by Olivia Arran
The thudding stopped. “Where are you bitch?”
My stomach lurched. Steven.
Where was Pete?
“She’s fucking disappeared!” His voice was raised to a shout. They were spread out, combing the area.
“She’ll turn up.” The voice came from behind me. Close enough that only ice cold fear kept my bones locked down, not allowing them to jump with surprise.
“Fuck man, I thought you’d gone that way.”
At least I wasn’t the only one Pete had managed to freak out. I allowed myself to drag in a little air, resisting the urge to gasp and gulp enough to calm my spinning head. It had to be the drug they’d used, it was still messing with me, screwing with my ability to think straight.
Leaves rustled as the men moved around, never straying too far, as if they knew I was crouched directly in their midst. Like they were playing with me. Making me sweat. Making me tremble every time a leaf move or a twig snapped.
“I should shift.”
“No. She’s here. Keep looking.”
Shift. I nearly groaned out loud. I should shift. Teeth and claws were a damn sight better than fists. And I’d be faster.
The drugs had definitely screwed me six ways to Sunday if it had taken me this long to consider it.
I would have to be deadly quiet and fast for this to work. I risked another breath, then called my fox to me, willing her free of my body. For all the pain involved in the change, it was surprisingly silent—if you managed not to growl or snarl or roar during it—something I was trying for the first time. The world blurred, then sharpened, the forest coming even more alive around me, scent filing my newly lengthened snout and sounds filling my twitching ears. My shorts fell off with a tiny flick of my tail, but my tank top hung around my neck like a very strange, but cute, looking dog outfit. I wouldn’t be winning any cute meme awards, that’s for sure.
The leaves parted. Pete stared at me. “Ah, fuck. Big mistake, sweetheart.” He looked pissed. Like I messed up and he was disappointed. He stretched out his hand toward me, leaning into the thicket. “The spray doesn’t work after the change.”
I didn’t have time to think it through, only react. I crashed into him, throwing my full body weight against his shoulder.
It was like hitting a freaking wall.
I glimpsed a tiny sliver of freedom under his arm and went for it.
Something yanked me back, my tank top tightening around my neck and cutting off my air. My legs were still moving, but I was being lifted away.
Shit! Craning my neck, I chewed at one of the spaghetti straps, thankful that I hadn’t chosen to sleep in a shirt, or something equally voluminous. The elasticated fabric pings and I fall, smashing into the ground. Fingers whispered through my fur, but I was gone, streaking through the forest with a single-minded determination. To get the hell out of there.
A loud snarl and the ground thundered behind me. Someone had shifted. I was being chased. Adrenaline flooded through me, spurring me on, my mouth dry and chest heaving as I pushed myself faster than I’d ever run before.
A foot smashed into my side, sending me flying into a tree, bark puffing up like a cloud around me and leaves floating through the air. My ears rang. My back hurt like a bitch. But I had to keep fighting. I dragged myself back to my feet, snarling at the man who watched me with wary eyes. He had a blackened eye and a thick lip. “This her?”
Who was he talking to?
“That’s my beautiful Mina,” a voice crowed.
I feinted to the left, then switched and scrabbled to run right, fighting the urge to melt into full blown panic at the sound of his voice. The sound of a madman who believed I was his.
Morris appeared out of nowhere, shaking his head and tutting. Blocking my escape route, he frowned. “You let her escape, and shift?”
“I— We—” Steven had arrived, out of breath and blustering. Also naked.
I averted my eyes, wanting to burn the image from my retinas. He’d been the one who’d shifted.
“Enough.” Morris cut him off with a single word and the man sagged under the weight of his disapproval.
Shit! Morris wasn’t just a foot soldier in all this, he was someone important. Someone with the power to make the others do as he asked. All the time we’d been trying to find out who was behind everything, and we might have had him already! Shit, shit, shit! I had to tell Cade. Carter. Anyone! I snarled, whipping back and forth between the three men. They had me cornered, but if I could just—
A man melted out of the forest, blocking me before I had a chance to react. He regarded me with dispassionate eyes. “We need to leave.” He checked a fancy looking watch, his frown deepening. “Grab the girl and let’s go.”
