He gestured with his hands, and the two combatants flew to either side of the circle, landing heavily. Rafe was the first to recover.
“Jace?” he said thickly, through the dust in his throat. “Jace!”
The pack, after a stunned moment of silence, surged toward him. The moment the first one touched him, energy blasted outward, filling each pack member. They clung to each other, and Jace felt the bonding energy fill each one of them, connecting them to each other, connecting them to the territory.
One by one they rippled into wolf form and dashed around the field like cubs, yipping, play-biting each other, rolling in the grass and howling. They were drunk on the joy of bonding.
Only Kane was still in human form. He still lay where he’d fallen when Jace had stopped the fight, his eyes bitter and shadowed.
Kane had challenged for the pack. An offense that was punishable by exile or death.
But Kane was part of his pack. And Jace, with the power of the bond crackling through him, knew that Kane needed that bond more than anyone.
He walked over and extended his hand. Kane hesitated a moment, and then clasped his wrist and climbed to his feet.
The power of the pack bond encircled them both. Jace felt a cold hard knot inside Kane begin to soften—just a little. He crooked an arm around Kane’s neck and gave him a rough hug, then let him go. Kane stared at Jace as he walked to the center of the field, an odd, confused expression on his face.
Silently, Jace called the pack, and they gathered around him.
He looked out at the circle of wolves. His pack.
“There are no words to tell you how I feel right now,” he said. “After all this time, we’re a true pack. We belong here. We’re home.” There was a chorus of yips and howls.
“But we wouldn’t be here without Emma,” he said. “She cared enough for me—for us—to risk everything to bond with me. She sacrificed herself to keep Alexander Grant and his men away from Silverlake. And now he has her captive.”
The pack began growling, their eyes glowing gold.
“Emma’s one of us now,” he said. “She’s part of our bond. And now we’re going to bring her home.”
Chapter 26
Emma came to lying on the floor of a van. The hard metal was cold beneath her cheek, and it was dark. She tried to move, but her hands were cuffed in front of her, the handcuffs running behind a metal bracket screwed to the side of the van.
She wondered how many other people had been cuffed in this exact same position, and what had happened to them. She shuddered. She probably didn’t want to know.
Hazily, she tried to figure out what had happened. She’d turned herself and Alexander’s laptop over to his men, and then…she’d passed out. Had they drugged her?
She couldn’t remember feeling the stab of a syringe. All she could remember was the energy being drained out of her like water rushing through a broken dam.
And the feeling of Jace’s presence.
It was still with her. She’d almost felt she could hear his voice.
Was it possible the spirit bonding had worked? If he was alive, if his pack was bonded and his territory saved, then all this had been worth it. No matter what Alexander Grant did, she and Jace would make their way back to each other.
She tried to assess her situation, the way Grizzly had taught her when they’d played FBI together in her childhood. She stayed very still and listened.
The van was parked somewhere, and there were men outside. She could hear them talking, and occasionally a faint burst of staticky speech that had to be radios. So Alexander’s men had her, but they hadn’t taken her to a temporary hideout or safe house. To judge by the cold, they were still outside.
Probably still in the mountains. So they were waiting for something.
There was a soft rustling sound at the other end of the van. Emma froze. Then she heard the unmistakable sound of a metal chain rattling against a bracket.
Another prisoner.
“Hello?” she whispered. “Who’s there?”
There was a soft moan. “Emma, girl? Are you okay?”
“Grizzly?” She couldn’t believe it. “Oh, Griz.” She shut her eyes, blinking back tears. “Yeah, I’m okay. This is a fine mess I’ve gotten you into, though.”
“None of that, now,” he said. “You know I promised your dad I’d watch out for you. You’re lucky his best friend wasn’t some wimpy accountant who wouldn’t know how to solve a tactical problem if it slapped him in his pasty face.”
She choked out a laugh. “Good thing. Because I’m thinking we’re going to need your expertise to get ourselves out of here.”
