When the boys ran off into the woods to relieve themselves again, Sabrina’s heart leapt to her throat. What if they got lost? She’d just left the trail to follow them when Daniel grabbed her by the arm.
“Leave them be. Luke is watching them. He followed us after he finished with the tent.”
Sabrina glowered at him and gave her arm a jerk. “Let me go.”
“Why must you fight us at every turn?” Daniel glared down at her for a moment, then shook his head and looked away. “We had hoped you would have come to trust us by now.” He released her and shoved his fingers though his hair. “Or that you would have at least figured out that we don’t intend to harm you or the boys. In fact, we would both willingly die for you.”
Sabrina turned away and stared through the barren trees, looking for…something, anything, to keep her from having to meet his gaze. They had no idea how far she had come in such a short time since she and her sister, Samantha, escaped from the camp where shapeshifting animals held them prisoner along with countless other women last summer. Samantha wanted to continue her life with her newfound mates. Sabrina wanted retribution, then death.
She had even attempted to find her way back to that damned compound, intending to take a few of the men with her when she ended her life with a bomb she’d learned to make with everyday household items—thank you internet—but it wasn’t to be. Instead, she found herself heading north along the Appalachian Trail looking for…something.
When she didn’t find it there, she kept heading north, then finally west until she’d found herself on the other side of this mountain, rescuing the twins from certain death.
At the time, Sabrina wanted nothing more than to end her life and her misery. She had wanted death. In fact, she worked toward it, even prayed for it, until those two little boys looked up at her as though she were some sort of superhero when she’d found them five months ago. Now, Sabrina found herself looking forward to each new day with excitement instead of trepidation, with happiness instead of dread.
Sighing, she resigned herself to the fact that they would have to spend the night in the open with nothing but a flimsy tent for protection. She only hoped the two men could protect the boys from the bloodthirsty cats that killed their parents. She had no doubt that the two cats scented them and wanted to finish them. They must love the taste of human blood. What else would have them attacking two healthy humans when there was plenty of game around? She felt deep down that the big cats were more than they seemed and for some reason, they wanted the too small boys dead.
Taking a deep breath, Sabrina decided she would give the two men determined to care for her a chance. A small chance. If they blew it, at least she would know whether or not she could count on them. Either way, she would know where she stood.
She wasn’t stupid, nor was she born yesterday. Though they hadn’t told her, she knew Luke and Daniel were shifters. She knew it. She felt it. What made her trust so elusive was that very fact and the fact that they purposefully hid it from her.
Deep down, she knew it was unfair to judge them for the actions of others, for something none of them could change. However, they could have told her what they were from the get-go.
They knew who she was. She could tell by the knowing looks that passed between them. Perhaps going with them to Paradise wouldn’t be all bad. She could see her sister again and she would determine whether or not Samantha was a partner to her mates or a prisoner. If her sister was a prisoner, then they would escape as they escaped the compound last summer. At least she would know where she stood.
Having spent the last several months with the twins had given her a reason and a will to live, and though she may find it difficult to overcome her fears. With some surprise, Sabrina realized she wanted a home and family of her own. Eight months ago she never would have thought it possible to overcome her fears. For the first time in a long time, she believed she just may have a shot at a normal life.
* * * *
It took less than thirty minutes to wash and return to camp. Luke caught three rather large fish with his bare hands. He neglected to tell Sabrina that he could call them to their doom. It seemed a rather unfair practice, but the children were hungry. What else was he to do? Since he and Daniel could regulate their body temperature, they gave Sabrina and the boys the sleeping bags and the tent. He only hoped the warming spells they cast over the tent would keep it at a comfortable level until daylight.
There was no doubt in his mind that Sabrina would balk at their joining them in the small tent to share their body heat. As it was, the three would have little enough room. He sat staring into the fire they’d managed to get going. The wood was dry, having been stored in a small cave nearby. He had no idea who put it there, but was thankful for it, just the same. He’d have to remember to replace it, in case someone else should have need of it in future.
The flames danced as his gaze shifted and he saw shapes in the coals. Suddenly, his vision grew cloudy as though someone drew a gray veil over his face. At least two men lurked in the forest nearby. No…they weren’t human, though they weren’t shifters either. He couldn’t smell them, he felt them. His instincts blared that something or someone lurked in the woods and they meant no good.
Chapter Five
Luke tossed a small rock at Daniel to wake him up. Help me wrap the tent in protection spells. Someone lurks in the darkness.
Daniel shifted his position to face the tent better. I know. I’ve been trying to follow their movements for the last hour. Whoever they are, they’re patient. He surreptitiously gave Luke the finger. Stop assuming I can sense nothing just because I was once human. Believe it or not, I still have a few surprises up my sleeve.
I don’t give a flying fuck if you were once a dog, as long as you learned how to cast protections spells. Whoever is out there, is committing. They’re moving in. Luke cut off communication with Daniel. As the strangers moved in, he sat tense and hurriedly cast the strongest spells he knew to protect their mate and the twins he hoped to call his own one day.