“Don’t rush me, Giles,” Morris snapped, never taking his eyes off me. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
I backed up, head whipping around as I tried to keep everyone in view. My paws dug into the dirt, the bark of the tree digging into my back.
“Is this how you like your women? Scared shitless?” The voice came from my far left. Pete. He was staring at me, but his words were for Morris.
“Watch it.”
Pete laughed, crossing his arms and leaning back against another tree. He sounded bitter. “Can’t get a willing woman, eh?”
Morris stiffened, the tips of his ears turning red.
What was Pete doing? He hadn’t looked away, his eyes locked on mine, intensity blazing. Did he want me for himself? Is that what this was all about?
Morris growled, puffing out his chest and flexing his arms. “You got a death wish, bear?”
“We don’t have time for this.”
Morris’ attention swung to Giles. “If I want to take the time, we will.”
Pete’s eyes left mine. Thank God. He was starting to freak me out, even more than Morris, which was saying something. It reminded me of something Granny had once said—better the devil you know? I’d barely taken a breath and his eyes were back, ignoring Morris and Giles’ bickering. Then they were gone again. Back again. Gone again. Up, then down, then up, then down. Up. I lifted my head, following the path of his eyes.
He gave his head a sharp shake, eyes sliding to Steven.
What the hell? Keeping my head perfectly still, I looked up as far as my eyeballs would allow. A tree. Branches. Sky. The moon, partially hidden by the thick branches stretching out and forming a blanket across the sky.
Branches.
Pete’s eyes flicked to above his own head.
Our trees connected.
Morris took a step forward, his arms spread wide and knees bent, ready for me to try and dart around him. In his hand he held a cloth.
Drugs.
Pete was at the other end of my possible escape route. It had to be a trap, a way for him to catch me and hand me over. Earn himself a nice little bonus. All he’d have to do is wait for me to fall out of the tree. Or climb it himself.
“I’m going to look after you,” Morris murmured, taking another step. “You’ve always been mine, so why don’t you be a good girl and give up. It’s no use, we’ve got you surrounded and no one knows where we are.”
I made a decision. Swallowing my fear, I took a hesitant step toward him, nearly puking at the look of smug satisfaction that crowded his face. Then I spun, leaping into the air and digging my claws into the trunk of the tree. Foxes weren’t built for climbing trees, especially red foxes, but I wasn’t just a fox—I was a shifter, and given the right kind of motivation, I could do anything. I wrapped my forearms around the trunk, sending thanks that it wasn’t a completely vertical climb and scrambled up as fast as I could, digging my claws in and ignoring everything else but reaching the safety of the top branches a good fourteen to sixteen feet above the ground.
I blocked out the roar of frustration and the cursing, ignored the tree shaking as someone slammed against it. Ignored the hand yanking at my tail and pulling out fur from the root. I climbed like my life depended on in. Then I was the
re, running across the network of branches, trusting my dainty paws to find balance and not let me fall.
I risked looking down, pausing halfway across.
Morris stood below me, his face red as he bellowed commands. Giles was already up in the tree, testing his weight out on the branch.
The ground swayed beneath me. No, not the ground. The branch! I leapt to another one, scrabbling when my paws slid from under me, landing on my stomach and hanging on for dear life. The world tilted until I was staring at the moon. You had to the kidding me! Halfway to escape and I was hanging upside down in the tree!
Giles was inching his way out, ignoring the ominous creaking sound with a clenched jaw and hands curled into fists.
“Fucking get that bitch!” Morris had lost his cool, barking out orders.
I briefly wondered what kind of shifter Giles was, because he certainly didn’t look at home in a tree. A muscle jumped in his cheek, his eyes staring straight ahead.
