by Ava Benton
“Yeah. I think you’re right,” I muttered.
He ran next to me as we followed the scent deeper into the woods. It was just as dark as before, and my eyes weren’t as sharp as they were when I shifted.
I fell back a few steps and followed Jace, who made sure I didn’t trip over any unseen roots or undergrowth.
Still, even though my eyes weren’t as good, I saw the lantern before he did.
I touched his flank, signaling him to stop.
He did, and the others came to a stop behind us.
“There.” I raised my arm. “He has a lantern. Maybe he stole it from camp. There’s a sort of cave there, and that’s where he’s been staying. I’ll go in first. I can follow the lantern. You guys come in from the sides. One of you, behind me. The cave will block his rear.”
They looked at me, and I could feel them telling me to be careful.
I nodded, then headed for the lantern. The whole way, all I could think about was Daniela. She was there. I knew she was alive. She had to be. She was cold, probably, in the deep woods where there was almost no sun. Scared. Wondering what was taking me so long.
I hoped she knew I would come for her. I hoped she had that much faith in me. What was I thinking, not responding to her back at the cabin? When all she had wanted to do was let me know she was still in my corner, but I was so sure she would never want me again. Afraid of getting pushed away, so I had pushed first. What the hell was my problem?
There was movement up ahead. Something on the ground, wiggling around.
I looked in all directions—the others weren’t far behind, but where was the bear? The shape on the ground was Daniela—I recognized the dress she was wearing at the cabin—but she was alone.
He had stuffed something in her mouth and tied her wrists and legs.
I dared move a few steps closer.
There was an ugly purple bruise on her forehead. Blood trickled from it.
I guessed that was all that kept her from shifting. She was hurting too much to think about it.
He was out there somewhere, probably trapping me into going for her. But I had to. I couldn’t leave her lying in the dirt, bound and gagged.
My eyes moved in all directions as I took one step, then another, slow and measured. I breathed as slowly as possible, too, keeping my heart rate down, keeping myself calm. I needed to focus. I had to be aware of him when he came at me.
Her eyes widened when she saw me.
I held a finger to my lips as I closed the distance between us and worked on her wrists. He had used her underwear to tie her up. The thought of him even touching her things…
I pulled the gag from her mouth in time for her to scream, “Above you!”
I looked up as he was falling down on me.
No.
Jumping down from the rock slab that formed the top of the cave.
I rolled out of the way and he landed between us, cursing and snarling.
“Go! Go!” I shouted at Daniela as he threw himself at me.
Her ankles were still bound but she could drag herself away and untie them.
I didn’t see anything but him once he was on me. He knocked the wind out of me, but I recovered fast enough to roll on top of him. His jaws snapped and saliva flew in all directions. He was more than half-crazy, for sure.
Adrenaline flooded my veins as we fought and clawed, both of us screaming in fury.
I rolled on top again and this time held him down with my weight focused on his arms and chest.
He roared, but I held him down.
“You have nothing!” I spat in his face. “You’ll die with nothing, you scum. Just like your boss died. A loser, right up until the end.” The wolf howled inside me and begged to be free, but I held it back. I wanted to look into his eyes as a man and see him knowing I had beaten him.
He ground his teeth and struggled to get up from under me, but I outweighed him. He might have made a strong bear, but he was a weak man.
“Shut up! You didn’t know him!” he growled. “He was like my father!”
“Like father, like son,” I growled in response.
That was when his body started changing.
I knew the shift was coming and I sprang up and away as my own shift took place.
I hadn’t meant for it to happen that way, but I wouldn’t face him as a man.
Not when he was a bear.
My wolf howled with joy as I released it.
We flew at each other, crashing together, teeth and claws and fur, grappling as we both tried to take control of the other.
Everything flashed in front of my eyes—the cave, the lantern, Daniela’s panicked face as she watched.
I saw Jace, too, and sent out a single message: No. I wanted him for myself.
He swiped at me in that instant, when he knew my focus wasn’t on him, and I howled in pain when his claws tore into my flesh.
In an instant, blood soaked into my fur. The pain made me more focused than ever on hurting him. Killing him. I bit his shoulder and he roared, throwing his head back in agony and panic. Exposing his throat.
We both went down just as my teeth sank into his jugular, and the satisfaction I felt as his blood flowed down my chin and throat was almost scary.
I had never taken pleasure in killing before, not even when I hunted down bigger animals than me. But this? This was triumph.
He still tried to fight, but he got weaker with every frantic beat of his heart, pumping more blood out of his torn throat. His paws stopped moving. His arms weren’t gripping me anymore. He went slack as the life drained out of him.
And it was over.
“Grant!” Daniela ran to me, threw her arms around my neck though it was covered in blood. “Oh, Grant…”
“Come on.” Jace had shifted back and was standing in front of us. “We have to get away from here. And we have to clean you up.”
I nodded and let him and the rest of them lead me back to camp.
It was over.
Finally.
All over.
