by Ally Parker
“Enough!” Hardening her stance, the doctor cocked the trigger, jamming the nose of the gun into Ava’s head. “Do it now. Bite her, damn it.”
Kenzie clutched his hand, and Jaxx could sense her fear. It seemed to coil around her throat, solidifying into a knot of emotion. He clenched his jaw, his mind spinning for alternatives. If he moved, would the doctor detonate the bomb and kill them all? Ava looked at him, then over to Kenzie. The doctor rattled the gun at the back of her head. Ava stared at Hope’s arm, her grasp trembling.
“Jaxx, what are we going to do?”
Nothing. There wasn’t a damn thing they could do without casualties. If the doctor wasn’t wearing a bomb, they would have had options. “We have to let this play out.”
A tear ran down Ava’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and bit into Hope’s arm. The doctor’s shoulders slumped, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “I did it. I did it.”
Hope remained asleep or unconscious. Leroy watched Hope expectantly, and Jaxx made his move. He catapulted over the desk, discarded paper on the floor crunching under his weight. LeRoy’s attention shifted to him. Before she had a chance to respond, one hand palmed the doctor’s gun. A bullet buzzed into the ceiling, dust sprinkling over them. Simultaneously, his other hand wrapped around the detonator, yanking it from her hand.
LeRoy staggered back, hitting a metal cabinet and collapsing to the floor.
“How could you do this to her?” Ava screamed at LeRoy. Her arm swept back to Hope. “To every one of the people you tortured and killed? To me?”
The doctor sobbed and coughed up blood, and she wiped it with the back of her palm. “I had to, for her.”
Hope screamed, a high-pitched sound filled with agony, and jackknifed from the bed. Her body convulsed violently.
Jaxx moved to the hospital trolley and held the child down so she didn’t flip off the bed. “Tell us what you gave her. You could kill her.”
“Mommy!”
LeRoy pulled herself from the floor and staggered to the bed, pushing Ava from the side. “I’m here, Hope. Mommy’s right here.”
Hope’s teeth clenched as another spasm wracked her body, and pink foam poured out of her mouth.
“Oh, God!” LeRoy choked out.
Flopping back to the bed, Hope twisted and turned, mindlessly clawing at the air. Jaxx had seen this enough times to know exactly what was happening. The child would die.
The doctor turned and faced him, rivulets of tears running amid the blood coating her face. “Do something.”
He shifted his hand from Hope’s shoulder and dipped it into the lab coat, wrapping his hand around the gun. The only mercy he could offer the child now would be short and sweet, as opposed to the excruciating death that awaited her. It was the right thing to do. End her suffering.
Hope stopped thrashing.
“Hope?” The doctor reached out and shook Hope’s shoulders.
Hope exhaled a puff of air, and her chest stopped moving.
“Hope?” LeRoy sobbed. “Open your eyes for Mommy.”
From beside him, Kenzie sucked in a breath.
No response.
“No. No. No!” Shaking her head, the doctor pulled Hope into her arms and rocked her limp form. “I… I don’t understand.”
Jaxx did. He’d seen it a million times before. To survive the venom of a bite, the human had to be strong and healthy, and sometimes even that didn’t work. A terminally ill child stood no chance.
Brushing a hand over Hope’s smooth head, the doctor left streaks of blood on her skin. LeRoy drew the girl closer, burying her head into the crook of the child’s neck.
Ava stood muted, staring at the scene, and down to her hands. Jaxx could see the guilt she wore written clear on her face. Her jaw hardened. “Screw that!”
Barging closer, she pulled the wailing doctor from Hope. Hope flopped back to the bed. Ava clasped her hands and compressed Hope’s chest. Kenzie sniffled and moved to Hope’s head. Together, his mate and her sister manually forced air and blood around the child’s body. At first nothing changed.
Saint’s wolf approached, along with a naked, blood-covered Cade.
“We need to get out of here.”
Shit! The council would be arriving to neutralize the situation.
“Look!” Kenzie gasped.
Jaxx jerked his attention back to Kenzie. Dark swirls snaked around Hope’s leg. The outline a hind leg of a wolf. An image that looked remarkably like a shifter’s glyph. Problem was, even if Hope somehow survived the transformation, weres didn’t develop glyphs. Already on edge, Jaxx drew on his wolf, leaving him to sit under the surface watching and waiting.
