The man shook his head. “She told me to stay with you, to protect you,” he said.
“If you don’t go after her and something happens to her, I’m going to kill you, and if I’m dead before I can, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life,” Gabriel growled at him.
The man looked at Gabriel, then at the trail where Bethany had disappeared. “Won’t you heal if you shift?” he asked, nervously shifting from one foot to the other.
Gabriel hadn’t thought about that, but hesitated; if he shifted now, he might not ever shift back. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, there was a piercing scream in the forest and the sound of a pack of wolves howling in the distance.
He knew what he had to do, and as painful as the thought was, he knew it was time to go back to his true form, that he had to save Bethany even it meant giving up what he’d wanted all his life.
“Help me to the trail; we’re going after her,” he said, sitting up again. “If I pass out, just drag me.”
The man shook his head. “I can’t...”
“You can and you will. I’m not letting that man get his hands on Bethany. Now let’s go.”
***Bethany***
Bethany flew through the trees, her senses heightened, but she didn’t stop to think about that. She had to get some help for Gabriel or he was sure to die, but she still wasn’t sure that she should have left him. But she needed to know that help was on the way and made a split-second decision.
Relieved when she saw one of the men who’d volunteered to stand guard that night, she began calling out to him before she even reached him. “Do you have a satellite phone? I need help.”
The man pulled a phone out of his pocket. “Who should I call?” he asked.
She hadn’t considered who to call, or how they’d treat Gabriel without taking him off the mountain, and her heart sank. “I don’t know, maybe Jessie,” she said, wishing she hadn’t left Gabriel, now realizing that his only hope was to shift back into a wolf and heal himself.
Turning to start back up the trail, what needed to happen clear in her mind, she called over her shoulder, “Call Jessie; I’m going back.”
But before she could start up the trail, three men stepped out from the trees, evil grins on their faces. “Not so fast, missy; your father would like you to join him,” the biggest one said, then grabbed her by the arm.
“Go get help,” she screamed, watching as the man turned, shifting at the same time, and went streaking through the woods.
She struggled to get free, feeling that same intense wave of power wash over her, but the man slapped her. “It won’t do you any good to fight; you’re all alone now.”
Bethany stopped fighting. “I won’t be for long,” she said, glaring at the man.
He pushed her onto the trail and pointed down the mountain. “Go.”
She pulled free of his grasp and started down the trail, hoping that Gabriel would figure out to shift on his own; he’d be dead if he didn’t. The fear of losing him made her stumble and her breath whoosh out of her lungs; she barely managed to regain her footing before the man shoved her.
Her mind filled with all the things she should have told him, all the things she’d been too afraid to say. She should have told him that she loved him, that it didn’t matter if he was a wolf or a man; she was his forever. Grasping the pendant between her fingers, she concentrated on Gabriel, hoping that he’d hear her thoughts and understand what he meant to her.
***Gabriel***
Gabriel had only been able to take the pain of moving for a few minutes before he passed out, but when he opened his eyes again, the pain was gone. Taking a deep breath, he was relieved to find that it didn’t hurt, but that was when he realized that he was no longer a man.
Disappointment washed over him, but then he remembered Bethany and got to his feet. He was still a bit shaky, but he felt his strength returning quickly, and after only a few seconds, he took off through the forest.
As he ran, he sniffed the air, searching for Bethany’s scent, hoping to catch just enough to figure out where she was. There were too many trails on the mountain for him to try every one, he thought, panic beginning to take over. But then he realized that no matter what trail they took, eventually they’d end up at the farm.
He stopped and took a deep breath knowing that he had to push away the panic and think logically. The man who’d helped him caught up to him then, shifted into a wolf, and asked, “What are we going to do now?”
“Does anyone at the farm know what’s going on?” he asked, his mind whirring with the possibilities.
“I don’t know; it all happened so fast.”
Gabriel cursed, then lifted his head and howled so loudly the trees around them shook. Then he said, “We’ve got to get to the farm and let them know.”
He lowered his head and began to run, letting his senses open fully until the forest seemed bathed in bright sunlight. The trees seemed to bend to let him through as he streaked through the forest nothing more than a flash of white. Soon he burst out of the trees and into the fields around the farm, then stopped, lifted his head and howled once again.
He loped off across the field, hoping that his alarm had been heard. Jessie met him at the edge of the field; he took one look at Gabriel back in his wolf form and shifted. Then he lifted his head, howled much like Gabriel just had, and headed for the cabin.
“Someone shot me from the woods around the plateau. Bethany went to get help, but I think they got her. They have to be headed this way; it’s the only way down the mountain,” he said, following Jessie.
When they got to the farm house, Danny, Kara, and Sophie were waiting for them. While he was explaining what happened, the rest of the family joined them, flying up the mountain as wolves; when they reached them, they all shifted back into human form.
As he talked, he counted them, then realized that Michelle wasn’t there, but then with a crack of the air around them, she appeared next to David. She was followed by the rest of the coven, each popping into the clearing like little firecrackers, arms raised to do battle.
