by Joyce, T. S.
Really, three riders was overkill, since the herd was now only ten strong with the ones she’d lost to wolves, the calf already in the corral, and the one Josiah kept back as payment for watching them through the warm months. It made for an easy drive, though. Two more miles, and they would be home. Two more miles, and she wouldn’t have to live in fear that Ian would fall from his horse and not wake up. Two more miles, and he would be safe to fall asleep without her having to explain any of this to Josiah.
“Hup!” she called, holding the extra length of her reins and waving them side to side over Milo’s neck to get the cattle moving over a slick straightaway. The temperature was dropping so fast it was freezing the bottom layer of snow that had melted. Dangerous conditions for clumsy cattle.
Behind them, a howl lifted into the air. Pissed, Elyse swatted at the raised hair that tingled on the back of her neck. The snow was falling harder now, making it difficult to see any distance, and those damned McCalls sounded close.
Josiah narrowed his eyes behind them. “What the fuck do they want? It’s like they’ve stayed the same distance behind the whole day. There’s still two dead cattle out on the marsh for them to eat.”
“Jo, I think you should take Ian’s truck back.”
“What? No. You need that, and besides, what would I do with Renegade?” He patted his buckskin’s neck.
“I’ll keep him for now, but I don’t want you range riding when those wolves are out like this.”
He frowned behind him again. “They are acting strange.”
“Please, Jo.”
“Bossy. You remember I’m the big brother, right?”
“And I’m the worried little sister. I don’t ask you for much. Just this once, take the truck. I’ll be on a snow machine from here on, anyway.”
“Yeah, all right.” Josiah cast her the tenth worried look he’d given her today and trotted off toward a trio of cattle that were breaking off.
Usually, the herd stuck together like glue, but they’d watched some of their own attacked by wolves this season, and the howling had them spooked. Elyse couldn’t blame them one bit for scattering.
Ian slumped forward again and almost went over. Shit. Elyse kicked her horse and bolted for where Ian was struggling to stay awake on a side-stepping Demon.
She pulled up beside the black gelding and steadied Ian in the saddle. “Baby, you have to make it just a little while longer. We’re almost there. Look.” She pointed to the jutting rock formation that was snow-capped like a miniature mountain. “We’re almost on our property. Almost home.”
When Ian slid her a glance, she swallowed down a gasp. He looked like a shell of himself—like walking death. Eyes dull and bleary, he was as pale as a ghost.
“Ian, can you ride ahead? Can you make it? Josiah and I will bring the cattle in. Just let Demon into the coral, and I’ll take care of him.”
“Elyse,” he slurred, heartbreak in his eyes.
“I know, baby,” she whispered, blinking rapidly. He couldn’t see her weak. Not right now. “I’ll see you when you wake up.”
“It’ll be a few days before the first hour we get.”
“Okay.” She hid the devastation from her face. “Can you make it to the cabin?”
Ian nodded once. “I love you, Elyse. Remember.” One eyebrow arched before he leaned over and kissed her.
He kicked his horse into a trot, and then into a gallop as he clung to the saddle horn.
She knew what he meant.
Remember all her lessons.
Remember how to defend herself.
Remember to be strong.
She doubled over Milo’s neck at the pain in her middle. She felt it down to her marrow—that had been goodbye. From here until April, she would only get a borrowed hour here and there.
As Ian disappeared into the falling snow, the weak tears she hadn’t allowed before slipped to her cheeks. He’d thought he would hibernate in mid-October, but the weather had turned bitterly cold early, and now two weeks had been stolen from them.
Wiping her damp lashes with the back of her work glove, she turned Milo and made her way toward the bawling cattle.
Across the herd, Josiah’s faint silhouette sat atop his mount, arm slung over the saddle horn as he hunched forward, face turned toward her. She couldn’t see his expression under the low rim of his hat, but she imagined it was marred with confusion and worry.
Elyse swallowed a sob and laid into the back of the herd with a new sense of urgency. Even if it was only for a little while, she didn’t like being separated from her mate.
