by Shannon West
“Logan, no! They're crazy. I can hardly believe it, but that guy on the left was the omega I was working with at the bar, Diego. The one who followed me out the night you came for me. He must have been stalking me, and I never even knew or suspected. We have to try to make a run for it.”
Without turning his head, Logan said, “And just where would you suggest we run to? Especially with the baby and this young girl? I'm going out to talk to them.”
Before I could protest any further, he got out and sauntered around to the front of our SUV. The ugly alpha started walking toward him, followed by one of his henchmen. Logan started talking to him and right away I could tell the alpha from Virginia was sneering and talking shit. Whatever Logan replied to him, he didn't like very much. His face suffused with anger, and he took another aggressive step forward, his hands balled up in fists. The man behind him had his hand stuck inside his shirt, and I knew he was touching his gun.
“Emalia, listen to me.”
She whimpered and shook her head. “I'm scared, Kade.”
“I'm scared too, but you have to listen. I'm going out to help Logan. If anything goes down, I want you to take the baby and run into the woods. Run as fast and as far as you can, do you understand?”
“Y-yes. But what are you going to do?”
“I don't know yet. But you listen to me. Get Carrie and promise me you'll keep her safe. Run up the mountain. Don't stop for anything or anyone you don't know. Change to your wolf if you have to but get her up that mountain to safety. Hide, if you hear them coming after you. Just get her and yourself out of this. You got that? Go directly to the pack and get help.”
“I will,” she said in a small, breathless voice.
“Promise me you won't stop running no matter what you hear.”
“I promise.”
“When I get out, I'll leave the door open. Crawl over the seat, take Carrie, and run like hell into the woods. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Take good care of her for me. No matter what happens.”
I squeezed her hand and then turned and kissed my sleeping baby, trying not to think it might be for the last time. I opened the car door on the side of the woods and swung it wide. They all looked up when I did. I stepped out. Logan turned a startled face toward me.
“Kade, get back in the truck.”
“Not so fast!” the ugly ass alpha yelled at me, strutting a few steps toward me. “You're him! That smart-ass omega who shot me.”
Logan gave a guttural, terrifying growl that should have sent him running for the hills, except he was too stupid. Then from behind us, I heard Carrie cry out.
“Hey!” one of the goons behind him hollered, pulling his revolver out and pointing it toward the car behind me. He was looking toward the woods by the car, and I knew he must have seen Emalia running from the car with the baby. That gun pointed anywhere in their general direction made a haze of red fall over my eyes. I felt a shift coming on, but I pushed it back down, only letting the tips of my claws come out. Logan had already sprung forward and knocked the gun upward and out of the man's hand, taking a big swipe at his face with his other hand and raking it with his claws. The man fell back screaming and then the others came running. I leaped forward to stop them, transforming completely into my wolf mid-way. I could hear Logan roaring beside me, and suddenly, the ugly alpha pulled the gun I knew he had to be carrying from his back waistband and fired a shot directly at Logan. He screamed in pain and rage and grabbed the side of his head. He took a couple of steps toward me and collapsed--I knew then the bullets had to be silver to affect him so strongly, or, oh goddess, had the bullet gone inside his brain? I almost blacked out for a moment from the fear.
I roared again with pain and rage, and I surged toward the alpha as he raised his arm to fire at me. I took the bastard down to his back, but before I could rip out his throat, one of the others ran up and kicked me so hard on the side of my head that it felt like it dislocated my jaw. A bullet slammed into the ground beside me, and I managed to get back to my feet, but I was hurt, no sense in denying it. I tried to make it to Logan, who was still on the ground, but another big boot came at me and knocked me away. I whirled back around, my back to the massive drop off behind me, and snarled fiercely at them, ready to make a last stand.
The one who'd kicked me was still standing near me. He reached for me, and I closed my jaws around his wrist, snapping off his whole hand. He screamed in agony and horror. I saw the ugly alpha turn and shoot toward me, but he missed. Still, it startled me badly, and I staggered backward, my back feet slipping on the loose gravel at the road's edge, and with a surprised yelp, I toppled right off the side of the mountain.
They say your whole life passes in front of you when you're dying, but mine didn't. All I could think about was trying to stop my fall. I wasn't falling straight down, but instead was slipping and sliding and careening down the sloping side of the mountain, hitting every rock and shrub, it seemed, on the way down. I shifted back into my human form, trying desperately to use my hands to grab onto something to stop my plunge down the side.
After tumbling and bouncing headlong over several half-grown pines on the way down, I was lucky enough to fall squarely against a slightly larger one and wrap my arms and legs around it to stop my fall. I almost wrenched my limbs out of their sockets, but I did stop, at least momentarily. The thing was bending and groaning under my weight, little branches snapping off it under my hand, the pine sap pungent in my nose and making my hands sticky as I tried to hang onto it. Finally, I was able to get one foot under me and wedge it against the root of the little pine and then use some of the smaller shrubs around it to haul myself up backward, so that I was lying on my back looking up at the sky. I could hear the yelling from far above me, but I had to get my heartbeat under control before I could pay attention. My heart was about to slam its way out of my chest. I peered up and saw the sheer drop below me and got a little queasy. Goddess, I hated heights. Or more specifically, I hated falling from heights.