16
DANIELA
“When I came to, he told me he was smarter than all of us. He knew you were going to trick him. He was listening behind the cabin.” I shuddered. “He wanted to stun you, then make you watch while he killed me. He actually said he was going to kill me while you watched.”
“He’s gone now,” Jace murmured.
“Thanks to a hell of a strong set of jaws,” Cord grinned.
Grant only shook his head. He was way more subdued than the two of them and had been ever since we left the woods. A long shower had cleaned him up, and the wound the bear had inflected was already healing. But inside was a different story.
“It wasn’t my jaws that killed him, or anything I did. It was him. He had a choice. He didn’t have to come here, and he didn’t have to take her.” His hand closed over the one of mine that wasn’t holding an ice pack to my head. “He signed his own death warrant when he did that.”
I warmed all over.
We hadn’t gotten the chance yet to talk things over between us, but he was much more willing to show his feelings than he was when I left Lance’s cabin.
All it took was a huge bump on my head and the threat of my murder. No big deal.
“Well. That’s that.” Jace looked at the two of us with a wry grin. “I guess you’ll be planning your flight home now?”
I glanced at Grant, waiting. I would follow his lead. I would follow him anywhere.
He nodded. “Yes. I’ll be planning my flight.”
“We will,” I corrected.
He turned to me, eyes searching my face.
I only nodded with a smile.
Cord cleared his throat a little louder than necessary. “Oh, look at the time. I think I have to go… do something.” He wandered out of the tent, and Jace followed him after grinning at Grant.
He waited until we were truly alone before asking, “You mean it?”
“Are you nuts? Of cours
e, I mean it. I was already planning on going before any of this happened.”
He shook his head. “But… that was before…”
I cut him off. “Before you told us what happened? How Bradford blackmailed you?”
“Right.”
“Listen to me, and hear me well because I won’t say it again.” I dropped the ice pack and took his hands.
They were warm, strong, and they had helped kill the monster who was set on killing me. I held them tight.
“What you did in the past has nothing to do with who you are now. Vincent was right. You did your time. You punished yourself, and that was before you ever stepped foot in that lab. It has to be enough. You have to stop thinking it matters so much to me.”
“You can’t pretend it doesn’t matter at all.”
I sighed and shook my head. “It was an accident. A terrible one. My heart broke for you back there, in that cabin. It really did. I only wanted to hold you and tell you everything would be all right.”
“You did?”
“Of course. I can’t help but imagine the kid you were, how scared you were. How awful it must’ve been to see your parents like that. It hurts me to even think about it, and they weren’t my parents. So it must’ve been a thousand times worse for you.”
“You have no idea,” he muttered.
“You were a kid. You made a mistake. A couple of mistakes. It was wrong of Bradford to take advantage of that. I’m glad he’s gone,” I whispered.
“Not as glad as me.”
I let go of one of his hands and reached for his face. The muscles in his jaw jumped like he was holding back a flood of emotion.
“It’s over,” I said, looking him straight in the eye.
“I almost can’t believe it. You know? It’s like I’m afraid to, in case I wake up and this was all a dream.”
“Believe it.” I leaned in and kissed him gently. I wanted that kiss to say so much. I wanted it to heal him, to tell him I was in it for the long haul. That he wasn’t getting rid of me.
His words said it best, though. “I love you, Daniela.” He touched his forehead to mine and sighed. “I love you so much. You’re everything to me. I would’ve died if I lost you back there.”
I smiled through fresh tears. “I love you, too.”
We kissed again, and again, although my head was still a little too sore to get into anything serious.
I touched gentle fingers to the bump and winced.
His expression darkened. “I could kill him all over again for doing that to you.”
I shrugged it off. “I’ll be better by bedtime. Now. Tell me about Florida. Are there really as many bugs there as people say there are? I mean, am I gonna have to stock up on bug spray or what?”
EPILOGUE
DANIELA
In The Not So Far Future...
“I thought you would never get here!” Nia threw her arms around my neck and squeezed until I saw stars.
“You’re choking me,” I laughed, and she loosened up.
“Sorry, sorry. I just missed you so much.” She stepped aside so Grant and I could cross the threshold into the house.
“House” was not the right word, not even close, and by now, I was used to hanging out in Vincent’s mansion.
The house Nia shared with the rest of Drew’s family was more like a compound, with a separate wing for each couple.
The main building, the one Drew used to share with his brother and cousins, was where Jordan lived and served as a common area.
“This is beautiful. You’ve always described it as big, but I had no idea.”
Just the entryway was impressive, along with the view of the woods around the house through the plate glass windows that lined the outer walls. It was almost like being in the woods even though we were inside.
I could see why Nia loved living there so much.
“Let’s not tell Vincent too much about this place,” Grant muttered as he looked around. “He’ll insist on building a new house just like it.”
“That might not be so bad, living in a compound like this.” I slid my arms around his waist.
“I thought you liked having privacy,” he grinned.
