Kate (Safe Haven Wolves Book 3)

by Sherry Foster

  Don't let go. Never let go.

  Turning my head I looked at him. Trying to reassure him I reached out my hand and stroked his hair. He was missing patches of hair, and the bandages left little skin for my hands to touch.

  "I am not. I will never let you go. You saved me. I saved you. We saved each other. You concentrate on healing because I can't wait to get to know you. I hope you like to laugh, because I intend on laughing a lot to make up for the last year of horror. I want to see the sun-rise, well no, actually, I never want to be up that early. But I would like to see the sun-set. It has been over a year since any of us got to see the sun rise or set. I am not a morning person, at all, so don't try to treat me to a sun rise, it will not make me happy." I knew he could hear me, maybe not everything I was saying to him, but he could hear. I forgot about everything in the room as I tried to reassure the man laying next to me.

  But Marcus apparently did not want to be ignored his voice cut through my musings to my mate. I snarled at him before I realized what I was doing.

  He blinked a couple of times before motioning to my eyes, "That freaky fire thingy has to go or you have to learn to control it or something. You can't go around with flames in your eyes all the time. How in the hell did you get away with that for so long here? Allison said you had been here, at the prison, for almost a year, or slightly over a year, she wasn't sure."

  I took a deep breath, I had forgotten, for a moment, what I needed to tell Marcus. If Julie was here, and Allison was here, then Dawn was out there, somewhere, and we needed to find her.

  We have to get Dawn. The men took her with them. You have to rescue her also, and a few others. A few of them are lost causes, they want the life the men offered, but three of them, and Dawn do not want that life. So you have four females to rescue, my friends, family while we were here. Can your people rescue them?

  "We are working on it. We found the dead male, we know who he is, and we are going to try to negotiate a trade with his father. We are willing to trade him his son's body for information, we just don't know if he will take the trade."

  "Bugger him and the whole bloody bunch. We don't need information to find Kate. I blooded her, all you need is me. But I can't leave Craig, I will not, I promised him I would hold on to him."

  "Blooded her?" I saw Marcus turn to look at Casey who just shrugged with a confused look on her face. When Marcus turned back to me I realized he did not know what I was talking about.

  "Yes, I traded blood with her. I have her blood and she has mine. I can find her, I think. In theory I should be able to track her down. But my parents were uncertain how it worked. Mum told me to mark the ones I cared the most about. But the only one willing to trade blood with me was Dawn. Even Allison had shuddered in disgust at my suggestion we trade blood to become family. I could not tell her why, I could not tell any of them anything. What if they mated and told their mates while I was still a captive. Do you know what could have happened?"

  Marcus turned back to look at Casey again. This time she had something to say, not very helpful though, but it did make me laugh. "Look here, I told you I don't know a whole lot more than you people, if you keep looking at me I am going to tell Krys you could not keep your eyes off me while we were gone. You will be lucky if she doesn't castrate you. Then Fido can take over the pack cause you know they would never follow a castrated wolf."

  "If my brother hears you call him Fido he is going to come unglued you know."

  I laughed again when Casey stuck her tongue out at Marcus, "Trina said I could call him Fido because that was his new name, so there! If you don't like it, take it up with his mate, not me."

  I think I am going to like my new family. I will like them even better if they can find Dawn and the others.

  "So can you help me find Dawn? Will your pack do that for me?"

  "Kate, this is your pack now also. You don't realize it, but rescuing females is what we do. We will do everything we can to save the other girls. But any help you could give us now would be appreciated. Do you remember ever hearing anyone say anything about another place? Any clues at all, no matter how little sense they may make, could help us."

  "I don't know anything. The males never said anything about another place. They did not talk much about what they were doing unless it was to tell us how glad they were that they had been able to save us. They asked for our help in saving others. They assured us we were safe, but we weren't, not really. Did Allison tell you about the dead male in Julie's room?"

  "Yes, she told us what happened. You did the right thing. I know it will be hard to live with, but you know you did the right thing. A man who will take a female against her will doesn't deserve to live. You were protecting your friend and you will not have a single pack member ever hold that against you. We are going to let you rest. You need to recover, the faster you heal, the faster he will heal. Food should be in soon, eat, sleep and rest. We can talk more tomorrow, but not too early, I heard what you told Craig."

  Laughing Marcus left the room, Gabby and the other guy, no one had ever bothered to tell me his name and I never thought to ask, they had left earlier, while Marcus was talking. The only person left in the room was Casey.

  When I looked at her she winked at me, "Don't worry about the flashy eye thing, they don't like it when I do it either."

  When the door opened again yet another stranger came in, "Hey there Kate, glad to see you are awake, I brought you some food. After you eat I am going to check you over and we are going to check under those bandages covering Craig and see how the two of you are doing. Oh, you can call me Doc by the way, everyone does."

