by Ana Raine
I wanted to be excited for him, but his expression told me there was more.
“She’s hurt and trapped in the mountains. We have to get to her before the hunters do, or they’ll kill her because…”
“Because hunters don’t want injured wolves,” I finished for him, my voice barely a whisper.
Jamie nodded slowly as I hurried to him and pressed my nose to his cheek. It took him a minute to respond, but then he was petting my hair, sniffing my neck and his hands were everywhere on my back, arms, and face.
“We’ll get to her,” I promised. “We will.”
Because now we didn’t have an option if we wanted to see her again. We’d run out of time. When they were going to train her, we had several days, even weeks before they’d be able to transport her completely out of the area. Now a quick bullet to the brain was all it was going to take to end everything. I couldn’t let that happen, not when the guilt still weighed heavily upon me.
Chapter 6
Riley had been passing as a human his entire life, never actually labeled as a shifter because he’d been given to his mother after his sister realized she was pregnant. I could see how excited he was to finally have a pack he could feel accepted in, even if he was going to be stigmatized.
But he was grateful his “human” status could aid us so well. He got us more supplies, offered us a gun his friend had that Jamie quickly refused, and a bunch of backpacking gear with several straps so we could wear it as wolves.
With how little time we had, we were going to have travel fast, which meant as soon as we’d said goodbye to Riley and got far enough off the trails, we turned. Jamie turned first and I loaded our stuff into the one backpack and secured it to him. I wanted to help him, but he brushed me off by saying it was his responsibility to shoulder the burden. Whatever kind of burden there happened to be. And with us both as wolves, it was entirely realistic to put it on after phasing.
Jamie nuzzled my neck before licking my cheek to my ear. Thank you for being reunited with me, my mate.
Tears welled in my eyes, and I was grateful I had already shifted so he couldn’t see them.
Jamie craned his neck and howled into the early dawn. I followed suit, drawn by a thread of connection that was invisible to me.
Jamie was strong and he was confident, but all this time he’d been saying he would protect me, I hadn’t really been listening. He wasn’t going to let harm come to me, but that didn’t mean he was necessarily part of the equation.
Freedom tasted bittersweet. My entire adult life had been serving a human sadist… most of my time inside a silver cage. Then there were a few brief days where I realized how much I could still love and how much of me hadn’t died at all. Within hours, it could all be taken away.
I knew I’d never let Langdon take me prisoner again, not alive. If Jamie fell, then my corpse was all the human hunters would have won.
Jamie was silent, even inside my mind, at least in terms of language. I was assaulted by a plethora of sounds, smells, and colors as we raced through the mountains and trees, our landscape melting into one entity.
He had been tracking his sister before, using her scent as our map of where to go, but that had been a mistake. Instead, we should have been looking for the hunters who were easier to track and separated.
By doing this, we’d be able to dissolve the threat rather than have to find his sister, who could be hurt, and protect her instead. She was remarkably strong to have escaped, a feat only one wolf before her had done.
How many countless attempts had I made, especially at the beginning? My arms, back, and legs still wore the marks of my failures and their cruel punishments. These images burst into Jamie’s mind and although he whimpered once, because he was saddened and angry for my pain, he was an Alpha. And he immediately regained control of his emotions.
I watched him from behind as I ran to keep up, easy enough for me.
As a wolf, his shoulders were broad, as they were when he was a human. His tail was fluffy, and in another time, I would have wanted to stroke it until he came close to purring. He moved with a grace uncommon to wolves and humans alike and a tenacity that made my mouth hang open occasionally.
I wanted to lick him. Mark him. Rub against him. Smell him. And I knew he wanted those things of me too. But in his mind, I saw the fear we’d never get to that point.
We ran with what seemed like everything and everyone against us. There were humans here for some hunting sport we’d never heard of and had to be careful of them.
There were hunters, three of them, somewhere searching for Danica.
And then there was the wind nipping at our heels and daring us to move faster, if only we could. The snow lifting from the ground created puffs of white clouds all around us and had we been human, seeing would have been impossible.
We paused at a creek and licked at what water wasn’t frozen, avoiding each other’s gaze as well as our own reflection. I was inside Jamie’s mind, and he was inside mine, and that was enough.
Suddenly, he lifted his head and experimentally sniffed the air before immediately leaping over to my side. He bared his teeth and practically shielded me with his much larger frame as we stared at the peak of the mountain.
There were trails here, leading through the mountain passes, and although it seemed like most humans wouldn’t venture this far in weather like this, it was possible.
I held my breath, preparing to fight with Jamie because I would not, would not, would not be separated from him again.
We saw they were humans in time, loaded down with gear, guns still in their holsters. Moving quickly, we got away before they could see us and raced away through the woods, tails smacking against trees and rock alike.
Then suddenly, we were there, and everything seemed surreal.
* * *
Jax and Langdon Sr. were inside the kitchen, each of them sipping a beer as they chatted quietly. The cabin, if it could even be called that, was so small it had to be a warming station for hunters. There was an excess of chopped wood just outside and the dying embers of a fire from the pit.