He blinked. “What the fuck?”
Saint and Cade stalked forward.
LeRoy laughed through her tears. “She made it.”
Hope’s hand moved faster than it should and latched around Ava’s wrist. Her eyes opened, burning red as the hottest coal.
“Rogue.” Cade hissed.
Jaxx scented the air. The distinct tang of rogue was absent. His hand shot out, stilling Cade. “Take a breath. She isn’t rogue.”
“Hope?” LeRoy whispered.
Jaxx spared the doctor a glance; he could hear the way her heart missed every couple of beats. It seemed the doctor would be meeting her maker soon.
“Mommy.”
Ava pulled her hand away and stood back. Hope blinked, and her gaze darted from Ava all around the bed to Kenzie. She shrank back and pulled a stuffed bear from the side of the bed to her chest.
Ava gathered a crumpled blanket from the end of the bed and made her way to LeRoy, wrapping the blanket around the woman’s body, using the edge to clear as much visible blood as possible.
Reaching down, Ava pulled the doctor to her feet. LeRoy leaned heavily on the were.
“Why?” LeRoy asked.
Making sure the blanket covered LeRoy’s wounds Ava helped her on the bed to sit with Hope. “I’m not doing this for you.”
Jaxx could smell the underlying rage pouring off Kenzie’s sister. Yet, despite how much Ava hated the doctor, she pushed her feelings aside so Hope could say good-bye.
“Mommy.” Hope moved closer. “Are you okay?”
LeRoy looked down at Hope and stroked her hand around her daughter’s jaw. “Baby, look at you. How do you feel?”
“Great.” Hope smiled and snuggled closer to the doctor. “The new medicine really works, just like you said it would.”
Saint approached him. “What the fuck is this?” He flicked his head to Hope.
Jaxx explained what had happened. “What do you want us to do?”
He cursed. “We don’t have time for this. The council’s estimated time of arrival is ten minutes.”
“A were with a glyph like a shifter, eyes of a rogue. The council won’t like this. They may want to kill the kid.” Hell, even Jaxx’s mind struggled to make sense of what he’d seen.
For now, they needed to focus on getting the hell out of there.
Kenzie fought back tears listening to the sweet words between the doctor and Hope. She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. Every part of her wanted to kill Doctor Marie LeRoy. The woman was responsible for the suffering of many people, not to mention her own personal hell. Yet Hope was only a child—an innocent—and didn’t deserve to be aware of the evils her mother had done in her name.
Gaze darting to Ava, she watched her jaw pulse.
LeRoy closed her eyes, her breathing labored. “Baby, I need you to be strong for me. I want you to go with these people. They will keep you safe.”
What? Take Hope with them? After all the horrible things that had been done at the hands of the doctor, and she was now handing over her kid to them? LeRoy’s eyes fluttered closed, and her lids lingered shut.
“But I want to stay with you.” Hope sniffed, tears rolling down her pale cheeks.
LeRoy coughed. “What have I always said?”
Hope wiped her nose. �
��No matter where you are, you’ll always be in my heart.”
Saint’s commanding voice cut through the room. “Grab the girl. We have to leave. Now!”
“Mommy will always love you, Hope.”
Hope tightened her little hands around the doctor’s lab coat. “No. I’m not leaving you.”
Ava reached over and tore Hope from LeRoy’s arms.
“Mommy. Mommy, help me!”
Steeling herself, Kenzie pulled her gaze from the sight and limped toward Jaxx. He glanced down at her, reaching out and scooping her into his arms. “Time’s running out; we have to get out of here.”
Saint and the rest of the pack shot out of the room. Bodies littered the floor as they backtracked through the warehouse—it was Delmac all over again. This time instead of Milly, they held Hope, an experiment created by her own mother.
They came to the stairwell, and Cade pushed open the door and turned to Ava. Hope fought in Ava’s arms, screaming.
“Give me the petite fille.” Cade frowned and held out his arms.
“Why?”
If possible, his brows deepened. “I’m stronger. I’m faster.”
