by T. J. Finn
Corbin had one arm around her, holding her own arms at her sides, while his other hand wrapped around her neck. He leaned down to hiss in her ear as she struggled to get free. “I have two guns trained on your boyfriend. If you try to use your magic on any of my men, they have orders to shoot to kill whether or not he’s shifted into his wolf.”
That was enough to stop her struggling and her eyes went wide as Finn approached them. Claire could see the gold of his eyes and knew his wolf was close to the surface. She’d asked him last night when they had sat naked on her bed eating grilled cheese sandwiches. Finn had told her that was his wolf’s way of making his presence known.
“Are you all right, Claire?” She nearly cried at the sound of Finn’s strong voice saying her name. She knew she had been a fool to try this without him, but somehow, she had known he’d find her. Claire gave him a nod, her throat too tight to speak. He gave her a wink before he looked up at Corbin.
Chapter 14
Finn
Fear, anger, and cold, calculating violence filled Finn as he stood there watching Corbin tighten his fingers around Claire’s throat. He had almost caught her before she’d made the turn onto the lane that led to the ranch house, but she hadn’t seen him through the dust that her Jeep had kicked up. He cursed how loud his bike had been, ruining all chances of a surprise attack, but he’d seen Claire stop her Jeep and get out, then start to approach Corbin. He had to get to her before the man got her, but he was still too late.
Finn had to think as he slowly approached the house as if he were stalking his prey and, in a real sense, he was. When he saw Corbin tighten his hand around Claire’s throat and Claire struggled, her face turning red from the lack of oxygen, he stopped in his tracks. “Come on, Corbin. We both know you don’t want her. It’s me you want. Let her go and let’s you and I handle this like real men.”
Corbin chuckled and dipped his head to kiss Claire on her temple. Finn’s body jerked as his wolf threatened to shift and attack the man who held his mate, but he kept him down for now. He had no doubt that Corbin had guns pointed right at him should he shift and attack. There couldn’t be any mistakes with Claire’s life on the line.
“I don’t know, O’Reilly. She’s very pretty. I’m partial to red hair and these curves?” Corbin pulled her hard against him. “Are very sensual.”
Finn growled low, taking another step toward the porch, his eyes never leaving Claire’s. He would kill Corbin, nice and slow, for putting the sheer terror he was seeing in her eyes at that moment. He’d take the man apart piece by piece and enjoy listening to his screams. Then something in Claire’s eyes changed. A slight frown creased his forehead as he gave her an almost unperceivable shake of his head. But one corner of her mouth lifted, and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
He only had a moment to think what the hell was she doing before Claire stunned them all. Corbin’s arm around her loosened a bit and Finn watched in amazement as she sprang into action, hitting Corbin in his stomach with her elbow, then stomping on his foot. Finn heard an oomph as Corbin dropped his hold on her and she made a fist, swinging back and hitting him in the nose with the back of her hand. The minute Corbin jerked backward, Claire swung her arm down fast, hitting him just below his belt. All the men there instinctively groaned, but it was enough for her to take a couple of steps away from Corbin.
Finn rushed the porch when Corbin, blood spewing from his nose, pulled a gun from behind him and grabbed Claire before she could run away, putting the barrel to her temple. Finn skidded to a stop, his hands in the air and Claire stiffening. “You bitch.” Corbin spit out blood, then dug the gun’s barrel harder into her head. “I should shoot you right here in front of him.”
“No!” Finn screamed out, taking another step toward the porch. “You have me, Corbin. Take me and let her go.”
“I might have before, but not now. Besides, she’ll come in handy when I get to New Mexico.” Corbin nodded toward his men. “Get him.” Looking at Finn, he pressed the gun so hard against Claire’s head that Finn could see tears filling her eyes. “You’ll go with my men, nice and quiet like, or I’ll kill her and take real pleasure from it.”
Three of Corbin’s men jumped from the porch, and two of them grabbed his arms. Claire struggled again as the men tightened their hold on Finn. “Claire, stop!” he cried out to her and saw Corbin give him a bloody smile.
