by Dianna Love
Now he understood, but had another question. “Is she dangerous?”
“Law enforcement thinks so,” she hissed low. She leaned past Gan, her eyes searching as if watching Vic and Adrian, but those two were in no hurry to move around.
Gan said, “I did not ask what others think. What do you think? Is she bad person?”
Scarlett stopped scanning and brought her full attention to Gan. After a second, she said, “No. I think she’s been wrongly accused of a crime.”
He knew what it was to be hunted like a criminal when he had done nothing wrong.
“I will help you,” he whispered. Her eyes lit up and he wished he could do this for her without asking anything in return. “I may need favor one day.”
She cocked an eyebrow loaded with suspicion. “What do you want for helping me?”
If he told her what he had in mind, she would refuse him. If he tried to pretend he didn’t have a plan, she’d call him out for lying.
He said nothing.
Growling, she reached down and grabbed a blanket as if to shove it aside. “Let’s do this.”
Smiling, he stepped closer.
She took one look at him, then at the women in the stall who ogled him, and stood up, blocking his view. Then she stepped toward him.
His nose might not be smart yet, but his eyes worked just fine. He saw something in hers that sent his heart racing. A possessive look that slipped off his face and drifted down before she lifted her head again.
One heated look had him hard again.
He could only do so much.
This was not his fault.
She stepped close and he started leaning toward her, not caring if anyone saw them kiss.
She shoved a blanket at his chest. “Cover up.”
Chapter 12
Scarlett used claws she allowed to break through her fingers to cut the rope wrapped around the blankets, which had been used to create female shifter burritos.
Titanium collars were often locked, but these only snapped closed, which allowed for a quick release. The kidnappers had been an overly-confident bunch.
Gan stood outside the stall with a blanket wrapped around his waist. He kept his head turned toward the barn entrance and spoke quietly. “Vic and Adrian still near door.”
“Thanks.” She continued releasing the women, who turned to free each other. She’d expected him to start asking why she had not kissed him when he’d lowered his head a moment ago.
If not for being irritated over the women visually sizing him up like a slab of beef, that moment wouldn’t have happened.
Her brain clicked into gear in time for her to give him the blanket.
She noted a total of ten women, glad the additional ones were clothed as well as the ones she’d seen in the trailer earlier this morning. The naked female now wore a blanket toga.
Jazlyn sat up and groaned, pushing a wad of hair off her damaged face. She normally had sun-kissed skin, but not now. Dried blood covered most of the pale skin bruises hadn’t formed on yet. She whispered in Scarlett’s direction, “What’s the plan?”
“Getting ready to explain it.”
As the last women were tossing off their ropes, Scarlett addressed the group. “Listen up.” She angled her head at Jaz. “This one is being hunted by everyone. She’s the reason I found you and why you’re going to be safe.” She let that sink in before continuing.
“I need to get her out of here. I have transportation coming that will take you to the Spartanburg Friends of Shifters shelter. You’ll be safe there. Right now, I need you to file out of the stall and stand in a group in the middle of the walkway. Stay close together to form a visual barrier.”
After a couple questions Scarlett took the time to answer and calm nerves, each woman got up and followed the first one out, who stood just past Gan. When nine women had gathered in a thick wall of bodies, Scarlett started to stand up, too.
Jaz grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to where she knelt on the floor out of view. Licking her cracked lips, Jazlyn said, “I got caught trying to find you.”
“What? Why were you looking for me instead of getting out of this country?”
“Fayth is in trouble.”
Four words iced Scarlett’s skin. “What happened? Where is she?”
“I’ve got her hidden, but she’s injured and has been without me for three days while I was captured.”
“Who hurt her?” Claws pushed all the way out of Scarlett’s fingers. Red fury clouded her mind. She struggled to hold her cat inside. Someone would bleed for touching Fayth or that baby.
Jaz hurried to tell her, “Lincoln, King of the Cat Clowder.”
Scarlett ground her back teeth. That miserable tiger would not stay out of her world. Cat Clowder. Only he would choose a term from the 1700s for his little kingdom.
Speaking in a fast chop, Jaz said, “He’s been hunting rogue groups, killing the males and capturing the women.”
“Wait. What about Fayth’s mate?”
“Dead.”
Poor Fayth. Scarlett’s heart shriveled at that news. After their screwed-up childhood, all Fayth had wanted was a mate and family.
Panic blasted through Scarlett. She grabbed Jazlyn’s arm. “What about the baby?”
“Safe. For now. I’ll tell you everything when we get out of here.”
Scarlett grabbed her head, wanted to scream and rip something apart. “I will kill that fucker and he’ll beg for mercy.”
Gan whispered, “Scarlett. Are you okay?”
She nodded, unable to get words out until she forced her heart to slow down. Alerting the Gallize up front would get Jaz caught. When she could breathe normally, she sniffed at Jaz. “Are you wounded?”
Grimacing, Jaz said, “No. Maybe. They did something to all of us. I don’t know what, but my body is slow to heal and I hurt in places that aren’t wounded.”
