They approached Javier’s cage and knocked.
“What the hell is wrong with you, mutt?”
Thalia lay close to the ground, willing her body back into the shape of a wolf. It was a long and arduous process as the seconds seemed to stretch into minutes and the minutes into hours. Eventually, she lay on the dusty floor, panting and hurting, but whole. Rhylan crouched lower, pressing his body into hers. Covering her body with his.
“I wish Cordelia would just use him up or put him down already,” one of the hunters moaned.
Thalia stifled the growl that tore through her. Rhylan placed his body over her muzzle to muffle it, but she shoved him off. No, she wouldn’t let them kill her. Silver cage or not, she would die before she let them kill her brother.
Rhylan saw her determination. His own wavered, but she could see his love for her slowly overwhelm all his good senses. If she wasn’t careful, she would lead him to certain death too. The thought of Rhylan inside one of those cages helped her regain control. She would not sacrifice her mate with her brashness.
Mate.
She guessed he was right, after all. This weird, messed up doctor of a wolf was her mate. He kindled a whirlwind of frustration and love inside her, more than she’d ever felt for anyone. Even her brother. Rhylan was the force that would stand by her for eternity. He was her happiness and her partner against the world.
Her wolf leaned into him. He looked to her, surprised. She bobbed her head and tried to tell him she would get it together. She was dumb and brash, but she would do her best to get them out of there in one piece. Later, they would return to free her brother.
At least, as long as the hunters didn’t decide to put her brother down before their enchantress could stop them. She heard the sound of a rifle being cocked. Her heart stuttered. She pressed her eyes shut and fought against the urge to leap from her hiding spot.
Then, Javier’s low growls filtered through the barn. It started soft before growing into an earth-shaking sound. Her head shot up. She knew what he was trying to say.
Run.
He knew she was there. She wanted to howl in response, wanted to let him know she heard him. It’d been too long since they last spoke. She wanted to reach out, to pull him from this place. But, she knew that was stupid.
Javier’s cage shook as he swiped at it. She couldn’t see inside, but she watched dust fall from the rafters with the force of his blow. He would keep their attention while she ran. It was the most he could do from within his prison.
But, she couldn’t find the strength to run. She hesitated, wondering if she and Rhylan could take the two hunters. If they stopped two of the hunters right then and there, then there would be two less hunters in this world. She knew she was considering murder, but it didn’t taste so bad when she thought about the things they’d done.
“You aren’t getting out of there, monster.” One chuckled to himself.
“Settle down before I drop you!” another shouted.
She could tear into them. She could end their legacy of pain and death.
Before she could move, Rhylan grabbed her again. His teeth pulled at her skin and tugged her in the direction of freedom. Their dark pelts melted into the shadows as they ran for the open barn door. Javier’s howls only grew louder, masking the sound of their escape.
She would return for him. There was no way to tell him, but she would. There was no way she was going to leave him in that nightmare for much longer.
Chapter Sixteen
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Jax roared at her.
Behind him, Rhylan smoldered. He, too, was pissed at her. The men fumed at her brash idiocy. She had screwed up, nearly blowing the whole mission out of the water and risking the lives of more than just her.
More than just Rhylan.
All for one man.
He might have been her brother, but he’d done something to get himself in this position in the first place. Rhylan and his pack were willing to fight for the shifters taken by the hunters, but they had to be smart about it. They couldn’t afford to do what she did.
Thalia was caught between this new group of shifters and her desire to free her brother. For the past year, the drive to find Javier had been all she could think about. It had been what got her out of bed in the morning when she remembered the future planned for her. And now, there were people involved that she couldn’t afford to risk. Jax and Sydney had just found each other. Sydney was so new she still had panic shifts.
How could Thalia be so stupid and reckless?
Her throat dried as she tried to apologize. The desire to run back to her brother still lingered. It would never truly leave. She wanted to run in head first and throw free those sliding locks. Thalia wanted to be angry, she wanted to ask Rhylan why he didn’t stand on her side. Why didn’t he defend her?