“Yeah,” Grizzly said. She could hear him testing the cuffs. “First thing, we need to get free of these things. I know a couple ways to do it, but they mostly end up with us breaking the bones in our hands.”
“Ah, don’t!” she said. She didn’t want anyone else getting hurt for her, especially when it wasn’t necessary.
“It’s okay,” he said. “It heals.”
“Maybe, but you may not need to go there,” she said. “Give me a minute.”
“Unless you got a bobby pin or a lockpick in your pocket, no sense in wasting time,” he warned her.
Emma wriggled around until she could get her hand into her jacket pocket. Yes! She still had the key to Jace’s handcuffs. “Not wasted,” she said. She carefully maneuvered the key out and fumbled for the lock. “These guys totally underestimated me. Just like Alexander did. They probably only patted me down for weapons; they didn’t do a thorough search.”
The tiny piece of metal slid into the lock and the cuffs clicked open. Emma pocketed them and then moved to the other end of the van. Grizzly moved so that she could get at his cuffs.
“Girl, should I even ask why you carry a handcuff key around with you?”
“My boyfriend’s kind of kinky,” Emma said wickedly. At least, she hoped he was.
He snorted. “That’s too much information to be giving to your surrogate dad,” he said.
Emma unlocked his cuffs and he pulled his hands out, massaging his wrists. She could smell blood, this close to him—stronger than she’d ever smelled it before. That was weird. Even Jace’s huge bloody wounds hadn’t smelled this strong.
“Are you okay?” she whispered. “I smell blood.”
“Nothin’ a couple days’ rest won’t cure,” he said. “I’ve been hurt worse than this in bar fights.”
“Yeah, in Afghani bars, maybe,” she muttered.
“I’m fine.”
Of course he was. He reminded her of Jace, never able to admit he was hurt.
“I hear they got Grant’s laptop off you,” he said. “Don’t suppose you made backups?”
“Of course I did,” Emma said.
“Good girl.” He patted her knee. “Glad we don’t have to go hunting for it before we leave.”
“And we better do that soon,” Emma said. “I have a feeling we’re waiting here for Alexander. And I really don’t want to be here when he comes.”
She felt Grizzly stiffen, and his head went up. “Too late,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Chopper,” he said.
Emma strained her ears. At first she heard nothing, but then she picked up the faint ‘thud thud thud’ of a distant helicopter.
Shit. Alexander was almost here.
She reached for the handle to the van’s rear doors, but Grizzly stopped her. “Listen,” he said. “They’re all heading over there to meet the chopper.”
Emma could hear voices and radios crackling, but she couldn’t make out the words. Grizzly must have the world’s best hearing. The voices moved off, and Grizzly let go of her wrist. She eased down on the door handle.
It was unlocked.
“They counted on the cuffs,” Grizzly murmured disdainfully. “Amateurs.”
He eased the door open an inch and put his face near it. She could hear him inhale deeply. He waited, Emma holding her breath,
and then he slammed the door open with incredible force.
Emma heard a thud and a muffled “oof,” and a body stumbled against the side of the van. They’d left a man on guard. But Grizzly was out of the van and on him before Emma had a chance to process the thought.
There was the sharp ‘crack’ of flesh on flesh, and the sound of a body dropping to the ground. Then Grizzly reappeared with the guard’s handgun, shoving extra ammunition into his pocket.
“Come on,” he said.
The helicopter was in sight, now. By the light of the moon, as well as the helicopter’s lights, she could see that the van was parked haphazardly in a level field with several other vehicles.
Alexander’s men were all gathered, looking up at the sky, waiting for the helicopter to land. Their backs were to the vehicles. Emma and Grizzly started making for the woods that bordered the field, ducking between the trucks and vans and trying to stay in their shadows.
That all worked fine, until they passed an army truck that apparently had tracking dogs in the back. As soon as they came near it, the dogs started up a huge racket.
“Shit,” Grizzly muttered. “Run, girl. I’ll cover us.”
