Chapter Six
Emery
The mall was freaking enormous.
Emery tugged on Sienna’s hand as they dashed through another cluster of people and disappeared inside one of the two-story department stores this time.
On the one hand, a mall this big gave Sienna and Emery plenty of places to hide—especially from the big lumbering bears. Bears weren’t meant for the cat-and-mouse games quite like wolves were. But still, it was difficult to see beyond the rush of weekend shoppers and twice now, they had to double back when they saw one of the huge, lumbering asshats making their way toward the women, sniffing them out.
“Christ,” Emery whispered when a younger Kodiak paused a couple hundred feet away, sniffing the air. “They’re huge.”
Beside her Sienna snorted.
“Big dumb animals.”
As if on cue, as if he heard Sienna’s comment, the bear shifter spun on his heel and looked in their direction. Emery was one step ahead and tugged Sienna behind a lingerie display.
“Just let me shift,” Sienna whispered. “I could take that asshole out in no time.”
Emery didn’t really doubt it—a pregnant female shifter would be a vicious, uncompromising enemy if she felt her cub was in jeopardy. But they were in public and they really didn’t know just how many Kodiaks they were dealing with. That, and they’d lost their bodyguards somewhere in the mess.
“Can’t you reach Dane or Jai down the pack link?” Emery whispered. Sienna shook her head. “It’s not working right now. Maybe we’re too far apart? Maybe they’re hurt?”
Emery’s blood chilled at the thought. She had to think fast.
“Shit, there you are!”
A male voice surprised both women and Emery’s claws were out before she’d fully spun to face the newcomer. When she saw Dane’s bruised face she let out a squeak of relief.
“Brody and Sage are on their way,’ he said. “Maybe 10 minutes out.”
“Where’s Jai?” Sienna asked.
Dane looked around, his brow knit together.
“Two of them got their hands on him somewhere on the second floor,” he said. “I lost my link with him at that point.”
Emery looked at the Alpha female and the sentinel and understood exactly what needed to happen. The bears were obviously out to bag Sienna as some sort of revenge and one broken, bruised sentinel wasn’t exactly going to hold off the four Kodiaks they’d encountered so far. Knowing their luck, there were at least two or three more they’d yet to pick up on. A potential seven-on-three showdown just wouldn’t do when the Alpha female, her cub (and the Alpha male’s grip on reality should anything happen to the first two) hung in the balance.
Emery had an idea.
“Give me your hoodie and your sunglasses,” she said to Sienna, already shucking her own jacket and stuffing it into her backpack. Sienna frowned but realization hit Dane immediately.
“This isn’t a good idea,” he said quietly. “Sage won’t like this at all.”
Emery shook her head as she practically yanked the orange sweatshirt off Sienna’s head.
“You need to get her outside to Brody as soon as they get here or you’re going to have a feral Alpha and one hell of a bloody mess on your hands with this many humans around,” Emery said as she pulled down the sweatshirt. The bears didn’t have the scent abilities that wolves did, but their senses were still heightened and if she got close enough to the Kodiaks who’d seen Sienna earlier, hopefully they’d pick up on the sweatshirt and take the bait.
Idiots.
“Emery,” Sienna began. The look in her eyes held nothing but worry. “I’m serious. My poor brother is going to have a heart attack…”
But she didn’t let the Alpha female finish, noticing two Kodiaks on the upper level outside the store. They hadn’t seen them yet.
“That fire exit toward the back will take you to a staff parking lot we passed earlier. Tell Brody to get you there. You need to go,” she told Sienna. Dane reluctantly took Sienna’s hand and began to pull her away.
“You be careful, Emery Wilkins,” Sienna whisper-hissed as she turned and followed the sentinel. ‘I’ll beat your adorable ass if you get yourself hurt.”
With a small laugh, Emery bent and tied her Converse sneakers tight, making sure that all of the variables she could control were in place. She’d made mental note of the different wings of the mall, where the fountains where, and the restroom locations as she and Sienna had dashed through moments earlier.
