by Helen Scott
When I was finally able to pick them out, I knew that the men following us weren’t going to give up easily. “It’s the guys from last night, and they have some new friends with them as well. Looks like there are four of them in the car, but only two have bruised faces. None of them are my opponent.” I had a fleeting moment of guilt as I wondered if he was still alive, but then I reminded myself that he was a rapist and decided I didn’t care either way.
“And we’re basically skirting Jax’s territory, so they will have backup a short phone call away,” Tate added.
“Did either of you recognize the men from last night?” Roman asked, looking at Tate, then Blake. They had all been in the same pack together, so it wasn’t unreasonable to ask, but even Blake and Tate had barely recognized each other when I first stumbled onto Tate in that clearing.
“No. Jax likes to keep the parts of the pack separate. At first, I thought it was just the women and children, but he keeps grunts separate from security, and men who aren’t important to him separate from everyone else as well. None of us know the whole plan or what he’s trying to do most of the time, except the few men that are his seconds. He spouts a bunch of bullshit at the pack meetings, but I don’t think anyone really believes anything he says there. It’s more like he’s doing what he thinks he’s supposed to, which is, primarily, keep himself in charge and everyone else on their knees,” Blake said, watching me warily, like just talking about Jax would make me stabby.
I didn’t think my being stabby was that bad, but maybe the guys had a different opinion. I slid off Blake’s lap and put my seatbelt back on. As soon as I did, I could feel the tension from my bond with Roman ease. Wolf shifters might have had better healing than most, but a car crash could still be deadly if we were completely unprotected.
“What do we want to do about our new friends?” I asked, completely unsure of the best way to proceed from here.
The car fell silent as we all tried to figure out a way out of our current situation. I wanted to say run, to try and lose them, but if they were stubborn enough to wait and follow us hoping to catch us at our most vulnerable, then I was sure that the chase would only increase their determination. Never run from a predator, especially one that already has your scent, and they definitely had ours. Plus, a chase through the city was bound to attract attention, and that was the absolute last thing we needed.
I was surprised when it was Micah who spoke first. “We split up. Hear me out—” Micah broke off as all of us started speaking at once. When he growled, we finally subsided, and I thought most of us were surprised that he was shutting us up like that, since he was usually the most easygoing of our little bunch. “Hear. Me. Out. We go to a motel, pretend to get a room, we stand outside and have a big, loud discussion about what we’re doing, which they hopefully overhear. We theoretically split up. Nina, you go with Roman and Blake or Tate and head toward the nearest bar. The rest of us will head in the opposite direction. It will hopefully cause them to follow you, and we can double back and flank them. If it doesn’t, then it means we each only have to fight a couple of guys, one of which may be injured from our previous efforts. We each keep our phones on so we can use location services to be able to find each other. Worst comes to worst, we meet at a predetermined location at a specific time.”
“I’m worried how quickly you came up with that plan,” Tate replied, glancing at Micah warily.
“I’ve been picking up on stuff from Roman,” Micah said, his chest puffing out a bit, and I knew he was proud of himself.
Which made what I was about to say all that more difficult. “It’s a good plan, but I really don’t want to split up. Not again. It feels like we’re just asking fate to kick us in the face at this point.”
He deflated as surely as a balloon that hadn’t been tied properly, just a steady leak until all that pride was gone. It made my gut twist with regret at voicing my concerns, but I wasn’t about to hold my tongue, not when I knew it was a valid concern.
“Micah’s plan is solid. It’s similar to what I was about to suggest.” Roman stepped in and saved the day. The deflation I’d caused wasn’t as bad as it had been a moment ago.
“I never said we couldn’t do it, just that I didn’t want to split up,” I said, trying to do my own damage control. If I hadn’t spoken up, then I would have always wondered if we should have done something different, because I knew in my gut that there was no way we were walking away from this without a scratch. Last night we had been lucky. They hadn’t been expecting such a vicious fight from us, but now they knew what we were about and they wouldn’t hold back in turn. I was just so tired of seeing my mates in pain. Was it really so much to ask that we didn’t put ourselves in that position again? I didn’t think so, but I also knew that not fighting probably wasn’t an actual option, given that they were still following us. It was obvious at this point that they weren’t just trying to scare us.
Micah glanced back at me, uncertainty shining in his eyes.
I offered him a small, encouraging smile. “It is a good plan, mate. I just don’t want to be without any of you, that’s all. I’ll make do though if that’s what you think is best,” I said to him, pulling out the big guns by calling him mate.
His gaze softened, and he smiled at me once more. “Thanks, beautiful. We won’t be apart for long, just long enough to let them think we’re separating. That’s it.”
“I know, I’m just worried, that’s all,” I replied. I didn’t want to downplay what I was feeling, but if I was outvoted, then I was outvoted. I wasn’t a tyrant who wanted things my way or not at all. I just wanted to feel heard, and the guys gave me that.
