by Becca Van
“Now, that’s where you are wrong. We had plenty of trouble with Michelle, and she is just as single-minded as your mate is when she has a notion, if not more,” Brock said. “Just remember that all the women who have ended up as our mates are no pushovers. They are all different in a lot of ways, but when push comes to shove, they can all be as stubborn as hell. I don’t think they would be our mates if any of them lacked backbone.”
Jarrod reached for his wolf and let his human side draw back. Moments later he ran amongst the trees. His animal howled at the moon, expressing the joy he felt as the cool night air ruffled his golden wolf pelt. He called to his brothers and quickly changed direction when they called back. Nothing compared to running free in the night, letting his animal have control for once. His wolf senses took over, and he sniffed the air, catching the scent of a rabbit. He took off after it, and even though he had no intention of killing the small creature, his beast reveled in the tracking and the chase.
He turned away, letting the frightened animal hide once more, and went to meet his brothers. They were already heading back toward the house. Brock was still out with the other wolves, and even though he could have kept running for hours, Jarrod wanted to shower and change before dinner. He loved spending time with his family at meal times, but he loved having Rochelle sit beside him more. She gave as good as she got, and he loved listening to her and watching how her quick mind worked. His little mate was a joy to be around.
She was teased often about being a vegetarian and her earlier clumsiness, but she took it all in stride. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too sickened by the thought of eating meat once she conceived. They were going to have to talk to her very soon about the need to eat meat when she was pregnant. The last thing he wanted was for her to ignore the natural cravings of an expectant mate.
* * * *
Rochelle sat frozen in the garden. She had taken up her seat on the bench among the trees late in the afternoon and had settled down to read her book. Only when she’d heard Jarrod’s voice had she realized how late it was. Her first inclination had been to jump up and go say hello to him and Brock.
Then she’d heard her name.
Now the men had moved off. She heard the yips and howls of wolves running elsewhere on the property, enjoying a run before the sun went down. Rochelle still sat where she was, their conversation replaying in her mind.
She is going to crave rare meat for the pup…
She covered her mouth and breathed deeply, trying to stop herself from gagging. Just the thought of eating any type of meat was enough to make her feel sick.
But if I have children with them, I’ll have to.
It seemed clear that Jarrod had known as well as Brock had that this would be an issue. Why hadn’t they told her?
Rochelle put down her book and began to pace. As Brock had pointed out, none of her men had ever asked her about her vegetarianism. Maybe if they had, they’d have realized that this was going to be a problem.
She walked around the outside of the house, not really taking notice of where she was headed. When she reached the carport, she realized that she wanted to go for a drive. She needed to clear her head.
All the men of the pack had their own place to park their vehicles, and most of the time they left the keys in the ignition. Malcolm’s truck was no different, and since her car was blocked in, she couldn’t get it out of the carport. She walked toward the truck. Without stopping to think, she got into the driver’s seat, pulled the seat forward so she could reach the pedals, and turned the key. Moments later she was cruising down the driveway.
She wasn’t running away, she just needed some time alone to process the new information. Even though she felt queasy, she was also angry and more than a little hurt that her mates hadn’t deigned to tell her what to expect if she conceived their child.
They had never asked her why she didn’t eat meat. That thought made her think that maybe she wasn’t as important to them as she thought. She had asked them so many questions about their heritage, their wolves, and their childhoods she felt like she knew them inside out. Although she knew she still had a lot to learn about her men, they had more to learn about her.
Was she that inconsequential to them? Sure, they had asked her about where she was from, what she had done before she arrived in Aztec, and about the years she had spent in the orphanage, but they had merely touched the surface.
What the hell was she supposed to do now? There was no fucking way she was going to eat meat.
Calm down, girl. You’re not even pregnant.
She sighed. But she wanted to have their children. They hadn’t talked to her about that, either.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe they didn’t bring it up because they didn’t see her having their kids…
“Whoa.” Rochelle hit the brakes. In the deepening dusk, she saw the outline of a large animal by the side of the road. It was the wrong shape to be a dog.