At first, the intruders appeared as little more than shadows and fog sliding slowly through the dark woods. It wasn’t until the unknown enemy was upon them that he realized he had no control over his motor functions. He couldn’t move and couldn’t shift. Hell, he couldn’t even lift his upper lip in a snarl. He and Daniel, two of Paradise’s strongest guardians, lay helpless as a group of caped men slid into their camp and entered the tent where their helpless mate and children slept.
The intruders moved silently, almost as though they glided over the ground instead of walked upon it. Their movements were fluid as they seemed to ooze into the small canvas structure. Three, four, then five forcing their way into the tiny tent. How did they do it when he and Daniel would have been hard pressed to fit themselves inside with Sabrina and the twins?
He felt more than heard Sabrina’s terrified scream when the men woke her. His leopard raged that he couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything to protect her as the men terrorized her and pulled the children from the warmth of Sabrina’s arms.
Luke couldn’t help the sigh of relief when he found the men only wanted the boys and left Sabrina sobbing in the tent when they oozed back out of the tent and oiled their way across the clearing. Three of them got within striking distance, but he could still do nothing. Paralyzed from the neck down, he could do little more than stare daggers at the men who had just ripped his mate’s heart out by taking the children She’d grown to love so much.
He put every effort into showing the men they would pay retribution for their actions this night, but none of them paid him any heed. A few of them even had the audacity to smirk at him. They knew he had no idea who or even what they were, so they had no worries. Luke vowed to make them worry. One day, he would find a way to fight them and he would take the boys from them.
One of them made a mistake. He’d failed to cover his scent at the scene where the twin’s parent’s met their skewed fate. Somehow, Luke knew
the stranger had directed the actions of the cougars that attacked the two humans, though how and why was still an unknown factor.
The two of them could do nothing for long moments after the group left. The minutes ticked by, each second feeling like an hour until the control of their limbs returned. Even then, they couldn’t stand, could hardly move as the lethargy wore off slowly. He had no doubt the men would be long gone by the time either of them regained enough control for pursuit.
* * * *
Sabrina fought against her invisible bonds for what felt like hours, perhaps even days after the intruders departed with the twins. What was going on? Who were the monsters she’d seen this night? Why did they steal her babies and where in the world were the two men who claimed to love her and vowed to protect her and the children at all costs? She knew better than to trust any man.
Tears leaked from her eyes as she thought about anyone with such power manhandling the twins, especially men. What did they want with the two small boys? What could they want? She berated herself for not stopping them and cursed herself for her relief that they’d left her alone. She was ashamed that the thought even crossed her mind. She loved the boys and knew, deep in her heart, that she would sacrifice herself for them. Still, she couldn’t accept the flaw within her that allowed her to feel relieved that the men hadn’t come for her. All this time she thought it was the wildlife on this mountain that she needed to fear. Instead, it was men. It was always men.
Thinking back, Sabrina tried to remember something, anything, that could tell her who and what the intruders were. Her stomach clenched with fear as she lay helpless in the tent while five men entered the tent. Impossibly, they all seemed to fit into the small confines.
They stared down at her with red-rimmed and soulless eyes, each of them battering her mental defenses until she lay exhausted, her Psi abilities gone. How had they done that? How had they managed to get inside her head like that and tire her out the way they did? She’d been able to move when the first man entered the tent. In fact, she’d managed to pull the twins to her, trying to protect them, to no avail.
Somehow, the five men together managed to get past the mental barriers her grandmother had taught her and Samantha to erect. Were men like those the reason why her grandmother taught them such things? Were these men, or those like them, the reason why her mother dumped them off with their grandmother, making the old woman promise to live as a human as long as they stayed with her?
Sabrina wanted to scream, to reach up and rip at the men’s faces with her fingernails as they reached down and lifted the sleeping children from their warm beds. Instead, she lay there as helpless as a child herself, while they took the babies from her loving arms.
It felt like lead weights held her down. Her muscles ached from fighting whatever hold they had on her. She fought until she couldn’t struggle anymore, then she wept. She cried for the loss of her sense of safety, of the children’s loss of security that she’d so painstakingly attempted to provide. Her stomach roiled as she realized, with men like that in the world, no one would ever be safe again.
* * * *
Daniel struggled to sit upright with a grimace. It seemed the harder he fought, the more difficult it was to move, but he couldn’t just lay there and wait for his limbs to cooperate on their own. He needed some kind of action and he needed it yesterday. Reaching out with his mind, he connected with his boss, Darren Colby, Paradise’s head of security. He almost tried for the sheriff, Merrick Hunter, but decided against it. His connection to Colby was stronger and the need for help as soon as possible made contacting Darren the more prudent choice.
Colby? He waited in silence for an answer that never came. Damn. They must have cut off their telepathy as well. He frowned and looked over at Luke. No. That wasn’t right. He’d talked to Luke just fine as the men slunk into the camp. Dammit, Colby, answer me. Luke and I are on the mountain and in trouble.
We’re already on our way. Luke contacted us first thing when your will was stolen.
