by Cecilia Lane
He’d chipped away at her stubborn thoughts and planted the seed that she could live a normal life. Well, as normal as possible. She didn’t truly believe she’d ever find peace over her actions, but he spawned hope that she was more than her sins. And, she ruefully admitted, they made a good team.
She chewed on the insides of her cheeks to hold back the rush of guilt. She never again wanted to see the look of betrayal that’d twisted his features when she left him. She was sure he’d have an abundance of harsh words, and she’d let every last one of them wash over her without flinching if she could hand him a bunch of captured shifter children before he unloaded.
As soon as her new patrol group neared an outer building, she bent to tie her shoe. No one stopped to tell her to get back in line. None of them even glanced her way when she ducked around the corner.
She nearly tripped over herself when a familiar scent entered her nose. Mara inhaled deeply. The scent was faint, just like the one she’d smelled at the auction. Light and bubbly, it danced through her senses like magic.
Fae.
The knowledge scratched at some deep curiosity inside her. She shoved the need to know as deep as she kicked her inner cat. She wasn’t sure why or how Ronnie had obtained any fae. Maybe she wanted to expand her interests. They were just more unfortunate souls snared by an evil bitch.
A quick peek through the bungalow’s window showed nothing more than a lavish guest house. Certainly nothing captive shifters would be invited to use.
Mara jogged to catch up to the patrol group, then fell in line when another came near. She made her way from building to building, giving herself a reasonable alibi for falling behind anytime her shoe came untied and she needed to check through a window.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Mara found herself away from the cluster of guesthouses. She thought the windowless building a garden shed at first. No guards watched that she could see, but the stench of fur and fear was thick even through the cement blocks.
Her inner lioness yipped with a call to the cubs inside. Mara held herself back through solid will. Close. So close. She needed to be sure no one would hear her slip inside.
The last footsteps faded in the distance and she made her move.
The door opened without any noise and closed behind her just as quietly. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the low light. Burning rage filled her as soon as she registered the true horrors in front of her.
Behind the fencing running from floor to ceiling were the captive children.
Two tiny wolf cubs occupied a large dog crate, no doubt intended to keep the most troublesome from clawing at the walls. Scratches gouged the block behind them.
The rest were free to roam inside, but none moved except to cringe further into themselves. Too many bodies lay stretched out without any signs of waking. Only their chests moving with tiny breaths kept Mara from stalking back outside and taking the head off the first hunter she spotted.
In the center of the chaos, a girl with tangled, red hair tried to make herself as small as possible. A low growl rumbled in her chest.
Relief watered Mara’s eyes. By the Broken, she was still alive. “Kerry?”
The girl hunched her shoulders.
Mara sank to her knees in front of the fencing. She didn’t want to rush inside and send any of the little ones into a panic. Kerry wasn’t the only one that peeked at her with fear. “Kerry, your dad sent me. You have to trust me, baby. Can you tell me what happened?”
Kerry glanced up, then put her eyes back to the ground. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers. I did, and then they took me away.”
“Did your dad tell you that? Smart man. Can I tell you about your bedroom to prove I know him?” The little girl lifted her eyes, but didn’t say a word. Mara dug for the memories. The days all merged together in blood and running.
“You have purple walls with pretty pink flowers on them. And I’d love to go to one of your tea parties if you’ll invite me. So many different animals looked like they wanted to go, too. Like your giraffe and bears. Your dad is a bear, too, isn’t he? He helped save me and my friend.”
Slowly, Kerry’s shoulders drifted back down and her growl quieted. Caution still showed in her eyes, but Mara didn’t fault her for that. She’d experienced too much to trust.
“What happened to the others?”
“The scary people come by and shoot them. See?” She crawled forward and opened her hand. The remains of tranquilizer darts rolled on her dirty palm. “I pretended I was asleep last time.”
Mara ground her teeth together. Fucking Ronnie. Sleeping children were better than crying ones. She bet even some hunters had trouble watching small faces screw up with tears and fear.
The knowledge was something she could work with, though.
“You don’t need to worry about the scary people anymore. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.”
Somehow. She looked around for anything to help. She didn’t know how long the drugged ones would be out and she didn’t want to risk waiting for them to wake up. Maybe she could steal one of the maintenance golf carts used to haul gardening supplies all over the estate.
Hudson would know what to do. Or he’d just scoop them all up in one arm and carry them away like the badass soldier he was.
A light and bubbly hint of magic danced over the dirt and fear of the children. Light slashed across the floor as the door banged open.
“Didn’t someone ever tell you not to make promises you can’t keep?”
The voice brought Mara’s lioness to the surface. Her inner beast roared with all the fury of one caged and made to hurt. Her skin prickled with the brush of fur and her shift.
“I wouldn’t, if you want the brat to live,” Ronnie sneered. The cold barrel of a gun rested on Mara’s shoulder and pointed toward Kerry.
Kerry’s face scrunched up. Pure terror overrode every part of her scent. Tears ran clear streams down her cheeks as she pushed as far from the cage door as possible. Others, too, crawled over the sleeping figures to cower from Ronnie.