Without waiting for a reply, he reached over and pulled Hope into his arms. Ignoring Hope’s cries, he ran up the stairs.
Following, Jaxx booked it out of there.
“How much time do we have?” His voice remained level as if he wasn’t asking about their impending deaths.
“Merde!” Cade cursed. “Two minutes.”
The door banged open to the top level. The area was eerily silent. Racing through the corridor, they cut across the empty bay toward safety. Kenzie’s heart hammered in her chest. Would they make it in time? Two minutes wasn’t long. She glanced up to Jaxx, his jaw set tight, sweat dotted across his brow. How could one man change her life so completely? They might die, and she hadn’t told him how she felt.
From outside, the whirring of a chopper bled into the warehouse. The entrance door opened, and Flynn waved his arm. “Get yer asses outta there.”
They didn’t have to be told twice. Bursting from the door, Kenzie felt the cool night air wrap around her. She’d never been so happy to smell the decay of seaweed on the wind. A black chopper hovered over the top of the warehouse.
“Fuck!” Jaxx yelled. “We’re too late.”
“Take cover!” Saint hollered through the pack’s connection.
Heat pushed down on them. Jaxx’s arms tightened around her. A distinct boom shook the ground. Waves of pressure propelled their bodies through the air like a slingshot. The force ripped her from Jaxx’s arms and sent her flying. Kenzie body-smashed onto the ground and skidded against a boulder of debris.
Darkness danced in the edges of her vision. She blinked rapidly and groaned. “Jaxx.”
Shards of glass dug into her hand as she propped herself up. All around her, the air sizzled with heat, and torrents of smoke plumed into the night. Looking through the haze back to where the warehouse once stood, Kenzie barely made out a pile of rubble. She needed to stay awake. If she could just get her vision to focus, she could find Jaxx. She pulled herself up using a chunk of the warehouse as support.
Staggering to her feet, she reached out to Jaxx and slammed into a black void. Deep down in her gut, she knew something was wrong. The nothingness she had experienced when Jaxx shut their connection off during the battle was akin to running into a door. What she experienced now was as if he never existed.
“Jaxx!” she cried out.
Her foot slid from under her, and she staggered. The bite of her wound pulsed in time with the pump of her heart. Catching herself on some crates, Kenzie swept her gaze over the scene, her were enhancements lighting up the area. “Answer me, damn it!”
Jaxx had launched into her life, upending it from the start, and it meant something to her. Jaxx the shifter had showed her what love and acceptance really felt like, that with him and the Shadow Moon pack she would always have a family. Jaxx, the male she loved, couldn’t be gone. Her mind refused to accept the possibility.
Warmth fluttered across their link. Her eyes darted over the rubble, searching. From within the haze of smoke and ash a shadow formed. “Kenzie.”
The sound of Jaxx’s voice loosened the tightness in her chest. She sobbed and hobbled toward him. The air cleared, and Jaxx wrapped his arms around her, his head buried in the crook of her neck. “Thank God you’re okay,” he whispered.
All too soon, he pulled from their embrace. “Have you seen the others?”
She shook her head. His hands roamed over her shoulders and slid down her arms. “Come on, let’s find them before the human authorities arrive.”
Heat poured from the ruins of the warehouse. Approaching the center of the building, the air thickened. Fine particles of dust and ash rained around them, obscuring their view. Flames hissed and spat, eating their way through the rubble. It looked like a war zone—fitting, because they had been fighting for their lives.
A soft moan flittered along the breeze. Stopping in her tracks, Kenzie listened. There it was again. Eyes scouring the ground, some debris moved, smaller rocks cascading down the chunk of wall still standing. The faint smell of leather hovered in the air, the scent she’d always associated with Cade. They approached a chunk of the wall at least six feet wide, and nearly as long, suspended off the ground.
Falling to her knees, ignoring the pain coursing through every inch of flesh, her fingers curled around the lump of bricks, and she saw Cade on his hands and knees hovering over Hope. The shifter’s arms shook under the weight of the wall. “We’re here,” Kenzie said. “Just hold on.”
“I can’t move,” Cade groaned. “I’m pinned to the wall.”
