The Alpha's Justice

by Michelle Fox

  Chapter Seventeen

  ~Talon~

  Talon raced through the woods, everything a blur except for Gretchen’s scent. His ears alert for the sound of her voice or any indication she was near, he ran and ran, stretching his legs as long as he could. She had to be around here somewhere. The woods weren’t pack land, but the land abutted several packs who owned large sections of wilderness. That was how they kept shifters secret, by owning and operating their own reserves. Save for strays, all shifters lived in the most remote areas they could find, eschewing urban areas.

  Whatever had happened, she would try to make it back to her pack land. Her scent trail seemed to corroborate that, heading in the same general direction of Huntsville. Good. Maybe this wasn’t as dire as it had first seemed. Maybe there was a simple explanation for everything.

  Brightening at the thought, he went even faster, eager to be reunited with the woman his heart claimed as his mate…and ran right into a wall of silver that seemed to fall on him out of nowhere. With a yelp, he clawed at the metal covering him with his front paws. While it flexed at the force of his movements, it didn’t give way. After several frantic seconds where he thrashed like a fish out of water, he finally went still and tried to analyze what had happened.

  He’d been running.

  Everything had seemed like regular, normal woods and underbrush.

  Then BAM, silver.

  Looking at it carefully he found it was a fine mesh of some kind. Not a net, more like chainmail that was big enough to use as a bed cover. What the hell?

  He gave a soft woof of irritation and then tried to figure a way out, making just one move at a time. Struggling only entangled him further so he was careful to think out every twist and turn, trying to focus on inching the silver across his body until he broke free.

  That appeared to be working. The silver slid over his fur, stinging his body like an angry bee as it went, but at least it did move. If he was patient and careful he would be free soon.

  Just as he was about to come out from under the silver, something sharp stabbed his haunch. Talon couldn’t keep from yelping, the sting was so unexpected it surprised him more than it hurt. Worse, his body turned on him, shifting from wolf back to human. He fought the change, not wanting to give up his wolf form, but he had no control over his body shape anymore.

  The world began to spin and the last thing he saw before it went black was the brightness of the sun and a dark form that hovered over him.

  ***

  Talon woke to the smell of blood and fear. He processed those scents first and then noticed that his whole body throbbed like he’d taken on a hive of bees. He tried to move his hand to sooth a particularly irritated spot on his hip, but found he couldn’t move. Blinking to clear his vision, he saw that he was still in the woods, but not the same place as before. A battered pickup with faded blue paint was on his right. On the left, someone was tied to a tree. His stomach dropped as he realized it must be Gretchen, but his vision was too blurry to verify that. Nor could he smell her. He caught pine and his own sweat but not much more.

  Looking down, he saw he’d been tied to a tree as well with what looked and felt like silver. His gun was gone, too.

  “Why the fuck is there so much silver around?” He flexed his chest and biceps hoping to burst through the silver, but no such luck. The silver had sucked too much of his strength. His wolf seemed faded in his mind’s eye, like a ghost that could barely flicker into sight.

  “Oh, you’re awake,” said a male voice. A pale hand emerged from a thicket of bushes to wave at Talon. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Who are you? What do you want?”

  The man stepped out into the open and sauntered over to Talon. “Do you recognize me?”

  Talon’s eyes went wide. “Jeb.”

  Jeb held out his arms as if to say ‘ta-dah.’ “The one and the same, and about to be very, very famous thanks to you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I know what you are.” He held up his Smartphone. “I’ve got it all on tape. I caught half your shift. I just need to gather some more evidence.”

  “Let me go,” Talon growled. “People know where I am and they’ll be looking for me.”

  “Excellent. How many should I expect? Ten? Twenty?” Jeb waved at the woods. “I’m set up to take them all down if necessary.”

  Talon shook his head. “Try hundreds. You can’t afford the silver that would take.”

  The dough-faced human rubbed his chin, his expression thoughtful. “No, you’re right. I’m not equipped for a group that large.”

