by Leela Ash
A soft touch drew him out of those bitter thoughts. Paige’s hand lay on his, a gentle, calming warmth. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
That kindness was a balm for his soul. At long last, his Bear settled, dropping to all four. “I know I pissed you off when I said you couldn’t come. Maybe it’s not my place to tell you that, but I couldn’t help it. Paige, I can’t do this. I can’t risk losing you, or… or….”
“Or caring again?”
He couldn’t answer that. Wouldn’t.
“Do you know why I had to come?” she asked.
“Jake. He’s your son. Trust me, I get it. Nothing’s more important to a Bear than his family.”
“No, I could have let you save Jake. I trust you.” She patted his hand, a vote of confidence that made his heart ache. “I had to come because Lily’s right: I’ve been afraid all of my life.”
Now it was her turn to struggle for words. “I stayed with Leonard for years because I was afraid of being alone. I didn’t set boundaries; didn’t insist he treat me right. No matter how much he drank, no matter what cruel thing he said, I stayed. I didn’t find my spine at all until the night he cheated on me.”
A low, threatening growl shook his Bear. Rex promised himself that, if he survived tonight, he would find this ‘Leonard’ and teach him a lesson.
“Even then, I was a coward. Lily would have knifed Leonard for doing that. Me, I took Jake and ran. Left behind most of our clothes… a lot of money… I just got out.”
“It’s okay.”
Paige shook her head. “No, it’s not. I want to stop running. I need to. That’s why I came.”
He longed to deny that. To promise that she didn’t need to face these dangers. He would protect her. He would guard her, and her son. And yet….
Would any Momma Bear accept such an offer? What Bear could leave her Cub’s fate in the hands of another? A mother Bear was no delicate flower, no helpless creature to be locked away and sheltered. She was strong and powerful in her own right. A pillar of maternal love.
Could he ask Paige to be anything less, even if she wasn’t a Shifter?
“Do you understand now?” she begged him.
Slowly, reluctantly, he nodded. “I think I do.”
“Good.” She leaned close, eyes boring deep into his soul. “Because you need to do the same thing. You need to stop running.”
Shocked by that order, he leaned back. “Uh, I’m not running away from anything.”
“Yes, you are. You said it yourself. You ‘can’t’ commit… you ‘can’t’ risk….” Her eyes were two pools of moonlight, glittering and magical. “You ‘can’t’ love again. That’s running, and you have to stop.”
Bile burned in his throat. “Paige, you don’t understand….”
“Yes, I do. I’ve ran all my life. I know exactly how scary it is to stop and face those fears. But you have to. For your children. For yourself. For….” She swallowed, a tremor passing along the delicate curve of her throat. “For me. Because I love you.”
Those words hit him like a hammer’s blow. To have his courage doubted… yet, could he deny it? Was his fear truly different from the terrors that afflicted other men?
Twined with that guilt, though, was a thread of joy. Paige loved him. Him. Despite the way he’d treated her. His Bear thrummed with contentment, radiating a faith that the world was the way it should be.
If he accepted her love.
If he said he loved her as well.
“Paige, I….”
With a loud thud, something slammed onto the hood of his Jeep. Paige shrieked, Rex whirled….
And found an annoyed Wolf staring through the windshield at them.
“Dammit, Lily!” He honked the horn.
Yelping, the Wolf shot straight into the air. Lights blazed around it and an indignant woman landed on the hood. “What the hell, Fairburn? You guys are supposed to be following me!”
“You stopped!” To his annoyance, Paige dropped his hand and went back to strangling her flashlight.
“Five minutes ago! Are we going to get this kid or what?”
“Of course!” he snapped. Painfully aware that some cowardly corner of his mind felt it had been saved by the bell.
Lily snorted and Shifted back to her Wolf form, then trotted down the road. He put the Jeep into gear and followed her.
Letting silence fill the car once more.
Chapter 12.
Lost in her own thoughts, Paige almost missed the sign. Over and over again, their conversation ran on a constant replay loop in her mind. Each repetition raised new questions. What had Rex meant to say? What did the purse of his lips mean when she said she loved him? Was his voice warmer or cooler afterward?