It looked like a sheep. Did someone hit it? She slowed further, craning her neck to see. It wasn’t moving, but she knew she couldn’t just keep driving. The thought that it might be lying injured and in pain would bother her all night.
She pulled the truck onto the shoulder, the tires crackling on twigs and leaves from the trees by the road. It was darker in the shade, closer to night than dusk. After she slammed the truck door, the air was utterly silent.
Rochelle got two steps toward the sheep before she heard another sound. Something panted and moaned in the trees.
She stood still, peering into the darkness. There was something lying on the ground, further back from the road. Another moan and a cough was enough to get her feet moving again.
“Hello, are you okay?” she asked. She got close enough to see that it was a man. He lay on his side under the trees. Rochelle knelt down and reached for the man, intending to help him.
He moved so fast she was on her back pinned to the ground before she could draw breath, and his hand was covering her mouth. She couldn’t even scream for help.
The evil gray eyes of Harold James stared down at her.
What is he doing out here? She hadn’t seen the creepy guy since that day in the sheriff’s office. He’d looked a little off kilter then, but now he seemed maniacal. His eyes stared down at her without reason, and there were twigs and leaves stuck in his hair.
Though she struggled to breathe under the pressure of his hand, she recoiled as his rank breath washed over her. “The pretty girl from the sheriff’s office,” he crooned. He sniffed. “Their mark is all over you.”
She twisted, trying to get free from his hand, but stilled when she felt something sharp at her throat.
An evil smile warped James’s face. “I’ll put my mark on you instead.”
His eyes began to change color and turned into a glowing gold.
Oh fuck. He’s a deranged werewolf.
His mouth and nose elongated into a snout, and claws erupted from his fingertips. They dug into her cheek and pierced her skin. Blood dripped from the wounds, down over her jaw and onto her neck.
White-hot agony erupted through her body just after he bent his head. Pain such as she’d never known before burned into her neck where his teeth bit into her. She raised her arms and tried to fight him off, but she didn’t stand a chance. He was way too strong and seemed to relish the pain he was causing her. Her eyes widened in horror when he lifted his head and stared down at her. Blood dripped from his mouth, and he snarled out a laugh.
Rochelle could feel lethargy creeping over her body as blood seeped rapidly from her neck. Her eyesight began to dim and her body shivered uncontrollably, growing colder with every beat of her heart. She realized that she was bleeding out.
Oh God, please help me. I don’t want to die.
Chapter Thirteen
“Where’s Rochelle?” Jarrod asked as he strolled into the dining room. Dinner was in full swing, but there was no sign of his mate.
“I thought she was out in the garden,�
�� Malcolm replied.
“Michelle might know,” Brax answered.
Jarrod moved around the table until he was close to his queen. “Michelle, have you seen Rochelle?”
“Um, I saw her leave about ten minutes ago.”
“Leave? Leave for where?”
“I don’t know. She took one of the trucks.” Michelle glanced between Jarrod and his brothers, watching them from further down the table. “She looked upset, but she took off before I could talk to her. I don’t even think she saw that I was nearby.”
“What’s going on, baby?” Jonah asked as he sat next to his mate.
Jarrod slowly realized what might have happened. “Malcolm said she was in the garden.”
Michelle nodded. “She went out there to read this afternoon, on the bench by the back door.”
It was only a theory, but Jarrod’s instincts told him that Rochelle had heard him talking to Brock. If she’d been in the trees, he wouldn’t have seen her. And, distracted as he’d been by what Brock was saying, he wouldn’t have smelled her.
In any case, she was gone. Alone. With that lone wolf James skulking around town.
“Fuck!” Jarrod growled, dread forming in his gut.
Jonah rose to his feet and snarled at Jarrod. “You will not talk to my mate that way.”
Even though his profanity hadn’t been directed at Michelle, Jonah didn’t know that. Jarrod lowered his head in supplication.
“I’m sorry, Michelle, Jonah. I wasn’t swearing at you. Please forgive me.”