She took off at a jog as she pulled the hood up over her head and came to stand just underneath the bear shifters who were leaning against the railing just above her.
“Hey, fuckers!” She yelled up at them, drawing the attention of a few of the humans in the area. Oh, well. The bears looked down at her and from where she stood, she saw them widen their eyes when they caught the sweatshirt and the scent. Just for good measure, just to make sure they’d follow, she flipped them a double middle finger. “Assholes.”
With that, she was off, leading the two oafs toward the center of the mall. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed the bigger one holding his hand to his ear, speaking into a headset. Good.
She maneuvered through the crowds fast enough to make the bears work to keep an eye on her, but slow enough so she wouldn’t lose them. She also knew to keep her head on a swivel—their buddies were most likely going to join the pursuit any moment.
Sure enough, as if on cue, the younger bear that’d nearly spotted them in the department store was jogging toward her from the right. She’d made it to a small plaza-type center with a fountain and several benches holding weary shoppers.
The young shifter was looking in the direction she’d just come—back toward the department store.
Holy crap, but these bears were stupid.
Desperate to keep him from going back toward Sienna and Dane, Emery actually waved her arm above her head to get his attention. When the shifter’s eyes finally did meet hers, she gave a taunting little wave before rounding around the fountain as he fell into pursuit, recognition of Sienna’s scent hitting him, too.
Emery ducked and wove her way around small bistro tables that, a few feet behind her, the bear shifter was sending crashing in every direction as he swore in some Slavic-sounding language. He was faster than she expected and Emery wasn’t comfortable with the few steps that separated them.
Cutting a sharp left down another wing of the mall, she increased her speed when there was enough open space. The bear wasn’t nearly as fast as her and she’d just started to feel a little buzz of victory when a massive, meaty arm appeared out of nowhere from inside one of the shops right in front of her face, essentially clothes-lining her straight to her back. Emery’s head bounced off the granite floor with a sickening thud and her vision swam, darkening around the edges.
Above her, a large, toothy grin filled her vision as the sickening scent of bear shifter filled her senses.
Gross.
That same meaty paw made to grab her by the collar of her sweatshirt, but the arm’s owner was tackled by a blur of motion, landing both the bear and the tackler in a heap a few feet away.
“Run, Emery!”
Jai’s voice pierced through the fog, spurring her into action as she pushed herself up to her elbows, then to her butt, and finally to her feet.
“The service exit,” Jai was yelling at her again as he pummeled the giant bear who’d knocked her over. “Run!”
Without knowing exactly which service exit Jai meant, Emery was running again—this time much slower than before. The young bear shifter was still back there and likely still on her heels while the other one fought with Jai.
Emery’s eyes scanned the stores, her vision still woozy and unfocused. If she weren’t in such a hurry, she was more than certain she’d hurl in the nearest trashcan.
“I’m coming, wolf,” a thickly accented voice called from behind her. Damn it. The youngster had zeroed in on her again.
&nbs
p; Her feet were clumsier than usual but she kept pushing through throngs of people when she noticed the nondescript sign hanging above a small cluster of vending machines. “Service Exit” was painted above a giant white arrow pointing toward a set of double doors.
Hoping and praying this was the one Jai meant, she sped up again and pushed toward the sign. She didn’t slow as she shoved the double doors open and Emery heard the bear’s heavy breathing just a few steps behind.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She was doing everything she could not to panic. She didn’t know which way to head when the hallway split into two directions—either left or right. Steps from her decision, Emery chose right and was rewarded with a large set of hands that clasped around her biceps and hauled her off her feet.
Instinctively driving her knee up between herself and her attacker, Emery’s brain scrambled to remember the few things Jai had taught her over the past two weeks of daily training. She suddenly wished she’d paid more attention.
“Emery, stop! I have you!”
