by Tera Shanley
“Morgan!” he yelled as he reached the back door to the house.
She should have heard him from there. He bolted, a feeling of unease hitting his gut again. The back door was wide open.
“Morgan!” he called again. Even to himself, his voice sounded frantic. Shutting and locking the door behind him. He put Lana in the closet and turned on the light.
“Lana, stay right here. I promise I’ll be right back. Be quiet as a mouse, okay?”
She nodded and the movement loosed a tear that slid down her cheek. Grey shut the door and jerked the handle, forcibly jamming it.
Grey stilled himself and listened. The latch of a car door clicked from somewhere outside. He ran through the house and straight through the open front door. A man was shoving Morgan’s limp body into the trunk of a black Honda Accord. A rental car from the look of the license plate.
He bolted for the man. A flash of fur came from the right and landed on him so hard it knocked the wind out of him. A gray wolf latched on to his arm and shook hard enough to rattle his bones. He let go as Grey tried to right his balance and went for his neck. Desperately, Grey threw his arm up and into the wolf’s throat. He stood, reckless to get to the car as the man shut the trunk. The kidnapper hesitated and shot a glance at the gray-colored wolf.
The wolf leapt for Grey’s shoulder, but Grey caught him by the neck and slammed him to the ground. The wolf scrabbled, viciously raking sharp nails down Grey’s chest and the tender skin on his belly. He took his knee and rotated it over to where the wolf’s body and legs faced away from him as he choked the life out of him. The screech of tires sounded as the car sped away. With an angry jerk, Grey snapped the wolf’s neck and jumped the creaky gate. The best he could do was memorize the license plate number as it pulled farther and farther away from him.
“No!” Grey roared.
The air stank of blood and he pulled his hand away from his stomach. His flesh was torn wide open and he was holding himself together with his blood-soaked hand. He pressed harder, grunting with the deep pain that pierced his body. Had Morgan had time to call the pack before she’d been taken? He stopped at the dead wolf and bent and tried to drag the body to a less-conspicuous location. He groaned with the effort. It wasn’t going to happen. Not with his injury. The deceased wolf was already turning back into a man, and the dead weight was too heavy for him to drag anywhere in his condition. All he could hope for was that no one looked too closely behind Morgan’s crepe myrtles until help arrived. Grey shook his head and cursed as he rushed inside the house. He grabbed the phone and dialed Dean as he stumbled down the hall to get Lana out of the closet. He broke the handle completely and pulled her onto his chest as he sat down heavily against the opposite wall. She clung to him as he readjusted his hand to keep pressure on his open stomach.
“Dean. I need help. Morgan. They took Morgan. I’ve got Lana safe. There are bodies in a garage near her house and one out front. All werewolves.” He gave Dean the address of the garage and the license plate number before he forgot them. “Dean, I’m hurt. Who is closest to here? I have Lana--”
“Jason is out your way. He’ll be there in a few minutes. Let me give him a call and I’ll call you right back. We’re all coming. We’re on our way. Hold on, Grey,” Dean said before he hung up.
He tried to wait for Dean’s call, but the light in the room collapsed on itself until there was nothing left. If Dean called back, he wouldn’t hear it. He’d be unconscious, clutching onto Lana and bleeding all over Morgan’s favorite rug.
Chapter 5
Reason number two hundred and forty-seven it sucked to be a werewolf: When you are hurt, fellow werewolves want to hurt you worse.
Jason held a constant growl as he worked over Grey, staunching the flow of blood from his open chest and stomach. Jason was helping, but he wasn’t being gentle about it. Sweat dripped down the enforcer’s face and lightened gray eyes stayed riveted on the warm blood pooled on his torso.
Grey wished Brent had found him first. He was submissive and wouldn’t have to fight that instinct to best a more dominant injured wolf. As it stood, Jason didn’t have an ounce of submission in him, and the strain from attempting not to fight him was evident in the tight tendons of his neck. The smell of the rapidly expanding puddle of blood underneath his half dead carcass probably wasn’t helping Jason’s resolve either.
“Lana?” Grey rasped.
“She’s fine. I have her set up in the living room. I didn’t want her to see you like this anymore than she already has.”
