The thought that Rafe might still be in danger propelled Katie forward. She pressed her hands against the chilly glass pane, going boneless when the clearing came into view. The snow-covered ground was littered with blood and torn-off limbs and crumpled human forms, not one of them showing any sign of life. Nothing stirred. Her gaze skittered from one body to the next, searching for the familiar form of her lover among the victims of his wrath.
She recognized Rafe the instant she saw him. He was sprawled on his back in the center of the carnage, and mercifully, he was in one piece. Or at least he appeared to be. He was clearly unconscious, covered in blood, and frighteningly still. She scanned the surrounding area for another second or two, then hurried to the other side of the attic as quickly as she could. She spared only a passing glance out the back window, unsurprised to see the carcasses of the two wolves she’d shot and nothing else.
That was good enough for her. The dust had settled, the casualties were high, and Rafe could be bleeding to death even now. She had to go outside and get him.
She made it downstairs and to the front door without questioning her decision even once. Rafe had spent an entire night protecting her. Now it was her turn. Katie disengaged the lock and cracked open the door, peeking outside before taking a cautious step onto the porch. The chilly morning air stung her nostrils and brought tears to her eyes, which she wiped away in a hurry. She’d left the shotgun behind, aware that she couldn’t exactly carry it and Rafe—something she was increasingly worried she would need to do. The revolver was her only line of defense. As she stepped off the porch and into snow that wasn’t as deep as it had been the day before, the handgun hardly felt like protection at all.
She’d never seen so much blood and gore. Some of the dead werewolves had literally been torn apart, others eviscerated. As she made her way through a small group of bodies, she saw something that turned her stomach. Rafe’s pack-mate Cooper lay on the frozen ground with his throat torn out and both legs bent at odd angles. His sightless eyes stared at the startlingly blue sky above.
Katie said a silent thank you to his friend for the help, then stepped over a severed hand to get closer to where Rafe had fallen. That’s when she heard a soft crunching sound from her left, in a stand of trees. She turned and raised the revolver on instinct. Almost like she knew what the hell she was doing.
Lisa stared back at her, closer to Rafe than she was. Her slim, nude form was also smeared with blood, and though her gait indicated pain and exhaustion, her malevolent eyes were wild. She carried a large rock that Katie worried was intended for Rafe’s skull. Lisa bared her teeth in a ferocious snarl as she openly appraised Katie from head to toe. “He’s dead, bitch.”
She flicked her gaze to Rafe for only an instant before returning her attention to Lisa. “No, he isn’t.”
Lisa took another step closer to Rafe. “Well, he will be in a minute.”
Lowering the gun, Katie fired a shot that landed mere inches from Lisa’s bare foot. The bullet threw up a spray of snow and stopped the other woman mid-step. “Stay the fuck away from him,” Katie said, and took her own step forward.
“And if I don’t?” Lisa scanned her body with a look of disdain. “You don’t scare me, you human piece of trash. I can tear you apart right now. Make you beg for mercy…wish you’d never been born.” She grinned, then licked her lips. “Pity Rafe won’t be awake to watch, though.”
Katie aimed at the center of Lisa’s forehead. “Last I heard, your alpha said no picking fights.”
“That was before you two wiped out a third of our pack. I’m guessing he might feel differently now.”
Katie held her finger on the trigger, ready to apply pressure at the slightest advance from the other woman. “I promise you, if you do anything except turn around and go home, I’m going to put a bullet in your head. I will make your little boy an orphan. I don’t want to, but I will.”
Her words seemed to strike a chord. Lisa’s shoulders dropped and she stared at Katie with an expression of pure hatred. “You don’t actually think this is over, do you?”
Gazing around at the bodies surrounding them, Katie said, “Haven’t enough lives been lost?”
“Not the right ones.” Lisa’s fury was palpable and frightening. Eyes glowing, she seemed to struggle not to leap forward and attack.
Katie tightened her hand on the gun, wholly prepared to pull the trigger. She wouldn’t hesitate to do it, no matter how much she despised the thought of killing an innocent child’s only living parent. She and Rafe hadn’t survived this long only to be separated now. “Don’t make me do this to Ben. Please don’t. Just leave. Go home to him.”
