by Maggie Walsh
Micah looked at his two enforcers and noticed they were pretty banged up, too. “How about you two? You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, Alpha. We got some of the shrapnel fallout, but we each took a turn shifting so we could heal. This is mostly Raith’s blood,” Xander said.
“What about the human?” Micah asked.
Lexi shrugged his shoulders. “We never saw him, Micah. We have no idea if he was home or not when the place blew.”
“Okay, you two, go wash up and get some rest,” Micah commanded.
“Yes, Alpha,” they said in unison and left.
“Aaron, what can we do to help?” Micah turned to him and asked. Aaron didn’t answer. He just stood there staring at Raith’s unconscious body.
Micah stepped up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Aaron, you need to help your mate,” Micah said gently. When Aaron didn’t answer, just stood there frozen looking at Raith, Micah tried again. “Aaron! What do we need to do for him?”
It worked because Aaron blinked and then looked at Micah. “He needs blood. Hold his mouth open while I drip my blood into him,” Aaron instructed.
Micah grabbed onto Raith’s jaw and pulled his mouth open as Aaron bit into his own wrist and then placed it against Raith’s lips. His blood flowed into Raith and Micah massaged his throat, helping the blood go down.
“Should I get Rory? His blood will help too right?” Jesse asked.
Aaron shook his head. “No, not yet. If Raith needs more after mine, then we can get him.” Jesse nodded at him. Raith started to moan. Aaron pulled his wrist back and licked the wound closed as Micah released Raith’s jaw and stepped back. Raith’s body started to shimmer and he shifted into his wolf. He lay there unconscious, as his shredded skin started to mend together. “He has a few that have shrapnel lodged inside. Will you hold him down while I clean them out so they can heal properly?”
“Of course,” Micah answered and stepped around the bed to the other side.
Jesse stepped up beside Aaron. “What can I do?”
“Get the tray over there and bring it here,” Aaron started to command. He sighed and looked at Jesse with a small smile. “Please.” Jesse smiled back and nodded. He went to retrieve the tray of surgical instruments Aaron needed.
* * * *
It was all his fault Raith was hurt. He should have just gone back to Tom instead of wishing for things he could never have. Rory walked along the line of cars by the side of the house. He lifted the key ring in his hand and pressed the button on the fob. A beep sounded to his right and he spotted the truck’s flashing lights. He walked over to the truck and opened the door. Climbing in he took a deep breath as he tried to fight the tears that threatened to spill. He knew what he had to do. His mates would do whatever they had to do to keep him safe, so he needed to do the same for them. He quietly closed the door and sighed in relief when the truck started softly. He didn’t want anyone to know he was leaving or they would try to stop him. He would send the keys back later with a note telling them where to find the truck. He slowly pulled out of the parking space and started to drive away from his happiness, his mates, and his future.
* * * *
“Aaron? Rory?” Raith whispered. He felt someone grasp his hand. His eyes opened slowly and locked onto the most beautiful golden eyes in the world. Aaron was standing above him, looking down at him with a soft smile on his face. Raith smiled at his mate as he started to become more aware. “What happened?” he whispered.
“You went to go confront that ass Tom about Rory. Do you remember?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah, I walked up to his door and went to knock. Just as I was about to, I smelled something off,” Raith answered.
“What did you smell, brother?” Micah asked and moved into Raith’s line of sight from the other side.
He shifted his weight to sit up. Micah and Aaron each grabbed an arm and helped him up. He leaned against the headboard. “It smelled like gas. I knocked and then…then nothing. I don’t remember anything after that,” he said and ran a hand down his face.
“The house blew right after you knocked. It blasted you back across the street. Lexi and Xander got you and brought you home,” Micah explained.
“You sent them after me, didn’t you?” Raith said and smirked at his best friend.
“Of course I did. You were headed into the city. I can’t protect you there. I had to make sure that you could get out of there in case there was a problem,” Micah said.
“Thanks, man,” Raith said.