“Yes, Claire, stop.” He raised the gun and hit her head with it, and Finn growled loudly as her body went limp. The last of Corbin’s men on the porch caught her before she fell to the porch as Corbin wiped his nose with his arm and looked at the blood.
“Fucking bitch. You’ll pay for that.” Corbin looked at Finn, then at Claire’s Jeep behind him. “Tie her up and strap her in the passenger side of the Jeep. I’ll take that down to Roswell.” His men nodded then looked at Finn who was fighting and struggling against the others.
“What about him, boss?” Corbin’s eyes went to Finn, and he sneered.
“Skin him and make it as painful as you can. I want his pelt.”
The man holding Claire nodded and lifted her to carry her down to the Jeep and opened the passenger door, sitting her inside. Taking out a couple of zip ties from his pocket, he tied her hands together then strapped the seatbelt in around her as Corbin walked around to the driver’s side. “I’ll see you down south. Once you’re finished with him, I want the whole team down there. There is a big shifter community near Roswell. I’ll make a killing down there.”
Corbin laughed at his own joke as he slipped behind the wheel of Claire’s Jeep and started it. His man nodded and stepped out of the way as Corbin pulled away from the house. Finn threw his head back and roared out his anger as he fought like a man possessed against the ones holding him.
He heard someone scream, “Hold him!” then he was free from them, turning to face the four of them. The sound of a gun echoed in the air and a bullet landed close to his feet. Taking a quick look behind him, he saw the shooter in the upstairs window. Turning back to the others as they attacked again, he jumped back from them and finally, he shifted.
Finn’s wolf stood tall and strong, his lips curled back in a snarl and snapping his jaws. The animal was huge with the rare silvery blue fur that shone brightly in the sun. Gold eyes watched the men rushing toward him as he fell back on his haunches, waiting to attack. These men had hurt and taken his mate. They would die for that.
Finn took the first man down as his paws landed on his chest and his teeth sank into his neck. Pulling up, he ripped the man’s throat out as another tried to grab him. Finn turned his head in time and sank his teeth into the man’s wrist, shaking him like a rag doll. He shredded the skin on the man’s arms by the time he let go, then turned to face the other two.
Finn had stayed out of range of the man upstairs and backed away as the other two advanced on him.
“Here, doggy,” one man called out to him as if he were calling his trained pet, and Finn snarled and growled. He’d show him doggy.
“Remember, we need to catch him and skin while he’s still in his wolf form. If he dies, he’ll shift back to a man and we’ll never get it.”
That was all Finn needed to hear. His wolf sprang again, catching another man by the neck. The man’s screams turned into gurgles as Finn lifted his head and looked at the other two. They looked at him, then at each other, and ran. He heard the back door open and slam closed somewhere, then saw the man from upstairs following the other two across the pastures.
Finn didn’t pursue them, although he wanted to. He was hungry for blood, for hurting their mate. Finn finally convinced his wolf that they would have their revenge, but they had to get to Claire first. He shifted back to a man and took in the sun, blood and sweat covering his naked body. Finn looked over and saw his shredded clothes, then the man down at his feet. Walking over to his clothes, he found Claire’s cell phone. He had grabbed it on his way out of the motel room after he’d found her note.
Quickly dialing his brother, he held the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he pulled the clothes off the dead man. “Finn?”
The sound of Sean’s voice on the other end nearly had Finn dropping to his knees. He was tired, he was hurt, but he knew he needed to stay strong for Claire. “Yeah, Sean, it’s me.”
“Where are you? I have this witch standing here, demanding to speak to Claire or she’ll turn me into a rabbit.” Finn frowned in confusion. “Tell me she’s with you, man. She’s already done it once when she came to my hotel room and demanded to know where Claire was.”
Finn’s lips twisted a little as he pulled on the dead man’s jeans and remembered how Claire had turned him into a Shih Tzu when he’d been shot. Did all the women in her family turn men into small furry animals?
