They’d been too busy catching up. Still. After the past week, Mac thought they might have discussed everything and then some. Obviously not.
Mac grunted. Listening to Sela and Livie talk soothed him and had been the only thing keeping him from snapping within the first few minutes.
He doubted either of the sisters knew he and Cam could hear everything they said. Actually, since Sela had informed Livie that Mac was “seriously hung”, Mac knew neither one of the sisters truly understood a Were’s heightened senses.
Since all werewolves tended to be on the larger side of things all over, Mac knew that had not been a newsflash for Cam. However, he didn’t care for the fact that Cam now knew Sela had considered buying Mac a book about making love.
When the sisters started talking and sharing they shared everything.
Shit, maybe he would open a bike shop when Cam demoted him.
But these last couple of hours, like the rare occasions during the past week, had provided Mac with more information about his mate. He knew Sela loved to watch Sci Fi, didn’t like to sit still long enough to read anything beyond an article in a magazine, depended on chocolate peanuts and wide open spaces to keep her sane during panic attacks – which confirmed his theory - loved the color orange, hated any drink with carbonation and had missed her sisters to the point where anyone else would have curled up in a ball and been lost in a maze of depression.
They were starved for information about each other and a family bond.
The fucking Order of the Elements had a lot to answer for and Mac couldn’t wait to dish out their punishment.
The damn bastards didn’t care about the women, or how their hunt had warped the sisters’ lives. They only cared about the power the women controlled. They wanted the women for their power, nothing else mattered to them.
Mac rubbed a hand over his chin. It wasn’t any wonder that Sela was so skittish and untrusting. Sela had told him some and he’d gathered more by watching her since they’d returned from New Orleans, but until this moment he hadn’t fully understood the damage the bastards had done.
The wonder wasn’t that Sela didn’t trust him, but that she had stayed with him this long. Mac turned to watch Sela and Livie talk. He felt a sudden urge to have her in full view, to know that she sat only a few feet away.
The dark sky and bursts of lightening lent deep shadows pockmarked with flickers of light over Sela and Livie as they sat. Sela’s eyes and teeth flashed in the shadows as she spoke with her sister. Mac watched her face, greedy for signs of her happiness.
Last night, they had come together in a way he’d hoped for, but hadn’t expected just yet. Sela had dropped her guard and opened herself to him. For those precious hours they had mated.
Mac had felt the bond between them tighten. He wanted to howl at the moon.
“So, how does this mate thing work, exactly?” Livie whispered.
Mac caught Sela’s eye when she glanced at him. He grinned. His mate. Sela smiled briefly. “I don’t really know.” She watched him while she answered her sister. “It has something to do with scent.”
Mac nodded, sharpening the tip of the spear to a fine, lethal point.
“What? You mean you smell funny or something?” Livie glanced at him while she whispered to Sela.
“I guess.” Sela eyed him sharply. “Mac told me that werewolves smell their mates.”
Mac nodded again. Livie frowned at him and leaned closer to Sela.
“So, does he love you, or just the way you smell, or is the whole mate thing something else entirely?”
“I haven’t quite figured that part out yet,” Sela muttered sounding more than a little put out.
Mac froze. What did she mean she didn’t know? How could she not know how he felt? He told her all the time that she was his mate, he . . . it hit him like an iron fist to the gut.
She didn’t know. She didn’t truly understand. He’d tried to explain it in the beginning, but after that he’d simply told her time and time again that they were mates. Period.
He’d spent most of his time making certain she was safe, protecting her. He hadn’t spent any time talking to her, or explaining things to her.
Sela hadn’t been brought up a Were. She hadn’t even been raised to know that other supernatural beings existed. Hell, she’d scarcely been raised at all.
She’d spent her entire life being chased because she was an Elemental. She didn’t matter to the Order, only her power mattered. Did she think he viewed her the same way the Order did? Did she think he only wanted her because he scented her as his mate? Didn’t she understand that while her scent had pulled at him from the beginning, it was her inner strength, her humor, her fears, her complexity that made him crave her?
