The door opened again, and closed before she saw who entered. But she didn’t have to put eyes on him to know D stood in the shadows.
“This is a dangerous idea of yours, brother.”
“I have been in worse predicaments.” He grinned, coming out of the darkness of the entrance.
7 walked back to his sleeping spot. “I have been there with you and remember them with great fondness.”
D cupped her face with his palm. “Are you hanging in there? Your neck is raw.”
She closed her eyes, the touch charging her.
He ran a finger under the scarf and growled when he saw the chafed skin.
7 threw the ointment at them as if D had asked for it. “This doesn’t smell great but it will help.”
He poured a liberal amount into his palm and started to apply it to the sensitive skin. “Z said he could smell you on me.”
“I would have been shocked if he hadn’t.”
“Good lord, you can smell it a mile away,” 7 mumbled into his arms never raising his head.
She lifted her arm to smell her skin. “Is it permanent?”
“No, it will fade.” He moved through the trailer, checking the shifters, a long pause before his next question. “Are there anymore somewhere else? Anyone else they might be punishing as they are you?”
“No, just us and the elephants.”
“Okay.” Another long pause.
7 huffed.
“Can you two communicate telepathically?” Leonora asked.
“Why would you ask that?”
Natalia had wondered the same thing.
The lioness looked between the two male wolves. “There was a set of twins in one of the traveling groups I lived with. The bird sisters. They would use them to cheat at cards or do parlor tricks. One would ask what card someone held or what they drew, and the other would sit on a perch behind the unsuspecting victim.”
“Oh.” Natalia hadn’t known bird shifters existed nor had she realized telepathy could really happen. But she noticed neither of the twins said anything to confirm or deny. “Well?”
“Well, it’s time for me to sneak out again. I just saw the patrol pass. I’ll see you in an hour or two. Sunset should happen at four ten, 7, and the moon will be half-full. So there will be some light, but not a lot. I suggest you get some rest. It’s going to be a long night.” D reached up and touched her cheek before heading for the door.
“Will you be coming back?”
“Not in here, but I’ll see you later. I promise. 7. You okay in here?”
7 raised a thumb in answer, and D slipped out, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence.
Chapter Four
Sundown….
Natalia hadn’t moved from her post at the window since D left. She could still sense him moving around the area. He would stop for minutes on end then suddenly be at another side of camp as if he’d poofed there. She hadn’t once caught a glimpse of him, though, and neither, she suspected, had anyone else. Z finally came out of the tent and spent some time on his phone. Lee talked at length with his security guards, certainly about how to kill Z and 7 when the money finally arrived. She hadn’t seen Shelley since morning and, for a woman who liked to be the center of attention, her absence screamed odd.
The door opened, and Lee came in. “Showtime.”
Natalia didn’t need to be told what he meant or who he referred to. He expected her to help seal the deal. She took in her fellow captives, knowing it might be the last time she saw these. They might not be much, but they were the closest thing to family she had. She wished she could hug them and tell them she loved them all, but she couldn’t alert Lee, and she wouldn’t. This was the group’s best chance of escape.
“Hurry up, girl. The supply trucks have arrived. I need him busy when they come.”
She could only imagine why, and every thought brought worse images than the ones before. “I don’t have my coat.”
“You won’t need it. I’m sure he will keep you warm enough.” Lee smirked and gave her a creepy wink.
Z waited at the opening to the tent. She couldn’t read what he thought, and she wasn’t sure if the chill running down her spine had to do with the cold or being with him.
“Natalia.”
“Mr. Zames.”
Lee pushed her the last few steps. “She works the show tonight, so, if possible, please have her back by curtain time.”
Z nodded and removed his long wool coat, placing it around her. She followed him deep into the woods. She’d never been allowed past the clearing. She looked back at the camp, the only home life she had ever known. Not the place, but the camp itself.
“Never look back,” Z whispered. He stopped and pulled her into his embrace. Every fiber of her being fought his touch, his closeness. “Relax, we are being watched.”
“I can’t.”
“Neither can I.”
“What do you mean?” She searched his eyes, hoping to find the answer she doubted he would give her.
“This feeling of disgust isn’t yours alone. Just as I’m not your mate, you are not mine.” With an arm wrapped around her, he moved deeper into the dark woods. Snow crunching beneath their feet provided the only sound on the windless night. “Besides, that display was twofold.”
“How do you mean?” she asked when he finally released her so she could take a step back.
“Not only did it make all watching believe the scam, it acted as good as a distress call for your mate. He should—”
“I’m here.” D stood, his chest rising and falling in a display of male prowess.
“Easy, boy, she’s all yours.” Z patted his brother on the shoulder. “Get her out of here. Follow the scent markers I have left for you every click. They will lead you to a safe house. In the basement, there’s a false floor leading to an apartment farther below. I left the standard charm on the door along with the security system. You will be innocuous there, and Sev will join you as soon as he can.”