  Gretchen stirred and moaned, drawing the attention of both men.

  “Gretchen? Are you okay?” Now that he’d been awake for a bit, his head had cleared and his senses were finally processing his surroundings. Talon could catch the faint scent of honeysuckle mixed with the tang of distress and his vision had sharpened, bringing her into focus. She didn’t look well. Her jeans were ripped and covered in blood. The same went for her shirt.

  “Mamm mmph,” she said behind the duct tape covering her mouth. She sounded shaky and weak. Her gaze sought out his and the fear in her eyes made his heart clench painfully in his chest. He should’ve been there to protect her.

  “I’m going to kill you,” he said to Jeb.

  “I don’t plan on giving you an opening,” Jeb said with a twisted smile. He stepped close to Talon.

  Talon saw the taser coming and braced for it, wondering how many times it had been used on Gretchen. The electricity went through him and he gritted his jaw to keep from biting his tongue as his entire nervous system seized up.

  “I think a change of venue is in order. I don’t need hundreds of werewolves. The two of you are more than enough.” Jeb unwrapped the chain holding Talon in place. Without the tree to hold him up, he fell to his knees, weak from the taser. Even though the silver was gone, his body still throbbed with its aftereffects, sapping his strength and keeping his wolf deep under his skin.

  Jeb pulled a second chain from his pocket and wrapped it around Talon’s torso, pinning his arms to his side. He then used the taser on Talon one more time before continuing to wind the chain down to Talon’s hips and over his thighs. To secure it, he just wove it under the strand above the last layer. Finally, he put a longer length of silver around Talon’s neck and pulled. “Come on, let’s get you loaded up.”

  Talon staggered to his feet, hindered by both the silver and the taser. He couldn’t quite feel his legs just yet, they tingled like they’d been asleep for decades, but he somehow forced his body to move, his gait slow and shuffling. He looked at Gretchen as they passed by her and wondered if his eyes were as wide as hers.

  We’ve got to get away from this guy. If he takes us someplace else, no one will know where to look for us.

  Realizing Jeb had turned his back on him, Talon decided to take a risk. He didn’t think Jeb would kill him, at least not yet. His whole thing was proving monsters were real, not destroying the evidence. At worst, Jeb would kick his ass and taser him some more. That was a risk worth taking, as far as Talon was concerned.

  He lunged forward, slamming into Jeb. The man went down with a surprised grunt. Talon rolled off him and waited for Jeb to give him an opening.

  “What the fuck.” He snarled at Talon as he went up on his hands and knees.

  Talon didn’t respond, his only focus on destroying Jeb. He ducked down and drove his shoulder up and under Jeb’s, flipping him onto his back. Before Jeb could react, he flopped on top of the human, pinning him in place.

  “This will be the last time you fuck with one of us,” Talon said. “It’s time for justice to be served, asshole.”

  Jeb’s fist bounced off the side of Talon’s head. It didn’t even make Talon wince.

  “You’re going to have to hit harder than that if you want to hurt me.” Talon leaned down, his eyes locked on Jeb’s. “You’re human, puny, weak…meat.” With that, he buried his face into the man�
��s neck and snapped his teeth around his windpipe. He couldn’t shift with all the silver on him, but deep down he was still a wolf with a wolf’s killer instincts. Gretchen was in danger, this bastard had hurt her and it was time for him to pay.

  Blood filled his mouth as he crunched his jaws tighter and tighter. Jeb flailed and gasped underneath him. He pushed against Talon’s body, but the sheriff outweighed him and would die before he let go. Finally Jeb went limp, but Talon didn’t stop crushing the man’s windpipe between his teeth. Jebs’s pulse still flickered against his mouth, so clamping down hard, he waited.

  His jaw ached and his body hurt, throbbing both inside and out thanks to the combined effects of the silver and the taser. The pain didn’t matter, though. He had to make sure Jeb wouldn’t be a problem ever again. He would do whatever it took to keep his mate safe.

