“I know that. I commented on it.” She chuckled through her pain. “I’m going to need new clothes. I’ll look ridiculous walking around in those shapeless sacks that clothing designers call house dresses.” She glanced down at herself. “I’ve always loved jeans even though the ladies down at the community center always said I was too old to wear them.” She clenched her teeth and bit back a moan. “Ha! Just goes to show what they know.” Her eyes flew open at that. “They’re going to think I died, aren’t they? I mean, when I never show up again.”
“We’ll worry about that later, Milly. I’ve packed all of your jeans and a few blouses. I’ve also packed your photo albums and everything you kept of Gerald’s. Just hurry and change so we can get going. I have a bad feeling that we’re going to have company soon.”
Milly squeezed her eyes shut. Her body shifted shape, her legs shortened, becoming thick with muscle and her face changed, elongating into a muzzle to accommodate her larger, more lethal teeth.
Soon, she lay on the floor beneath them as a beautiful pure black wolf. She looked up at them through her sky-blue eyes and panted.
Boy, that was painful. I can’t wait to change back to my human form, Milly said dryly. Turning her attention back to Ally, she laid her head on her shoulder. We need to get you out of here, sweetheart. I don’t care what those assholes do to me, but you still have your entire life in front of you.
“So do you, Milly. You’re young again and will remain so for quite a while now. You have your entire life in front of you as well. Perhaps you should stop trying to give your life to others and keep it for yourself.” Ally patted Milly on the head and then blushed when she seemed to realize what she had done.
Kalen stood and walked to the bed and grabbed the two suitcases there. “We need to get the hell out of here. Now!”
He carried the bags out to Milly’s SUV. Turning, he met the women as they exited the house. Milly trotted out and jumped into the SUV right into the driver’s seat.
“Um... You can’t drive like that, Milly.” Ally grinned as she said it.
Kalen wanted to laugh at the older woman’s antics as she spun around on the seat and laid down.
I know, but it just goes against the grain to allow someone else to drive it. She sighed, then stood and moved into the back seat. Wreck it and die, mister.
“One more thing.” Kalen frowned as he thought about the way he had entered Milly’s home. “Where’s your dog? We don’t want to leave him behind.”
I don’t have a dog. I had the doors installed when I bought the house after Gerald disappeared. I always hoped he’d find me. Milly rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes.
He didn’t know what to say to that. Instead of dwelling on it, he turned his attention to getting the women to safety. “I’ll be right back. I need to go and get the man in Ally’s house.”
“Kick him for peeing on my couch before you pick him up. He hasn’t paid for that yet.”
Kalen laughed as he ran to Ally’s side of the structure to get the man who would be their guest. He walked into the house and stopped dead, looking at the sofa where they had left him unconscious.
“Sonofabitch!”
Chapter Seventeen
Ally frowned when Kalen left her house empty handed. He locked her door then turned and strode toward them, his expression grim.
“He’s gone. He knows I’m with you and he knows the others injected Milly.” He shook his head. We should have shot the son of a bitch a few more times. Apparently, the tranquilizer in the dart gun is only for humans or to incapacitate someone long enough to tie them up.” He glanced at Ally. “Which is something we failed to do because we thought he would be out a while.”
Kalen climbed into the SUV, fastened his seat belt, and stuck the key into the ignition. “Dammit!” He slapped the steering wheel. He reached down, started the vehicle, and put it in reverse. “We have to get moving. There’s no telling how long he’s been conscious or how long ago he called for reinforcements.”
He backed out of the driveway and into the street. Putting the gearshift in drive, he mashed on the gas, sending the SUV surging forward. “I apologize in advance for the way I might have to drive your vehicle, Milly. I’ll buy you a new one if I wreck it.”
Like someone your age could afford to buy one of these for someone else. Milly rested her head against the seat with a groan. Just do what you have to do to get us to someplace safe. Ally’s freedom is worth more than this vehicle anyway.
