by Helen Scott
“Mates! With us!” I called out.
As soon as they could get free, they did, and Micah and Blake’s wolves went haring out into the darkness of the storm covered forest. The ground was wet underfoot, not great for hiding scents or gaining speed or anything in terms of escape really, but we had no choice. I picked up Nina and cradled her in my arms, pack and all, certain that I could run faster than her.
A small sound of objection escaped her before she resigned herself to being carried. I appreciated that she didn’t fight me, since now was not the time, but some women couldn’t handle letting someone else take control. Nina had demonstrated that she was more than willing to hand over the reins when she wanted to, this morning for example.
Just the memory of it made blood start rushing to my dick, which was definitely not where it was needed at that moment, so I tried to think about anything other than how Nina had been on her knees in front of me this morning, trusting me enough to let me… Nope. Back up. Not thinking about that.
I took a deep breath and refocused on running and keeping Nina safe. My ears pricked, listening for any sounds of us being followed, but so far, I couldn’t detect any over the sound of the water dripping from the leaves above. When I saw shapes moving ahead, I slowed down.
The path still scented of Micah and Blake and blood, but I hadn’t been too alarmed by that until now. We were all bleeding a little bit, so it wasn’t surprising. As a few wet leaves smacked Nina and I when we went by, I could hear groaning from up ahead. I set Nina down just in time for Micah to emerge from the trees.
“It’s Blake, he’s hurt. Also, there’s a cave ahead that I think we can hunker down in for a while to fix him up before we get moving again.”
Nina’s hand reached out and grabbed my own so tightly, I could feel the bones within pressing together. Another member of our pack had been injured. I knew she wouldn’t take this well, and I only hoped that we could convince her that this wasn’t actually her fault. I wasn’t sure it was possible any more, not with how often we were sustaining injuries, herself included, but I wished she would see this for what it was, a prolonged attack against her. We were all fighting to be together, to be a family, and just because Jax wanted to split us up didn’t mean that was her fault.
I just had to protect us long enough to figure out what was going on and how we could get Jax to back off. There was only one thing that I knew for certain—we had to keep Nina out of his hands. That was the most important thing, and it didn’t matter what we had to sacrifice.
6
Nina
The cave that Micah and Blake had found was barely even visible until you were right on top of it. We’d moved as quietly as possible and hadn’t heard the wolves we’d left behind in our camp for a few minutes now. If we could get into the cave, then it would at least buy us a little time to regroup. I just hoped that nothing was living in the cave currently. The last thing we needed was a pissed off bear as well as wolves that were trying to hunt us down.
Though maybe we could pit the bear against the wolves? That could certainly be something to try if it came down to it, I just hoped it wouldn’t.
The mouth of the cave was small, barely even a crack in the rocky outcropping on the side of the mountain, but it was enough for us to get through. I tried not to think about how we would be trapped in here if the other wolves found us and instead focused on how we were out of the rain and able to dry off…well, mostly. The cave itself was dank and humid as though it was the kind of place that never fully dried out. Moss and lichen were growing on the wall, the only reason I knew that was because I’d accidentally shove my hand in a patch and spooked myself. After being in the city for so long, I was used to the light, to the oppressive scents that drowned everything else out, to the dry, polluted air. Being in the forest again made me feel off-kilter. It had for a while, but when something like touching a slimy wall in a cave happened, it made it especially obvious.
My eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and I could see the guys all starting to sit down, perching on various rocks. My gaze was glued to Blake though. He was holding his side, and the skin under his hand was stained a dark color, which I had to assume was from blood.
“Here,” I said as I extracted the sleeping bag from the bottom and tossed one of the packs to the ground. “Clothes and whatever else was in there.” I quickly unzipped the sleeping bag and moved over to Blake, wrapping it around his shoulders. “You need to keep warm.”
“I think this pack might have some medical stuff in it,” Roman said as he dropped the second pack to the ground at his feet, unbuckling the top and pulling it open before unzipping the layer underneath. He squatted down and began rummaging through the contents before coming up with a small opaque plastic box. He popped the lid open and pulled out some packets of gauze, wet wipes, and a small suture kit. “This should do it.”
I glanced at Blake, who’d blanched at the sight of the needle and thread. “It’s okay. Roman’s good at this stuff, and so am I. We’ll get you all fixed up. Don’t worry.”
He barely even reacted, so I had to assume that something else was going on because I knew my reassurances usually helped, or at least I thought they did.
“Are you scared of needles?” I asked quietly.
Whatever had been going on in Blake’s mind, he shook it off and said, “No. Just don’t have great memories of stitches, that’s all.”
I wanted to ask what he meant, but it was also obvious he was trying to think about anything other than the memories that were tormenting him.
“Remember when you were tied up under the coffee table in the cabin? I was tending to your wounds, doing my best impression of Florence Nightingale, and then the mate bond clicked into place.” I bumped him with my shoulder very gently, just enough to get his attention.
Blake simply nodded as he watched me like I was losing my mind.
