by AJ Blackburn
He held my sister’s life at the tips of his fingers. I distracted him enough that he turned around to strike at me, my sister managed to wriggle free. Then we ran, our little legs catching in the long grass as we ran as fast as we could go. I grabbed Ember’s hand as soon as I could, pulling with all my might to get her away from the evil man.
We hadn’t needed to run. Dane had grabbed him as soon as Ember was free. Our Beta, Josh, had run to us. We had huddled together in the grass as Josh had stood over us. We didn’t watch Dane tear the man apart, but we had heard it, then flames erupted in the meadow. Moments later we had both been scooped up from the ground and our Dad had carried us both home, one in each arm as we had cried into his shoulders, and he whispered to us how brave we both were.
Looking at Jordan, I can tell by the look on his face that the time for reminiscing is over. He is done. He’s done talking. He’s done playing games. He’s done with me. His maddened hatred for me has turned to blood lust, he’s trapped in his memories regardless of whatever deal he has come to with the hunters. Right now it doesn’t matter. He’s ready to burn the world to sate his vengeance and I’m his first victim. Oh, and I’m strapped helplessly to a fucking chair. Just great. Unless by some miracle someone comes through that door right now to save me, or Belmont has a sudden change of heart, I’m pretty much fucked. That will not stop me from fighting the best I can under
Silence. My screams and shouts to Phoenix are met with a deafening silence. It buzzes and screeches through my mind.
The hustle, noise, and planning, along with panicked, frenzied ramblings carries on loud and clear outside of my mind. I sit on the couch staring into nothing, as far away from the Betas, Alphas, and whoever the hell else had crammed into our cabin. I have the still unconscious wolf under a blanket, absentmindedly running my hand through his thick coat while his head rests on my lap. Hunter is keeping his eyes on me, as if any moment the wolf will spring up and attack me. Like he would. He smells of Phoenix, like she’s deep in his skin. He’s the closest thing I have to her now and when he wakes, I want to be the first to speak with him. Not interrogate him, like I can see the males want to do. There will be none of that, this wolf has already been through enough. The last thing he needs is to wake up in a strange place and have a bunch of bull headed, dominant males, and Alphas bearing down on him.
Absently, I continue to stroke my hand down the side of the wolf’s neck. I’m still trying to communicate with Phoenix in my head. I turn my attention on the males standing in my kitchen. Hunter faces me, Ryder next to him, Dane and Josh opposite them, and the others crowding around. Dane has rallied four other packs to come and help; there’s the Galaxy pack, Eden pack, Aspen pack, and the Findhorn pack, each eager to get their pot-shot at the hunters.
I’d swallowed my pride and told my Dad what had happened. Though he had been angry at first, he boxed the anger up. He’s an Alpha after all. His priorities come before anger, and his priority right now is Phoenix. Movement on my lap snaps me back to the wolf, his eyes fluttering and groggy. He wriggles, so I help him sit upright.
“Hello, I’m Ember, Phoenix’s sister. Do you have enough strength to shift?” I ask, keeping my voice low and soft. A few moments pass, then a man sits in front of me. When did my sister get so lucky? First Ryder and now this man. Thinking like that made me blush and my eyes quickly shot to Hunter. Yup, the butt is smirking at me, fully knowing what path my thoughts just took.
“Phoenix.” His voice is hoarse, I grab a glass of water from the side table and offer it to him. Taking it from me, he gulps down the whole glass. Handing the glass back to me, panting slightly, he rubs the back of his hand across his mouth.
“Thank you.” Damn even his voice is sexy, now that he can talk properly. “Phoenix was taken by a wolf. A wolf from your pack, I presume. She recognised him, I felt her feeling of betrayal echo through me.” I feel my eyes widen at his words. Because I had scented the wolf he was on about too. I just hadn’t put the pieces together until now. This was why no one had come to help us or stop us at the warehouse, he hadn’t told anyone we had left our territory. I thought he had mocked Ryder because they both shared her scent, but this means I was wrong. He’d mocked Ryder like he knew exactly who he was. The jigsaw is coming together in my mind, how the hunters had known things that they shouldn’t have. I had talked freely about Phoenix and Ryder in front of him sometimes, never really thinking that he would be absorbing any of my words. But he had, he’d taken it all in, and betrayed us to the hunters.