  The food smelled so delicious, and someone had cut the steak for me into bite sized pieces. Doc and Casey helped me sit up and they moved to the corner to talk while I ate.

  #

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Craig

  Craig

  I felt like my entire body was wrapped in a huge cotton ball. Everything on my body hurt. I tried to move, my body, weighted down and pain racked, refused my commands. I hurt every where. I felt strange also and it took me a while to recognize the feeling. To be honest I did not recognize the feeling, my wolf did.

  Mate safe. Saved us.

  Mate? What mate? We don't have a mate? What kind of afterlife is this? I can't move, I can't see. What happened to the golden wolf sent to lead us to next life? I want a refund. This trip sucks. Who is in charge? Did they put us in a box to ship us? Where do I leave my review. I am only leaving a one star review. That golden wolf was beautiful, but come on now.

  Mate safe. Mate here.

  My wolf seemed to be laughing at me. This was not funny. I still hurt, and I couldn't move. I would take the pain if I could move again. I swear when I get out of the shipping box I am going to find that golden wolf and give her a piece of my... my thoughts stuttered to a stop as I realized I felt different. Like a piece of me that had been missing all my life was complete. The memories began to drift through my head. I remembered finding my mate, I remember getting attacked, I do not remember mating anyone though. Pretty sure I would remember a mating ceremony. Yeah, not something I could forget. But as I center myself with my wolf, and look deep within myself, I see him curled up with the golden wolf. Ok, now I am just confused. So the golden wolf came to save my wolf but not me? Did she stick me in a packing box?

  I hear the faintest whispered laughter then, I realize the soft voice has been speaking for a moment but I was too caught up in giving a bad review to realize it, I listen and, nope still confused.

  You are not in a packing box silly man. You are in a hospital. All bundled up in pretty white bandages. I have to say though, I do not think white is your color. I can't see much of you, but I would have guessed a hunter green, maybe a sable brown would be more in your color wheel.

  My color wheel? What the fuck kind of afterlife is this? I definitely want a refund. Just reverse the address and ship me back lady.

  Well, I kind of can't ship you ba
ck. I may have mated with you while you were out of it. For the best of reasons, I can assure you. And besides, I told you, you are not in a box. You are in the hospital and Doc says you are looking really good. However, if you want to keep looking really good you will let me sleep. It is too early in the morning for chit chat. I am not a morning person so go back to sleep Craig.

  Wait a minute, mated? No, no I would remember that. I am telling you someone got the address all mixed up. I am suppose to be relaxing at the cabin in the woods right now. Why can't I move? What did you do?

  If you don't go back to sleep I am going to tell Marcus, and I will use my flashy eyes to do it. He hates my flashy eyes. Please, for the love of little green apples and flying monkeys, please go back to sleep.

  Monkeys don't fly.

  Really, is that all you took from the whole thing? Monkeys don't fly? My god no wonder Marcus said I may kill you myself when you recover and I get to know you. Can you please just ask your wolf if you are mated, take his word for it, and let me sleep? I will buy you a pretty blue teddy bear if you will just let me sleep.

  A teddy bear? Why in the hell would you buy me a teddy bear. I don't want a teddy bear. I want out of the box I am in. Why can't I see anything? I can hear breathing but I can't move and I can't see.

  "Dammit, Casey, can you cut the lights on and help me take the bandages off this man so he will let me sleep. He thinks he is in a box being shipped somewhere, I wonder if Marcus is up yet."

  I heard someone get up and walk across the room. Suddenly I could make out shadows but I still could not see. I felt hands messing around my face and when light suddenly blinded me I closed my eyes. I could feel my wolf howling so I centered myself with him. He was rolling around, with that damn golden trickster, who apparently did not lead me to the afterlife. Why do I have a golden wolf inside?

  Open your eyes! The demand in my head came from that not-so-soft voice. She did not sound as sweet as she had just minutes ago. When I eased my eyes open I found she was blocking the light. A beautiful angel was leaning over me, keeping the lights from blinding me. As I began to focus I realized my beautiful angel was a very pissed off unhappy angel and for some reason that made me sad. I tried to reach up to stroke her face but I still could not move. I wanted to stroke away the sadness and anger I saw in her... holy shit, her eyes are on fire. I tried to scoot off the bed, lunge off really. My arms and legs, which moments before were not working, suddenly chose just then to cooperate with me and I fell off the bed.

  I heard a screech from somewhere behind me as I hit someone on the way day, and they landed under me breaking my fall slightly. I still hit hard, and now I hurt even more, but I ignored the pain in favor of trying to escape the flame filled eyes staring over the edge of the bed at me. Apparently I had been strapped to the bed and now I was free. Whoever was under me was trying to shove me off, but that would put me closer to the scary angel on the bed and I was having none of that.

  The door burst open and the room flooded with people. The first to reach my side was Jaden. I found all the anger I had for him had vanished, I would completely forgive him if he saved me from the freaky little angel on the bed above me.

