Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: ShadowmasterRunning with Wolves

by Susan Krinard

  Tears flooded her eyes, blurring her vision, while she pressed as hard as she dared.

  “Shay. Come on.” She looked behind her and saw Malcolm reaching for her. His face pale as he stared at Jaya lying in the dirt.

  She pulled back. “No!”

  “That bullet was meant for you. You have to go. Now.”

  “I won’t leave them.” Tears poured down her cheeks. “I have to stop the bleeding.” She pressed harder against the wound, blood seeping through her fingers.

  “You have to, Shay.”

  “Help her,” she demanded. “Jaya!” She shook the woman, but still she didn’t move.

  “She’s dead, Shay. And you will be, too, if you don’t move.”

  Dead.

  “No.” She started to sob, gulping big lungfuls of air.

  Just then another man stepped out of the bushes, seemingly coming from nowhere. “Get him to Manny’s,” Malcolm said to him, then stepped forward, grabbed Shay by the middle, picked her up and carried her into the trees as his men and Scott’s continued to fight behind them.

  “Let me go!” She pounded him as he slung her over his shoulder, fists flailing against his back until she was crying so hard she no longer had the strength to fight him.

  “I can’t,” he said. “They’ll kill you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of me.”

  His words barely reached her. She closed her eyes and tried to block the images from her mind, of Jaya, her face turning pale as blood pooled on her chest. Jason lying next to her, barely moving, almost dead himself. The sickening thuds of men hitting and kicking one another. She couldn’t think of it any longer. Instead she tried to think of the color of Jason’s eyes when they were heavy and hooded with desire.

  But even that hurt.

  She didn’t know how much time had passed before she resigned herself to the fact that they weren’t going back. She couldn’t get back to Jason. There was nothing she could do to fix this. Jaya was dead and Jason would probably die, too. Maybe even Buddy. Hot tears soaked the back of Malcolm’s shirt as she bounced on his shoulder.

  “You can set me down now,” she said. “You’re bruising my ribs.”

  He stopped. “Can I trust you not to run back there?”

  She closed her eyes. “There’s nothing I can do for them back there. Jaya died because of me. Because they were trying to kill me. I won’t go back. But we have to find someone to help Jason. Please.”

  “One of my men is helping him.” He set her on her feet, one hand steadying her. “Can you stand?”

  She nodded. She could, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to collapse right there under a tree, close her eyes and forget everything that had just happened. “How are they helping him? What will they do?” she whispered. “Will he be okay?” She couldn’t think.

  “I honestly don’t know. I never expected...”

  She looked up at him and was surprised to find his eyes swimming with sorrow and regret. But could she trust his emotions were real after everything he’d just done? Was he capable of true regret?

  “We need to transform. Your arm is still bleeding. You need to heal and we have to get to my compound as soon as possible. It’s the only place where you’ll be safe. I’ll make some calls and find out what happened to Jason. And to Jaya. Someone has to pay for her death.”

  “How did this happen? Why would anyone want to kill me?”

  “Because you’re my wife. You solidify my position. With you dead, they would have a better chance of taking over.”

  “You people are crazy.”

  “We weren’t always.” Regret once more crossed his face. “Jaya. Her daughter. They were very important to me. Now Jaya’s gone and I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t know how I’m going to tell Celia.” He began unbuttoning his shirt.

  Shay’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “Wait,” she muttered. She couldn’t get naked in front of him. She wouldn’t.

  “Right,” he said with what could have been a small smile, but wasn’t. “I keep forgetting this is all new to you. I’ll give you some privacy.” He stepped through the bushes and behind a large tree.

  She considered running, hightailing it back to Jason or trying to find help. But then she thought of Jaya lying on the ground, a bullet wound in her chest, and sadness, thick and heavy, fell over her, stealing her strength. There was nowhere she could go and she wouldn’t get anyone else killed. All she could hope for was that Jason would get help. That Jason was still alive, and that Malcolm would take her to him. With reluctance she slipped out of her clothes and transformed.

  A large black wolf stepped out from behind the tree and started running. She followed, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Free of her clothes, of her human skin, she realized she was also free from her emotions. The fear for Jason, the horror of Jaya’s death was still there, but it was buried deep and no longer immobilizing.

  She ran deeper into the forest, away from the scent of blood, from the sounds of anger and the footsteps of her pursuers. As they ran, she lost herself in the freedom and the sensations. She used her speed, her power to carry her away from the heady smell of death. Away from the fear. Except...she couldn’t feel Jason.

  The knowledge hit her fast and furious, blindsiding her. They’d been too late. The pain slicing through her was sharp and deep. She let out a long aching howl. She was alone now. Like she’d always been, like she was meant to always be.

  They crossed a river, jumping over large boulders, moving silently through a grove of thick pines when the black wolf finally stopped before a large wooden gate. With his teeth, he pulled on a rope and the gate swung open. She followed him into a stone courtyard lined with trees and blooming flowers that surrounded a large pool and showcased a dark wood house framed by a towering wall of windows.