“Jordan,” is the only response I give. That traitorous bastard.
The room has gone quiet around us, male testosterone saturates the air. Too many dominant males are crammed into my cabin and too many of them are pissed as hell.
Hunter, we need less bodies in here. My tone is a little urgent as I watch the male next to me start to become more tense as he looks around the room. He’d been caged for who knows how long, and God knows what else had happened, but now a feral-ness is blanketing over him with how many unknown males are surrounding him. I go to reach for his clenched fist, trying to sooth him a little.
EMBER, NO! Hunter bellows in my mind. I take a quick glance and see he is ushering everyone out of the door. I’m presuming he used telepathy with Dane, as my father wasn’t kicking up a storm about being told to leave.
Josh and I will go finish the building and look for any more clues as to where Phoenix is sweetheart. My father’s strong rich voice sounds in my mind.
Thanks, Dad. I really am sorry. I was so, so close to getting her back. My heart sinks with each word.
You did better than any of the rest of us my beautiful girl. We will have her back soon, I promise.
With that the door clicks into place, and the buzz in the cabin hits an eerie silence. Hunter and Ryder stand in the kitchen, looking at me, waiting I realise, for me to invite them over. I look back at the wolf and his shoulders have lost some of their tension and his eyes are a little less wild.
“Can I ask your name please?” I ask him carefully.
“It’s Elliott. They can come over,” he gestures to Hunter and Ryder, the only two remaining. “I sense your mate needs to be near you. I won’t hurt you. You can trust me, I'd never hurt my mate’s family, and that includes her other mates.” My mouth is still hanging open when Hunter and Ryder get over to us. Damn, he just came out and said it.
“I…this…urm… ” I’m at a loss for words. Hunter’s low chuckle comes as he sits down next to me, breathing me in, and wrapping his arms around my waist. He effortlessly pulls me onto his lap and snuggles into my neck. He’s a total softie.
“You can shut your mouth now, baby. Before I put something long and hard in it.” I elbow the git behind me. He is a total butthole, as well as a softie. Satisfied with the grunt Hunter gives out from my elbow, I recompose myself.
“This butt head behind me is Hunter, he’s my mate, and this...” I gesture towards Ryder who has taken a seat on the opposite sofa, “this is Ryder, Phoenix’s mate, or one of you so it seems, but you have already figured that out. Boy’s, this is Elliott, Phoenix’s other mate.” That is weird. Shaking my head, I’ll just go with it for now. I want my sister back, I’ll work the rest out afterwards. They all do some weird male head nods at each other.
“Have you tried to contact Phoenix?” Ryder asks Elliott. He shakes his head.
“But I will try now.” His face takes on a hard look of concentration and his eyes swim out of focus, all three of us are waiting with bated breath. Minutes later he speaks again, and I let out the breath.
“You are right, Ember,” his golden eyes focus on me, and there’s that edge of feral wildness to them again. “Jordan and Belmont have her.” Anger ripples through my cabin, oozing from all of us. Hunter and I the most. Jordan is our pack mate, we have trusted him for years. Hell, we had once wanted Phoenix to mate with the…the...bastard!
“She says she’s okay, but I can feel the lie,” Elliott tells us.
<
br /> “Where is she? And while we are on it, how can you reach her and I can’t?” Ryder’s voice is barely leashed aggression. His powerful body vibrates with suppressed rage.
“She doesn’t know where she is, but she said she’s within a ten-mile radius of a cell tower. She clocked it before they took her into a house. Ryder, I'm not sure, but it could be because we broke through the block they put on us when locked in the cages. We will fix what they have broken, but right now we have to go and get our girl.”
We are on our feet and moving. Hunter conveys the information to Dane as we grab our coats and boots. Hunter rushes with Elliott to our room and he emerges a few minutes later dressed in some of Hunter's clothes. I throw one of Hunter’s jackets at him and he catches it easily. On the way out the door Elliott puts a hand on Ryder’s arm, stopping him. Hunter and I carry on out the door, but I’m a nosy bitch, so I listen in.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this from happening,” Elliott tells him.
“I couldn’t stop her from being taken in the first place,” Ryder confesses, his voice breaking slightly.