Not when he was this vulnerable, and not when those damned McCalls were this close.
The last two miles took an eternity, and when she and Josiah had driven the cattle into their fenced pasture, she put out a couple bales of hay, broke the ice in their water trough, then pointed her attention to Demon, who was screaming like a banshee and running around the coral with his saddle still strapped to him.
He probably hadn’t enjoyed carrying Ian that last bit of the way, smelling like fur and predator. His nostrils were flared, and he huffed breath after steaming breath as he ran, ears back.
“You want me to unsaddle him?” Josiah asked, frowning at Demon.
“No, I’m going to let him tire himself out first. Don’t worry about it. You go on.” She handed him the keys to Ian’s truck. “Get home before this weather really opens up. I’ll keep Milo and Renegade in the barn until Demon settles.”
She took both sets of reins from where Renegade and Milo were tied at the fence. She made to head for the barn, but Josiah said, “Elyse?”
She froze and turned. “Yes?”
His eyes held a deep understanding that said he wasn’t as in the dark as she’d intended to keep him. “I know you’re stronger now. I can see it, but life out here still gets hard. It gets dangerous. If you need help this winter, you call me. No matter what it is, you call. You hear me?”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “I will.”
Josiah gave her a lingering, hard look, then strode for Ian’s truck without another word.
And as the engine roared to life and he drove away, she stood there watching until the glowing taillights disappeared altogether.
Then she turned her gaze on the dark house and let off a long, shuddering sigh.
Stalling, she put up the horses, unsaddled them, fed and watered them, and checked the goats. She wanted to cling to precious moments before she accepted what she already knew to be true—winter had defeated them. It didn’t matter how fiercely she loved Ian, she couldn’t keep him. Inside, her mate would be limp on the bed, and her heart would ache until he woke again.
The walk from the barn to the house was surreal, as if she was floating like the flakes of white snow that kicked up in the breeze all around her.
Inside, she turned on a lantern. He’d struggled to get through the house, and the entryway table had been knocked over. All of the ammunition that had been stacked there was scattered across the floor. The rug was flipped on the corner, and she stepped carefully over the mess to right the fallen vase on the kitchen table. Ian had filled them with late season flowers for her a few days ago, and now they were dry and dying. She felt like those withering flowers as she lifted the lantern into the bedroom and saw Ian lying at an angle across the mattress. From here, it was obvious how much his body had already slowed down. He was barely breathing.
She set the lantern on the dresser and curled up beside him, burying her face against his shoulder and inhaling his scent.
Ache bloomed wide and deep as a canyon inside of her.
Now, she was really alone.
And in the distance, the wolves howled on.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ian had lied. Unintentionally, sure, but it had been five days, and still he hadn’t woken up.
Other than the slow breaths he took, there were no signs of life from her mate. And now she was watching the man she loved waste away, and she couldn’t do a
nything for him. It had been a mistake to ask him to hibernate human just so she could selfishly keep him for an hour a day. It wasn’t natural for him, and he was suffering because of her.
She felt like grit.
The days had melted together, one after the other as she’d watched over him, day and night, waiting, always waiting, for him to come back to her.
She was only able to sleep for a couple hours at a time, curled up beside him and wishing she was a bear just like him so they could hide all winter in a den somewhere on Afognak and lose this time together. Her restlessness wasn’t all because of Ian, though. Most of it stemmed from the howling wolves outside.
Each night they got closer, louder, more excited. This was their taunt. They could’ve come for her at any time. Perhaps they were waiting to make sure Ian was really down for the winter, but more likely they were waiting because the hunt was the fun of it, right? Once the kill was over, the McCalls would have to go back to their mundane lives of stealing and drinking themselves into oblivion as they waited for their inner monsters to drive them mad.
What an empty life. She pitied them. Elyse loaded another shell into her shotgun. Well, she almost pitied them.
They were close tonight, yipping between the haunting notes of their death song, as if they couldn’t contain their excitement, their bloodlust. She hated them.
