Two days after that, Abby and I stood in her cabin shaking with nerves and running through the plan for the billionth time. Sam had given us each a few pieces of jewelry that would aid us in different ways should we need help. The first were our necklaces—mine was a teardrop sapphire wrapped in wire dangling from a white gold chain and Abby’s was a heart-shaped locket. If I threw mine at an assailant, it would explode. The explosion wouldn’t be large, but enough to hurt the both of us if I stood too close. Hers held a powder that would burn the person.
Our earrings were tracking devices. Our bracelets held tiny, thin, sharp knives. I prayed we wouldn’t have to use any of it, and I prayed it would be enough to defend ourselves against our kidnappers.
The closer to the time for us to leave, my stomach grew nervous.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said as we exited Abby’s house. I leaned over the porch railing and dry-heaved into the bushes.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Ryan said, patting my back. “We’re not only putting my wife in danger but my unborn child. That isn’t fair.”
“No it isn’t,” Dave said, “but she’s the one they want. We are sending Abby in to help. She can hopefully get them out quickly if things go south.” Ryan looked at Abby doubtfully. She didn’t have a handle on the teleportation ability, and that ability we would need if things got deadly.
“But what happens if they accidentally hit her stomach or…” Ryan asked, causing me to panic even more.
“Oh shit,” Abby said, rushing back inside the house.
We watched her go in confusion until Dimitri said, “I forgot all about that shirt.”
“What shirt?” Ryan asked, as I sipped on a bottle of water he had handed me.
“I found it. Leigh, come here,” Abby said, sticking her head out her bedroom door.
I looked to Ryan, and he shrugged his shoulders. On shaky legs, I walked to the woman. She pulled me into her room and shoved a white tank top at me.
“What’s this?” I asked, holding up the shirt.
“It’s for protection. Sam made it for me when we found out we were pregnant. Dimitri became so paranoid that something was going to happen to me since a wolf had shot me twice that he asked her to make me a few things to protect my stomach. Put it on.”
I pulled off my t-shirt, put on the tank top, and then pulled my shirt back over my head. “What does it do?”
“Push on your stomach,” she ordered, and I did. Nothing happened.
“What the…”
“It’s magic. Nothing can damage any area of your body the shirt covers.”
“Awesome. This actually makes me feel tons better,” I said, hugging her tightly.
“I thought it might. I can’t believe I forgot I had it. Sorry,” she said, shaking her head sadly.
“No problem,” I replied, wishing we had thought to ask Sam for something like this earlier. We’d been so focused on the plan that we hadn’t been thinking straight, not that I would have thought of it, being so new to the magical world and all.
We went back outside. I was crying again—this time in relief. At Ryan’s worried look, I told him about the shirt. The thing relieved him a bit, but neither one of us was okay with what was about to happen. He held on tightly to me the entire walk to Abby’s vehicle. He held my hand through the car window and even ran alongside the car until we picked up speed, then he dropped to all fours and shifted into his wolf form so that he could better keep up with the vehicle. Dimitri and most of the other pack members who weren’t on their way to Pine Hollow had already done this so that they could discretely follow us.
I watched him in the side mirror until he turned into the woods with the rest of the pack, and then I faced forward in my seat and grabbed Abby’s hand. She was shaking but managing to keep the vehicle steady as we left pack territory. Rebecca, who had already been in the vehicle waiting for us when we left Abby’s house, said nothing.
The drive to the shopping center didn’t take long. From the back seat, Rebecca told us where to park. Abby did as Rebecca ordered, then turned off the car. She and I moved as if we were about to exit the vehicle. As part of the plan, Rebecca slipped her arms around our shoulders and placed a rag over our mouths. Instantly, we were asleep.
Sam made the sleeping potion that Rebecca would tell the Council she had stolen from the witch. The potion wouldn’t last long, so they would have to move quickly if they wanted to take us.
