by Lynn Hagen
“Then we need to move out now,” Sasha said.
“Let’s roll, people. We have a deranged werecoyote to kill.”
“Oh, goody,” Benito said as he bounced from the bed. “Playtime.”
Rick stared at the juvenile for a moment. Benito used to be so sweet, so naïve. Rick wasn’t sure how to take this new side to the man.
Miguel was no better. “We just have to make sure Dorian doesn’t shoot us when we attack Garrett. The man needs to seriously work on his aim.”
“Hey,” Dorian defended indignantly. “I’ve gotten much better.”
Rick stood there and watched all three exit the room and wondered who they were and what happened to the three sweet men he used to know.
Okay, so Dorian was never that sweet. The man had picked up a gun and taken care of business from the start. Damn if that thought didn’t get Rick hard. He smiled as he walked outside, wondering if he would have time to take his mate someplace private and fuck his brains out.
As tempting as it was, Rick knew they needed to get moving if they were going to catch Garrett before he left. The trip from Indiana to Kentucky was already going to be long enough, especially since they couldn’t take the highway.
Rick just prayed they got to the Smoky Mountains before Garrett disappeared for good.
“So, are you ever going to tell me what your other beast is?” Rick asked Sasha. He was dying to know, but had a feeling Sasha wasn’t going to tell.
“Llama,” Sasha replied with a smirk and Rick could smell the lie.
“Is that the animal you’re going with?” Rick retorted. “Because that should make the rumors all the juicier.”
“You wouldn’t,” Sasha snarled.
“Nah, but wouldn’t it be fun to say that my rival, Sasha Monroe, was half leopard and half llama? I’m laughing just picturing the combination.”
Rick saw a tight tugging at the side of Sasha’s lips. So the man wasn’t made entirely of ice. Maybe they could work together after all. Just as long as Sasha kept his smart comments to himself, all would be good.
Fat chance of that happening.
“We’re coming up on the entrance,” Freedman announced as he pulled the truck over. “I could try and drive up there, or we can go by foot.”
“It would be quicker if we went by foot,” Rick replied. “But I want Sasha and Mason to shift into their cat forms and go ahead of us. Every second counts.”
“Wow,” Sasha said as he climbed out of the truck. “You are actually making smart decisions. I’m impressed.”
“Bite me, pussycat.”
Sasha gave a small yowl and then began to undress. It was normal for changeling to be nude around pack. But Rick wasn’t a part of Sasha’s leap, and he knew the man was doing it for Dorian’s benefit.
Rick was going to castrate the bastard.
A pleased smile formed on Rick’s face when not only did Dorian turn around and look away, but so did Omar and the two juveniles. Omar may have been knocked down to juvenile status, but Rick just couldn’t wrap his head around the concept, even though he was the one to strip the man of his title.
How screwed up was that?
Omar’s status would depend on how things played out with this war. Thus far he was just tagging along for the ride. Well, except for fighting that guy from the Death Squad to save Trisha and Peanut.
Maybe Omar had a chance of regaining his title yet. But Rick would wait and see. The man had to learn teamwork. He couldn’t just go off on his own and try to solve a problem that damn near got Rick and Dorian caught.
It was a risk that Rick would not chance again.
They trekked through the mountains, Sasha and Mason running ahead. The changelings and Freedman kept up, but Rick could tell Dorian wasn’t used to this strenuous pace. They were moving exceedingly fast in order to make it to Garrett’s compound in time. Miguel was carrying a backpack with Mason and Sasha’s clothes, and even he was way ahead of them.
“I’m sorry I’m pushing you so hard,” he said to Dorian. “But you know we have to catch him.”
“I know.” Dorian jumped over a fallen log and kept going. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep up.” His mate smiled at him, and Rick felt his chest tighten. Their bond was deep. It had grown by leaps and bounds since Rick first mated him. He craved Dorian like a drug now. Rick knew he wouldn’t live if anything happened to his mate.
And if he did, then he would be a soulless bastard because there was no way he could live without his heart.
