by Maia Dylan
“That was Ty. He said that Faith was looking after Mateo and she thought that there might be something up back at Coffee and Quills,” Chris frowned as his mind started to whirl with possibilities.
“Let’s go then.” Hunter grabbed his jacket and made for the door.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” But the problem was Chris was starting to think that it might be something.
“It don’t matter,” Dane answered as the three men walked swiftly down the corridor. “If Ty’s mate thinks that something seems off, then ten will get you twenty that there is.”
Less than ten minutes later, the three of them walked into the living room of the apartment above the bookstore and Chris knew that something was terribly wrong. Ty and Trent sat on either side of Faith, and Rowena was on the floor at her feet, both women trying to calm Mateo, who was screaming the house down from his place on Faith’s lap. There was a panicked look on Faith’s face that Chris had never seen before and his heart rate sped up.
“What’s happened?” he asked and as soon as Mateo heard his voice he stopped screaming and held his arms out to Chris with a whimper. Chris pulled him into his arms and stroked his back. The rest of the room seemed to relax a little now that the little boy was calmer.
“Something is not right.” Faith started twisting her hands together in her lap, and Ty and Trent both leaned into her, surrounding her with comfort. “Both Angel and Noah have been gone for over an hour. I spoke with both of them and there was something going on that I just couldn’t put my finger on at the time. Since I’ve been up here with Mateo, he hasn’t stopped crying and this feeling that something very bad is happening keeps getting worse.”
“What did they say to you before they left?” Hunter asked from behind Chris.
“Angel was antsy about something. And she was talking really fast, like she didn’t know what to say but needed to say something.” Faith frowned. “She was talking a lot about how much she loved Chris and Noah and that she knew that if anything happened to her that Mateo would be looked after. At the time I didn’t think anything of it because she had just finished telling me how happy she was that the two of you loved her like you do. Talking about how you both could have been quarterbacks and—”
“What!” Rowena yelped as she sat back on her heels. “Did she actually use that word, Faith? Did she say quarterback?” She cried out when Faith nodded, and then Rowena leapt to her feet to face Chris. “Whoever has been leaving her those notes? The one you think Williams sent after her? He has her. Quarterback was the safety word we used when Baxter was coming for me. If she used that word then she was trying to signal that she was in trouble.”
“Fuck!” Chris roared, and pain and rage seemed to fill his every cell. “Noah!” He yelled for his brother down their link, but there was nothing. Even the cold icy vibe had vanished. When he looked within and turned to the link that led to his brother he got the same black void like he did with Angel. What in the fuck was going on here!
He could feel his rage and panic starting to swell within him and he knew that if he let it, it would consumer him and leave him without a chance of finding either his mate or his brother and that was simply unacceptable. He took five deep breaths, willing his emotions under control.
Whatever was happening, and no matter who the fucker was that had Angel, Chris was going to find his mate and his brother. There was no other choice. He walked over to Mateo’s bassinet and placed him gently inside, and then he went to stalk out of the room.
“Chris!” Ty’s voice rang with the dominance of his alpha and slammed into Chris, stopping him in his tracks. “We need a plan. I can’t fucking reach Noah either. All I’m getting is a black void. We can’t run out halfcocked, we have to have a fucking place to start!”
Chris saw Hunter and Dane share a shocked look. “Black void? Like a solid mass that simply severs the link somehow? You can see the link but can’t feel the person you are linked to beyond it?” Hunter asked. Both Chris and Ty nodded. Yeah that was a pretty apt description of what he saw.
“Fucker’s using Jax!” Dane suddenly growled then reached for his cell phone as he walked over to the stairwell that led to the shop downstairs obviously making a call.
“Jax? Who the hell is Jax?” Chris demanded.
“Not who,” Hunter growled. “What. Jax is a drug that we suspect Williams had designed. It is an inhibitor and a paralytic. It shuts off a shifter’s ability to shift or move, and it closes them off from whoever they are linked to. Baxter used it on Dane and I when we first tangled, then almost killed Noah with an overdose of that shit the night Wyatt and his brothers took Baxter out. If this fucker has Jax, then you can bet your ass that Williams gave it to him.”