Sage’s voice forced her attention up to her “attacker’s” face and she nearly cried in relief at the sight of his handsome, and furious, features.
“I’ve got you now, little bitch!”
Emery sucked in a breath at the sound of the bear shifter, who’d obviously just come through the double doors in pursuit of her. Sage set Emery on her feet behind him and it was then that she noticed Caleb and three other wolf shifters from the pack running from a hallway behind them toward Sage.
Reinforcements. Emery sagged in relief against the wall.
The growl that came from deep within Sage was unlike anything she’d ever heard in all her years as a shifter. It was more than just angry—it was a promise of violence and vengeance that reverberated throughout the poorly lit hallway.
In half a breath, the shifter realized the battle in front of him and smiled.
“One wolf versus one bear?” He grinned as he rolled his neck. He’d obviously failed to hear the approaching Boulder Pack members. “I like those odds.”
Sage stalked forward.
“I don’t need odds, motherfucker,” he snarled, his voice deeper and more threatening than ever. “I’ll rip you limb from limb with my own two hands for trying to put your hands on her.”
Emery believed him, too, but was glad to see the other wolves fall in line behind their Beta. The bear wasted no time and shifted into his animal form—he obviously knew that five against one in human forms was suicide. In his bear form, he was far sturdier and stronger and probably felt like he had a chance.
The wolves shifted next, all five of them, but not before Sage turned and yelled to Emery to keep running to the exit.
She moved like he told her, but she also watched him shift into the most beautiful sable and white wolf she’d ever seen. He was massive, too, and not all that much smaller than the young bear standing a few feet down the hall. Emery considered shifting, too, her wolf was pushing at her to let her free, but wisely knew that she’d be a distraction right now. The Boulder Pack wolves back there looked like they were used to fighting as a unit and Emery might make it harder.
Instead, she did what Sage asked and she ran for the door that led outside.
She’d just pushed the final door open to find the sun beating down on her face when she heard the sound of an animal shrieking in unimaginable pain, followed by a cacophony of growls and barks. The bear was dead, she knew that much.
“Get in, Emery!”
Sienna’s voice pulled Emery completely through the door and searching the parking lot to where she was sitting inside a dark SUV. Emery ran to the vehicle and jumped into the front passenger seat across from Dane who had the wheel. The car sped off, racing out of the parking lot toward pack lands.
Chapter Seven
Sage
The bears had to die, that much was clear. He’d made the first one fast and brutal in that narrow hallway after he’d made sure for himself that Emery was fine. She’d looked banged up and a little out of it which had only made him and his wolf even angrier, but as soon as she was safe outside, he’d let the full force of his rage through.
Motherfuckers had attacked his pack members and one of them had hurt Emery. The bear squaring off with him, the one that’d called Emery little bitch hadn’t put up nearly the fight that all his shit talking had promised. Sage had ripped the shifters throat out before his pack members could even position themselves to be of any help.
Brody, Caleb, and Jai had rounded up three more of the bears with the help of Mark and Drew. Two had been dragged out back and killed on the spot. One had the inglorious privilege of being beaten, bound, and taken back to pack territory to be questioned.
Dane had taken the women back in the SUV Sage and Brody had arrived in. The relief Sage had felt at seeing his sister waiting safely with Dane behind a row of trees in the parking lot had been short-lived when he didn’t see Emery with them.
“She distracted the bears with my sweatshirt,” Sienna said in a rush as Brody ran his hands over her face, looking for any damage. Sienna was completely untouched thanks to Emery. “She’s in there with them chasing her!”
Brody put Sienna in the car with instructions for Dane to drive if anything came near them but to wait for Emery as long as possible.
Sage was already running to the service exit when Jai came running from somewhere on the right.
“Where’s Sienna?” He asked, his eyes panicked.
“Brody has her in the truck over there,” Sage clipped. “Where’s Emery?”
