Slate (Shifters Elite Book 2)

by Ava Benton

  We were hanging in a strange sort of limbo. A week had passed since he fought my attacker and we hadn’t seen him since. Of course, Drew and Carter had been looking for him, but he went underground at some point, and nobody had seen him in days. Not even at his favorite bar. My guess was he knew they were looking for him and wanted to hide out. Slate agreed with me, not that it helped me feel any less frustrated.

  Even so… when they found him and killed him—because, of course, that was the end game—that would be it. I wouldn’t need Slate anymore, so he would leave me. What was I supposed to do when that happened? It had been the best week of my life, and not just because I lived in a palatial hotel suite. Not because he could go at it for hours on end, either.

  I didn’t feel lonely anymore. I had no idea until he came into my life that I had ever been lonely—after years of considering myself a loner, it wasn’t something I’d ever thought about. The difference with him was glaring. I had somebody to talk to. He had even visited Mom with me—I thought she might have smiled a little when he talked to her, but there was no way to know for sure. I might have been imagining it. Visiting with him versus being all alone in that otherwise silent room was like balm for my soul. I didn’t have to shoulder everything on my own, and he understood that. We had spent the rest of that night talking, almost until dawn. Nothing but that. Just talking, and his strong arms holding me the few times I broke down and cried.

  He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot with his hand on my knee. That felt good, just that slight bit of contact. Getting used to him was dangerous, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to enjoy what I could, when I could—if anything, I’d have something nice to look back on in the future.

  “What do you wanna do tonight?” he asked.

  “Hmm, what are my choices? Ordering room service? Watching TV? Maybe a little special alone time?”

  He snorted. “I guess you’re getting tired of it.”

  “I never said I was. Believe me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I bit my tongue before I said anything else. I didn’t want him to get the idea that I was clingy or nuts. That was a sure way to make a man run for the hills.

  “You mean that?”

  “Yeah. What about you?” I asked in a soft voice. “You said you didn’t like the way your life was going, but it seems like things are pretty much the same right now. We can’t go anywhere, we can’t really be around a lot of people.”

  “It’s different now.”

  “How?”

  “It just is.” He grinned over at me and squeezed my knee. “I don’t fuck my brother or cousins, for one.”

  “Thanks for that uncomfortable visual,” I smirked.

  “I said I don’t, though.”

  “Yeah, that makes it better!” We both laughed, but my laughter died down before his did. “So what you’re saying is, you like the sex but that’s about it?”

  “Don’t put words in my mouth. I didn’t say that. I only mean it’s nice to have you—not just have you, have you, but having you with me. You’re fun to be around. I’m glad if I have to protect anyone, it’s you.”

  I smiled so hard, my face hurt. He probably didn’t mean anything special by it, I told myself. It was just his way of being nice. It didn’t mean he liked me more than he should have. We were only sleeping together. We weren’t anything real. Were we? I didn’t want to hope, but I couldn’t help myself.

  The phone rang through the car’s Bluetooth, cutting off the music playing on the stereo. “Carter,” he muttered. Just like that, the mood in the car shifted. He pressed a button on the screen. “Yeah?”

  “We got him.” Carter’s voice was tight. I could hear his breathing—fast and sharp. Excited. He was hunting, just in his human form.

  Slate sat up straighter. So did I. “Where is he?”

  “We tracked him to the den he’s been staying in. Deep in the woods, maybe a half hour outside the city.”

  Slate looked at me. “I’m with Maggie. We just left work. I can drop her off at the hotel and meet you right after.”

  “We could lose him by then. Do you really want to take that chance?” Carter asked.

  “Do you really think I would take her with me?” Slate shouted.

  “I’ll go!” I shouted back. “Carter, I’ll go.”

  “Like hell, you will! I’ll pull this goddamn car over right now—”

  “And what? Drop me off on the side of the road? There isn’t time to take me to the hotel and then drive another thirty minutes away. What if he runs off in that time? What happens then? You want to track him down, you have him. I’ll go with you if I have to.” Even though I would’ve rather not. I didn’t want to see him fight again—the last time was almost too much, and that was when they were in public. How much worse would it get when there was nobody around to watch?

  “I don’t like this idea,” Slate growled.

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Roan chimed in over the speakers. I didn’t realize he was with them and guessed they were all in the same car. “The longer we let this guy run unchecked, the bigger the chance that he’s infecting people or animals. Or both.”

  “Shit!” Slate’s roar filled the car. I covered my ears.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Roan said. “We need to do it now, unless you want us to go in there without you.”

  “Oh, like hell, you will,” he snarled. “I’m on my way. Send me the coordinates.” He hung up the call and didn’t say a word to me for a long, long time. I sat frozen in place, afraid to say a word. One spark and he would blow up. I understood how he felt. I didn’t want to be there when it happened, but I would eat my heart out with worry if I knew they were trying to fight the shifter and I wasn’t there to see what happened. I’d go nuts.

  I took Slate’s phone, where Carter had sent the coordinates for the shifter’s den, and plugged them into the GPS system. It was something to do, anyway. I could almost feel how hard he had to focus on not shifting. His energy was so high, so intense, it left me feeling breathless and agitated. I thought about offering to drive but knew better. He wouldn’t even let me drive after his chest got slashed to ribbons.

