by Alana Hart
“Filled with silver. If they tried to shift, the rubber would’ve ripped when their neck expanded, cut their throat and pierced them with silver. They would’ve died.”
Reagan clutched Harry tighter. “That seems advanced. I thought you were a secret?”
He raised his eyebrows. “We are. Or were.” He scratched his head, pulling the bandana off. His curls spilled over his hand and reached his neck. Reagan looked away, her stomach clenching again, but this time not from fear.
“Stay here,” he growled. “Got to make a call.” He slipped outside.
Reagan shifted Harry in her arms and peered down at the carnage. Screw that, she wasn’t staying in here. She followed him outside and sat in one of the plastic chairs by the door. He merely glanced at her, his phone to his ear.
It was cold, but she’d be damned if she was going back in the room. Reagan leaned her head back against the motel wall; Harry tucked warmly against her chest, and listened to the murmur of Aidan’s voice.
The sky was tinged green along the horizon, the rest of the world a static gray.
Aidan ended his call and swooped past her. He reappeared and tossed a blanket over her and Harry. Reagan turned to thank him, but he had already gone back inside.
For the next ten minutes he lugged the bodies from the room and into the back of the van. Harry had fallen back to sleep, her thumb in her mouth.
It didn’t matter that Aidan had just saved their lives; Reagan had to find a way to get away from him. She would not go back to Hank. She wouldn’t let Hank get his hands on Harry.
Aidan closed the motel door, her bags in his hand.
“What are we doing?” Reagan whispered.
He set them down and sat in another plastic chair on the opposite side of the door, far from Reagan.
“Liam’ll be here in an hour with a car.”
“That’s fast.”
“Liam drives fast.” He frowned, glancing at his motorcycle. She noticed it then. Huge, custom built, a howling wolf on the gas tank. His leather jacket was strewn over the seat. It wasn’t the same bike from when they were young. Back then he’d ridden a hand me down from one of his uncles.
Back then they spent the summers riding up to the beach, her on the back, clinging to him. They rode to New Hampshire, where they could take off their helmets and let the wind whip through their hair. Often times they wound up back in Mass, at his parents’ old beach house in Gloucester. He would carry her inside, lay her on the bed, and kiss his way from her neck, down her stomach, to her—
Reagan shook her head. Those were not the kind of thoughts she needed to be thinking around Aidan. She cleared her throat softly.
“I’m hungry.”
He kept his eyes on his phone, the screen lit with some app or page. “We’ll eat when we get the car.”
“What are you doing?” She leaned toward him. He tilted the phone so it was out of her view.
“Booking a new motel.”
“I thought we were going back to Hank?”
He set the phone on his leg and met her gaze, his eyes bright in the bleak light. “Cormac told me to stay put for now. He’s looking for leads up there, while I look into those men from here.” He gestured to his larger-than-normal phone.
“You don’t think it was Hank?”
He gave her a weary look. “You think Hank hired more shifters to find you? Does he even know what a shifter is?”
She felt her face get hot, her heart beat a little faster.
Aidan cocked an eyebrow. “Did you tell him?”
“No!” she said, causing Harry to stir. And then softer, “Of course not.”
He grinned. “Don’t get worked up. Those collars came from someone a bit higher up the food chain than Hank Donahue.”
“Who?”
He shrugged and picked his phone up again. “Leave me alone and I can find out.”
Reagan was exhausted. She was cold, hungry, and so damned tired. She’d come so close to escaping Hank, and now she had to try and escape a frigging shifter. Sleep now, she decided. She wasn’t getting away from him anytime soon, so she might as well sleep.
Crossing her legs on the seat so as not to drop Harry, Reagan leaned her head back against the building and closed her eyes. An hour until Liam arrived, that was how long she had to sleep. And then she wouldn’t sleep until she and Harry were far from the McKinnon brothers.
Chapter Five
Aidan knew when she finally fell asleep. Her heart rate dropped, her muscles relaxed, her breathing evened out. He glanced at her face as the sky lightened to pale gray, the horizon streaked with tendrils of red. She looked younger in sleep, like the teenager he once knew.