Questions raced through her mind, but Scarlett shut down the emotional ones and fixated on what mattered right now. She had to stop that tiger from getting to Fayth and the baby. That wouldn’t happen unless she got Jaz out of here, which would not be easy with a wounded wolf shifter.
Her mind would not let go of how all this happened. There was only one way Jaz would have been captured, which started a domino effect ending at Scarlett. “Who gave you up, Jaz?”
“I paid Kentucky Kirk a lot of money to find you fast, because word was that he associated with you. He must have sold me out to a higher bidder.”
“He did and I’ll deal with him.” Scarlett’s hit list kept growing. She wouldn’t kill him, but he’d pay for years to come. She spit out, “The damned Pagan Nomads. They burned one of my resources here and killed him.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Did the traffickers not recognize you?”
Jazlyn’s lip lifted on one side and winced. “Not once I fought them. Every time my face started healing, I’d do something to start a new fight, like kick them in the nuts. Blood covers a lot. The last shifter did a number on me a couple hours ago.”
“Dammit, Jaz. Why didn’t you or Fayth call me?”
“Fayth’s phone was forfeit. She barely got out with the baby and the clothes on her back. I had even less on me. I can’t spend money on phones and don’t need them to live off the land. Besides, I told you I would not leave a message on your voice mail service and risk someone recognizing my voice. Not with today’s technology.”
Scarlett rubbed her neck. “I hear you.”
“Sorry to walk you into a trap.”
Scarlett pushed up to her feet. “You couldn’t have known. Sounds like they’ve been working hard to catch me for a while. Let’s get you out of here so you can shift and heal.”
“Can’t shift. None of us can.”
Scarlett did a double take. “Why not?”
“Whatever these men shot us with is preventing us from shifting.”
Scarlett had heard enough. “Give me a second.” She stepped out of the st
all, noted the women standing calmly and talking softly to each other.
Gan turned to her after having waited patiently.
She explained, “My plan just changed from sneaking her out of here to taking her somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“Where am I taking her?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Why do you want to know? The fewer people who know my plans the better.”
He scratched his chin. “Gallize know of this safe place?”
“No. Why?” This was not the time to give her grief.
“Is only a question,” he said, sounding as if he was the sole reasonable one talking. That could be accurate. “How do I help?”
“Before you do, I need you to understand that I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Is fine.”
Nothing about this was fine. But she couldn’t refuse Gan’s help now, not with Fayth needing her.
Scarlett would face the music if she got nailed for aiding and abetting a criminal both shifter and human law enforcement were hunting. The Guardian over these Gallize shifters worried her more than law enforcement.
But if he found out Gan had helped Jazlyn escape capture, she had to make sure he wouldn’t blame Gan. Once she dropped off Gan or set up transportation to get him back to his people, she’d call the Guardian and inform him this had all been her doing. That she’d convinced Gan he was doing the right thing.
No way would she let that eagle shifter hold Gan responsible.
The Guardian would come after her and she had no idea if she’d survive. She’d sensed a level of power the first time she’d met him that felt old and dangerous.
Minutes ticked off in her head as loud as a gong banging.
Putting her hand on the roped muscle of Gan’s arm, she noticed a buzz of energy and his small flinch, more a look of surprise than pain. He’d felt it, too?
She asked, “Can you get her outside while I cover for you?”
Putting his hand over hers, which caused a stronger buzz and a strange feeling in her chest, he said, “Yes. Tell Vic and Adrian I go to piss outside.” Gan waved a hand at Jaz, who still hid in the stall. When she inched over to where they stood, he whispered, “You walk in front of me to back door.”
She sent a look at Scarlett who nodded. “It’s a good plan. Don’t slow down until you get to the tree line. I’ll be out soon and find you.”
Once Jaz stood in front of him, Gan said, “I will put finger on shoulder so you know how close I am.” She nodded her agreement then Gan must have nudged her. She walked forward, with Gan on her heels. The blanket tied around his waist should have looked absurd.
Maybe on another man, but Gan carried off the image of a warlord.
He strode casually with confidence, as if this was all his show. Not a nervous twitch or glance back once he had Jaz moving in front of him.
He trusted Scarlett to do her part.
His trust meant something.
Hers did, too.
She hadn’t given another man trust since hers had been betrayed by a tiger, but there went a Siberian tiger shifter alone with a woman Scarlett would protect with her life. The same tiger that had dismembered an entire team of Pagan Nomads.
Scarlett should be second guessing that decision, but she wasn’t. She knew without a doubt that Gan would not harm Jaz. He struggled with the right words sometimes, but when he made a statement, he meant it.
She stared at the muscles playing across his wide shoulders and back as he got closer to the back door, wishing she had met him at another time. He didn’t hide his interest in her. No games, no question that he wanted her.
She shouldn’t find that hot, but she did.
Men, shifter males in particular, got on her nerves when they came on to her, trying to intimidate her with their alpha attitude or schmooze her with their charm.
Gan didn’t have those skills, thankfully, which left him with bold honesty.