“Just take it slow for a few minutes, Raith. We had to give you blood and I pulled quite a bit of shrapnel out of you. You shifted and healed, but I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything,” Aaron said.
Raith gave him a sexy smirk. “Who, you? Miss something? No way. Not my brilliant mate.” Raith winked at him and squeezed his hand, letting Aaron know he was teasing.
Aaron blushed and looked down at their joined hands. “Even geniuses can be wrong sometimes.”
“My brilliant mate wrong?” Raith placed a hand over his chest in feigned surprise. “Never,” he said with a small laugh.
Aaron laughed softly. “Yeah, well, I’ve come to realize I’m not that smart after all,” he said with a sadness in his voice. It got Raith worried.
“What do you mean? What is it?” Raith asked as he sat up straighter.
Aaron hung his head and tried to pull away from Raith, but he held his hand tighter. Raith looked at his mate and saw tears running down his cheek. “Hey, sweetheart. What’s this?” he asked and pulled Aaron onto the bed with him. Aaron leaned against Raith as the tears continued to slide down his cheeks. Raith wrapped an arm around him and held him close. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything will be okay, I promise,” he whispered against the top of Aaron’s head and then kissed it.
Micah cleared his throat, drawing Raith’s attention. He looked at his best friend in confusion. “Rory’s gone.” Micah’s words sent ice-cold chills straight to Raith’s heart.
His heart started to beat fast and he felt light-headed. “What? Where is he? What happened?”
“We were in here helping Aaron take care of you. We thought Rory was asleep in your room…” Micah started, but Aaron cut him off.
“It’s my fault,” Aaron said through his tears. “I should have woken him and brought him in here to see you, but I didn’t know how bad you would be and I didn’t want to freak him out.”
“Hey, none of that. It isn’t your fault. You were only trying to protect him,” Raith said gently as he rubbed Aaron’s back comfortingly. “So what happened? Where is he?”
“After we took care of you, Jesse and I headed out to go to bed. I smelled Rory’s lingering scent in the hall. He must have been watching us and listening to us. We went to check on him, but he wasn’t anywhere in the house. Crew noticed Christian’s truck keys missing. We looked outside and sure enough his truck was gone. And Rory’s scent ended where the truck should have been. All the boys are out looking for him now,” Micah explained.
“So who besides you is protecting the house?” Raith asked.
Micah smirked at him. “We have a dragon flying overhead, a fae king who used his magic to encase the house in some kind of protective shield, and Taylor standing guard out in the hall. I’d say the home front is very safe.”
“Well shit. I guess so,” he said with a chuckle and kissed Aaron’s head. He released him and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
“Where are you going?” Aaron said in a panic. “You just healed. You need to rest a little longer,” he said as he jumped off the bed and met Raith at the foot.
Raith placed his hands on Aaron’s hips and drew him closer. “I have to go find our mate, sweetheart. I need to bring him back to us where he belongs.” Raith kissed him softly then released him and stepped around him. “I’ll be fine, Aaron, I promise.” Raith stopped at the door and turned back to face him. “Please stay here with Micah and stay safe. I need to know that at least one of my ma
tes is safe.”
Aaron nodded at him. “Please be careful, love,” Aaron pleaded.
“I will.” Raith winked at him and left.
Chapter 11
How could I be so stupid? What’s wrong with me? I was safe. I was loved. Now I lost it all. Raith and Aaron won’t love me anymore. They won’t want me anymore. Not that I’ll ever see them again anyway. Rory thought as he lay tied up on the back floor of Tom’s car. He went to the only other place he was sure Tom would be, but where he thought he would be safe, the police station, where Tom worked. He parked the stolen truck and nervously started walking toward the precinct, but before he turned the corner to head toward the front door, Tom came around the corner and ran into him. They were both completely shocked as they saw each other. Tom grabbed onto his arms tight before he could flee. He must have seen it in Rory’s eyes, the need to bolt.
“Well, well, well, look who just happened to drop back into my arms where he belongs,” Tom said with a sneer. “That’s if I allow you to come back now that you’re tainted.”