Their past didn’t matter. Whether she was over hers or not didn’t matter. Her well-being was not something that had crossed his mind in ten years. Not much anyway. He had loved her once, but she broke his heart, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. She was going back to her husband and their perfect house in New Hampshire, whether she wanted to or not.
And she would be going soon.
Aidan found an online manufacturer for the collars. It seemed that shifters were better known than Aidan realized, but not enough to cause a stir in the news. The place made those collars, as well as other kinds of collars. Some, like the one his older brother had experience this past summer, were a lot like spiked dog collars and intended to keep a shifter from shifting into human form. He found other sites, many which needed passwords to get on. Bypassing the passwords easily, he scrolled through the sites, feeling sicker with each new page. There were people selling silver cages, traps, and bullets. Men, who advertised that, for a hefty chunk of money, would go and hunt any shifters in your area.
How long had he been in the woods? It may as well have been years with all of this information on the Internet. Or maybe he had just always had so much faith in the alphas and their belief that no one knew about them. Maybe Aidan had been under the assumption that all shifters were safe, but really it was just their pack.
Whatever it was, Aidan’s world had shrunk considerably and the safety of his family seemed fragile. He needed to go home, work on a plan to better protect everyone, but Cormac would expect him to complete his mission first.
So, he sent the links to his great-uncle, making sure to forward them to Emmett in case Cormac couldn’t figure out how to open them.
He would finish his job, get Reagan back to Hank, and then go home and start building a fucking wall around the Den.
Time passed incredibly slowly when you wanted it to hurry up. He knew that from his time in Ireland, but right then, waiting for Liam to show up with a car, time seemed to stop.
And then, as the morning traffic began, headlights cutting through the dreary winter morning, a black SUV skidded into the motel parking lot, sliding to a sideways stop in front of them. Reagan woke with a shriek, waking the kid.
Both of them stared at the SUV with wide, sleepy eyes.
Liam cut the engine and climbed out, shutting the door with a grating slam. He grinned, pulling off sunglasses like an ass. It was still dark enough not to need sunglasses, but his baby brother liked to pretend he was cool. Liam was taller than Aidan by a couple of inches, but he was skinnier, all lean muscle where Aidan was thick and wide, burly.
“Hey asshole,” Liam reached into the backseat and pulled out a toolbox. He glanced at Aidan’s bike. “Don’t look broken.”
“It’s not.”
Liam stared at Aidan. “Fuck do you mean? Why did I drive all the way down here if it ain’t broke?”
“I needed a car.” Aidan stood, tossing his keys at Liam. “Take my bike back home.”
Liam caught the keys without looking, his eyes instead focused on Aidan, incredulous. “Do you know how long that fucking ride is? It’s fucking cold, man. Fuck it. Where’s the bitch? I’ll drive her back in the car, you ride your bike home.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Fuck you.” Liam caught sight of Reagan
then, She hadn’t moved from the chair, and the kid had burrowed out of sight. Reagan’s eyes were wide, staring at Liam. He moved toward her. “On your feet, bitch. We got a long—what the fuck, man?”
Liam yanked his arm out of Aidan’s grasp.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” Liam stepped out of Aidan’s reach. “Don’t tell me you still have a thing for this bitch? After the amount of money her dad cost the bar? After she got your ass sent to Ireland?” He turned his glare on Reagan. “I don’t know what kind of spells human snatch is putting on my brothers, but it ain’t working on me. Get your ass up and get the fuck in the car.”
Aidan grabbed Liam by the neck and dragged him toward the bike. Liam’s growl shook the windowpanes as he fought to loosen Aidan’s hold. Aidan thought he heard Reagan yelp.
Unable to break Aidan’s grip, Liam did what he always did, went for the verbal assault. Aidan did his best to ignore it, struggling to drag Liam as his younger brother dug his heels in.