“I can’t leave him in there alone.” The distress in her mate’s voice for his twin was clear to them both.
“You can’t leave her alone. She is your main concern. 7 and I’ll get everyone else out. My suppliers are a rescue team. Kaleb and his crew will take the others somewhere safe and secure to allow them to heal.”
The sound and smell of a human approaching stopped them.
“You deal with this one. I need to get back. Until we meet again,” Z said and, in a blink of an eye, he shifted into wolf form and part of the night.
D hid her behind a large larch tree. He placed a finger to her lips to silence her and locked eyes with her as the footsteps grew closer. As the guard walked past, D grabbed the man by the neck and slammed him into the tree.
As D reached back with a fist ready to strike, Natalia stopped him. “No! Billy is the only one who has ever been kind to us. Ask 7.”
He relaxed his grip but remained between Billy and her. “Human, you need to run in the opposite direction from the camp and don’t stop until you reach town.”
The boy stared. With the hand still wrapped around his neck, he couldn’t vocalize his thoughts.
“He has no money, nowhere to go. Can’t he—”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why did you come out here?” she asked, removing D’s hand from around the boy’s throat.
“I had to make sure you were safe. When your kind is taken into the woods, they never come back. I worried. I knew I had to help.” The poor boy trembled, yet he’d put himself in danger to save her.
“Oh, Billy. You could have gotten yourself killed for me.”
“I had to do something. I couldn’t let them hurt you.” Big brown eyes showed the young hero who lay beneath.
D reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed him a big wad of cash and a card. “You get into the next town. It’s about three clicks that way. Stay off the road. If someone sto
ps you, show them this card. If you make it to the town, you find a place to lie low. Order room service, but do not come out. The number on the back is a lawyer. In the morning, you get in touch with him. Tell him you are calling in regard to a Japanese lantern. He will understand.”
“But I don’t understand.” Billy looked at the card as if it might explode.
“You don’t have to. Now, go, before it’s too late.”
Billy eyes became the size of saucers as he shoved the money into his front pocket. He went to say something else but thought better and ran as hard as he could.
“Come on. We have to go.” A warm hand wrapped around hers.
“What about Billy? Won’t they track him?” She dug her feet in, concerned.
“No, I’ve already told 7 what is going on. He will let the others know.” When she refused to budge, he groaned. “Sev had already let everyone know to be on the lookout for Billy. He’ll be fine. I promise. Tomorrow, when the air settles, I’ll check on the boy.”
The sound of screams rent the air. “What was that?”
“You don’t want to know. Come on. We need to get out of here. Do you run better as a human or wolf?”
“I have never run as a wolf.”
“There is always a first time. Shift now.” D shifted.
She followed as best she could. He ran through the brush, stopping every so often to let her catch up. She didn’t hesitate; she let her wolf side run free and untethered. The wind rushed through her fur and her heart pumped. For the first time, she truly felt alive.
Unused to the activity, as they neared the other side of the field, she fell head over tail into the embankment. A yelp escaped, and D rounded back and shifted back to human form. “You did great. We’re almost there.”
She shifted, too, her whole body shivering in reaction to the exercise. He lifted her easily into his arms and continued running through the night. She clung to him, unable to argue and unwilling to resist.
Ten minutes later, they came to a small shack in the woods, as dilapidated as if it hadn’t been inhabited in this century. He pulled the squeaking door open and ducked as a bird flew past. Lowering her to her feet, he took her hand and led her through the house and down to the basement. A well-hidden door in the floor became visible after D chanted in a language she didn’t understand. It opened with a click, and lights below turned on. He gestured to a ladder leading downward. “Can you make it down there?”
She nodded, but just as quickly shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. She had escaped one cage to be placed in another. “I don’t want to.”
“This is only temporary. But we need to get you in there where it’s safe, warm, and there is food.”
The ladder grew before her eyes. She could do this, one rung at a time. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, she descended the small tube leading to what might be hell. Once her feet hit the floor, she opened her eyes and moved out of the way. D soon followed chanting again. A door appeared in the wall with a blue light next to it. The door slid open at his touch. “See, it’s not so bad.”
“Better than what I had before.” She prowled through a suite of rooms and ended up in a compact kitchen. “Is it okay to have some water?”
“Help yourself. Fix a meal, just take it slow. And I want you to take a long, hot shower or your muscles are going to cramp up.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to cover our tracks. Since I carried you the last bit of the way, I just need to divert them from the clearing. Hand me your dress if you would?”
“What?”
“Your dress; it has your scent.”
“I am not getting naked in front of you.” Yet the thought was far from repulsive. A strange warmth spread from her belly down to the apex of her thighs. Images of them undressed, limbs entangled, flooded her as well as a sudden urge to strip down and tear his clothes off.