Mara’s heart broke.
“On your knees, and maybe you won’t get a new hole in your head. Today,” Ronnie ordered.
Hope was a dangerous emotion. Mara let herself believe she could rescue the children and find Hudson at the end. With silver slapped back around her neck, she crushed the last of her hope. Only emptiness remained.
She’d been stupid to imagine any other life for herself. She would die by Ronnie’s hand.
The least she could do was make sure the cubs were set free.
Chapter 21
The fearful crying reached a fever pitch as three more of Ronnie’s goons entered the room. Mara struggled against the silver tying her hands behind her back. She felt like an animal caught in a trap and she didn’t care if she needed to gnaw off a limb to set herself and the children free.
A sharp kick to the middle of her back sent her sprawling face first onto the ground. All she could see were the shuffling feet of children trying to get away. Their choked cries tore at her middle and filled her with raw hatred.
Ronnie’s heel pressed against her spine, pressure building slowly. “Behave,” she ordered. “Or I’ll make you shoot one of them.”
Mara bared her teeth. She’d never believed in miracles, but she would gladly change her mind if she could put her hands on something deadly at that moment. “Give me the gun, then.”
Ronnie barked a laugh. “You think I’d fall for that? I’ll have safeguards in place, but it won’t come to that now, will it?”
Ronnie pressed harder and drove the air from her lungs. She bit her lips to hold back the hiss of pain. Deep within her mind, her lioness roared.
Mara nodded, and the pressure immediately released.
“Good. It’s time you learn your place in the world again.” Ronnie gestured to two of her men. “Bring her.”
Hands grabbed her elbows and lifted her to her feet. She tried to resist, to put u
p some fight, but Ronnie arched an eyebrow and tapped the gun holstered at her waist. With a pit growing in her stomach, Mara followed her out of the building and into the fading evening light.
“Prepare to move the products. Mr. Blanchard wants them transferred elsewhere.”
Mara dug in her heels. “What? No, you can’t do that. That’s not the deal! You have me! I’m who you want.”
Ronnie focused on her with growing impatience. “You didn’t come to me. You went for them.”
“Just trying to get your attention and verify they were still alive,” she spun. Please, she silently begged, please believe me.
Ronnie cocked her head and tapped her finger against her lips. “See, I just can’t trust you.”
Shit. Her previous anger and despair plummeted to new lows.
Nothing. All for nothing. She’d tried to settle her debts and change the red to black, but she’d just tightened the noose around her neck. She’d tried to have a life and redemption, too, only to see it vanish with more threats.
More reinforcements arrived, armed like all the others. They made way for Ronnie, Mara, and her entourage to keep on the manicured path.
Then hope reached her nose.
One of them smelled like fur. Earthy, like Hudson and all the other bears she’d ever encountered.
Mara studied their faces as she was dragged away. She didn’t recognize any of them, and certainly not the dark-haired shifter in their very middle. He dipped his chin slightly when she met his eyes.
She pressed her lips together to keep from crying out with joy and didn’t fight when the men flanking her shoved her forward once more.
She’d fucked up and let herself get caught. Someone else could complete the mission and rescue the kids. Hell, she could still help by keeping Ronnie distracted for as long as possible.
Newfound resolve steeled her spine for whatever came next.
Hudson glanced around the kitchen of the old home that had been turned into a command post by his former CO, Crewe. Sunk back away from the road and between huge estates, he doubted anyone even remembered the place existed. It served their purposes well, giving them space to move their people in, spread out, and watch the road leading to where the children—and Mara—were held.
He drummed his fingers on a counter and wished everyone would hurry the fuck up. Night was falling and something had the little ants inside the estate buzzing. Instead, his people sat around talking.
The Strathorn contingent was all for rolling in and kicking ass. Tamed as his clan was by their mates, they were feeling the fight in the air. Gray and Nolan had already shifted once each, and growls still rumbled in their chests. Callum and Cole sprawled against opposite walls, both pretending to sleep while listening closely to the chatter. Sawyer leaned against a counter, arms crossed over his chest and eyes bouncing from one person to another.
Axel stood stiffly at Crewe’s side, and a handful of their war buddies crowded together around a map showing building layouts. Dated information. The video they had from aerial surveillance showed more structures than what property maps had listed.
Dragons up in the air gave them the views they needed without anyone on the ground knowing. The picture, zoomed in to its fullest, was grainy and jumpy. Even though the Bloodwing monsters were invisible at will, they refused to get closer. Fae magic surrounded the estate. They feared tripping any alarms before the rest of the crew was prepared to move.
The information from the ground wasn’t much better. Two shifters were inside, but they couldn’t get away to update often. One thought he had a location on where the cubs were kept, but his last report was hours ago.
At least they knew a little of what to expect. Hudson watched the progression of a hunter patrol leaving the main house at the center of the property. They’d fleshed out from the backwoods clowns he’d scrapped with during his days acting on Mara’s information. They were nowhere near as disciplined as the squad he worked with overseas, but the similar grouping numbers and ordered marching had the feel of someone playing military. Whoever set them into motion had watched enough war movies to have an idea of a functioning force.
