He carried Zeke out into the hall, then laid him down. He told the man to get the bullets out of his son before he died. He told him to hurry his own life depended on it.
“I need some surgical tools. The first bullet I can get to easily. I don’t know about the second one. It went pretty deep into his hip.”
“Where are these tools?”
“Room two down the hall. There is a table to lay him on top. If you will carry him there, I can cut out the bullets.”
Zeke was lifted quickly and rushed to the room and laid out on the table. The man started grabbing surgical tools and soaking them in alcohol. He took a scalpel to Zeke’s hip. He cut a four-inch-long slice through Zeke’s hip, then took a pair of hemostats and started digging. He had a little trouble finding the bullet at first. Once he found it, he was able to clamp the hemostats around the head of the bullet and guide it back out.
Then he moved to the bullet in Zeke’s shoulder. This one had actually gone in the front and out the back. The man dug around till he was sure. Then he took a bottle of alcohol and poured it into the hole, letting it wash through the hole and out the back of his shoulder. Then he poured some on the hip wound. Once he was done, he started to sew up the cut he had made to Zeke’s hip.
“That isn’t necessary. He will heal on his own. How do we get the silver out of his bloodstream?”
“Well, I could hook him to an IV and let it flush his system. That would take a little time, but it would eventually wash all the toxin out of him.”
“Then do it. Marcus watch him. If he tries anything, kill him. I am going to go see if they have found your sister yet. Vampire, show me where she is.”
He took hold of the vampire’s arm and pulled him along. The vampire told him where to go.
Rufus has found out where Cara had been taken. He had run for the building with his little group of wolves. They rushed up to the top floor, then slowed down till they reached a door.
Max had gone into the apartment and was grabbing what he had to have, before going for Cara. Then he ran to his room to grab her. He threw her over his shoulder and headed for the door. He would have to use the elevator in the hall to get down into the basement. Then he would head for the hidden tunnel. The one that leads to their freedom.
He was standing in front of the elevator waiting for it to open when he heard them coming. He ran for the stairs. Carrying Cara slowed him some.
“There he goes.” The pack rushed after him. Max made it to the next floor and ran for the open doors of the elevator. Just before he reached it the door closed and the elevator started up. He had pushed the button upstairs. It was now going up to where he had tried to get on it.
The pack had him cornered. He stood with his back to the elevator and Cara in front of him. He used her as a shield. “Come any closer and she will die. I will break her neck. It would be a shame for her to have to die.”
“Put her down. You hear me, put her down. She is mine.” Rufus growled.
“You must be the one she referred to as a puny, weak excuse of a mutt. She was right, your weak and puny.”
Rufus shifted and started canvassing the scene. He wouldn’t let this wolf hurt his mate. And he wasn’t going to let him live either. He wanted his blood and bad. He had touched his mate. He had taken off with her. He had hurt her. No way would he let him live.
Max needed to shift, but if he did that meant putting his mate down. Damn elevator if it would hurry, he could back into it stopping them from entering with her body.
They heard the elevator coming back down. Rufus had to do something and quick. He charged just as the elevator opened. Max backed into it, hitting the door close button. He used Cara’s body to shove the wolves back out. He shoved her body forward at them.
Rufus grabbed her arm while one of the others who had remained human grabbed her waist. Max couldn’t hold on to her as the door to the elevator closed. He would let her go for now, but he would be back for her. He knew where her pack lived.
They didn’t give chase right away thinking he was just going to the first floor and there were other wolves there waiting for him. Rufus shifted and took hold of Cara. He forced the other wolf to let him carry her.
Pack Master Baron Black made his way to the building his daughter was in. As he rushed in the front door Rufus was carrying her lifeless body toward him.
“Is she… dead?”
“No, she has a heartbeat. She smells of drugs. Lots of them. She smells of him. Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Didn’t you grab him when the elevator opened?”
“It never opened.”
“Shit! Where did he go? Find him. Find him and bring him to me. I will kill him. I will fight him till the death.” Her father started to take her out of Rufus’s arms and Rufus growled at him challenging him to take her. Her father didn’t move any further, they could fight later. Right now, they needed to get her out of there.
Rufus carried her back out to the van they had brought. He laid her down on the floor. They had a mattress lying on the floor. Not knowing if she was going to be all right, they had tried to think of everything.
Zeke was carried out to the van and laid beside his sister. The rest of the pack searched everywhere for Max. They knew if they didn’t kill him, he would be trouble later.
“Well, where is he?”
“We searched the entire building. Then we took the elevator it went to a basement under the building. In the basement, we followed his scent. It led to a tunnel that led to a parking lot two miles from here. He was already gone.”
“He got away! We let him get away?” Rufus was yelling. Pack Master Baron Black stepped up to the pack. He had to gain control before they started killing each other.
“Stop! We will find him another day. For now, we have to get Cara and Zeke to a safe place. I am sure by now someone has alerted the human police. We need to get out of here.”
“What do we do for her? How do we help her?”
“We have a doctor tied up in the van who is going to help her. Now load up. We’re out of here.
