by Sara Summers
My car rolled a few times before landing my passenger side right in the middle of a tree. The tree was strong, and my car was not. The metal smashed on impact, and had someone been sitting in that seat, they would’ve been dead in a heartbeat.
As it was, my right foot was smashed by the impact.
When I opened my eyes, all I could see was the airbag, though even that looked hazy. I could feel that my foot was trapped, and I could hear men talking from somewhere above me.
“Find her now.” A semi-familiar voice demanded.
I had to get out of there, which was a problem, because I was really very stuck.
I forced myself to focus. Though my foot was throbbing and probably oozing blood, I tugged on it to see if I could get it out.
When red flashed across my vision, I knew that wasn’t happening, so I thought about my options.
I had no one to call; I didn’t have Ty’s number, nor did I know Kyle’s or Dean’s. Honestly, I didn’t even know if they had phones.
There was always 911, though I knew that by the time they got there, the Rockies would be long gone with me knocked out in their trunk.
I could try sweet-talking my way out, but I had a 1% chance of managing that. I sucked at sweet-talking, and without dominance, I couldn’t force them into letting me go the way Ty could.
So I had only one option:
Get out of there before they found me.
And to do that, I either had to cut off my foot, or… well, shift. And shifting with an injury was always a risk. Changing broken human bones into wolf bones usually meant you’d make the break much worse. I’d never broken anything before, but I imagined having a cast would suck.
Then again, being footless would suck a lot more, and getting kidnapped by the Rockies could be even worse than footlessness, depending on what they had in mind for me.
So I shifted. It hurt like crazy, but I forced myself to do it. I pulled my hoodie off over my head, figuring that since it was long, I could use it to cover myself when I shifted back. Then, I changed forms.
My wolf got us out of the car as quietly as possible, and, carrying the hoodie in her mouth, she hobbled us deep enough into the forest that we could get our bearings.
“You idiots!” that same familiar voice yelled. “I told you to wait until the road leveled off with the mountains. If she’s dead, so are you.”
I didn’t have time to wonder where I knew the voice from, however. I was in survival mode.
There was some snow on the ground, so my wolf and I plunged our paw into it, cleaning off the blood to take away some of our scent.
Though exhausted from the effort, we then rolled in a mud puddle and brushed up against a few trees to steal some of their scent.
That was as good as we were going to do, with blood still oozing from our broken paw, so we hurried through the forest as fast as our three good legs could carry us. The diner was only a mile away, and if we could make it there, we would survive.
We raced through the trees, whimpering every time our foot hit the dirt, but pushed ourselves forward. If the Rockies got us, there was no telling what would happen.
We made it inside the back door of the diner before collapsing on the ground, blood pooling under our paw.
Then, everything went black.
Chapter 8
“Leah? Is that you?” one of the waiters gently shook our wolf shoulder. A waitress screamed.
“Someone call 911!” She shrieked.
“What’s going on?” a civilian pushed through, and I could hazily tell it was Kyle. “Leah?” he bent down and pressed his fingers to my neck. “Dean, get Ty over here now.”
Kyle stood up.
“Everyone, stay calm. We’ll take care of her, no need to involve the police. This is pack business. Do you have a first aid kit?” he looked around.
The waiter who had found me earlier dragged the diner’s heavy medical kit into the room, and Kyle rifled through it. He found some alcohol, then cleaned and bandaged my paw.
“We’ll take better care of you when we get out of here.” Kyle whispered, before standing up again.
“She’ll be fine.” He announced. Everyone who had gathered in the kitchen clapped and cheered. “Go back to your meals.” He dismissed the group, giving the order with a burst of dominance slight enough that no one realized it.
Kyle helped Dean pick me up, and they carried me back to their white truck.
“Ty will meet us at the hospital.” Dean assured me. “It’ll be a bumpy ride.” He warned, jumping in the cab of the truck. Still in wolf form, I lay in the back of the truck, only a blanket to protect me from the painful jerks and bumps.
They peeled out of the parking lot, flying down the roads to the town’s hospital. As Dean said, the ride was plenty bumpy. I slipped in and out of consciousness throughout the ride, and I wished Ty was with me, holding me close and keeping me safe.
The truck stopped, and I heard two car doors slam shut. A third door closed, more quietly, but all I could hear was yelling.
“You were supposed to protect her.” Ty snarled, and I heard a thud. The truck shook.
“You told us not to follow her so closely.” Kyle protested. “We were following orders.”
“You were supposed to protect her!” Ty shouted, and I heard another thud.
“Alpha, take a breather. She’s fine.” Dean growled.
I took a deep breath and shifted back into human form, biting back a scream as fired ripped through my foot. Shifting when injured is never a good idea.
I pulled the blanket to cover everything that needed covering in the human world, and Ty was crouching next to me a second later.
“Hey, sexy.” He whispered, gently touching my face. “How are you doing?”
“Been better.” I muttered, and he nodded.
“I’m sorry. We’ll get you fixed up.” He promised, scooping me and the blanket up in his arms. He somehow managed to climb out without a problem, carrying me inside the hospital. They took me away on a stretcher, and stuck me with a needle moments later.