Jaxx crouched, his gaze flickering under the debris. “Sit tight, I got this.”
Taking a breath together they cupped the wall and lifted. Her muscles strained, and the wall moved an inch.
Cade cried out. “Stop.”
“Damn.” Jaxx glanced toward her and nodded his chin. “We’ll have to do this hard and fast. Ready? On the count of three. One, two…”
“I’m sorry, Cade,” Kenzie whispered. “This is going to hurt.”
Cade growled, and Kenzie’s gut twisted, knowing that after everything the male had done for her, she would be causing him pain.
Jaxx’s fingers tightened on the wall. “Brace yourself, brother.”
Kenzie tightened her hold.
“Three.”
Quick and fast, they both levered the slab of concrete up. Cade didn’t make a sound, even though it must have hurt like hell. Blood trickled out from under the debris. Hope started to cry.
“I’m coming.” Saint’s voice reached her mind.
Peripherally, a flash of fur weaved through the smoke. In a fluid motion, their alpha shifted to human and lifted the solid chuck of debris the rest of the way.
Cade rolled, Hope in his arms, and hissed out a breath. Blood ran steadily down his chest, and his back was scraped with abrasions. He released the wall, and it smashed into several fragments. Kenzie did a head-to-toe sweep of Hope. Remarkably, despite minor cuts, the child was uninjured. She stripped off her jacket and balled the fabric, handing it over to the male. “Here, press this against the wound.”
It wasn’t much, but until his shifter healing kicked in or they got back to the compound, it would have to do.
Saint wiped his brow and nodded toward the street where the van was hidden. “We need to get moving.”
Kenzie shook her head. “I need to find Ava.”
“Slater has Ava and the others loaded in the van.”
Sirens wailed in the distance. The last thing they needed was to have the human police to deal with. Lifting Hope into his arms, Saint weaved them through the remains of the building until they approached the van. Flynn sat behind the wheel, the engine running. The passenger door opened, and Saint and Hope slid into the front. Cade crawled into the back, and Jaxx picked Kenzie up, securing her in the van before he jumped in
behind her.
Linkin lay unmoving on the floor; Slater and Lucian sat close to him, watching the rise and fall of the male’s chest. Cade pressed himself in the corner closest to the door next to her sister. Ava stared across the van. Kenzie slid up beside her, the vinyl of the seat creaking under her weight. “Are you okay?”
Ava’s stare remained fixed to the wall of the van. Jaxx laced their fingers tighter and squeezed. Was she injured from the explosion? Kenzie nudged Ava with a shoulder. “Hey,” she crooned. “Are you okay? Have you been hurt?”
Flynn cleared his throat. “The lass hasn’t said a word since she hightailed it out of the building.”
The male’s voice was filled with pity, and Kenzie hated to hear the note. Something inside of her ached. She’d waited so long to be reunited with her sister that it hurt to finally have her within reach, but still miles away at the same time. Ava had been through more than most, she reminded herself. Of course it would take her a while to process everything.
Jaxx’s thumb circled her palm. “Give her some time. She’ll come around,” he whispered into her mind.
Kenzie looked around the van, took in Linkin’s still form, Cade’s injured shoulder, and the little girl who should by rights be gone from this world, and back to her catatonic sister. All of it was her fault. If she hadn’t broken into the warehouse all those years ago, none of them would be hurting now.
Jaxx squeezed her hand. “Linkin is stronger than he looks. He’ll be fine.”
Still…worry gnawed at her, hearing the male’s breaths wheeze in and out. He didn’t look fine.
Sirens wailed closer. Too close. Craning her neck, Kenzie peered out the window, and the flash of lights approached from the main road.
“Feck,” Flynn cursed. “Hold on tight—things are about to get bumpy.”
23
Jaxx knocked on Saint’s door and shouldered the frame. “You wanted to see me?”
Saint closed the lid of his laptop and pushed it across his desk. For once, his alpha looked tired. He couldn’t blame him. Thanks to Flynn’s skilled driving they had made it back to the compound in the early hours of the morning. After getting Linkin and Cade to the infirmary, setting Hope up under observation, and settling Ava into a locked room they hadn’t had much time for sleep.