“Put her on the…” He trailed off when he heard his brother arguing with a female, then the sound of the phone being shuffled around.
“This is Grace, Claire’s sister. Where is she?” Finn took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his chest tightening at the vision of what Claire looked like when Corbin had knocked her out.
“Corbin has her. She tried to trick him or something.” He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “Hell, I don’t even know what she was trying to do. All I know is he knocked her out, put her in her Jeep, and is heading your way.”
“He’s in Fred?” Finn cringed at the name.
“Yes.”
“Good. Fred will keep her safe, and they’re heading here?”
“What do you mean Fred will keep her safe?” Finn straightened, confused at what Grace had said. “Fred is her Jeep. They’re in her Jeep.”
“Yes, I know. Fred will protect her. We did some magical alterations to Fred before she left. She didn’t want to, but it was the only way her family and friends would let her leave and live alone like she does. He will do what he can to protect her and bring her home safe and sound. Have faith.”
Finn’s world seemed to spin around him as a sense of vertigo hit him. He closed his eyes and hung his head. They magically altered the Jeep to keep Claire safe. No wonder she wouldn’t let anyone else drive it. He had known other witches before, but none that he supposed were natural witches. Those were few and far between, but it seems not Claire’s family.
“Alright I’ll…” The word stuck in his throat, and he had to swallow before he could continue. “I’ll have faith. Let Sean know I’m on my way. I’ll call when I get there.”
Finn ended the call and slipped the phone into the pocket of the jeans he wore, then finished taking the dead man’s shirt and shoes to finish dressing. He swung his leg over his bike and looked in the direction the other men had run. If he had time, he’d hunt them down. As it was, Corbin had a head start, and he had to get going. But he wouldn’t let the others live. As soon as he took out Corbin, he’d hunt every single one of the members of Corbin’s organization and kill them.
Chapter 15
Claire
“Ouch!” Claire frowned when her head hit something hard. Slowly, she tried opening her eyes. Bright sunlight drilled her directly in the eyes, forcing her to close them again, the pain in her head drawing a hiss from her lips.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty. We’re almost there.”
Blinking several times, Claire tried opening her eyes again. The bright light had her squinting as she straightened in her seat. Turning her head, fully expecting to see Finn sitting in the driver’s seat, she scrambled against the door, trying to get as far away from Corbin as she could. “Where’s Finn?”
“He’s either dead or will be. I left him in Colorado with my men. You and I have a date in Roswell.”
Claire’s eyes burned from unshed tears as anguish and anger welled up inside her. Nausea from before hit her full force, causing her to close her eyes while she tried willing herself not to get sick. Finn couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t. The last thing she remembered was being on the porch of the ranch house. Corbin had a gun to her head and his men were advancing on Finn. Then there was blinding pain, followed by nothingness.
“You hit me?” She went to raise her hands to feel her head and saw that they had been zipped tied together in front of her. Rubbing the side of her head, she felt the knot on her head his blow had left. The bastard! She probably had a concussion, which would account for how badly her head hurt.
“I did what I had to do.” He turned and gave her a look of admiration and...what was she seeing in his eyes? Attraction? Desire? Ewww! Claire swallowed hard, trying hard not to get sick.
“Why are you doing this, Corbin? I don’t understand. The shifters you capture would have to be alive when you start to skin them because if they were dead, they’d shift back to being human.”
“We’re humane when we do it. We make sure they are sedated with a special drug, but you have to be quick and precise or they might shift during the procedure.”
Now Claire really was going to be sick. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a quick breath. In through her nose, out through her mouth, trying to stop the churning of her stomach. “Are you going to be sick?”
Claire didn’t speak but only nodded, not opening her eyes. She felt the Jeep jerk to the right, then roll to a stop. The driver’s side door opened and closed, then her door opened, big hands grabbing her and dragging her out of the Jeep. The minute her feet hit solid ground, she dropped to her knees and threw up. She was surprised she had anything left in her stomach after the way she’d gotten sick at the bar. When she finished, Corbin gave her a moment before roughly hauling her back to her feet.