Despite a war to stay awake, I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, my right leg was in a massive, pink cast. I was wearing a hospital gown, and couldn’t move my lower half even a little.
I stared down at the cast for a few seconds before pulling the hospital gown up to see how far it went.
The cast ended in the upper-middle of my thigh. I groaned and reached up to move my hair out of my eyes, wincing when that hurt just about every part of my body.
“Hey.” Ty came over from the side of the room. He looked exhausted.
He sat down on the edge of my bed and put a hand on my cast.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Eh.” I leaned my head to the side and winced. “About like someone who rolled their car down a mountain.” I tried to lighten the mood. He gave me a small smile.
“Why’d you do that?” he joked.
“It looked like fun.” I yawned, wincing again. A nurse came into the room. She was dark-skinned, and somehow managed to look good in scrubs.
“You almost died, young lady.” She raised her eyebrow at me, pulling a clipboard off the desk next to her. “Next time, keep your car on the road.”
“I didn’t exactly plan it…” I yawned again, and of course, winced again.
“You broke your foot, ankle, and a few bones in your leg. Shifting and walking a mile on it only made the breaks worse.” The nurse read something off her paper. I wanted to groan. “You’re going to have to take a few months off work. You can’t walk much on the leg you broke, and you can’t shift.”
When I heard that, I really did groan.
“We’ll give you some medication to keep your wolf at bay, along with something for the pain. You were really lucky.” She looked up from the clipboard. “Keep her safe, Alpha.” The nurse chided him.
“I will.” Ty nodded, looking even more tired than he had earlier.
The nurse t
urned to walk away, and I saw the black cotie shimmering on her neck.
“Wait, can I still go to college in a month and a half?” I called out, before she left the room. She cocked an eyebrow in my direction.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t dream of leaving my mate’s side until everything with the Rockies blows over. That Alpha’s out to get you.” She left without another word.
“Is she in your pack?” I asked Ty. He nodded, the rested his head against my bed. “Are you okay?”
“How could I be okay?” Ty asked. His voice was weary and gruff. “The Rockies almost killed you, Kyle is the only reason you don’t have a prosthetic leg right now, and yet you still want to get away from me in a month and a half. I should’ve been with you.” He glared at the wall in front of him.
“If you were, I would’ve died. My passenger seat was toast.” I stretched my arms, wincing when my muscles pinched.
“So was your driver’s seat.” Ty shook his head. “It really is a miracle you survived.”
“I’m tough.” I yawned again. “What medicine did they give me?”
“It really doesn’t matter.” He brushed it off.
“Hey, what do you know about the Rocky Alpha? I think I heard his voice, and it sounded familiar. Was he one of the guys in the diner that day?” Ty raised his head, frowning.
“No. Don’t worry about him, okay? He doesn’t matter. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m not going to be with your pack.” I protested, then yawned bigger than I’d ever yawned before. The yawn forced my eyes to shut, and the medicine pulled me under as soon as they closed.
“We’ll see.” I felt Ty kiss my forehead as I fell asleep.
“You’re good to go, miss. Call your doctor to schedule your next appointment whenever you’re feeling up to it. Be more careful next time.” The middle-aged human man instructed.
“Thanks.” I nodded once, wincing at the pain.
I’d been in the hospital for another few hours after falling asleep, but the pain had only increased. My whole body ached.
Ty pushed my wheelchair out the door, and when we got to his truck, he lifted me inside.
“A red truck. Didn’t know that was your style.” I remarked, as he started the engine.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Ty smiled wryly. “But no, it’s not. The truck was handed down when my dad died. It still runs, so I wasn’t gonna argue.”
“Good to know.” I smiled. “You know, the Rockies were out to get me before anyone knew we were mates. They can’t be chasing me because of you; that wouldn’t make sense.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Ty tried to comfort me. “I’m sure you’re just overthinking because you’re tired.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I leaned back in my seat. “Hey, where are you taking me?” I frowned.
“To my apartment, right in the middle of our pack’s land.” Ty shrugged. I sat up straight, and he held out a hand. “Easy. You’re broken, remember?”
“Of course I remember.” I snapped. “I told you I’m not going to join your pack. I have a job, and I have to keep working if I’m going to pay tuition.”
“Yeah, well I’m pulling the Alpha veto on that one. The Rockies almost killed you.”
“I know.” I glared at him. “If anyone understands that, it’s me. The girl with the thousand pound cast, not to mention that it’s the color of a fricking flamingo. Take me to my apartment, and tell me why I have a pink cast.” I ordered.
“Kyle and I didn’t know what color you’d want, so we figured pink was safe. It’s a girly color.” Ty explained.
“If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would punch you in the shoulder.” I snapped. “Take me back to my apartment.”
“No.” Ty continued driving down the unfamiliar road.
“Okay, take me back to my apartment or I’ll walk there. If I have to, I’ll shift to do it.” I threatened him.
Would I really shift and run back? No way. That would hurt insanely bad.
Ty didn’t need to know that, though.
“You’re infuriating.” Ty growled, but he flipped a U-turn and headed back toward what I assumed was the direction of my apartment. “We’re stopping to get your stuff, and then you’re coming back with me.