  We left the city and rode further into the outskirts, eventually exiting onto a road with only a few lights. Most of it was dark, pitch black, but Slate wouldn’t slow down. Everything was riding on catching the shifter before he left—or attacked the rest of the team. I knew it was selfish, but I almost hoped he would. Whatever would keep Slate safe.

  “I want you to stay in the car no matter what happens,” he muttered.

  “I will.”

  “Promise.”

  “I promise, I promise.”

  “Keep the doors locked.”

  “I will.”

  “And if it looks like we’re losing the fight, I want you to get the hell out of there. Just drive. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Like I would ever leave him. I would mow the son of a bitch down with the SUV before I would leave Slate or his family behind. He wouldn’t want to hear that just then, so I kept it to myself.

  We made a turn down an unmarked road, which led us deep into the woods. He cut the lights after a few minutes. “What are you doing?” I gasped.

  “I can see in the dark. Not perfectly, but clear enough. I can’t announce our presence,” he muttered. It made sense. Even then, I forgot he wasn’t like me.

  “How much further?” I asked. Things were getting wonky with the GPS, probably because of our location.

  “We’re close. I can smell them.”

  Great. Every second that passed was one second closer to him maybe getting himself killed. I started rethinking the idea of going with him. I fought off the urge to throw up and chewed my lip so hard, I almost bit through it.

  “We’re here.” I didn’t know how he could tell—I didn’t see the other SUV until we pulled up beside it. I couldn’t breathe. It was all happening, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  “Please…” I di
dn’t know how to follow that up, so I let it hang in the air. Please don’t die? Please come back to me? Please don’t take too many chances? It all sounded silly.

  He nodded. “Stay here.”

  “I will.” I watched with my heart in my throat as he got out of the car and walked over to his brother and cousins.

  16

  Slate

  Carter led the way through the dark forest. I was glad we were walking so far from the cars—the further we were from her, the better. I hated the thought of her being too close to that guy, ever again. And if I got hurt, or worse, I didn’t want her to see that.

  I wished I had been smart enough to tell her what she meant to me before I got out of the car. How happy my week with her was. How much I would miss her when we weren’t together anymore. She showed me what I was missing all that time. I was missing her when I didn’t even know her yet.

  Carter stopped short. He held up his hand to stop us, then pointed to his two o’clock. When I turned my head in that direction, I could just pick up Kurt’s scent. I remembered it from when we fought. I’d never forget that blend of sweat and sickness.

  The smell was getting stronger. “Fuck,” I breathed. He was coming. He heard us and came straight for us. He was bad off if he was willing to walk straight into an ambush.

  We spread ourselves out in a semi-circle to greet him. I saw his eyes first. They were still red, red as blood, and they practically glowed like two tiny flames. His breath was harsh and ragged. When I could finally see him, I could see that he hadn’t changed his clothes since our fight. A week earlier. He was falling apart.

  “What are you doing here?” he whispered in a dangerous, deadly tone.

  “You know what,” Roan snarled.

  “This has nothing to do with you,” Kurt snapped at him—it took a lot to get Roan to back down, but he did just then.

  I kept staring at him, waiting for him to strike. “You’re sick, man. It’s not your fault. We don’t want to have to fight you.” The four of us circled around him almost as one. We had hunted together enough times to fall in step without having to discuss it.

  The cold hatred in his eyes was almost a physical thing. I knew it wasn’t him, not really. It was the sickness. He couldn’t help it. And any animal that was sick in a way that couldn’t be helped… well, there was only one way to deal with an animal like that. They had to be put out of their misery for their own sake. And the sake of others.

  It was like he read my thoughts. Our eyes locked. In an instant, I knew I had to shift. I heard my clothes tearing to shreds as the change happened and just like that, I wasn’t thinking like a human anymore. Everything was much more primal, stronger, simpler. The animal had to die. He threatened what was mine and he had to die. It was the only way.

  He shifted, too, and I was face-to-face with a tiger. A tiger with red eyes.

  I could feel his thoughts, and they were different from his human thoughts. The thing about an animal was it didn’t have the ego of a human. He wasn’t proud anymore. He didn’t pretend anymore that he could hold himself together. All he had inside him was blind rage and confusion. Confusion because he didn’t know why he was so angry, why he wanted to kill the three of us. He didn’t understand why any of it was happening to him. He was tired.

  Let go, I thought as I looked into his crazed eyes. Around us, my team shifted to back me up. Somehow, I knew what was happening without being told. He didn’t want to fight them. He wanted to fight me. It was between us.

  He didn’t give out any single one, clear thought the way I did. I only felt the waves of rage rolling off him. And pain. Yes, he would be in pain. Lots of it. There might even have been part of him that wanted it to end.

  He leapt, his front legs extended and his claws reaching out for me. I sidestepped just in time and he slid in the dirt, snarling and roaring in frustration. I jumped on his back and realized almost too late that I couldn’t bite him. Any other animal and I would’ve sunk my teeth into their throat. It wouldn’t be any problem at all to take him down—he was weak, even if he snapped his jaws and snarled wildly. But I couldn’t do it.