He went into one of the three rooms connected to the main one and she heard water flowing. A moment later he emerged. “There are several sets of clothes in there for you, new undergarments as well. Go in, take off your clothes, all of them, and then go into the bathroom. Once you are in there, I’ll take the clothes you’ve left on the bed and use them to take your scent elsewhere.”
“Okay.” The small room she entered had enough room to walk to the bathroom, but the bed reached from wall to wall on three sides. A flat-screen television was mounted next to the bed on the far wall. Inside, she found five sets of women’s clothing, all in different sizes. Each consisted of two pairs of jeans, T-shirts in blue, purple, and black, a brown sweater, and a dark-gray winter coat. On the floor lay five pairs of assorted hiking boots and a similar number of shopping bags containing underwear, bras, and pajamas. She reached out and picked up the softest pair of pajama bottoms she had ever felt.
“You all right in there?”
“Yes, um…?”
“What?”
“What size do I wear?”
He remained quiet for a minute but tapped on the door as if thinking. “If I were to hazard a guess, I would say about size six.”
She grabbed the bag marked six, and when she flipped the card open, although her reading level was that of a young child, but after a minute she could make out it read:
Natalie,
I hope something in here fits. If you need to, mix and match until you find what works for you. If nothing is perfect, we can get you something else when we get you home.
~Z
The extent of what had happened started to rush over her. The clothes the Testas gave her suddenly burned and she wanted them off her body as soon as possible. She stripped the clothing off, ripping the dress when she couldn’t get the zipper down, and kicked them nearer to the door and farther from her.
The small and utilitarian bathroom left no room for frivolity; everything had a purpose, not like the one Shelley had in her trailer. She much preferred this one. Before closing the bathroom door, she yelled out he could come in, and, as the steam filled the room, she stepped into the shower and sighed.
“You don’t mind if I burn these when I am done, do you?”
“I would actually prefer if you did.” She let the water wash over her, only barely conscious of the sound of the bedroom door closing behind him.
D gripped the dress and discarded undergarments in clenched fists. The wolf in him demanded he go into the bathroom and claim his mate, but he knew she didn’t understand. He would scare her off, and he didn’t want to take a chance. He grabbed for the zipper bag to hide her scent until he needed it then placed the plate of food he’d prepared for her while she went through her clothes on the table. Next to it he laid two ibuprofen for the pain and a glass of water.
Pushing through the barriers of the house, he tried again to reach his brother, but he hadn’t heard or felt his presence since they reached the clearing. This was the farthest the two of them had been from one another ever. He hoped, once he got out of the safety of the building, he would hear from 7. The four screens showed nothing but a raccoon padding through the house and nothing outside. He was loathe to leave her, but this had to be done.
Leaving the room, he reclosed and secured the door before making his way through the house. He shifted, and the clothes never hit the floor before he had them in his bite. Running full speed, he hid his scent. The night air smelled of snow, and he wanted to be back in the shack before it hit. When he reached the clearing, he shifted again, took out the dress, and coated the area with their scent going in the other direction. He had purposefully guided her over and through the frozen stream to divert anyone who followed. He took the stream until it opened into the lake. Running around the edge, he found what he looked for, a thirty-foot waterfall. Wrapping the dress around a large rock, he dropped it over the edge.
7?
Nothing, not a murmur or a vibration in his brain. A very large part of him wanted to go find his brother, but the other part
needed to be with Natalie, to protect her. Never before had he felt so divided. But he had to trust his brothers could take care of things on their end while he cared for his mate.
He made sure all tracks were covered and there weren’t any scents he might have missed on the way out. By the time he reached the front door, the first flakes danced to the ground. As he entered the safe room, Natalie sat on the sofa wearing light-green pajamas with lots of moose all over them. The plate he had left lay empty, he noted with satisfaction, and she jumped to her feet when the door closed. “You’re back.”
“Did you think I had left?”
She fidgeted from one foot to the other, biting her thumbnail. “No, I just didn’t realize how long you would be gone, and I couldn’t sense you.”
“I think it has something to do with the walls. I’m sure Z has figured out something to prevent even connections like ours from getting through.”
“What is our connection?”
“We are mates. I know you don’t quite understand.”
“Tell me, then.”
He led her back to the sofa. “Fate, the goddess…. I guess no one really knows who predetermines our mates for us. If we are lucky, we find them. Sometimes our mates come to us when we most need them; sometimes when we are least prepared.”
“So we—the two of us—were determined to be mates even at a young age?”
“At birth.”
“I belong to you now?”
“No, we belong to each other, if you decide it is what you want.” He sat next to her on the sofa; he needed to touch her. Grabbing her hand, he brought it to his lips. “We can take this as slow as you need.”
“What if I’m confused about what I want?”
The need to mate was clearer than anything had ever been in his life. He could not understand how she could not feel the same. The sense of certainty flowed through him like the blood in his veins. But she wasn’t in touch with her wolf side, and patience was his only option. “Explain.”
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