by Bryce Evans
“What?” Caz demanded, walking closer to the eagle shifter.
“That she loves you, but you can’t accept her as she is and that you have made a mistake about her being your mate. She believed that until we talked. I told her how hard it was for a mate to let anyone hurt her. And we both know Death Hunters get hurt all the time. But they are tough, and you endure it. I can see it in your eyes that you can’t bear your mate feeling any pain.”
“She is my mate.”
“Yes, and I think she knows that. But she wants to continue being a hunter. This is when we decided to combine forces and find my mate and Boris’s. But first we needed to find where they were taking them. We knew their phone wouldn’t work because they would destroy them once they were taken. We placed a tracking device under her skin on her arm. It had to be deep enough that it wouldn’t be seen.” Caz watched as Wyatt’s sister brought a laptop in the room and turned it where he could see it.
“There isn’t a signal yet, which probably means she’s in some type of metal building. I would think they are in-route somewhere and have them hidden in something. But eventually, we will get a signal,” Charlie informed.
“What if we don’t? Then like your mate, we’ve lost—” He couldn’t even say the words as he dragged his fingers through his hair.
“Trust your mate, Caz Milton. Raven and Leo are together. They have been trained for this. They will find a way to get a signal out. She knows how the tracking device works and will find a way to get outdoors. If you think she’s unconscious right now, then my sister is correct. They have them somewhere they can’t get a signal out. As much as this is going to suck, we need to wait until we hear something. I promise you we will get your mate back to you and mine too.”
Trying to calm down, and as much as Caz hated to admit it, Wyatt was right. Raven was a great hunter and she would find a way. Then he would go to her and, yes, the killing would begin.
Chapter Twenty-One
Raven tried to touch her head. It was killing her. This was when the memories started to pour in. Leo and the truck started to roll. She tried to open her eyes, but something covered them. She tried to move her arms, but she couldn’t do that either. They were tied to something. Calling on her bear, Raven couldn’t budge the contraption that she was in. Every time she tried to move, whatever she was tied to wouldn’t give.
“Leo,” she whispered. When she didn’t get an answer, she tried to see if she could smell him, but nothing. All she could smell was metal and something else, but she didn’t know what it was. “Leo?” Raven still couldn’t hear or scent her brother. Whatever she was in was moving fast. She didn’t know how long it was before the moving stopped.
Then she could hear gears grinding again and she was being moved to something else. Fear started to slip in and she prayed that Caz and the Death Hunters knew she was missing. What if the tracking device didn’t work?
She never got the chance to tell him how she felt about him. Fear had stopped her from telling him. And she never thought about how this was going to affect Caz. He could possibly go mad and it would be all her fault. Just stop, Raven. Calm yourself. Revert to your training. Lennox has put you in more places than you can count and left you there tied up for days. The training was to not panic and learn to control your fears.
She had to do this or die trying.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Caz was about to strangle someone. And the alpha of the eagles was the perfect candidate. “Why would you let her do this?”
Everyone turned to stare at him. He didn’t care. If it hadn’t been for Wyatt, this wouldn’t have happened. She would still be in New Hope and they would be going to the ball. Like a regular couple, but no, this egotistical shifter had to use her as bait.
“Caz stand down. It’s not his fault. You know Raven planned this. You know she was planning something with Leo. That was why they knocked you out. As crazy as it seems, they would never expect a tracking device to be inside her. They won’t find it. You’re a Death Hunter and you know the chances we take. Raven is your mate, but she is also a hunter and she would never be happy if you tried to take that away from her.
“To be honest, I know she would never put limitations on you. Thankfully, the tracking device is inside her. Or we wouldn’t know where they took her,” Lennox said, putting his hand on his shoulder.
He knew his alpha was right, but what if she was hurt? And they did stuff to her. He needed to get outside. He couldn’t breathe. Walking out the back door, he watched as eagles began landing in the yard. If Raven was still with him, this would be a magnificent show. These shifters were huge, but all he could see was his mate being hurt.
Raven wouldn’t be tied down. Ever! Even by her mate. He would have to live with that or lose her. He smelled the alpha as he walked out the back door. Three of his people shifted and went to him.
“Anything?” he asked.
“We found their truck and followed four-wheeler tracks to a private airfield down the road. We know they left by plane. But nobody knows where it was going. I would think they were taken to an island. This is the only way to be safe from anyone seeing them.” The eagle hunter nodded at him.
Caz cleared his throat. “We need a plan on how we are going to get there and fast once that signal goes off. The longer it takes to get to them. They could be—”
Wyatt put his hand on his shoulder. “We will get us there. I promise you we will get there. I’m not losing anyone else.” He watched as the alpha walked toward the house.
“I know you don’t trust us right now. We all understand, but I can swear on my life that the alpha will find your mate and we will bring hell from the sky when we do.”
“What is your name?” Caz asked.
“I’m Aziel Fezzan. I know my alpha and he will do everything in his power to make sure another shifter never loses their mate to these people. He grieves daily for her. We have been looking for her for a long time.”
