Hearts Unleashed: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by C. D. Gorri

  Banished couldn’t do those, either, but at least his heart would still beat. Bruised and broken, but still ticking. Still with a shot to tear Rasmus down and see him pay for his crimes.

  Claim your power under the full moon. Yellowstone… Dakota…

  Abel didn’t have the luxury of time. He needed a mate. He needed to save his pack.

  Rasmus would destroy the Blackthornes from the inside out if he didn’t paint targets on their backs for the rest of the world to see.

  Abel wheeled around before his wolf ripped out of him.

  Chapter Three

  Run with the wolves, her grandmother always said.

  Dakota Martin would gladly take wolves over campers on a full moon.

  “Come on,” she said in a soothing voice to the naked woman spinning with her arms out wide. “Let’s get this back on and take you back to the main campsite.”

  She shook the light cotton dress enticingly, but the woman only laughed. “They’re coming. They’re in the light. Can’t you see them?”

  Dakota gave what she hoped was a convincing nod. “Let’s get you to them, then. Just slip this on and hop in the truck with the rest of your pals, yeah?”

  She glanced over her shoulder and—shit. Another was escaping. She’d spent the last half hour rounding up the trio, dousing their fire, and convincing them to put on their clothes. She didn’t want a repeat.

  “Stay in the truck!” she called over her shoulder, but the order went ignored.

  Groaning, she tossed the dress at the still-spinning woman. At least covering her head stopped the blind twirls, and she hoped it’d maybe knock her out of her drugged reality long enough to get clothed.

  The other, though, made a beeline for the stack of sparklers she’d confiscated to keep them from razing Yellowstone to the ground.

  Dakota stepped into his path with her hands raised. “You want those?” she asked. “You can have them back when we get where we’re going.”

  Lie. Absolute lie, but he didn’t need to know that. She hoped the fireworks would be forgotten by the time she got the group to the ranger station.

  “I know what I saw, man,” he insisted, turning unfocused eyes skyward. “I know where they went, too.”

  “And we’ll get you to them,” Dakota assured him. “Just as soon as you get back in the truck.”

  Ten more minutes of cajoling, soothing, and outright tugging tops into place passed before she had them strapped in and locked down tight. Dakota slid behind the wheel with a sigh and threw a glare into the rearview mirror when she heard the door handle jiggle. No windows or doors would budge until she fiddled with them, and she wouldn’t be doing that until they arrived at the ranger station up the road from the campground.

  Thankfully, the short drive was full of silence. No ranting about whatever creatures they thought they were seeing in the lights or worse, puking up everything they’d ingested in the backseat. They were so happy to gaze in wonderment at the scenery out their windows that they hardly noticed when she pulled to a stop.

  “This way, folks,” she said, grabbing the back of one’s shirt before he wandered off and gently tugging him toward the station. “Everything you need will be inside.”

  She opened the door and ushered the trio into the station, zeroing in on the pair of rangers playing cards at the desk. “You look busy,” she called over the heads of the campers.

  “Someone has to hold down the fort,” Eugene answered. He scowled at the cards in his hand, then laid them down with a warning look to Lucy, his partner for the night.

  Lucy straightened with a stretch while the new arrivals gawked at the rather sparse interior. An enormous fireplace dominated the open room, the desk Eugene and Lucy occupied took up a corner by the entrance, and a handful of chairs circled the window overlooking the valley.

  “Code W?” Lucy asked under her breath.

  Dakota shot the group a look and contained the roll of her eyes. They were too out of their gourds to be wimps. “More like Code Bad Trip. I found them stripped down to nothing and waving sparklers. They’re certain the light trails were messages from the ancient aliens they were summoning. I think. The reasoning got a little muddled.”

  Which, hey, not her deal, but whatever got them through the days and nights. As long as it wasn’t a potential fire risk or confusing a national park with a nudist colony.

  Eugene and Lucy snickered. “Maybe they’ll share,” Eugene added with an elbow to Lucy’s side.

  “You wish, old man,” she shot back. “Why don’t you head back to your MK Ultra lab and let us get to work.”

  “As if you young’uns could handle an ounce of what we were taking back in the day.”

  Dakota snorted, then hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the group pressing their faces to the window. “You got these ones?”

  “We’ll keep an eye on them,” Lucy agreed. “You heading back out?”

  “I’ll do a sweep of the usual spots around the grounds before checking the trails. Hopefully, these will be the most interesting bunch of the night.”

  “Don’t stray too far.” Lucy grinned and added a spooky quaver to her voice. “The moon men might get you.”

  Without missing a beat, she answered, “If the abduction keeps my ears free of Eugene’s ‘back in my day’ stories, I’ll be the first to offer myself up.”

  She chuckled at the offended scoff that followed her out the door.

  Truth was, she’d take the campers and Eugene’s stories over the task she had waiting for her back east. Scheduling time off in the middle of the season wasn’t ideal, but she had no choice. Her fault for shoving the trip aside for two whole years.

