Pack of Her Own, page 26
It was awkwardly easy to leave the hospital without rousing suspicion. The hard part was getting to the far side of the building with my broken leg and Denton’s phone. After a single call to Misty and her family, they came and picked me up, and they promised that they wouldn’t let my parents know where I was.
The tears had fallen for days, weeks after that. And through it all, Misty was there beside me. I shook my head. It was no wonder I felt like I owed her so much. When the hell had she changed? Was it because of me? Was the stress of looking after me and helping me too much, and it changed her? Was it my fault our relationship became so toxic?
I had to pull myself out of that deepening spiral of thoughts before I got lost. It was over. It was behind me. Wren was my present—more or less. Even if we decided together that we couldn’t continue what we had, at the very least I couldn’t just let her be taken from me. Not if there was something I could do about it. Maybe I didn’t have the supernatural strength and speed of the women in the back seat. Maybe I didn’t have the cunning and ferocity of Zeke and his family, who were following in several other vehicles. Even Rias was back there somewhere, willing to do what she could to help. I was just a human woman in love, armed with a silver knife taken from the assholes who tried to use me as bait in the first place.
“We’re coming for you, Wren,” I said under my breath. I pushed all of my feelings that came with those words down the connection at her and prayed that it would give her hope. We were coming for her. I would always come for her.
* * *
I directed Rory off the highway about an hour south of Terabend. There was a barely paved road leading to an abandoned pulp mill. Cliché, I decided, as we drove past a broken chain link gate and entered a creepy gravel lot. Litter and debris from the building blew around in the wind kicked up by the truck. A hand from the back seat touched my shoulder.
“Is this the place?” Dr. Maru asked.
I nodded, knowing without a doubt that my mate was in that building. “I think it’s safe to say she didn’t just get lost or something.”
Heather snorted. “I don’t know, this is Wren we’re talking about.”
We shared a nervous chuckle—all except Gwen, whose eyes were focused on the building in front of us. “How are we doing this?”
“If we’re dealing with the same assholes who attacked me and Meg back in Terabend, then we’re going to be fighting wolf shifters. If it’s something else, I have no idea,” I said. “But I know I need to go in there and get her. I can’t let whatever is happening to her continue.” I sniffled and fought back a tear from the feelings Wren was letting slip between us. “She can’t even call to her wolf. She’s weak and so lonely.”
Heather shuddered. “Let’s go save her then.”
We met up with Zeke and his people. The dozen of us congregated on the old asphalt of the parking lot. I glanced to Heather and Gwen, who were sniffing the air on the outskirts of our little huddle.
“It’s a lot of them,” Gwen said, “their scents are intermingled, like they’ve been together a long time.”
Heather gave the werepanther a sharp nod. “Two dozen wolves, at least. Maybe a couple more. The scents are vaguely familiar but no one I know.”
“Familiar?” I echoed, glancing at her. “Heather, what pack did you and Callum and Jason come from?”
“I thought you knew. We came from the Cardinal pack—where Wren grew up.”
I stared at her for a long moment. Had Wren known? She hadn’t told me anything about it. Was this more of her trying to protect me? I shook my head. Not something to worry about right now.
“What does that mean for us?” Zeke demanded.
“Not a lot,” I said, “we still have to go through them to get to Wren. I just wanted to know who the hell is after her.”
“Any friendlies in there?” he asked with bared teeth that were far too sharp to be human. “Or just Wren?”
I glanced to Heather, and she shook her head. “No friendlies but Wren. All lower wolves from the same pack. I can recognize their scents now that my wolf is free. I’m sure they’re all expendable.”
His smile widened savagely, mirrored by the six other ghouls standing with him. He turned and barked something that I couldn’t understand, and the seven ghouls started charging toward the massive building, yelling and whooping in excitement. As they moved, they shed what human disguises they kept wrapped around their undead forms as their limbs elongated, mouths grew wide with sharp, pointed teeth, and eyes turned a terrifying red that glowed in the darkness. Their hungry screeches pierced my brain and paralyzed my limbs for a second before they had moved on and I could move again.
The rest of us glanced at each other. “Well, I was going to propose a stealthy infiltration,” Dr. Maru muttered.
I shook my head. “What’s done is done. Rias, cover Dr. Maru. Doc, do what you can to help the rest of us. I don’t want to lose anybody.” Dr. Maru nodded, relief on her face. “Gwen, Heather, find the asshole who’s leading this pack and take him out if you can.”
Heather hesitated. “Nat, I…I’m not sure how useful I can be.”
I glanced at her. “Are you okay?”
“It’s my wolf,” she said softly. Gwen took several steps away to give us a modicum of privacy. “I don’t…I can’t control her that well yet. I’m worried I might hurt someone we like.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “I trust you to do what you can, Heather. Wren needs us right now. I think you can make this happen.”
“What about you?” she asked softly. “I can’t risk hurting my Lupa.”
I blushed at her words. “I’m going to find Wren.” I pulled out the silver knife, taking it in my right hand and flipping it a few times. “I trust you.” Heather and Gwen cringed slightly at the sight of the blade.