Did he share her feelings?
Or had she made a fool of herself?
When Rex slammed on the brakes, she was jerked violently out of that reverie. Thank goodness for her seatbelt, which caught her as she pitched forward. The flashlight wasn’t as lucky. It tumbled from her fingers and rolled across the floor.
What had happened? Anxiously, she scanned the scene ahead. Nothing stood out. A handful of beat up ranches and single-wide trailers lay ahead. Cars and rusting trucks littered their ‘lawns’ and lounged along the side of the road. No sign of Lily—until a stealthy movement in the drainage ditch caught Paige’s eye. The Wolf had abandoned the road and now scurried along the ditch, belly to the ground.
She’d seen something. Something dangerous.
Lips growing suddenly dry, Paige stared at those dusty, ramshackle buildings. Jake was in one of them.
And his kidnappers.
“Open your door,” Rex ordered. She did. Lily immediately hopped into her lap and bounded into the backseat. Calmly, looking neither left nor right, the Bear drove on.
“Blue house,” Lily said. “The one with the Ford parked on the street.”
He never even glanced at it. “Thoughts on best viewing?”
“Dryer’s Road. The hill right before State Road 7.”
As if nothing had happened, Rex drove on. At the next intersection, he turned left and cut a slow, leisurely curve around the house. A few miles later, at the crest of a small hill, he pulled over behind a small copse of junipers. “Now comes the boring part, for you,” he told Paige as he grabbed a pair of binoculars out of the back. “Sit tight.”
Time passed. Again. Scowling up at the blistering sun, she simmered with annoyance. How long had she waited this week? How much time had she spent sitting in agony, hoping things would get better?
No more. From now on, she was going to do things. She’d find her strength, like Lily said.
A brave resolution. Yet, she still doubted herself.
So, I’ll be the hero next time. But not this time because… why? I got told to sit in the car?
Fortunately, the Shifters’ return interrupted those dark thoughts, and Rex’s first words snapped her completely out of her funk. “I think we can do this. Lily? Your plan, you explain it.”
“Here’s how it goes, Puppy-Girl.” The Wolf poked her head between the front seats and spoke to Paige directly, ignoring the Bear. Like the two of them were the only ones here who mattered. “Single story ranch with a cellar door in the back. Three Wolves watching tv in the front room, no sign of anyone else upstairs. That means your boy’s probably in the basement.”
Paige clutched her flashlight and nodded.
“Land next door is covered with junipers. Rex drops you and me off out of sight. We approach under tree cover. Short dash—maybe a hundred feet—to the edge of the house. Stay close and keep low under the windows. We circle to the back and go in the cellar. Get your boy, get out… then Rex and I kick some ass while you move Jake to safety.”
Simple and sensible. But….
“What if there’s someone down there watching him? What if we get caught?”
“Then I howl my ass off and your Bear busts through the front door. If it comes to a fight, your job is to get your kid o
ut. Got it? Leave the brawling to Rex and me. Get your kid. Get out.”
“Understood.”
Rex’s teeth were clenched, and he glowered straight ahead. She longed to hug him, to promise that this would all turn out okay. But, well, it might not. Empty promises were useless. And he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who wanted public displays of affection. At least not in front of the impish Wolf.
“Let’s do this,” he grumbled. Once more, the Jeep rolled forward. Left and left again, finishing the broad circle around the Fangs’ lair. Just before it came into view, he pulled over. Lily scrambled out at once and Shifted into her smaller, Wolf form. As Paige began to follow her, Rex caught her hand.
Anguish filled his brown eyes and his lips were pinched with worry. Yet all he said was, “Be careful.”
“I will.” Lily waited, hackles rising at the delay. Paige slipped out and followed her before she grew too impatient.
The first part was simple. They jogged through the thin woods, hidden from view. With the Wolf’s guidance, they came out at the rear of the house, away from most windows. One short, heart-pounding dash brought them to the cellar door.