  Shay glanced around the high-fenced compound as Malcolm changed, transforming back into a man. He stood before her naked. She dropped her head and looked away.

  “I’ll bring you a robe,” he said, walking over to the gate. He locked it then disappeared into a small pool house.

  Her gaze followed the perimeter of the fence, searching for another gate, another way out, but she saw nothing. Malcolm reappeared with a fluffy black robe in his hand. One that matched the one he was wearing. “Change back and put this on. We have a lot to talk about.”

  * * *

  Jason woke to pain shooting through him. Someone was lifting him, carrying him, sending an excruciating throb reverberating through his body with each jarring step. He forced open his eyes, looking for Shay. Where was she? And then he remembered.

  Malcolm.

  His gaze fell on Jaya lying in the dirt, blood covering her chest. She had no heat signature. Not even the faintest sound of a beating heart or struggling breath reached him. Fear ripped through him. The Keeper of the Crystals, their healer, the one woman who kept the Gauliacho at bay, was dead. Without her to invigorate the crystals the demons would be able to breach the gates. Then all would be lost.

  Despairing, a low keening howl erupted from his throat. Buddy started barking again. Pain arched through his leg. He cringed, whimpering as someone hefted him into the backseat of a truck. Before he could see who it was, or discover what they were going to do with him, darkness encroached and everything went black.

  * * *

  Malcolm was decent enough to turn his back while Shay transformed back into her human body. She quickly donned the robe, but it didn’t matter, she saw the blood. It was all over her. Jason’s blood? Jaya’s? Or her own? It didn’t matter. She started to shake as she stared at her hands, then the tears came once again.

  “Shay,” Malcolm said softly.

  She ignored him and rubbed her hands back and forth across her robe. She had to get it off.r />
  “Come on.” He put his arm around her shoulders, but she jerked violently away.

  “Don’t touch me,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “I’m just going to show you to your room so you can get cleaned up. Okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay. Thanks to you, nothing is okay.”

  He nodded, acknowledging her words, then turned and walked toward the house. Reluctantly she followed him through the back door and into a large great room filled with multiple leather sofas, a giant-screen TV and a pool table. Bar stools lined a large granite counter that separated the room from a kitchen filled with top-of-the-line stainless-steel appliances and a hanging rack of gorgeous copper pans.

  She followed Malcolm across the slate tile floor until they reached the towering front entryway. He continued down a hallway of plush carpet to the first bedroom on the right.

  “Feel free to shower. I will leave some clothes for you outside your door.” He left, shutting the door behind him.

  Grateful to be alone, she walked into the large spacious bathroom, locked the door behind her and turned on the shower. Dropping the robe, she stood under the hot spray, letting it wash over her, washing away the dirt and the blood and the soreness, but it couldn’t wash away the image of Jaya lying there, staring up into the sky, or of Jason bleeding all over the ground next to her. Her stomach clenched, turning and twisting. She bent over, collapsing to the floor, and succumbed to her tears.

  They continued to come in heart-wrenching sobs until there was nothing left and she felt exhausted and hollow. She climbed out of the granite shower and wrapped herself in a deep brown plush towel. Jason was right; Malcolm did like the finer things. The thought of Jason brought fresh tears to her eyes. She still couldn’t feel his presence anywhere. She blinked back the tears. She had to stop crying. If he truly was gone now, then she was stuck here in The Colony without him. She had to make the best of it. For him. For her dad. For everything they’d both sacrificed. For her.

  Even if she had to stay married to Malcolm, she wouldn’t live here with him. She would move into her father’s house and get to know her grandparents, and try to find where she fit in this community. And she’d do it alone. Just like she always had. Just like she always would. She walked out of the bathroom and saw a pair of women’s white sweats on the bed. “So much for leaving them outside the door,” she muttered.

  As she put them on, she couldn’t help wondering whose they were. The missing Celia whose heart Malcolm had broken? She felt sorry for the poor woman. She’d lost the man she loved, her home and now her mother. But how could she have loved Malcolm in the first place? Better yet, how could Jason have trusted him? Have called him a friend? The man was a pig.

  On top of the dresser sat a silver tea service with a steeping pot of Earl Grey tea, cream, sugar and two cookies next to a porcelain teacup. The spicy aroma of the tea filled the room and called to her. She poured it into the cup, but set it back down before she took a drink.

  She didn’t want it. She didn’t want anything from that man.

  She sat on the bed and lay back for a moment, staring at the ceiling, wondering what she should do next. She looked around the room for a phone, but realized it wouldn’t matter if there were one. She didn’t know her grandparents’ number. There was no one she knew here whom she could call.

  She rolled up into a ball on the bed, hugging her knees, replaying every moment of the day in her mind. Her eyes drifted closed and she let them. She wanted to lose herself in sleep. To stop thinking and disappear.

  But she couldn’t.

  She sat up. She had to be strong; she had to find a way out of this house and into town. She had to find Buddy. And most of all, she wouldn’t let Malcolm get away with what he’d done. Not to Jaya, to Jason or to her. Someone in town would be able to help her find her grandparents or this council. She found a pair of flip-flops in the closet, slipped them on then opened the door as quietly as she could and peered out. She saw no one.