“At least you won’t have a mate by the time Roman’s done fixing you up. You already have me, so no surprises there.” I grinned at him.
Roman came over and knelt down beside Blake, pulling the sleeping bag back and exposing the wound. “I remember coming back to a fuck fest that I wasn’t invited to,” he grumbled as he started to clean up the skin around the wound so he could see what he was working with.
“It wasn’t intentional,” I said, pausing before I added, “You’re all invited to the next one, how about that?”
“Are you saying you want us all in bed together, beautiful?” Micah asked from the other side of the small cave.
I was thankful it was dark so no one could see the blush staining my cheeks. “That’s what it sounded like to me,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I was a grown adult, a woman who was comfortable in her sexuality, who didn’t mind if her mates watched each other while we were in bed together, who didn’t even mind if we all joined in, but actually telling them what I wanted was sometimes the most terrifying part.
“I think she wants us filling every hole,” Roman said darkly.
Blake yelped, and I knew that Roman had started stitching him up, using the lusty talk as a distraction.
“Yes, I do. Which hole would you like, Blake?” I asked, trying to distract him from what was going on.
“Your mouth—Fuck, shit,” he cursed as Roman pierced his skin with the needle once more. “I want to fuck your mouth and come on your tits.” The idea had been to distract Blake, not get me all feisty and horny, which I had no doubt that they could sense, especially in such small confines.
Just as I saw Roman prepare the needle to go into the skin again, I said, “What if I want to fuck your mouth? I want to ride your face and have your tongue deep inside my pussy as I come all over you.”
The pained noise he made when Roman stabbed through the skin again turned into a groan that was pained in an entirely different way.
“Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days, love,” Blake said, winking at me, even though he looked a little green ar
ound the gills.
“It usually does.” I shrugged, unsure how else to respond. I liked dirty talk, but usually, I wasn’t the one saying the stuff, and it felt strange to be the one putting it all out there.
My own thoughts distracted me long enough that I didn’t see Roman preparing to do the next stitch and just heard the noise of pain that Blake made. “Are you almost done?” I asked.
Roman nodded. “That wound is done, but I should probably put a couple stitches in the other smaller ones as well just to be safe.”
Blake nodded and braced himself on the rock. Even in the dark, I could see his knuckles turning white as he gripped the boulder he was sitting on hard enough that I was worried it would crack under the pressure.
“Do you want to hold my hand?” I asked, holding my closest hand out to him.
“I’ll hurt you,” Blake said with a shake of his head.
“No more than I’ve hurt you,” I replied quietly.
“You haven’t hurt me, love. You haven’t hurt anyone. What happened today, yesterday, in the past or future, it’s all of it is because of people who won’t take no for an answer,” Blake began, pausing as Roman continued his work. “Jax won’t leave you alone, even though he knows you have other mates. Roman and Micah’s pack probably aren’t hunting you so much anymore, but I’m sure if you showed up on their territory, they wouldn’t take no for an answer and would bring you in for questioning or something.” Another pained pause. “You aren’t responsible for other people’s actions. The only way you should be apologizing is if you were the one that bit me. And even then, so long as it was in a sexy way, I probably wouldn’t care.” Blake’s voice and gaze pleaded with me to understand what he was saying, and I did on the surface, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that if they’d never met me, my mates might be better off.
“Done.” Roman’s voice brought me out of my melancholy thoughts. “We should get Blake to a doctor soon though. I’ve done the best I can, but having a real doctor take a look would be best, especially since we don’t know about any internal injuries.”
“So we find the oracle another time? We’ll get Blake to a doctor first,” I said, making sure I understood what Roman was saying.
Roman nodded, but Blake said, “No. No way. I feel okay, my wounds will be healed in a couple days at the most. We are not backtracking now, not when we’re so close. We’ve already invaded the territory of the Shadow Wolves, so we may as well use it to our advantage and try and find the oracle as quickly as possible.”
“I don’t want to risk your life over this,” I said, though admittedly, I didn’t want to have to backtrack if we didn’t absolutely need to, not when we knew there were some of Jax’s wolves most likely waiting for us.
“My life is mine to do with as I will, and whether you all join me or not, I’m going after the oracle. Though I do think it would be awkward to ask about you if you weren’t with me. I will if I have to though,” Blake threatened.
“Fine, we’ll think about it. Why don’t we see how you feel in the morning? There’s no point in trying to get back to our camp now.” I glanced out of the entrance to the cave and saw that it was dark out, the leaves rustling in the breeze and still dripping from the earlier storm. Though at least it had stopped now and we weren’t being scared to death by cracks of lightning and rolling thunder that sounded like the world was ending.
“Which is why I set this up,” Micah’s voice sounded from across the cave. It wasn’t far, but with the darkness being so complete, it was hard to see him.