  Talon knew Gretchen would flip if she could hear the way he referred to her as his mate, but his heart beat for her and only her. Gretchen Halbmond was his no matter how much she protested. It would be that way for the rest of his life, even if she left him in the dust. There would never be room for anyone else.

  Wanting to make sure they would never have to worry about Jeb again, he pulled the human’s head up with his teeth and then smashed his skull into the ground over and over again. Only when he saw blood spatter on impact did he back off.

  Gagging, he rolled off Jeb. The taste of life spilling into death filled his mouth and he spat, trying to clear his senses. It was over.

  Except he and Gretchen were still bound in silver.

  Catching sight of the chain, Talon realized the end had come undone in the struggle with Jeb and now dangled down to his knees. Maybe if he just rolled, he could get the thing off. He dropped to the ground and went round and round on the forest floor, gratified to see he’d been right, the chain slowly unraveled and fell away from his body. It seemed to take forever though.

  “It’s over, baby. Just hang on. If I can’t get us free, there are people who will come looking for us.” He grunted as he heaved his body up and over one more time. “I left voicemails for my crew and your pack before I started tracking your blood. We are going to get out of here.”

  Gretchen whimpered behind the duct tape over her mouth and tears glistened in her eyes.

  “I should have been there for you. I should have made sure you got home okay.” Talon closed his eyes against the guilt welling up inside him. “I thought…letting you walk away was the right thing to do. I was wrong. You may not like that, but I was wrong.”

  He paused to roll onto his stomach and then to his back. The chain was off his legs now, he just had to clear his torso and he would be free.

  “Do you know it was just luck that I found your car? Wait,” he said, stopping short and shaking his head. “No, scratch that. Not luck. I was coming to see you. I had to see you again. I was going to take you out to breakfast. When we get out of here, I vote we go get that breakfast. I’m starving.”

  His stomach rumbled loudly in agreement and he caught a sound from Gretchen that was more laugh than cry. He chuckled as her stomach growled too. “Okay, so breakfast it is. I’m thinking we need a stack of pancakes about two feet high to even make a dent.”

  Glancing at her, he saw a glimmer of a smile in her eyes. Tears dampened her cheeks and Jeb had put her through hell, but she could still smile. Talon counted that as good news.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~Gretchen~

  Gretchen watched as Talon unwound the silver chain Jeb had used to restrain him, her heart full of mixed feelings. She couldn’t quite believe it was over. There Jeb was, dead on the ground, as far as she could tell, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to pop up and shoot her again any second now.

  She’d almost given up hope. At first, when she saw that Talon was there, she thought rescue was imminent, but once she saw how well Jeb had planned out their capture, her heart had sank. No shifter could break through silver and Talon had been wrapped up tight, but he hadn’t let that stop him.

  Jeb is dead. I’ll repeat it until I believe it.

  Dead. Dead. DEAD!

  She sucked in a shaky breath. Talon had saved her and all she’d done was be a total bitch to him. She felt bad about it now. The guy had bled for her. When he’d found her car, he could’ve waited for help or kept going, but instead, he dove in alone, not knowing what to expect.

  She had to admit, she was impressed.

  Maybe she’d been too hard on the guy. Just because she didn’t want a mate didn’t mean she couldn’t go out with someone. Or give in to the desire Talon had set swirling inside her from the first moment they met. Even now, all tied up, beaten and bloody, her body was hyperaware of his presence.

  Next time he kissed her, she would kiss him back.

  She didn’t believe in fated mates. Didn’t think there was such a thing as happily-ever-after, but she did believe in Talon. Maybe that was enough.

  Talon cast off the last of the silver chain and stood up. Reaching his arms toward the sky, he stretched, his muscles rippling as he moved. Then he walked over to Gretchen and ripped off the duct tape with one quick movement.

  She yowled as she lost what felt like half the hair on her head. “Fucking Jeb,” she hissed.

  “Seconded,” Talon said, starting the process of peeling the silver chain off her.

  “He is dead, right?”