“I plan to.” He glanced at Ally. “Nothing is more important to me than getting both of you to safety. We have far too few females. No doubt, there will be many who will want to meet you, Milly.”
It’s too late for me. Gerald was my mate, and I was his. Milly stood on the back seat and looked out the window. He was a werewolf, too.
“I thought you said you didn’t know they existed.” Ally frowned.
I said I didn’t know they existed because Gerald was convinced that he was the last of his kind. She sighed. I thought he was invincible. I put us in danger because I was so certain that no one could harm him. He was old, incredibly old, and glad to have found me. He wished I was a were-being like he was because he knew our time together was limited and he would mourn me forever or die with me. He chose to bind our lives together so he would die with me. Instead, he died first. He was over a thousand years old and looked like he was in his mid-thirties. She lay down on the back seat. All it took was for one stupid, arrogant female to end his life.
Kalen looked at Ally, his shock evident on his face. “He was over one-thousand years old?”
That’s what he told me. He was certain he was the last of his kind, the last of a species hunted to extinction by the people of his homeland.
“We must get you two to the safe house and we need to call the alpha as soon as possible.” Reaching into his pocket, Kalen pulled out his cell phone. “There’s been a new development, Bastien. The woman I told you about has just informed me she and another were had formed a bond—a werewolf who claimed to be over a thousand years old.” He paused as he listened. “Yes, I know that. Which would indicate that he is still alive somewhere.” Another pause while he listened. “Yes, I’m taking them to the safe house on Gates, just off Federal Road right now. You might want to call the alpha and inform him of this new development. We should be at the safe house in about an hour. I’ll drop the bomb on my way.”
He pressed a button on the side of the screen and shoved the phone back in his pocket.
Did I just hear you correctly? Milly asked from the back seat. Is Gerald still alive?
“If what you said was true and he formed a bond with you so he would die when you did, then yes.” He slowed to turn onto the expressway. “Not only would he have done everything he could to keep you safe, but he would have done anything to keep himself alive as well...so you could live.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “When we’re bonded, our life forces are also bound together. If he dies, you die and vice versa.”
Ally turned in her seat to watch Milly who simply sat with her head resting against the back of the seat as she stared out the window at the passing scenery.
He’s alive. I can’t believe my Gerald is alive...
Ally reached back and rested her hand on one of Milly’s paws. “Don’t worry, Milly. We’ll find him. Wherever he is, we’ll find him.”
They finished the ride in silence. Kalen turned off the highway onto a less traveled road, then turned off onto a dirt road after that. “We’re almost there.”
Good, Milly said, her mental voice filled with pain. I don’t want to change here in the SUV and arrive at your friend’s house buck-naked with my ass hanging out the window.
Ally fought the urge to laugh. She’d always thought Milly was a character. She’d always suspected her friend had been a young soul in a seventy-year-old body.
“Hang on for a bit and we’ll get you into a bedroom where you can change in private.”
Milly chuckled. That phrase takes on a whole new meaning now, doesn’t it, sweetie?
“Yes, it does. And you’re going to have to stop calling me sweetie, or people are going to start thinking you’re odd. After all, you don’t look a day older than I do now.”
I don’t know if I can get used to that. I’ve felt so old for so many years now, seeing the younger me just seems wrong somehow. She paused, then stood up when Kalen brought the vehicle to a stop. I wonder what Gerald will think when he sees me. I don’t look a day older than you. I look about the same as I did the day he disappeared.
“We’ll make sure you’ll find out.” Kalen opened his door and slid out of the vehicle. Moving to the back door, he opened Milly’s door and waited for her to jump down. “But I’m sure he’s going to count himself lucky that you’ll be able to start back up right where you left off. I’m also sure he’s been worried that you would both soon pass over to the other side without seeing each other again.”
We’ll have to find him first.
“I think we have a good idea of where he is.”
Eyes flying wide, Ally gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. “That lunatic who calls himself a doctor must have him.”
