Emery shook her head. She’d always had amazing grades, had a quick wit, and plenty of common sense street knowledge thanks to her dad, but physical pursuits and sports had never been her thing. As she’d so clearly displayed to Sage the day she dropped out her window and snapped her ankle.
“It’s to be expected. I just think you need a basic understanding of how to react as the smaller person if you’re ever attacked,” he said as they approached the large creek that wound through the property. Their cabins were on the other side of the water—it took a small wooden footbridge to get across. “I’m not expecting you to go to the UFC and win gold. I just think you need to be ready for whatever might be thrown your way.”
She managed a small nod. It made sense, really. But all the logic in the world didn’t make the bruises on her back or her sore joints feel any better.
“What are you up to for the rest of the afternoon?” The small talk was making her nervous. She’d hardly seen Sage the first 72 hours since she arrived. Why was he suddenly so interested in her learning to fight and what she had planned the rest of the day?
“School,” she said simply. “You?”
He gave a nonchalant shrug.
“Pack stuff.”
Sage didn’t elaborate and she didn’t press.
“See you at dinner, then?” He stopped at her porch as she began up the steps.
“Sure,” she said with a lame wave. Ugh. Emery really hated how goofy Sage made her feel.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Chapter Five
Sage
“Don’t be an idiot.”
Sienna was up his ass again. Third time in three days, actually. And with Brody somewhere else on the property at the moment, there was no one to save him from his twin’s meddling.
“You’re out of your mind,” he retorted with a dramatic eyeroll. “Your hormones are out of whack, that’s all.”
Sienna threw a piece of lettuce at him, which he batted out of the air.
“There’s something serious between you two,” she persisted and Sage just shook his head. She’d claimed the same thing that first day she arrived, when he’d come back to the lodge after showing her to her new cabin.
Sienna swore she “felt these things” and that there was something serious in the works for Sage and Emery.
First, Sage didn’t do “serious” at this point in his life. He had his role as Beta to keep him plenty busy. Second, she was only here temporarily. They’d both be stupid to start some sort of fling knowing she would be heading back to the Tahoe pack as soon as her father was released.
But Sienna wouldn’t let up.
“It’s not just a fling, either,” she continued. “It’s serious, Sage. I swear I’m not just making it up. The air changed the moment you two walked in together and it happens every time you’re together—whether you notice it or not.”
Crazy talk. But Sienna kept on.
“Notice how even Dane doesn’t hit on her at dinner?”
The blonde sentinel hit on anything with tits, actually, but Sage hadn’t really been paying attention.
“Maybe she’s not his type,” but the words fell flat even as he said them. Emery was every man’s type, if he was being totally honest. From that fall of dark hair to the electric blue eyes to the gorgeous dash of freckles, she was stunning and from the way she carried herself, she was the last person to think so.
Sienna just snorted at Sage’s words.
“Please don’t foul this up, Sage,” she pressed. “I know being Beta is really important to you, but true mates are incredibly rare and special. Just keep your mind open.”
He let out a long sigh.
“Okay.”
Nope.
Emery Wilkins was just another female shifter in a sea of female shifters in the end and no matter what his sister said, she wasn’t the one, the true mate Fate had sent just for him.
Those sorts of fairytales happened for people like Sienna and Brody. He was more interested in life here in the real world, where bear shifters had sworn vengeance against his pack and an ego maniac mob boss from Nevada was most likely seeking revenge on a wholly unprepared woman who preferred studying whatever sort of insane math she was getting her Master’s in than much else. Even ogling his half-naked sentinels earlier in the day.
He hadn’t missed her nervous reaction or the way the blush crept up her cheek. Gods above, but it had sent a warm zing of electricity right through him. He knew it right away before she even tried to cover up her embarrassment with a hasty denial.
Emery Wilkins most likely had little to zero experience with men. If Sage were to guess, and it got him hard just thinking about it, his little Brainiac shifter was more than likely still a virgin.