“I-I-I…um…” Rory stuttered, but was unable to get anything out. He wasn’t even sure what he was going to say. He just realized a little too late that he should never have left the wolves or his mates.
“I can smell him on you, you fucking little whore. Let’s go,” Tom said through gritted teeth as he dragged Rory along with him. He pulled Rory to the back of his car and opened the trunk. Rory’s eyes went wide as thoughts of riding in the trunk raced through his mind. But he was in luck. The trunk was full of clothes and boxes. There wasn’t enough room for him in there. Tom reached in with one hand as he kept a tight grip on Rory with the other. He pulled out a length of rope and spun Rory around, pressing his face down into the trunk as he pulled his arms behind his back and tied his wrists together with the rope.
Rory wanted to fight, but he knew it was useless. He spent enough years with Tom to know he didn’t stand a chance at resisting this man. He was too strong and wouldn’t go easy on Rory if he fought him. Once Tom had his wrist secured he pulled Rory back up to a standing position and stuffed a pair of boxers in his mouth. Rory could smell the laundry detergent on them and sighed in relief. At least they're not dirty, used ones, he thought.
Tom looked over the top of the opened trunk and then grabbed onto Rory’s tied wrists and pulled him around to the rear door. He opened it and pushed Rory inside. Rory flopped onto the back seat and Tom covered him with a blanket, blocking out his vision. He heard the car door shut and then the trunk. A few seconds later the driver door opened and the car shifted under Tom’s weight as he got in. Then Rory heard the door close as the engine roared to life. The car moved and Rory rolled to the back of the seat. Tom stopped hard and Rory was thrown over and onto the floor with a grunt. “Serves you right, you whore,” Tom sneered from the front seat as he started driving.
Rory tried to keep track of the turns they made so that he would have some idea of where they were going, but it was useless. Without seeing where they were going he had no idea where they were. His ribs started to hurt as the bump in the center of the floorboard dig into him. He tried to shift, but then felt a hard smack to his head. “Stay still. You’re in enough trouble as it is. If I hear one sound from you, you’ll be sorry, you pathetic little excuse for a man.”
Rory’s eyes started to well up not only from the pain to his head, but from the pain in his heart. He missed his mates. He wished he would have stayed with them, nice and safe in their bed, cuddled between them. Please forgive me. I’m so sorry. I was so wrong to leave you, he thought as the tears started to wet his lashes.
* * * *
“Give me something, Xander,” Raith said into his cell phone as he drove toward the city.
“The GPS on Christian’s truck brought us to the police station. The truck is here but there’s no sign of your mate,” Xander said through the phone.
“Damn it!” Raith yelled and slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. “Nothing else?”
When Xander paused Raith got a knot in his stomach. “What is it Xan? Just spit it out,” Raith ordered.
“We could smell his scent toward the corner of the building, but then it stopped. We picked up the other human’s scent there as well. We followed it to the back of the lot to an empty parking spot, but that’s where it ended. We figure they got into a car there and took off. Lexi is trying to pick up a scent of the car itself to see if we can track it, but it’s no use.”
“Okay. I’m on my way to you, stay there.” Raith hung up. “Renegade” by Styx started to play alerting him he had a call. Raith hit the button on his phone and brought it to his ear. “Raith, go ahead,” he answered.
“Hey, brother,” Micah said in greeting. “I know where they are.”
“What? Where?” Raith asked in shock.
“I used my gift. I was hoping it would work using Rory’s scent, so Aaron gave me his shirt and it worked. They’re over on Clairmont. It shouldn’t take you too long to get there. I’ll call the boys and have them meet you there,” Micah explained.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of houses over there, Micah. I’ll have to figure out which one,” Raith said.
Micah chuckled into the phone. “Then it’s a good thing you’re a wolf and the best tracker assassin there is.”
Raith grunted into the phone. “Thanks.”
“Good luck, brother. I’ll keep your other mate safe,” Micah said and hung up.
I’m coming, baby boy. I’ll find you. And when I do, your Master will be sorry for ever laying a hand on you. Raith thought, sending his thoughts out through the mating link in hopes Rory would hear him. He jumped in surprise when he heard Rory reply.