Jason’s voice sounded deep and gravelly, like it hurt him to speak.
He’ll fight and we’re in the worst position to defend ourselves. Wolf’s snarled warning filled his head.
The fine hairs rose on his body as he thought of the pain he’d endure if Jason couldn’t control his instincts. “We got a problem here?”
“It’s been a while since I Changed. I’m not the best one for this job, but I was closest. The others will be here shortly, but I didn’t want you bleeding out before they got here.” The growling resumed.
“I guess I should tell you I was stabbed in the back with silver also.”
“Shit,” Jason hissed, rubbing sweat from his forehead with the back of his blood-soaked hand. “I don’t know what to do here. I’m supposed to be the cleanup man, you know, stashing bodies and stuff.” Another snarl ripped through him and he retreated by inches. “Sorry.”
Grey couldn’t stand being on his back in this situation anymore. Jason was a burly man, thickly muscled, but Grey could take him on his worst days. If Jason attacked him in that position with the injuries he had sustained though, he would be at a colossal disadvantage.
Move, Wolf howled.
He shifted slightly and the pain from his injuries burned like he’d been set on fire. At the faint scent of smoke, he glanced at the open flesh on his stomach, but he couldn’t find any. It was either his imagination or the silver knife wound on his back was still sizzling and charring his flesh. From the pain radiating through it, he wouldn’t be surprised.
Okay, like a Band-Aid then. He lunged upward until he was staggering on his feet, and Jason flew backward into a defensive stance. At least from this position, he had a freaking shot at surviving his rescuer.
“I’m hurt. But if you come at me, I’ll kill you, Jason. I’m at the end of what I can handle today.” He didn’t have time for battle right now, not with Morgan missing. He needed to plan and hunt. Bringing her back was the only thing that mattered, and this jackhole was standing in the way of his mission.
Jason stepped toward him, testing.
“Don’t test me.” Grey shook his head slowly as he bit out the words.
The corner of Jason’s lip curved up as he circled, and his eyes went completely vacant. Blood dripped from his hands as he tensed to attack.
The front door flew open, slamming against the wall with the force, and Jason hesitated.
“Get out,” Marissa yelled.
Jason looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, fists still clenched from the bloodlust. Marissa reared back and slapped him across the face and then pointed to the door again. “Get out,” she repeated, snarling deep in her throat.
Maybe Grey was hallucinating. Fragile, timid Marissa had just walloped Jason across the jaw and hard. The situation was almost funny. He’d probably laugh when he stopped swaying.
Jason turned on his heel and barged out the front door while Marissa turned slowly with her eyes downcast. She didn’t have to worry about getting into a lower position than Grey. He towered over her by a foot.
“I told the others to stay outside and head to the garage to start dealing with the bodies,” she whispered. “Dean won’t come in, but Wade needs to fix you up, and I don’t know how to get around that.”
The rhythmic patter of blood drops were hitting the already-soaked rug like the second hand of a clock, ticking off the time Grey had left.
“Lana, go back in the living room and watch TV,” she said as Lana poked her head around the corner to check on what was going on. “I swear I’ll stay with you and protect you from Wade,” Marissa promised.
Wolf snarled at the insinuation that he needed help.
“Do you want me to knock you out?” she asked.
After a second’s hesitation, he nodded curtly. “Probably best. Do it quick before Wolf changes my mind.”
Marissa stuck a needle in his arm before he even finished the last word, and then she stepped back quickly. “I’m going to take Lana out and come back for you. We need to get you guys to pack property. It isn’t safe here.”
He nodded and leaned against the back door as a heavy numbness spread up his arm.
“The bodies--”
“Jason will take care of them.”
Marissa led Lana to the front door where Rachel waited outside.
Brent jogged to his side and draped an arm over his shoulder. “Sorry, man. I ran every red light to get here, but I was in Uptown.”
The light from the entryway dimmed and the hallway lengthened and swayed. Words slurred and got caught in his throat. “They took her.”
“And we’ll get her back.” Brent pulled him through the doorway and waved off help from Dean. “They won’t hurt her. Morgan is too valuable.”
