Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1)

by Theresa Hissong

  His unshaven face reminded her of a grizzly bear, but his eyes glowed yellow like Talon’s when he was close to shifting. This man’s eyes didn’t hold any friendliness…only hatred.

  “Where’s the girl?” she yelled. “You promised to bring her.”

  “Not a promise,” he sneered, grabbing Liberty by the back of her neck. “Come on, little cat. We have places to go.”

  She didn’t correct him. If he thought Liberty was a shifter, maybe he would go easy on her. She knew how fragile a human was in shifter’s eyes. If this man knew she wasn’t one of his kind, he’d kill her for sure.

  She struggled as the man drug her across the lot. There was an old brown pickup truck with a cover over the bed. As he approached, another man slid out of the driver’s side, walked quickly to the back of truck, and dropped the tailgate.

  “Who the fuck is this?” he snarled. This second man was even more haggard looking than the guy pulling her. Thankfully, he dropped her to the ground, but when Liberty tried to scurry away, the man put his booted foot on her chest.

  “That dumbass panther sent a woman to handle his business,” he laughed in disgust. “Give me the tape. Their females are harmless. A little duct tape will hold her.”

  The other man tossed the first guy the tape and leaned against the truck while the one that seemed to be the leader wrapped her wrists behind her back and then restrained her ankles.

  “Grab her feet,” he ordered. The other man did as he was told, but Liberty wasn’t going out like that. She’d seen a house up the road and tried to scream loud enough to get someone’s attention.

  The moment he touched the bare skin on her broken ankle, Liberty screamed out again from the burning pain from the male touching her. He didn’t seem to care that he was touching a mated female, and that alone sent her fear up about a thousand notches.

  “Damn, she’s loud,” the second man cringed. “Want me to tape her face?”

  “Hell, yes,” the first guy answered.

  She struggled as hard as she could as he moved forward with a strip of the tape, slapping her face a little harder than was necessary. Liberty’s eye was already swollen closed and the side of her cheek burned from his rough handling.

  They tossed her into the bed of the truck as if she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. The engine started and the vehicle lurched forward, sending Liberty rolling towards the tailgate. She tried to keep her mind straight, paying close attention to the turns the truck made so she could possibly get away and tell the police where they’d taken her. She only hoped they were taking her to the same place they were holding Evie.

  She didn’t know how long she’d been in the back of the truck, but by the time it stopped, Liberty thought maybe twenty minutes had passed. The tailgate dropped and both men reached in for her. They’d gone down a bumpy road for quite a while, and her body throbbed from all of the jarring of the journey.

  Liberty had hoped they’d taken her up into Memphis so she could find some sort of landmark, but when her one eye cleared, she realized they’d probably gone east or south. They’d taken her to a wooded area. Everything was pitch black, there was only a faint yellow glow in the distance.

  “Come on, bitch,” the guy who she’d shot said, waiting for the other man to grab her feet.

  She was rendered speechless and unable to move around because of the tape. They’d wrapped her wrists and ankles several times.

  Soon they entered a tiny cabin, tossing her onto a mat on the floor. Liberty struggled to sit up and when she finally did, she cried out in horror. Evie was laying on a mat next to hers. The girl’s short blonde hair was covered in blood and she was laying there in a daze, her eyes glazed over. She was panting heavily.

  Liberty started screaming when she realized they’d clamped some sort of collar around Evie’s throat. The material was thick and the inside was impregnated with several sharp spikes. Tiny pricks of blood had dried beneath the collar. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize they’d placed it on the girl to keep her from shifting. Because if she did, the spikes would kill her instantly.

  “Drug her,” the one she had shot commanded, pulling his bloodied shirt over his head. Liberty’s eyes widened when she saw that the two bullet holes were now closed over. Whoever this man was, he sure as hell wasn’t human.

  The other man retrieved a bag from behind the old wooden door. He took three steps to reach her. She frantically looked around the small room, hoping to find a way to save her and the girl. She had to get out of there.