  She walked down the hallway toward the front door. Again, no one was in the great room or the kitchen. Where was Malcolm? Maybe he was taking a shower. This might be the only chance she had to get away from him. She slid out the front door and hurried toward the front gate.

  And heard raised voices.

  Keeping to the side of the house, she crept forward until she could see around back. Malcolm was sitting at a table by the pool with another man. A man she recognized as the second man from the cave.

  “Your marriage is no longer valid, Malcolm. It no longer matters. Everyone who witnessed it is dead. But what’s worse, Jaya is dead.”

  Malcolm ran a hand down his face. “I know.”

  “Where is Celia?”

  “No one knows.”

  “We have to get her back here. Jaya never finished energizing the crystals. If Celia doesn’t get back here to finish the job, the barriers are going to fall.”

  Malcolm stood up and leaned over the table, both hands braced on the glass. “Don’t you think I know that?” he hissed.

  “You know her better than anyone—where would she go?”

  “Hell, I don’t know, Louis. She was furious at me. You know how she gets. She is more hot-tempered than I am.”

  “What the hell was Jaya doing there in the first place?”

  “I don’t know.” Malcolm straightened and collapsed back into his chair. “I will find Celia. I promise. I’ll fix this.”

  “You’re going to leave? Now?”

  “Do I have any choice? Who else am I going to send? There is no one. Jason is—”

  His words cut off. It was just as well. Shay didn’t think she could hear any more. She wrapped her hands around her middle and did everything she could to keep the anguished sob inside her.

  “Jason is still hanging on,” Louis said.

  Shay gulped a surprised breath.

  “Right after you left I loaded him into my truck and took him to Manny’s. I checked on him before I came here. It’s dicey. At this point, he could go either way, but right now he’s still alive.”

  Shay gasped a breath as her heart heaved in her chest.

  “Thank the gods for that,” Malcolm said and actually sounded sincere.

  “What the hell happened, Malcolm? He wasn’t supposed to get hurt. No one was. And what about Mitch? What could Scott have possibly promised him to betray us like that?”

  “I have no idea. But Scott would never have been there if Mitch hadn’t clued him in to our plans.”

  “I hated to bail on you like that but I had to stay hidden, I couldn’t let on that I was there and once I saw them attack you, I called for reinforcements.”

  “I get that. I do,” Malcolm said. “I don’t know how everything got so out of control.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year.”

  “I’m just glad you were able to save Jason. Now, listen, I’ll find Celia. I’ll make this right.”

  “You know Scott will take over while you’re gone.”

  “I guess I’ll have to deal with him when I get back, but I have to go. I caused this mess, I have to try to fix it.”

  “Celia won’t be too happy to see you, especially once she hears about her mom and the role you played in her death. Are you sure you’ll be able to get her to come back?”

  “Celia might hate me, but she loves this colony. She won’t let everyone die.”

  “I hope you’re right about that.”

  “Me, too.”

  “So, how’s Dean’s girl?”

  “Shaken. Badly. I’ve given her a sedative. Hopefully she’ll sleep for a few hours and we’ll be able to talk before I go without all the tears and hysterics.”

  “What are you going to do with her while you’re gone?”

  Shay thought of the ho
t tea and was thankful she hadn’t touched it. Not wanting to hear any more, she retraced her steps back to the front of the house and to the front gate and slipped through. She had to get to town and find this Manny before Malcolm discovered she was gone. Right now there was only one thing that mattered to her.

  Jason was alive.

  Chapter 19

  Shay kept to the woods as much as possible, afraid to step onto the road and have one of Malcolm’s men find her. She thought of Jason and mentally reached for him, trying to let her instincts guide her. Wasn’t that what Jaya had told her? To trust her gut? She stopped next to a tree, placed her hand against the bark to steady herself and closed her eyes.

  She focused on Jason’s pale blue-gray eyes and the intense way he looked at her—no, looked into her. As if he really saw her. Which now she was sure that he did. Her lips curved up into a slight smile as she thought of him, and she almost felt him, a tentative pressure deep inside her. It was his warmth, but it was weak. Very weak.

  “I’m coming, Jason. Hold on,” she whispered, hoping he could sense her, too.

  She continued to walk, thinking about the rich tone of his voice, his soft touch and easy smile. She loved the way he grinned and winked at her. He must have known when he did that, no matter how scared or upset she was, her heart would soften toward him and she’d be lost. She couldn’t help it, any more than she could stop herself from loving him.

  She wished she had something of his to hold in her hand, but she had nothing but the taste of his kiss on her mouth and his earthy scent filling her mind. She continued forward, reaching for him, for their tentative connection. She must believe in it, like Jaya said. Feel it. Trust in it completely. Only then would she be able to find him.

  She continued through the forest following that connection for longer than she’d hoped, but soon she heard something ahead of her. She slowed, keeping to the trees, when she came across two boys fishing in the river.

  “Hello,” she said, stepping forward out of the thicket. “Can you help me?”