He had no trouble stepping in to help free Jazlyn, a female shifter he didn’t know, even after he heard Jaz was a wanted person. Gan would be a great backup if she had to face off with Lincoln’s tiger while getting Fayth to safety.
But she couldn’t take him.
She would not pull Gan deeper into her mess. He’d helped and that was enough. He struggled to find his way as a Gallize shifter as it was.
When he reached the back door and stepped outside, Scarlett turned to the women huddled together. She squeezed around the end. The gap she created filled immediately. Good shifters.
She’d made it halfway to Vic and Adrian when vehicles drove up fast outside, braking in a cloud of dust that caught bits of light from the overhead security lamps now in full bloom.
Doors slammed and five men, make that five Gallize shifters, in tactical gear poured in.
Gan and Jazlyn wouldn’t have had time to reach the woods.
Chapter 13
Scarlett paused in stride, her gaze locked on the five Gallize shifters inside the barn with weapons drawn. She held her breath, expecting to hear noise outside if an unaccounted for Gallize had jumped out to intercept Gan herding Jaz toward the woods.
No radio transmissions buzzed.
No yelling outside.
Were Gan and Jaz pinned close to the building waiting for a chance to make it across eighty yards of cleared land to reach the closest trees?
Maybe these five male shifters were the entire unit.
How could she let Gan know it was safe to send Jazlyn off on her own so he could get back inside? He had no comm unit even if she put hers on again.
The minute the five-man team entered, they split up with predetermined tasks. Two shifters immediately went to check on Vic and Adrian. A third one stood by the entrance with a high-powered rifle ready while he watched everything in the building.
She didn’t kid herself.
They were protecting teammates first.
Vic spoke to the last two shifters. “The women probably need medical treatment, food, blankets. Give them whatever they need.”
“Where’s Gan?” Adrian asked, straining to look past Scarlett.
As the pair Vic sent to the captives passed Scarlett, she replied, “He said he had to take a piss.” Good thing Gan had actually said that so these two shifters wouldn’t sniff a lie.
One of the female shifters in the group yelled, “No!”
Scarlett swung around and rushed over to where the two men looked bewildered.
A stocky guy with blond hair, cut short on the sides and an inch thick on top, smelling of bear and a well-used vest, said, “I was asking to see their wounds to determine if we should treat them here or if they’d be more comfortable in the bus we brought.”
Scarlett huffed out a breath. “Be patient. They’ve had a rough time and they don’t feel good. The traffickers might have injected them with a drug, because they can’t shift. You can appreciate how that makes them feel vulnerable.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ma’am? She started to tell him he had her age wrong, but he was being polite and after meeting his boss she knew where the manners came from.
She turned to the nine women. “I give you my word you can trust these men. Their boss is the deadliest shifter you ever want to meet and he expects them to treat you well. He sent his people with me so we could rescue you. Those two on the floor almost died helping. One of them got shot with a titanium load and the other had a titanium sword shoved through him from back to front.”
That brought out a few cringes.
The women leaned in different directions, trying to see past Scarlett to where Vic and Adrian sat. When they returned their attention to Scarlet, she said, “I would not rescue you to hand you over to anyone who would harm you. These are all honorable men. I want you to let them help you. Okay?”
Heads bobbed with a few mumbled complaints, but they knew they were lucky to get away from the Pagan Nomads.
“Good. Please go with them out to the bu
s. If you feel like you can’t shift, it might be something the traffickers shot inside you, and we’ll figure that out. We have great shifter medical aid. If, however, you get the urge to shift and think you can, please don’t. Just wait until you arrive at the Friends of Shifters shelter. We provide a safe area for our female shifters to change where you’ll be protected the whole time.” She seriously doubted any of these women wanted to shift around men whose alpha-level power rolled off these guys in waves.
“Are you going with us?” one thin and trembling women asked.
“Not this minute, but I’ll be by soon.” She hoped. That must not have rung with truth. She got a few frowns, so she explained for everyone’s benefit. “I have someone else who is in danger and needs me, but I’ll call to make sure the staff at the shelter is expecting you so that you have what you need when you arrive. You won’t go anywhere else until you’re ready and choose to make that move. Understood?”
She got a chorus of okays. “Thank you. When I come by, I’ll work with each of you on what the future holds and how to keep you safe.”
“Thank you,” murmured again through the group.
“You’re welcome. This is ...” She turned to the blond guy.
“I’m Landon and my partner is Shawn. We have supplies and a comfortable bus to transport you to the Friends of Shifters shelter together. I second everything she said. We are here to care for your injuries, protect you, and deliver you safely to the shelter.”
Scarlett’s nose told her Shawn had a wolf inside him.
Her announcement and his confirmation cheered up the women, who had probably expected to be separated. As the group broke up their wall of bodies and began following Landon, Adrian strode up to her with a hitch in his gait and skin still gray. “Where’s Gan?”
She rounded on him, forcing him to turn so that his back was to a stall. She feared the back door would open and Gan might still have Jaz with him. Using her exasperated voice, she said, “I told you he went out to take a piss.”
“Shouldn’t take this long,” Adrian argued.
Shit. This guy didn’t believe her.