  Dakota stopped by the truck to grab her radio and a flashlight before aiming for the dirt path leading away from the ranger station. The full moon was almost enough to guide her way, but the path wasn’t her only destination. Small clearings, places hidden just out of view from some spots and entirely visible in others, those all needed a look to make sure no other moonlit shenanigans needed to be put to an end.

  A lone howl rose up across the valley. Another picked it up, then a third and fourth.

  Dakota grinned. This part of the park was her second favorite. Nothing beat heading off the main roads and into the backcountry where there was little between her, the sky, and the land. But if she had to spend the full moon wrangling tourists, she was glad it was in a spot right on the edge of mountains and valley, where she could look out and forget her duties for a moment.

  Run with the wolves, her grandmother used to say.

  Elementary-aged her always answered the words with a howl and occasionally ran around on all fours in a poor imitation of the majestic creatures. Grams would laugh and laugh, then flick her braid over her shoulder and howl right along with her.

  Preteen Dakota cried too many times to count at the sight of a wolf on television. Puberty and grief made for a heady brew, and the twin blows of losing her mother and grandmother within a year of each other kept that particular pot simmering for a long while.

  Her adult self chose the park service to protect the animals and their land. The role felt as close as possible to honoring her grandmother’s words without going feral. As tempting as it was to think about casting off all trappings of her humanity and let the other rangers deal with the moon men, she doubted any wolf packs would welcome her in their midst.

  Murmured voices caught her attention, and she hurried around the bend. This side of the campground, trees and undergrowth nearly collided with the ground worn down to dirt under countless feet over the years. A handful of private, luxurious cabins dotted the hillside above, the campers there mostly the sort who preferred the sight of the wilderness to actually sleeping in it.

  Didn’t mean they were immune to the insanity brought on by a full moon. Loud parties, bodily fluids, indecent exposure, she’d seen it all, and that was just the first six months on the job. The years she’d put in since left her with little room for shock at the shen
anigans of park visitors.

  She swept her flashlight further up the path, but she didn’t spy any other groups attempting to commune with nature through fire or skin. Instead, she saw a mother and child holding hands and making their way up the path.

  Dakota hung back after exchanging a wave of acknowledgment with the woman. A familiar tightness wrapped around her heart at the sight. She’d had that once. Before everything went to shit.

  She made a face into the darkness. Fucking full moon. That was the only explanation she had for dredging up her grandmother’s old words and all the pains that went with them. There was little use in cutting herself on jagged memories when she still had a night of work ahead of her.

  The little girl made a sudden stop and pointed to something off the path.

  “You’re right, sweetie,” the mother murmured. “That’s a little baby. She’s sleeping, just like you’re supposed to be this time of night.”

  Dakota followed where the girl pointed, but there was nothing but darkness. Her steps crunched on the path, alerting the mother who turned with a wary look that disappeared when she noticed the uniform. “Evening, folks,” she greeted, and prepared to answer questions on the wild nightlife of Yellowstone.

  She spotted what they were looking at exactly when the little girl slipped her mother’s grip and ran right for an elk calf bedded down near a picnic table.

  Shit.

  “Grab her!” Dakota shouted.

  She didn’t wait to be heard or comprehended before bolting after the child. Where there was a calf, there would be a cow. Too many thought the creatures docile and safe, but elk mothers were known to send people to the hospital while defending their offspring from people who strayed too close.

  She made it a handful of steps before the elk’s head jerked high from where she’d been grazing past the tree line. Ears flicked this way and that, and Dakota swore she felt the gathering of muscles before four legs bunched and jumped and ran to fight off the predator attempting to attack her young.

  The girl froze in place, which was better than her full-tilt run for the elk calf, but not as effective as backing away immediately.

  Dakota threw herself in front of the little girl and waved her hands wide and high. “Hey!” her voice boomed.

  Big, she wanted to make herself big. Big body. Big voice. The trick worked sometimes, she’d been told. Sometimes was better than never.

  “Get her out of here!” she yelled over her shoulder.

  The resulting screech of a child and pounding feet was what she needed to hear when she didn’t dare take her eyes off the elk pawing and huffing at the ground.

  She took a cautious step back, only for the elk to jerk her head high with a huff.

  No fucking way she was going to face down hundreds of pounds of pissed-off mother elk now that the danger to the child had passed.

  Dakota turned and ran.

  Down the path put her at a disadvantage. Her human legs just couldn’t outpace the four-legged beast conditioned to run from predators.

  The crashing steps followed closer and closer. Dakota swung to the side and stumbled into the trees, hoping the trunks would give her the distance and time needed for the elk’s attention to snap back to the calf. She dodged left and right, bouncing off trees and trying, trying, trying to stay ahead of the elk.

  Then the trunks gave way to open air.

  Too late, she skidded over the edge and into a gully below.

  She windmilled her arms and tried to catch herself, but her ass still hit the ground. Her shoulders were the next to slam as her feet slid out beneath her. Her ankle caught on an outcropping of rocks, shooting pain from her foot all the way to her hip. Branches and sharp points scratched her arms and sides until she rolled to a stop at the bottom with a grunt.

  Dakota pushed herself upright and took stock. Arms attached. Hair definitely coming out of the braid, but hair tie still holding most of it together. Face not feeling cut up, though bruised remained to be seen. Her flashlight beamed at her from somewhere near the middle of the gully wall.