I could hear them shouting at the top, and I remembered the other cry I'd heard as I went over the side. A cry of rage and pain and grief. Logan. He wasn't dead then, thank the goddess. The yelling and screaming had been cut off quickly, like someone had just knocked Logan out to shut him up. There hadn't been a second shot, though. I clung to that idea and tried not to think they could be killing him up there right this minute. That is, if they hadn't already—my mind shied away from saying the words—killed him. If he was already dead, I wouldn't want to be alive anymore either, and I wouldn't be able to help Carrie and Emalia get out of this mess. So, I decided to be like Scarlett in Gone with the Wind and just think about it later. As long as there was a chance I could help my baby to live, I had to stay sane enough to try to help her.
My clothes were in shreds and my boots were gone, both from the fall and from my sudden shift when I attacked that asshole, so I was covered now in cuts and bruises from the fall. I needed to shift again, but I couldn't afford to lose my grip on the shrubbery.
I gingerly turned on my stomach and began trying to crawl back up the side of the slope. I went into a partial shift, just enough to get my claws out on my feet, so I could dig them into the dirt and stop myself from sliding backward. Still, it was agonizingly slow, especially considering what might be happening above me on the side of the road, and I was afraid to look down, in case I might just freeze and not be able to move either up or down. Just knowing there was that huge drop below me was scaring me to death. Did I mention how much I hated heights?
I heard shots ring out above me and more yelling and it was scaring me to death. Had they gone in the woods after Emalia and Carrie? Was that what I was hearing now, or was it some kind of fight between Logan and the ragtag group of wolves that had come after me? Panicked, my adrenaline must have kicked in, because I put on a little burst of speed and made it almost to the top before I had to stop and catch my breath.
I could hear loud
voices shouting, too many to be just the combatants above me. Some of the voices sounded like they weren't that far away, but others came from a farther distance. I couldn't figure it out, and I was getting desperate, hanging there like some kind of spider monkey on the side of the slope. I found a sturdy outcropping of rock and held onto it for dear life. It was large enough I could drape at least part of my chest over it and sort of hang there to rest the muscles screaming in my wrists and forearms. I was drenched in sweat and sticky with pine needles and dirt from crawling all over the side of this mountain, but I couldn't give up. I had to make it up to help Logan.
From where I was hanging, some ten feet or so below the rim of the road, I could hear snatches of sound from the La Esse wolves, but just not enough to figure out actual words. They sounded panicked though. Why the fuck didn't they just leave? Why were they hanging around? Another shot rang out, but this one was from farther up the mountain, and I thought I might know what had happened.
Somehow Emalia had found help. She hadn't had time to make it to the top, where the cabin was, but maybe someone had been out hunting. Or on their way down the mountain road for whatever reason. Somehow, she'd managed to get their attention or flag down their vehicle, and now they'd come to help us, or help Logan anyway. Normally, they would have simply charged in and attacked, and not held back against the three wolves that were left. That meant the La Esse group must be using Logan to negotiate, using him as some kind of hostage or bargaining tool.
I knew I had to get back up there to help break the stalemate, but I couldn't very well just throw a leg over the edge of the road and clamber up in front of them. Or could I? All their attention was no doubt focused on the pack threatening to overrun them. Now that I was close to the top and had a second to concentrate, I could hear the voices of my former pack members. They had come around behind us and had La Esse surrounded. There was no way La Esse was getting out of this, but the damn bastards were too stupid to surrender. Or too scared.
I eased up to within a few feet of the rim, just enough to see what was happening, half expecting a bullet to take off the top of my head. Nothing happened though, and I could clearly see that I was right. Pack members were on either side of them. They had moved one of their cars and were huddling down between them, the only two who could still shoot aiming their guns at the pack on either side. The one whose hand I'd bitten off had apparently shifted long enough to stop the bleeding, but there was still nothing but a stump where his hand had been. He was lying on his back and not moving.
The two sides were at a stalemate because of Logan. Diego, the omega I'd thought was my friend, was crouched beside him, the barrel of a shotgun stuck against the back of Logan's head, and his finger on the trigger. Logan had his head down, and he wasn't moving either. I knew some of the pack must be in the woods beyond, just waiting their chance, but too afraid to move in for fear they would harm Logan. It scared me to death too. Diego didn't look all that experienced with a gun and might accidentally let his finger slip if he got scared enough. I took a deep breath. Time for a diversion.
I pulled myself up over the road and stood up. Waving both hands in the air, I yelled at them. “Hey, you stupid bastards! You're already dead and you just don't know it. Why don't you lie down?”
As I could have predicted, the ugly alpha roared when he saw me and actually stood up and started running toward me, firing as he ran. Diego was startled enough that he threw down his gun as our pack took advantage and came surging onto the scene, and then I didn't see anything else, because I was too busy dodging bullets.
