8
“What the hell?” Charlotte whispered loudly. “Sable, you have to see this,” she hissed through their ear coms. “Something’s going down, and it doesn’t look good.”
Sable slid her Beretta into the holster at her waist, and a Glock into the one on her thigh. Grabbing her own binoculars, she quickly threw some loose branches over the top of her car to help hide it from anyone who might drive by. When she was sure it wouldn’t be easily spotted, she crossed the road and ran down a small incline into some woods. Making her way to where Charlotte lay on the ground behind some large rocks, she stayed low to the ground to hide her presence from the coyotes in the small town below.
“Shit,” Silver growled, from a few feet away. “What are they doing to that poor girl?”
Sable raised her binoculars up to her eyes, adjusting them to zoom in on the scene in front of her. There was an old, piece of shit barn below, surrounded by what looked like several small houses. Maybe ten of them. Readjusting the focus on her binoculars, she caught her breath when she saw a young woman fall to her knees in front of the barn door, and then gasped when a loud roar split through the air. The girl struggled to her feet, reaching toward the barn, but a large man with a tattoo sleeve on one arm backhanded her, and she fell again. She seemed to be pleading with someone inside the building, but the people around her just laughed.
Another loud roar, full of fury, echoed through the woods, and Sable’s hands tightened on the binoculars. “Dax,” she rasped, somehow knowing it was him. As she watched, a man rounded the side of the barn with a baseball bat in his hand, followed by another with what looked like a pipe wrench. She saw their intentions clearly written in the expressions, and fear filled her.
When Sable would have risen to go to the man she believed to be her mate, she felt an arm go around her back, pinning her to the ground. “Wait,” Charlotte whispered quietly. “Running off half-cocked isn’t the answer.” When a soft whimper left Sable’s throat at the thought of leaving him down there to suffer at the hands of the coyotes who held him, Charlotte tightened her hold, murmuring, “I know, my friend. But, running into that camp without a plan could get not only him killed, but us, too.”
“He’s strong,” Silver said quietly through the coms. “He will make it until we can get to him.”
Sable nodded, knowing it was true, even if she hated the fact that she couldn’t save him now. She bit her lip hard, drawing blood, as she watched the men enter the barn, the first one raising his bat with a sneer as he yelled, “Miss me, motherfucker? You want some more of this?”
Her breaths came in small pants as she tried to control her wolf, who wanted to rush down the side of the hill they were hiding on and rip the bastard’s head off. Sable moaned, grasping her binoculars so hard she heard the casing crack. “I’m going to kill them,” she vowed quietly. “I’m going to hurt them, like they are hurting him. I am going to make them suffer, and then I am going to tear out their fucking throats.”
“We will be right there with you, girl,” Silver promised, her own wolf evident in her voice. “No one below who has taken part in what is going on with that young girl and your mate will survive this night.”
Closing her eyes, Sable took a deep breath, and then another, trying to calm the raging fury flowing through her. When she was sure she was under control, she opened them again, and whispered, “I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t,” Charlotte replied, letting her go and moving back to her original position, “but I trust you not to rush into their camp and blow our cover now.”
Sable didn’t bother to respond as she looked back down below and watched one of the assholes haul the young woman back to her feet, and someone else wrap a thick piece of rope around her wrists, tying her hands together. He growled something at her, and she reared back, spitting in his face. The man struck out, slamming his fist into the side of her head, and then kicking her hard in the stomach when she fell to the ground. “Dammit,” Sable swore lowly, wishing there was something she could do.
“Stop fighting, sweetheart,” Silver whispered.
As she watched, the girl lay still, not moving. The man yanked her up off the ground and swung her around, pushing her toward a truck that was a couple of yards from the barn. Sable gasped when she got her first real look at the girl’s face. “It’s her,” she said softly, zooming in until the small features were clearer.
“Who?”
“Aiden and Xavier’s sister.”
“No way,” Charlotte muttered. “How do you know?”
“Look closely,” Sable murmured, her eyes never leaving the girl’s face as she was shoved again. “The eyes, the nose, the shape of the mouth.”
“Holy shit!” Silver exclaimed excitedly in a low voice, “You’re right. She looks just like the twins!”
“Seriously, what are the odds?” Charlotte said suspiciously. “Your mate and their sister in the same place? That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
Sable watched until the girl was thrown in the back of the truck, and left there alone, before slowly canvasing the area.
“They didn’t bother to tie her legs,” Silver muttered.
“What?” she asked distractedly as her gaze stopped on the front of the barn where a man and woman were walking through the door.
“The girl. They tied her hands together, but not her ankles. For some reason, they don’t think she will make a run for it.”
“Because she won’t,” Charlotte murmured. “Think about it. She was obviously trying to save Dax. She won’t just leave him there.”
Sable nodded in agreement, even though she knew her friends couldn’t see her. Charlotte was right. The girl wouldn’t have risked her life to save someone, just to leave them there to die.
“So, boss lady,” Silver drawled, “what are we going to do?”
What were they going to do? The answer to that was simple. “When darkness falls, we are getting them both the hell out of there.”
