“She betrayed you. After you had sold out the rest of your clan for human comforts, for money.” I could see it clearly and tears began to creep their way from Troy’s eyes as he let out a howl, feeling the pain as clearly as the day it had happened.
“She tried to have you killed by hunters, she wanted all of the money for herself, but you got to her first and murdered her with your own hands.”
“Get out of my head!” Troy screamed and bucked beneath me, nearly unseating me. “Get! Out!”
“Not going to happen. I’m a mystic. Healer. All that jazz.” Holding him down was getting more and more difficult, I was beginning to breathe heavily with the exertion.
“Jen!” Liam’s voice called from the great room.
“I’m here! Upstairs!” I heard footsteps running up the stairs and I smiled. “Looks like my team won Troy, it’s over.”
“No!” Troy screamed before doing something unexpected that I should have seen coming.
He shifted.
His clothes shredded around him as the shift overtook him and I quickly decided that holding a cougar wasn’t likely going to end well for me. Leaping away I stood and watched warily as he finished his shift just as the door shook from a heavy blow.
Troy cast one glance at me, cat eyes shining in the starlight, before turning and leaping right through one of the giant windows. Glass fell to the floor, the door crashing open at the same time.
No longer caring about Troy I spun around and felt a wave of relief wash over me as I saw the silhouette of Liam standing in the doorway. Time seemed to pause as we both looked into each other’s eyes before smiles split our faces.
“Jen...” He stepped forward slowly and I walked into his arms. And just that easily everything felt right in the world.
“I was worried you wouldn’t be able to find this place, but I knew you were coming for me.” I smiled against his bare chest, wrapping my arms around him and savoring the moment.
“I’m relieved to find you safe, I was concerned.” His voice faltered slightly at the end. He looked around and brightened up slightly. “Though I’m glad you didn’t emasculate me fully by rescuing yourself completely.”
I looked up into his eyes and laughed softly. “Well, I figured you would want to feel useful and all.”
“How very kind of you.” He smiled, but it faded quickly. “We need to leave this place.”
I nodded and stepped away reluctantly, I needed to be touching him, assuring myself he was really there. His hand found mine and I smiled widely, he felt the same way.
After taking a few steps towards the door he paused and looked to me. “You may want to close your eyes.” His voice was quiet and he watched me for a reaction. “Things are... messy through this door.”
I nodded but didn’t follow his suggestion as we stepped out onto the upper walk. I immediately regretted my decision and shut my eyes quickly, but the image would be etched in my memory for quite some time.
Something had taken down a large section of the far wall, whatever Liam had done to get inside, and parts of it had been strewn all over the main area. Along with parts of people. Blood was everywhere.
Liam guided me down the stairs and out through the front door with whispered directions and I met the cool night air gratefully. One of the automatic lights came on as he guided me to a seat on the porch.
“Ok, you can open your eyes.” Liam’s voice was quiet, worried. I probably looked ready to be sick.
Opening my eyes slowly I realized that wasn’t his concern.
He was injured, badly at my guess, though he was putting up a strong front. He had clearly been shot several times, I hadn’t been able to see clearly in the room upstairs. I also noticed that I had gotten quite a bit of the blood on myself when I had hugged him inside.
I didn’t care.
“Oh god Liam! No!” I stood back up quickly and moved toward him but he held up his hands.
“I’ll be fine, really, it looks far worse than it is.” His smile did little to reassure me.
Movement nearby caught my attention and I looked around to see another wolf standing slowly, shakily. Ian.
“Goodbye my friend.” Liam’s voice was heavy with sadness as Ian looked between us and turned slowly before padding slowly down the stairs. His legs weren’t moving properly.
“Ian needs...” I had barely begun to speak before Liam was shaking his head.
“There is nothing that can be done.” His voice was barely a whisper. “He wanted to see you safe, before...”
I felt myself crying as I watched Ian making his way awkwardly across the grounds and into the treeline. Liam stepped over to me and held me close as Ian passed from his view as well.
We stood there for a time before Liam spoke softly.” I’m going back inside to get you a change of clothes and a coat, you should wait here.”
I nodded and sat at the top of the stairs as Liam walked inside. The tears kept flowing for a while as the sadness changed to resolve. All of this pain was because of Troy, because of his greed. So many had been hurt, or worse, by his actions.
Humans and shifters both.
By the time Liam returned with my change of clothes I was determined to see Troy brought to justice. He wouldn’t keep escaping, we weren’t going to let that happen.
“Liam, we need to get you patched up and get out of here. We’ll take Troy’s truck, the keys should be inside.” I began to change into the new clothes and caught him smiling at me from the corner of my eye. “What?”
“You are an amazing woman love. When I left you were overcome by sadness and now, a few minutes later your emotions are more in line with an avenging angel.” He touched my face lightly, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. “Meeting you was the luckiest moment of my life.”
I smiled and reached up to pull him into a kiss. “It was my luckiest moment as well.”
Just over an hour later I was driving down the narrow access road leading away from the nightmare of the past few days. Liam had been cleaned up and bandaged and he had been right, most of his injuries had been superficial.
