darkness. He wasn’t trying to be silent, but he wasn’t acting overtly threatening either.
Elsie tilted her head as she watched to see what he would do.
He wasn’t one of the weres who took her. His smell was off. Slightly familiar. Not her mate, but he smelled so similar.
Russell. As realization dawned, a growl escaped her throat.
He blinked at her threat and took a step back. After staring at her for another moment, he turned and ran back in the direction he came from.
Knowing her mate wouldn’t stray far from his brother, Elsie followed. She kept a large gap between them, just in case he decided he didn’t want her on his tail, literally.
He ran faster than she wanted. He obviously didn’t just get through quite the endurance workout she did. Or maybe he could go faster and farther because he’d been able to turn furry much longer than her.
His pace didn’t let up, and she refused to let her exhausted legs slow down. After a ways, the scenery finally started to click in place. The first familiar landmark was the lake. Then there were the trees that let up to the cabin.
And then there was the cabin. A high screeching noise emanated from her throat. Finally letting herself go, she could rest and be safe. No one was going to track her down and hurt her again.
Russell stopped at her whine. He glanced back to her, the first time he’d looked at her in hours. Then he threw his head back and let out a loud howl, calling for help.
Elsie followed his lead. Her own howl wasn’t quite as deep or loud, but he had a good fifty pounds on her. Nonetheless, she put her all into it. She was back. She was safe. The whole world deserved to know.
The screen door banged open as her mate ran outside. At the sight of him, Elsie stopped mid-howl. She dropped her head and let out another pathetic whine.
She didn’t care how she sounded. She found him. Finally.
She tried to walk to him, but her legs didn’t seem to work. One leg tried to move herself to him, but her weight collapsed it underneath her. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground.
Instinctively, she whipped her head around and snapped at whoever dared to touch her, but when she saw Russell carrying her, she drew back. He might not like her, but for some reason he was helping her now.
Not that he carried her for long. Her mate was there. He brushed a gentle hand over her head and looked into her eyes. Were they still blue? Did wolves even have blue eyes?
“Elsie? But how?”
She felt Russell shrug. “I have no idea. I just found her in the middle of nowhere. She’s pretty tired.”
Understatement of the year!
Her mate looked at her again. “Can you change back?”
Change back? She hadn’t even considered it. She didn’t even know how she changed in the first place. Or why.
Why hadn’t she thought of this?
Her mate shook his head and pulled her from Russell’s grip. “Come on,” he whispered as he cradled her against his chest. Elsie let out a deep breath and let herself relax in his grip. She’d found him. Everything would be okay now.
He walked her past Lana and Gloria on the porch. Inside the house, there were a bunch of people she didn’t know—a few women in the living room, and she could smell at least one man in the kitchen. No recent trace of Dani, though.
Not that she had much time to look around. Her mate had her up the stairs and in his—no, t
heir—room in minutes. When she hit the soft mattress, she almost wept with joy. Or whined. Whatever it was that wolves did when they were happy.
Her mate moved around the room. Part of her wanted to turn to watch his graceful movements, but exhaustion won over. As the bed dipped with his weight, Elsie was sucked into unconsciousness.
~~~~~
Elsie didn’t expect dreams to be normal. Sometimes she was naked; sometimes she was living happily in a house she’d never seen before. She was used to that.
She’d never been a wolf in a dream before, though. Same long hallway with flowing curtains and portraits of people she’d never met. Different body.
Chances were the door behind her was still locked, so she didn’t really miss the opposable thumbs. The fur wouldn’t change her strategy.
Keeping her eyes and ears open for any danger, Elsie backed into the corner and laid down. The dead queen could play her games. Elsie would just wait her out right here in her corner.
The previous two times she’d dreamed of the strange mansion, she’d woken up relatively quickly. But not now. The time seemed to drag on as Elsie stared into the still hallway. Dreams weren’t supposed to have dead time. There was always momentum and movement.
Dreams weren’t supposed to be boring.
She forced herself to hold her ground. The queen was just trying to bore her into a confrontation. Well, screw her.
Elsie wasn’t going to be murdered in her sleep like the other two queens. Unlike them, she was much too cowardly to fight a ghost.
She was also much more alive. Cowardice did have some benefits.
It wasn’t long before the queen changed tactics. The floor beneath her started to rumble and the walls shook. Elsie jumped to her feet and skittered forward just as a piece of the ceiling crumbled behind her.
Her claws couldn’t get traction on the shiny marble floors and she slid hard into a window; bits of glass broke and fell out the third-story window.
Realizing how close she’d been to flying out the window with the glass, Elsie brought a shaky hand to her forehead.
She pulled her palm back and stared at the creamy, and hairless, skin. When did that happen? Looking down, she saw the same virginal white nightgown she wore her previous two times and her own bare feet.
How convenient to run over crumbling drywall. At the thought, the mansion trembled again. A pile of rubble covered the door she had been resting against, and the majority of the tremors seemed to emanate from that direction.
The queen was flushing her out. As she turned back to the broken window, Elsie took a deep breath. Screw it.
Without letting herself overthink her options, she threw all her weight at the glass, hoping it would all break outwards and avoid her skin.
The fall would hurt enough.
Instead of the few seconds of falling and painful landing like she was expecting, Elsie ran straight into a brick wall.
The impact pushed her flat on her back and had her trying to find her bearings. The window was definitely broken and looked out over a sunny day and well-manicured lawn. It just wasn’t letting her out.
Elsie leaped up just as a piece of ceiling hit the ground inches from her feet. She wasn’t going to be led like a lamb to the slaughter. At least not without a fight.
