by Marla Monroe
“I think she is right. We have a better chance of catching them off guard if the witch doesn’t know ahead of time we are on our way,” Levi said. He looked at Dimitri.
The enforcer nodded. “I agree. We are familiar with the humans’ toys. We can watch for them. Joseph is on point and knows the traps better than anyone.”
Joseph gave a soft yip at the other wolf’s words. Deland nodded.
“Then we will proceed with caution. Everyone knows their job when we get there. We will wait for the sign, then attack,” Deland said.
Levi turned back to the three Sylphies. “Joseph and Lee will lead so we don’t trip any human devices. Once we arrive, you stay between the Alpha and Dimitri. We will handle the rest. If you sense the witch causing any trouble, we would appreciate your help keeping them off our backs,” he said with a slight smile.
Ariel smiled back and winked. “Do not worry, my wolf brother. We will cover your asses.”
“Ariel!” Krista hissed. “Language, sister.”
Levi chuckled. They were much more relaxed than they had been when they had first arrived. No doubt Gabrielle would be pleased to visit with them when this was resolved. He just hoped they had one more trick up their sleeves that would help with their other problem. He could feel his mate slipping from him. He didn’t like it one bit.
“Levi? Are you ready, son?” Deland asked.
“Let’s be done with it. I have a mate to see to.” He started forward as their wolves moved around them, some in their human form and others in their wolf form.
He could tell when they were nearly where they had a headquarters set up by the number of man-made devices they had placed around the area. Cameras, trip wires, and even motion detectors were strategically placed so that if you didn’t know where they were, you would eventually set one or more of them off. Thanks to Joseph’s military experience and the Sylphies’ abilities to find things not natural to the environment, they were able to avoid them all. It took precious time though, and it would be dark soon.
They stopped at the edge of the tree line while Joseph and two other wolves circled around to see what they were up against. In the clearing ahead stood a small cabin that had probably been a hunting cabin. It was small enough to probably only have one room, which would mean anyone not outside guarding it would be visible once they made it inside.
Several minutes later, a soft yip from Joseph let them know they were in place. The rest of the wolves had spread out to wait for his signal. Ariel hissed at him. He looked over with a frown.
“I sense four humans and two wolves in the cabin. There is one that is other inside as well. I would assume it is the witch they are using, but it isn’t a normal human witch. I’m not sure what they are,” she said. “You should be very careful. I have no experience with this being.”
“Thanks, Ariel. Stay back with my father. He and Dimitri will keep you and your sisters safe.” Levi flashed five fingers at all of the wolves, who then passed the signal around. He waited one full minute, and then he gave a long low growl and ran towards the first guard that had turned to walk around the side of the cabin.
He caught the human off guard and snapped his neck before he could breathe a word. He grabbed the man’s weapon and headed for the door. He saw one of the others take down the second guard that had been in the front and was sure the rest of the guards had been dispatched similarly by his wolves. He and the wolf who had taken down the front guards crouched on either side of the door. He gave a signal of three and counted down quietly so that when he had one finger left up, they both kicked the door in at the same time. It flew across the room, knocking one human down in the process. He rolled to the right, while the other wolf lunged left.
He didn’t let the sights before him register so he could finish what they had to do first. One of the men lifted a gun to shoot the female wolf, but Levi shot him with the weapon he’d taken from the man he’d killed. He heard a scream and turned to find that his partner had used one human’s own knife to stab him. He heard the crash of glass as Joseph flew through the window onto the back of a human who’d been about to shoot him. His brother tore the man’s throat out, saving Levi’s life in the process. He looked around and found that all of the humans had been dealt with.
His partner was tearing his shirt off to cover the female wolf who’d been stripped. He nodded at another of his wolves to see about Terry, their guard who was tied to a chair and looked to be unconscious with numerous injuries. He walked over to where a female sat cross-legged in a small iron cage. She was wearing a shift of some type and looked to have been beaten at some point. She eyed him wearily, her expression impossible to read with the swelling to her face.
He saw that she had an iron collar around her neck and iron bracelets on her wrists as well. The cage held a slop jar and a small bucket of water. Other than that, she sat on the bare floor. He couldn’t see her feet with the shift covering her.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Why are you caged like an animal?”
She cocked her head slightly. “I’m Sienna. I was taken from my home. You may kill me now.”
Chapter Twelve
All I want is for my mates to truly be mated to me. Is that too much to ask?
Gabby pulled on a pair of jeans and slipped her feet into her favorite sandals. She had no more tears at the moment. She’d cried them all out earlier. She’d taken a long, soothing bath in hopes she could regain her composure and resist the urge to sink into depression with her wolf.
I don’t understand why this is happening. If he and Aaron are true bond mates, then he should feel the mating heat like Aaron does.
She’d heard Aaron pacing in the bedroom several times while she’d been wallowing in self-pity in the tub, but he hadn’t knocked or even attempted to talk to her. Part of her hurt that he hadn’t, but part of her knew she’d needed the time to regroup so she could handle whatever happened next. Something was going on, though. She could smell Aaron and Levi’s fathers, as well as other wolves. They had been in her cabin at some point. Now she couldn’t smell them or Levi.
