“No. No No. It can’t be. He’s dead!” she said to her wolf.
Her wolf silent, stunned by the events unfolding before them.
“If you try to shift, I will put a fucking bullet through his head, bitch!”
Minx glanced down to Jay. Forced to his knees two men holding him in place, she wanted to scream when she saw the silver chain they’d wound around his neck.
She looked away, not wanting to see her handsome, strong mate in pain because of her.
“I should have known better.”
Her animal snarled in her head, and she agreed. She wanted to snarl too. She should have known better, should have sought proof of William’s death herself instead of relying secondhand information from one of his friends.
“What’s the matter, Minx? Cat got your tongue?” he taunted her.
She caught herself looking down at her feet, and cursed inwardly. She would never cower to anyone again—especially not him. Never him. He was the man who was responsible for the worst moments of her life. Unable to prevent them, visions of her past with William flew through her mind.
Abuse and torture. Rape. She’d endured all of it. Praying each day that he would finally deliver the death blow. She had tried many a times to escape. Each attempt, he had dragged her back and beat her more. After a while, the tears no longer flowed for her own pain. She no longer screamed. No longer fought back. It excited him too much.
Broken bones. Broken spirit. Broken heart. That’s how William had liked to leave her. She remembered the proud look on his face each time he’d finished with her. He was evil incarnate. No amount of civility toward others would convince her otherwise.
His family had known how William treated her and they did nothing. They blamed Minx for his anger. His violence. She had threatened to tell the Alpha what William had done. His mother broke her jaw.
“How are you alive?” She finally found her voice.
“Does it really matter?” William asked?
Minx sucked in a deep breath. “No. It doesn’t.”
Pacing back and forth, William lowered the gun to his side. “If you weren’t such a gullible whore, you might have cared to search for me. Or maybe even attend my funeral—something a wife does when her husband dies.”
When Minx had been told of William’s death, she wept. Not tears of sorrow like a good wife should. Instead, hers were tears of joy. She was finally free. Free from the daily beatings. Free from the horrible marriage that she’d been trapped in.
He had her there. She hadn’t gone to his funeral. Couldn’t bring herself to even consider it. She packed her shit and left the very same day, never once pausing to look back.
It had taken Minx years to heal emotionally. To feel safe again. To not look over her shoulder every second of every day. To not jump out of her skin with every unexpected noise she heard. To figure out who she was and what she wanted. To find her own happiness. And now, that William stood in front of her threatening the man she’d always loved, anger tore through her.
She had to think of something, some way out of this situation. She would not even consider the possibility of William winning.
“Minx, I’m going to distract them. I want you to shift and run as fast as you can. Get the hell out of here,” Jay said through their mating connection.
“I can’t leave you here. He’ll kill you. Trust me on this. He’s absolutely crazy. There has to be another way.”
Minx finally let her gaze land on Jay. She didn’t know what she expected to see, maybe the same fear she felt. Instead, his eyes blazed with an unspoken fury. His mouth had already partially elongated, his canines lengthened. The tips of his fingers had already formed into claws, waiting for the right opportunity to slash at their enemy.
“Minx, I mean it. You need to go. Let me handle this.” Jay begged her through their mating connection.
She wouldn’t. Couldn’t let him face her tormentor alone. The thought of Jay being taken away from her when she’d just found him…unacceptable.
Her wolf sprang to life in her mind, ready to protect and defend. No matter the cost. Majik twisted through her body, yet she didn’t shift. Her wolf held back. Minx had no idea what the animal was up to, but she had to trust her. Had to trust the animal would do what was necessary to protect herself and her mate.
“Jay!” Minx screamed as William pulled the trigger. She watched in horror as her mate slumped to the ground. Tears streamed from her eyes. She ran to him, dropping to her knees beside him. She couldn’t lose him. Frantically searching for a pulse, she wanted to cry out with joy when she found it slow and steady, but she kept her mouth shut.
“I’m alive. It hurts like a bitch, but I’m okay. Let them think I’m dead. Run. Please, sweetness. Go,” Jay begged.
Before she could react, William wrapped a silver collar around her neck preventing her from shifting.
“No! Let me go, you bastard!” Minx screaming, kicking against his legs. Her arms swatting at any part of his body she could reach. With each attempt to inflict damage she grew weaker and weaker. The silver pressed against her skin, draining the majik from her body at an unprecedented rate.
“You’re mine, bitch. You always have been…always will be. Did you think I’d really let you get away with claiming someone else as your mate? Taking someone else into your body? Your bed?”
Goddess, she hated William. More than she would have ever thought possible. He didn’t seem to possess not a single redeeming quality. He couldn’t be fixed, couldn’t be saved. Why she had ever thought any differently was beyond her. The truth, harsh as it often was, slapped her in the face. The one thing she knew unequivocally, was that William would not stop until she was dead.
“Answer me, bitch!” William roared. Fury painted an ugly mask on his otherwise handsome face.
“I—I thought you were dead. You’ve been gone for two years. The two years! What did you expect me to do? Sit around and mourn for you the rest of my life?”