“Exactly,” Kalen muttered as he grabbed their suitcases from the back, leaving Ally’s laptop bag for her to carry. “How else could he have perfected a serum to change humans into werewolves? He must have a pureblood in one of his facilities. All we have to do is figure out which one.”
“It shouldn’t take too long to figure out where they’re holding him.” Ally grabbed the small bag he had left for her, and he pushed the button to close the door. “I wouldn’t think they’d risk carrying him too far from where they captured him. A pureblood would be difficult to drug and even harder to restrain. Depending on how weak they’ve kept him, transporting him would be extremely difficult now, it would have been next to impossible forty years ago.”
He led the way to the front door of the safe house where a beautiful, full-figured redhead stood next to a tall and muscular male.
Ally inhaled sharply at the scent that surrounded the two. It was as though the air was charged with sexual energy and electricity. The atmosphere around them nearly crackled with power.
“Healer, Carly,” Kalen said in greeting as he approached the door. “This is my mate, Ally Morgan and her friend, Milly Jenkins.” He ignored Ally’s outraged gasp with a grin.
The two moved to the side so they could enter, and Kalen set his burden down on the floor. “Do we still have people working on the disk we acquired from the last laboratory we raided?”
“Yes, my cousin is still working on that during his house arrest. One of Dimitri’s brothers-in-law has a copy of it and is doing the same.” Bastien moved to sit down on a chair, pulling his wife into his lap. “I’ll call after you’ve been debriefed and see if he’s found any helpful information. Why?”
“You can trust him?” He didn’t have to explain which man he meant. They’d caught Bastien’s cousin giving information to their enemies. The only thing that kept the pack from carrying out an execution for the traitor was the fact that they were almost extinct. Losing a pack member now could be devastating for them all. Kalen moved to sit on the sofa motioning for Ally to join him.
Instead, Ally sat in the chair across the room and held her hands in her lap. She wasn’t ready to share any type of relationship she and Kalen had with anyone at this early stage.
We are mates, they at least expect us to sit next to each other. Look how comfortable Carly is with her mate.
Yeah, and she’s probably been with him for more than a few days, too, hasn’t she? She wanted to smile at his sheepish expression but just pressed her lips together instead.
Carly sat up in her mate’s lap and looked at Milly. “I do hope that we can find your mate for you. We had a female black panther with us when Bastien and I first met. She, too, had been under the impression that her mate was dead, until we found him. The doctor was holding him captive and experimenting on him.”
Milly groaned and Ally remembered she’d wanted some privacy. “Is there a place where Milly can go change? She would like some privacy and her suitcase.”
“Oh!” Carly jumped up and Bastien stood.
“Which one is hers?”
“The large gray and black one is hers, the dark blue one is mine.”
Bastien picked up the two suitcases and led them up two flights of stairs. “It’s a good thing that homes of this size are easy to find these days. No one wants to have to pay to heat them in the winter.” He strode down the wide upper hallway until he reached two doors across from one another.
Opening the door on the right, he strode in and dropped Milly’s case on the floor. Leaving the room, he led them across the hall to the other door and set Ally’s suitcase down.
“Your things are in here as well, Kalen.” He flicked a glance to Ally. “Figure out a way to accommodate your mate, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch. The other bedrooms are already occupied.” He turned to Ally. “And just so you know, ma’am, the walls are sound proofed.” With one last look at Kalen, he walked way.
Milly wandered into her room. If I concentrate on changing back into a human, it won’t hurt as much?
“No, ma’am,” Kalen replied. “You should find it easier than Ally did. With age comes more control over it. At least, it usually does. I’m not sure about your case.”
Thank you. Milly pushed the door closed with her nose. Give him a chance, Ally. He seems like a nice boy and he does care for you.
“Hey, Milly,” Kalen called out after her. “You might be surprised to find out that I could call you a little girl.”
Milly didn’t answer. The only thing his comment managed to do was make Ally wonder exactly how old he was.