The very thought had his mouth watering. Untouched. Untapped. The possibilities with a woman like that were endless.
Sage had to physically adjust himself with the current line of thinking he’d found himself in and thankfully, Sienna hadn’t noticed.
No, Sage had to get his pretty little virgin out of his mind before the thought of her naked beneath him drove him to do something rash—like seduce the hell out of her and make those fantasies a reality.
***
“It’s a terrible idea.”
The Alpha was being pissy again. This time, Sienna wanted to go shopping for a few hours and wanted to take Emery and a couple of the girls from the pack along. The other girls, Lily and Bailey, already had plans.
“It’s a great idea,” Sienna persisted. “You can’t keep me cooped up here. I’ll go crazy if I don’t do at least one normal girl thing today.”
“It’s dangerous,” Brody argued, obviously not wanting to back down. “Sage and I have a meeting with Greyson and Pax and can’t go with you.”
It was true, their closest allies and neighbors, the Canyon Pack, had a couple things they wanted to talk about—the Kodiaks being chief among them. The Canyon Alpha, Grayson, and his Beta, Pax, had scheduled this meeting weeks ago.
Sage and Brody couldn’t miss it or they’d risk losing the constant support the Canyon shifters always showed.
Sienna didn’t seem to give a crap, actually.
“Send Dane and Jai, then,” she said with a lift of her brows. “I’m going. Emery’s going. End of story.”
It took another half hour before Dane and Jai had been read a list of rules, procedures, and strategies to employ should the slightest thing look out of place and put the Alpha female (and pack heir apparent) in jeopardy.
Brody was cautious, to be sure, but Jai was one of the toughest bastards Sage had ever met. And Dane, while not as good at fighting as Jai, would put his life on the line for Sienna without hesitation.
“They’re in good hands, Brody,” Sage said as they pulled out of pack lands on their way to meet up with the Canyon shifters. Caleb was driving them and behind their SUV, Jai was driving a similar vehicle with Dane, Sienna, and Emery.
At the highway, Caleb turned right and Jai pulled out to go left. At that moment, the tension in his Alpha ratcheted up and just got worse every passing second. Sage knew without Brody telling him that he regretted not canceling the meeting and escorting his mate himself.
Sage knew better than to use meaningless platitudes to try to cheer his Alpha up. As Beta, it was now his job to keep Brody focused and get out of the meeting with their goals met in the shortest amount of time possible. Sage knew his old friend—he and his wolf wouldn’t be settled until Brody had Sienna in the same room with him again.
***
The Canyon wolves were well meaning, but Grayson, their Alpha, could talk. And talk.
Sage was usually the patient one, but sitting at La Hacienda over endless plates of Mexican food and idle talk that seemed to go on for hours, even he was fidgety and ready to head back to pack lands. Nobody’s phones had rung while they ate and had their discussion, despite Brody and Sage checking multiple times, so at least that was good.
Sage belie
ved in cases like this, no news was good news.
Finally, the two Alphas said their goodbyes. The meeting had been fruitful enough—Brody shared the Denver movements of the Kodiaks and Greyson, who was also a county sheriff, said he’d keep specific deputies on “bear patrol.”
That seemed to calm Brody quite a bit and he even cracked a joke about Pax’s mohawk when they got in the car.
“Dude really oughta reconsidered that haircut,” he laughed. “His head looks like some misshapen potato.”
They rode in relative silence for the first part of the drive but Sage frowned when his phone chirped. He looked and didn’t see a message. Beside him, Brody’s phone made a similar sound.
“What the hell was that?”
Sage inspected his phone further and realized something he’d missed earlier, a lead weight sinking to the pit of his stomach.
Without either he nor Brody realizing it, they’d just spent two hours with their cellphones out of service. They must have been just out of reach from the nearest tower. Sage tried not to think too much of it.