She finished brushing her hair out and opened the bedroom door. When she walked into the living room, it was to find Aaron standing to the side of the window, peering through the edge of the curtains.
“Aaron? What are you doing?” she asked.
He didn’t move. “Stay away from the windows, honey. I’ll explain in a minute.”
She quickly stepped to one side so that she wasn’t in front of either of the two windows. Her heart hammered in her chest as she waited for Aaron to speak again. Finally he seemed to relax and stepped away from the window and over to the door. He didn’t open it but spoke through it.
“Where did you go? What’s going on?”
A muffled voice answered him. “The Beta called out to make sure we were okay. He and one of the other enforcers were following the trail of where the humans had been on our land. Evidently, they passed close by to the cabin here.”
“Fuck! Are they all okay? Levi said they were going to rescue our wolves, but that’s been over an hour ago.”
“The Beta said he hadn’t heard from them either. I won’t leave again, Aaron. I’m sorry.”
“Let me know if you hear or sense anything strange right away,” Aaron said.
“Yes sir.”
Aaron stepped away from the door and walked across the room to pull Gabby into his arms. She relished the closeness and allowed her body to sink into his for a second. Then she pulled back and looked up at him.
“What is going on, Aaron? Who of our wolves needs rescuing and from who?” she asked.
“Levi and the Alpha took the Sylphies to follow some humans who had entered our land and taken one of our guards and a female wolf. He called me over an hour ago to tell me they were about to leave and find our wolves.”
“And he hasn’t called back to let you know they are okay?” Gabby tried to squash the fear bubbling in her stomach at what all could have happened. She had to be st
rong and remember that Levi was strong, as were the other wolves he would have taken with him.
“He will call once it is safe for him to,” Aaron said, giving her a light squeeze.
“I’ll fix some coffee. I’m sure you could use it, and so could I.” She noticed it was dark out now. She looked at the clock in the kitchen to find that it was nearly eight.
She set up the coffee machine and stared at it as it began to make noises. The sound of Aaron’s phone ringing startled her. She hurried to the living room so she could hear what was said.
“Levi? What is going on?” Aaron asked.
“We have them back. Have Harper meet us at the clinic. Terry and Liz are going to need him. The rest of us are all fine,” Levi said.
Gabby was thankful for her wolf hearing so that she didn’t have to wait for Aaron to finish on the phone to tell her they were okay. She ran to the bedroom and grabbed her phone to call Harper herself. She could do that for them.
When she finished alerting the healer that he would be needed, she hurried back to listen as Aaron continued talking with his brother.
“So you’re bringing the witch back with you?” Aaron asked.
“Yes, things are not what they seem. The Sylphies are in agreement, and I trust them,” Levi said.
“Did you get all of the humans?” he asked.
“No. Only a handful were there. But we know more about them now, thanks to the witch. We will be there in another twenty minutes. We can talk then,” Levi said.
“We will meet you at the clinic,” Aaron told him.
“Is Gabby okay?” Levi asked in a softer voice.
“Yes. She is right here with me. We will see you soon, brother.” Aaron ended the call and put away his phone. Turning to her, he smiled. “They are fine. I heard you talking to Harper. Thanks for calling for me.”
“It saved a few minutes. I’ll pour the coffee into a thermos, and we can go. He will need help, and Liz will need a female there with her.” Gabby hurried back to the kitchen and located the thermos she usually used for soup. After pouring the coffee in it, she turned off the coffeemaker and rejoined Aaron, who was telling one of the Alpha’s enforcers what was going on.
They took Aaron’s truck and drove with the enforcer in the back to the clinic. Harper rarely had need for it, but occasionally there would be an accident that would require they use it. Since shifters healed so quickly, there wasn’t normally a need for anything more than a few stitches and time. The fact that Levi was bringing the two wolves to the clinic for Harper to care for them meant it was serious.
She left Aaron with the thermos and immediately began helping Harper prepare for the worst. They readied the beds with a divider between them for Liz’s privacy and sat bins of towels and bandages close at hand. They had just finished setting up the portable lights when she heard the sound of boots on the porch of the clinic. Then the door burst open, and a weird sort of organized chaos took over.
* * * *
Gabby squeezed Liz in a gentle hug one last time before Robert, her mate, picked her up and carried her outside to his waiting Jeep. The woman had been very lucky. They hadn’t raped her, but they had stripped her and terrorized her, slapping her around and threatening all sorts of vile things. She would need time and more attention from the females of the pack to recover, but she would. Liz was a strong female. Her mate was a good wolf and would help her.
Andrea Shoewater hugged her close, whispering in her ear. “Thank you so much for being here for her when she got here, and thank you for calling me and letting me know what was going on. My mates have so much on them. They can’t always call and let me know they are well. I don’t harp on them about it because I know they are stretched thin already.”
“I’m so glad she is going to be okay. I just hope that Terry will recover. He was badly hurt and hadn’t been able to shift to heal himself,” Gabby said.
“What do you think of the Sylphies?” Andrea asked, changing the subject.