Didn’t she understand he would choose her even without the mate bond?
The spear groaned, threatening to break and Mac quickly eased up on his grip.
Short barks sounded from a group of trees further down the road. Mac and Cam stiffened, turning towards the warning. The barks rang out again along with the faint noise of a revved up engine.
Again, he would have to set aside his need to talk to Sela, to reassure her due to the Order. Mac did not understand how Sela and her sisters had survived all these years without the chance to live a normal life. He and Sela had been together less than a week, and he already couldn’t wait to kill every single one of the bastards.
Cam handed his spear to Mac and settled closer to one of the Aspens to get a better look. Mac walked over and crouched in front of Sela and Livie, “It’s time.”
Sela glanced at Livie, bit her lip and nodded. Mac knew she worried about Livie. Livie’s grin reminded him of a feral dog.
“Stay within the trees, don’t fire unless you’re in immediate danger and yell if you’re discovered. I’ll hear you, no matter what.” Mac stared hard at Sela. Damn it, he needed more time. He didn’t want to leave her without making certain she understood exactly how he felt.
“Mac.” Cam said in a near soundless whisper. Mac nodded.
He cupped Sela’s soft cheek. “You’re my mate.” Anger and desperation roughed his voice to a near snarl. He didn’t want to growl at her, and he didn’t want to repeat the same line to her, but it meant everything to him. He would do whatever it took to make her understand how Elemental she was to him.
He had to. His life meant nothing to him without her.
He cupped her neck and drew her close for a hard kiss. His beast purred.
He squeezed her neck slightly, “You will not get hurt.”
He pushed her up against the tree trunk and tucked Livie in next to her. He glared at them then stood and walked over to Cam.
Time to loosen the beast.
Muscles and bones lengthened and broadened, his clothes ripped as his body quickly reshaped itself. Sharp claws and fangs emerged and fur blanketed his skin. He growled, fierce and low as the first truck rounded the bend in the road.
A long, booming roll of thunder crept across the valley as the heavens echoed Mac’s growl.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The battle raged. Shots fired in rapid succession. Howls and other beastly sounds hung heavy in the air, a surreal fight between man and beast.
Sela winced as another bullet hit Mac. Damn him. The MIBs still had no idea that Sela and Livie watched from the trees. He did not have to put his body between her and every gun aimed in her direction. She didn’t even know if the bullets could reach them from this distance.
At least fifty feet, possibly more, separated Sela and Livie from the vicious combat taking place.
Sela had given up trying to count the number of werewolves that emerged when the trucks and SUVs reached the junction in the road.
The two groups seemed almost evenly matched to her.
At least at first.
The werewolves quickly made headway against the Order, their numbers screaming and falling in short order. Then the second batch of trucks and SUVs arrived.
> Never, ever underestimate the damn MIBs.
Sela knew this. She and her sisters had lived this. Why hadn’t she said anything? Why hadn’t she mentioned that disturbing little fact?
Well for one, Chickie, you weren’t invited to the war council and Mac never fully explained his plan. And for two, you were busy having the BIG MOMENT with Mac and spending quality time with Liv.
Damn the MIBs to hell and back and back to hell again.
She didn’t think that spending the time with Mac and her sister would cost them the war, but, she winced as a large bald man hit Mac in his back with the butt of his gun, the werewolves would not get away injury free.
Mac reached behind him with one large paw, picked up the bald man and threw him straight on top of two more MIBs. They all went down. A sharp, bloody point stuck out of the bald man’s side.
Sela planned to ensure that next time none of the werewolves suffered any injuries, if she could help it. And watching the battle in front of her, she knew there would be a next time.
The MIBs obviously knew more than they had let on. Since they had engaged the werewolves in centuries past, they knew what they were dealing with.
