by Cecilia Lane
Darkness ate at the edges of her eyesight. Her lungs fought to pull in air, but the hands around her throat blocked anything from sneaking through. She flailed as much as possible, weaker as the seconds to her death ticked down.
This was it. No going out with a bang or getting a final revenge. Her life ended in violence she couldn’t prevent.
Deep in her mind, her lioness roared a final call to fight.
Mara reached forward and dragged her nails down the bastard’s face.
Chapter 5
Mara’s rejection fucked up the rest of Hudson’s day and next morning. The clan tried to take him out to get his mind off his troubles, but that ended with a cue stick broken over Gray’s back when the man wouldn’t stop referring to Hudson as a lovesick puppy. Leah busted up that brawl and ordered them all out before they broke anything else while she worked.
The morning shift at the firehouse wasn’t any better. His eyes stung from a lack of sleep. His bear wanted to fight and bleed anyone that wasn’t Mara, including Hudson. He’d thrown down twice and given both Cole and Gray broken noses before Callum yanked him by the ear like a pissed off mother and ordered him out.
With nowhere else to go, Hudson turned toward Town Hall and his mate. His skin felt too tight and his chest ached. He couldn’t follow his own advice and let her cool off before trying again. Just the thought of driving away when she was so close angered his bear. The beast drove sharp claws into his mind and sent image after image of him tearing through Hudson’s control. There would be no peace even if he stayed away.
Just like his plan to hole up in his den, the plan to see his mate wasn’t so simple. As soon as he crossed the street between the firehouse and Bearden Town Hall, he spotted Kate pacing at the foot of the steps and shooting daggers toward the pair of SEA agents standing outside the doors.
Hudson resisted the urge to spit. He was certain there were some honorable agents in the organization. Agent Beasley in the Bearden office seemed all right. But most were assholes looking to put their boot on the throats of those more powerful than themselves. They took any opportunity to put more men inside the enclave territory, such as menacingly guarding the doors to a municipal building used by plenty of harmless citizens.
Others, scientists he thought, milled around, too. That wasn’t unusual. They got their start later than Mack and Cullins opened up for visitors on the days they were allowed inside for research.
Kate, though, was frustration personified. Her scent stunk of it and her entire body was stiff. She housed a cat, too, and he could imagine her tail flicked with irritation.
“What’s going on?” he asked when he reached her.
Kate shook a pointed finger in the direction of the building. “I’ve been waiting all morning to get inside, and they still won’t let me in to see her. Jacob is watching the kids so I could talk with her alone and they’ve locked down the entire floor!”
Hudson frowned. He couldn’t think of a reason to close off the floor. Mara didn’t shift down there. Any news of a gas leak or fire would have been all over the firehouse he just left and probably on the lips of everyone in town. If Mack and Cullins weren’t available to do their duty, he was certain Judah would assign someone else.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” he promised and jogged up the steps and into Town Hall. Fuckers couldn’t stop him from pretending to pay his water bill.
Something was wrong. He didn’t want to worry Kate, but every instinct screamed for him to take the steps five at a time and hurtle through the door with his bear already taking control.
He waited for the nearest SEA agent to turn his back, then slipped through the doors that led to the stairs. If they caught him, he’d find his way through the tunnels under the town.
He took the steps six at a time and let the beast under his skin linger close to the surface.
Hudson listened closely to the final doors at the lowest level. There wasn’t any movement he could detect. The stench of floor cleaner covered over individual scents. Not that it’d do any good. People, too many to properly track and account for, passed through the building and shorted out his nose.
His ears worked fine. He perked at the first dulled thump and hurried through the door. There was no stopping him. Every instinct shoved him forward.
Empty rooms lined the hallway. His boots sounded loud in the silence. Too empty. Too quiet. Except for the grunts and thumps near the end of the hall.
Hudson jogged the last leg of the journey, feeling like every step was made through quicksand. He didn’t want to know what disaster waited for him, and couldn’t turn away if he tried.