I’m so sorry, Raith. I made such a mess of all of this. I made a huge mistake leaving you and Aaron. I only wanted to keep you both safe. I didn’t want Tom hurting either of you or any of your family. I’m sorry, my big strong mate. I’m so, so, sorry, Rory cried through the link and it broke Raith’s heart.
We’ll talk about it after I get you back home where you belong, baby. I’m almost there. I just passed the sign for Clairmont, Raith sent back to him.
Clairmont? Oh god. That’s where he brought me? How do you know, Raith?
I have my ways, baby boy. What is it about Clairmont? Where on Clairmont?
My parents’ house. The home I grew up in. I don’t know why he brought me here. I wanted to sell it after my parents died, but Tom told me I couldn’t. He said my parents didn’t own the house in the first place. Rory remained quiet for a moment. Which now that I think of it sounds wrong. I remember my parents having conversations, while I was growing up, about the mortgage. I don’t understand, Raith.
We’ll figure it out, baby boy, but right now I need to find you. What’s the house number? Raith asked.
It’s the last house on the block. The big Victorian at the end, Rory answered.
I see it. I’m coming, baby boy.
Be careful, Raith. He’s crazy and I know he carries a gun, Rory pleaded.
I will, baby boy. Sit tight. I’ll be there in a few minutes.
Raith pulled his truck over to the side of the road about halfway down the block from the house and killed the engine. He turned off the interior dome light so it wouldn’t shine on him when he opened the door. He opened the door and climbed out, quietly closing the door behind him. He could feel his brothers nearby. He looked to his right and saw three wolves peak out from the woods. He turned to his left to find four more wolves stepping out of the woods to that side. “The Victorian on the end.” The largest wolf on the left, Gabriel, nodded his head and turned toward the house. “Circle it, but don’t make a move on it. This fucker is crazy and carries a weapon. For all I know he blew up his own house, so let’s take a look first and see where he’s holding Rory before we make a move.” The wolves all nodded and took off toward the house.
Raith watched his pack brothers circle the house as he approached the front porch. The steps looked old a
nd he was afraid they would make a noise and alert Tom of his visitors if he stepped on them. Raith grabbed the railing and carefully shook them to test their stability. The rail moved under his grip. He released it and moved further down. He gripped the new section of rail and shook. This time it held firmly in place. He tightened his grip and hauled himself up and over the porch rail and landed on the porch softly. A slight snick coming when he landed, but he could hardly hear it so he was sure the human wouldn’t have heard it.
He slowly, quietly crept up to the window flattening his body against the siding and peered around the frame, looking into the house. His blood started to boil at the sight before him. His mate was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. His wrists and ankles bound to the chair as another rope wrapped around his chest, keeping him secured to the chair. A rag was shoved into his mouth and his eyes were wide with fear. Raith followed Rory’s line of sight and then inwardly cursed. Tom sat in a chair over by a big table. He had what appeared to be a hunting knife in his hand. It had a sharp blade on one side and jagged teeth on the other. He held the knife with the tip pointing down, digging into the arm of the wooden chair as he absently swirled it. Tom was staring at Rory with a look of lust, with a bit of craziness thrown in.
Raith was about to contact his pack brothers through the link to tell them to advance, when Tom started to speak. And what he said made Raith freeze. “I want the amulet, witch. I have waited long enough to get my hands on it, so where is it?” he sneered at Rory.
Rory shook his head and tried to speak through the gag but it only came out muffled. Tom stood up and slowly sauntered over to where Rory was. He stopped in front of him and placed the tip of the blade against Rory’s cheek and started to slowly slide it down. There was no blood on Rory’s cheek, but Raith had seen enough. Just as he was about to crash through the window someone grabbed his arm. His head snapped in anger toward the owner of the hand. His eyes met Gabriel’s concerned ones. Gabriel shook his head and Raith glared at him. “That’s my mate,” he whispered out between clenched teeth.