“Understood,” Jonah sighed and sat again.
Jarrod sniffed the air after Jonah sat once more. “Do you have any idea why Rochelle was upset, Michelle?”
“No. Maybe she just needed some time alone.”
Jarrod bowed his head to his Alphas once more and turned away. He raced from the room and gestured for his brothers to follow. “We have to find Rochelle. She’s missing.”
Jarrod picked up her scent and followed it out to the carport. He immediately noticed that Malcolm’s vehicle was missing.
“Where the hell would she go?” Jarrod snapped. “Take the truck. I’ll track her in wolf form.”
He shifted. His senses were more powerful in this form, and as soon as his paws hit the pavement, he could smell lingering traces of exhaust. She couldn’t be far ahead.
Jarrod raced up the drive, hearing his brothers starting the truck behind him.
He ran full tilt up the road, keeping the scent of the truck in his nose. Malcolm and Brax stayed close enough behind so that Malcolm could see him. “There are more behind us to help search. Rylan, Tarkyn, and Chevy took over from Justin, Roan, and Chet after Jonah accepted them as Betas, and they began helping with the pack security and the real estate side of things,” Brax said. “They are coming from the other direction. They were just leaving the Aztec Club. If they see her truck, they’ll stop her.”
“Good.” He wasn’t about to refuse help, but getting Rochelle to stop for them wasn’t what worried him. He feared that she might already have stopped.
His gut was telling him she was in trouble. A rank, rotting odor reached him, and he put on a new burst of speed.
He saw the truck at the same moment that another vehicle pulled off the road beside it. He saw three men burst out, and he recognized the scents of Rylan, Tarkyn, and Chevy. Behind him, Malcolm pulled the truck onto the shoulder. Jarrod didn’t slow down until he reached the trees where the others had gathered, knowing his brothers would be close behind him.
The sight that met his eyes nearly caused his legs to buckle. Rochelle was lying in a pool of blood, the side of her neck was gouged open, and her stomach had bite marks everywhere. He saw red.
Rylan, in wolf form, had cornered Harold James against a tree trunk. Jarrod didn’t stop to question the fucker.
He had his prey in his sights, and nothing was going to stop him from taking it down.
Stalking forward on all fours, he kept his eyes on James and then leapt. He was so enraged he didn’t even care when claws slashed into his side. Kill was the only thing that ran through his mind.
They circled one another. Jarrod waited for an opening. James jumped at him first. His claws slashed at Jarrod’s side, and his teeth bit and tore at the scruff of Jarrod’s neck.
Jarrod broke free. Rylan snarled and paced forward as if to join the fray, but Jarrod snapped his jaws at him.
“He’s mine.”
He had to keep his head in this fight. He wouldn’t let memories of the other fight, the one that had nearly killed him and left him with his scar, intrude on his thoughts now. Not when his mate needed him.
Jarrod ignored the pain in his neck and circled his opponent again. James’s attack was disorganized. This was a wolf who wasn’t accustomed to fighting his own. But Jarrod was.
He darted close and grabbed hold of James’s hind leg and crunched down hard. James howled with pain as the bone snapped.
Jarrod released James’s leg. The injured wolf turned, hobbling. His eyes flashed gold, utterly empty of all emotion except for rage. He leapt at Jarrod, but he was weakened and thrown off balance by his injury, and Jarrod was ready for him.
With a lightning-fast move, he side-stepped James’s blow and then went in for the kill. His teeth sank into his opponent’s neck, and he clamped his jaw together. Shaking his head back and forth, he growled and snarled until he tasted victory.
Finally he let James go and spat blood from his mouth. James was dead. He would never be a threat to his woman again.
Jarrod changed back into human form. Heedless of his nudity, he ran to where his brothers were trying to stop the blood from seeping out of his mate. She was so pale and lifeless that he feared they were too late.
“She’s got a pulse. It’s weak and thready, but it’s there. Blayk is on his way with his van,” Brax whispered.