Max watched from a hiding place as his mate was taken out to a van and loaded inside of it. Her pack may have her back for now, but he wouldn’t stop till he had her back. He would kill anyone or wolf who got in his way. “My mate, I vow right here and now that I will come get you. I won’t stop till you are in my arms once more. If I have to kill your entire pack, then so be it. In fact, I might enjoy that more. I will take you home with me. If you don’t have a pack to come after you next time you will have to stay with me. I will see to it you don’t have anyone to come after you ever again. You’re mine!”
Chapter 15
The pack had made their way toward home. It had taken them three nights to get there. Still Cara hadn’t woken up. Zeke was burning up with fever. The poison still working on him.
Once they got home, they laid Cara on her bed and Zeke on his. The good doctor they had kidnapped was being forced to watch over them.
“Why isn’t she waking up?”
“I told you she has had too much done to her lately. It will take time for her body to fight its way back. She was kept drugged for several days before he let her wake up. Then he forced us to knock her back out. Then wake her up again. Then he wouldn’t let us feed her or give her anything to drink. It is a wonder she is alive at all. She had problems trying to shift and not being able. That took its toll on her. She had seizures. Then he had her drugged again. I can’t tell you when or if she will wake up.”
“You better hope she wakes up.”
“Rufus, that is enough. It isn’t his fault. Back off. Doctor what about my son, how is he doing?”
“The fever hasn’t broken. But he seems to be holding his own. I believe he will wake in the next day or two. His heartbeat gets stronger every day.”
“Good. Rufus you and the pack run the immediate area. I don’t trust that he won’t come after her. If he really believes she is his soul mate, he
will be back. I don’t want him to make it anywhere near the house.”
“I don’t want to leave her. Can’t the others go without me?”
“Rufus as Pack Master I order you to go. You need to get your mind off her and back on killing him before he finds her again. Oh, and Rufus remember he has magic on his payroll. He has human’s willing to kill for him. Silver bullets they use. Marcus split the pack into small groups send them out in different directions. Don’t leave any area uncovered. Have guards planted out of sight around the yard. Keep the driveway covered. He won’t touch her ever again or we die trying to protect our Princess.”
“Agreed.”
“Thank you, Rufus.”
The pack gathered in the living room. Marcus chose leaders for each little group. Then told them what area they were to watch. Rufus and five others made up one group. Duncan and five made up another group. Kyle and five another. Lucian and Raul took the driveway. Aidan and Amos the front yard. Cane and Marcus the back yard.
Upstairs Father moved from bedroom to bedroom watching over his pups. Two wolves in each room watched over their pack members while the others hunted for Maxwell Woods.
The doctor stayed with Cara most of the time. On occasion he went to check on her brother. The wolves watched his every move not sure if they could trust him.
On day five Cara started moaning and talking as if she were awake. Zeke woke up hearing her scream out as if she were fighting Max. Zeke got up and staggered to her bedroom. The two wolves who had been watching him tried to give him a hand, he wouldn’t let them.
He halfway fell on the side of her bed. He sat up, reaching for her face. He turned her face toward him and gently slapped it. Rufus had come in to check on her. He had been sitting in the dark by the window. When Zeke slapped her, Rufus was on the move.
Her father had heard her crying out to. He was just entering the room when he caught sight of Rufus rushing his son. He slammed his body into the wolf flinging him back across the room.
Zeke turned to see what was going on. He heard the ruckus, then saw Rufus flying backwards.
“Will you all keep it down.” Everyone in the room rushed to the bed. Her father stood looking over Zeke’s shoulder.
“Did you say something, Princess?”
Wait a minute? Father? Zeke? Rufus? I’m home? She tried to open her eyes it hurt, but she managed. The first thing she saw was Zeke and his pale face. She gasps. “Zeke what’s wrong with you?”
“She’s alive. Oh, my gosh, you’re finally awake. Oh, sis you had us all so scared. Princess, your home. They found us. They rescued us just in time.”
“Max?”
“I’m so sorry Princess I let him get away. I will find him, though. I will kill him for hurting you. I will take joy in his death. Princes, how do you feel?” Rufus stared down at her.
“How did he get away?” They each told me their version. Rufus looked remorseful. He was standing close to the bed, but not touching it. I patted the side of the bed for him to sit. When he did, I reached up and touched his face. “It was not your fault he got away. He is evil and has been for a long time. He had planned ways of escape. The main thing is you found me.”
He reached up and took hold of my hand. Then pushed it into his face. He smiled at me. His smile didn’t reach far. It told me he regretted letting Max get away. He blamed himself for what had happened to me.
“Princess, your kind to say that. But the truth is if I hadn’t insisted on fighting everyone, you wouldn’t have fought with your father and run off in the first place. I will always fight for your love, but I will always regret what it cost you. I do want you for my mate. I can’t deny that.”
“I know. I have learned a lot over the last few weeks. I am sorry too for all that I have done. For all the trouble, I have caused.” I look around at the ones in my room and apologizes to them. Especially to my father. He kneels beside the bed in front of Zeke.