“I like them. They are sweet and so cute. I’ve never seen a female as small as they are, though I’m told human females are often that small. I’ve only seen the larger ones when I’ve been in town.”
Andrea laughed. “Nessa was quite tiny when she came to us at first, but she has blossomed well with care and those cubs she carries.”
“Yes. I do remember her being smaller. Still, she is over five feet tall, and these females are barely five feet, if that.” Gabby smiled as she caught sight of them talking to the other female they had brought back with them. She had on an iron collar and iron bracelets. They had to be heavy to wear.
“I’m going to go talk with them and the female Levi brought back,” she said.
“I’m going to urge my mates home. I will talk to you soon, Gabby. I know we have much to discuss, but here is not the place with so many nosey ears around.” Andrea smiled and turned toward where the Alpha and Beta were talking with her sons and the enforcers.
Gabby approached the Sylphies and strange female. When she was almost directly even with them, Ariel turned and nodded at her.
“Come, Gabrielle. Meet Sienna of the House of Cella. She is an elemental much like us, but yet different,” Ariel said.
“I don’t understand. What was she doing with the humans?” Gabby asked, looking at the poor female. She’d obviously been beaten but had refused Harper’s help earlier.
“I was taken from my home and forced to help them. As long as they had me in these irons, I was helpless to go against them. We are much like the Fae. Iron grounds us so that we can’t use our abilities or even just walk away. I’ve been so humiliated,” she said in a soft voice.
“How terrible. We need to get the iron off of her.” Gabby reached to remove the bracelets from the female’s wrists.
The Sylphies grabbed her and pulled her back. “No!”
Ariel shook her head. “We can’t release her yet.”
“Why not? Is she a danger to us for some reason?” Gabby asked.
“No, but she is a danger to herself. Right now she can’t do anything, but if we release her, she would be able to leave and would harm herself,” Yvette said.
“Why?” Gabby stared at Sienna. “Why would you want to harm yourself?”
“I allowed myself to be taken and used for evil. It is unforgivable among my kind, and my house would not allow me to return. To regain my honor, I must die,” she said as if she weren’t talking about suicide.
Gabby gasped and shook her head. “No! That is so wrong. You were forced against your will. You can’t be held responsible for something you couldn’t control. Surely your family wouldn’t wish you dead over this.”
Sienna smiled sadly. “To them, I am already dead. Once I left our home, I was dead to them. It is the way of our kind. It is the only way we can stay safe and keep humans safe. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the humans who were harmed by my presence, but your people. We did not even know that humans knew of our existence or how to find and capture us.”
“Someone had to have told them. Who else knows of your kind?” Ariel asked.
“The Fae and a few witches, but I can’t imagine they would talk to a human about us. It wouldn’t help them in any way,” Sienna said.
“Ah, but it would if it meant they could go free by giving you up,” Yvette said. “They just talked you up, saying you were much stronger than they were, and the humans would have wanted you over them.”
“That does make sense. Humans are often greedy, wanting the biggest and best of everything,” Ariel said.
Though Gabby agreed with Ariel, she felt like there was more to it than that. There was that old saying that a bird in hand was better than two in a bush. At least that’s how she thought it went. She worried that they still had a witch on their payroll. They wouldn’t have allowed one to go free. Either they killed it once they had Sienna, or they still had the witch somewhere else at their beck and call. She would make sure she shared her thoughts with Levi when they were alone agai
n. If they were alone again. Her mind tried to go back to worrying about their lack of a solid mating, but she fought to ignore those thoughts and concentrate on the problems in front of her.
“I don’t think we should let down our guard even though Sienna is here with us now,” she told them.
“Gabby is right. As long as the head is still alive and free, we cannot grow lax,” Ariel said. “We will begin working with the guards in the morning to teach them how to monitor nature for abnormal changes in her rhythms.”
“Gabrielle?” Levi’s voice had her turning toward it without thinking. “Are you okay? You shouldn’t have been on your feet all this time.”
She frowned at him. “I’m fine. What are we going to do with Sienna? We should move another bed into the spare room with Ariel and her sisters. They would be able to watch out for her.”
“It isn’t safe for her to be in the same house with you, Gabrielle. She is not stable,” he said.
Gabby growled as she focused a glare up at him. “It is my home. I say who stays and who goes. She is welcome there, and I think the Sylphies would be good for her. They are similar in a lot of ways.”
Levi’s face hardened so that she could see no emotion there any longer. He looked over her head at the four women behind her. It hit her in that instant that she’d hurt him. She hated that she had, but he wasn’t going to boss her around. She knew in her heart that the woman wasn’t a danger to anyone but herself. Something told her that she would be important to them in some way. Gabby wanted to keep her close by for that reason alone.
“I will have someone bring another bed for her. Until we can be assured that she will not try and leave or take her own life, the iron stays on her. It is all that is keeping her alive right now.”
“I understand, Levi. Thank you. She is important to us somehow. I want her close,” she whispered.
Levi’s head jerked down to stare into her eyes. “What do you mean? What do you know, Gabrielle?”
“Only that she holds answers for us. I don’t know if it is for the three of us or for the pack as a whole, but she is the answer to something big, and we need all the help we can get.”