  In response, Talon darted over to where Jeb lay and gave him a swift kick in the ribs. The body lurched with the force of the kick but Jeb showed no signs of life. “He’s dead.”

  “Good,” she said and then she began to cry; big sobs that shook her body.

  “Shh, baby. I’m here. It’s going to be okay.” Talon wrapped her in a big hug with one arm, while the other continued to unwind the silver chain from her body.

  She leaned on him, inhaling his scent as tears raced down her cheeks.

  He growled when she winced as he pulled the chain off her thigh. It had dug into her skin and rubbed up against the spot where Jeb had first stabbed her, leaving the skin raw and red.

  “Sorry, baby.” He looked back at Jeb. “I wish I could bring him back to life and kill him all over again. It would be the least he deserved.”

  “I think there’s a voodoo priestess in one of the Louisiana packs who could do that for you,” Gretchen said, sniffing back tears. “But if you go for it, I want in. I’d like to kill the bastard a few times myself.”

  “I’d like to think I’m a good person, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted.” He had unwound the chain binding her legs by then. Just a few more times around and she would be free.

  “You are a good person,” Gretchen said, her voice quiet.

  He went still for a second, then cocked his head and looked deep into her eyes. “I never thought I would hear you say that. When it comes to you, I feel like one of those dogs who think their name is ‘no’ because it’s the only word they ever hear.”

  “And yet you didn’t give up on me.”

  He shook his head. “Never. I can’t. You’re the one for me. It’s instinctual at this point. The second I knew you were in trouble, I came to find you.” He pulled off the last of the silver.

  “Thank the full moon, you did.” She moved to step away from the tree but found herself falling instead of walking. Her wolf’s presence also returned, the sudden appearance stinging like a rubber band. That much power returning all at once was hard to withstand.

  Talon caught her and swept her up into his arms. “Easy, Halbmond. The silver probably left you weak.”

  Gretchen rested her head on his shoulder again, marveling at how they fit together. “You seem to be okay.”

  “I wasn’t under as long and…” He hesitated for a second and then said, “It looks like Jeb was pretty rough with you.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, he was.”

  “I’m sorry.” His arms tightened around her.

  “It’s not your fault.” She snuggled
closer, relaxing into the scent of his musk. Her wolf, ever the matchmaker, gave an approving yip.

  “It kind of is, actually. I made you go to his house. That’s how he even knew you existed.” Lifting her up into his arms, he walked to Jeb’s pickup and snagged some of the bottled water sitting on the tailgate. Then he headed away from the clearing the human had used as a base of operations. He found a new copse of trees, unmarked by violence. Setting her on top of a thick, soft patch of grass, Talon offered her a bottle of water. “I’m sorry.”

  “You saved me,” she protested, not liking the regret she saw in his eyes. “And you didn’t mean for any of this to happen, right?” She opened her water and rinsed out her mouth until it tasted clean.

  “Right. I just wanted to be close to you.” Talon did the same with his water.

  “And I was so busy telling you no, that you just chased me harder. It took both of us to make this mess,” she said. Her wolf nodded, agreeing with Gretchen’s self-assessment. Tugging on Talon’s hand, she pulled him to the ground beside her. “Don’t be sorry. It all worked out.”

  “You could have been killed.” He covered his face with his hands. “I almost got you killed.”

  “But I wasn’t.” She peeled his fingers away until she could see his eyes. Straddling his hips, she said, “I’m here and I don’t feel like kicking you anymore, Talon.”

  “What?” His eyebrows arched in surprise.

  Cupping his face between her hands, she captured his lips. He went stiff at first, not yielding at all to the kiss, but then his hand went to the back of her head while the other wrapped around her body.

  After a second he pulled back. “You changed your mind?”

  “No, you changed my mind. And when I thought Jeb was going to kill me, I realized I’d made a big mistake. I can’t keep thinking my parents are the only way things can turn out.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve decided not to believe that anymore. My mom ran away, but you ran toward me. If I can’t figure out how that’s different, then there’s no hope for me.”