Ten hours later, while most of the coyote pack was asleep, Sable slipped into the camp, Charlotte and Silver on her heels. As much as she wanted to head straight for the barn and Dax, Sable went to the truck first. Her team crouched low in the darkness, one on each side, standing watch while she slid into the back of the truck bed where the woman sat huddled in the front corner.
Sable saw the girl’s eyes widen and her mouth open, and she just managed to clamp a hand over her mouth before the scream could emerge. “Shhh, I’m here to help,” she whispered softly. “You need to stay quiet so that we can get you out of here.”
The girl shook her head frantically, trying to speak against Sable’s hand. Sable let up slightly, and she gasped, “No, we have to help them. I can’t leave them here.”
“I have no plans to leave without Dax,” Sable assured her quietly.
“They have his sister, too,” the woman whispered. “We have to take them both.”
Sable stared in surprise, but then nodded, “Of course. They will both come with us.”
“Wait, who are you?”
Sable smiled gently, removing her hand fully from the woman’s mouth. “I’m a friend of your brothers. My alpha sent me to find you, and bring you home.”
“Brothers?”
She saw the shock and denial in the woman’s eyes, but they didn’t have time for it right now. “I will tell you about them later, but right now, we need to get Dax and his sister, and get the hell out of here.”
Not waiting for a reply, Sable tugged on the woman’s arm, urging her to move to the back of the truck where Charlotte was now waiting to help her down. “Where’s Silver?”
Charlotte’s gaze tracked around the area as she whispered, “A guy showed up at the wrong time to take a leak. She’s handling it.”
“I’m here now,” Silver said, appearing beside them. “Let’s do this.”
Placing the woman between them, Sable in the lead, they skirted across the distance from the truck to the barn and slipped ins
ide.
9
Dax gritted his teeth against the throbbing pain on his left side, positive the bastards had cracked a rib this time. His entire body screamed out in agony, but he was pretty sure that was the worst of it. Lifting his head, he looked over at his sister, surprised to see her staring back at him, her eyes dark with anger.
“I’m done, brother. That is the last time they are going to hurt us like that.”
“You got that right,” a female voice snapped in a low, husky tone from the entrance of the barn. “The next time one of those fucking wanna be dogs touches my mate, I’m going to feed their balls to them.”
“Damn, Sable,” another voice drawled, as four women came into view, “meeting Dax for the first time is supposed to be a happy occasion.”
Dax’s eyes fell on the dark haired beauty standing in front of the others, his dick hardening when her scent reached him. His dragon roared in his mind, recognizing his mate instantly, and Dax tugged weakly on the chains that held him as his gaze raked over her. She was tall and slender, with black hair that stopped just past her shoulders, and hazel eyes that were bright with anger as they roamed over him, taking in the dark bruises that covered his body and slices carved into his flesh. “I’m sure he will be happy to watch me kill the bastards who did this to him and his sister,” she growled.
One of the women chuckled softly, crossing the room to where Rubi stared at them. “We can debate this later. Right now, I say we get the hell out of here.”
“I have no idea who any of you are, but I agree,” Rubi responded, tugging on the chains that held her.
“They came to save us,” Maya said, slipping out from behind one of them.
“Maya,” Rubi gasped, “are you okay?”
Dax couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from the woman in front of him. The one they called Sable. She was stunning, in a pair of dark jeans, a black shirt that clung to her figure, and a black leather jacket. He had found her, after all this time. His mate.
“Yes,” Maya said, taking a step toward Rubi, “but we have to hurry.”
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the barn and Dax snapped back to awareness, a low growl building in his chest at the thought of someone threatening his beautiful mate. “Hide,” he ordered darkly, his gaze going to the door.
“Awe, sugar, you don’t know us very well,” the woman who stood beside Sable teased. “We don’t hide for anyone.”
Sable took a step toward him, her eyes darkening as she slipped a knife from her boot. As he watched, she bared her teeth and growled, “Silver, Charlotte, get them out of those chains. I’ll take care of whoever’s come to visit.”
The women instantly responded, moving to work on the locks that held Dax and Rubi, while his fearless mate turned to face the danger behind her.
“Sable,” Dax growled, hating the thought of his woman in danger.
“Don’t you worry about her, sugar,” the woman kneeling beside him drawled as she picked at the locking mechanism. “You just let her take out the trash while we get you out of these things.”
His eyes never left his mate as he strained against the chains that held him, his dragon rising to the surface, fighting to take over. Sable palmed a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, a low growl rumbling in her throat as she turned to meet the threat of two men who walked through the door. One held a baseball bat, another a large pipe wrench.
“Boy, I am one lucky girl,” Sable drawled, when the men finally noticed her. “I was hoping I would get to meet both of you.”
“Oh yeah?” one of them asked, hitting the bat in the palm of his hand as he closed the distance between them.
“Who the fuck are you?” the other one snarled, following close behind.
Ignoring the second one, Sable slipped her gun back into her pocket, and slid another knife out of her boot. “Yeah,” she said, taking a step toward them, and then pausing slightly. “I saw you earlier today, and knew exactly what I was going to do when we met.”
“Who are you?” the second one demanded again.