Emma took off for the trees, knowing they were too far away. The men were turning, and she heard shouts. As soon as they had to cross open ground, they’d be seen.
Crouching to make smaller targets, the two of them burst out of cover and made for the woods. A bulled whined by, and Grizzly crouched and returned fire. He only had the handgun, though, and the men were out of range. The only good it might do was keeping them from coming too close.
Emma zigzagged, Grizzly following her path, pausing now and then to get off a couple of shots, then reloading on the run. He was getting further and further behind, though, and Emma slowed down. If she left him behind, he was dead.
Alexander’s helicopter was touching down in the field. The passenger door opened and she could see him scrambling out.
“Keep running!” Grizzly shouted.
She obeyed, making for the tree line. Grizzly shot and ran, shot and ran, trying to make an erratic target. But it wasn’t enough—there were too many guns. She saw him flinch as a bullet ripped into him, and she screamed. “Grizzly! No!”
He was still shooting, but he was moving slower. Then another bullet hit his thigh, and he crumpled to the ground. “Run, dammit!” he yelled, jamming another magazine into his gun.
But she couldn’t. She knew they’d kill him if she did. Instead, Emma ran back and grabbed Grizzly’s shoulders, trying to drag him to the woods.
“Dammit, leave me,” he wheezed. “You’re not strong enough.”
She wasn’t. Grizzly was a huge man, tall and broad. And he weighed a ton.
“I’m not leaving you behind,” she said. “Nobody else I care about is dying for this.”
She braced her feet for another heave, as Grizzly shot weakly to keep Alexander’s men at bay.
And then she heard it—the distant howl of a wolf. Hope and renewed strength surged through her, as if all the energy that had been dragged from her earlier was being poured back into her.
And she heard Jace’s voice in her mind. We’re here.
Wolves and humans poured out of the woods, eyes shining with feral gold light. They moved so fast they were almost a blur, taking Grant’s men completely by surprise.
All around Emma were shadowy moving bodies. Screams and cries and the occasional gunshot, and the whine of a hurt wolf. Each of those made her flinch.
She looked for Jace, but she couldn’t see him. She was afraid to leave Grizzly, so she tore pieces of his shirt to bind his wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding. He was still breathing, but in shallow pants.
After what seemed like an eternity, the battle started winding down. From the silhouettes of the people striding around and the number of wolves she still saw, she could see that Alexander’s men had been overrun. But there were too many dark mounds on the ground, and Emma was praying that none of the pack had been killed.
She heard people banging around the trucks, and then a frustrated growl. “She’s not here. Emma? Emma!”
Jace! Relief shot through her. It was really him. Somehow, he’d healed and he was okay. And he’d come for her.
It took her two tries to get an answer past her dry throat. “Jace! I’m over here! Grizzly’s hurt!”
“Emma!” She heard the emotion in his voice. “Where are you? Call out!”
She was straining to see him, all her attention focused on the vehicles. Just as she opened her mouth to answer, a rough hand was clapped over it from behind.
Alexander’s voice said in her ear, “Not so fast, little Emma. What do you say we talk to your beasty boyfriend together?”
Emma struggled against him—until she felt the cold of a knife blade at her throat.
“One move, one little peep out of you, and you’re dead,” he said, his voice sending icicles through her body. “Do you understand me?”
She nodded. She knew he’d do it. He was a freakin’ psycho. He took his hand from her mouth and wrapped it around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She’d forgotten how strong he was.
“Now walk,” he said.
He walked her towards the helicopter, Emma resisting as much as she dared. They were halfway there when Jace came sprinting out of the darkness, Rafe and Jesse at his heels. They skidded to a halt when they saw her, and Alexander swung her around so that she formed a shield between him and them.
“One step closer and she’s dead,” he said, his voice as conversational and urbane as if he were standing in a society ballroom. “Oh, and call off your dogs—the ones that are no doubt coming up behind me.”
Emma had seen the wolves circling, out of her peripheral vision. She knew any one of them could take Alexander down, but not without serious danger of the knife going through her throat.