The four of them headed for the building and left me alone with Rory.
“How can I help?”
“Stay with the truck,” I told her. “Keep it running in case we need to make a quick getaway.”
“What if someone comes out?”
“Hide, drive away, whatever you need to do to stay safe. Okay?”
She nodded and gave me a quick hug. “Go find our girl.”
With everyone else settled, I closed my eyes and focused on our bond. I let it open up as wide as it could. Everything Wren was feeling bombarded me, and I fell to my knees with a cry of pain, of loneliness, of the knowledge that she was going to lose what she loved the most. Then something shifted, as if she felt what I’d done. It was like I could hear her, despite there being no words. She wanted me to run. To be safe.
To hell with that, I pushed back against her. Just because we were mates didn’t give her the right to boss me around. I kept the knife ready and headed for the large front doors of the abandoned plant.
Most of the place was empty, dirt and dust and more garbage scattered across the floor. In some places things like desks or chairs were still around but were torn up and rusted with time. The front offices were small and the sounds inside were muffled. I went slowly, knowing that there could be a wolf around any corner that didn’t want to either be my friend or sleep with me.
As if my thoughts could tell the future, I took a step forward and suddenly there was a tall, muscled beast of a man standing in front of me, staring down with golden eyes past a short muzzle that made room for his sharp teeth.
He snarled and lunged, forcing me back into the room as I leapt back. I swung the knife sideways and he pulled himself away from the glittering blade, golden eyes watching it like a hawk watches a fieldmouse. He sneered and came at me again. I ducked under his paw and drove the blade forward, scoring a thin slice across his massive thigh. He stumbled back with a pained howl, and I watched as the skin around the wound darkened. He swore and tore at his thigh, pulling away the damaged skin and fur with furious grunts. The infected skin sizzled on the floor, and I fought the urge not to throw up at the stench.
I started for the doorway he’d come through, but he was too quick. I barely made it two steps before he had fully shifted into a huge wolf form and stood between me and my destination, lips pulled back and snarling as saliva dripped to the ground. I brandished the knife in front of me again, watching him for any sign of the attack.
What the hell was I doing? Going toe-to-toe with a damned werewolf was not the best idea I’d ever had. But if the only way to Wren was through him, then that’s where I’d go. The wolf lunged forward, and I rolled to the side, then brought the knife around. The blade cut through his side like a hot knife through butter, and he cried out and fell to the ground with a heaving whimper. I waited a second to make sure he wasn’t going to get up again and then moved on. I had to ignore the idea that I might very well have just killed him.
The thought did cross my mind and I had to stop, dry heaving a little as I leaned against the wall. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this shit. It didn’t matter. I knew how to fight and defend myself, thanks to my parents. And now I was going to use those skills for someone more important to me than they ever were.
The hallways were dark, lit only occasionally with what looked like old camping lanterns. I ignored most of the doors, most of them seeming like offices or meeting rooms or whatever else a place like this might’ve had. I followed the hall to a pair of heavy steel doors.
“Well, shit,” I muttered, “this isn’t ominous at all.”
Wren was somewhere on the other side of those doors. Ominous or not, I had to go through.
I pushed through the doors, knife at the ready, then stopped as they slammed shut behind me. Heather hadn’t been exaggerating how many different scents she could find. Hell, it seemed mostly like she’d lowballed the estimate. Fear stopped me from counting exactly how many pairs of eyes were staring at me now. The spell was broken as a voice rang out over the crowd.
“It’s the mate! Take her alive!”
Then all hell broke loose.
As if waiting for an invitation, an army of ghouls, a werewolf, a werepanther, a vampire, and a witch emerged from the shadows or other doorways scattered around the room. The frenzy was intense, but there were still two shifters that charged at me, and I let the knife fly in a tight throw. The silver blade took the lead shifter in the chest, throwing him backward as a furry Heather tackled the other.
“Go!” she shouted. “Find Wren!”
I recovered my knife, ignoring the sickening squelch the knife made coming out, and dodged my way through the crowd as the supernatural free-for-all continued. I ducked under a leaping wolf and slashed the knife wildly, catching it across the hind leg. I kept moving forward, following the unerring connection of my mate.
I slipped out through a doorway at the far end of the large room. The next room wasn’t as large and had a much lower ceiling, but the darkness made it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of me. I kept the knife in front of me, watching the darkness for any sign of movement.
Somewhere in the back of my head I was counting steps from the doorway. I had reached twenty-eight when I could make out a shape in the darkness. It wasn’t more than a barely outlined blob, but my heart quickened as I took another step, then another.
“Wren!” The word fell from my mouth, and I dashed forward, heedless of any danger. My mate was dangling from the ceiling by her wrists, a glittering chain overlaid on her shoulders. Her eyes cracked open as I ran hands across her face, desperate to feel her under my fingers and know for sure that she was real. “Oh, Goddess, Wren!”
Her shirt was crusty with dried blood, and I lifted it away from her stomach to find bloody bandages tightly wrapped around her. I thought back to the dream, to the pain in my gut that made me pass out in the first place. This was the wound that had made her weak and vulnerable when they took her.