I growled at him.
“I’m not your Omega. We’ve been over this. The Rockies don’t know what college I’m going to, so I’ll just stay with a friend or something until the semester starts. I’ll catch the next flight to somewhere, and you’ll never have to worry about me again. It’ll be perfect.”
“You’re oblivious.” Ty glared at the road, and I started to feel waves of dominance rolling off of him.
“You’re losing control.” I pointed out.
“You don’t make it easy.” He muttered.
I folded my arms.
“None of this is my fault. I told you from the beginning that I was never going to join your pack. I tried to let you go, but you kept coming back over and over again. I tried to end this ages ago!” I protested.
“Well then I’m sorry for trying to get you to fall in love with me.” Ty snapped.
“Stop it!” I commanded, putting my hands on my temples. “I can’t deal with drama right now, okay? The Rockies tried to murder me, and you’re trying to kill my dreams. It’s not going to work. I’m gonna make a difference, no matter how many people try to stop me.” I cried out.
Ty looked over at me, then refocused on the road.
“You think I have some sort of evil plan?” Ty demanded. “You think I’m out to get you, or stop you from being who you want to be? That’s ridiculous. I just want to be with you, to be your mate. But apparently that’s too much to ask.”
He shook his head.
“Fine. I won’t try anymore.”
I folded my arms over my stomach and stared out the window. Ty wasn’t the mate I’d wanted, he wasn’t the mate I’d dreamt of. He was nothing like the person I saw myself with, the man who would be just as passionate about my dreams as I was.
“Good. Find some human girl to be the weakest person in your pack, and have a nice life.” Had there not been a massive and heavy cast hanging off my leg, I would’ve pulled my knees up to my chest.
I had a feeling it was a good thing that I’d been given medicine to hold back my wolf, because I knew she wouldn’t have agreed with what I was doing. She wouldn’t want me to say goodbye to our other half, the man who had already saved us twice, and fed us bacon numerous times.
We loved bacon.
But it would take a lot more than some bacon to get me to abandon my dreams.
Ty slammed the door to his truck when we got to my apartment building, then he came around to my door.
“I’m fine.” I pushed him and his wheelchair away, easing myself toward the ground. My arms were weak, though, and I slipped. The ground flew toward me, but a pair of warm, strong arms caught me before I collided with it.
“Thanks.” I muttered.
“No problem.” Ty growled, depositing me in the wheelchair and pushing me into the building and up to my door. “Key?” he held out his hand.
“It’s still in my car at the bottom of the mountain.” I admitted.
Ty sighed, and wheeled me backward. Before I realized what he was doing, he charged the door, and it swung open.
He wheeled me inside.
“Where do I find your suitcases?” he demanded. I pointed to the closet.
“Can I borrow your phone?” I asked. He dropped it on my lap before going over to the closet and taking my suitcases into my room. With shaking fingers, I dialed Savanna’s number.
“This is Sav.” She answered.
“Savvy, it’s Leah. I need help.” I said softly. “Things went to crap, and I have to get out of town. Where are you?”
“Eff.” Savanna muttered. “I’m in Buenos Aires. Are you okay?”
“I’ve got a pink cast covering my entire left leg, but other than that, I’m good.” I said.
“What?” Savanna demanded. “What happened?”
“I’ll explain later. Do you know if any of the other girls are living out of town?” I checked.
“Umm…” she trailed off. “Ava disappeared on the coast, found some other mermaids or something. Cozy’s been traveling a little, but lives at home. Marley’s still large and in charge… Ooh, Jazz is in Colorado, going to school already. I’ll send you her number.” Savanna promised.
“Thanks.” I sighed.
“What about your Mr.? What happened there?” She questioned.
“I really don’t want to talk about it.” I admitted.
Something hit me on the neck, and it stung. I raised my hand up to smack it, but ended up whacking a dart deeper into my skin.
I pulled it out and stared at it, my mouth slowly opening.
“Leah? Hello?” Sav demanded, but my brain seemed to shut off. My eyes closed, and my world went dark.
Chapter 9
When I opened my eyes, I still couldn’t see anything. Everything around me was dark.
It took a minute for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I could sort of see the outlines of some furniture. I saw what looked like it could be person next to me, and I kicked my foot out to check, not giving the action a second thought.
It just so happened that my foot was covered in a cast, though, and was heavy and throbbing.
I grunted as the cast collided with something that might’ve felt squishy enough to be a person, I wasn’t sure. Pain shot up my leg, and I held my tongue to avoid crying out.
The thing or person I kicked groaned.
“Shh.” I whispered.
“Leah?” Ty asked, drowsily. “You okay?”
“Yep.” I didn’t tell him that my whole leg felt like people were whacking it over and over with a baseball bat, or that my head felt like someone had driven a nail into it.
“Where are we?” he wondered.
“Based on everything that’s happened recently, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that this is the Rocky’s headquarters.” I told him.
“The Alpha’s home, you mean.” Ty grumbled.
“It really doesn’t matter.” I closed my eyes. “How are we going to get out?”