I didn’t feel them remove me from Abby’s vehicle or put me in the van they drove, but when I woke not five minutes later, we were exiting the shopping center’s parking lot. Neither one of us had to feign fear, outrage, or the determination to break our bonds. The only thing I was grateful for was that, so far, Rebecca hadn’t lied about what she said would happen. They silenced our cries by threatening to shoot us in the leg. We gave up quickly, but our kidnappers didn’t think anything of this since they saw us as weak humans.
As we rode, I took the time to take in our situation. They hadn’t bound Rebecca, but she sat between two armed men in the back seat, and she didn’t look happy about it. Someone had tied me to the seat behind the passenger seat and Abby to the one behind the driver. We still wore our protective jewelry, so Rebecca hadn’t told them the pack was tracking us.
Two women occupied the front two seats. The one in the passenger seat held a gun. A large dog lay on the floor between Abby and I. A shifter, I was sure, by the way he watched us. They weren’t taking any precautions.
Dave and Daniel were right, though. The further we got from the Sullivan pack, the more relaxed they became. A human wouldn’t notice, but unbeknownst to them, Abby and I weren’t completely human. The unfortunate part was that we couldn’t break from our bonds. Every time one of us shifted our hands or legs, the dog growled or someone from the back seat would tap us with the butt of a gun, so we resigned ourselves to sit in silence and wait for the next stage in the plan.
The drive took us nearly three hours because we took back roads and veered off in different directions to shake off anyone who might be following us. We also had to stop twice for me to pee, which I had to do behind trees on the side of the road because they refused to pull into a gas station. My frequent need to urinate pissed them off. They almost didn’t stop the first time, but I threatened to pee in the seat, and almost did, before they pulled over. A comment or two was made about this, but they attributed it to fear and nothing else. I was pretty sure the shirt and my already being heavy masked the pregnancy.
When we were twenty minutes from town, we turned onto a country road to meet up with a caravan of other vehicles. We pulled along the side of the road and stopped. Two men exited one of the vehicles in front of us. One came to my door and the other went to Abby.
An armed person who must have come from behind us opened our doors for the men. In quick succession, they released one of our hands and scanned our fingerprints. After a long, silent second, the man who had scanned my hand said, “She’s Leigh.”
“And she’s Abby,” the other man said.
“Okay, wait here,” the first man said. “We’ll radio this in for further directions. You will follow us back to Pine Hollow. Mr. Burch wants to personally bring them into town.” The man didn’t sound all that pleased about what he was doing. And if I was being honest, none of our kidnappers did. My money was on the fact that the Council was forcing them to do it. This fact made me wish even harder that I didn’t have to hurt anyone in order to get out of the situation.
Ten minutes later, we were back on the road. We didn’t aim to take any of the major entrances into town at first. The first three roads we attempted to go down were blocked. We didn’t see the blockade, but just as we were about to turn down the road, someone from one of the vehicles radioed to tell us that wolves from the Sullivan pack were waiting for us.
By the fourth road, our captors understood that someone was rerouting them to the main entrance to town. Our caravan tried to leave the area, but again t
hey found their way blocked. In all of their planning, I don’t think they took into account that the Sullivans had strong magic in their genes, or they underestimated their abilities. Packs with such abilities were a bit of an outcast among shifter packs since they didn’t want the full scale of their abilities known to the supernatural world, but most supernatural sects were that way to some extent.
Finally, someone ordered our captors to drive to town, meet the pack head on, and fight if need be. The voice over the radio sounded confident that the group could defeat the pack, but the men and women in our van didn’t show the same emotion.
Reluctantly, our driver headed toward Pine Hollow. A quarter of a mile from the welcome sign, we stopped. Wolves, coyotes, large dogs, mountain lions, you name the animal and it was out there surrounding us on all sides. I searched for Ryan in the sea of animals, but I couldn’t find him. Ahead of us, though, stood Dave and Danielle. Daniel, Katelyn, Darius, my parents, and Ryan’s parents stood behind and around them—all of them were in human form.