Get a grip, Mina! I had to keep going. Gritting my teeth, I rolled my weight back and forth, picking up momentum until I could scrabble my way back on top of the branch. Giles was less than a foot away, but moving slow, testing his weight on his branch with every footstep.
A quick glance confirmed Pete was waiting at the foot of his tree.
Morris paced in the center.
Steven ran between the two. Still naked. Still human.
I took a deep breath, forcing my legs to straighten. Crouching back onto my hind legs, I pushed off, leaping through the air, wind whistling past my nose. Please … please … please… My paws hit solid bark and dug in.
Giles spun around.
A loud crack echoed through the air.
I’d cleared him, vaulting back the way I’d come and landing on his branch. The branch that was, right now, splintering under the force of me slamming into it and our combined weights. Not waiting, I rushed the tree, digging in with my claws and sliding down.
A crash sounded, then a loud thud.
I leapt at Steven, aiming directly for his groin. He howled as my claws sunk in, curling over and collapsing to the floor.
Jumping over him, I pushed off, tasting freedom on the air.
A hand closed around my tail, yanking me back and sending pain shooting up my spine.
“Not so fast,” Morris whispered in my ear.
I couldn’t breathe past the pain as it engulfed me, ripping into my chest.
He shook me and the edges of my vision blurred, the pain of my broken tail sending fire screaming through every nerve in my body.
It was over. I’d tried.
A snarl sounded too close for comfort and I closed my eyes.
The pain stopped. I hit the floor, rolling into a ball.
The sound of war raged around me, snarling and snapping, bloodcurdling roars and the thick thuds of bone hitting bone. The sound of someone losing control and destroying everything in his path.
Was Pete fighting for the right to claim me? Had he snapped and challenged Morris?
I forced my eyes open.
A large black bear towered over me, blood coating his fur, his claws reaching for me.
I whimpered, curling tighter. I should fight. Get up! I forced myself to my feet, wobbling with the effort, my tail broken and hanging limp by my legs.
The bear moved to one side and I blinked. Bears, wolves, cats, and foxes filed into the space.
I looked again. Morris lay on the floor, his body sprawled out and eyes unseeing.
My head whipped back to the bear. I looked closer. Leaned in and took a cautious sniff.
Cade.
He’d found me.
My legs collapsed and I hit the deck. Again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Cade
The change rippled through me and I dropped to my knees beside the small fox, gathering her up into my arms. At the sight of her poor tail, I wanted to kill Morris all over again. It had been too clean. Too quick.
I’d seen him holding her and I’d snapped. Nothing and nobody could have stopped me from taking him out.
He’d had my mate dangling from her tail.
My mate.
“She’s okay.” I flinched at the concern in Austin’s voice, not for Mina, but for me. He knew how close a man walked to the edge when ending a life, how it could haunt a person’s dreams.
“I’m fine.” I was. No word of a lie, I could live with what I’d done. More than live with it. I’d do it again.
For her.
I’d tear down the world to protect her.
Around me, animals faded and humans took their place, people melting out of the forest to hand around bags of clothes. Everyone had turned out. Every single shifter in Heartsridge had helped me search for her. Young and old, they were there. Some were still arriving, having been searching the far perimeter of the town, too far away to join us once we’d picked up the trail. But good news traveled fast, especially when carried on a howl in the wind.
“Shift for me, sweetheart,” I murmured, stroking a careful finger down her fur. I needed to look into her eyes and see that she was okay. That they hadn’t done anything to her in the short time they’d had her.
They.
Not just Morris.
My head snapped around.
“I’ve got her.” Granny dropped to her knees beside me, pressing her hand to mine. “A broken tail is always painful, but she’ll be fine. Give her a few minutes to let the bones start knitting, then she’ll shift for you.”
Torn between never wanting to let Mina go and wanting to continue dishing out the punishment, I hesitated.
Mina lifted her snout, blowing a puff of hot air over my leg. My very naked leg. Her tongue darted out, rough as velvet as she licked me.