“Natalie…” Her voice was so soft I could barely hear her. “I’m sorry…”
I shook my head. “It’s okay. It’s okay, Wren. I’m here now. I’m not going to let you go. Never again.”
She shook and her chains rattled above her. I lifted the silver chain off her shoulders and hurled it away into the darkness. Almost immediately, she seemed a little more aware, a little more awake.
“Natalie…” Her eyes met mine and relief flooded through me. “You need to go. Run. Please run.”
“Not a fucking chance!” I hissed when I looked up at her wrists. “I’m not leaving without you.”
She shook her head and her entire body swung back and forth. “It’s not…” She was panting too hard to get the words out, and I felt her pain in my stomach. Whatever they’d stabbed her with had done the kind of damage a silver blade would’ve. She was recovering, but it was too slow. We needed to get out of there now.
“If you’re going to try and talk, tell me how to get you down.”
She huffed out a breath and I smirked. I placed my hands on her cheeks and stood on my toes to deliver a soft, chaste kiss to her cracked lips.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “Never again. I promise you. We’re mates. We’re meant to be together.”
“My mate,” she murmured.
Her eyes flickered over my shoulder. I readied the knife and prepared to spin. An instant too soon, pain blossomed through my stomach and nerveless fingers dropped the silver knife as I gasped for a desperate breath I didn’t remember losing.
I looked down at a bloody clawed hand that clutched at the air between us. I followed the arm into my stomach and stared. That didn’t make sense. When did I start growing a third arm? I almost laughed, wondering if I should talk to Dr. Maru about it. I met Wren’s eyes again, and they were wide with panic as her mouth moved, but I didn’t hear the words.
The arm disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and I was suddenly spun around like a top. I hit the ground hard, face down. Warmth covered my lower body while the rest of me started to go cold, like I’d just walked out into a northern Alberta blizzard. As my vision faded, I could swear I heard someone scream.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Wren
I watched her fall. I saw a partially shifted Craig behind her, saw his hand come out of her body like the alien from the movies. I cried out her name as she stared at it, confused. Dear Mother, she looked adorable when she was confused.
With a grunt, Craig pulled his arm back and Natalie spun around and collapsed. Her head hit the concrete floor with a sickening crack.
“Natalie!” I screamed again. I turned hard eyes to Craig, who was casually looking at his furred arm and the blood dripping from it.
“Such fragile things, humans are,” he said. “A pity you had to involve her in all this. Humans have no place in our world.”
“Fuck you!”
“Oh, there will be plenty of that. If you’re good, you might even be allowed to enjoy it.”
“I’m going to rip your fucking throat out!” My wolf howled inside me, mirroring everything I was feeling. I called to her, needing her strength, needing her to help me get out of this. But she was barely there, still weak from the silver. I was too weak. I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t save my mate. I needed to help her.
“Your mate is gone now,” Craig sneered, “and you belong to me. As you always have.”
“Never!” The word was followed with a sharp howl that sounded weird coming from a human throat. I didn’t even know I could make a sound like that without shifting.
I don’t remember how I broke free of the cuffs. One moment my arms were still above my head, the next I was lunging forward. The scent of fear bloomed over him as he leapt back, barely avoiding my claws.
I drew on everything I could, all the power my wolf could give, and attacked. I caught him in the side, and his counterattack ripped open a gash in my right arm. I backed away, searching for an opening, then dodged away from his sudden lunge. My jaws snapped shut on empty air where his throat had been.
We circled each other, feinting and attacking in turn. He had the advantage of experience, but even with my wolf weakened he wouldn’t hold out long against the strength of an Alpha. A strength he just didn’t have. His wounds slowed him down, and I was only getting stronger as my wolf continued to awaken. His eyes said that he knew it too.
He charged abruptly and I threw myself back. I tripped on something soft and tumbled, eyes catching on Natalie’s body, so still on the ground. That split second of inattention was his opening. He pounced on me, pushing aside my arms as I flailed at him.
“Fucking bitch!” he screamed. “You’re mine! Ronan promised me!” I tried to wriggle out from under him as his fists came down like sledgehammers upon my head. I moved with the blows, trying to break loose, but he had the advantage, and my legs were still tangled around Nat’s body.
My scrabbling fingers found purchase on something on the floor beside us. I struggled and got my fingers on something that burned.
Burned!
He reared back, bringing his fists together above his head. His shit-eating grin only grew wider with the murder in his eyes. I wrapped my hand around the burning metal, feeling the weakness begin. But it didn’t matter. As his fists came down, I shoved the long silver blade into the bastard’s side.
“Fuck you!” I screamed, and his answering scream almost burst my eardrums as he rolled away, scrabbling at the silver knife sticking out of him. I wiped my hand on the torn remnants of my shirt and rolled to my feet. Something clattered to the floor, and I spun in time to see Craig sprinting toward the far doors. I moved to go after him when I heard the barest gasp of breath.
“Nat!” I threw myself to my knees beside her. Her chest was barely moving, lifting her back up and down the tiniest inch. “Nat! Please! Don’t leave me. I’m so sorry.”