“I’ve never even heard of this shit!” Chris yelled, throwing his arms into the air in frustration. “How in the hell can there be a drug that can do all of that? And you say it almost killed Noah?”
“Yeah,” Hunter said as his gaze never wavered. “The night we tracked Baxter to Grey River and Angel gave birth to Mateo, when you had sent Angel to the hospital and had gone to help Xanthe, one of our team met up with Noah out back. Noah collapsed shortly after and it took a whole slew of Council doctors to keep him alive long enough for that shit to burn out of his system. He had only just returned to active duty when you called him home.”
Chris closed his eyes at the sudden shaft of pain that tore through his body. He had almost lost his brother that night, and because of that stupid argument, Noah had felt like he had to endure it all alone, without the comfort of his mate or family beside him.
Chris clenched his hands into fists as a red rage came over him. All of this, the whole fucking mess could be placed at the feet of one man. A man who thought he could play God and for what? To remain in charge and retain his fucking seat on the goddamn shifters council?
“He’s left Dallas.” Dane’s voice rang with a barely contained rage. “Jack and Maurice have just pulled up the feed from Williams’s house. Silas is nowhere to be seen. When Jack checked the airport, his plane was gone and he had logged a flight plan to Amarillo.”
Chris shot a look to Ty and frowned when he saw him smile viciously. He didn’t know why or for that matter care all that much in that moment. “How do we find them?” Chris knew he was one hell of a doctor, but he was no tracker.
“Hunter and I go to work,” Dane said and his eyes blazed amber. “We’ll do what we do best, and hunt the fucker down. I am getting real sick of Williams and his bullshit power struggles. Chairman of the council or not, this fucking ends tonight.”
“Agreed,” Chris growled.
* * * *
Noah came to with a moan. What the fuck did the truck that hit him do? Back the hell over him a couple of times just for the hell of it? Everything hurt and he struggled to open his eyes or move. He hadn’t felt this bad since—shit! Remembering exactly the last time he had felt like this, Noah held still and listened. Somehow, someone had managed to inject him while he was running at Bear with the same shit Baxter had, and he had a fucking good idea who that might have been.
He could hear Angel gently sobbing from across the room, whispering his name periodically. Noah felt a sense of relief rocket through him. She was alive.
Quickly he took stock of his position and had to fight the urge to struggle when he realized that there was a wide leather collar around his neck, securing him to the wall. His hands were tied behind his back, but his legs had been left free. Bear must have some pretty serious faith in that drug to leave him like that.
“Open your eyes, Gambit, I know you’re awake.” Bear’s voice came from across the room and flashes of the moments leading up to his unconsciousness played through his mind. He had tracked Bear back to a cabin in the woods. Ironically it was the same damn cabin Baxter had beaten his ass in three months ago. He had waited, hidden in the forest for any sign of movement in the cabin, and when it came, there wasn’t any damn thing in the world that would have stopped him
from surrendering himself.
Bear had stepped out onto the porch, dragging his mate beside him, his hand squeezed painfully around her upper arm. She was bruised and bleeding from a split lip and her left eye looked swollen shut. He remembered roaring with rage when Bear grinned at her then knocked her to the ground with a vicious backhand.
He had charged for the man, and was halfway through his shift when he felt the sting of a tranquilizer dart hit him in the side of the neck. The drug forced him out of the change, but didn’t slow him down. He made it to the porch and even got a few punches in before darkness closed in and he had collapsed to the floor.
Noah opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to clear his vision and gritted his teeth to hold back a roar of rage when he saw his mate. She was tied to a chair on the other side of the room, her shirt was ripped almost from her body. Bear stood to her right and just behind her shoulder. Noah’s eyes flew to hers and as soon as they made contact she visibly made the effort to stop sobbing and sat strong. Good girl.