Determined not to go back over the side, I began running at him instead. That seemed to surprise him, and I registered the slack jaw just before he fired wildly at me but missed again. Cussing, and red faced, he threw the revolver at me, and this time, the damn thing actually found its mark. It hit me squarely on the forehead and I went down like a poleaxed steer. And on those cartoons, like Scooby Doo and Roadrunner, they actually got it right. I saw the knockout stars swirling over my head just before all the lights went out.
Chapter Ten
“Kade, Kade, wake up and look at me.”
The voice was damn insistent, and I felt as if it had been talking to me--haranguing me--for a long time.
“Please wake up, son. You've been sleeping long enough.”
I blinked, trying to clear the moisture away. Was I crying? Why? What the hell was going on?
Someone was sitting by my bed, holding my hand. “That's it. Wake up and talk to me. I've missed you.”
I blinked again and my father came into view. “Dad,” I managed to croak out.
“That's right. You had a hard knock on the head, but I knew you’d be all right. Here, let me give you some water.” He held the glass and its straw to my lips, and I latched on. My throat felt parched and raw.
“Carrie?” I asked, sounding like I'd been swallowing razor blades.
“She's safe, son. I swear to you, she's safe. Emalia hid in the woods with her. She was smart and headed north up to the lodge at first, but then circled back to the road. Two of the pack members were going down for supplies and found her and the baby. They called the rest of the pack, and we all came running.”
I clutched his arm. “But are they okay? Is Logan hurt? I saw his head.”
“Everyone's fine, except you. Logan shifted and mostly healed himself. He has Carrie, by the way, and I'd hate to be you when you get better. He's pretty mad at you for not staying in the truck like he told you to.”
“Oh, goddess,” I said, falling back on the pillow. “What else is new? He's always mad at me.”
“Yeah, you better call on the goddess, but I don't know if it'll help. And don't look at me either. I'm still mad as hell at you too.” He squeezed my arm. “You should have come to me, Kade, and told me what you were thinking. I'm sorry if I ever made you think an omega wasn't good enough or somehow less than other wolves. I never thought of your mother that way.”
“Dad, I...” I shook my head. “I don’t think you understand. Everyone isn’t like you. I wish they were. I was a beta, like you. Logan’s right hand and his best friend. And then to go from that to being…a pregnant omega, not worth anything without an alpha. It's been really hard.”
“So you thought running away from it was a good idea?”
I frowned. Well, when he put it like that… “No, of course not, but I guess I panicked. I thought Logan would feel like he had to take care of me, and he’d already told me he didn’t feel the same as I did.”
“What do you mean, doesn’t feel the same?”
“Well, he doesn’t love me.”
There was a little silence while he considered what I said. It was the best thing about my dad. He always thought before he just blurted out whatever was on his mind—a trait I definitely hadn’t inherited.
“I think you’re wrong about that. I saw his face when you went down.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Logan may have had regrets because of Carrie, but I really don’t think…”
“No, you’re right. You don’t.”
I rolled my eyes—it hurt a little and I winced. “That’s exactly what Logan said.”
“Kade, did you ever consider that the goddess may have plans for you?”
“Dad...”
“No, listen to me. You're right in saying a male omega is rare in our pack. And in most others too. Maybe there's a good reason for that. You're not like most omegas, son. You're strong and you fight back. Look at how you fought for your alpha and your child up on that mountainside. The goddess doesn't make mistakes--I think she had a reason to make you able to bear a child, which is a miracle all on its own. Don't you see, you're the perfect mate for Logan. Able to fight by his side and go with him into battle if he needs you to, and still bear him children. There may be trouble coming. Maybe even from this La Esse bunch. The goddess may have intentionally made you able to bear children and be everything to your alpha. Everything he needs.”
I shook my head. “But only one child. The doctors said...”
He made a dismissive sound. “Doctors. What do they know? They couldn't save your mother, and they didn't even recognize you as an omega when you were born. They may be right. You may only have Carrie, and that would still be a miracle. She's a beautiful child. Who knows what she'll do with her life? Coming from such strong parents, I expect great things from her.”
I squeezed his hand, too choked up to speak. “Thank you, Dad.”
He shrugged, embarrassed by so much emotion. “Now your alpha is coming to take you home later today. I brought you here to my home to give him some time to heal and bond with his daughter. Time that you took away from him.”
I felt the blood rush to my face, feeling like shit, and my father wasn't helping. He was building me up with one hand and tearing me down with the other. He shook his head at me as I tried to turn away. “No, don't hide from it. Mistakes have been made by both of you, and you have to fix them.”
He got up to leave and I grabbed his hand. “Wait. What happened with the other pack? That alpha that came for me? Are they dead?”
He shook his head. “No, not all. In all the commotion over you, one of his men grabbed the alpha, threw him in the car, and they took off down the mountain. Logan thinks they won't be back. I'm not so sure.”
“What do you mean, the commotion over me? What happened?”
“We thought you were dead--that the alpha had surely killed you. Logan was inconsolable until we got you away from him and figured out that you were just unconscious with a bad hit on the head.”
“What? Logan was inconsolable? Over me?”
My father shook his head and gave me a sad smile. “The two of you need to talk. Fix this, Kade. Our pack's future depends on it, I think.”