Funny how being at the top of the food chain could create a confidence that overshadowed certain things, namely the guys had ignored the fact that the Order shared the same history as they did. Sela couldn’t blame them. That history took place centuries ago and the werewolves hadn’t even known about it until recently.
She understood how a detail like that could get overlooked. Especially, since the Order hadn’t shown much intelligence in their dealings with the werewolves so far.
What pissed her off was their overconfidence. Hadn’t Mac listened to her? She’d been on the run for years from these bastards. Sela was not an idiot. The reason she hadn’t been able to live a normal life was because the MIBs outmaneuvered her all the time.
Mac and Cam apparently thought they could disarm the MIBs as easily as they had the last two times. They thought the MIBs would just walk into their trap.
Men. Sela wanted to scream. Werewolf men topped human guys for stubborn arrogance.
“Damn it to hell, there’s another truck,” Livie muttered and paced away, tension in every line of her body.
Sela checked the road and sure enough, another truck, rounded the bend, followed by at least two others.
More re-enforcements. For the MIBs.
Sela knew more werewolf warriors stayed in town, protecting the families there. No one anticipated they would be needed. And the idiots on the battlefield obviously still thought they had everything under control. In fact, the idiots looked to be enjoying the fight! The more MIBs that arrived, the more the werewolves looked to be throwing themselves into the battle with abandon.
Looked had to be the correct word, Sela decided because no one in their right minds would embrace the opportunity to get shot.
Sela tensed against another round of deafening gunfire.
The werewolves had fought supernaturals in the past, not evil humans. It never occurred to Cam, Mac or Roc that the MIBs would be so well organized or consider their ranks so disposable.
Protecting the clan was everything. It meant their survival. Life was precious to them.
They didn’t understand an acceptable loss of life.
“Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!” Livie shouted. The trucks skidded to a stop and more men poured out, firing static blasts of automatic rifles.
Four werewolves turned to face this new threat. They each grinned and prowled towards the newcomers. Idiots! Sela wanted to tear her hair out.
Played. They’d been played.
The Order knew they’d be facing werewolves, they knew they’d lose men and counted on it. The new re-enforcements handled their guns with skill. They didn’t attack wildly, but in planned and carefully thought out maneuvers. And they didn’t try to engage one of the large werewolves one on one.
These guys were soldiers.
Thunder boomed again, nearly overhead this time. The heavy weight of water loomed in the sky, behind dark, ominous clouds. Waiting. Despite the approaching storm, very little moisture reached the field. The valley was too far north and too far west, on most days a high mountain desert. The dry air held off the water, unwilling to give in until it had no choice.
Shit, even the weather conspired against them today.
Thunder crashed, almost overhead.
Sela felt a slight tug of power.
She clenched her fists, willing the rain to come.
“I can’t believe we didn’t demand to be in on the meeting,” Livie paced back and forth in quick, edgy strides. “Why did we leave the planning to men?”
Sela’s nails bit into her palms. Mac slashed out with his claws and then leapt, howling, to face the new soldiers, not waiting to see if the man he injured went down.
“Because we haven’t seen each other in years? Because we wanted to spend time together? Because we weren’t f-ing invited?” Sela yelled to be heard over another ear splitting boom of thunder.
Where in hell was the rain? Sela didn’t know how much more of this she could take. How many more bullets she could watch Mac take. It didn’t matter that the wounds sealed themselves within minutes. It didn’t matter that Mac never even flinched when a bullet struck him. It didn’t matter that he, the furry idiot, would bare his fangs at his attackers in a wolfy grin before attacking.
What did matter to Sela was the blood that matted his fur and the pain she knew he felt with every new injury. She hurt for him. Impatience gnawed at her. She didn’t want to be hiding in the trees. She wanted to be at his side, fighting the enemy with him.
Livie stomped to a halt next to Sela. “This fucking sucks.”
Yes, it does.
Livie reached into her vest and pulled out two hand guns - Sela called them hand guns, Livie called them Glocks. Livie gripped them tightly, one in each hand. “I can’t stay here anymore, Seals.”