Elyse stood and set her shotgun in line with the others, strap toward her so she could grab it quick.
She should be scared, but other than an occasional nervous flutter, she didn’t feel anything. Only resolve to protect Ian at all costs. At all costs.
A six-inch blade hung in a sheath from her hip, and on her other side, she’d fashioned a loop for her hatchet. These were her last-resort weapons. If she got down to her blades, she was probably already dead and just stalling on her fate. She’d used Ian’s phone to call a contact named Clayton again and again. She’d left him voicemails, but the head of Alaska Shifter Enforcement apparently didn’t get involved unless human life was already taken.
Too bad her life was the one that would be sacrificed to gain that kill order.
Miki growled at her feet, his black lips curled back, his teeth gleaming, his bi-colored eyes narrowed on the door. It didn’t matter that he was a puppy. He could look terrifying when he wanted to.
She’d locked the horses and goats in the barn but even from inside the cabin, she could hear them screaming and kicking the stall doors.
Owooooooo. Ooooo. Oooowooooooo.
The song of the wolves lifted and fell, and for the hundredth time, she tried to decipher between the voices. Tried to guess how many were coming for her. Cole had told her he had relatives all over Alaska, and apparently Miller had enough sway to call them all to go on a man hunt. Or as it happened, a woman hunt.
Miki’s growl grew louder and ended in a bark. The hairs rose all along his back and, in a rush, she scooped him up and shoved him in the guest room. God, she hoped she would be okay enough to let him out after this, but he would be killed for sure if he went after the wolves with her.
“I’m sorry, Miki,” she blurted out as she closed the door. Inside, the quarter grown pup went mad, barking constantly.
She bolted for the rifles on the wall, but the door exploded inward, spewing splinters over the living room.
Miller stood in the open doorframe naked and scarred with an empty sneer on his lips. His eyes were white and horrifying, and the first wave of fear washed over her.
“Where is he?”
Elyse gripped the handle of the knife at her hip. “Go to hell.”
“Been there for a long time, pretty bitch.” He lifted his chin, and his nostrils flared as he drew in a noisy breath. Then he strode past her toward the bedroom where Ian was hibernating. With a screech, she pulled her knife out and brought it down into his back.
Miller roared in pain and swung around. The back of his hand blasted across her face, and Elyse flew against the wall as the world spun on its axis. On hands and knees, she blinked rapidly, trying to see straight again as her ears rang with pain. Her face had a pounding pulse, and beneath her, red dripped onto the floorboards. Rage, dark and consuming, tinted her vision, and she spat crimson, then stood in time to see Miller dragging Ian’s limp body past her.
The guns were stacked on the opposite side of the door—too far. Rushing Miller, she tackled him and beat on him with her closed fists, so hard, her hands felt like they were breaking. With a scream, she clawed his face so hard her nails ached and loosened. Miller’s face was terrifying as he rounded on her, but she was ready. Ducking out of his way, she pulled on Ian’s leg, dragging him back into the heart of the house as best she could.
Miller shoved her off Ian and pulled him toward the door.
“Ian, wake up!” Elyse screamed, pulling on his leg.
“Let go!” Miller yelled.
“Ian!” She pulled the hatchet and swung forward, catching Miller across the cheek before he could pull away.
“Fuck,” he raged, holding his face. He jumped over Ian’s body and caught her by the throat and the wrist. “You stupid cunt. Can’t you see I’m trying to save you for last? I want you to savor this with us. Why are you so determined to mark me?” The rage slipped from his face as his lips twisted up in a cruel smile. “You would’ve made a beautiful breeder. You could’ve given us McCall pups for the next generation, but you chose him instead.”
She fought like a wild, injured animal, snapping, kicking, and writhing against his grip. She reared back and spat on his face. “I’d never breed with anyone so broken.”
“Broken?” Miller let of a low, empty chuckle. “Am I broken, Elyse? Was my brother broken?”
“Yes!”