Jarrod knelt down. His fingers couldn’t find a pulse, but using his wolf senses, he could hear her heart stutter. She wasn’t going to make it. Looking up at Rylan, who was standing a few feet off to the side, still in wolf form, he pleaded to him with his eyes.
“Rylan, you have to change her. She’s dying.”
Rylan whined and took a step forward. He sniffed Jarrod’s mate and angled his head as if he, too, was listening to Rochelle’s stuttering heartbeat.
“Please?”
“I want you and your brothers to back away from your mate.” Rylan licked Rochelle’s cheek as if trying to get her to wake, but there was no response.
“How long before Blayk gets here?”
“He’s here, and so are the Alphas,” Malcolm replied.
Jarrod looked up as Jonah, Mikhail, Brock, Blayk, Chris, James, Tarkyn, and Chevy entered the trees. The three Alphas immediately stepped forward. Chris took hold of Jarrod’s other arm as Tarkyn helped to hold back Malcolm and Chevy helped with Brax. They were going to have to restrain them so Rylan could turn their mate.
As soon as Jarrod and his brothers were restrained, Rylan struck. He growled and snarled as he ripped into Rochelle’s stomach, going deep into her organs. Her body convulsed, and Jarrod howled as he tried to control his wolf. The howls of his brothers joined his. He tried to snap at Jonah, but his Alpha just shoved his arm further up his back, asserting his dominance as Jarrod tried to pull away and go to his mate’s aid. Claws erupted from his fingertips, and he could feel fur beginning to sprout from his skin.
“Jarrod, Malcolm, Braxton, control your beasts,” Jonah said in a deep voice full of compulsion.
Jarrod immediately felt his beast quiver and shake as his Alpha’s powerful voice washed over him. Not once had he taken his eyes from his mate, and he snarled one last time as Rylan stepped away from Rochelle, allowing Blayk to get to work.
When he had his wolf under control, he nodded to Jonah and Chris and watched Blayk intently.
“She’s lost a lot of blood. I’m hooking her up to saline, and I’m also going to give her a pint each of your blood. As soon
as I have her stabilized, we’ll get her into the van and head home.”
Once Blayk had the IVs in her hand and arm, he attached heart monitors and hooked her up to an ECG.
“Her heart’s weak, but she’s holding her own. Let’s get her onto the stretcher and head home.” Blayk gently pushed a back board under Rochelle. With Chris’s help, they got her onto a portable stretcher and into the back of a van they used for emergency situations. “There’s only enough room for one of you.”
“Go,” Malcolm and Brax urged him. He gave his brothers a nod of thanks and followed Blayk into the van. They were heading home moments later.
Jarrod took hold of Rochelle’s hand and sat up near her head so he wouldn’t be in Blayk’s way. He watched as his cousin gave her a shot of painkillers as well as antibiotics and then began to clean her wounds with saline and antiseptic. James was driving the van, and even though he was speeding he kept the van from jolting too much. It was the longest ride of Jarrod’s life.
Just as the van slowed and turned into the driveway of the pack house, Rochelle moaned, and then her body began to convulse. Jarrod had never been so scared in his life and began to pray. He didn’t even realize he was crying until one of his tears fell onto his hand and rolled onto Rochelle’s.
“This is normal, Jarrod,” Blayk said. “Don’t give up yet.”
Taking a deep breath, Jarrod tried to push his emotions back and concentrated on his injured mate. The van stopped right outside the clinic at the back of the house, and with Chris’s help they wheeled Rochelle into the office. All the time he pulled the stretcher, he had a hand on her shoulder so she wouldn’t fall off as her body tried to accept the wolf DNA into her system. It took another ten minutes before her body stopped convulsing.
Blayk gave Rochelle another three pints of blood and more painkillers, and finally his mate’s body began to heal. He could see the wounds closing right before his eyes, and he knew in that instant that she was going to be all right. Movement in his peripheral vision prompted him to lift his head, and he saw his brothers’ pale faces. How long they had been in the room he had no idea. But when he saw them take a deep breath, he knew they had to have seen her struggle for life, too.