“She loves you, you know?” Elliott is met with silence, so he carries on. “She thought you were dead. When I made her look at her mark eventually, her light ignited and her hope that was nearly lost, took on a whole new determination. You are the reason she got us out of there. Unfortunately, we hadn’t planned for this betrayal. But we will get her back, and she will not give up. I just hope I’m worthy enough to be loved by her the same, one day.” He gives Ryder’s shoulder a squeeze on the way out the door. Hunter grips my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Come on, baby, let’s go get our sister back.” Hunter kisses my now damp cheek and he pulls me with him. I didn’t realise I was crying until then.
We make our way through the woods to the main cabin, Ryder catches us up about five minutes later. His eyes are rimmed red and sore from tears he must not have wanted us to see, but the shadow of pain is cast over his face still. My heart squeezes in my chest. Not only does Phoenix love him, he loves her just as much. I have a feeling Elliott does too, though he is far more closed off than Ryder and harder to read. That makes my heart squeeze again. Those monsters did awful things to him. The demons that haunt him are evident, in the sharp, untrusting look he has in his eyes. I grip Hunter’s hand harder. I’m glad I have my mate to keep me balanced and going. I vow to myself that I wouldn’t just get my sister back for me, but for her mates too, before they break beyond repair.
Belmont stepped in against Jordan, pointing a gun at him with an unsteady hand, his fear of Jordan showing even as he took a stand.
Jordan has simmered down. They have left me to go elsewhere in the house and are talking quietly enough I cannot hear them. Fuckers. But their mistake, I now have a chance to get out of here.
And where did you go, sweetheart?
Elliott! Relief floods my body. He is okay, he’s alive.
Do you know where they took you, sweetheart? He asks me, his voice calm and steady.
No, but find the cell tower in the woods, I’m within a ten mile radius of it. Where are you? Are you okay?
I’m fine, my beautiful. Your sister found me, Ryder is here, he’s alive and well. We are all coming for you. Please tell me you are okay. Who has you?
My sister? Ember had found us! My heart sinks. She had finally found me, but the fucking bastards in the other room snatched me before she got to me. Anger was a living breathing thing inside of me. Ryder is also there, another flood of relief. My emotions are clashing like a tempest inside of me. I cannot afford the distraction. Closing my eyes, I take a deep, deep breath and still my galloping heart.
I’m fine, Elliott. It’s Jordan and Belmont who have me. I’ll be out of here in no time. Look after them.
We will find you, sweetheart. Don’t you get hurt.
As always, Elliott is formal and controlled, but right now I need that. I need to focus. I test my bound wrists, the bindings don’t budge, not even a millimetre. When I get out of this shit, I’m going to castrate Jordan before I rip his throat out. I tune my hearing in, I need to know where they are in the house. I need to break the chair, they will hear it, but can I get the rope off before they get in the room? Of course I can, I’m a fucking Goddess. I can do anything. Internal pep-talk over, I listen for them.
The front door opens, and one set of footsteps goes out. This is it. I push my feet hard on the floor and tip backwards as hard as I can. The chair smashes as it hits the floor. Shit, that worked better than I thought it would. I’m pulling the rope off my legs as Jordan bursts through the door, he makes a dive for me. I roll to the side, and shift.
The cream coated male wolf in front of me snarls and lashes out at me. I move out of his reach, then come back at him from the side. Snapping my jaws at his side, I catch only fur. We circle each other, lips curled back over salivating teeth. Jordan lunges again, instead of moving out of his way I surprise him and hit him head on. Rising onto our hind legs, front legs gripping each other as we snap, bite, and try to get a hold on each other’s throats. I catch his ear and pull hard, feeling flesh ripping. He lets out a pained growl. Canines sink into the side of my face. I thrash hard trying to shake him loose. I can’t get him off, so I go limp instead, dragging him down to the floor. The move loosens his hold and I manage to pull my face free. Blood leaks out from deep wounds, but I ignore it. I barrel into him again and sink my teeth deep into his shoulder, he thrashes and shakes but I keep hold. He crushes me between him and the glass doors. I feel a rib give out, which makes my jaws open with a yelp. He moves away fast. Scarlet blood stains his cream coloured coat from his shoulder.