He didn’t answer her. Didn’t need to. She could tell by the look on his face that’s exactly what he had expected. For her to sit around the rest of her life, no matter how long she lived, and wait for his return.
“You’re kidding, right?” She asked.
“Does it look like I’m fucking kidding? You are my wife!” William screamed.
Minx’s gaze briefly strayed from William to Jay. She knew better than to look away from William when he was at the height of rage, but she couldn’t help it.
“You’ll pay for that.”
Minx felt the butt of his gun slam against her head. “No, no, no!” She wanted to keep fighting. Had to keep fighting, but darkness surrounded her, threatening to claim her.
“What should we do with this one?”
Minx slowly opened her eyes, before slamming them shut again against the bright light. Her head pounded in her skull, her mouth felt like it’d been stuffed with cotton balls, her head pounded.
“Where are we?” she asked her wolf.
There was no response from her animal. Panic gripped her as she heard William’s voice. It wasn’t a hallucination. Not one of her typical nightmares involving her ex-husband. She hadn’t been dreaming. Memories of the previous twenty-four hours slowly started to return. Jay had returned to Blue Creek, they had mated. Her blood heated at the memory of her dreams finally coming true. They had spent an amazing evening together and he’d left the next morning to meet with Tristan and Aric.
That sounded correct, even to her foggy brain. So why did she feel like she was on Death’s doorstep?
She tried to open her mouth to speak, but couldn’t. There was something over her mouth. Tape. A fresh wave of panic set in when she tried to touch her mouth and her arm wouldn’t move. Minx tested her arm, no dice. She was tied down. Her blood chilled. “No!” The memory of William shooting Jay with a silver bullet flashed into her mind.
“Toss him on the floor. She can watch him die,” William said.
He was stand
ing right next to him.
Minx stilled, not wanting William to know that she was awake. Her brain finally caught up with her current situation.
They had been ambushed by William and his friends. Jay had been on patrol with Aric, hunting for signs of the rogues who had been responsible for the recent wave of attacks against the residents of Blue Creek, along with several missing persons. She decided at the last minute to meet them for dinner once they had finished with their patrols.
As soon as she had gotten to the restaurant and met up with Jay in the parking lot, William and his friends had shown up and attacked. She could only pray that Aric had been close enough to see what had gone down.
Minx felt, what must’ve been duct tape, ripped from her mouth. She tried once again to speak to her wolf, but the animal still didn’t answer. Must be the silver, she thought.
“I know you’re awake, Minx. You can stop pretending now,” William spoke directly to her.
She slowly opened her eyes, trying to avoid the sting of the bright lights filling the room.
“You’ve never been a very good actress.” William untied her wrists, and tugged her to a sitting position.
Her eyes slowly adjusted to the harsh fluorescent lighting. “Where are we?” she asked.
“Somewhere you’ll never be found.”
Minx rubbed her wrists, willing the burn away. She didn’t know why William had freed her arms, and she wasn’t about to ask. Her fingers flew to her neck, checking to see if the silver collar remained. It was gone. She had no idea what William was up to. It had to be some sort of trick.
“Yes, I removed the collar. If you so much as look at me the wrong way, you will die.” William motioned to the men surrounding Jay. Each man held a gun, aimed directly at her.
“Why?” She left the question open for William’s own interpretation. She has so many questions running through her mind that all started with why. Why was he doing this? Why did he free her arms, and remove the silver?
“Because you’re going to need your strength for what I have planned for you,” he laughed, and tossed a couple of protein bars and a bottle of water at her.
Not wasting any time, she dug into the protein bars, shoving large bites into her mouth. After she had finished the bars, she chugged half the bottle of water in one gulp. Finally, she thought, as she felt the first stirrings of her wolf.
“Jay, can you hear me?”
“I’m here, sweetness. Are you okay?”
“Yes, but I don’t know what William is up to.” If she could only get into that twisted head of his to figure out what was going on, she’d know how to defend herself and Jay from the evil that snaked through William’s mind.
“It doesn’t matter what he’s up to, we’re not going to give him a chance to act on any of his plans.”
“Baby, there are three men with guns, in addition to William. My strength is coming back. I can finally feel my wolf inside of me again, but I don’t think I can defeat the four of them on my own.”
Minx almost laughed at the thought of taking on four full-grown shifters by herself. She couldn’t even stand up to, let alone fight off William. She’d tried for years, but he’d always gotten the upper hand and beaten her within an inch of her life. How did Jay expect her to subdue them?
“We’re not going to subdue them,” her wolf finally spoke. “We are going to kill them.”
Her eyes scanned the room, carefully taking in every small detail and committing them to memory. She gasped out loud when she noticed there were other prisoners in the room. Some had silver chains crisscrossed over their body, while others more collar similar to the one that William had removed from her. She recognized several faces among the dozens who were held captive. Women, men, children all held against their will. Her stomach churned at the grisly sight.
How could she have been married to a man who thought nothing of committing such atrocities against his own people? The captives, many of whom, she knew personally held equal looks of horror when they noticed her and Jay. Some pleaded silently for help, others diligently kept their eyes to the ground, not wanting to attract William’s attention.