Caz wanted to believe him. He could see in Aziel’s eyes that he assumed his own words to be true, but this was his mate. And until she was back safely in his arms, he couldn’t even think about it. He had to get her back. They had to.
He walked back to the house and sat on the porch steps. Riley and Calum pulled up along with Boris, Arden, and Quinn Dixon. Riley walked up to her brother. “We will get her back, both of them.”
Caz smiled at his sister. “I know.” He glanced down and realized that tonight was the masquerade ball. “I’m sorry you had to cancel the ball.”
“It’s okay. This is more important. Calum has people there giving his apologies that the ball had to be canceled.”
Caz nodded. As he sat, more people showed up to help. There were so many that arrived, he just stared past them. He couldn’t think about anything except Raven. His whole body hurt. His hands felt funny as if something was constricting the blood flow.
Rubbing his wrists, he felt like he had something wrapped around them. His sister ran up to him and about knocked him off the porch. “Have you heard anything?” He held onto his sister before they rolled and hit the ground.
“No not yet. We are still waiting on a signal to come up.”
“Signal?” Calum asked, narrowing his eyes at Aziel.
Caz glanced at Aziel who glared at Calum. “This is Aziel. He is an eagle shifter.”
“So, it’s true,” Calum asked.
Aziel didn’t answer him; he just nodded. Caz waited on him to do something. When the glowering continued, he said, “This is Calum, my brother-in-law and this is my sister Riley.”
His sister threw her hand out to Aziel. “Hello and welcome to New Hope.”
Aziel looked unsure what to do. He stared at his sister’s hand then finally shook it. “You are very kind. I can feel that about you.”
Calum stared at him while the eagle continued to hold his mate's hand. “You can let her hand go. Now!”
“You are a vampire and are very possessive about your mate, bu
t she is kind and generous. You are a tiger shifter. I feel her inside. On edge like your brother,” Aziel said, finally he released her hand.
“What are you?” Riley asked, intrigued with the new shifter.
“He’s an eagle shifter, Riley. Just like I said,” Caz answered.
Riley smiled. He knew this poor man would be asked a million questions now. “Yes, but something else. You can read my emotions.”
“He’s an omega,” Calum answered. “Let’s go, Riley.” Without letting Aziel expand on his answer, Calum ushered his sister into the house.
Caz watched the door close then he said, “That was odd. I’ve never seen him act like that.”
“I scare him.”
“But why? He just met you.”
Aziel looked into the woods. “Because he’s had a bad experience with my kind.” He glanced back at him and then down at his hands. “You are hurting.”
When he looked at his hands, he hadn’t realized he was rubbing his wrists trying to get them to stop throbbing. “Yeah. I’m sure it’s from worrying.”
“Or you are feeling your mate’s pain.”
“She’s in pain?” It was more of a question to Aziel. He never thought of it like that.
He nodded at his hands. “If you will allow me, I can see if I can get a feel of what is going on.” Holding his hand out, Caz placed his hand into his. His heart was beating a mile a minute after thinking about Raven being in pain.
Aziel closed his eyes and concentrated. “Her hands are bound to something. It is restricting her from moving, but she is keeping herself calm. She’s alert, but I can’t see anything, which means she is blindfolded.”
Letting his hand go, Caz moved off the porch. Rubbing his hands back and forth, he wanted to scream, to kill whoever had his mate bound like this. She had to be scared, but Raven was smart and sneaky.
“Your mate is strong willed. She will get through this. Just keep calm. You can feel her pain, but you don’t want her to feel yours.”
Caz laughed. “You are right about Raven being strong willed. But I doubt she can feel my emotions. I don’t even know if she wants to be with me. We didn’t get enough time to—”
Aziel put his hand on his shoulder and he could feel his body calming. His shoulders released the tension inside. “If she didn’t feel the same way, my friend, I wouldn’t have gotten such feedback. It has to go both ways for me to feel her emotions. Have faith.”
Looking at Aziel, he replied, “I’m trying. I wish I had your faith but—”
“No buts. Just know we will find her.”
Caz turned and walked away. Faith was all he had. He could feel Raven starting to worry. He could feel it in his soul.
She had been in this steel box for a long time and her body was aching in places she never knew could hurt so bad. These cuffs gave her no room to move. Her arms were enclosed in something that had no give to them. Almost like a coffin. Just calm down, Raven. Remember your training.
Trying to shift was impossible too. Whatever this container was, it was enlaced with magic to ensure a shifter didn’t shift while in route to their destination. Her bear sat inside her, waiting.
She had no clue how long she had been out before she came to, but she knew it had to be hours. All she needed was to be out in the open, so a signal could get through.
Suddenly, her body slammed to the side of the container. She gasped, knowing they had dropped her on the ground. Upside down, she was hanging now and the pressure on her arms and legs was pure agony.
“Hello, please help me.” Raven screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew nobody would listen, but maybe they would realize she was hanging upside down.
“Shut up, Raven. You will be out soon enough, and I can’t wait. Me and you have some business to discuss.”