“Only because I want to be there when he wakes up.” Lisa tossed the rock in her hand in Rafe’s direction. Katie’s heart stuttered until it landed feet from his head, sparing him further injury. Then anger surged through her and she moved forward, but Lisa stopped her with a mocking smile. “I’ll see you next month, Katie. And the month after that. Until one of us is dead.” She turned her head and spat onto the ground, aiming at Rafe but falling short. “If Rafe’s Alpha lets you live, that is.” She walked backward, retreating without taking her eyes off Katie. “Looks to me like you just created one hell of a mess, human. Good luck convincing his pack that keeping you around is worth a war.”
Katie shivered, and it had little to do with the frigid air. She knew Lisa was trying to threaten and upset her, but there was truth in her words. How would Rafe’s pack react to what had happened? They weren’t exactly sympathetic toward her to begin with, and that was before she’d murdered rival pack members in cold blood. Aware that words couldn’t begin to fix anything, but compelled to say something anyway, Katie said, “I’m sorry about your mate. It’s not your son’s fault that his daddy attacked me. It’s not your fault, either.” She watched Lisa’s face, curious how she felt about her mate’s activities. If he hadn’t come after Katie, he would still be alive. “He should have been home with you.”
“He loved to go hunting. And I loved for him to do it. Nothing got him worked up like playing with a human woman before he came home to me.” Lisa lingered by the edge of the trees with a sneer on her face. “Zeke was a predator. You’re prey. He attacked you because that’s how nature works. But you know how nature doesn’t work?” She gestured at Rafe, then at her. “You two are an abomination. You’re disgusting. And I promise you I won’t stop hunting you until you’re screaming for mercy with my teeth in your throat.”
Katie had to forcibly stop herself from physically recoiling. She readjusted her aim, somehow holding her arm steady. “Get the fuck out of here.”
Lisa growled, then shifted into wolf form. She hobbled away slowly, clearly more affected by the nightlong battle than she’d let on. Katie trained her gun on Lisa’s back and watched her slow retreat, not lowering the weapon until she was long out of sight. Afraid to drop her guard but all too aware that Rafe’s time could be running out, she waited for a minute or so after losing sight of Lisa, then reluctantly pocketed the revolver and ran to Rafe’s fallen body.
His skin was frighteningly cold—far colder than she’d ever felt him. His blue-tinged lips brought her heart into her throat, but it was the red blood streaked across his chest, thighs, and face that really worried her. She ran her hands up the chilled, tacky plane of his chest, then pressed her fingers to his neck to search for a pulse. He was alive, but in rough shape. Though she saw no wounds that appeared to be fatal, the fact that he hadn’t yet regained consciousness concerned her deeply. That Lisa was awake told Katie that it was past time for Rafe to rouse from his moon-induced sleep, but he didn’t stir even when she bent and pressed her lips to his in a quick, desperate kiss.
“Please, Rafe.” Katie laced her fingers with his and squeezed, waiting for some sign that he could hear her. “Wake up, baby. I really need you to wake up.”
He didn’t move. Katie raised her head and scanned the tree line, then the unmoving bodies around them. They were inc
redibly vulnerable out in the open like this. For all she knew, Lisa wasn’t the only rival pack member who’d survived the night. She needed to get him into the cabin as quickly as she could. As long as they stayed outside, they weren’t safe. But she had no idea how to move an unconscious man of Rafe’s size the thirty yards to the cabin, then up the porch steps and inside. If he wouldn’t wake up, she was in for a long, difficult task that would leave her completely exposed and helpless if Lisa or her friends decided to return.
Panic surged through Katie and she put her hands on his shoulders, shaking him hard. “Rafe!” She waited for his eyelashes to flutter, for a groan—some sign of life. But there was nothing.
A crushing wave of despair threatened to derail her. Rafe was alive, yes, but something was very wrong.