Time and sound and sensation flared back to regular time as he skidded to a stop outside the visitor’s room. Mara dangled from the hands of a man with his back facing Hudson. Another pushed to his feet, caught sight of Hudson, and opened his mouth to give warning just as Mara lifted her arm and slashed her nails down her attacker’s face.
He stepped into the room and immediately slammed a fist into the backup’s jaw. Bone crunched under his fingers and the man crumpled to the floor.
Two giant steps put him behind the asshole with his hands around Mara’s throat. Hudson reached around, grabbed his chin with one hand and the back of his neck with the other, and snapped.
Mara and the man fell to the ground, but only Mara opened her mouth to suck in a desperate breath. Watery eyes lifted and found his.
Her chest rising and falling was the most beautiful sight in the whole damn world.
“They work for Ronnie,” she wheezed.
Fucking Ronnie and her piece of shit hunters and their stupid as fuck fighting rings. As if those charades were anything close to a full-on brawl between dominant males. Assholes didn’t know what they were missing, but he’d be sure they knew when his fists found their faces.
Guess his work hit a little too close to home if she was determined to take out Mara.
Too close. They’d gotten too close to taking his mate from him. He’d held his tongue and bided his time because he knew there was an end to this separation. She’d serve her time, and then they could get on with their lives. And those fuckers threatened his future.
Where the fuck were Mack and Cullins? Someone let Mara out of her cell, and he bet the two fuckers with SEA insignia on their uniforms weren’t the ones to do it. His blood boiled at the possibilities of how his mate lost her protection.
The alarms rang, the noise rising and falling like a heartbeat. Hudson growled and swept his gaze to the backup he’d only knocked out of his way in his hurry to save Mara. The man glared, face already swollen and bruised, then his hand fell open and a device rolled from his palm.
Panic button or recorder, didn’t fucking matter. The alarms still blared and help would come for the fallen agents. Hudson doubted other SEA agents would be willing to believe he simply defended his mate with two of their own down. Shoot first, ask questions later seemed to be their protocol when dealing with supes.
Murderous fucking bastards.
“Come on,” he urged Mara to her feet. “We need to get out of here.”
She took another shuddering breath and yanked her wrist out of his grasp. “Where will we go? Taking me anywhere is going to put you in danger. I can’t—”
She cut off her words and looked away. They didn’t have time to delve into the intricacies of whatever bothered her or the stubborn streak that kept her feet glued to the floor. He reached for her again and kept his grip tight as he dragged her in his wake.
“I’m not leaving you any place where you were almost killed. Judah and the rest can take it up with me if they have a problem busting you out of here.”
He paused at the door and glanced one way, then the other. The corridor was still clear of all living souls. The blaring alarms riled up his bear. They didn’t have much time before others arrived.
One way led up the stairs, where they’d no doubt meet those coming to subdue the threat. Mara’s collar and her garb would
mark her for a prisoner immediately.
Which left the tunnels at the other end of the hallway.
Hudson strode forward. He swiveled his head from side to side, taking in and processing his surroundings as much as his inner bear. They were trained for this. Get in, retrieve an asset, get out. He’d had a plan in his head from the moment Mara went into the cell, just in case he ever needed it.
And she thought he was joking about busting her out.
Too fucking bad it happened because of an attempt on her life.
He strode toward the end of the hall and the entrance to the tunnels below the town. The scent of blood grew stronger with each step. He couldn’t ignore it, and his bear ached to rip into something because of it. That sharp, metallic odor wasn’t from his hands or the blood trickling from Mara’s mouth. Hudson had the sinking feeling he knew exactly where Mack and Cullins were during the fight.
Two more doors, and Mara stiffened. One more, and her lips pressed together. The last door before they hit the entrance to the tunnels was closed, but a pool of red leaked into the corridor.