“So, Bear, what now. I guess you got what you wanted, huh?” Noah said as he shuffled a little against the wall, testing his limbs and body. He had more movement in his body than he was expecting based on how incapacitated and weak he had felt the last time he was shot with Jax. Speaking of which. “Where’s your boss? I assume he was the gutless asshole who shot me with the Jax.”
Bear grinned and put his hand on Angel’s bare shoulder and Noah tensed. “He’s outside waiting for your brother and friends to turn up. He’s planning on taking over in Grey River, God knows why.” Noah raised an eyebrow. So Williams thought to challenge Ty? Should be a good fight. For the thirty seconds it would take Ty to kill the bastard.
“And while he does that?” Noah began to pull against the ropes that held him tight, stretching for just the slightest bit of room.
“I’m going to make you hurt.” Bear’s condescending expression changed to one of rage. Yeah, Noah could respect that. Even though the bastard was crazy and deserved what he got, Noah did shoot him in the head and leave him for dead. Which begged the question of how the hell that was?
“How the hell did you survive that shot to the head?” Noah asked calmly, still working his wrist, trying to get a little room to move his right wrist and more importantly his thumb.
“Perhaps you aren’t quite the shot you always thought you were?” Bear shot back, but there was a glint of something in his eyes that told Noah there was more to it than that.
“Or perhaps Williams gave you a little something that made you harder to kill?” Noah guessed and by the crazed grin that grew on Bear’s face he knew he was right. Shit. “How the hell do you even know Williams?”
“Who do you think was bankrolling the team dumb ass?” Bear pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants and ran the barrel of it down Angel’s face. Noah froze, waiting to see what Bear was going to do, not sure if he would be fast enough to cross the room before Bear managed to pull the damn trigger. He had to do something to get that gun away from Angel.
“I should have guessed. You and the rest of those fucking idiots didn’t have two brain cells to rub together. I should have realized there was someone else calling the shots.” Noah knew what was going to come and tensed waiting.
Bear’s eyes blazed with anger, and then he lifted his gun and shot Noah in the shoulder. “Noah!” Angel screamed and began to thrash in the chair. Fighting the pain, Noah refused to show it on his face. He took only a split second to look at Angel and shake his head gently then returned his gaze to Bear.
“That hurt much, Noah?” Bear sounded like he was asking if Noah liked the beer he had just handed him in the bar. Crazy bastard.
“Nah, tickled, but nothing I can’t handle.” Noah fought to keep his voice calm and relaxed.
“You always were a smug son of bitch, Gambit.” Bear’s gaze slid to Angel and Noah held his breath. Bear must have noticed the change because he moved calmly and quietly to stand behind Angel with a huge grin on his face. “But I bet I can make you feel something.”
Noah watched Angel’s chest start to rise quicker as panic drove her breath rate up. Bear leaned over and placed his lips to Noah’s mating mark, then leaned up to take her earlobe between his teeth, never taking his eyes from Noah’s. Noah heard Angel whimper and grimace.
When Bear reached around her to place his filthy fucking hands on her breasts she cried out and tried to flinch away. Bear shot him another evil look then squeezed her breasts hard, making her cry out in pain.
“Bear, your fucking bastard!” Noah began to struggle against the bindings. “Take your fucking hands off her! I’m going to rip you to fucking pieces, you piece of shit!” Bear leaned over and cruelly twisted Angel’s face so that she faced him, then thrust his tongue down her throat, holding her jaw open with his hand.
“Angel!” Noah roared and began to thrash, pulling hard on the rope bindings behind him, his hands going slippery with his own blood as he struggled so hard he ripped the skin from around his wrists. The collar around his neck tightened as he tried to push himself off the wall, making his words and screams rasping sounds of pain and desperation. Like a wolf caught in a trap if he could have he would have chewed his own fucking hand off to get to Angel.
* * * *
Angel’s stomach turned at the feel of Bear’s tongue forcing its way into her mouth, and she gagged. She would have cheerfully bit the bastard’s tongue off, but he had a firm grip on her jaw, stopping her painfully from being able to close her mouth. Desperately she struggled against her bindings and tried to get him to release her. She couldn’t draw in any air and she started to feel light-headed.