Katie stood up and, after a final glance around, slipped the revolver into the back of her jeans. Then she bent and grabbed Rafe beneath the arms. Summoning all the strength she had remaining, she grunted and dragged him a couple of inches across the slick snow. She had to stop and rest almost immediately. His limp body was impossibly heavy, and her ankle and hand throbbed from the events of the night before.
“Shit.” Tears slipped out of her eyes and froze on her cheeks, drawing her attention to just how frigid the morning air was. Nervous about letting her emotions get the better of her, she searched the trees once more, ready to draw the gun and defend Rafe to the death. Still quiet. Giving his arms another tug, Katie managed to move him a few inches closer to the porch before his foot got caught on the leg of the dead body lying beside him. No matter how hard she tugged, the corpse held him stubbornly in place. Exhausted, she let go of Rafe’s arms and fell backwards into the snow with a frustrated cry. “Fuck.”
“You look like you could use some help.”
Startled by the quiet female voice at her back, Katie leapt to her feet and whirled around as she withdrew the revolver from her jeans. An attractive brunette woman stood beside Rafe’s porch, not ten feet away, completely nude and wearing an expression of genuine concern. She narrowed her eyes when Katie pointed the gun at her head, but didn’t move.
“Don’t come any closer,” Katie warned in a tremulous voice. She swiped away her tears quickly, determined not to show any weakness. They might be the predators and she the prey, but she was damn sure going to do everything she could to defend Rafe. “Stay back.”
The woman ignored her and took a step forward. “Is he alive?”
She aimed at the woman’s forehead. “Stop or I’ll shoot you. I swear I will.”
The woman stopped. Then she sighed. “I came to help Rafe. Want to put down your gun and let me?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Katie lowered the gun slightly, but didn’t relax. “Who are you?”
“My name is Susan.” She looked past Katie and frowned. “Why is he unconscious? Is he badly injured?”
Susan. The name tickled at her memory before she recalled why it sounded so familiar. “Rafe’s Susan?”
A smile played at the corners of the other woman’s mouth. “I haven’t been Rafe’s for a long time.” She moved forward, hand up to forestall Katie’s protest. “It’s not safe for either of you out here. We can talk while we carry him to the truck.”
“The truck? No, I need to get him inside so I can look at his injuries—“
“That’s not a good idea.” Susan lowered her hand. “As soon as the pack regroups and realizes the losses they’ve taken, they’ll come for you. And it’ll most likely be with Jack Devereaux’s blessing—if not his help.”
“We didn’t choose this fight,” Katie said. She kept the gun trained on Susan, afraid to trust her. “We were only defending ourselves.”
“I know. But this,” Susan gestured at the bodies lying around them, “is a pretty big fucking deal.”
Katie wanted help so badly that she was tempted to simply pocket the revolver and hope for the best. She was almost certain she couldn’t get Rafe into the truck alone. But the sudden reappearance of Susan after years missing seemed too coincidental to be true. Too easy. She didn’t trust the situation any more than the woman who claimed to be Rafe’s long, lost love. “Why are you here? What do you want?”
“I want Rafe to live. Now please.” Ignoring the gun pointed at her, Susan closed the distance between them and knelt at Rafe’s side. She reached to touch his throat, but Katie knocked her hand away with her foot. Susan narrowed her eyes, then snatched the revolver out of Katie’s hand before she could react. “You’re starting to test my patience,” Susan said as she rose to her feet. For a breathless moment, she pointed the gun at Katie’s head and stared hard into her eyes. Then she turned the revolver around and offered Katie the handle. “I could have killed you just now, if I’d wanted to.” Katie took the weapon with a shaking hand and Susan knelt back beside Rafe. “I hope you’ll take that as a sign of good faith that I don’t particularly want to.”
It was agony to decide whether to accept help from a strange werewolf after everything that had happened. This woman could be anyone. It was possible that Rafe’s enemies knew about his history with Susan—especially if they were the ones responsible for her disappearance. This could be an elaborate plan to get her to drop her guard. But what other choice did she have? Unless she was willing to kill Susan right now, the only thing left to do was accept her help and pray that her trust wasn’t misplaced. The fact that she desperately needed the help made the decision feel like it was hardly one at all. “Fine. Help me carry him.”