Granny chuckled, averting her eyes.
Pants. Fuck. I needed pants. Fast. Sliding out from underneath Mina, I rose to my feet, snagging a pair of sweatpants and pulled them on. Four men were on their knees in the center of the crowd, their hands secured behind their backs. One had blood smeared across his stomach and groin. Satisfaction gripped me with the realization that she’d fought. Hard.
The bubble of rage simmering beneath the surface erupted again. She shouldn’t have had to fight at all. Stalking over, I grabbed the first man’s head and pulled back my arm, catching and holding his eyes. Claws sprung from my fingers.
A large body hit me like a brick wall, sending me skidding across the forest floor. I sprung back up, ready to fight.
A familiar man stood there, his chest heaving and an arm out in front of him.
Biting back the snarl, I reeled back. “What the fuck, Brent?”
“You don’t want to do this. Not like this. Let’s take them back and question them.”
A low groan grabbed my attention. Mina stretched a very human arm, finishing pulling on an oversized t-shirt. Forgetting Brent for the moment, I hurried over to her. “Are you—” The breath burst out of me as she launched herself at me, clinging to me in a way that left no need for words.
“How did you find me?” Sniffing against my chest, she pulled back, as if to check I was still real. Covered in dirt, tear tracks marked her face and rimmed her eyes, but she didn’t tremble. Didn’t flinch when I slowly reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Didn’t do any of the things that would have had my knees crumbling and my chest splitting open.
She was okay.
They hadn’t hurt her. Not like that.
“We picked up the trail and followed you here.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I smoothed a hand down her back, the panic of the last couple of hours still holding me in its grip.
She pulled back, staring up at me in confusion. “What do you mean?”
This time I was the one who was confused. “I’m not sure—”
“They covered their scent. I saw them do it. Smelled them do it. You couldn’t possibly have—”
A man cleared his throat. “That would be my doing.”
The man lurch
ed to his feet, hands still tied behind his back. The same man that Brent had pulled me off of.
I tightened my grip on Mina, ready to lunge if he tried anything.
“Pete?” Mina didn’t sound as shocked as I expected. “You were actually trying to help me?”
“Right up until the point where you told me fuck you very much and ran in the opposite direction.”
“But … but why?”
She took the words right out of my mouth.
“I’d like to know the answer to that question also,” Carter declared, striding into the small circle while fastening the last button on his shirt.
Pete turned his attention to Brent. “I got your email, bro, but I was a little busy being undercover, and all that shit. Sorry.”
The gears in my brain whirred, trying to catch up.
Brent sighed, rubbing at a spot in the middle of his forehead. “Everyone, meet Michael. My brother.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Leader of the rogues,” Brent finished with a flourish, leaning in to mutter something in his brother’s ear.
“Michael?” Mina sounded surprised.
I caught her eye, not completely happy with the way she was staring at the guy. “You didn’t recognize him?”
“No one has seen him. He keeps a low profile, showing up and leaving like a ghost.”
“Not anymore.” I couldn’t help the smug smile. Saint Michael’s cover had been blown wide open. But as much as jealousy demanded, I couldn’t hate the guy. He’d been the one to leave the trail, deliberately leading us to Mina. From the sounds of it, he’d also tried to watch out for her, all the while trying not to blow his cover. Carter was going to have a field day debriefing him, that’s for sure.
A quick glance confirmed that Michael and the prisoners had disappeared, swallowed up by the crowd as everyone turned to make their way back to town. Morris was gone, too, and I really didn’t give a shit if he burned or rotted in the ground. The excitement was over and Mina was safe. “Can you walk?”
Snuggling into my side, she hummed, a happy sound. “Of course I can. I’ll be good as new in a day, or so.” She paused, a happy smile tugging at her lips. “Talbot!” Leaving my side, she leaned in to place a kiss on his cheek. “I didn’t expect to see you out here! Thank you.”