“You have to the count of five to exit your vehicles,” Dave commanded. “If you don’t, we will come in after you. I know some of you are armed. I will forewarn you that your weapons will not harm anyone who came with the Sullivan pack. As you can see, there are more people here than what belongs to Daniel’s pack. I’ve convinced most of the shifters on guard here to join us. Those who did not are secure and safe. Please note that if you come out firing you will only hurt your own people. Possibly a brother, a sister, a parent, or a spouse.”
“That isn’t possible,” a voice called from one of the vehicles in front of us. I couldn’t see the person, but they had to be using magic to project their voice that way for everyone to hear.
“Martin, I assure you it is. You’ve spent too much time pretending that Pine Hollow is the only shifter pack on the planet. Your ignorance is your downfall. We not only have a powerful witch on our side, but an Angel and the Regent. You can’t win this. Pine Hollow now belongs to Danielle and I. I will pardon everyone who surrenders peacefully.
The woman sitting in the passenger side of our van unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door. So did the guards behind us. As soon as they did, they began untying us. The dog growled, but the man behind me told him to shut up.
“What are you doing?” the woman behind the wheel asked.
“Letting them go,” the woman in the passenger seat said.
The driver raised her gun, but the passenger was ready for her, and she cold-cocked her in the head with the butt of her own gun. All around us, I saw people exiting vehicles with their hands up. Shifters in human form met them and carried them off.
The passenger in our vehicle got out and came around to open my door. The dog leapt for her, but I kicked him in the belly and he rolled out of the van. She grabbed him and yelled for someone to help her subdue him. She also yelled that Abby and I were in the vehicle and unharmed.
In a blink, Dimitri and Ryan were at our van. Ryan shifted into human form fully clothed, something I was oddly thankful to Dimitri for, because despite what was going on, I didn’t think I would have reacted well to other women seeing him naked.
Dimitri jerked open Abby’s door and ripped away her remaining binds. He jerked her into his arms and disappeared only to reappear behind his parents.
Ryan pulled me from the vehicle and began walking me toward the front of the caravan, carefully keeping his distance from the vehicle Martin had apparently been in this entire time, his body shielding mine as we moved. More shifters assisted Rebecca and her two guards away from our vehicle.
Martin’s driver had left their car along with three of the Council members who were on their knees with their hands tied behind them in front of Dave. The new leader was calling for Martin to come out with his hands up. I heard a sigh of relief escape a few people and turned to see the man opening his car door. Ryan had his back turned, so he didn’t see the gun. I screamed. Two shots rang out, and then everything went crazy. I didn’t feel the second shot go through my shoulder because the first one ricocheted off Ryan’s chest and hit me in the stomach. From either the shock or pain or both, I passed out.
I came to sometime later to the feel of a large soft mattress underneath me. I didn’t recognize my surroundings at all. Quickly, everything rushed back to me, and I began screaming for Ryan and crying.
“I’m right here, baby. You’re okay. Shh. Calm down,” he said, rushing to me and pulling me into his arms mindful of my rapidly healing shoulder wound. I vaguely recognized that my mother had rushed to my side as well.
“Melissa?” I asked, pulling away from Ryan and jerking my shirt up. “Is my baby okay?” I didn’t see a wound or any mark whatsoever, only a band of some sort. Martin had shot me in the stomach; I knew he had, so I tried to move the band to see if the wound was under it.
“She’s just fine. Don’t move that. That is how the doctor is monitoring her,” he said and pointed to a machine that showed a heart rate. From the machine, I could hear a faint noise.
“Turn it up,” I ordered. My mother complied, and in seconds, my daughter’s heartbeat filled the room. I immediately relaxed and lay back on the bed.
“The shirt saved you,” Ryan said. “Remind me to do something special for Abby and Sam. If you hadn’t been wearing it…” I took his trembling hand and pulled him to me.