“Does anyone else have a plan they want to suggest?” Roman asked. Silence filled the car for a moment before he continued, “Okay, I’ll pull off at the next motel then.”
We all nodded, and I tried to relax and not think about the four men that were following us. The men we were trying to lure to a destination of our choosing. The men whose friend I may have killed the night before. Nerves battered at my heart as we pulled into a motel parking lot and Micah hopped out. I hoped that these assholes fell hook, line, and sinker for what we were about to serve up, because if they didn’t, then this could go sideways fast.
20
Tate
Everything had gone according to plan for once. I was floored. I was also stunned by my mate’s acting abilities. We’d stood outside the motel, and she’d let Micah have it, along with Blake, which was why the two of them had headed off in one direction, while Roman, Nina, and I were going in the other direction.
The bar we were heading to wasn’t one known for its shifter population, which was probably for the best because pretty much every wolf in the area wanted to get their hands on Nina and fuck the rest of our plans up. Sticking around humans was the safest bet.
Fortunately, or unfortunately for us, depending on what we were hoping for, all four of our new friends decided to follow us. It meant that Blake and Micah could successfully flank them, but it also meant that until the two of them showed up, we were outnumbered, which was not ideal. I hoped we didn’t have to hold them off for too long and possibly put Nina at risk.
Not that my mate couldn’t fight. The woman knew how to throw hands and kick ass, which was disturbingly hot, but I didn’t want her to get injured in the process though. Just the thought of something happening to her had my heart clenching in my chest with dread. I’d been there before—okay, not exactly, since I’d never had a mate before, but I’d had female friends, many who had died during childbirth along with their pup. Our biology was not kind to the females of our species. If there was any chance that Nina finding her fifth mate could make that better, then I was willing to take that chance. I didn’t particularly want to share her with yet another man, but I would if it meant that the gods would bless us with good health once again.
I’d always just thought that was an expression, but now after hearing about everything Skuld told Nina? The
gods had a lot to answer for. I couldn’t help but glance up at the sky above us and wonder if they were watching even now, or if the magic between our realms had grown so weak that they were unable to.
We were heading down a side street when they finally decided to attack. It took longer than I’d expected, but when I heard the scuff of boots behind us and turned, I found the four of them running toward us. The other good thing about being near human establishments meant that no one was going to shift into a wolf to fight, at least not intentionally, which might make this a little easier since Nina wouldn’t get stuck fighting a wolf.
Nina feigned shock as she spun to face them, while Roman wasted no time and launched himself at our attackers. Two of them, notably the unbruised ones, reacted and charged him, while the ones that were still recovering from their previous encounter with the eldest member of our little pack targeted Nina. I would have thought that seeing her beat the absolute shit out of their friend would have made them more wary, but apparently not.
The two of them ignored me and moved on her, which was a mistake because I came at them like a fucking wrecking ball and knocked them down like they were little more than bowling pins. The men recovered faster than I’d hoped, but I kept up my attack, throwing punches and charging them whenever I could, while I knew Roman was handling the two behind me.
I didn’t want Nina involved if she didn’t have to be. She’d already been through enough. The last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt just because I couldn’t take care of business. Plus, I’d been in enough fights throughout my life that taking on two guys at one time shouldn’t have been an issue, and probably wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t been some of Jax’s soldiers. He often referred to them as grunts, but that wasn’t what they were, not really. In reality, they were his fist, swinging and hitting only where he told them to, except for right now. Something told me that he had no idea that these guys were so close to getting their hands on Nina, and I had to wonder why they hadn’t told him.
I wished I recognized them, since it seemed like that would make guessing at their motives that much easier. Jax had never really trusted me, and looking back on it, I supposed he was right not to. After all, I was now working against him. There was no way I’d let him have Nina, not without him taking me out first.
Letting my thoughts get away from the fight was a mistake though, since it let one of them catch me with a right hook across the face. Pain exploded up my jaw, and for a moment, I was too stunned to react, which let them get a few more hits in than I would have liked. This, in turn, spurred Nina into action. A flash of her dark blonde hair in my peripheral vision was my only alert that she’d entered the fray.
A grunt of pain from her as a hit landed had my vision clearing and rage coursing through my veins. These men knew how important she was, even if they only cared about her importance to Jax. The fact that they were willing to hurt her made me believe that they weren’t as loyal to Jax as I’d first thought.
As I circled them once more, I reassessed their expressions and body language with this new assumption and found that they were more intent on Nina than I liked. And I didn’t think it was to capture her on Jax’s behalf.
The longer I watched them and the aggression radiating out of them, along with their buddies that were fighting Roman, the more I believed they wanted to kill Nina. There had been some members of the pack that had been rumbling about getting rid of the problem instead of trying to help Jax. The problem being Nina herself.
It didn’t matter that their alpha was the one that had a few screws loose. According to men like these, Nina was the source of all the trouble, so she was the one that had to be eliminated. They were like the assholes who told women to keep their legs closed to prevent rape. The women weren’t the problem. It was the men and how they were reacting that were, but that required a level of self-awareness that most of these men lacked.