  “I’m going to drug you,” he taunted, uncapping a syringe. Liberty bucked and swung her restrained legs over to try to knock the needle out of his hand, but the man was quicker. “It’s going to be fun playing with you.”

  The needle sunk into her leg, causing tears to well in her eyes. She struggled for another minute before her vision dimmed and everything went dark.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Boss, we have a problem,” Winter told him, sounding panicked.

  “What is it?” he demanded. If another man had touched Liberty, he was going to kill the son of a bitch.

  “Liberty’s gone,” he replied.

  “What?” he roared, standing up from his seat behind the desk. He grabbed his keys and rushed toward the front of the house.

  “Nova said she wasn’t feeling well,” he started to explain. Talon had already started his truck and was backing out of his spot from in front of the house within seconds of the call. “She went home, but when we got here, her car was gone. Savage hadn’t seen her come home, but we’ve searched the land and the house for her. She’s not there.”

  “I’ll be there in five,” he growled. “Protect Nova.”

  “Hurry, alpha,” he added, his voice choking up.

  It was after one in the morning when he arrived at the old farmhouse not too far from his own property. His truck slid sideways as he slammed on the brakes in the gravel driveway. Nova was on the porch, sitting in a rocking chair, covered with a thick quilt. Her eyes were glistening with tears. As soon as he stepped out of the truck, she came running toward him. He grabbed her and let his alpha power loose to console the human female.

  “She’s gone, Talon,” Nova cried. “Please find my sister.”

  “I will find her,” he promised, looking over Nova’s shoulder at Winter and Savage who were just coming up from the side of the house. Both men were pulling shirts over their heads.

  “Anything?” Talon asked.

  “Nothing,” Winter said, shaking his head. “Her scent is old. She hasn’t even been here for at least twelve hours.”

  “Let’s get inside,” he directed, looking down at Liberty’s baby sister. He didn’t want her out in the open. He had to protect her as if she were one of his females.

  As he stepped on the porch, his phone rang from its place in his front pocket. Talon’s heart raced, hoping that it was Liberty, but frowned at the screen when it was his healer.

  “Harold?” he answered.

  “Alpha,” Harold growled. “I found your mate’s car. It’s at the old abandoned gas station on highway 309, south of the interstate.”

  “Any sign of Liberty?” he asked, trying to hold on to whatever sanity he had left. Nova gasped and turned, looking up at him as if he had the answer she needed.

  “It doesn’t look good,” Harold began. “The car door has been torn open and her shoe was lying next to the back tire. Boss…there’s blood.”

  “Son of a bitch!” he roared.

  “That’s not all, Talon,” the healer said. It wasn’t like Harold to call his alpha by his first name, so whatever he knew…it had to be bad.

  “What?” Talon demanded.

  “It’s the wolves,” Harold answered. “Their scent is all over this lot.”

  “Fuck!” he shouted, his heart plummeting into his stomach. “I’m on my way!”

  “I’ll wait for you,” he stated. “Just in case.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen mi
nutes.” Talon hung up the phone and his panther shoved forward, causing him to stumble into Winter.

  “Steady,” Winter urged.

  “Winter, stay with Nova,” he ordered. “Savage, call Noah and Booth…have them meet us. Tell them to hurry.”

  Nova was rushed into the house by Winter. Savage didn’t speak after he called the two men, climbing into the passenger side of Talon’s truck. They turned south, choosing to take the back roads over instead of the highway. They needed to stay out of sight. The last thing they needed was to have the local police involved in shifter business.

  Harold was pacing next to Liberty’s car when they arrived, his already disheveled hair was in a mess on his head. He approached the truck and stopped Talon from rushing to where she had last been before she was taken from him.

  “It’s a small amount of blood,” he said, shaking his head. “It looks as though she may have been dragged to an awaiting truck. There are tire marks leading out of the lot.”