Susan was far stronger than she looked. She grabbed Rafe by the arms and hefted him into the air, leaving Katie to pick up his feet and follow her as she carried him to the old Chevy pickup truck parked out front. Both the driver’s side and passenger windows were smashed in. Yet another way the rival pack had entertained themselves during the run-up to the main event, she supposed. Nervous that they’d caused more serious damage, she checked the tires. Snow was still piled around them, but hadn’t drifted high enough to block access to the passenger door. The good news was that the snow had probably protected the tires from vandalism. The bad news was that they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere until they cleared it away.
As though reading her mind, Susan said, “Let’s get him in the passenger seat and then I’ll help you dig out the truck.”
Nodding, Katie allowed Susan to support more of Rafe’s weight while she tugged on the passenger side door handle. It was locked. “Shit.”
“Where are the keys?”
Katie turned and looked at the cabin, then Susan. “Next to the icebox.”
“I’ll get them.” Susan jerked her head at a patch of fresh snow beside them. “Let’s just set him down. You can wait here and guard him.”
Glad that Susan wasn’t expecting her to leave Rafe, Katie nodded. “All right.” Once they lowered him onto the snow, however, her paranoia kicked in. Did she trust Susan in the cabin alone? Shilah was in there. With the truck’s windows broken, she didn’t technically need the keys to get the door unlocked. But she would need them to leave—and that wasn’t all she would need. Deciding to test Susan’s willingness to bring her the keys before she mentioned Shilah or her purse, Katie said, “The kitchen is just through the front door. Icebox is on the left.”
Susan gave her a smile tinged with sadness. “I remember.”
Katie tried not to feel a twinge of jealousy as she watched Susan jog toward Rafe’s cabin—nude, supple, and so very graceful on her feet. After only a couple of days with Rafe, she was starting to get used to seeing strangers naked. Yet seeing his ex-girlfriend that way was a unique experience. Though she didn’t doubt the strength of her bond with Rafe for a second, it was still strange to witness the sudden reemergence of his first love. She was beautiful. Trying to sort through her mixed emotions about Susan not only made her head hurt, but also distracted her from protecting Rafe. Determined not to let her guard down, Katie pulled out the revolver, did a quick visual scan of the trees, then knelt at his side.
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“Please, baby.” She caressed his cool cheek, rough with stubble. “Please, please wake up.”
The sound of a door closing jerked her attention back to the cabin. She stood up quickly, only barely resisting the urge to point the gun at Susan again. Nervous and on edge, she wasn’t ready to trust anyone around the man she loved while he was totally helpless. Susan gave her a cautious look as she approached, shotgun cradled in her arms, and unlocked the door with a key fob. “Lot of bodies in there.”
“I didn’t invite them inside,” Katie said pointedly.
Susan held up the shotgun and the rest of the shells. “You don’t want to forget this.” She walked to the truck and yanked open the passenger door, tucking the weapon between the seats. After sweeping her arm across the seat to clear the broken glass, she turned to Katie. “Any luck waking him up?”
Katie slipped the revolver into her pants, then grabbed Rafe’s legs as Susan hoisted him by the armpits. “No. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
They didn’t speak as they wrestled his heavy weight into the seat. Susan leaned over his lap to buckle his seatbelt while Katie kept a watchful eye on the forest. It was almost eerily still. The sky was blue and clear, and sunlight shone down from above, illuminating the snow and making it seem to glow. If not for the fact that corpses littered the yard around them, it would be a beautiful day.
Susan shut the passenger door. “As soon as you have the chance, you need to hold him. Make sure your skin touches his. I don’t know if it works the same with a human, but as his bond-mate, you should be able to send him healing energy. Just focus on your bond, on his heartbeat…” As though suddenly self-conscious about her nudity, she folded her arms over her chest. “It’s hard to explain. Just want it, and trust your instincts.”
Having been the recipient of Rafe’s healing touch, Katie had an idea of what she needed to do. She just hoped she could muddle her way through the details. “I’ll try. How long will it take him to wake up, if it works?”
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