As I focused, I could see a little tent-like situation had been set up using some branches that had been blown into the cave some time ago, judging from the fact that they appeared to be dry. An open men’s shirt hung from atop one branch and was supported by two smaller ones. It created a canopy of sorts, and the sleeping bag from the other pack was unzipped and spread across the ground. There were a couple protein bars and water bottles in the center.
“Welcome to Chez Micah. It’s not the fanciest, but it does have food and water, and if we all sleep together with the other sleeping bag over us, I think we’ll be warm enough.”
“Someone should keep watch,” Roman said at the same time as I said, “Looks pretty fancy to me.”
I jumped up off the boulder I’d been sharing with Blake and went straight into Micah’s waiting arms. I’d heard him rustling about over there but had figured it was just because boulders weren’t exactly comfortable, but no, it was him being his usual sweet, positive self.
“Thank you for organizing this,” I said as I squeezed him tightly.
His arms wrapped around my chest and squeezed in return as he replied, “I’m not about to leave my mate hanging with nothing but a rocky floor to sleep on, now am I?”
I pulled back far enough so that he could see the smile on my face and hopefully the love in my eyes. “It still means a lot. Thank you, Micah.” I kissed his cheek firmly, and before I could pull away completely, he’d somehow found my lips with his own. It wasn’t the most passionate kiss in the world, but that wasn’t what I wanted at that moment. It was one of the sweetest kisses and it was packed full of love and emotion, the kind that made my chest go tight and my heart feel like it was swollen from all the love I was feeling. I’d always known the mate bond would change me, I just never expected it to make me a lovesick fool, not that I was really complaining.
“There’s one protein bar for each of us,” Micah began as he held up the small packages that were currently our sole food source, wiggling them in his hand so the wrapper crinkled loudly in the small, quiet space. “I’d suggest eating half tonight so our bodies have the fuel they need to heal and saving the other half for in the morning, unless we’re comfortable going hunting tomorrow?”
“We shouldn’t hunt in these woods, not until we’ve either found the oracle and are on our way out or encounter the Shadow Wolves and make an arrangement with them.” Roman’s voice was serious and tired.
As I looked over at him and Blake, I realized that neither of them had moved. “Come on,” I said as I stepped toward both of them and grabbed their hands, pulling on them until the guys knew they either had to stand up or let me dislocate my shoulders. Thankfully, they chose to stand, and I dragged them over to the cubby that Micah had created. If I imagined twinkly lights on the branches, I could almost believe that we were on some kind of rustic romantic getaway.
The hitch in Blake’s breath as he gently lowered himself to the floor reminded me how far we were from that particular reality. I dropped down next to him and pulled on Roman’s hand, but he stubbornly stayed standing, which wasn’t really a surprise.
“I’ll take first watch,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze before releasing it.
I wanted to pout and demand that he come to bed, but I didn’t. Instead, I just said, “Wake me up when it’s my turn. You need to get some sleep too, you know. You’re not the fucking Terminator. You’re flesh and blood and need rest in order to function.”
Roman looked at me, one eyebrow slightly raised, and I knew he wouldn’t wake me, even if I begged him to.
My oldest mate wouldn’t change his mind once it was set. I also knew that he was a protector by nature, and not just of me, but of everyone he cared for, which now included Blake and Micah. He would stand guard over all of us, and if I was honest, it was partially because of that fact that I was actually comfortable going to sleep with Blake on one side and Micah on the other. The other reason I was able to sleep was because I was exhausted. We’d trekked a good way up the mountain and had taken a more circuitous route than necessary to try and avoid the very woods we now found ourselves in, and we got attacked for our efforts.
One day soon, we were going to catch a break and I would rejoice in the freedom that it would give us, but until then, all I could do was focus on my mates, the love I had to give them, and keeping them as safe and well cared for as I was capable of.
We were stuck in the cave till morning, and if
Roman was going to be a stubborn ass about sharing the watch, then the least I could do was actually get some sleep so that I was as alert as possible tomorrow. Who knew what we might find when we stepped out of the cave in the morning. Shadow Wolves waiting to fight us? Would Jax’s wolves have grown some balls and tracked us down? Or would the oracle magically be waiting for us? After all, if she knew about the future and all that, then she had to know we were looking for her.
Maybe we’d get lucky and she’d find us tomorrow. A girl could dream, right?
7
Nina
The sun had barely risen, and it certainly hadn’t made it past the canopy of leaves that covered the area outside the cave. The only reason I knew it was even light outside was the few scatterings of openings in the leaves that prevented it from being pitch black. If there hadn’t been that tiny bit of light, then I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to see where we were going.
As it was, I had no clue where we were. If the guys somehow disappeared in that moment and left me alone to find my way out of the woods, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it.
We’d been walking since I woke up, or rather, was woken up. Apparently, I’d needed the sleep I got, because all three of them claimed I’d been so deeply asleep that I’d been drooling. Whether or not I believed them had yet to be decided.
A huff of breath had me pausing and turning to check on Blake. He’d been a bit better this morning, but he still looked pale and his expression was pinched with his silent suffering. I hung back a little until I was walking next to him.