“Let’s go. I want to be there before nightfall.” He dragged her back to the vehicle. Lifting her into the seat, he buckled her seatbelt and slammed her door closed. Claire watched him walking around to the driver’s side and she looked at the dashboard.
“Fred. Fred, I need you.” Corbin climbed into the driver’s seat before she knew if the Jeep had heard her.
Before she’d left Roswell, her family had come over and worked a spell on her beautiful Jeep. They’d made sure that only she could drive it for any length of time, and the engine would shut off if she wasn’t the one driving. It surprised her they had gotten as far as they had. Perhaps Fred had known she was unconscious. Claire shook her head. She wasn’t sure. She’d had no one else drive him before.
It was a stroke of luck for Claire that Corbin drove in silence, not looking at her and concentrating on the road. She saw the sign for Roswell and glanced at Corbin. They were only 30 miles away, which meant they were getting closer to her family. She needed to form a plan. Again, she wasn’t sure why the spell wasn’t working on Fred, but she couldn’t wait for him to kick it into gear.
Looking down at her hands, Claire glanced sideways at Corbin, thankful that he wasn’t paying attention. She focused on the zip tie holding her hands together. Whatever genius decided that a zip tie would stop a witch like her from escaping had made a big mistake. She snuck another sideways glance at Corbin, then back to the zip ties. Giving her wrists a slight tug, the ties fell away from her wrists. She kept her hands clasped together, not ready for Corbin to find out she was free just yet.
A red flashing light drew Claire’s attention to the dashboard and her lips twitched. Finally. She acted like she was trying to get comfortable in her seat, shifting to the right slightly while keeping her eyes on Corbin. Slowly she moved one hand to the door handle. The moment Fred did his thing, she would open her door and jump out. Hopefully, the Jeep would have slowed enough by then so she wouldn’t hurt herself in the landing. She definitely didn’t relish jumping out of a moving vehicle on a desert highway in the middle of nowhere.
Fred suddenly skidded to a stop, practically throwing them both into the dashboard. Their seatbelts were the only thing that kept them from getting hurt. Claire scrambled to unhook her seatbelt and grab the door handle at the same time, but Corbin was faster. She cried out when he grabbed her wrist, his grip tight and painful on her delicate bones. Cold met
al was suddenly pressed against the side of her head again and she stopped moving.
“What the hell did you do to the Jeep?” Corbin spoke through clenched teeth, pressing the gun harder against her head. “Tell me!”
Claire swallowed hard and looked at the dashboard. Her voice trembled as she spoke and shrugged. “It’s a spell. It will shut off and not start if I’m not driving it.”
Corbin cursed and unbuckled his seatbelt, the gun dropping a little away from Claire’s head. That was all she needed. Bringing her fist back, she knocked his hand away then grabbed for the door again, scrambling out of the Jeep. A bullet hit the ground next to her feet, and she nearly stumbled and fell. Looking up, Corbin was walking around the Jeep, the gun trained on her head.
Claire’s muscles tightened, her body going into flight-or-fight response, and she watched him advancing toward her. She tucked her chin, her eyes never leaving his, and she gathered her magic within her. Feeling the familiar tingle along her skin, a sign that her magic was building, she gave him a hard look.
“You will never get away with any of this, Corbin. You are going down and I am the one who’s going to make it happen.”
Corbin laughed as he approached her. “I already have gotten away with all of this. Do you not realize that? Your boyfriend is dead, and you will be soon. I never leave witnesses. Besides, once I sell O’Reilly’s pelt on the black market, I just may retire. It will be worth thousands.”
Keep him talking, Claire.
She nearly jerked at the voice in her head but somehow stayed calm, resisting the urge to look around. That had been her sister Grace’s voice, and she was close. Hopefully she brought the whole family. Hell, hopefully she brought the entire community they lived in. Claire slowly raised her hands, magic tingling in her fingers as she did.