Lost and Found (A Werewolf Wars Novel Book 4)

by Bethany Shaw

  “Do you think we could pick them off?” Sarah asked. “Maybe we could get a cell phone.”

  “Depending on the size of the group they are in, it’s a possibility. If we got a cell we could call Dev.”

  “What do you want to do?” Sarah asked.

  “We can’t keep running in circles. Are you up to it?” Vincent appraised her. She looked exhausted. Dark circles had formed under her eyes. Her skin was pale. Fresh cuts and bruises covered her arms.

  “Let’s rest for the night first,” she said wearily.

  Vincent moved over to her and sat next to her. “Can I see your arm?”

  She twisted, giving him access to the tender laceration. “How bad is it?”

  Vincent gingerly touched the gnarled flesh as he examined her. It wasn’t bleeding anymore and the water rinsed most of the blood away. “It doesn’t look too bad. Stitches would be a good idea, but...”

  “We don’t have any,” she finished.

  “You’ll just have to take it easy,” Vincent suggested. “Did you pack anything we could wrap it up with?”

  “I only brought blankets,” she whispered.

  “That’ll work. I’ll rip off a piece from the end so we can still use it for warmth. The last thing we want is for you to get an infection,” Vincent said worriedly.

  He opened the bag and pulled out the edge of a blanket. Using his strength, he quickly tore off a piece and began to wrap it around her wound. “This will just keep out dirt. You really do need to go easy on this.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” she grinned.

  He loosely tied the ends of the blanket together. “All done.”

  Sarah stood up and grimaced as she shifted on her feet. “How is your back? I saw blood.”

  “I just hit it funny on something in the woods. Nothing too serious. Once we stop for the night, I’ll shift and be good as new.” And boy was he looking forward to that—his body hurt.

  Sarah rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Must be nice to shift and magically be all better.”

  “I wish there were more we could do for you,” he said earnestly. He had an unfair advantage over her. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. She was tough—tougher than she looked.

  “We should find a spot to camp for the night. I don’t think we should start a fire.”

  “I agree.” Vincent got up, too. The movement was too quick for his aching body though and his muscles tightened, sending a sharp pain shooting through his calf. He flexed his leg in an effort to work out the kinks and then stumbled forward, leading the way. “You did pretty well back there,” he started, wanting to fill the silence.

  “I had no idea what I was doing. I’m lucky he didn’t hurt me anymore than he did.”

  “You trained with Preston, right?” he asked without thinking.

  She froze for a moment and stared down at her feet before continuing on. “A little. Things didn’t start to get really bad until after he passed. We mostly went riding or running together,” she answered quietly.

  “Well, that explains your endurance. There have been a few times I’ve been afraid I would keel over. I’m not sure how you do it,” he said, desperately trying to change the topic. They’d finally begun to really get along. The last thing he wanted was for her to clam up again.

  “Adrenaline. If you were faced with a life of being a breeder, you’d run like hell, too. Besides, I like running,” she whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s freeing, especially when you’re out in the wilderness like this. The air is fresh and you’re surrounded by wildlife.” She paused as they came to a clearing.

  “You’d make a good werewolf. I can’t even begin to describe the high you get when you run as a wolf. It’s exhilarating. Your perception of the forest changes; everything is more vivid—louder and brighter.”

  “That does sound nice. Too bad werewolves are born, not made. I could totally see letting myself be turned.”

  “If it were that easy, I’d bite you in a heartbeat.” Wow! That sounded stupid even to me. I need to put some sort of filter on.

  Sarah laughed and looked at him with one brow lifted in question.

  “That came out differently than it sounded in my head,” he acknowledged as heat engulfed his face.

  Sarah smiled as she slowed down and took in their surroundings. “This would be a good spot to camp.”

  Vincent looked around, too. She was right this was a good spot. The ground was flat and large trees completely surrounded them. A rock to their right would be good shelter from the winds. And he could hear the rustling of water not too far off in the distance. Now, the only question was would it be safe.

  He narrowed his eyes, listening intently to their surroundings. The leaves rustled in the wind. A few forest animals chirped in the distance. He inhaled sharply. “I don’t sense anything other than natural wildlife.”

  “Good. We’ll camp on the other side of these rocks.”

  ***

  Sarah pulled the blanket up under her chin and shifted closer to Vincent. Her clothes were damp, and she was shivering uncontrollably, despite the two thick blankets covering them. Thankfully, the backpack had kept most of the moisture from the blankets. It made sense to have a waterproof backpack while camping. She was just thankful it worked.

  Vincent slowly—almost nervously—reached out and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer.

  Her head rested on his shoulder, and his hand moved up and down her arm. Heat radiated off his body in waves and she snuggled impossibly closer. Gosh does he feel good. It was more than just warmth though. It felt good to be curled up against his body. She bit her lip, hating that she felt that way. They were...well she didn’t know what they were, but in this situation it would be easy to complicate things. And mixed emotions and confused feelings were the last things they needed.

  Instead of focusing on Vincent, she chose to focus on the night sky. The air was cold—cool enough to see tiny white puffs with each breath she drew.