“Go ahead, choose a human over your family again. You’re getting good at being a traitor. That bitch don’t care about you. Remember? She’s gonna use you again ‘til she don’t need you no more. Then it’s bye-bye Aidan, the fuckbag who saves the day. Let me go!” He twisted around, getting his jacket stuck around his shoulders.
Aidan shoved him against the side of the SUV, a hand on his chest. Liam glared at him, but under the glare Aidan saw the hurt in his younger brother’s eyes. To him, Aidan was once again choosing a human not over his family, but over his baby brother.
Pulling him by the shirt, Aidan hugged Liam. His brother stubbornly refused to hug him back. Aidan spoke into his ear.
“I’m not choosing her, brother. I would never choose her again. It’s my job; bring her back to her husband and then be done with it.” He pulled away so he could look into Liam’s eyes. Liam’s glare had left somewhat, replaced by annoyed acceptance.
“Fine, whatever,” he said, but Aidan could feel the anger ebbing away from his brother. Liam sighed. “Cormac didn’t mention a pup, though.”
Aidan stared. “What pup?”
From the chair by the motel door came a stifled gasp, and then Reagan was up and running, the kid in her arms.
Aidan caught her before she stepped foot in the parking lot, wrapping his arms around her. She screamed, and something yelped, jumping from her arms. Aidan thought she dropped the kid, but a tiny, gray wolf pup tumbled to the ground, wriggled out of some clothing, and started running.
Liam scooped the pup up, holding it to his chest.
“Let her go!” Reagan yelled. “Don’t you hurt her, I swear I’ll kill you.”
Liam stared at Reagan, bemused. “Why would I hurt a pup?” And then he cocked an eyebrow at Aidan. “How did you not smell it?”
Good question, Aidan thought, as the warm, rich scent of Reagan’s hair filled his nose. He had an idea why the scent of a pup evaded him, and he didn’t like it.
Aidan bent his head and spoke into her ear. “Reagan. Explain.”
Her heart hammered against her ribs. He could feel it vibrating through his arms around her chest. She was soft and warm and smelled like shampoo and coffee and home. He shook his head.
“Reagan,” he growled when she hesitated.
“Okay,” she jumped at the sound of his growl in her ear. Taking a breath, she opened her mouth to speak. Aidan felt her pulse jump.
“No lying.”
She closed her mouth, swallowed, and opened it again, this time with no jump in her pulse. “She’s a shifter pup.”
“No shit,” Liam said. He cuddled the pup, scratching her behind the ears.
Aidan could feel her irritation and anger at Liam broiling under her skin.
“How did you end up with a shifter pup?” Aidan asked. Feeling that she wasn’t going to run without the pup, Aidan released her. She stepped away from him quickly, stopping between him and Liam.
She wrung her hands as she spoke. “I don’t really know.” Liam snorted. “No really. I came home from the grocery store on Monday and found Hank with a puppy. I thought it was a husky, and I thought it was a gift for me. An apology or something.” Her face reddened in the growing light of the morning. “I-I went to pick her up and Hank… he didn’t let me.” She glanced quickly at Aidan, unable to hold his gaze. “He told me to go make him dinner, so I did. I was going to bring it out to him, but he wasn’t in the living room. I peeked into his office—I’m not allowed in there—and the puppy was sitting on his desk. Hank pulled a collar off and poof, she turned into a little girl.” She looked intently at Aidan. “I hadn’t seen a shifter in ten years. And then, he was hugging her and kissing her face. I got a sick feeling watching him. I grabbed a lamp, smashed him over the head, took the baby, and ran. And now here I am.”
“Why didn’t you bring her to our family?” Liam asked, not bothering to hide the snark in his voice.
She glared at him. “Your family isn’t exactly fond of me. And for all I knew, one of your family gave him the girl.”
He scoffed. “She’s fucking kidding, right?”
“Liam,” Aidan said. “Shut up for a minute.”
Liam shook his head and sat in Reagan’s vacant chair, cuddling the puppy on his lap. She licked his chin, her tail wagging.
“I need to call the alphas.”
Liam sniffed. “You kill something?”