Rick grabbed Dorian’s arm when he saw Benito and Miguel go down to their knees. Omar and Freedman followed. Rick pulled Dorian down to the floor of the forest and then scented the air. His blood ran cold when he scented so many werecoyotes that he couldn’t even distinguish how many there were.
Thankfully they were downwind.
“Bad?” Dorian asked.
“Very bad,” he whispered. Rick walked in a crouch until he was next to everyone else. Dorian did the same.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Freedman said in a low voice, “but there is some kind of gathering. I counted at least twenty men, but I haven’t spotted Garrett anywhere in the crowd.”
Twenty changelings. That was bad considering Rick only had six men, including himself. He knew Benito and Miguel were damn good fighters, but he wasn’t too sure about Omar. Dorian and Freedman would have to rely on firepower.
That wasn’t a great option when facing lethal changelings. The odds were against them, and Rick knew the only way they were going to get out of this alive was to leave now.
But he couldn’t let Garrett get away. The man knew something about Rick’s birth certificate, and it was eating him alive not knowing why the man had it in the first place. He also wanted to kill the bastard for not only the crimes he had committed, but for taking his group hostage and having his pregnant sister threatened.
“We have to wait until we can get Garrett away from the crowd,” Freedman said. “It’s too risky to go in there right now.”
Rick glanced up to see Sasha and Mason in the trees high above them. The two sat with a stillness that made them seem like statues, but Rick knew they were watching their prey. He just prayed they didn’t jump the gun.
“Then we wait.” Rick turned back around and hunkered down, waiting for the moment when he could wrap his hands around Garrett’s throat and squeeze the life out of the monster.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Deluca’s eyes flew open when he heard a strange noise coming from outside. He knew no one could get in and that there were motion sensors in the garden.
He lay there quietly, Willow’s naked form splayed over one side of his body. Deluca didn’t move. He didn’t breathe.
The noise came again. This time Brooke lifted his head and glanced across Willow’s body at Deluca. He gave a slight shake of his head, telling Brooke he had no clue what the sound was.
Oh so slowly, Deluca slid from under Willow’s body and dropped silently to his knees. He grabbed his pants and slid them on. Brooke was at his side in seconds, wearing jeans as well.
Brooke began talking, but no sound came from his mouth. He knew Deluca was damn good at reading lips. The man told him to go check the house while he stayed with Willow.
Deluca was gone, heading toward the hallway. He slipped into Trisha and Peanut’s room first, checking on the girls. Laura had set up a crib in there, and Deluca could see Kell sitting up, staring at him with big green eyes.
As Deluca looked around, Kell didn’t make a sound. It was as if he knew to be quiet. Trisha and Peanut were fast asleep, ignorant to the possible danger.
He wanted to keep them that way just in case this was a false alarm. But Deluca’s gut was telling him this was the real deal. His instincts had never steered him wrong before, not with this. Maybe trying to figure women out was something his instincts would never adapt to, but fighting, being a soldier, and protecting those he cared about were ingrained in him.
Kell crawled to the cr
ib’s edge and then turned his head to look out of the window. Deluca’s eyes widened when he caught the tiny canines slowly slipping down from Kell’s gums.
Willow and Brooke had told him about this strange little trick, but to see it happening was just plain bizarre. When Kell looked back at Deluca, the green in his eyes had taken over, not a single spot of white could be seen.
Deluca walked silently to Kell’s crib and glanced out of the window. He saw a shadow high up in one of the trees…somewhere the motion sensors would not detect an intruder.
Kell shuddered and then a low growly moan was heard. Deluca picked him up from the crib and moved him away from the window. “Good job, buddy” he whispered. “I need you to stay on the bed and don’t make a sound.”
Brooke had told him that Kell seemed to understand what they were saying. Or at least, Kell had listened when Brooke had told the infant to put his canines away.
Kell sat perfectly still on the bed, motionless, silent.
Deluca wasn’t sure what Garrett had done to Kell, but whatever had been done was freaking Deluca out slightly. Six-month-old babies shouldn’t be able to understand and follow instructions.