Clenching her fists and ducking her head, Elsie ran full speed to the magically obstructed broken window. This time the force field didn’t merely stop her. It propelled her all the way across the hallway, slamming her back into the far wall.
As Elsie slid to the ground, her world went black.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Elsie’s eyes fluttered open, but she couldn’t see anything. Squinting, she tried to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness until the familiar furniture from Brock’s bedroom came into focus. The thick comforter surrounded her with warmth, and the steady sounds of his breathing came from just behind her. His thick forearm arm lay across her stomach. Maybe protectively, maybe possessively. She couldn’t tell.
Maybe both.
Hesitantly, she curled her toes and flexed her calf, but there was no lingering soreness from the dream. Relieved that the pain didn’t cross over into the conscious realm, Elsie stretched her legs out and rolled her shoulders.
Brock’s expensive sheets caressed her skin, and she took a moment to fully appreciate how much they must’ve cost. And she got a very good feel, considering she was completely naked beneath the covers.
“Do you remember changing back?” whispered Brock.
Elsie shimmied beneath the blankets until she turned to face him, making sure the blanket covered all the necessary parts. She could just barely make out his silhouette in the darkness, but he probably had better night vision than her. Brock, playing the consummate gentleman, was lying outside the covers. “I was sleeping when it happened. I only just woke up.”
She thought he wrapped his arm around her subconsciously in his sleep, but he made no move to remove his light grip on her.
“Why didn’t you tell me you could turn?” The words were carefully spoken to sound more curious than accusatory.
“I didn’t know. It was a possibility, but there was no guarantee. Seeing Mother and Roman together, she started to avoid sunlight and doesn’t eat as much food, but she never changed so completely. I never expected that the bonding would change me so much. My sister doesn’t seem to act like a vampire at all. I just figured Mother wanted to make Roman more comfortable by adopting his lifestyle.”
“She never told you this might happen?”
Elsie shrugged, knowing he could feel the movement. “I haven’t really talked to her since we bonded. I guess it’s time for a sit-down.”
Brock’s thumb moved in slow circles over the curve of her hip. The blanket covering her was thick, but her nerves still seemed to light up at the contact. Trying to take her mind off the electric currents that shot through her, she said, “It might’ve taken years for me to change if I hadn’t been so motivated.”
“This should’ve never happened,” he muttered. His muscles tensed with frustration.
“But it did.” Elsie tried to make her voice as calming as possible. She laid a hand on Brock’s shoulder, surprised to feel the cloth of his t-shirt. “Tomorrow we will talk to Dani and sort all this out. Until then, we just need to relax and appreciate that I’m alive.”
Beneath her hand, Brock stiffened. “Dani’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“She took off after she admitted what she’d done. Frankly, if she hadn’t left herself, I probably would’ve kicked her out myself.”
Elsie shook her head at his words. “She’s just a kid. She didn’t understand they wanted to hurt me.”
Brock’s hand tightened on her hip. “She’s sixteen and has lived her entire life hearing how ruthless her father is. There is no excuse. You are my mate and her queen. She knew exactly what she was doing.”
After moderating the many fights between Brock and Jackson, she knew when he was done talking about something. It was too late to track down Dani now anyway. It would have to be tomorrow’s problem.
Or later today’s problem. What time was it?
As her eyes adjusted better to the darkness, she realized he was still wearing thick pants and shoes. “Why are you fully dressed?” The second the question left her mouth, she wanted to pull it back. “I mean, like, um, why aren’t you wearing pajamas?”
Brock snorted at her stuttered backtracking. “I was pretty scared when you went missing. I was running for most of the day, looking for your scent. When Russell brought you home, I was too happy and too exhausted to bother.”
“I’m sorry I worried you,” she muttered. Before he could apologize again, she continued, “I should probably put on something.”
For a long moment, Brock was silent. “Probably best,” he finally whispered.
Elsie sat up, causing Brock to remove his arm. She held the blanket up to her chest, but still felt cold without his touch. “Where’s Riggs
?” Since she’d gotten to the cabin, he’d either slept with her or Dani, but he wasn’t anywhere in the room.
“Russell has him. We didn’t want to stress him out. You looked half dead.”
“You don’t think that he’ll...I mean, now that I turn furry—”
“He’ll love you still,” assured Brock. “I’ve been running with him a few times as a wolf. He can still tell who we are.”
Well, that was at least one good thing. She wished she could see Brock better. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she’d just had a near-death experience. It was best not to make any hasty life decisions while dealing with such traumatic events.
Last time she did that, she ended up bonded to Brock in the first place.
No. They needed space. Time to regroup. Sure, he held her while she recovered and didn’t even slip under the covers for the sake of her modesty, but timing was everything when it came to these things.
“Is my bag still over by the bathroom?” she asked.
“Stay there. I’ll grab you a shirt.” The bed shifted as his weight disappeared and he rummaged through her bag. If he could actually see the difference between her pajamas and normal clothes, he must have much better night vision than her.
And then she realized he was rifling through all her stuff and could probably see her panties and bras perfectly in the darkness. Keeping the blanket wrapped around her, Elsie stood. “I can get that.”
She walked behind him and put a hand on his arm to move him away. Instead of moving, he turned to face her.
The heat seemed to radiate off him and he towered over her. The room wasn’t small, but with him so close, it felt as though she was trapped and there was no escape from his intense gaze.
She didn’t know whether she should be grateful for the darkness hiding her or whether she wanted to see his face in the light. Wanted to see just how much he wanted her in his gaze.
The way he looked down at her, she might not have been covering herself at all. She was naked and alone in a room with her mate. The only sound was his breath as he wordlessly looked down at her. She should say something—relieve the tension somehow—but nothing came to her.
Ruling Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 4) Page 12