Mara twisted out of his grip with surprising quickness, then hit the handle on the door. “Fuck,” she growled. “Shit!”
The scent of anger, sadness, worry, and fear nearly overwhelmed Hudson. Her eyes were wide when he glanced at her, and her hands covered her mouth.
Mack’s sightless eyes stared back at them from the floor. Cullins, further in the room, was much the same.
Hudson felt the urge to rush back to the visitor’s room and finish the job. Two lives of theirs for two of his didn’t seem like a bad trade.
Motherfuckers.
Hudson closed his eyes for a brief moment and wished the spirits of the men peace in the afterlife. Then he snapped back into action.
“We can mourn them later.” Footsteps pounded in the distance. No doubt backup for the SEA meeting with the dangerous shifter on the lower level. He needed to get Mara down into the tunnels before they started shooting.
He hit the keys on the door lock and twisted the handle as soon as the mechanisms engaged. First door down. The window built into the second slid open and a pair of eyes bored into his skull. The vampire evidently saw nothing wrong with aiding a prison break, as the door swung open.
“Inside,” Victor hissed. “Hurry.”
Hail to the Vampire King.
Hudson still held tightly to Mara’s hand and followed Victor through the tunnel underneath Town Hall. The deathly silence of the tunnels freaked him out. He knew the vampires could party, and knew the control Victor exerted over his people. The place was as quiet as a tomb with no sound other than their footsteps and shifter breaths. Not even a drop of water could be heard.
The audience chamber itself was entirely empty. Probably smart. Victor wouldn’t want anyone to tell tales of their escape. Plausible deniability, but it wouldn’t last. With only two ways in or out of the lower levels and no sign of them taking the stairs of the building, those tracking them down would come right for the vampires.
Victor stopped in the very middle of the space. Tunnels branched off in multiple directions. “Here you must choose your path to the surface.”
Hudson nodded toward the opening he knew would lead up to the firehouse. The streets wouldn’t be safe, and the closest outlet to the Strathorn cabins would take too long to walk. He needed men he trusted.
Victor bowed his head in acknowledgment and stepped aside, offering the way clear with his hand.
“Thank you,” Hudson said.
“We saw nothing, bear,” Victor replied in the same soft voice he used for everything. “Safe and discrete passage is the right to any in this town.”
Hudson didn’t linger. He had to get Mara free.
“Where are we going?” Mara asked.
The words were clear of shock. Even her scent had calmed.
“I told you. I’m getting you out of here.”
No other choice. He needed to protect her. He was done with this bullshit of her serving her sentence. All of Bearden’s civility couldn’t keep Ronnie’s goons from attacking her in their most secure building. She needed to be kept safe, not forced to fight off attackers who should never have gotten so close. So this was it. He was in charge now. Anyone with a problem with him taking her would bleed.
He needed her alive. The others had their mates. They’d all found the person their lungs breathed and their hearts beat for. He wouldn’t be denied a chance to find that with Mara.
Hudson went through the door first. No one but his clan was inside the firehouse. Faces showed confusion when they turned to him, then shock when he led Mara through.
Callum stared. “What the fuck, Hudson?”
Yeah, they didn’t have time for a game of twenty questions. His alpha was a great man. Reliable. He was also chatty as hell when trying to get to the bottom of something.
“They tried to kill her,” Hudson said to cut off any discussion of bringing a prisoner into the firehouse.
“Hunters. Posing as SEA,” Mara added.
“Fuck,” Callum cursed. He scrubbed a hand over his head, then jerked his chin to the back door. “To the cabins. I’ll meet you there.”
“Got it,” Hudson answered as he led Mara past.
He already had keys in his hand by the time they hit the street. A line of trucks parked along the sidewalk under a sign reserving the spaces for the firefighters inside.
Mara eyed each one as they passed, skirting quick glances to Hudson as they hurried down the row. Introductions were in order, it seemed. For everything they talked about in the last year of her sentence, they were still strangers. She didn’t even know what truck he drove.