He couldn’t tell if the sick feeling in his stomach was from dread, injury, or the tranquilizer pumping through his veins, but he closed his eyes against the urge to retch.
The back seats in Dean’s SUV had been pushed forward and a tarp stretched across the floor. A plastic bin of medical supplies anchored one corner, and Wade kneeled there with a headlamp and sterile gloves as he threaded a curved needle that glistened under the artificial light.
The world tilted dangerously and the numbness pulled at him as he stumbled into the back.
“Can you fix me?” Grey asked as Wade studied the injury on his stomach with puckered brows.
“I don’t know.” Honest notes hit every word and Grey closed his eyes against the burn of another needle.
“You have to try…so I can find…Morgan.” The final black tendrils of unconsciousness covered him and pulled him under with her name the last word on his lips.
* * * *
The dark was so deep Grey couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or closed. Turning his head slowly, he blinked and waited for his night vision to adjust. Towering metal bars loomed over him. Gripping the sides of the soft mattress beneath him, he searched for the cage door. The subtle sound of steady breathing was slightly louder than the rattling air conditioning unit currently blasting cold air into his face. He sniffed the air and found a familiar and comforting scent. “Marissa?”
She sat up quickly. “Hey. Are you okay? Do you need a drink or anything?”
“Yeah, water would be great. Why am I in the cage?”
“We thought it was safest. You were up in one of the bedrooms while Wade and I finished stitching you up, but you kept trying to Change, and we had to keep giving you drugs so you would stay under. You burned them off really fast and it was pretty scary there for a while. We moved you down here so we could all get sleep and, you know, not worry about you killing us all in our beds.”
He cleared his dry throat. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault. I’ll be right back.” She returned with a giant plastic cup of water and handed it to him. He drank deeply while she jogged to the wall and hit the lights. “Watch your eyes.”
“How is Lana? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I mean other than being traumatized, she is all right. I’d be traumatized too if I watched you kill those wolves. One of those guy’s face was missing. Like you crushed his entire kisser. I thought Jason was going to puke. It was awesome. Lana has a bruised tailbone so she is sitting pretty carefully, but Wade went and picked her up one of those hemorrhoid pillows, a pink one, and she totes that around like it is cooler than a Barbie.”
Grey nodded. “Have they found Morgan?”
“No, but they are tracking her. Jason is a police officer, did you know that? That is why he is our pack body stasher. He knows all the tricks. Anyway, he looked up the license plate you gave us and it was a rental like you said. A guy named Robert Mendoza rented it, but he is one of the guys you killed and the car has already been turned back in, so who knows what they are driving now. Brent recognized one of the bodies from one of the Summits we went to, but he said the guy was a problem wolf who was being transferred last he heard, and he didn’t know where to. Dean called around and found out he is a member of the Southern Montana pack. He called them to see if it was a few wolves acting on their own, but no one picked up. Their alpha most likely ordered this. The packs in Montana are pretty small, so I’m pretty sure you killed off a majority of it. Jason says he’s sure they’re taking her back to Montana. What did the wolf who got away look like?”
“Black hair, about five-foot-eleven or six-foot, somewhere around there. Dark eyes, slim build.”
“Sounds like their second. The alpha, John Gates, is a tall blond Viking-looking guy. Jason tracked down a couple of their pack photos from last year’s Summit, so they are recent.”
“Do we know where this Gates guy lives?”
“We’ll know by mid-morning, I think. The guys aren’t sleeping, only tracking. They’re following up on every lead.”
Propping himself up on his elbows and ignoring the screaming pain from his middle, he asked, “When can I get out?”
She crossed her arms and frowned thoughtfully. “Dean has the keys, but I know where he hides the spare,” she said with a toothy grin. She came back a few minutes later and opened the lock. He stood stiffly. Bandages constricted his torso and gave him the itch to shrug out of them.
“How long was I out?” he asked, pulling his shirt gingerly over his head.
“Only a day. How did they get to Morgan? I thought you were watching them.” There was no accusation in her voice--only curiosity.