A quick shake of his head indicated Jai didn’t know, but he started running toward the green service entrance again with Sage behind. He was waiting for the truck full of Boulder Pack males who’d just arrived at Brody’s request. He motioned for them to follow him through the door Jai had just run through.
It all happened in a blur after that. He’d just started building a boiling rage in that damn endless hallway when he caught Emery’s scent on the air. It held the same fruity, sweet smell that entranced him, but it was also mixed with a healthy dose of fear. And blood. What the holy fuck?
Almost as if Fate had delivered her to him at just the moment his legendary control was about to splinter, Emery came crashing around the corner right into his eyes. The bear’s taunt had come quickly after that, so Sage got a fraction of a second to revel in the relief of holding Emery safe and sound for just a moment.
And then the greasy bear bastard had to die.
In all, five bears had died that afternoon and one was taken back to the Boulder Pack “shed” for questioning.
Sage was going to enjoy that part the most.
***
An hour later, the Alpha pair, Emery, Sage and the sentinels were assembled in the pack lodge. The pack healer, a quiet young woman named Sadie, worked on Jai who’d suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken wrist. Dane had been patched up earlier by Sienna.
Emery had refused to let anyone look at her until Sage threatened to hold her down himself while Sadie checked the massive bruise she likely had at the back her skull and the busted nose that had bled down her shirt.
“Nothing major, thankfully,” Sadie said with a smile as she handed Emery an ice pack for the back of her head. She’d winced as soon as the cold pack hit the tender spot.
The lone bear shifter they’d brought back still needed to be questioned, but Brody was waiting for Pax to arrive. The Beta had a reputation for being a master interrogator and resorted to measures even Sage wasn’t comfortable with when it came to getting answers.
Grayson, the Canyon Alpha and local sheriff, was busy trying to make five massive bear corpses disappear, which probably wasn’t the easiest task at the moment.
Sage still hadn’t spoken directly to Emery yet. He was still so angry at her for her foolish self-sacrificing ideas that he was afraid if he tried to talk to her, he’d say something overly harsh and start a huge brawl. The rest of the pack was incredibly grateful to her
for her quick thinking—and rightly so. But the fact that she’d just put her own safety on the line made Sage and his wolf furious.
He’d been crazy with worry as the vehicle raced to the mall. He’d been sick to his stomach when he didn’t see her with Sienna and Dane. And he’d nearly lost his shit when he smelled her fear and blood on the air.
Sage closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, willing the memory of it all to fade so he could concentrate. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Emery had her slate blue gaze locked on him. He didn’t miss the blush that crept to her cheeks, either, but he was thrilled when it didn’t cause her to look away.
His wolf rumbled his approval and Sage was the one who had to break the trance when he heard Brody clear his throat.
“Emery, whatever you need from me, whenever you need it,” the Alpha said. “You have it. That, and my eternal gratitude for what you did today.”
The sentinels nodded their approval. Sienna dabbed at her eyes.
“You’re stuck with me now,” she said, her voice cracking. “That was some serious female bonding you did today.”
Emery was obviously uncomfortable under the intensity of every gaze in the room, but Sage thought she took it like a champ.
The meeting finally adjourned when the call came that Pax was on pack land and headed toward the “shed.”
The sentinels ran ahead to meet Pax’s truck and Brody stayed behind to see Sienna settled in and comfortable in their room upstairs.
Sage waited at the door for Emery and her ice pack to walk through.
“What are you doing the rest of the night?” he asked casually. He was feeling anything but casual at the moment, and Emery Wilkins was the reason why.
“Homework, probably,” she said with a shrug. “I’d ask you the same, but I have a feeling I don’t really want to know the answer.”
Sage nodded.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “You don’t want to know.”
He walked her slowly toward her cabin, knowing he had pack business to attend to, but also knowing he could steal just a few more minutes with her.
Beta's Destiny (Rocky Mountain Shifters Book 2) Page 4