They all gathered around Jessie who began to give instructions, and before long they’d fanned out around the farm, waiting for the first sign of Bethany and the men who’d taken her.
The air around them was filled with the power and magic of the people who’d come to help them, each there for their own reason, but united in one goal, and his heart swelled with hope. He’d made the ultimate sacrifice, but as long as Bethany was finally free of her father, it would be worth it.
***Bethany***
Bethany stumbled along the trail as if she’d never been on it before, but she was just trying to stall, hoping that help would come soon. They were almost to the farm, and she knew that they might not find her before it was too late.
She had no doubt that her father planned to kill her, or that he’d killed her mother and probably many more people in his quest for wealth. Desperately trying to figure out a way to escape, she didn’t see him at first when they came around a corner, but then he spoke in a voice that made her heart stop.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” he said, his voice dripping with evil. “I’m going to have some fun before I kill you, do all the things I wanted to do to your mother.”
Bethany tried to run, but one of the men caught her quickly. “Gabriel is never going to let that happen,” she said, lifting her chin in defiance, but her knees shaking with fear.
Her father walked over to her. “I’ve taken care of your werewolf; he’s not going to be helping anyone now,” he said. “My men tell me that he’s dead, so I wouldn’t be looking in that direction for help.”
Bethany felt her heart breaking but took a deep breath and reached up for the pendant, feeling it warm in her fingers. “You’re lying,” she said, then spit in his face.
Her father wiped the spittle off his face, then lifted his arm and backhanded her so hard that she saw stars for a few seconds. She
didn’t cry out, didn’t scream; instead, she focused on the anger building inside her, on the feeling of power coursing through her body.
She’d long ago stopped worrying about what the feeling meant, only welcomed the strength it gave her, the energy that seemed to infuse her with more strength than she’d ever had.
Facing her father, she decided right then that she wasn’t going to go one step further, that she was going to stand her ground and fight. But then she saw a flash of white in the trees and felt Gabriel’s presence, and her emotions went wild.
Hope and sadness collided, but then they were both overwhelmed by happiness and love. Wolf or man, Gabriel was still alive, and that was all that mattered, she realized as she got another glimpse of him through the trees.
Her body vibrating with the energy around and inside her, she planted her feet and said, “Do what you want with me here; I’m not leaving this mountain.”
Chapter Twenty
***Gabriel***
Gabriel watched Bethany standing up to her father, and his heart swelled with love for the woman who had enough guts to face the man who wanted to kill her, and with defiance. But as he watched her, he saw that her body was beginning to glow, that from somewhere deep inside her, energy had begun to flow.
Making his way closer, glad that Bethany was keeping everyone focused on her, he nearly sprang out of the trees when her father slapped her across the cheek. She staggered back a few feet from the force of the blow, and he felt the burning pain in his cheek, but she stood her ground.
“That’s fine with me; then I won’t have a mess to clean up, although I had still entertained thoughts of giving you to the count,” he said, toying with her. “But that could be messy, so we’ll just finish things off here. I do wish your brother was here to see it, but well, that can’t be helped.”
Her father raised his arm in the air, and his men began to circle around Bethany. “I told the boys they could have a little fun before we finish you off. Personally I don’t care for the practice, but if it keeps them happy.”
Gabriel realized as he watched Bethany’s eyes get big and fill with fear that he’d missed his chance. She turned and tried to run, but only made it to the edge of the cornfield before his men drug her back, kicking and screaming.
“We can’t have you making all that noise,” her father said, reaching up to slap her again.
But before his arm could come down, there was a rustling in the cornfield, and one by one, the family stepped out of the green stalks. Jessie and Sophie were first, followed by Danny and Kara. David was alone, but he knew that Michelle couldn’t be far away.
The trees around them began to stir, and then with the same popping sound he’d heard before, Michelle appeared with the coven behind her. The witches were all dressed in their black cloaks, the hoods pulled up over their heads, and with them came the feeling of magic.
Finally, Dillion stepped out of the corn with Natalie, his hand holding hers, and stood in front of the shifters. “It’s time to end this, father,” he said.
“Well, it’s good to see you too, son; how nice of you to come join our little family gathering,” he said, walking over to Bethany and yanking her away from his men, pinning her to his body, his arm around her neck.
Gabriel was relieved to see that Bethany wasn’t surrounded by vicious shifters any longer; now they’d only have to get her away from her father. He was tempted to spring then, to jump out of the trees and crush the man’s neck with his powerful jaws, but he was afraid Bethany would be hurt.
“Say hello to your brother, Bethany; well, your half-brother,” he said, then pulled a huge knife from his belt and put it up to her throat. “I’ve been thinking about doing this for years; the only reason I kept you around was because I knew that someday you’d be worth money to me,” he said.
“Let her go,” Dillion said. “She hasn’t done anything to you.”
“Only reminded me every day that your mother was a whore, that she couldn’t keep her legs closed. But I made her pay before she died, just like I was planning to make you pay for all the years I had to look at you and know that you weren’t mine,” he said, his hands shaking so bad the knife sliced into Bethany’s skin and trickle of blood ran down her neck.