Which was locked with a brand-new, enormous padlock.
As Paige’s eyes widened in dismay, Lily Shifted back and produced a set of lock picks.
Of course. Trust the Wolf to be prepared for everything. Doubt cast a shadow over Paige, and her grip on her flashlight tightened. Why was she even here? She was dead weight.
The cellar door opened onto a short flight of steps with a second, normal door at the bottom. Lily crept down and pressed her face to the floor, staring at the crack. When she rose, she pointed at it and mouthed, ‘Light.’
Jake? Or his captors? Mouth dry, Paige turned her flashlight on low, letting a tiny beam light the second lock. Lily nodded her approval, but the gesture did little to reassure her.
Look at me, I get to shine a light. If I do it well, maybe I’ll be promoted, and they’ll let me hold their coffee on the way home!
Sternly, she forced herself to focus. Self-doubt would just cripple her.
As if I’m not crippled enough already. Puppy-Girl, indeed.
Lily drew a small gun from somewhere under her vest, a sight that was both encouraging and humiliating. Carrying a gun was yet another thing no one trusted her to do. The Wolf opened the door and slipped through. When the room didn’t immediately explode in gunfire, Paige joined her.
They stepped into a bare, basic cellar. Low ceiling, no more than six feet tall, dirt floor and cobwebs. A staircase rose in the center, leading up into the house. Along the far wall lay a cot and a sleeping bag. A heavy dog chain dangled from the beam over it, running down to the ankle of a small form.
Jake! A tidal wave of relief swept over her, making the world spin.
With no thought for her own safety, Paige dashed to her son’s side. At her touch, he stirred. A tiny face, pinched with fear, peeked up at her. A fear that transformed to joy when he realized who she was washed over his features.
“Mommy!”
“Shush, baby,” she whispered. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
With a grimace, Lily studied the chain holding her son. Paige simply pulled him close, wrapping him in her love and her arms. Promising, silently, that everything would be okay.
Upstairs, a floorboard creaked. She glanced at her partner, but the Wolf stood unmoving.
More creaks. Were those footsteps, coming closer? Jake trembled against her, shivers wracking his small body. Paige glared at the Wolf. What was she waiting for? She’d torn through the other lock in seconds! How hard could this one be?
But as her irritation grew, details suddenly chilled her. Lily’s vacant stare. Her hands, dangling useless at her side. The way her mouth drooped, slightly open.
Fear brushed annoyance aside. Heart pounding, Paige looked up at the ceiling.
A plaque had been nailed to the beam, near the padlock that bound the chain. Black clay, about the size of a dinner plate. No decoration or writing—except for a spiral of white paint that curled into its center. It was about as dull as plates got… yet there was something freakishly compelling about it. Paige followed its spiraling path a couple of times before she realized she was wasting time.
Beneath it, the Shifter woman stood, still as a stone. “Lily!” Paige caught her by the chin and forced her head down, away from the tantalizing line of that disk.
Eyes glazed and puzzled, Lily stared at her.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, terrified that someone would hear. At least the creaks had stopped. That was a good sign.
Right?
As soon as she let go of the woman’s chin, the Wolf tilted her head back and continued her rapt study of the plate.
Paige’s mouth grew dry. Was this… magic?
She still found it hard to believe—yet, was magic any stranger than Shifters?
Yeah, but what ‘spell’ would be strong enough to trap Lily and not me?
One that only targeted Shifters? A quick glance at Jake assured her that her son was no more dazzled than her. He watched her, pale eyes wide….
…and flickering to the stairs behind her.
With a gasp, Paige spun.
A woman stood at the base of the stairs. Slender, pale, she had the same strange blue-green eyes of Bree Donnelly and Danielle LePierre.
Hare, Paige realized. Witch.
The stranger raised a pistol and aimed it at Lily King.
Gun! her dazed brain observed.
Yet, even as her terrified mind chittered these useless, obvious facts, Paige’s body was already moving. Her arm swept up, aiming the flashlight at her enemy’s face, and then her thumb clicked the switch.