Still, the whole thing stunk of haste. The estate was big, sure, but not well defended or watched outside of the walls running around the perimeter. No one found cameras pointing outward and the patrols inside rarely peeked over the fence. Knowing the owner himself wasn’t on the property, Hudson would put any amount of money that Ronnie skulked around somewhere.
Good. He had a thing or two he wanted to discuss after he found his mate.
Mara’s face rushed to the front of his mind and his bear pushed at him right along with it. He needed to see her again. Feel her. Taste her. Keep her. She was only a short distance away, and everyone still just talked.
Fucking maddening.
“We need more fighters,” someone said.
Hudson jerked upright and glared. He wasn’t sure which one spoke, but he was wrong. They had enough. Judah had called in some of his cop friends, and they’d brought along some of theirs. He’d led groups of men into more dangerous territory while under Crewe’s command.
He growled. His voice was nearly inhuman when he pushed the words from his lips. “Mara is in there. I’m not waiting.”
“It’d be easier if the dragons could just burn it down,” Crewe muttered.
Hudson rounded on the man. He’d never had a problem with him before. Respected him, even. A few little words brushed all that aside and replaced it with cold fury. “My mate is in there. Axel’s cub is in there. More than a dozen other shifter children are in there. And your solution is to burn them all? Get the fuck out of here.”
He could feel his own darkness just there, behind him. If he turned fast enough, he’d catch it. It was the uncaring, unfeeling he cloaked himself in during his time overseas. Necessary, or a man lost part of himself. Or maybe even having that side meant a piece of his goodness had already been lost.
Mara was out there. He’d grab hold of any tool to get her back. Or break enough of them to get to her.
His knuckles popped with the force of his clenched fists. His lips lifted in a snarl.
“Hudson,” Callum said sternly.
Power infused the air and flowed over him, but did little to calm his jumpy anger. He wanted to move, now, not when someone else thought they were ready. They were shifters, dammit. Ten of them could mow through thirty of the weak humans.
The bastards deserved it. They’d grown daring over the last few years. Even before the enclaves and their occupants were outed to the world, hunters snatched up supes where they could. And now this bullshit of trafficking shifter kids? Being out in the open had only emboldened them and flooded hunter ranks with those full of hate. The number on the ground, the active prowling of the perimeter, felt like the last holdout of an enemy that knew they were about to be broken.
Dammit, Hudson wanted to kick them in their teeth and send them crawling back under their rocks.
There were too many variables for the fight to go south. A dragon quick with the fire might turn the estate into a hellscape. Hunters could be stuffed inside the smaller buildings like sardines in a can, just like his final battle overseas that saw so many of his men dead. Fae magic wasn’t anything to fuck with, either, and there was no telling what side those magic-wielding bastards played for.
But Mara was inside. Somewhere, doing something. He’d bet anything she was the cause for the extra boots roaming the grounds.
His bear raked vicious claws through his center. Hudson rolled his shoulders and settled the beast as well as he could. If Mara suffered because of these delays… Well, he’d have nothing to lose by ripping someone apart.
Boom!
The noise sounded like a crack of thunder. Hudson quickly turned his eyes to the video feed from one of the circling dragons. A pillar of light exploded into the air.
“Fuck,” a radio squawked. “Someone triggered a fae alarm.”
“We’re on the
way. Don’t move until you get the signal,” Crewe answered.
Mocking the order, distant gunfire split the night.
Everyone ran for the door. Some shifted as soon as they hit outside, shedding clothes and filling the air with the scent of fur and fury. Hudson ran with them, keeping to his human side for now. He wanted to rip and tear, but he needed to keep his head. At least until he had his kitty by his side.
Then he’d kill them all.
The darkness was a mess of running feet and harsh breaths. He strained his eyes, but couldn’t see anything yet. He had to get closer. Had to find her.
Boom! Boom!
More lights filled the sky as others scaled and tumbled over the fence. He barely registered the sharp edges of stone before he landed on the other side and in the middle of war.
Shots fired at him and around him. Shifters caught between human and animal tore through the screaming hunters as more arrived at the disturbance. Bears large enough for him to ride tore the earth under their claws in their onslaught toward their enemy.
He kept his head down and ran, unholstering his weapon as he shot away from the main point of conflict. Callum stuck to his left side and Sawyer guarded his right. Axel took position behind them, covering their asses as they flashed toward the big house. They wouldn’t let him go anywhere alone, even if Crewe hadn’t matched them up. His alpha and his closest friend had his back in his search for his mate.
Near the main house, he skidded to a stop and lifted his nose. There. Spicy chocolate, sunbaked earth.
“Mara,” he answered the quizzical looks directed at him.
His bear roared and clawed at him to find her, leave all sense behind, just find their mate. Hudson struggled to shove the beast back and let himself think.
The scent was fresh, probably less than an hour old. None of her emotions streaked through it, too far gone for that, but he had a path that would lead right to her.