  And above that, the elk pawed at the dirt before turning back down the path.

  At least one problem was handled.

  She tried to push to her feet, and immediately regretted ever being born as fire shot through her ankle.

  Dakota sank back to the ground. A testing roll of her ankle forced the breath from her lungs. Even drawing her leg close to her chest brought on a grimace.

  “Fuck.”

  The assholes back at the station were going to call her the wimp, she just knew it. Not that they’d do any different. Protecting the tourists from the wildlife was as much part of the job as protecting the wildlife from the tourists.

  She reached for her radio and cursed when her fingers came up empty.

  Dakota glanced down, sure she must have just forgotten how to use her hands, but there was nothing on her belt.

  Double fuck.

  Chapter Four

  Abel drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his Jeep and tried not to crawl out of his skin. Another inch of space opened between him and the car in front, then a sea of brake lights glowed in the darkness.

  He didn’t know what the fuck he was doing.

  He’d driven aimlessly at first and felt pressure ratcheting up with every hour that disappeared between him and the full moon. Now, sitting in a line of vehicles that refused to budge, that pressure was ready to explode.

  Rasmus would claim the pack tonight. There was nothing he could do about it.

  Anger and suspicion rose hot on his tongue, but there was nothing he could do about that, either.

  He was banished. As good as dead. Very likely dead, if he stepped foot back in the territory without some precautions. Depending on how far Rasmus’s control extended, the enforcers could take a ‘kill first, ask questions later’ approach to his return.

  If he returned. If he wasn’t on some wild goose chase.

  His father’s last words still rang through his head. They’d bounced around and echoed as he drove and drove until, finally, he made a turn east. East, and out of California, away from Blackthorne territory and everything he knew and loved.

  Yellowstone, he’d whispered. Dakota.

  Luckily, one was on the way to the others. Even if nothing came of the trip, the helpless feeling lodged in his chest had loosened. He was doing something. That was better than staring into the middle distance and thinking of all the creative ways he wanted to end his uncle.

  The line moved again. Halted.

  He scanned the darkness outside his window. The boundaries of Yellowstone were so close. So temptingly close. He drummed his fingers on the wheel again and considered simply abandoning keys, clothes, his former life, and making a run for the open land.

  He’d probably get his ass shot up before he made it ten feet on four paws.

  Ahead, the entrance came into view. A fraction of the tension riding him since the funeral eased from his shoulders and his chest. Just a fraction, but the extra space was enough to breathe for what felt like the first time in days.

  Saving his pack, claiming his rightful place as alpha, putting that fucker Rasmus down, all required the one thing he didn’t have. His mate.

  Skies above, he hoped there was something to the old man’s final words.

  His wolf surged to life the moment he crossed through the entrance and into the park beyond.

  Abel rolled his shoulders as the beast howled and paced through his head. He ground his teeth together, fighting back against the wolf lunging for control. The tips of claws darkened his fingernails. His gums ached with the press of fangs.

  The animal wanted out. Now.

  Sendings flashed through Abel’s head. Night. Clouds in the sky. The moon lighting their way.

  The steering wheel creaked under his grip, but he held on. By a fucking thread, but he held on. He wouldn’t let Rasmus win by dying in a fiery wreck states away from where his kin had always had their ashes spr
ead.

  The shove of his inner animal didn’t lessen as the wheels ate through the miles from the entrance to his chosen campground. He passed signs directing to other grounds, other sites, trailheads, and tourist attractions, but nothing pulled at his wolf’s focus.

  The beast let off a howl of victory the moment Abel pulled to a stop.

  Fitting, he supposed. He was in Yellowstone on his father’s word. He should stay where the old man took him as a child.

  He didn’t even take the time to set up his site. One glance around gave him the all-clear, and he hauled his shirt over his head. His wolf stretched under his skin, fur sliding through his pores even before his jeans dropped to the ground.

  His body broke apart in an instant. Bones snapped and reformed, muscles reshaping, arms and legs and face thickening here, slimming there. Familiar pain sliced through him before darkness took hold, and the inner animal took on a physical presence in the real world.

  Abel shook from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail to settle his fur, then inhaled deeply. Everything was clearer in this form. Sharp scents of small prey zipping for cover. The crackling warmth of a fire in a nearby campsite.

  Through it all, a thin thread that sang to his senses.

  He bolted.

  Through trees, down paths only other animals walked, around the groups of humans crowded around their fires, he streaked through the night. Something thrummed through him, some extra sense that guided his paws and led him onward. He needed to go and meet whatever he found at the end of the journey. Needed it as much as he needed to breathe.

  A howl rose up in the night. Abel padded to a stop, head cocked as he listened to the mournful song. A second and third answered the call, weaving their voices with the first’s.

  How many would lift their snouts and let off similar cries back home? How many wouldn’t dare for fear of calling down Rasmus’s wrath?

  Abel added his own voice to the chorus and wished to wake from the nightmare of his last week.

  In the end, the howling faded, and he was left alone in the darkness.