He had even gone off to retrieve his clothes from somewhere and now sat in the passenger seat looking like his usual gorgeous self. Well, an exhausted version of it at least.
The sound of a phone ringing startled us both. Reaching into a pocket he pulled out Kris’s phone, his face becoming a thunderhead as he looked at it before answering.
“Hello Troy.” His voice held a quiet menace.
“Liam,” Troy’s voice was strained. “When you called before, you said Kristen was still alive. Was that a lie?”
“No,” Liam growled, “yet another thing you failed at.”
“I see.” Troy’s voice was flat and an edge of worry crept into my mind. “Well then. Yes. I need to make sure she’s taken care of. Thanks Liam, give Jen my best.” The line went dead as Troy hung up, Liam looked as if he were about to crush the phone in his hands.
“We need to get back to Kris, quickly.” Liam was furious with himself, he had set Troy back onto his sister’s trail.
At the end of the narrow road I took the phone from him and punched in our address. We needed to make good time and I had no idea where we were.
The euphoria of being reunited with Liam was soured by the sense of urgency that had settled over us. It seemed never ending, someone we loved always seemed to be in active danger from Troy.
It wasn’t until hours later that a thought had me on edge. Troy had called us with his cell phone, which he had left inside the cabin when he fled. He had been watching us the entire time, waiting for us to leave.
Because he never had.
Chapter Nine
Liam
My mate is safe.
I drew in another deep breath, bringing her scent, and held it inside to lose myself in it all. Happiness and relief were flooding through her, underdcut with an unshaking determination. And beneath it all was the raw sense of her.
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Breathing in again to savor her, I’d been doing so for hours, I caught her smiling out of the corner of my eye. Turning to face her I felt myself smiling as well, the sense of her love for me spiking within her as my lover for her welled up within myself.
During my life with the tribe, for as long as I could remember, I had always scoffed at my friends as they chose a single mate and bonded them. Why limit yourself to a single woman? Had they just given up? Done what was expected of them?
How naive I had been.
I looked at Jen driving beside me and knew I had never seen anyone that could match her beauty. Slumped over from exhaustion, hair disheveled, wearing ill fitting clothes, and human. She was stunning, and she was mine.
“What?” She asked, amused, casting a quick glance at me before looking back to the road ahead.
“Just thinking about how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to have found you.”
“Yeah, right!” She barked a quick laugh, gesturing to herself with one hand. “I look like a drowned rat!”
“I’m being completely serious.” I reached over and took her hand in mine and squeezed it softly. It felt reassuring to touch her.
“I know.” She spoke softly and squeezed my hand, surprising me with her strength. “It clearly proves you’re crazy though and need professional help.” Her laughter died quickly as worry spiked within her , sharp enough to sting my nose.
She had reminded herself of Troy.
“We’ll get to Kris before he does,” I spoke firmly, reassuringly.
“I know.” She gripped my hand tightly again and smiled at me.
Her scent again filling with love and determination and I was amazed, as always, with how powerfully she felt. Emotions flickered through her, sometimes too quickly to follow, but always very powerful. Yet she never let them rule her.
“You need to stop that.” She let go of my hand and poked my side.
“Stop what?” I watched her, confused.
“Inhaling my scent. You haven’t stopped since we got in the truck.” She shot another glance over at me, grinning. “I’m amazed you haven’t passed out yet from hyperventilating.”
“Shifter constitution,” I said, shrugging and smiling at her.
“Yeah, well, cut it out.” She poked me again for good measure.
“Of course, wife.” I turned back to watch the road ahead but continued to watch her from the corner of my eye.
“Wife,” she snorted, “Not yet. Right now I’m just your pagan mate.”
“Fair enough,” I laughed and shook my head. “We’ll do one of your human weddings if you want to.”
“That,” she turned and shot me a flat look, “has got to be the worst proposal in history.” Irritation became the dominant scent from her emotions. “You had better do it right next time, this is your only free pass.”
Deciding to keep my mouth shut I simply nodded instead. I would need to find time to talk to my sister about this. She knew humans and this had the feel of my having done something wrong in the ‘ceremony.’
“You don’t talk like you used to.” Jen spoke suddenly, drawing my attention back to her.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t sound as awkward as when we first met.” She looked over at me again and smiled. “I guess I’m a bad influence.”
My reply was cut off as the phone began to ring where it was held on Troy’s dashboard. Jen looked at it a moment before answering the call.
“Hello?” She was watching the phone apprehensively but smelled hopeful.
“Jen?” Kris’s voice came through the device and I let out a sigh of relief that was echoed beside me. Kris was alright.
“Kris! You’re ok!” Jen’s excitement and relief were bubbling over, she was bouncing happily in her seat.
“Clearly you are too, last I heard you had been kidnapped.” Her voice was strong, healthy, but even over the phone I could hear the catch in her words at the mention of the kidnapping.
“Yeah, I’m safe now. We’re on our way to you.” Jen looked to me as she spoke and I nodded.
“Kris, listen.” The information would likely hurt her even more, but I had to tell her. “Troy is coming for you again, you need to get somewhere safe.” The silence hung in the air, stretching out to the point I felt sure it would break, before she responded.