Then again, six-month-old babies shouldn’t have canines hidden in their gums and their eyes shouldn’t be able to do that strange little trick.
Deluca had a feeling raising Kell was going to be very interesting. It didn’t make him want Kell any less. He was just going to have to make sure the changeling was well trained and learned how to control…whatever it was he could now do.
“He can feel the bad man,” Peanut said, which scared the shit out of Deluca. He hadn’t even known she was awake. She turned her tiny little head, glancing at the window. “I can feel him, too. He wants to hurt Willow and take Kell.”
Deluca wasn’t sure what in the hell was going on in this room with these babies, but he couldn’t ignore their warning. Whoever was outside wanted to hurt Willow and take Kell.
There was only one man Deluca knew of who would want Kell back.
Garrett.
But wasn’t Rick tracking him down in the Smoky Mountains right now? There was no way Garrett could be in two places at once. That just wasn’t possible. As freaky-deaky as things were getting around here, that was not a possibility Deluca was going to entertain.
He knew that even if the intruder was up in the trees, evading the motion sensors, there was no way he could get into the house. There were alarms on every window and door. The windows were also bulletproof.
But if that was Garrett outside, Deluca wasn’t taking any chances. “Wake Trisha,” he whispered to Peanut. The toddler reached over and shook the teenager until Trisha was staring Deluca right in his eyes. Deluca put a finger to his mouth, grabbed Kell from the bed, and waved for Peanut and Trisha to follow.
The teenager grabbed Peanut’s hand and hurried from the room. Pappy was coming out of his room, his jaw firm as he stared at the four. “I heard you guys moving around.” Pappy’s salt-and-pepper hair was tousled, and he was wearing nothing but pajama bottoms. But his blue eyes were wide open and assessing all four of them with sharp intelligence only found in a man who had seen his share of battles.
“Intruder outside the kids’ window,” Deluca said. “He’s using the trees so he won’t trip any alarms.”
“Take them in with Willow. I’ll go get Dad.”
Deluca nodded as the four of them quickly moved to Deluca’s bedroom. Willow was awake and pacing. She hurried to them and grabbed Kell from Deluca’s arms. “His eyes,” Willow gasped and then pushed at Kell’s top lip. “He has canines.”
“I told you,” Brooke said.
“When I told him to stay on the bed and not make a sound, the kid turned into a damn statue,” Deluca said to Brooke. He was still trying to figure Kell out, but knew he needed to think about the person outside trying to get in. “There is someone in the trees.”
“Avoiding the motion sensors,” Brooke surmised.
Deluca raced for his gun when the alarm was tripped. He grabbed it and then pointed a finger toward the door. “Basement.” The sound was ear shattering for him. Deluca could just imagine what the changelings were going through. Their hearing was far superior to humans. It had to be pure torture.
Willow ran with Kell. Brooke grabbed Peanut. Deluca snagged Trisha’s hand and pulled her alongside of him. They were heading for the underground bunker.
Mark and Brennan had built the room before Brooke was even born. Deluca had always teased his best friend about having overzealous parents, and he never thought he would have a need for that room. Fuck if he wasn’t grateful for it now.
Dad was already downstairs loading weapons. Deluca shot to the bunker and hurried Trisha inside. He saw that Laura was already in there. Deluca knew Brooke’s fathers would not take a chance with her life.
The alarm finally fell silent, but Deluca’s ears were still ringing loudly. Dad was on the phone with the alarm company, telling them it was a false alarm.
The man didn’t intend to let the intruder live, so why involve the cops?
“But I can help,” Trisha said as she grabbed Deluca’s arm. “I can fight.”
Deluca cupped her face and kissed the young girl on her forehead. He then ran his hand down her length of hair, knowing Trisha was scared and needed touch. “The most important job is yours. Keep everyone inside this room safe.”
She swallowed hard and nodded rapidly. “Grammy knows what to do,” he said to her, still seeing the fear echoing in her deep brown eyes. “Don’t be afraid, and there are monitors inside to show you what’s going on.”