Jace’s eyes were glittering gold, and he was growling. “If you hurt my mate, I swear I’ll rip your fucking face off,” he said.
Alexander laughed. Emma shivered at the crazy edge to it.
“Your mate?” he sneered. “You are so, so mistaken about that. She’s mine, to do with as I choose. I might hand her off to someone I know who has a market for pretty girls. The feisty ones fetch higher prices, so I’m told.”
He moved his hand and grabbed Emma’s breast painfully. All three of the shifter men growled, as did every wolf watching them. It raised the hairs on the back of Emma’s neck.
Alexander seemed oblivious to the danger. “Or I might keep her for myself, and punish her until she apologizes for all the trouble she’s caused. And begs to do whatever it takes to make me forgive her.”
At that, Jace laughed—though the laughter didn’t reach his eyes. “Not going to happen,” he said.
“Oh, but it is,” Alexander said. “Unless you want her to bleed out right in front of you, you’re going to make a path to my helicopter, and then wave goodbye to your dog-whore.”
Emma could see Jace hesitate. She knew that he would make a last-ditch attack rather than allowing Alexander to take her away and do god knew what with her. She made eye contact with him, and gave him a tiny nod. They needed to take their shot, right here, right now.
And then, out of the darkness, came a huge, terrifying roar that shook the ground. A giant shape burst out of the shadows, bearing down on them like a freight train.
A grizzly bear.
Chapter 27
Jace stood stunned for a moment as the giant bear bore down on Alexander and Emma, limping as though it had been wounded.
Shit. Emma’s friend Grizzly. Not just a nickname.
“Silverlake! Stand down!” he shouted to the wolves, so they wouldn’t attack it. Grant and Emma had frozen in shock, like everyone else. Now Emma let her knees buckle, going limp so that her bodyweight would drag Grant off balance.
It almost worked.
Emma slid out of his grasp, leaning away from the blade. But at the last second, Grant tigh
tened his grip on her upper arm and swung her around, the knife blade slicing at her neck.
With a howl, Jace shifted just as the bear slid to a stop and smacked Grant with its island-sized paw. Grant flew at least ten feet through the air and landed heavily, almost at Jace’s feet. Jace pounced on him, his claws raking down Grant’s face, leaving great bleeding gashes. Grant screamed, fighting desperately to keep Jace’s jaws away from his throat.
There was a red haze in his mind, his wolf crazy with blood lust.
Then something pierced the haze. Jesse’s voice. “Jace! Emma’s hurt! She needs you!”
He stopped and turned, forgetting his need to hurt Grant. The man began crawling away, but Jace didn’t care. All his attention was on Emma.
His mate needed him.
He dashed to where Emma lay in the grass, blood pouring from a cut on her neck and pooling on the ground. Rafe was there, his hands on her neck, trying to staunch the blood flow without squeezing too hard and killing her.
Jace changed with bone-crunching speed and dropped to his knees beside her. “Oh, fuck. Help her, man!”
He grabbed Emma’s hand, stroked her hair. “You’re going to be all right. You’re fine.” He looked up at Rafe, who shook his head.
“No!” Jace screamed. His heart felt like it was ripping out of his chest. Not Emma. He couldn’t lose her now.
Amerind shouldered his way through the crowd. Grizzly had shifted back to human, and the others were crowding around.
“Jace!” he said, his voice cracking like a whip. “You can heal her. The bonding magic is still in you. Pull on your strength, on the strength of the territory and the pack.”
Jace tightened his grip on Emma and closed his eyes. He tried to find the strength, the healing energy, but all he could feel was terror. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t save his mate, or his pack. He’d never had the guts. He’d never had the strength.
He opened his eyes to his dying mate.
And then he felt a hand on his shoulder. “You got this, bro.” It was Jesse. Rafe, his hands soaked with Emma’s blood, her life seeping through his fingers, met his eyes and nodded.
Fugitive Mate (Silverlake Shifters Book 1) Page 15