  She looked up at the bright white stars and relaxed. Crickets chirped around them and she could hear the steady thrum of Vincent’s heart, a comforting sound she could fall asleep to.

  “Are you warm enough?” Vincent asked.

  “Getting better,” she smiled. Vincent really had been fantastic throughout this whole ordeal. If it weren’t for him she’d have been captured for sure. He’d been with her through all of her torment and she acted like a bitch for the most of it.

  She should acknowledge everything he’s done. Maybe they could start fresh. “Thank you...for everything. I really appreciate it. I know I haven’t been easy to get along with...I’m sorry,” she told him earnestly.

  “It’s okay. You’ve been through a lot.”

  “So have you,” she countered. It wouldn’t be fair for him to let her off the hook that easily. “You were right about me. I tried to keep you at arm’s length because I was afraid. I don’t want to get close to someone and go through that pain again.” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out.

  “I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose both parents, a father figure, and your boyfriend. But I know how lonely it is when you shut people out. You don’t have to do it alone. There are people back home that are there for you. I’m here for you,” Vincent assured.

  Sarah blinked up at the sky, absorbing his words. She knew Lark was there, and Gene, who was like a brother to her, but they had enough on their plates as it was without having to deal with her, too. But she wasn’t the only one who had lost someone. Vincent had lost his father, too, she realized. Even though he’d been an awful man, Emmett McKinley was his dad.

  “Do you miss him? Your dad?” She bit her lip. Sarah wondered if she’d crossed a line, but they were being honest with each other right now and she wanted to know why he seemed to avoid serious relationships—so she could help him, too.

  Vincent swallowed loudly, while his hand simultaneously quit moving on her arm. “No
. When I found out he was dead, I felt relieved. He made my life a living hell growing up. Everything I did was never good enough and he made sure to let me know. I remember a few years ago, I started to go to the gym. I thought I could make myself quicker. He used to have us practice fighting against his most experienced men. I finally beat one of them and I was so proud. The only thing he said was I should’ve done it faster. No good job—nothing. In fact, he then ordered the other three men who were there to all spar against me.” He sighed heavily. “Let’s just leave it at, it didn’t end well for me. And with all the stuff that happened with Em. He was a monster. Emmett wasn’t the type of man you negotiated with. He was intent on sending Emily to Juarez and he would have hurt anyone who got in his way. On the bright side, his pig-headiness helped me, Dev, and Em become closer.”

  Sarah stared off into the distance. Her parents always encouraged her. She couldn’t imagine having them beat her down for trying her hardest. As the silence stretched between them, she realized Vincent probably didn’t want to keep talking about his family. He probably needed to talk about it in small doses just as she did with Preston. “Lark and I were always best friends even though there was an age gap. After our parents, we bonded even more. I’m not sure what I would do without her.”

  “Dev and Em have always been close. Dev and I didn’t really connect until I was a teen. Emmett was so hard on me—harder on him. Dev took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things my dad expected of me, but didn’t have the patience to teach,” Vincent explained.

  “I can’t imagine growing up like that,” Sarah whispered.

  “I’d tried really hard to conform to his wishes, but one day I realized it would never be good enough, so I decided to be who I wanted to be. Once I stopped worrying about what he thought, it made my life better in some ways, worse in others,” he answered dejectedly.

  Sarah shifted in his embrace, staring up at the opaque, black sky, wondering if they could both find peace. They both had their demons and, in small doses, it wasn’t so bad clearing the air. Tonight, she didn’t mind talking a little more.

  “But it didn’t change how you felt? You still thought you weren’t living up to his expectations?” she asked curiously. Vincent was always so silly; it was a rarity for him to be so open. While she wanted to know more about him, she didn’t want to push too hard and have him not talk at all.

  “You hear something too many times, you start to believe it. Developing a sense of humor was my way of coping. The thing is, everyone always laughs with you, but no one ever takes you seriously, or wants to be your friend,” he said quietly. “Dev was my only friend in high school—Daniel too, to an extent. But, they were both ahead of me and they didn’t have friends either.”

  Sarah’s heart clenched painfully in her chest as she listened to him speak. Does he even know how much he’s helped me the past few days?

  “If you weren’t here with me, I don’t know where I would be. I don’t know why your father couldn’t see how strong, caring, and capable you are, but you’ve been my rock, Vincent. Thank you.” She turned her head and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. His scruff grazed deliciously over her lips, causing her breath to quicken; she was so close to his thin pink lips.

  What would it be like to kiss him?

  “What was that for?” Vincent asked, jolting her back to reality.

  Sarah blinked and cleared her throat. She shook her head and mentally chastised herself for thinking about him like that again. Her heart raced and she closed her eyes, willing her body to calm down. “Just...uh, thanks, for everything. You’re my friend...and I’m glad to have you here with me,” she stammered.

  What am I doing? Why do I keep having this reaction to him?

  Vincent kissed the top of her head, sending butterflies fluttering through her belly. “No problem. Thanks for being my friend.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and forced her frayed nerves to relax. She sighed contently as improper thoughts of Vincent fled her mind. “Good night,” she whispered.

  “Night.”