  He took advantage of that split-second hesitation and threw me off him. I landed on my back, and in the blink of an eye, he was on me. Saliva dripped from his jaws as he snapped them in my face, long fangs flashing in the moonlight. I roared and sank my claws into his shoulders and sides. He threw back his head and screeched.

  Finish him off! Roan shouted in his head. I wanted to tell him it wouldn’t be that easy, but I had to concentrate on the full-grown, rabid tiger on top of me. A quick shift of my weight rolled us over until I was the one on top—my claws still held fast, and I felt his hot, sticky, infected blood pouring out over my paws.

  My pack howled, circling us, pawing at the ground. They only wanted the excuse to jump in and rip him to pieces. I wouldn’t put them through that sort of danger if I could help it.

  The tiger looked up at me as he writhed in agony. His eyes were as red and angry and thoughtless as ever. I wanted it to be over for him. I didn’t even hate him anymore. I didn’t feel anything but pity. I pulled my claws from one shoulder and sank them into his throat, slashing deep, tearing into his jugular.

  He let out an ear-splitting roar and instinctively attacked one last time. I howled when his teeth tore into my leg.

  The rest of my pack leapt into action, tearing at the tiger, and I felt him losing strength under me. Roan pulled me from him. I rolled onto my side, looking at my leg in horror. He bit me. I was bleeding, and his blood had probably mixed with mine.

  It was over in another minute. The human form had taken over one last time. One final time. I looked at the shifter and noticed how small and sad and pathetic he looked in death. And covered in blood, with a gaping wound in his throat.

  I shifted back, too, to get a look at my wound. It was in my left arm, a deep bite which oozed blood with every beat of my heart. The guys shifted back and put on their clothes—they had taken the time to get undressed, while my things were in pieces all over the ground.

  “We need to get you to the hospital,” Roan announced in a tight voice. He helped me to my feet—I was dazed, a little weaker than I wanted to admit. And scared. I saw those red, empty eyes in front of me as I limped to the car. They would be my eyes if I didn’t get help. I leaned on him as he helped me walk.

  Maggie reached for me, folding me up in her arms as Roan helped me slide across the seat. She took off her sweater and laid it over me. “Don’t… don’t touch my leg,” I warned, wincing as I moved it to a more comfortable position while Roan ran around to the driver’s seat. Carter and Drew got into the second car.

  “I thought I would die, waiting here for you,” she whispered in my ear.

  “I thought I would die, fighting that guy,” I chuckled.

  “Did you, really?”

  “No.” I looked up into her wide, tear-filled eyes. “I wouldn’t have died. I wouldn’t leave you like that.” Her hands shook as she took my face in them.

  “I love you, you know,” she whispered.

  “I know. I love you.” I closed my eyes and rested my head against her shoulder—what a change, resting in her arms. I couldn’t explain why I felt so damned weak and shaky. Did the sickness come on that fast? I had barely fought him, so it wasn’t like the fight had drained me.

  My heart was racing. Adrenaline was already pumping through my veins during the fight. Whatever he had spread to me had more than enough time to work its way through my bloodstream—and it was already developed enough to have a strong effect. I felt feverish and turned my head from side to side as all kinds of conflicting images crashed around in my brain. Hunting and fighting and bleeding and flying, soaring high over the trees, looking down at towns and cities, wondering how I would ever get down to the ground again. Cartoon characters with big, misshapen heads, chasing Maggie down. Not Maggie. A princess who only looked like Maggie. They snapped and drooled and foamed at the mouth, and they were
just too fast, too fast. I watched from high above and couldn’t get down to where they were. I couldn’t help her. She would die, and I couldn’t help her.

  “No!” I groaned, struggling to sit up.

  “What is it?” A cool hand on my forehead. I felt like I was going to throw up—or my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I couldn’t remember feeling so sick in my life.

  “Hang in there,” a voice called out. I looked up and saw Roan driving the car and remembered we were on our way to the hospital. He was shouting. “Get somebody there now. The best doctor you have on-call. I can’t take him to the mainstream hospitals and he’s running out of time.” There was another voice talking back to him. Where was it coming from? The Bluetooth. Of course. Get it together, I yelled at myself.

  Maggie whimpered. I turned my head to look up at her. She was there, not running away from those terrible creatures with their blood-red eyes and snapping jaws. She was safe, and I was in her arms. “You’re safe,” I muttered, closing my eyes again and trying to calm my breathing.

  “I’m safe because of you,” she said, cradling me. “Try to rest.”

  “I can’t… terrible… dreams…”

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She rocked me back and forth and I let the motion soothe me as the lights from the road passed over me. I could still see them even with my eyes closed. Faster, faster, the car’s engine roared as Roan floored the pedal.

  “I think I’m dying,” I muttered. It all went black after that. I didn’t hear her anymore, or the engine’s roar or anything else.

  When I opened my eyes again, it wasn’t dark. I wasn’t in the car. I was in bed, with bright, white light shining down on me. I squinted and tried to raise a hand to shield my eyes from the glare. Only I couldn’t raise my arm.