“Princess, it is I who should be apologizing to you. I should not have put you in the position I did. I should have trained you right from the beginning that the wolves would fight for you. It is the way of the wolf. If I had brought you up understanding that, then none of this would have happened. I am sorry you have had to suffer.” Father told me.
“Maybe I should examine them now?”
“What happened to you, Zeke? Why do you look so gray skinned? So very ill?”
“I played with a few silver bullets. The last thing we talked about do you remember?”
“Yeah, Max and his goons were in my room with guns.”
“Yes, well after you attacked them, he had you knocked out again. Then he had you taken to his apartment. Once you were drugged and unable to fight, he came to my room. He told me all about his plans for you.”
“What plans?” I nearly jump off the bed. I am ready to run.
“Relax or I am not going to tell you. Lay back. He can’t get to you we have the place totally surrounded. Ok?”
“I guess. Tell me what he was planning?”
“Once he had you where you couldn’t fight him, he planned to kill me, then mate with you while you were unconscious. He said when you woke up you would already be mated to him and carrying his pup. He was going to bite you and rape you. You would have no choice then but to stay by his side.”
I was growling and ripping the covers my hands held fisted tightly. Then I heard Rufus growl a low, soft warning growl. Like a mate trying to calm his mate. “Princess, he will never have the chance. I won’t let you down again. I swear.”
“Rufus, you have not let me down. I’m sorry I ran off. I am sorry I ever laid eyes on that, Bastard. I didn’t understand what I was feeling when it happened. I thought the pull I felt for him was because he was my one and only true soul mate. And if I am being totally truthful, I still think in a way he was. But when he tortured Zeke or had him tortured he knew it would hurt me. He knew it would affect me in more ways than one. Somehow setting Zeke’s broken body broke any bound Max and I had.”
“Cara did he ever…You know.”
“Did I have sex with him? No Rufus not in the way you’re thinking. I won’t lie about that either. He did…” I try to think how to put it in front of my father and the others. The words I want to say seem all wrong. He what, taught me to masturbate? He touched me till I came. He made me feel good and I wanted more?
“Cara he what?”
I can feel my face turning fire red. Rufus sees it. So does my father and Zeke. The three of them are growling loud. They’re not happy.
“He tried to seduce me. He tried to get me to give into his want’s. I never let him inside me with his manhood.”
“Oh, thank God. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Rufus, what if he had, would you have hated me for it? Would you have stopped looking at me the way you did before I left? What about knowing that he did touch me? Does that change things for you?”
He thinks about it for a long minute. Then he sits closer to me on the bed. He looks me straight in the eyes. “No matter what he had done, I would always want you to be my mate. I would just have wanted to kill him all the more. I still plan to kill him. Have no doubt about that. He must pay for hurting you. I won’t stop till he is dead. But I would never ever blame you. You’re a female with little control over what a male can do or can make you do. Even if he had bitten you I would still have come for you.”
I believed him. I sit up and throw my arms around his neck. He wasn’t expecting it. Neither was anyone else in the room, I heard them all take a deep breath.
“Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for coming to find me. Thank you for rescuing me before he could do anything that he had planned.” He holds me tight in his arms. I hug him back. I sniff in his scent. I hear him do the same thing. I sit back a little and look him in the eyes. Maybe for the first time, I am really seeing him.
“Princess you should eat. You have lost a lot of weight. I can feel your ribs. You’re so skinny. If you lik
e I could go hunt for you some fresh kill. A rabbit or deer might make you feel better.”
“No, thank you. I don’t feel hungry. What I do want is to get out of this bed. I haven’t stayed in bed so much in all my life. Back at the casino, I thought I was dying. I hurt so bad and felt so sick. It was the weirdest feeling. I mean wolves don’t get sick, yet I was very, very sick. I got to the point I couldn’t stand on my own legs. They just wouldn’t hold me. I couldn’t even hold the phone to my ear lying in bed. I was so close to death I could taste it.”
“So, that is why Max called me to offer me a job if I would rush out to Vegas. He didn’t tell me how bad you were, only that you were missing me. That it was making you sick. But how sick, he refused to say. I knew you were hurting. I was too. But I was nowhere near as sick as you were. That first time I saw you he had to carry you to my side. I thought he was just doing it for show. Then I saw just how sick you were. When you tried to set my bones, you couldn’t without a lot of effort. Then you were so breathless like you had been in a fight. I thought you would die that night laying there with me and me not able to lift a finger to help.”
I move from Rufus’s arms to Zeke’s. I wipe the tears from his cheeks. Then I nuzzle his neck. I lay my head on his chest. He tries to hold me. He is still weak. I feel him swaying.
“Oh, sorry. Zeke lay down. I’m all right now. Lay down and I will check on you soon.”
“You got to be kidding, I am not about to lay down unless you do. You look so tired. Your eyes are faded. They have no color to them.”
“I will lay down outside. Let’s carry a blanket out to the back yard. I need some fresh air. It has been so long since I have been outside.”
Zeke tries to stand and nearly falls on his face. I grab for him, thankfully father has caught him. Then I swing my feet over the side of the bed and try to stand. I can’t get my legs to stay straight. They won’t hold me. I start crying.
One Princess One Pack One Villain Page 17