The next time one of them whipped a fist toward my mate’s precious head, I dove in front of it, taking the hit and also getting the added bonus of knocking him to the ground, since he was overextended and therefore unstable. The two of us landed with a thump, and I could feel the air rush from his lungs as I let my whole weight land on top of him.
Good.
Let him fucking suffocate.
The vicious snarl that left my mouth let me know that my wolf was much closer to the surface than I realized. I needed to get a better handle on my wolf before he broke free and I shifted unintentionally. I was fairly sure I wasn’t actually going to shift, but every time they came close to hurting Nina, that certainty faded a little more.
As my thoughts drifted to my mate, so did my eyes, even as the man under me began throwing punches. Each one connected and made me grunt, but I didn’t care as my gaze finally landed on the woman in question. The other man from the night before was there, trying to attack her, but she was ducking and weaving like a pro, which I sometimes wondered if she was. The woman had some mad skills when it came to fighting, and I’d only known her a short time.
Even though she was a skilled fighter, that didn’t mean she was able to avoid all the hits that were being thrown her way. I saw two punches land against her ribs, making her favor that side, trying to protect it, and the thought drove my wolf toward the edge. Fighting the shift was the only thing I could concentrate on, even as I was taking hits of my own.
As soon as the urge started to die down, I realized that the hits had also stopped, and when I looked down at the guy below me, I saw a lake of blood that had spread out from under his head. My hands were still pinned on either side, and I knew without a doubt that I’d just killed him while I was lost to the fight against the shift. It wasn’t something that happened often, but when my wolf was trying to take control and I didn’t want to give up my human form, there was a risk of the wolf controlling the human body. When that happened, it was trouble for everyone, but fortunately, it was usually only for a few seconds while I regained control.
In a situation like this though? A few seconds was enough to crack someone’s skull open against the concrete.
I pushed to my feet, getting off of the dead body under me and trying not to look in the blank eyes that were staring out at me while also ignoring the bitter scent of urine in the air. Something like this had a one in a million chance of happening, and usually, it only ever happened in situations exactly like this one—when the fight was all-consuming. I couldn’t dwell on it now though, not when Nina was still in trouble.
At that moment, Blake and Micah came in, and suddenly, the tide of the fight shifted. Instead of them trying to fight to get to Nina, they were fighting to get away. The scent of death was heavy on the air and seemed to coat my tongue as I breathed heavily from the adrenaline and the pain that was coursing through me.
I turned to where Micah had run toward Roman. The older wolf was on the ground savagely beating his opponent, and just from the spray of blood I could see around him, I knew that the man under him wasn’t going to be getting back up again. Roman was so lost to his bloodlust that he didn’t realize it was Micah that was trying to pull him away from the mess in front of him, and he turned to attack. I was there just in time, pulling Micah back so that Roman’s clawed fingers couldn’t get a grasp on anything.
“Let him be,” I muttered after we both landed on our asses.
“Roman! Stop!” Nina called at the same time.
It was only his mate’s voice that broke him out of the trance. The other two members of Jax’s pack that had attacked us were scrambling to get away, leaving their fallen and most likely dead comrades behind.
“You tell Jax that anyone attacks us again and we’ll kill them outright,” Blake snarled as they ran past him.
Nina shot him a sharp look as she went to check on Roman. The two men that lay unmoving on the ground were very clearly dead, which meant we needed to get out of here, and fast. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one with that thought.
“We need to move. Now.�
� Micah’s voice barked the order, and everyone, even Roman, rushed to obey him.
This was going to get a lot worse if we were caught by the bodies, or even in the general area, so putting as much distance as we could between us was the best plan. As Nina helped Roman along, the adrenaline fading from his system and no doubt a flurry of emotions overwhelming him, I was the last to leave the area. I’d moved each of the bodies to the side so they weren’t quite as obvious.
If we didn’t do anything to obscure them, then there was hardly any point in running because the rest of the pack would be after us once the bodies were found. I’d already got my hands dirty killing one of them, so the least I could do was try and buy us some more time by moving the bodies so it wasn’t out in the open for anyone and everyone to find. My stomach turned as I did so and I felt a twinge of guilt at having taken a life, but he’d also been gunning for my mate.
I knew how Nina felt about Jax and the possibility of being forced to mate with him, not to mention everything that Skuld had shared with us. I knew that Nina would rather go down swinging, would rather rage against everything than go peacefully into Jax’s clutches. If that meant I had to hide a couple bodies to help, then so be it.
I would do anything for my mate. Hide bodies. Kill to protect her. And love her with every fiber of my being. I couldn’t do anything else, not if I wanted to live with myself.
21
Nina
When we got to the next area of town, I knew I wasn’t the only one that was exhausted. Roman and Tate had both fought like wild things to keep the men that had attacked us away from me. I’d taken a couple of knocks but held my own. It all made for a very drained little pack though.