Her heart sank. She knew that voice. Archie “Traitor” Peebottom. Oh, she had some business to discuss with him too. Traitor to his own kind and now she was dangling and in pain.
Growling, she knew what she was going to do. Oh, and Archie would go to hell with a zipper face when she was done. She wouldn’t leave a place to put back together. God only knew what they were doing with the shifters that had been taken.
She tried to keep from thinking about it. Remember your training. She had to keep remembering or she was would get angry and sloppy. That was never a good thing when trapped in a box you couldn’t get out of. She needed to be calm.
Wherever they took the shifters, it had to be bad. Because nobody had heard or seen them again. Not even a body was found. She prayed they were all still alive, but something inside her told her that some were not. Why else would they want more and more shifters and vampires. For all she knew, they were experimenting on them.
Her body started turning with the container till she was on her back again. The top of the compartment opened and the piece of cloth over her eyes was taken off. She blinked several times trying to get adjusted to the light. The fresh air helped calm her as she sucked in the salty air.
Wherever they were, it was close to the ocean. They were on an island. Now she knew why nobody ever found a body. They could drop it into the sea to be eaten by sharks.
“Well, hello there. I’ve been waiting on this opportunity. Does this look familiar?” Archie was holding a sword. “I plan on doing the same to you. I was promised that by my boss. You were so easy to fool. Wyatt Benjamin and Boris Connor were just pawns. It was so easy too. You believed me hook, line, and sinker. I did however get their wives and a young one for the organization, so I was telling some of the truth.” Archie looked up. “Get her out.”
The place was covered in armed guards, all of them human. But the guns they were holding were not regular weapons. Her body was lifted out of the steel coffin.
“Put her right there while I stick this into her leg and watch her suffer for a while.” Before the guards could do that, a man dressed in all white came out of the house. The guards looked to him and bowed as he came up to her.
“Pretty. You said she was a bear, Archie?” the man said, never taking his eyes off her.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Turner, and a Death Hunter. She’s special,” Archie said walking around her holding the sword like he was Conan the Barbarian.
“Now, Archie, what do I always say to you?”
“To never ever alert the Death Hunters. Never give them any information. Die if I had to before I gave them anything. That’s why I gave them two other names and they fell for it just like I thought they would.”
“But you didn’t, did you, Archie. You just said she is a Death Hunter and now one of theirs has been taken and female at that. They will never stop looking for her. You lied to me, Archie, and you know what I do when people lie to me. But I’m willing to overlook this if you go to battle with the Death Hunter.”
“But, Mr. Turner, I did like you said. They don’t have a clue where she is. I made sure of that. She’s a Death Hunter and I’m your—”
“Like you said, Archie, you have been wanting payback and here is your chance. You are a polar bear. She’s a bear, a grizzly bear, but you are king of the bears. This shouldn’t be a problem for you. Take them to the coliseum.”
Raven heard Archie pleading, but Mr. Turner wasn’t hearing it. The coliseum, what the heck was going on? The guards placed her on a cart and she heard humming as her cuffs jerked and clicked to the side of her gurney. It was a magnet and something else. Was everything enhanced by a witch? They carried her through a group of palm trees. She tried to raise her arm but there wasn’t any give to these cuffs. She prayed this exposure was enough to get a signal to Wyatt.
Her ears started twitching as she heard the yelling. As they got closer, the cheering and shouting became louder. She was carried through a tall gate and then into a tunnel. The smell of death became more and more prominent as they carried her farther. The cheers were still strong but now more muffled as she was taken underground. She only hoped the few minutes she was in the open was long enough.
<
br /> She didn’t like the sounds she was hearing and had a bad feeling about what was happening. They were fighting like the days of the Roman Empire and the movie Gladiator. She tried to inhale the air to see if she could scent her brother, but she couldn’t.
At least, she was fighting Archie. Oh, and she would kill him for this. It was payback for all the others he had brought here and lost their life. Dear God, they were having to fight each other. This was madness.
Keep your wits, Raven. Just keep looking for a way out. She continued to search for anything that would help her escape, but everything was cement and metal. And she was certain she was right that there was a witch involved. She could smell the magic intertwined in the walls.
“I’ve never seen a Death Hunter. What is it? How are they different from the other shifters?” the guard asked. They were talking over her like she didn’t exist or mean anything to them. She was nothing more than an animal to these humans who had no more respect for her then a piece of dirt on their shirt.
“They’re supposed to be stronger and can fight really good. But this one is pretty like a real human.”
“I am a real human, you idiot.”
“Well, then let’s see what you got under that dress then.” The guard started to pull her dress up then they stopped with the sound of another voice.
“Get her ready. Don’t make me throw you in there with her. She’s an animal. Do you want to get physical with a bear? If so, please tell me so I can put you in there and you can look up her dress then.” She couldn’t see the man who was talking.
“Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir, I don’t—”
“Just put her in the cage and walk away, you moron.”
When they turned the corner, the man was gone.
“Put her down and then walk out. I will release the cuffs.” They dropped her on the ground. The back of her head hit the gurney hard. Then she heard the click of her cuffs as they opened.