  Seconds later my forgiving mood had vanished. Jaden was trying to help me but he was laughing so hard he went down to the floor with me. Someone pulled the person I had landed on free and I could hear her cursing up a storm while trying to find out what was going on. I was more concerned with how Jaden knew what the freaky angel and I had been talking about in our, wait, how was I hearing her in my head? How did Jaden know she and I had been talking about her putting me in a box?

  "Craig, my man, as glad as I am to see you made it back to the living, most people are trying to sleep. I can assure you your mate did not stick you in a box and ship you anywhere. I don't know why you will not listen to her but she is pissed. You can not be waking your mate up and Kate, please don't make a habit of waking your Alpha up just to complain about Craig waking you up. I promise you that is not the position of an Alpha. Your parents made it here safely, they checked on you, but you were asleep and after they looked at the time your dad refused to wake you up. Said he could see you were safe, he liked to live, and he did not want to risk waking you up. Craig, I have to say, learn something from your mate's father. If the man looks at the clock and loses his color and backs out the room because it is too early to wake his daughter, the daughter he has not seen in over a year, I can assume he knows something vital about her, like not to wake her up early in the morning. Jaden, quit laughing at Craig and help me get him back on the bed. You look better today than you did yesterday. Course, the only way to look worse than yesterday is to be dead. Now, the team and all our extras have been up for hours, we just got to sleep a little while ago, we have a shit ton of work ahead of us, I suggest you go back to sleep." With that last pronouncement Marcus grabbed me by my feet, Jaden grabbed my upper body and they started lifting me toward the bed. Even as bad as I felt though they were not expecting me to jerk out of their arms. Hitting the floor the second time hurt worse than the first. Apparently I was still dreaming, maybe they did not see the flames. What the holy hell is going on? Did I wander into a horror movie and no one told me I was the star? All I could think of was getting to my feet and getting out of this place. Right up until I felt the brush of power from Marcus.

  Shuddering I froze in place, half-way to my knees. Jaden reached out to steady me and helped me get to my knees. I was going for getting to my feet but I was not strong enough.

  "You will get back in that bed, you will apologize to your mate for making her cry and for fuck's sake get some sleep." The power boosted up and I felt myself struggling to get back on the bed.

  Something was going on here and I felt like I was the only one without a script. I did not know my lines for this movie, or farce, or whatever it was I had gotten myself into this time. I realize I am a practical joker and sometimes, occasionally, ever once in a while, the boys retaliate against me, but I think they went overboard this time.

  When Doc came running into the room I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. He looked pissed, but not at me, at everyone else. What ever joke the others were playing, Doc was not the one to play along.

  "What the hell do you call yourselves doing? I told you before I went to bed, he needs quiet, he needs to heal, he has so many pain killers in him he should be dead from those alone, much less all the wounds, get him back on that bed. He is not out of the woods yet. Marcus, what the hell is wrong with you?"

  When Jaden started sputtering I changed my mind about forgiving him. "But Doc, we didn't do it. We are completely innocent, this time. It was his mate, she put him in a box and shipped him somewhere and he didn't like it. We were just trying to change the address on the box and ship him back."

  I watched the confusion on Doc's face for a moment before it cleared, "You did hear me say he has enough pain killers in him to kill him? How clear do you think a man can be when he has that many narcotics inside of him? Did anyone take the time to explain to him what happened? I don't expect he will even remember waking up this go round. Maybe not the next time either. He is still about as close to death as I ever want to see a pack member. Now get him on the bed, explain to him what is going on, and let his mate hold him. That is the best medicine I can prescribe at this point." I watched Doc cross his arms and glare at the others.

  Drugs, that made sense. A drug induced dream. I let Jaden and Marcus put me back on the bed. I can live with that. I was attacked, near death, drugs, yeah, no flashy fire eyes. I look up at the angel laying beside me, normal green eyes. Ok, I got it. I hear Marcus saying something but the drugs pull me under again just as my angel wraps her arms around me. I remember giving a sigh of contentment, mated, drugs, everything is going to be fine.

  #

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Kate

  Kate

  I feel my mate thrashing around, he has hit me a couple of times now in his drug induce
d sleep. I hope he does not wake up again. The thrashing before was what made us strap him to the bed. Well, not us, more like them, but I thought it was an excellent idea. Still think it is an excellent idea. I snuggle deeper against him, hoping he will just calm down and go back to sleep. I am not a morning person and I don't plan on becoming one for him.

  I growl as I feel him wake up and reach for me. Moments before, when he was thrashing around, I wanted to choke him, now though, I just want to hold him, and be held by him. His hand, gentle as it strokes my face, is still keeping me from going back to sleep.

  His sleep filled voice reaches me, "Who are you? Where did you come from? Can I keep you?"

  "Not if you don't let me sleep you can't. Please Craig, please, we can get to know each other later, we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other, but please let me sleep. Just a little longer." I beg.