“Ah shit,” Aidan said and put his phone away. “Someone came after them.” He nodded at Reagan and the pup. “Let’s get to the other motel first. Liam, take my bike—”
“It is fucking cold,” Liam enunciated his words. “Let me crash in the room with you for a couple hours. Besides, you might need me if anyone else tries to fuck with your cargo.”
“Aside from you?”
“I’ll play nice. Swear, just feed me and let me sleep.”
“Siobhan’ll feed you.”
“Come on, Aidan. Lemme stay. Look the pup wants me to stay.” The pup playfully nipped at Liam’s chin.
Aidan growled, running a hand through his hair. “Fine. But you’re driving my bike to the motel.”
Liam opened his mouth, but Aidan cut him off. “Consider it my gift to you so you don’t have to spend too much time alone with a human.”
He pondered that a moment, cutting his eyes at Reagan, and then Liam nodded. Ten minutes later Reagan sat in the SUV’s passenger seat, the pup, now a kid, buckled in the backseat, while Aidan started the engine. Behind them, Liam gunned the bike, tearing out of the parking lot.
“Ass,” Aidan muttered.
Chapter Six
Reagan listened to Aidan telling someone on the phone where they were heading, giving details of the men who attacked them and the collars they wore. The timbre of his voice was soft and calm, as it had been when she was fourteen and nearly crying as she half-carried her ass of a father out of his family’s bar.
They didn’t go far. As the sun glistened off the pavement, the melting snow trickling through the gutters, they pulled into a motel not much nicer than the one they had just left. Liam was already waiting by the office, leaning against Aidan’s bike. The one thing this place did have was that it was out of the way, closer to the woods. Reagan climbed out of the SUV. She could hear the highway somewhere nearby. And she could smell food.
Reagan and Liam spoke at the same time.
“I need to feed Harry.”
“Food me, bro.”
Aidan frowned at them both. Without a word, he slipped into the office. Reagan pulled Harry from the truck. She could feel the girl shiver.
“No, no, Harry. Not here,” Reagan said gently.
Harry turned her big, brown eyes on her.
“You can shift inside.” She hugged the girl closer, tucking her head under her chin. She smelled soft and warm and sweet.
She caught Liam’s eye. He was staring at her, an odd expression on his face. Before she could say something, Aidan reappeared.
“We’re around back.” He grabbed Reagan’s
bag from the SUV and led them around the motel. Out back wasn’t much cleaner than out front. Paint was peeling from the siding, the middle of the roof over the walkway sagged, dead leaves sticking out of the gutter. Their room faced the woods on the corner of the building.
Inside, Harry jumped down and shifted into a pup, her tee shirt falling off. During their trip, Reagan had tried dressing her in normal clothes, but she would shift into a puppy and tear them apart if she got stuck.
Aidan closed the door. The room was dusty, but not terrible. There was one bed, a lumpy-looking couch, and a bathroom. Liam plopped onto the bed. Harry bobbed up and down on her back legs trying to jump up with him.
Scooping her up, Liam said, “We ordering take out or you getting us something?”
Aidan tossed a handful of bills at Liam. “Motel has a kitchen. Go get us all breakfast.”
“I’m tired,” Liam said, almost sounding like a little brother whining.
“Will you get your ass over there.”
Glaring at Aidan, Liam left the room. The slamming door shook dust from the window.
“You,” Aidan said, pointing at Reagan.
Reagan turned wide eyes on him. “Me, what?”
The room was small, and with the bed and couch there wasn’t much room for them to stand without being close to each other. Aidan’s size made the room feel like a closet.
He looked around the room, his eyes finally landing on Harry.
“What’d you say her name was?”
“Harry.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“Short for Harriet.”
“Who named her?”
“I did. Why?”
“Ugly name.”
“I like it.” Reagan felt her pulse kicking up. She needed to keep herself calm around Aidan. He would feel any change in her mood, and if she was going to get away from him, she needed to appear as calm as him. “It was my grandmother’s name.”
He stared at Reagan, his bright eyes oddly soft in the morning light.
“I liked your grandmother.”