Minx closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, offering a prayer to the Gods of old. “Please hear my call for help. Please give me the strength I seek to destroy those who wish to harm these people—this pack. If I do nothing the rogues will win. I cannot allow William to kill all of these innocent people.”
Raw power surged through Minx, her body hummed with a strength she’d never felt. Yet she didn’t move. Not so much as an inch. Time seemed to slow down. Twisting her head to the side and back, she was able to see every dust mote floating in the air, the rise and fall of William’s chest with each breath he took. She waved her fingers in front of her face and almost fainted when she saw the speed of her own movement.
“Minx? Are you okay? What’s happening?” Jay asked through their mating connection.
“Something’s happening. I don’t understand it,” she replied with a shaky voice.
“There’s something strange vibrating in the air. An incredible presence of majik, one that I’ve never felt before.”
“I—I think it’s coming from me. The Gods… I think they answered my prayers.” That had to be it, there was no other reason for her sudden surge of power or the majik pouring from her skin. She drew in another deep breath.
“It’s now or never,” a strange voice whispered in her mind.
Though she was a shifter, born a warrior for the Gods, Minx had never been violent in her entire life. The only time she’d ever fought with anyone had been when she was defending herself against William. Other than that she’d never harmed so much as the hair on the living being’s head.
Even as her own doubts filled her head, like some sort of wicked demon she heard the Gods whisper once again. “You asked us the power to destroy your enemy, our enemy. The power has been given. All you need to do is turn to your wolf, allow the warrior to defend and protect.”
No longer afraid of the ancient majik hurling through her bones, she let go of the tether that had kept her wolf locked firmly away. Her body shuddered when her animal charged forward demanding control of their body. Bones liquefied, shifting into another being—a feral being. Her mouth elongated, teeth sharpened, canines lengthened. When she opened her eyes, she stood on four feet instead of two.
The speed with which her shift came surprised her. William hadn’t noticed, too busy gloating over his soon-to-be victory. A victory, which, thanks to her, would never come. Years’ worth of torment and anger rushed through her, exciting the animal that she’d become.
A ferocious snarl flew from her wolf’s mouth. All head snapped in her direction. Guns that were trained on Jay suddenly pointed at her.
“Shoot to wound. I need her alive,” William barked to the three, armed men guarding Jay. She watched as one of the men pulled the trigger. Heard the click of the firing pin slamming home. Imagined the bullet twisting its way through the barrel. Seconds passed agonizingly slow as the bullet finally shot from the tip of the gun and headed in her direction. The smell of gunpowder reached her nose as the bullet worked its way closer to her position.
A small shift of her stance was all it took to remove herself from the line of fire. Her wolf lunged, aiming for the man who fired the shot. Her teeth connected with his throat before he had a chance to pull the trigger a second time. Blood squirted from the wound, poured down her throat and covered her fur as she ripped through flesh. Gurgled sounds from his mouth as he tried, and failed to scream. Her head reared backward, pulling his trachea free from his body.
Minx quickly spun toward the second man who hadn’t had time to process why his friend was on the ground clutching his throat. Her teeth tore through his hamstring, instantly dropping him to the ground. The second his body hit the ground, she went for his throat—guaranteeing he wouldn’t live to take another breath.
“Two down, two to go,” her wolf chanted.
&n
bsp; Minx should’ve been horrified by the actions of her wolf, but she wasn’t. She should be ashamed taking those lives, the plan to kill more, but she wasn’t. William was evil and so were his friends. It was kill or be killed, and she was tired of being the victim.
One more. She had to get through one more man before William was hers. With her eyes on the prize she stalked toward her prey. Slowly placing one foot in front of the other, her tail swished back and forth. Blood dripped from her mouth onto the floor with each calculated step the animal took.
William looked around at the carnage she’d created. “Kill the bitch,” he spoke through clenched teeth.
The third man raised his gun and quickly fired off three rounds. Minx didn’t move until the last second, easily sidestepping the bullets intended for her. He fired again, and again until the chamber was empty, and nothing more than a click sounded from the gun in his hand. She almost felt bad for him when he slowly inched backward and away from her. She let him gain a little ground. Feel better about his situation. One second he felt safe, far enough from her immediate reach. The next second she stood in front of them.
“How did you—”
His lifeless body crumbled to the ground at her feet. Her movement too fast for William to track. She turned to face her ex-husband and spit the man’s larynx at his feet.
“You fucking whore. You will pay for that.” William palmed a blade in his hand, swishing it back and forth. The movements, even with her advanced speed, seemed slower than normal.
Her wolf stalked forward, her eyes never straying from her enemy. Not even to catch a glimpse of Jay.
She saw fear on his face, even he knew his demise was a certainty. His arm trembled as he continued to waive the knife and frantic motions. William lunged at her, and missed. His movements choppy and unpracticed. A skilled warrior, he was not.
Before he had the chance to lunge again, she shifted back to her human form. The courage and power bestowed upon her by the Gods flowed endlessly through her. She flexed her arm, testing the strength in her muscles.
Your Sass is Mine: Sassy Ever After (Black Paw Wolves Book 5) Page 5