The door bursts open, Belmont and another male rush in. Very, very bad move on their part. Jordan is feral, and I’m not far behind him. He turns to the intruders and fear wafts off them. The new male stinks of piss suddenly too, as his crotch grows wet. He should turn and run, they both should, but fear has grown its roots and they can’t move. Jordan grabs the offending arm of Belmont’s that goes to raise a gun. The boom reverberates around the room as the gun goes off at the same time that Belmont screams. His scream is cut short as Jordan’s teeth sink deep into his throat and pull. Dead, he drops to the floor. The insignificant man turns and flees. Finally.
Jordan turns slowly back to me. Now it’s just me and him, no one else to interrupt his vengeance. Blood runs from me to the floor. More blood than should be running from me. The gun might have missed its target of Jordan, but it didn’t miss me. The bullet is now buried deep in my chest. My once snowy white coat runs a crimson river from my chest, down my front leg to the floor. I stumble. No, I can’t go down, not with Jordan still standing, still breathing. He has betrayed all the people who had welcomed him, who had loved him, as a pack member, as family. He can’t leave this house. I won’t let him. I go to charge him but, I just stumble again. Jordan, the man, now stands in front of me. He laughs cruelly, walks over to me and bends over. Putting his hand out, he patronisingly pats my head between my ears.
“Down you go now, girl,” he soothes. Shamefully I do. I let out a pained whine as my head hits the floor, watching my blood pool around me, as my eyelids start to drift closed.
Shit, this is not how this day should have gone.
My strong paws dig into the earth as I run through the pine forest. We are close. About twenty five wolves run with me. All from various packs, some I have never met before. But we all have one goal. Find Phoenix and kill whoever is in our way.
My strong paws falter and I fall to the dirt floor, hard. I roll over a few times before coming to a stop. What the hell! I feel like I’ve been shot. Hunter is over me in seconds.
Baby, what’s wrong? His panicked voice sounds in my mind.
Chest...shot…
Hunter shifts back to his human skin, and his powerful hands on me in seconds, turning me this way and that to check for a wound.
There’s nothing baby, are you sure? You didn’t just trip?
I might be in my wolf skin, but I give him the best incredulous look that I can. Baby, there is no blood. You are unharmed. I shift to my human skin and feel my chest. Suddenly it hit me like a tonne of bricks and I realised what’s happened.
“Phoenix!” Before any wolf around me has a chance to stop me I shift back and run. I run as hard and as fast as I can. I know exactly where I’m going. The pull of my twin is like a rope connecting us and I can feel it tugging tightly for us to draw closer. However, the rope is also fraying rapidly as Phoenix grows weaker.
I burst flat out onto the front lawn of a house, just as Jordan’s smug-ass smiling face strides out the door, complete with a swagger fit for the bastard he is! I don’t pause. I don’t stop. I strike. He’s totally and utterly unprepared. My sister enjoys taunting and playing when she battles, she draws it out. I kill. Jordan thrashes under me and lands a few blows to my ribs, but I grip his head in my jaws and bite down hard. His skull gives way under the pressure of my jaws, and for good measure I rip open his stomach with my hind claws.
I’m aware that others have made it to the clearing, but I charge into the house running through the hall. Suddenly, the invisible rope that pulled me here snaps! There’s nothing left, no connection. I skid to a halt as I make it to the conservatory. There on the tiled floor lies Phoenix.
I shift to my human skin and collapse to my knees, slipping in Phoenix’s blood. I grip her fur and lay my head on her shoulder. She is cold and lifeless underneath my face. Sob after sob wrench out of my mouth as my heart shatters. I’m too late. There’s too much blood. I didn’t make it.
I’m too late.
Running into the house behind Ember, with Elliott and Hunter on my heels, I can feel my heart racing and my thoughts are focused on just getting to my girl. Fear for my pretty wolf, locks tight around my throat, and my breathing quickens to shorts pants that burn and splinter my lungs. The stench of coppery blood assails me. Like a mantra I repeat over and over. It’s not Phoenix’s. It’s not Phoenix’s. It’s not Phoenix's. But who am I kidding? I already know it is. I can feel it, deep in my heart and soul, like they are tearing in two. I run into the conservatory and time stops. I stop. Like hitting a wall of glass. The floor is covered with a large puddle of red liquid that seems to be ever expanding and right there in the centre lies a beautiful white wolf. Ember slumped over her, her body shaking with violent sobs. The tears I’d hidden earlier now run freely down my face, like rivulets of rain on a glass pane. This cannot be.