“I’ll make sure Peanut and Kell are occupied.”
“That’s my girl.” She knew without Deluca telling her to make sure the little ones didn’t see any violence. He wished he could tell her the same, but knew Trisha was going to be keeping a close eye on them. She might be afraid, but Deluca could see strength in her that would come in handy once she became an adult. She would need it if she was going to survive in this ever-changing world.
Laura pulled Trisha back and then closed the door, sealing in the people he cared about the most. With one worry lifted from his shoulders, Deluca knew he could concentrate on whoever had the balls to break into this place.
“The girls and Kell are taken care of,” Deluca said as he spun around and headed for the steps with grim determination. “Now it’s time we hunt.”
Brooke swept the bedroom, his gun tight in his hands as his eyes scanned every inch of the room. There was someone in his parents’ home, and he planned on teaching them what messing with a member of the Brooke family entailed. He had never been so scared in his life when he heard the alarms sound and his family was standing around him in harm’s way.
Once the room checked out, Brooke moved back into the hallway. “Has Dad found where the breakin occurred?” he asked Pappy when the man came out of the dining room.
“The kitchen, but he hasn’t found anyone in there. I’m guessing that the man who broke in isn’t untrained. He’s slipped around us so far.”
Brooke had guessed the same thing. Whoever was here was a either a trained soldier or changeling. No one could get past the alarms. Breathing hard on the windows would have set them off. But now that the intruder was inside, it was up to the four men to find him and stop him from harming their family.
Deluca came out of the kids’ room, his eyes scanning the kitchen across the hall. There was no way the guy could still be hiding somewhere. The only place they hadn’t checked was the attic.
Brooke made the sign with his hand and Deluca nodded. Both started toward the attic door when it crashed open. Deluca was thrown clear, slamming into the wall. Brooke raised his gun and opened fire, but the bastard was on him changeling-fast.
It was Garrett.
Brooke slammed his head into Garrett’s, trying to get the man off of him, but the werecoyote had a tight grip on his neck. He spun, placing Brooke in the line of fire.
“Let him g
o,” Pappy said with steel in his tone.
“Just as soon as you bring me Willow and Kell.” Garrett pulled Brooke closer, ensuring he was well protected against any gunshots. His claws dug into Brooke’s throat, the burn of broken skin shooting across his neck.
“Shoot him,” Brooke said right before Garrett squeezed harder. The coyote took a step, and then another, pressing closer to Dad and Pappy, using Brooke as a human shield as he inched toward the basement steps.
Deluca was to their right. He had his gun aimed, but Brooke knew he wouldn’t take a shot unless he knew Brooke was clear of any danger.
Brooke mouthed to Deluca to shoot Garrett, but Deluca shook his head no. Brooke understood everyone’s reluctance to take a chance with his life, but he couldn’t allow Garrett down those steps. The man wouldn’t be able to get into the bunker. It was built to withstand the battering and abuse someone might inflict to gain entrance, but just the thought of Garrett anywhere near their family was making Brooke desperate.
He had to find a way to get away from Garrett so the men could open fire on his ass. Dad had his M249, and that was a big enough gun to kill Garrett ten times over.
But he had to get Garrett out in the open first.
Brooke knew Garrett was going to use him to get to Willow and Kell, so he did the only thing he could think of.
Brooke ripped himself away from the werecoyote. He could feel his throat being torn open as he hit the floor. Gunshots rang out all around him as Brooke lay there bleeding to death from his jagged wound.
“No!” Willow screamed at the monitors when she saw Brooke go down, his throat a bloody mess. He was lying there lifeless as the other men gunned Garrett down. She was glad the coyote was dead. He was a monster of the truest form. But Brooke was no monster. He was the third in their relationship, and Willow couldn’t imagine a life without him.
“I have to save him. Let me out of here!” She ran to the door, slamming her hands against the cold steel. Tears were stinging her eyes as she tried desperately to open the door.
“Hang on,” Laura said. She hit a series of buttons, and then the door clicked open. Willow raced from the basement and up the flight of stairs until she was in the upstairs hallway.