  “Show me,” Talon demanded.

  Sure enough, there were two marks that looked like a body had been dragged about thirty feet. Where they ended, a faint outline of a body was right next to the beginnings of tire tracks. A small amount of blood stained the white rocks that made up the parking lot of the old building.

  “They turned south out of here,” Winter observed, looking down the road. “That road leads toward the Holly Springs National Forest.”

  “Do you know how many old hunting shacks are in that forest?” Talon growled in frustration. “That’s a lot of land to cover.”

  “We could call in the pride,” Harold suggested.

  Talon’s phone chirped with an incoming message. He quickly removed it from his pocket, his heart seizing in his chest when he read the text from an unknown number.

  Your females are being held in a cabin at the end of Evans Road. Hurry…

  “Who sent that?” Winter asked.

  “I have no idea, but we have to go now,” Talon warned, jumping into his truck. He knew exactly where they were being held. Who would’ve sent that message?

  Harold was ordered to stay close, in case he was needed, but not to go any further in than the main road leading down to the cabin. There was only one way in and out by car. If they could keep these wolves in the cabin, they’d be as good as dead.

  “Wake up, little kitty,” the man chuckled. Liberty had been pretending to sleep ever since the drugs had worn off earlier. Earlier could’ve been an hour ago or ten minutes ago. She was still too groggy to really tell any sort of time. She only knew that the sun wasn’t up and she prayed that she hadn’t been out for an entire day already.

  “Boss said we have to keep that one alive, Lenny,” the other man, the one she’d shot, smiled. The few teeth he still had were stained and she felt her stomach revolt at the thought of the man touching her. If she’d only told Talon…No! She couldn’t think like that. It was best that she gave herself. The pride needed him.

  A lone tear slipped out of her eye, and she knew that the men would see it. She tested the tape at her wrists and ankles. It was still there, and her ankle throbbed horribly. The skin they’d touched was still burning like it was on fire, but she wouldn’t cry out. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of hearing her screams.

  “Wake up!” Lenny yelled, kicking her in the ribs. Liberty couldn’t hold in that scream of pain. It could be heard clearly through the tape over her mouth the moment she felt a snap in her side. She tried to control her breathing, but it suddenly became harder to get air into her lungs. “There she is…so pretty.”

  “Don’t touch her!” Evie hollered, startling the two men. They scrambled up from their spots, Lenny grabbing another syringe.

  “Drug them both before one of them calls out to their alpha,” the other man ordered.

  Liberty’s eyes met Evie’s, pleading with her to do whatever she had to do to get a message to Talon, but the man injected her before Evie could take another breath. As the young girl slumped to the floor, her lips moved as if she were trying to talk, but there was no sound.

  Liberty had to stop and think hard about how the hell she was going to get free. The other man circled the child, sneering at her as if she were the most repulsive thing he’d ever seen.

  “Let me have a go at the alpha’s bitch?” Lenny begged, moving toward Liberty and ripping off the tape across her mouth. She squirmed, wiggling her hands. The tape slipped against her left wrist and she felt a thrill of excitement course through her veins. If she could just get one of her hands free, she could…well, what could she do? These two men had obviously disarmed her quickly. She’d have to think about a way out for her and Evie, because she doubted the child had had a chance to call out for Talon. She didn’t know how that was done, and she really wished she’d asked Talon about that during their discussions about his kind.

  “Fuck you,” Liberty spat.

  Lenny lunged at Liberty. She screamed as the needle jammed into her arm. Within seconds, she felt the effects of the drugs racing through her bloodstream. Her eyes watered and everything slowed. She felt hands at her sides, on her legs, but she didn’t really care. For a second, she thought she felt cool air, but at that point, she was too far gone to understand anything that was going on around her. She was floating on a cloud…all of the noises around her were suddenly gone. She smiled into the darkness that took her into the most peaceful sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Talon’s panther snarled, pushing his legs further into the forest where the old hunting cabin sat that Liberty was being held in along with Evie. The werewolves who’d taken them both would forfeit their lives for touching a mate and a child. He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

  “Hold up, alpha,” Booth warned, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “It could be a trap.” They’d stopped just inside the tree line that was cleared out for the cabin when it had been built many years ago. There was plenty of cover remaining this deep in the woods this early in the fall. They’d use the brush to their advantage.