“They hunted as a pack. Maybe they made me and figured I was a threat. Taking Lana must have been their plan to split us up. And when I went after her, two others took Morgan. She wasn’t moving by the time I saw him putting her in the trunk. He must have knocked her out with something. I know she fought him because the whole entryway was torn up.” Stretching stiff muscles, he tested his flexibility with the bandages.
“Wade says you are healing well, that you are strong. I mean, I’m glad you have werewolf healing power, because I literally saw your intestines poking out of your stomach. You scared me, Grey.” Catching him by surprise, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her cheek against the bandages. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him, and though it hurt, he patted her back awkwardly. A thirteen-year-old girl had no business seeing a friend bleeding out in front of her, and it had to have been scary thinking she was going to lose a friend after everything she’d seen as a child. “Hey, I’m all right. It’ll take more than a couple of creeps to get rid of me.”
She laughed thickly and wiped moisture from her eyes. Her effort at a smile faltered as she dropped her gaze to the tile beneath her sneakers. “They won’t kill her, you know.”
He strode past her and then paused on the stairs. “Marissa, you of all people know certain things are worse than death. An alpha has a potential breeder. How patient do you think he is going to be?”
“I’m going with you,” she said. “I know you are going after her, and I want to go too. I can help. You know I can.”
“I know you can help, that’s why I need you here,” he said, looking into her pleading face. “You are my link to the pack and I need the information they are tracking down. Dean isn’t going to like me going off on my own, but I have to bring her back. I can’t explain it, but her being gone? It’s on me. I know what Wolf is capable of, what I’m capable of, but I won’t have blood on your hands if we can avoid it. I need you here.”
; She stood defiantly on the stair below him. “Who is going to change your bandages? I can smell the blood soaking them. You are healing fast, but you are still hurt bad. And I can cover you when you go in there to get her. You know I’ll have your back.”
“Stop, Marissa.” He shook her shoulders gently. “If you go, I will have you and Morgan to protect. I need to focus, and I won’t be able to if I’m worried about you too. I know you’re scared, but I’ll come back. I promise.”
She looked down and nodded miserably. “Okay, then what do you need from me here?”
“I need all of the information the pack finds out as soon as possible. I need the address the minute they find it. And the keys to my truck.”
She smiled and pulled his jangling keychain out of her jeans pocket. “I figured we’d be breaking out tonight.”
“I’ll need extra bandages and pain meds. Things to get me there.”
She nodded and jogged to the storage room, returned with a medium-sized plastic box full of everything he could possibly need. He patted the back of his jeans pocket where his wallet was still cradled between the rough material. He was ready.
She walked quietly beside him to his truck.
He gripped her shoulder and leveled her a look. “Be good. I’ll talk to you soon.” When he got into the truck, he plugged his cell phone into the charger and turned the engine. The darkness engulfed Marissa as he drove away, taking the illumination of his taillights with him. Hopefully, he would be able to keep his promise and see her again.
Dirt, rocks and trees blurred in the headlights as he picked up speed. “Hang on Morgan. I’m coming to get you.”
* * * *
Dry leaves crunched under Morgan’s bare feet. Jagged rocks and limbs peppered the forest floor and should’ve hurt the tender pads of her feet, but she didn’t feel any pain. A soft breeze lifted strands of her dark hair, and the thin muslin night dress she wore clung to her frame. Scanning the space between the trees, she looked for something. Or maybe she was looking for someone, she couldn’t remember. A twig snapped crisply behind her and she turned. Nothing was there but the movement of low-hung swaying branches. Every step felt like a chore, as exhausted and weak limbs became heavier with every step she took. Vines drooped down from the dense trees; the snake-like hindrances ensnared her arms, exhausting her further with her efforts to rid herself of the clinging manacles. Exhausted and weak, she tripped recurrently. She moved by inches through the vine-infested forest. As progress stalled, her heart raced, drumming against her chest. The chill in the air showed the frost of her breath chugging in front of her lips. The forest closed in, crowding her until it felt like the oxygen had been sucked from her lungs. Everywhere she looked were more vines, more timber, more brush to trap her for eternity. Lurching for a sliver of light, she burst into a clearing. The woods behind her were ominous and dark, but before her stood a tree so wide, she couldn’t find a way around it. The ancient sequoia stretched as far as her eye could see.