A deep snarl refocused Sela’s attention to the battle. Mac. Sela yelled just as a burst of bullets sprayed across the front of Mac’s chest. He stumbled back as fresh blood poured over his amber fur.
No! No more.
Her chest tightened. She could not lose him. Not Mac. Her mate.
Desperate, Sela grabbed hold of the energy swirling inside of her. She pulled, forcing her power to respond. She held her hands up, her mark began to flicker. Faint sparks of power responding to the heavy clouds almost immediately above.
Not enough moisture. Come on rain.
Two soldiers paced towards Mac, large guns firing.
The hell with this.
Sela and Livie dashed out of the grove of trees. Sela shouted, not knowing if anyone would be able to hear her over the sounds of the battle. Livie slowed, raised one of her guns and fired. One of the soldiers heading towards Mac went down, a red hole appearing on his thigh.
Okay, so the bullets could definitely reach that far.
The soldier’s buddy turned in their direction. So did Mac.
The next few seconds passed in a blur.
Mac roared and charged towards Sela. The soldier reached up and pressed something on his shoulder, lifted his gun, aimed and fired.
Sela felt the impact of the bullet when it hit Livie.
Livie stumbled, grabbed Sela’s arm and her side at the same time as she fell to the ground.
Sela screamed. She dropped to the ground next to Livie. “Livie,” she shouted. “Livie, damn you, look at me!”
Livie’s eyes fluttered open, glazed and confused, she looked at Sela, the gray of her eyes almost painful in her otherwise colorless face.
“Seals?” She slurred.
Sela gripped her hand tightly. Sobbing, she reached over to push Livie’s hand away from her side. Bright, red streaks ran out from under her hand. Lots of red.
A large dark paw covered Livie’s hand before Sela could move it. “No,” Mac growled. “Keep pressure.” He pushed down on Livie’s hand. Livie moaned, he
r body arched, trying to escape the pain.
Sela clenched her teeth. Mac was right, she knew it, but damn it, her sister lay bleeding in front of her. She stroked her shaking hand over Livie’s forehead, but Livie had already passed out.
Not happening. This is just not happening.
Sela cupped Livie’s face. She couldn’t die. Harsh, deep sobs reached her ears and Sela realized they were coming from her.
Mac brushed his paw over her hair. Sela looked up. Amid the swirling amber of his eyes she saw a helpless frustration and deep anger, underlying all of that she could see the fear. Bullets couldn’t hurt Mac for long, but he knew Livie would die if they didn’t get help soon.
No!
Not Livie. The bastards were not going to take her sister from her just when they found each other and had a chance to live the lives they’d always wanted to live. Fate could not be that unfair.
Sela shook her shoulders. “Livie,” she screamed. “Wake up! Wake up Livie! Don’t you dare die on me!” Sela shook her hard.
Livie didn’t respond.
Great shuddering sobs shook her body. Please, please no. Mac’s paw stroked her hair in gentle brushes. He emitted a low rumble. Had he heard Livie’s heart stop? Sela couldn’t hear anything, her pulse beat frantically, pounding through her body, obscuring her ability to hear, to think, to act.
She bent over her sister’s motionless body, pleading and begging. Don’t take my sister. Don’t let her die.
Livie moaned. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Livie opened one eye. “Stop shaking me, Seals. I’m already shot, damn it.”
Sela’s sobs mixed with a choking laugh. She stopped shaking her, but couldn’t keep from running her hands over and over Livie’s body. If she could will her to keep living, she would find a way to do it.
Suddenly, both of Livie’s eyes snapped open. She focused on something behind Sela. Mac snarled and tensed at the exact same moment. Sela froze. Shit, the soldier.
Livie tugged her hand free from Sela’s. Moving carefully and slowly, her movement hidden by Sela’s body, she reached for something on the ground, her eyes focused on the soldier behind Sela.
Tall, Dark and Furry (The Elementals Book 1) Page 22