Dax watched as Sable slowly walked in a circle around the men until she was on the other side, facing him. Then, her eyes met his and she growled, “I’m the woman who is about to rock your world, gentleman. Too bad you won’t live to talk about it, but that’s what you get for fucking with my mate.”
Before they could respond, Sable stepped between the two of them, bringing one of her daggers up and deftly slicing through the neck of the one who held the baseball bat. When it fell to the floor so he could grasp at the wound with both hands, she kicked it away and turned to the other one. Dax was sure he didn’t know what hit him when she plunged her other knife deep into his heart, before grasping his neck and twisting it hard. There was an audible crack, and then she dropped his lifeless body to the floor. “Not the slow, painful death I wanted for you bastards, but this will have to do.”
Dax felt his chains fall away, and he stumbled forward, stopping just inches from the gorgeous woman in front of him. She was amazing, and he wanted nothing more than to sink balls deep into her and claim her right then. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. They needed to leave before more people arrived to check on them. Afterwards, he still needed to find Raven. As much as he wanted to claim the stunning creature before him, it wasn’t going to happen just yet.
“We need to go,” she whispered, reaching out to cup his jaw in the palm of her hand.
Dax nodded, fighting a wave a dizziness that threatened to put him on his knees. He felt her arm slide around his waist, and then the woman came up beside him offering her help as well. “This has been a lot of fun, but I think it’s time we get the hell out of here,” she said. “We need to get Maya home.”
“No,” Rubi protested weakly as Maya helped her make her way over to them, “we can’t leave. Not until we find Raven.”
“Raven?” Sable asked with a frown, her gaze going from him to Rubi.
“My other sister,” he told her. “Rubi and I were looking for her when that bitch, Ebony, grabbed us.”
Sable stiffened, her face flushing a dark red in anger. “Ebony? The General’s daughter?”
“You know who he is?” Rubi asked hopefully. “He has our sister. We need to get her back.”
Sable sighed, motioning toward the door. “Yes, we know who he is. Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk. I need to call my alpha and fill him in on what happened here, and then we need to come up with a plan.”
“A plan?” Rubi whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “You mean, you are going to help us?”
Sable looked up at him, briefly touching his cheek again before looking over at his sister. “Of course, I am. Dax is my mate, which makes you and Raven my family. And I am getting pretty damned tired of the General fucking with my family.”
“I’m in,” both of Sable’s friends growled at the same time.
She looked at them, smiling gratefully. “Let’s go contact Chase and Angel. They will want to be in on this.”
Dax’s grip on his mate tightened, and he stared down at her, trying to figure out how he had gotten so damn lucky. When she looked up, meeting his eyes, he couldn’t resist dropping a small kiss on her lips before moving toward the door. Somehow, he would keep her safe, along with Rubi, and they would find Raven. He wanted that promise of a future he saw in her eyes. He needed it.
10
Deciding that staying in New York was too great of a risk with both Dax and Rubi injured, Sable drove until early in the morning when she hit Pennsylvania, finally stopping at a rundown hotel in a small town out in the middle of nowhere. Dax sat beside her, his head resting against the back of the seat, his hand clutching tightly to hers, even in sleep. Rubi and Maya were in the back between Charlotte and Silver, also asleep. It was a tight fit, but somehow they made it work.
Pulling into the parking lot, Sable stopped near the front door. “I’m going to see if they have a room available,” she said softly, her eyes
on her team in the rear view mirror. “Silver, shift and do a perimeter sweep, going out at least a mile around us. Make sure we weren’t followed. Charlotte, keep my family safe until I get back.”
She felt Dax squeeze her hand, and she glanced over at him. Sable caught her breath at the look in his eyes, a shiver running up her spine. “Get two rooms,” he said gruffly. When she hesitated, he growled, “I want to spend some time alone with my mate.”
A jolt of pure lust shot through her, from her clit straight to her sensitive nipples. Dax inhaled, and his eyes began to glow a bright green. She ran her gaze down over his bare chest, and lower to where she could see his thick erection straining against what was left of his jeans.
“Dax, you need to heal,” she told him, trying to tug her hand from his. As much as she wanted what the look in his eyes was promising, the dark bruises covering his skin, along with the look of pain that he couldn’t hide etched into his face, said now was not the time. She didn’t want to do anything else that would hurt him.
“I know what I need,” Dax growled, licking his lips as his eyes went to her chest where her beaded nipples were clearly showing, before rising back to meet her gaze. “But, for now, I just want to hold you and talk.”
Sable nodded slowly, “Okay, but first I need to contact my alpha.”
“Agreed.”
With one last look at him, Sable slid from the car and let Silver out. “Be safe,” she murmured to the wolf, before heading to the front door.
Fifteen minutes later, they had two rooms beside each other, but were all sitting in one while they waited for Silver to return.
“We need to get some food,” Sable told Charlotte quietly, her eyes on Rubi who lay on one of the beds. Dax sat beside her with his back resting against the headboard. Rubi’s eyes were closed, and soft snores filled the air, but she clutched a dagger that Silver had given her in the car tightly in her hand. Dax looked as if he was asleep, but Sable knew better. She could practically feel the tension surrounding him. “They need to get their strength up, quickly.”
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