  Chapter Six

  Sarah prepared for another fun-filled day in the woods as she finished rolling up the blankets. Vincent scoured the nearby bushes for something to eat. Her stomach grumbled, and she groaned inwardly. Berries weren’t going to be enough to fill them up. But she wasn’t ready to eat the MREs yet. She’d only taken four of them and they wouldn’t last long.

  She zipped up the bag and stood up to stretch. Lifting up on her toes, she reached her arms to the sky, working out the kinks from a long night sleeping on the ground. She grimaced and scrunched her face up as a sharp pain sliced through her injured arm. How the hell did I forget about that?

  “You okay?” Vincent asked as he approached, eyeing her worriedly.

  “Arm,” she explained, gingerly rubbing at the sore flesh.

  Vincent walked around her, his hands gently grazing over the bandaged area. “The wrap seems to have held up, but should probably be checked and changed. We’ll stop by the river—make sure we get it washed out and re-bandaged,” Vincent replied.

  “I’m okay,” Sarah assured, giving him a weak smile. “Did you find anything to eat?”

  “There weren’t too many berries left on the bushes,” he explained, holding out his crumpled shirt. A few handfuls of the sweet fruit lay in his makeshift basket.

  “It will have to do. Thanks.” It wasn’t much and would do little to fill her, but it would do. She sat down on the ground and spread her feet out in front of her, wanting to stretch. “We should go over our plan, too.”

  “You still want to try and take them out?” Vincent asked, watching her as he scooped some berries into his hand and plopped them into his mouth.

  “They aren’t going to stop hunting us, and I don’t think they’re going to let us out of the area. I don’t know how they found us exactly—maybe the fire—maybe they caught our scent. Regardless, the best defense is a strong offense.”

  “Did you play sports?” Vincent teased.

  Sarah took a few berries as she rolled her eyes, nodding.

  “What’d you play?”

  “Softball.”

  “How did I not know that?” Vincent asked, grinning.

  Sarah shrugged. “You came in the late spring and the season had already ended. We didn’t play well enough to make it into the playoffs this year.”

  Vincent chewed on his berries. “I saw your swing; you’re pretty good. I’m thinking we should get you a club to use as a weapon. Like you said, we need a good offense. First thing we need to do is mask our scent. We’ll need to rub our clothes and ourselves down with leaves and dirt. Even then, your shoulder could give us away. You’ll need to be careful not to let it get infected as well as not letting it reopen. Blood is a very powerful scent; wolves can smell it from miles away.”

  “Fantastic,” she muttered.

  “We could use it to our advantage though,” he started slowly. Sarah met his eyes and waited for him to continue. Her stomach turned as she realized where his train of thought was going. “You’d be the bait. Then I would attack when they least suspect it. Only problem is, we wouldn’t know how many of them we’d be luring in. If we get too many, we run the risk of being captured.”

  “If we do this, I want a weapon,” Sarah admitted. She picked up a branch with the circumference of a finger and twirled it in her hands. “Do you think we could make one? It’s not a bat, but it would be effective.” she held it up for him.

  “You’ll want to make sure it’s sharp enough to puncture the skin and thick enough not to break when you stab them,” he replied.

  Sarah picked up a stone from the ground and started working it against her stick to make a point.

  Vincent scrubbed a hand through his hair. “We can’t take on more than two—maybe three. I can only take on so many and with your injured arm, you will have a hard time in a fight. I know you are more than capable of handling yourself, but I don’t want to take any unnecessary ri
sks.”

  “Me neither. Getting caught is not an option I’m willing to consider,” Sarah said honestly. The Lunas wanted her for one thing—to be a breeder. The thought of a life in captivity made bile rise up in her throat. She gagged, shuddering at the same time. That is not going to happen.

  ***

  Vincent walked alongside Sarah as she followed a trail through the trees. They had spent most of the morning in pursuit of their enemies. So far, the woods were silent; he couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. If they’d managed to evade their assailants, then maybe they were better off continuing on away from danger.

  He didn’t like the idea of putting Sarah into such a precarious situation. She’d already been through so much the past few months and he would kill anyone who tried to hurt her again. The innate need to protect her was overwhelming—the yearning to be near her consumed him. He couldn’t quite explain it.

  There was something about being with her that just felt right. He could talk to her about anything. He’d told her things he’d never talked about with anyone. Though, she’d called him a friend and he had reciprocated the feeling to her. But he knew it was more than that—at least for him. Besides, she was still broken up over Preston and he didn’t want to ruin what they had. Not to mention, he didn’t know the first thing about being in a relationship. He would probably screw it all up and then lose her completely.

  “You want to take a break and stop for lunch?” Sarah asked tiredly.

  “Are we going to eat those awful silver packets of food because I think I’d rather starve,” he joked. The idea of eating preserved, dehydrated food was disgusting.

  “Despite how awful they taste, they have lots of nutrients, which we both need,” she pointed out. “And when you’re starved, anything tastes good.”

  “Hey, I’ve seen the ramen noodles you eat during lunch at The Cookie Jar. Maybe you can eat crap like that, but I’m spoiled. I grew up with a home cooked meal on the kitchen table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of my life,” he smirked as she took a seat on a fallen log.