I’m not entirely sure that’s the correct assumption. I still have will enough to kick ass. I just can’t move well enough to do it right now.
Darren chuckled through the link. I’m just repeating what I’ve been told it’s called. Apparently, Samantha found something in one of her grandmother’s old books. They somehow steal your ability to move. There’s a counter spell for it, but apparently a difficult one. It’s especially difficult for unmated females. So far, Samantha has covered all of Paradise, but she has been unable to cast a spell strong enough to cover the entire mountain. She needs her mated sister’s help for that.
We have her sister here, but she is still unmated. We found her in a line cabin four months ago. She is our mate.
There was a long pause as Darren digested this news. Four months? How have you two managed to stave off the el calor for so long?
Daniel shrugged, his eyes widening with surprise when he realized his muscles actually cooperated. I have no idea. Luke is rather old, so that I am young should have little to do with it. Perhaps it is because we have kept our physical contact with her to a minim…she fears the touch of a male.
And rightly so, Darren agreed, then paused. Perhaps that is it. We have noticed that physical contact seems to speed up the process, it would only follow that lack of contact should give the mates more time.
Daniel watched as Luke managed to roll himself over with effort when a low moan coming from the tent turned into an ear-piercing scream. Sabrina had obviously regained the use of her voice. It would only be a matter of time before she also recovered the use of her limbs as well. He or Luke must manage to be on their feet to stop her from pursuing this new enemy, of which they knew so little. Our mate seems to be recovering far faster than we are. I fear she will take off after the enemy without us
Do not fear for her, brother. We are close enough to subdue her, if the need arises. Even better is the fact that her sister follows at a slower, yet safer, pace. Perhaps she can talk Sabrina out of the foolhardy notion of following these people.
Daniel closed his eyes and sighed with relief. Perhaps, if they were lucky, Samantha would be able to calm her sister and talk some sense into her before she ran off half-cocked. He held little hope for that though, considering how she’d gotten to this mountain in the first place. If Samantha couldn’t talk some sense into her, Daniel knew both he and Luke would accompany their mate on her quest, no matter the cost to their souls. Darren Colby and Merrick Hunter arrived just as Sabrina stumbled from the tent.
“Whoa there, little lady,” Darren said as he stopped her from falling flat on her face. “You should sit down for a spell and let that nastiness wear off.”
Chapter Six
Sabrina slapped at the man’s large hands that held her upright. “Leave me alone!” She couldn’t keep the panic from her voice and it shamed her. She should be stronger. She needed to be stronger. She had to find the boys. The men who took them couldn’t be relatives. If they were, they had no reason to steal them in the middle of the night as they forced her and the two men with her to watch helpless.
“We’re not here to harm you, ma’am. We’re here to help. We’re friends of your sister’s.”
Deciding to listen to the man for a minute, Sabrina stopped her struggles and glared up at him. “How do you know my sister?” He smiled at her, his large grin reminding her of a caricature of the Big Bad Wolf.
“My friends are her mates as you will soon see. She is on her way to explain things as we speak. She moves a bit slower than we do, so we decided that we should get here first and introduce ourselves.”
When Sabrina made to move past him, he refused to let her go. Turning a full-on glare at the man, she snapped, “Let me go, dammit. I have to follow the men who took my babies.”
The man, who still hadn’t introduced himself—which was rude, to say the least—raised a brow. “You have children? You don’t look like a new mother to me and as of eight months ago, your sister
said you had no children.”
Taking a deep breath, she looked up into the man’s eyes. They were dark, cold, just like those of the men who held her and Samantha prisoner. She couldn’t help the trembling in her legs, which only seemed to make his grip on her upper arm tighter.
How did he know who she was? Sabrina didn’t think she’d ever seen him before. She couldn’t ignore the facts he knew. He either knew of her from the men at the compound or he knew Samantha, either that or he could read her mind which, she’d come to learn, wasn’t as much as an impossibility as she’d previously thought. Whichever it was, it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was finding the twins and getting them to safety. “If you must know, they aren’t really mine. I found them.”
The man just stared at her for a moment, his face filled with disbelief. “Did you just say you found them?”
“You can’t just keep children you find, Sabrina.” The other man, who was a bit taller than the first, but with hair just as dark, stepped forward, his expression grim.
This was getting just plain stupid. Who in the hell did these people think they were, waltzing in here, telling her what to do? And how in the hell did they know who she was? Crossing her arms under her breasts, Sabrina shot the man a glare. “And I should give a flying fig what you say…why?” She stopped and pressed her lips together before she said something that would most likely get her slapped. After all, she didn’t know these men from Adam and, by the looks of it, her self-proclaimed mates weren’t in any condition to come to her aid, even if they wanted to do so.
Hands fisted on his lean hips, the taller man shook his head and glanced over at Luke and Daniel. “Boy you guys are going to have your hands full with this one.”
Sabrina wasn’t sure, but she thought she caught a glimpse of a smile flicker on his face before he turned back to her, but it didn’t soften the blow of his insult. She thinned her lips and prepared to give him a piece of her mind.
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