***Bethany***
Bethany felt the knife slice her skin, felt the pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain deep inside her hearing him talk about her mother. But soon that pain turned to anger, anger that this man had taken her mother from her and was planning to take her life as well.
He’d already tried to take Gabriel’s life and almost succeeded, but he had taken away something precious: Gabriel’s ability to be in human form. This man had taken away a precious gift, only to satisfy his need for revenge, only to feed the evil that lurked inside him. As her anger for him grew, she realized that no matter what, she’d fight to see that evil didn’t win, she’d fight to see that her father never destroyed anyone’s life again.
Then her body began to tingle, power began to surge through her, stealing her breath for only a second before she took a huge lungful and blew it out. But the tingling only got stronger, and soon she felt her body begin to become light, as if she was going to faint.
Then like a light bulb being turned off and on, the world went dark and then lit up again, and she knew that she’d shifted. The world looked different, more vibrant, and power flowed through her body, the tingling she felt this time almost more wonderful than sex.
Her father stared at her open-mouthed, the knife dropping to his side. “But you can’t...you’ve never...” his words trailed off.
Bethany snarled at her father, then leaped at him, sending them both tumbling across the ground. He screamed at his men to shift, then shifted and threw her off him, sending her tumbling back across the ground, but she was back on her feet instantly, snarling at him.
“That’s a nice little trick. How long have you been able to do that?” her father’s voice echoed in her head and she shook her head, trying to get him out. “Am I supposed to be afraid of you, little wolf?”
“No, but you might be afraid of me,” Gabriel said stepping out of the trees.
Her father glanced quickly at him, then backed up a few steps. “And me,” Dillion said, stepping up on her other side.
Soon, the rest of the family had joined them, and her father had backed himself up against a tree. He looked around him desperately for his men, but the sound of fighting rang through the trees, and it was clear that there was no one to help him.
But he wasn’t finished, wasn’t quite ready to give up. Inching his way back out of the trees, he said, “You don’t want to kill me; people will come looking for you if you do. Let me go, and I promise I’ll never come back. Look, I’ll even shift back.”
He shifted back into his human form and took a few more steps away from the trees toward the cornfield where they’d been standing. Then, before anyone could stop him, he picked up the knife and threw it at Bethany; it buried itself in her side with a sickening sound.
“I may not live, but neither will she,” he said pointing to Bethany who was sinking to the ground, the pain in her side making it hard to breathe. “That knife is charmed; that wound will never heal. Even the witches won’t be able to help her.”
The minute the words were out of his mouth, Dillion sprang with a ferocious growl and knocked his father to the ground. Before he could shift, Jessie was on him as well, followed by David and Danny. Bethany only heard her father scream once, and then he went silent.
She felt only a moment of grief, only a moment of sorrow that it had come to this, but he’d planned to kill her they’d had no choice. The pain in her side was steadily getting worse, and she was having a difficult time breathing as fire seemed to spread through her body.
Fighting not to pass out, she felt Gabriel sitting next to her, then he said, “Hang in there, Bethany. Michelle will know what to do,” and put his paw on her head.
For a second, the pain f
aded, and she became aware again that she shifted, that she was just as much of a wolf as Gabriel was, and she began to laugh. “I shifted,” she said. “Now we can be together without magic.”
Then the pain came roaring back and she realized that Michelle was mumbling something and running her hands over her side. “As soon as you’re better, we’ll be together all the time,” Gabriel said, but the sadness in his voice told her differently.
Michelle shook her head. “I can’t heal it without taking the knife out, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to then. I don’t know where he got this knife, but it’s full of black magic.”
Gabriel shook his head at Michelle. “Tell her we have to try something,” he said to Jessie who quickly translated.
“I’m not strong enough, Gabriel,” she said, then her face brightened. “We have to take her to the shrine; there’s magic there, power that I can use.”
When they got to the shrine, the pain had grown to the point that she wished she were dead, but she stayed awake, fighting the darkness that wanted to envelop her. But when Michelle began to chant over her, and then pulled the knife out, the pain overwhelmed her, and darkness won.
***Gabriel***
Gabriel watched stricken as Michelle pulled the knife out and blood began to pour from the ugly wound in Bethany’s side. He wanted to howl in pain at the unfairness of watching the woman he loved die right in front of him and being able to do nothing about it.
Michelle flung the knife into the huge fire she’d had Jessie build and chanted some more, then the knife burst into flames and the wound in Bethany’s side stopped bleeding. The rest of the coven was circled around them, they began chanting with Michelle, but the wound remained open.
Michelle stopped chanting, turned to the shrine, bowed, then raised her arms in the air. “Great ones of so long ago, we ask for your help. You’ve already given more than we deserve, but we ask for this one more gift of magic to save the life of an innocent,” she said, then sank to her knees.
Her White Wolf: Wolves of Gypsum Creek (A Paranormal Romance Story) Page 12