Everything was probably okay. Maybe…
The thought was cut off by a rapid-fire succession of missed call alerts and text messages flooding his phone. Brody’s phone started making the same noises and he heard a feral growl coming from deep in the Alpha’s chest.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He hit Jai’s number and held his breath. When the sentinel didn’t answer and his call went to voicemail, he tried Dane’s number, getting the same result.
Sage tried to calm his breathing, even if just to keep Brody from losing his shit. The Alpha was trying to dial the sentinels also and from the rapid rise and fall of his chest, he was losing control quickly.
Sage’s phone rang. Glancing at the screen, a flood of relief went through him when he saw Dane’s name.
It was short-lived, though.
“What’s going on?” Sage said by way of greeting.
Dane’s reply turned Sage’s blood cold and his Alpha’s eyes feral.
“Kodiaks,” Dane said, his voice shaking. “They found us. Jai’s beat up pretty bad and we can’t find the women.”
Chapter Six
Emery
The mall was freaking enormous.
Emery tugged on Sienna’s hand as they dashed through another cluster of people and disappeared inside one of the two-story department stores this time.
On the one hand, a mall this big gave Sienna and Emery plenty of places to hide—especially from the big lumbering bears. Bears weren’t meant for the cat-and-mouse games quite like wolves were. But still, it was difficult to see beyond the rush of weekend shoppers and twice now, they had to double back when they saw one of the huge, lumbering asshats making their way toward the women, sniffing them out.
“Christ,” Emery whispered when a younger Kodiak paused a couple hundred feet away, sniffing the air. “They’re huge.”
Beside her Sienna snorted.
“Big dumb animals.”
As if on cue, as if he heard Sienna’s comment, the bear shifter spun on his heel and looked in their direction. Emery was one step ahead and tugged Sienna behind a lingerie display.
“Just let me shift,” Sienna whispered. “I could take that asshole out in no time.”
Emery didn’t really doubt it—a pregnant female shifter would be a vicious, uncompromising enemy if she felt her cub was in jeopardy. But they were in public and they really didn’t know just how many Kodiaks they were dealing with. That, and they’d lost their bodyguards somewhere in the mess.
“Can’t you reach Dane or Jai down the pack link?” Emery whispered. Sienna shook her head. “It’s not working right now. Maybe we’re too far apart? Maybe they’re hurt?”
Emery’s blood chilled at the thought. She had to think fast.
“Shit, there you are!”
A male voice surprised both women and Emery’s claws were out before she’d fully spun to face the newcomer. When she saw Dane’s bruised face she let out a squeak of relief.
“Brody and Sage are on their way,’ he said. “Maybe 10 minutes out.”
“Where’s Jai?” Sienna asked.
Dane looked around, his brow knit together.
“Two of them got their hands on him somewhere on the second floor,” he said. “I lost my link with him at that point.”
Emery looked at the Alpha female and the sentinel and understood exactly what needed to happen. The bears were obviously out to bag Sienna as some sort of revenge and one broken, bruised sentinel wasn’t exactly going to hold off the four Kodiaks they’d encountered so far. Knowing their luck, there were at least two or three more they’d yet to pick up on. A potential seven-on-three showdown just wouldn’t do when the Alpha female, her cub (and the Alpha male’s grip on reality should anything happen to the first two) hung in the balance.
Emery had an idea.
“Give me your hoodie and your sunglasses,” she said to Sienna, already shucking her own jacket and stuffing it into her backpack. Sienna frowned but realization hit Dane immediately.
“This isn’t a good idea,” he said quietly. “Sage won’t like this at all.”
Emery shook her head as she practically yanked the orange sweatshirt off Sienna’s head.
“You need to get her outside to Brody as soon as they get here or you’re going to have a feral Alpha and one hell of a bloody mess on your hands with this many humans around,” Emery said as she pulled down the sweatshirt. The bears didn’t have the scent abilities that wolves did, but their senses were still heightened and if she got close enough to the Kodiaks who’d seen Sienna earlier, hopefully they’d pick up on the sweatshirt and take the bait.