“I see. He got away then.” The flat tone did little to hide the hint of excitement, she was my sister, I knew her too well.”
“Kris, please wait. He is incredibly dangerous. He uses hunters.” It still galled me to no end that he would stoop so low and Kris certainly felt the same, gasping as I said the words.
“He didn’t!?” Disbelief came through clearly, but all of us knew it was simply a reflex reaction to the idea. It was hard information to swallow when you learned that someone you had loved was a monster.
“He did, and it wasn’t the first time.” Jen spoke softly, remembering something painful. “We need to make sure he doesn’t do it again. Kris, wait for us, please. We’re on our way now.”
“Ok, you’re right. I’ll wait.” She was frustrated and the lie was obvious, even to Jen.
“Kris... Troy has managed to keep us all separated since this began.” Jen absently reached out to grab my hand again. “He’s very good at drawing one of us out and attacking them. Don’t give him the chance. Please.” I could hear Kris sighing halfway through Jen’s warning and the scent of Jen’s irritation was rising quickly.
“Right... you’re right,” Kris finally said, resigned. “Just promise you’ll be here soon and that I’m not getting left behind when you go after the bastard.”
“We just finished telling you not to go it alone, we won’t either.” I shot a glance at Jen as she spoke, I most definitely would be going after Troy myself once Jen and Kris were both safe.
Jen just glared at me and I knew she had been in my mind and knew what I was planning. I sighed and nodded, I led a pack now, officially, and needed to remember that. They were just as involved in this as I was.
“Ok, let’s meet up somewhere Troy doesn’t know about and won’t be able to guess.” Kristen paused a moment while we all mulled the question over, but in the end she was the one with the answer. “Jen, let’s meet where we used to go when we skipped class.”
Jen grinned and answered. “Perfect. We’ll see you there.”
“See you guys soon.” Kris’s call ended with her words and the map popped back onto the display.
“Still quite a few hours left till we get home.” Jen squinted at the phone for a moment. “I need a pick-me-up if I’m going to drive all night. Watch for signs for a gas station and I’ll pull off there.”
I nodded and began to watch out my side of the truck for anything that could work. Miles went by, the dotted lines to either side of us on the road blurring into an almost hypnotic rhythm as they sped past.
Wherever we were there were few signs and I felt myself getting drowsy, it was becoming harder and harder to stay awake. Needing to focus I reached inward and tapped into my energy reserves, becoming alert and refreshed.
With the sudden burst of sensory information I became acutely aware of my wounds and itched them absently. I was going to need to learn how to ignore distractions while my senses were boosted like this. After concentrating for a time the itching subsided, eventually vanishing entirely, and I began to focus again on our surroundings.
Jen yawned beside me, and then again.
“Holly hell, I’m exhausted.” She yawned a third time and stretched a bit in the seat, rolling her shoulders. “I was fine a minute ago, ugh. Wait, it feels like... Liam, what are you doing?” She glanced over to me quickly before watching the road.
“I’m not doing anything aside from looking for signs.”
“No, you’re definitely doing something. I can feel it.” She slowed the truck down as she spoke, steering it towards the side of the road as another series of yawns racked her body.
Once the t
ruck came to a stop she rested her head against the steering wheel and shut her eyes, slumping slightly as exhaustion overcame her. She looked as if all of her alertness and energy were draining away from her.
Draining.
Quickly I stopped focusing on staying alert and let my tiredness overtake me again. Almost immediately she shook her head and sat back up, rubbing her eyes. My inner well of energy was Jen.
“Maybe I just needed to shut my eyes for a minute.” She stretched out again as she spoke, over exaggerating her movement in an attempt to reach every muscle group. “I’m feeling a bit better now.”
“No, it was me.” Her eyes found me as I spoke and I remembered the other two times I had drawn upon my inner reserve of energy. She watched me questioningly.
The first time was the flight down the mountain, Jen holding on to me as I carried her. The second was just the other night as Ian and I ran down the Appalachian Trail. After both occurrences she had passed out and been ravenously hungry when she finally awoke.
“I can feel you within me as some kind of energy reserve that I can draw from.” I looked to her, wondering what long term harm I may have caused her unwittingly. “I only just realized what it actually was. I won’t use it again, are you alright?”
“Fine, I guess.” She shrugged before beginning to drive up the highway again. “A little more tired than I was, but not by much. A bit hungrier too actually.”
“I apologize, I had no idea.” I watched her to be sure she was actually fine and sensed her concentration surge briefly.
“Figures,” she chuckled, the spike of focus fading. “Looks like it only works one way. Totally unfair.”
“It looks like you’ll just have to stay alert the old fashioned way.” I smiled as she blew a raspberry at me.
“Coffee it is.”
Chapter Ten
Jen
“So, where did you and my sister go when you skipped class?” Liam asked the question for the umpteenth time.
I smiled despite my slight annoyance, we were only a few minutes away and I still hadn’t told him. I had been mysterious at first about it just for fun, but now I was holding back out of sheer stubbornness. We had come this far without him knowing, he could wait till we got there.
Bound to the Prime (Bound to the Pack, #3) Page 5