“Wrong!” He slammed her back against the wall. “Cole was coming into his own. A true man-eater, just like the old days. Back in the times where shifters didn’t cower in the shadows. We took what we fucking wanted and we bathed in the blood of humans because they were prey. They were lesser.” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her with the violence of a tornado, then pulled back before she recovered enough to bite him. “You’re lesser, Elyse.” He pulled the hatchet from her hand and leaned in close, pinning her with his weight. “A mark for a mark.”
“Ian!” she screamed, struggling against Miller. “Wake up!”
Miller gripped her neck and slammed her head backward, and before her vision cleared, it was done. Just one swipe of the sharpened blade down her cheekbone, so deep it didn’t even hurt yet.
With a smile, he whispered, “Beautiful.” Then released her neck and let her fall to the floor, gasping.
Warmth trickled down her face as she watched Miller drag Ian’s body out the front door by the leg. She blinked hard as time slowed. She’d thought it would be hard to kill a man. Had thought about it countless times over the last week, but this, right here, changed everything.
A strange calmness washed through her as she stood and strode for the row of rifles. She shouldered the straps of five and grabbed the satchel of ammunition. The last gun she aimed as she walked out of the house and into the cold evening. “Let him go.” She didn’t recognize her voice. It was low and steady.
When she chambered a bullet and clicked the safety off, Miller froze. In the tree line, animal eyes glowed, and in the background, Miki’s desperate barking sounded over and over.
“This is my house, my property, and you’re filthy fucking hand is on my mate. Let him go, or I’ll put a hole in you.”
“You shoot me, and all those wolves in your woods will attack.”
She shrugged one shoulder and moved closer to Ian, her gait smooth as she held the barrel of her rifle in the general vicinity of Miller’s chest.
Miller gave a disbelieving laugh and dropped Ian’s leg in the snow with a thud. “Cole told me all about you, Elyse. He said you were weak. Easily manipulated and soft-hearted. All the things that get you killed out here.”
His eyes narrowed to white slits, and a snarl rip
ped from his chest as his head snapped back and fur sprouted from his body.
Elyse planted her feet and held a quick breath as Miller stood crouched before her, an oversize black wolf with murder in his eyes. Teeth bared, he lunged for her, and she pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot was deafening.
As the wolves in the tree line charged the clearing, she lifted the rifle from Miller’s limp body at her feet and took aim at the next.
Determined to protect the man she loved, she murmured, “Cole was wrong.”
****
Ian, wake up. You have to wake up.
Ian shook his head and tried to open his eyes. That voice. He knew it. Needed it. That voice was everything that anchored him to this world.
“Ian!”
With a massive effort, he opened his eyes, but he didn’t understand the scene before him.
Shot after echoing shot filled the air. Snow falling down, and her, standing above him like an avenging angel. Her eyes were blazing gold next to all that dripping red on her face. Warrior. Elyse. The name brushed his mind. His Elyse. She was hurt.
She aimed the shotgun. Boom. Her rifle swung over his body to something else.
Growling, snarling, snow crunching, the stink of wolf so close he could almost feel their teeth on his back. The fine hairs on his body rose.
“Hold your breath,” Elyse murmured, then pulled the trigger again. “Reload.” Her fingers were steady as she cracked the shotgun open and shoved two more shells into it. “Remember, remember.” Her voice dipped to a whisper as she yanked the barrel back into place. “Ian, please wake up.” Her voice sounded so soft, defeated, as if she’d given up on him.
Ian clenched his hands, willing himself up. The wolves were threatening his mate. She was hurt. Bleeding. He would kill whoever had done this. Kill them. Kill.
He mustered every ounce of his energy, conjured his monster, called on the snarling bruin inside of him. This was it. His animal had always wanted to rampage, and here was his chance. Bones cracking, he gave himself to the bear.
Changed, Ian stood to his full height and roared his fury. So many wolves. How were there this many? Ian charged, drawing their attention away from Elyse. He stumbled, so exhausted, but he had to protect her. Had to draw them back into the woods so she could get away. Get inside and lock the door.