“This one.” He rounded the hood of a lifted, black pickup.
She shifted in her seat as soon as he closed them both inside the cab. The urge to touch and reassure was too strong to keep packed away. He’d almost watched her die. He’d killed to protect her.
He twisted the key in the ignition, then let his hand fall on her knee. Warmth spread through his palm and up his arm, the same as when he grabbed her hand the previous day. She’d rejected him then, but there was no turning from him now.
That delicious scent of hers filled his nose. He wanted it everywhere. Clinging to his skin, his clothes, his sheets. Funny, thinking he’d be bringing to his den for the first time after so long. And not under optimal circumstances.
“I’m going to keep you safe,” he promised. “Trust me.”
She cocked her head and studied him with clear eyes. A single heartbeat passed and Hudson broke their gaze. To keep her safe, he needed to get her free. He put tires to the road home and tried not to mind the silence that consumed the truck cab.
They were less than a minute away from the turn that would take them home when he rounded a bend in the road. Flashing lights streaking toward them. Fuck!
“Duck down,” Hudson ordered.
Without a question, Mara slid to the floorboards. Big, black SUVs with solid white SEA lettering sped past without even slowing. Backup from outside the town had arrived. Bearden was about to get a whole lot more dangerous.
Almost as soon as the flashing lights curved around the bend behind them, his phone buzzed with a call in the cup holder where he’d automatically tossed it. Callum, the screen read. Hudson pressed the phone to his ear.
“Drive. Get out of town. Judah says a hornet’s nest of pissed off agents are looking to even the score.”
A quick glance to his side showed his lioness blatantly listening to the conversation. “Already more than even. They got Mack and Cullins and tried to get her.”
“They’re blaming her. They want her blood. Get scarce and check in.”
“Will do, Chief.” Hudson ended the call, already doing a mental check of what he had in his toolbox and what they’d need to pick up. Clothes, for certain. Pent-up energy released itself with fingers drummed against the steering wheel.
“So, we’re fugitives,” Mara said.
> She didn’t talk to her lap or whisper the words with shock in her tone. He doubted any of the other mates would respond with Mara’s calm acceptance. Pride swelled in his chest. She wasn’t about to break down and cry or scream about the unfairness. She didn’t joke or demand they turn around and smooth things over. He could see her thinking through the next several steps they needed to take.
She was a fighter at her very core. His bear ate it up. Hell, he did, too.
“So it seems. Good thing I know just the place to hole up.”
Axel had been trying to get in touch with him. Best they had that conversation in person.
Chapter 6
Trees whipped past as they drove on and on for hours. After the call with Callum and brush with the authorities, the truck filled with silence. Mara didn’t fight it. She sank deep into the quiet and wrapped it around herself.
Even through both stops Hudson made on their escape from Bearden, she kept mute. The first was simply to gas up the truck and keep the wheels turning. The second was to pull off the interstate and into the parking lot of a ramshackle shopping center that contained a hardware store and a fast-food joint.
Mara hadn’t been sure exactly what he meant to do when he exited the store and told her to turn around. She’d shivered when his fingers brushed against her skin and shifted her hair to the side. Painful memories of Mack checking her collar had surfaced, and she’d closed her eyes to shutter them away. Then the mechanism of the collar unlocked, fur brushed against her mind, and her lioness rushed forward.
Mara blinked and studied the trees illuminated by the headlights. She felt like them, lost in the darkness until someone turned their attention on her. Then as soon as they passed, she was left to the black once again.
Her fingers brushed against her neck. At her side, Hudson shifted uncomfortably. She’d healed since he sprang the collar and threw it into a dumpster when he went to fetch them food. A lack of bodily injury didn’t erase the memories, though. Those were still too fresh to forget the air leaving her lungs or the hands wrapped around her throat. Hell, if she twisted just right, she could still feel some of the deeper bruises from the beating.