After a long moment, I asked about what happened after I passed out and what was going to happen to us now.
“Dave rushed Martin when he saw the man had a gun. He didn’t kill him, and the Regent has him now. They showed up at that moment, had Serena fly you into town, had their guards round up everyone we had taken into custody, and ordered everyone in Pine Hollow to the center of town. Daniel sent most of his pack back home, but Dimitri and Abby are here. Abby is waiting to see you. I’ll bring her in when you are ready.”
Most of Pine Hollow supported Dave and Danielle’s claim to the pack, and surprisingly, they supported Ryan and me as their seconds, especially since we had the Regent’s backing. I wish I had been awake to see the Regent. They were ancient creatures, the oldest of their species, and they radiated power unlike anything anyone had felt, or so they told me.
They sent each Councilperson and their families to live with other packs, then they stayed to watch every person in Pine Hollow swear fealty to Dave and Danielle and listened as the couple outlined their plans for the town. We were going to join the movement to reveal ourselves to the humans. We were no longer going to be breedists. Dave and Danielle decreed that they would allow pack members to marry outside of the pack, though they had to live on pack territory. Once they had made their intentions known, members swore a blood oath to them to follow their lead. Those few who did not the alphas allowed to leave the pack. They remained under the watchful eye of the Regent, though. Sofia and her family were some of these people, and I wasn’t sad to see them go.
I was unsure of my new role in the pack, as I didn’t know much about pack law, but most people accepted me easily enough, and I spent a great deal of my time in the weeks after Dave took over the pack learning what most pack children are taught from birth. I didn’t give up on my own plans, so when I wasn’t preparing the home Ryan had built for us and the baby and studying, I was with Abby, finalizing my paranormal romance based on Ryan’s and my relationship and secretly writing one based on Abby and Dimitri’s.
Epilogue
~~~Leigh~~~
“How does it feel?” Dakota Landry asked from across the table opposite Abby and I. Abby had introduced me to the woman who wrote paranormal romances under the pin name Destiny LeShae—and who happened to be one of my favorite authors—after she had read the second draft of my novel. Abby did some freelance editing for the woman from time to time. Dakota had been reluctant at first to read it, but Abby had insisted, so she relented and ended up greatly enjoying the novel to my shock and relief.
Dakota in turn introduced me to her agent, Haley Braxton, who also enjoyed t
he novel and offered to take me on, especially when I reluctantly told her that I had a second book in the works, thinking this would help sway the woman in my direction. I was scared to tell Abby about the second novel, but to my surprise, she said she knew I was writing it, which was why she found excuses to talk about how she and Dimitri met and about their subsequent relationship whenever possible.
“I’m excited. I mean, a publisher hasn’t picked it up yet, but Haley said she didn’t think it would take long,” I said, feeling both happy about it all and worried that we were celebrating too soon.
“If Haley says so, then that means she has some good leads. Any day now, you’ll get the call. My publisher is small, but you’ll like working with them if they take you on. Be happy,” Dakota said, raising her glass to me before taking a sip.
“To your success,” Abby said, holding up her wine glass. Dakota and Danielle held up theirs, I held up my virgin daiquiri, and we clinked glasses. Instead of taking a drink, though, I sat my glass down and stared at Abby with a shocked looked on my face.
“What? I promise you, I made it without alcohol,” Abby said, nodding to the pitcher on the table.
“That isn’t it. I… I think my water just broke,” I said, sliding my chair back from the table and looking down.
“Oh shit,” Dakota exclaimed, doing the same with her chair and leaning over the table to look at me.
Abby had her phone out in seconds calling her mother-in-law while Danielle called Ryan, then our mother. I guess it was a good thing that Ryan convinced us to stay home and celebrate. I had wanted to get out of the house, out of town to be exact, and Ryan’s compromise to this was to spend the weekend with the Sullivan pack. He must have sensed the baby was ready to come. I hadn’t had a clue she would arrive this weekend.
Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) Page 25