But, he shouldn’t, and she knew it. What he did do, though, was cross the room and take her into his arms. She clutched him as if the world might fall out from beneath her feet. She was close to the end of a year-long mission. Javier was in sight. She had hope that he would be nearly whole. He wasn’t a soulless shell like some of the other shifters. She had to believe that he could be saved.
Jax eyed her. She wondered, for a moment, if he would give up on her entirely. She’d nearly destroyed this new family and he’d already lost enough. He wouldn’t risk this new family. He certainly wouldn’t risk his mate. Eventually, his shoulders dropped.
“Look, I get it. I know you want to get him out of there, but we have to be smart about it. If you can’t be smart, then you’re staying here until we get him out.”
Thalia wrenched herself from Rhylan’s arms. She felt the lack of him, but knew she needed to stand on her own feet. “You need me. If he doesn’t see me there, who knows what will happen? Javier has been in there for over a year. What does that kind of captivity do to someone’s mind? He could think you’re a hunter. He could think you’re there to hurt him. If I’m not there to reassure him, then your whole plan could be bust anyway.”
Jax narrowed his eyes at her. Sydney sidled up behind him, beseeching her mate. Her grip on Jax tightened like her jaw until he relaxed.
“Fine,” he snapped. “But you have to do exactly as I say. Can you do that?”
She swallowed, fighting past her dry throat. “Yes. I can.”
She had to. Following orders meant her brother free and safe. Jax spent a long moment studying her face, before he nodded and turned away.
“Let’s get something to eat and go over the plan again.” Sydney pulled her phone from her pocket. She had a local restaurant on speed dial and directed them to deliver to the Lodge.
After what had to be the tensest hour of her life, there was a knock on the door. Thalia jumped from her seat, eager to ease the tension with something to do, but when she opened the door, an unfamiliar woman stood on the other side. Thalia looked to the woman’s hand for carry out containers and found nothing.
A smile curled over the woman’s face and, suddenly, Thalia saw the resemblance. She looked like Nora. Thalia staggered back. The enchantress. She’d found them because Thalia had screwed up. Her world flipped upside down for a moment. Everything good she’d stumbled into since Rhylan found her was now forfeit.
Thalia would be the death of them all.
Then, Sydney spoke. “Get the hell out of Rhylan’s room, you old crone.”
The woman’s smile never faltered. “That’s no way to speak to your elders, dearie.”
Sydney growled, seemingly unafraid. Thalia did a double take, still frozen where she was. Sydney spoke to her as if she were not a soul sucking threat. As if she were only a human woman. Which, she was, kind of.
“There was a ruckus in my barn today,” the woman continued. Her bright, icy-blue eyes grazed each person in the room, a cutting look as if she might kill them with that alone. “I was on my way to my court hearing and I thought I should visit you and remind you that messing with my cattle is
a very bad idea.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sydney shrugged. Even though her voice was nonchalant, Thalia could see the tension in Sydney’s jaw. It was her tell, her tick. She was afraid, but not enough to run.
The enchantress would not try something out in the open. Especially not when she was already on her way to a court hearing. Though the smile on the woman’s face turned Thalia’s stomach. The woman didn’t think she was going to spend any time in jail.
What was it that had gotten her in trouble again? Thalia sifted through the recent gossip in town and recalled that there’d been a string of missing person reports that had led Sydney to this woman. The thing about that was the missing persons had been shifters. The enchantress and her hunters had caught the shifters in their animal forms. No one would have witnessed the kidnappings.
All that mattered was the witness testimonies and one of those witnesses was already dead. Thalia remembered that another missing person had been the wolf that attacked and changed Sydney. That wolf was dead and buried, all that was left of her was the beast inside Sydney.
That left the third victim.