  “It could be, but I have to get them,” Talon growled and pushed forward, but was held back by several hands of his pride. The touch of his people seeped through his human skin, warming his very soul. They were here…they were going to help.

  “We have to go easy,” Savage whispered. “If you go charging in there, the girls could be hurt or even killed.”

  “I have to get to her,” Talon cried, his panther waging war with his human. Now he knew the anger and the fear that his baby brother felt when he had wanted to go off on his own to find Evie.

  “Okay,” Savage nodded toward the other panthers. “Dane and Noah. Take the back window, and one of you stay outside while the other goes in on mine and Talon’s signal. We will take the front door. Keep your heads low.” Talon and Savage waited until the other two were in position.

  “I’m going to shift,” Savage whispered, quickly shedding his clothes. Talon thought about stopping him, but chose not to. His panther…the alpha wanted to shift and take these werewolves in his animal form, but if they'd touched Liberty, she’d need his touch to heal her. The thought of those dogs touching her sent his heart into a galloping frenzy.

  A nudge to his hand had him looking down at his Guardian, and he knew that Savage could feel his anxiety. It was time to go after his mate.

  “Let’s get them,” he snarled before rushing forward, letting out a shout as his shoulder made contact with the door, sending flying wood inward and startling the two men who were sitting at a small table by the door.

  One man howled, his clothes ripping from his body as he shifted into a jet black wolf. His eyes glowed orange, foam gathering at the corner of his muzzle. The other man pulled a gun, his hand shaking as he swung it around the room, unsure of where to point the weapon.

  Talon’s eyes found the two girls. Evie was unconscious and Liberty was curled into a ball on her side, not moving. The dress she’d been wearing earlier that day was shredded, and blood
and bruises marred her back where she’d been beaten by the wolves. His body exploded in a fit of anger and black fur when he saw that she was naked from the waist down. Her shredded dress had been pushed up around her waist. Only one strap was left intact over her right shoulder. There was blood everywhere.

  “Nooooooo!” he raged through his partially shifted voice, the rafters of the old cabin shaking from the sound. He welcomed the change as his panther took over. His eyes set on the man who’d shifted.

  As he prowled forward, his panther roared and then all hell broke loose. Savage lunged for the man with the gun, taking him down by pinning him by the throat, but he didn’t make the kill.

  That was Talon’s right…to take the shifter’s life for touching the mate of an alpha…and for taking an innocent child.

  The wolf in front of him growled, his hackles raised. Talon’s panther let out a sound that was more like a sarcastic laugh. If this wolf thought he’d get through Talon…he was going to be sorely disappointed. The mutt had no idea the kind of hell he was about to rain down on him. Death would be a blessing.

  The wolf shifted to his left, his eyes flickering toward Liberty. Talon wasn’t going to wait to see what he had planned. His panther leapt the short ten feet that separated them, grabbing the wolf around the back of his neck, feeling satisfaction when he tasted the first coppery drops of the wolf’s blood.

  He felt his men moving behind him, checking on the females. No one could touch Liberty, but they would get Evie to safety. He had to kill this son of a bitch so he could take care of his mate and his pride.

  Enough of this! Playtime is over! His human side pushed forward, demanding the panther finish this.

  Sharp claws ripped into the side of the wolf, pushing him on his side. One well-placed bite to the wolf’s throat ended his life in a wretching gurgle of blood as he took his last breath, slumping to the floor. He remained in his wolf form, making it that much easier to dispose of the body later.