“There’s still plenty of privacy here,” Nia broke in from the stairs, where she was already halfway up with two of our bags. “Each wing is like it’s own little home. And they’re not little, believe me.”
“You’re in a hurry to get us settled,” I laughed.
We didn’t have a choice but to follow her up with the rest of our luggage.
“Yeah, well, I have something I want to show you.” She opened the door and I squealed in surprise when Layla and Lance’s little boy toddled out to meet us in the hallway.
“Stephen!” I laughed, looking at Nia as I swung him up on my hip.
“It took you long enough!” Layla came running out to wrap me and her little boy in a long hug.
“I don’t believe it! How come neither of you told me? I thought you couldn’t make the wedding!”
“We wanted to keep the surprise,” Layla said, and she tried to take the baby.
“Oh, no. Please. I love holding him, it’s such a treat.” I squeezed him to me, then ran a hand over his smooth, dark hair. He took after his mother in that way, but his eyes were all his father’s. “You’re such a handsome boy. And so big! You don’t look this big when we talk on the phone and wave to each other.”
“Don’t get me started. He’ll be starting college tomorrow, I swear.” Layla smiled a proud mother’s smile.
“Where’s Lance?” Grant asked as we settled down in our room.
More like a suite—I understood the boys had lived in those rooms back in the old days, when it was just the four of them. They had obviously needed their space.
Our little apartment, which wasn’t really so little, could’ve fit inside Roan’s old suite.
“Out hunting with the guys. He said you were both more than welcome to join them when you got here,” Layla explained as she sat on the floor with Stephen, who ran around her in uneven, unsteady circles until he fell down with a laugh that made my heart swell. Just being around such a joyful little creature was enough to make me feel younger, lighter.
“And the girls?” I asked.
“In the kitchen, cooking up a feast. Little Jenny is down there,” Layla teased Stephen.
“Jenny! Jenny!” Stephen jumped up and down.
“I guess she and he are around the same age, huh?” I asked.
“Yeah, Hope had Jenny a month before Stephen came along. And they’re like two peas in a pod. We’ll have to send out notices to save the date for the wedding,” Layla laughed.
“How’s Maggie?” I asked.
“Huge and happy. Due in around a month. You’ll just miss it, unless she goes early.” Nia bounced Stephen up and down on her lap.
It was like the old days all over again, the three of us gravitating to each other without having to discuss it first.
Grant explored the suite while I gossiped with Nia and Layla and felt like the time since I saw them dissolved into nothing.
Like not a minute had passed—except Layla was a mother and Nia was getting married in two days.
The bride-to-be stretched out her long legs and leaned back on her elbows. “Did you ever think this would happen? Us settling down into domestic life?”
I gave it real thought. I remembered the days on the run, going from place to place, never sure how long we would be able to stay. Whether we were safe. I remembered how tightly we had bonded together out of necessity, since we were all we had. But they were all I needed back then.
Grant stepped back into the room, and I smiled.
The diamond ring on my left hand still dazzled me, and I had been wearing it for three months. It never got old. I knew it never would.
“I never saw us with children,” I admitted. “I mean, we could barely take care of ourselves. How were we going to raise kids?”
“That’s true,” Layla sa
id, nodding slowly. “Even now, I sometimes wonder how we’ll do it.”
“Things aren’t the same as they used to be,” I said.
“Of course not. But we still work hard to keep ourselves comfortable. It’s worth it to see how much we help the kids.” Once Layla and Lance had accessed the thumb drive the doctor gave them before we destroyed the lab, they found even more young shifters who needed guidance.
They had spent the last year gathering the orphaned kids together and helping them get their lives in order.
Jordan and Mary had both helped fund their work, but it was winding down. I knew they would want someplace to settle for good.
“We’ve all come a long way. Things could’ve been a lot different,” I murmured, looking at Grant.
He smiled. “I think I’ll leave you ladies alone and see if there’s any hunting left.”
Nia instructed him on how to the sun room, where everybody left their things before shifting and going out.
When he left, she turned back to me.
“So. When are you due?”
I blinked hard, and my jaw fell. “What?”
“You heard me. I saw you looking at that baby, holding him, squeezing him. You’re pregnant.”
I wanted to tell her I wasn’t. “I had a whole plan set up in my head for how I would tell you,” I sighed.
Layla squealed. “You are?”
I beamed. “Mm-hmm. Just found out last week.”
I was pretty sure the boys could hear us from all the way out in the woods.
“I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A TOAST.” Jordan stood at the head of the table, and he wore the same smile he had worn all night.
The long table was full of covered in food, so full I thought it would break under the weight. The girls had been cooking their fingers off and I felt a twinge of guilt that I hadn’t been there to help, but they swore they loved doing it.
He looked up and down both sides of the table.
Roan and Hope, with their little girl sitting in a high chair between them. She was already fast asleep.
Slate slid an arm around Alice’s shoulders and pressed his lips to her head. They had eloped without anybody knowing while Alice was traveling for a writing assignment.
I had already heard a few whispers about them trying for their first baby.