Idiots.
“Emery,” Sienna began. The look in her eyes held nothing but worry. “I’m serious. My poor brother is going to have a heart attack…”
But she didn’t let the Alpha female finish, noticing two Kodiaks on the upper level outside the store. They hadn’t seen them yet.
“That fire exit toward the back will take you to a staff parking lot we passed earlier. Tell Brody to get you there. You need to go,” she told Sienna. Dane reluctantly took Sienna’s hand and began to pull her away.
“You be careful, Emery Wilkins,” Sienna whisper-hissed as she turned and followed the sentinel. ‘I’ll beat your adorable ass if you get yourself hurt.”
With a small laugh, Emery bent and tied her Converse sneakers tight, making sure that all of the variables she could control were in place. She’d made mental note of the different wings of the mall, where the fountains where, and the restroom locations as she and Sienna had dashed through moments earlier.
She took off at a jog as she pulled the hood up over her head and came to stand just underneath the bear shifters who were leaning against the railing just above her.
“Hey, fuckers!” She yelled up at them, drawing the attention of a few of the humans in the area. Oh, well. The bears looked down at her and from where she stood, she saw them widen their eyes when they caught the sweatshirt and the scent. Just for good measure, just to make sure they’d follow, she flipped them a double middle finger. “Assholes.”
With that, she was off, leading the two oafs toward the center of the mall. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed the bigger one holding his hand to his ear, speaking into a headset. Good.
She maneuvered through the crowds fast enough to make the bears work to keep an eye on her, but slow enough so she wouldn’t lose them. She also knew to keep her head on a swivel—their buddies were most likely going to join the pursuit any moment.
Sure enough, as if on cue, the younger bear that’d nearly spotted them in the department store was jogging toward her from the right. She’d made it to a small plaza-type center with a fountain and several benches holding weary shoppers.
The young shifter was looking in the direction she’d just come—back toward the department store.
Holy crap, but these bears were stupid.
Despera
te to keep him from going back toward Sienna and Dane, Emery actually waved her arm above her head to get his attention. When the shifter’s eyes finally did meet hers, she gave a taunting little wave before rounding around the fountain as he fell into pursuit, recognition of Sienna’s scent hitting him, too.
Emery ducked and wove her way around small bistro tables that, a few feet behind her, the bear shifter was sending crashing in every direction as he swore in some Slavic-sounding language. He was faster than she expected and Emery wasn’t comfortable with the few steps that separated them.
Cutting a sharp left down another wing of the mall, she increased her speed when there was enough open space. The bear wasn’t nearly as fast as her and she’d just started to feel a little buzz of victory when a massive, meaty arm appeared out of nowhere from inside one of the shops right in front of her face, essentially clothes-lining her straight to her back. Emery’s head bounced off the granite floor with a sickening thud and her vision swam, darkening around the edges.
Above her, a large, toothy grin filled her vision as the sickening scent of bear shifter filled her senses.
Gross.
That same meaty paw made to grab her by the collar of her sweatshirt, but the arm’s owner was tackled by a blur of motion, landing both the bear and the tackler in a heap a few feet away.
“Run, Emery!”
Jai’s voice pierced through the fog, spurring her into action as she pushed herself up to her elbows, then to her butt, and finally to her feet.
“The service exit,” Jai was yelling at her again as he pummeled the giant bear who’d knocked her over. “Run!”
Without knowing exactly which service exit Jai meant, Emery was running again—this time much slower than before. The young bear shifter was still back there and likely still on her heels while the other one fought with Jai.
Emery’s eyes scanned the stores, her vision still woozy and unfocused. If she weren’t in such a hurry, she was more than certain she’d hurl in the nearest trashcan.
“I’m coming, wolf,” a thickly accented voice called from behind her. Damn it. The youngster had zeroed in on her again.
Rocky Mountain Shifters: Complete Series Box Set Page 11