“Theo…” Sydney’s voice failed her, her hand flying to her throat. Jax caught her before her knees could give out, his eyes blazing with a fire that should have consumed and destroyed the witch.
The enchantress smiled. She had the upper-hand, and she knew it. Her eyes slid to fall on Thalia, taking the female shifter in from head to toe. An understanding sparked in her eyes. It filled Thalia with cold shivers that she refused to show.
“You know what we’re after,” Thalia whispered.
The enchantress shrugged, cocky and pleased with herself. Still, she watched Thalia like a hawk. It made her nervous. The wolf screamed to run from the gaze of this predator. What kind of wolf ran from a fight? Perhaps the better question was what kind of predator did a wolf run from?
Rhylan noticed the way the enchantress watched Thalia and stepped closer, but Thalia had a feeling his body could not protect her from whatever power lay in the enchantress. The only thing that protected them was the public nature of the Lodge room. The open and active parking lot with numerous witnesses kept the enchantress in check. She had a court date to look good for, after all.
“We won’t stop,” Thalia declared.
Sydney snapped her name, but she would not be deterred. If they had to, they could send Sydney and Jax to watch over Theo. With Nora’s help, Thalia and Rhylan could free her brother. There was a version of this where everyone lived. It was the version Thalia would fight tooth and nail for.
“Suit yourself. Just don’t expect help from my daughter. She knows the consequences if she interferes again.”
Thalia felt stricken. She wasn’t sure what that meant, and the only person she could ask wasn’t present. Nora had claimed to love her brother, or at least declared a bond with him. The woman’s comments filled her with a million questions regarding Nora’s position in all this.
Rhylan searched for her hand and squeezed. It was a warning, a promise, and a million other things. She leaned into him, letting her head touch his shoulder. The enchantress stared at Thalia for another long moment, the gaze sending a creeping feeling through her body.
She wanted Thalia. For what, she didn’t know. Was there something about their family that the enchantress enjoyed, or was the woman simply looking for a matched pair? Either way, Thalia’s lips curled away from her teeth as the woman turned on her heel and waved over her shoulder.
Once Rhylan slammed the door shut and locked it, there was another knock. A terrified delivery boy quaked when Rhylan growled and threw the door open. All the while Sydney signed for the food and they dispersed it, a heavy gloom hung over the room. Their appetites had disappeared, even if they knew they needed the energy to shift again later.
Thalia shoved her dumplings around the container, lost in the cage of her mind. Her brother was the only thing she cared about, but sense told her they needed to do everything they could to stop these hunters. She just wasn’t sure how to go about that.
Jax and Sydney were not happy when she told them to go to Theo. The other shifter needed them more than she did. If the woman’s threats were to be trusted, she had hunters on Theo as they spoke.
Their forces would be divided.
She assured them they could do this, they could get everyone out of this alive. The only problem was that Nora couldn’t be found anywhere. They were relying upon Nora running interference inside the house. Yet, whenever anyone tried calling her, she was unavailable.
Thalia shifted nervously. This was her only chance to get her brother back safely. They could risk it and go in without Nora, especially now that they thought the hunters had been split in half, but it still wasn’t what she would have wanted. They’d already sacrificed part of their force to look over Theo.
***
Sydney tried to tell Jax she could watch over Theo on her own, but her mate refused to let her out of his sight where these hunters were concerned. For a moment, Thalia let herself believe she could have had more help on her side, but she knew this was how it was supposed to be. She didn’t know Sydney well, but she did not want to succeed in freeing her brother only to lose a new friend.
They shared a hug before going their own ways. Sydney flicked the lights on her SUV, disappearing down the road in a show of red and blue. It left Thalia and Rhylan standing in the dark alone. Nora still had not responded to any of the calls or texts. They were truly on their own.
Rhylan tried telling her it would work out. She could see the resolution in his eyes. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He was the wall that protected her from the outside world, but who was she without him? He was the fuel to her fire. She hadn’t realized that without him she’d been a senseless wildfire.