Kalen followed her into the room and set her case on the floor. “How old are you, exactly.”
He cleared his throat and tried to avoid answering. He pointed at a door to the right of the room. “The bathroom is right through there and there’s a TV in the armoire.”
Ally just crossed her arms and glared at him. “I can forgive lots of things, Kalen. I can come to terms with the fact that you’re older than I am.” She gave him a wry smile. “Way older than I am, even.” She shook her head. “But I won’t forgive you if you withhold information that I have specifically asked you for.”
“Ninety-seven,” he replied without hesitation.
“Ninety—” Ally closed her eyes and shook her head. “Man... I never would have thought you were that old.” She probably should have considered the possibility. Milly had said her mate had only looked to be in his thirties but claimed to have been over one thousand.
“You make me sound decrepit.”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t say decrepit, but you are definitely a cradle robber lusting after me.” She grinned. “I’m seventy years younger than you are.”
“It sounds like a lot by human standards, but by our standards, you could say that I’m not really that much older.”
“I guess not, if someone who’s more than one-thousand still looks thirty something,” she said dryly.
“That’s only because he’s a pure blood. The rest of us are not. The rest of us don’t age quite as slowly.” He moved closer.
Ally moved toward the bathroom. She wanted a shower and she wanted one now. Holding her hand palm out, Ally nervously licked her lips. “Wait a minute. I want a shower and I want something to eat—in that order.”
“Then, by all means,” Kalen said as he waved toward the bathroom. “Avail yourself of the facilities and I shall return with a delicious dinner for two.” After a sexy smile and a wink, he left her alone.
Chapter Eighteen
After leaving the room, Kalen wandered down the hallway to the shared bathroom. After a quick shower, he went downstairs to find them something to eat.
Bastien sat at the table, a cup of coffee in front of him as he stared at his phone laying on th
e flat surface. “It’s strange that we have the power to shift our shape along with our added strength and excellent hearing, but we can do nothing but wait for the information we need.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been sitting here willing this damned phone to ring for the last fifteen minutes.”
He scrubbed his face with his hands and shook his head. “I called the alpha. As much as I didn’t want to bother him on his honeymoon trip, he needed to know about the pureblood. Even he had no idea of a surviving first-breed. After that, I called Luke who’s still working on the software along with one of the MacDonald brothers. They think they’re close to opening up a file that could tell us where Milly’s husband is.”
He waved toward his laptop. “According to all of the most popular search engines, the headlines from the time he disappeared put the two of them at a campground in upstate New York.” He opened the laptop, entered a password, then turned the screen to face Kalen. “According to that story, Gerald Jenkins disappeared as though into thin air forty-two years ago.”
“You think they have a facility near there?”
“They’d have to, wouldn’t they? After all, they were humans capturing a full-blooded werewolf. They couldn’t have been able to keep him unconscious for long and regular bonds wouldn’t have held him. They would have had to keep injecting him with tranquilizers and we both know that’s just not practical.”
Bastien was right. It wasn’t practical or smart to attempt to keep a werewolf sedated for very long. Sooner, or later, he could learn to metabolize the drug faster than expected and overtake his captors. But they couldn’t have known that, could they?
“So, you think they’re in New York?”
“Either that, or right here in Michigan.” He tapped a printout and shrugged. “See this?”
The headline read. HUNT FOR ESCAPED WOLF-HYBRID ENDS. “According to this, there was a massive hunt for a huge hybrid wolf that had escaped from its transport about thirty-years ago. The report is from a defunct Grand Rapids paper. It says the wolf was recaptured and taken out of state to its new home.” He sat back with a sigh. “I’m just waiting to hear if that particular incident could have been Gerald, and if so, where they took him after they recaptured him. When I do, we’ll be on the move again. With any luck at all, we’ll have this situation contained before the alpha returns.” He took a few swallows of his coffee. “I’m sorry. Did you come down here for something specific?”
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