Light exploded in the dim basement and the Hare shrieked. The gun roared deafeningly loud in the cramped basement. Paige flinched, sure that she’d feel a bullet tear through her body. Instead, it ricocheted off one of the pipes with a metallic whine.
And still, Lily wouldn’t move! The Hare turned, shielding her eyes.
Which was all Paige needed. Flipping her silly ‘combat flashlight’ around, she slammed its baton-like end upward.
Shattering the ceramic plaque into a dozen pieces
Shouts and roars rang out upstairs—then a man’s scream of horror. Once more, the Hare raised her gun. Paige stepped in front of Jake, shielding him as best she could… and then, something moved with shocking speed.
Lily closed the distance to the Hare with a flawless somersault. Like some deadly ballerina, she rolled to her feet, fist swinging in a vicious uppercut that leveled the Witch.
Kneeling over her fallen foe, the Wolf shot Paige a toothy grin. “Nice job, Omega. Here.” The Shifter kicked her enemy’s gun across the floor. Paige took it, shaking with relief and adrenaline. “Protect your kid. And if she wakes up before I’m back, shoot her.”
With that, she Shifted and, with a howl of terrible joy, bounded up the stairs to join the battle.
Chapter 13.
There were sounds. Terrible sounds that would haunt her dreams.
The crash of a car ramming its way through a plate-glass window. Gunshots. Lots of gunshots. A roar so loud it seemed to shake the floor. Snarls, yelps, screams of pain. A man’s voice, thin and terrified, begging for mercy. Cut short by another gunshot.
Down in the cellar, Paige hugged her terrified son and waited for the horror to stop. Knowing that she might be forced to add to it if someone came down those stairs.
When the noise ended, total silence enveloped the house, as terrible in its own way as the battle before. Gun clenched tightly in her fist, she shivered, dreading the moment when she’d learn who had won—and whether she’d lost a lover or a new friend.
Footsteps staggered across the floor above her and the door clicked open. Then a familiar, welcome voice said, “Paige? You guys okay?”
“Lily!” A flash of relief—until she realized that something was badly wrong. Neither dark humor nor wild joy color
ed the Wolf’s words. For the first time, she sounded somber. “Is Rex okay? Are you all right?”
“We’re alive and they’re not, so… yeah. Guess that’s ‘all right.’” The cot squeaked as Paige rose to her feet and the Wolf quickly added, “Don’t come up here. It’s a mess. You and your boy don’t want to see this.”
Something sailed down the stairs and landed with a metallic rattle. “Cuffs. For the Witch. Backup’s coming. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to leave.”
Why wasn’t Rex telling her that? Where was he? She heard the Wolf retrace her path with slow, pained steps. But no heavy tread joined her. Nothing that could belong to a Bear.
Don’t panic. Lily said he’s alive. Help’s coming.
Fighting back her own fears, she cuffed the Hare’s arms around a stair board and retreated back to Jake.
Fifteen minutes later, roars filled the air. Motorcycles. A lot of them. Lily’s sharp, high howl rang out—and a dozen answered her. The bass howls of the male Wolves and quite a few soprano ones as well.
Lily’s Pack had arrived. And, as she said, they all came. Men and women, from Alpha to Omega.
Still, she caught no hint of Rex in the confused welter of shouts, voices, and engines. Boot heels clicked across the floor and when the door opened this time, a strange man’s voice called down. “Miss Hall? I’m Aaron King. Lily’s father. May I come down?”
“Yes!” Jake pressed himself close against her and she gave him a hug.
A slender man with a salt and pepper ponytail descended, dressed heel to chin in black leather. As he passed the unconscious Hare, he murmured, “You’re not fooling anyone, woman. I know you’re awake. I’ll deal with you in a minute.”
Paige gulped. Actually, the Hare had fooled someone: her. Silently, she blessed Lily for giving her the handcuffs.
“Is Rex okay?” she asked him, fighting to keep the fear from her voice.
“Yes.”
Oh, thank heaven! Paige closed her eyes, weak with relief.