I saw Jamie zero in on the pile of wood, the copper pipes that were there for God knew what, and the things needed to cause a fire. A rip-roaring, death-certain fire.
Our decision was made.
We were shifting even as we moved. Jamie used the copper pipes to secure into the door handles so there was no getting out. There were windows, sure, but we planned to make this quick.
I splashed the gasoline over every spot I could find, practically racing around buck naked to do so.
Jax and Langdon Sr. saw us, or maybe they just heard us, because their senses were honed in to detect us. Even with a beer or two, they were sharp.
I heard screaming and saw them frantically try to open the door as they screamed insults from inside. Jamie was quick to light a match, running around the two-room house to light more. My face was burning with the heat, so I had to move back, shifting as I did so to wait for my mate.
My glorious mate who shifted on the fly and was suddenly moving toward me with nothing but a fiery landscape as his backdrop.
The hunters could have gotten out the windows, maybe if they had moved away from the door in time. Or if the windows weren’t so old and rusted that all they managed to do was rattle the glass in the frame.
Eventually the wooden door was finally burst open, but only Jax crawled out. With Langdon Sr.’s smoking addiction, I wasn’t surprised he had a hard time with his lung capacity.
Jamie started to move forward, but a slight whimper stopped him. What, love?
He was kind to me…
Silence. Will he come for us if we let him go?
On his own, no.
There would always be other hunters, always, so him joining another party could happen. But from the way he used to cradle his phone after long conversations with his wife and kid, I’d bet he’d never come back to this life.
We’ll leave him. Jamie thought for a moment, and Lan
gdon Jr.’s face popped into view. This one wasn’t here.
No. I would have known.
Jax stared at me with glassy eyes as he dragged himself far enough away from the wreckage to not burst into flames. I saw how his hand was bleeding, smelled the coppery blood in the air, and resisted the urge to tear his hand off.
The thought was alarming to me, but Jamie nuzzled my neck. He knew what I wanted and was anything but judgmental.
Instead, I turned from the fire, sure of Langdon Sr.’s death and Jax’s debilitation and ran to the closest small body of water I could find. Bending over the liquid, I licked at the frozen ice until I felt like I wasn’t quite as hot, then I shifted back to human.
“Danny.” Jamie’s voice was louder somehow, more tangible. “Baby, are you okay?”
I gulped the water, feeling it run down my jaw. “I’m okay.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before lowering them, something an Alpha should never do. “This was wrong of me.”
“What was?”
“Making you help me find my sister.”
“But it was my fault.”
“No.” He was quiet, but somehow I felt like he was yelling. “It’s mine for allowing you to be taken. I don’t know how many times I can tell you I’m sorry, but I don’t mind saying it more. If I had protected you, then none of this would have happened.”
“It was chaos. There was no way you could have saved me.”
“Wasn’t there?” Hatred filled his eyes when he brought them back to meet mine, but it wasn’t aimed at me. The self-loathing was consuming. “You still don’t remember?”
“Remember… what?”
There had been a lot of screaming. Fires too. My family was gone already, but the friends I’d made were the closest thing I had. And there was Jamie, my ever-present mate whom I knew was my destiny since the moment I’d met him at age six.
“You were trapped,” he told me softly. “Almost every house was on fire, because they had other hunters with them. I ignored my pack and their needs to get to you. You were all I could think about. If I hadn’t…”
I finally understood what he’d been trying to say. The pack, his pack, had needed him, but his loyalty was with me.
“It didn’t matter, though,” Jamie continued. “Because you were taken anyway. Not only did I fail my pack when I could have saved so many more, I failed you. I’ll understand if it takes you a while to forgive --”
“Stop.” I put my hand on his cheek to silence him, his eyes falling closed as though my touch were therapeutic. Maybe it was. “My memories are gone --”
“They’ll come back,” he insisted.
“They may or may not. It’s okay because in my heart I know I’m meant to be with you. We were kids, Jamie. Kids. We can heal.” And suddenly it was me, the broken little wolf who still wore a collar, who was comforting the Alpha.
And who was healing as we spoke.
“Would you look at this?”
Like an image from my waking nightmare, Langdon Jr. emerged from the cover of trees. He was wearing a castssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss on his arm. Not only did he rest heavily on the tree beside him, but he looked sallow.
I had known him for a long time, and this was the worst I’d ever seen him.
Instinctively, Jamie grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him, a gesture I was getting used to. I almost let him too, but right before his body was completely shielding mine, I acted on instinct and moved in front of him. He let out a surprised noise, but didn’t insist I go behind him. Langdon probably had a gun. No doubt about it, actually. And he was far enough away he could aim it at me. But instead of doing any of those things, he looked dejected and tired.
Jamie and I hadn’t put our clothes back on, they were still in the pack, and I noticed how Langdon’s eyes traveled down my body appreciatively. Jamie noticed too and growled in warning.
Langdon paid no attention to my mate, his eyes regarding mine instead. “Wolf,” he whispered, his voice barely traveling on the wind. “They’re all gone now.”
The hunters.
“And now, we can go on our own.”