Brave pulled back suddenly and Angel gasped for breath, coughing and gagging at the same time. She could hear her captor’s maniacal laughter coming from behind her, but what had tears filling her eyes were the almost inhuman cries of pain and despair coming from her mate.
She lifted her head so that she could look at him and cried out when she saw him. He was thrashing hard, trying to pull the collar out of the wall. Angel knew that Bear had nailed it to the wall with two threaded six-inch nails so she didn’t think Noah would be able to get it out. Noah’s eyes blazed a brilliant blue and Angel knew that if he hadn’t been drugged with that inhibitor, he would have shifted.
“Noah, please,” she begged, struggling again against her bindings. “Stop struggling, baby, please!” Hearing her voice brought him back a little from the edge and she saw his eyes flash between the blue and the beautiful chocolate-brown she loved.
“It’s okay, Noah,” Angel said over and over again. “I’m okay, baby, shhh… I’m okay.”
“Yeah, Gambit, she’s okay, but you could have done better. She’s a little on the mousey side for my tastes.” Angel never took her eyes from Noah, trying to instill as much calm in him as she could. If they were to have any chance of getting the hell out of this mess, then they had to stay calm.
“Bear, I am going to remove your fucking spine through your nose,” Noah rasped, and even though his voice was rough from straining against the collar, Angel could hear his wolf in his voice. “Just wanted to warn you so you weren’t surprised when I did it.”
Bear laughed and Angel saw him raise his gun again. She screamed as the report of the gun boomed through the room, making her ears ring again, and she saw a burst of red fly and bloom from Noah’s right shoulder. Again he didn’t even flinch at the shot.
Jesus, he must be in so much pain, but the fiery gaze he leveled at Bear never wavered. A growling sound came from outside the cabin and Bear spun around to walk over to the window, his back to both her and Angel.
“Noah,” she breathed, barely making a sound. His eyes locked with hers and the anger cleared. Angel frowned when she saw it replaced by a bloodthirsty grin.
Confused she watched as he nodded his head in the direction of the front door then mouthed one word. And it was a word that sent a wave of hope slamming straight thought her. Chris.
“Something not going to plan, Bear?” Noah sneered, and Angel yelled his name when Bear turned and shot him a third time. This time low in his abdomen, and Noah grunted with pain this time, telling Angel more than she wanted to acknowledge.
“Fuck you, Carter!” Bear roared and Angel flinched at the crazed gleam in his eye. Whatever chemical cocktail Williams had him taking was clearly driving him batshit crazy. He fired again but this time the shot went wide.
“Stop! Please! Don’t hurt him anymore please!” Angel sobbed, thrashing against her bindings again. As if from a distance she heard shouts, growls, and roars coming from outside the cabin, but her attention was completely on Bear. “Shoot me next, please! Shoot me! Don’t hurt him anymore, please.” Angel started to sob, “I’ll do anything, please!”
“Angel,” Noah groaned, and then lifted his head. Angel gasped when she saw his eyes blazing blue, hatred flaming through them as he glared at Bear. “Don’t antagonize the crazy bastard. This is between him and me, and I think it’s time we even the odds just a little. Now!”
Even before his shout stopped echoing through the room, the door to the cabin exploded in a shower of wood splinters and the room filled with shifters. There were two large lions, one of which was pure white, leaping to stand on either side of the room, roaring their anger to the room, making it shake on its very foundations.
There in the space between them stood three large shifted wolves. The largest one was solid back, his eyes blazing blue, but Angel could see blood on its muzzle as well as seeping from various wounds along his flank. Knowing it was Ty, but not knowing how she knew that.
The brown wolf leaped forward, knocking the gun from Bear’s hands as he stood looking at the scene in front of him and Angel almost grinned at his confusion. Then the wolf stood in front of her, growling before it began to shimmer and in its place stood Chris, but one she had never seen before.