Her mouth went dry. There were so many ways this could all go wrong. Ways she couldn’t even imagine. Was she willing to risk these people, her mate, just to save her idiot brother? The longer she thought about him in there, the madder she got. He’d gotten himself into this situation and now forced her to risk not only herself but also others to save him. If he’d stayed home, been more careful, none of this would have happened. The anger was bitter and biting, a rush that she wanted to give into.
Blaming Javi fixed nothing, she tried to tell herself. There was no version of this story where she would willingly leave him there. He had to know that.
Thalia went to toss her phone into the backseat of her car before it buzzed in her hand. Nora’s number flashed across the screen. Her stomach flipped nervously, The bitterness that washed through her rose to the surface.
“What do you want?” Thalia snapped after raising the phone to her ear.
Silence droned for a long moment. Thalia thought, maybe, she’d accidentally hung up on Nora until she finally spoke. Her voice was a whisper, half of herself.
“Don’t do it.”
Cold speared Thalia through her heart.
“Mom has… she’s chained his soul to her.”
Her heart stopped beating, waiting for Nora to continue. She didn’t know what that meant or what it had to do with their mission. Thalia was going to free her brother from that witch no matter what. She would go to the ends of the earth that night to see it done.
“Mom, she knows about our bond. I was going to take him with me when I left, but she’s obsessed with him. She calls him her pet monster. The things she’s done with your brother… I can’t… I can’t begin to tell you. It’s best you don’t know.”
Thalia growled. All Nora had done was stroke a growing fire.
“What I’m trying to say, is that when I left she bound herself to him. If we interfere, she’ll siphon his soul. Even if we get him back, she’ll still hold him prisoner. Mom would never use his soul for her magic, but she’d hold onto it.
“If we go in there and make a fuss, Javi’s soul will be ripped away. Do you want to risk your brother’s life like that?”
> Nora’s words made her cold. Her knees trembled until she collapsed to the pavement. Rhylan shouted and rushed toward her. Distantly, she could hear his concern, asking her what was wrong and trying to diagnose her like a doctor. But, he could do nothing.
Not for this.
“Then help us,” Thalia growled into the phone.
Nora paused, the silence dragging. They needed her. They relied on her. Thalia would not beg, but she knew she was close. It started with Thalia screwing up and, from there, the plans had frayed and become a complete mess. All she’d wanted was her brother returned. But this made it feel like that’d never been in the stars for them.
Then, a buzz reached her ears. Nora had hung up. She tightened her grip on the phone, nearly bending double. What were they fighting for if no matter what they did, their mission was a failure? She could free her brother but find herself with a husk of a man.
Rhylan kept touching her, trying to pull her up so that he could inspect her. When he found the phone in her hands, he realized her pain was not physical. All he could do was wrap his arms around her shoulders. He whispered empty promises, granting them like glittery and useless band-aids, the best he could do while Thalia worked through the hurt she was feeling.
When she’d had enough, she shrugged him off and fumbled to her feet. This wasn’t over.
Chapter Seventeen
Night obscured the world, but their wolf eyes could cut through the darkness to make out the shapes of shifters laying in cages. As it did every time, his heart sank. He made a silent promise to return for all of them. He would not leave anyone behind. He would not let anyone die on his watch.
It was a sentiment his wolf echoed, a part of his pledge as a doctor that bled into the wolf. First, free Javier. Then, free the rest of them. It would take only moments. He’d done it before. This time, he would be there to shepherd them to safety. The hunters could not take them all if they kept together.
His mate lagged behind him. Thalia was still caught by whatever she’d heard over the phone. She hadn’t been able to tell him, or, hadn’t wanted to tell him. She’d dropped her phone and shifted before taking even a moment to tell him what was wrong. He’d half feared she might run toward whatever had angered her, yet she stayed beside him.
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