I was startled by how tender his voice sounded. Flashbacks of him standing above my cage, stroking my fur, whispering in my ear nearly paralyzed me.
“Wolf, come to me.”
I didn’t speak and neither did Jamie. This wasn’t a test, nothing like when we’d met Riley. This was Jamie telling me that I had a choice to make. He wouldn’t stand in my way. He even removed his hand from the small of my back, causing me to whimper.
His sister’s scent traveled to us, making it known she was near. He could easily leave me to find her, at least physically. Mentally, I knew Jamie would be in anguish if I chose this derelict hunter over him. Perish the thought.
Langdon had one arm outstretched toward me, the other focused on the cane. I heard his heartbeat thrumming in my ear, trying to beseech my own. Saving him was too late. Unlike Jax, he wasn’t someone I could handle ever seeing again.
It wasn’t fair. It shouldn’t have been my choice. But considering he’d taken nearly everything away from me, I thought it was just.
Shifting as I moved, I practically glided through the snow until I was close enough to bump my head against his hand. I felt the years of anguish, torment, and ridicule slide into my fur straight to my bones.
He leaned his head back and moaned as though this touch, a willing touch, was all he wanted. Then I ripped out his throat.
The body hit the ground with a dull thud, his last gasping breaths the soundtrack to his final moments. Jamie was there, his wolf rubbing against mine as he fed me praises, condolences, validation, and love.
I had killed him, becoming the very thing the hunters told me we were. Instead of feeling tribulation, I felt relief. Such astounding, earth-shattering relief.
With a howl from my mate, I echoed his cry and we dissolved into one as we followed the scent to his sister, leaving behind the years and pain we’d been separated.
Epilogue
Danica was half lying on top of me, half on the floor. Riley was positioned directly at my other side, which he rarely left unless I wanted my privacy or Jamie told him to back off. Every other member of our old pack was somewhere in this large farmhouse that Jamie told me was ours.
“If you want it to just be the two of us, I’ll find places for everyone else.”
“No, I like it.”
And I did. My Aunt Fiona has been reduced to a sobbing mess. What remained of our friend group had circled me and refused to step away, Jamie finally throwing his hands into the air and grumbling. Danica had been so quick to forgive me, her bright eyes wet with tears when she told me she couldn’t imagine what I’d gone through.
I had just held her close the entire car ride home to our pack.
We were watching the news as the human reported the hunting incident gone wrong. All of the hunters had been found, except for Jax, who wasn’t brought up at all. I hoped he was back with his wife and child and never picked up a gun again.
I held my breath as I watched the news, Jamie’s hand tightening in mine. We didn’t need this kind of publicity, especially considering the small little pack we had now wasn’t going to be able to hold our own against humans of any kind. Not yet.
Holding my breath turned out to be a waste of time. There had been a few other accidents with humans who had come for the sport, a bear or something, and the hunters had been chalked up to that. I didn’t know exactly what Riley did with Savannah’s body, but she did look mauled.
As for the fire, Langdon Sr. was a chain smoker, and they claimed lit cigarettes and too much beer was the culprit, the flames killing any trace of our wooden blockade.
It was easy. Too easy. And I knew it wasn’t going to be the last we heard of it, but for now, surrounded by my pack and mate, it was the closest to home I had.
&nb
sp; “Danny.” Jamie’s voice was like velvet. “I want you. Alone.”
The others begrudgingly left, Danica last. Our room was large enough that we had our own bathroom and alcove where our sitting room was. But even in such a large room, it felt small with the number of shifters who usually filled it.
Jamie waited patiently, staring at his entwined hands, until the last of our pack had receded from the room and we were utterly alone.
This wasn’t the first time we’d been without others around. We’d arrived in Georgia close to a week ago, but between the fear of the hunters, rallying up the shifters, and just plain healing, we hadn’t had time for what consumed me.
Instead of waiting for him to make the first move, I slid from the couch and positioned myself between his legs.
He traced my bare neck with a faint smile. “I’m so glad that thing is off, love,” he whispered, red locks falling forward into his eyes, “I want to mark you. If you’re ready.”
“I am.”
“You sure?”
I responded by leaning up until he cupped the back of my neck tenderly with his hand. His lips met mine, and he pulled me into a kiss that started off as sweet as the chocolate I’d eaten earlier and then morphed into feverish need.
I moaned my consent and prayed he understood.
Without a pause in our kiss, he lifted me into his arms, my legs wrapping around his trim waist, and took me to our bed. The sheets were a dark blue, the perfect contrast against his beautiful skin.
He held onto my wrists and pinned them on either side of my head as he continued to attack my lips until I was sure they would be bruised. Then he released one hand just long enough to undo the drawstring on my pants and loosen them from my waist.
In a mess of too many arms and legs, we somehow undressed each other so we could inhale each other’s scent.
We may have been in our human forms, but every movement was instinctively primal. Jamie twisted a nipple between his forefinger and thumb. My teeth grazed his neck in response. Our hands twisted in one another’s hair, so it was difficult to move more than a few inches, not that either of us wanted to.
