Mated in Mist

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Leah froze but tried not to be annoyed that she couldn’t help. She didn’t have the senses the others did, but hopefully, she’d be able to help in some way.

  Finn carefully moved toward his cousin and cursed. “It’s human. Fucking human.”

  “It’s mixed with Ryder’s scent,” Charlotte added then moved back to Bram’s side.

  Leah’s knees buckled but she didn’t fall. Brandon stood at her side, looking as if he were ready to catch her, but she couldn’t look weak.

  “We’ll find him,” Leah bit out. “We’ll find him and make those who took him pay.”

  Finn met her gaze, his wolf in his eyes. “Hell yeah. They don’t fucking take what’s ours.”

  “We’ll need to follow the trail,” Bram put in. “How’s your mating bond?” he asked Leah.

  Leah shook her head. “I don’t know how to use it, but I’ll figure it out.”

  Because she had to. Someone had taken her mate, her Ryder. And there was no way she’d let that stand. She would find him as he’d found her once before. They were meant for eternity, and she’d be damned if she’d let that eternity end now.

  She’d find him.

  She had to.

  ****

  Ryder held back a scream. The blade slid into his fingertip as if searching for hidden claws. Fucking humans didn’t understand that it wasn’t an actual wolf right under his skin. It was his wolf, another part of his body and soul. They shared his body, but not at the same time. It was magic.

  The man currently slicing off parts of Ryder’s skin couldn’t just peel it all away to see his wolf. The goddess had both blessed and cursed them with the magic of their wolves.

  Humans would never truly understand, and yet this one wanted to find an analytical and sadistic way to prove that magic truly existed.

  Ryder had been a fucking idiot. Seriously. He hadn’t even scented the damn humans until it was too late. He’d gone inside for his tablet and had ended up with four darts in his body. He’d moved fast enough to duck another ten of them, but the humans after him had been prepared.

  If he’d been a weaker wolf, he might have died from the amount of drugs coursing through his system. They’d knocked him out and dragged him to whatever building they held him in now. Though his body raged in agony at the slices on his skin and the drugs in his veins, his wolf was at the front, taking in every detail of the place he could.

  He was underground in a bunker of some sort, but this was no hovel, it was some high-end expanse. Large cages lined the walls, though they were empty. He didn’t want to know why they were empty. He wouldn’t be able to take it. Bright lights covered the room, bathing it in a sickly glow, and long medical beds dotted the area. The thick belts and leather cuffs attached to each bed weren’t lost on him.

  He wasn’t in a place designed to help people. He was in a place where people were studied. Vivisected. Murdered.

  He needed to get the fuck out.

  “He’s bleeding like the others, but he seems to have a firmer spine,” the butcher in front of him stated coldly.

  Ryder let out a growl, just a slight warning before looking over the man’s shoulder at the familiar face in the doorway.

  Senator McMaster.

  The eagle-eyed, smooth talking politician, who had been the first in power to speak out against the supernatural. The man had subtlety put a firm boundary between humans and those who were not. The Pack had been keeping an eye on him, but it seemed they had missed something crucial.

  The man had plans of his own.

  “You wolves think you’re the top predator, the top of the food chain, yet you’ve spent the past year hiding, waiting.” McMaster slowly moved toward Ryder, even as the butcher with the knife kept cutting.

  The slices burned, and blood flowed from his body, but the man with the knife knew what he was doing. Ryder wouldn’t die from the cuts, but he’d hurt until he did something stupid—like give up key information about his Pack.

  That meant Ryder would have to do his best to keep that from happening. No matter the pain. It killed him that he couldn’t feel Leah like he should. The drugs and searing agony made his mind a little muddled—enough that he was having a hard time finding the bond and keeping track of where she was or what she was feeling. Their bond was too new, too fragile. If they’d been mated for years like the Redwoods were, maybe Leah and the Talons would have had a chance to find him.

  As it was, he was afraid it would be too late.

  He’d die with his secrets, die for his Pack, but he’d be damned if he went easily.

  “It was really quite exhilarating seeing you change on the screen as you did,” McMaster continued. He gestured toward the empty cages. “The ones that came before you shifted countless times for me, but they didn’t have the same…finesse that you had when you were jumping through fire for that witch.”

  Ryder’s wolf held back a whimper at the idea of so many lost wolves. He knew they hadn’t been Talons or Redwoods since there hadn’t been any disappearances, but they could have been Centrals, lone wolves, or countless others. He couldn’t let them die in vain.

  “What do you think is so special about me?” he bit out. His fangs threatened to slide through his gums and he inhaled deeply. He couldn’t afford to lose control.

  “I think you’re much more special than you allow others to see, Heir of the Talons.”

  Ryder bit back a curse. They fucking knew too much. They always had.

  “I’m going to see what you look like on the inside, wolf. I want to see what makes you tick. The Humans First movement helps my cause, as does Washington’s inadequacies, but soon, you will know what I want. And before you can do anything about it, you’ll die drowning in your own blood.” McMaster turned to his butcher. “Keep going. I want to see him bleed.”

  With that, the politician with the cool smile left him alone with the monster that didn’t scare him as much as McMaster himself.

  Ryder met the man’s eyes and refused to scream, refused to growl. They would not win. He might die at their hands, but he wouldn’t lose his pride.

  Time seemed to drag on as the man made his cuts. They almost didn’t hurt anymore and that worried him. Ryder pulled at his restraints, but that only made the monster cut deeper. There was no way he would escape this, not without help. He couldn’t sense his mate, his Pack, but if he inhaled deeply enough, he could have sworn he was able to scent them.

  Perhaps this was it. This was his death.

  He’d never have Leah in his arms again; never see her grow round with his child.

  His wolf pushed at him, begging him to hold on, to wait for a time where they could break free. Ryder didn’t give in to the part of his soul that had grown tired; he fought, even if that meant staying where he was.

  He was wolf. He was Talon. He was Heir.

  He would try to survive because he needed his Leah.

  The door opened, and Ryder tried to lift his head, only to find it too heavy. Thick boots sounded on the floor as someone came forward. Ryder couldn’t tell who it was, but he prayed to the goddess it was a way out.

  He’d fought all his life to keep his mind sane and his body whole, and now it seemed that a human would be the one to best him. He couldn’t give up...he wouldn’t.

  The butcher didn’t look over his shoulder, but Ryder didn’t give anything away. He might not recognize the soldier behind the butcher, but from the way the soldier moved, Ryder didn’t want to halt his plan.

  The soldier in front of him, garbed head to toe in a black uniform with no insignia, took the man by the back of the neck and pulled him away from Ryder. With a few quick movements, the other man was knocked out and tied up within a cage.

  “We don’t have a lot of time,” the soldier said quietly as he worked to get Ryder free.

  “Why are you helping me?” Ryder bit out as he tried not to growl. He stood on shaky legs, refusing to put his weight on the other man.

  “I joined the military to ser
ve my country, then when I got out, I joined this group to keep our people safe. That’s not what’s going on.” He didn’t say anything else but gave Ryder a look. “They’ll know I was here soon if we don’t get out of here quickly.”

  “What’s your name?” Ryder asked.

  “Shane.” He didn’t give a last name and Ryder narrowed his eyes.

  “You were there the day of the Unveiling. You were the one who helped Brynn.”

  Shane raised his chin. “We need to go.” He didn’t confirm or deny what Ryder had said, but Ryder recognized the man.

  His body shook and his cuts burned, but he followed the man out the door. His wolf didn’t trust Shane fully, but he had a feeling this was the way to go.

  With each step, he knew he was getting to Leah, and that was all that mattered.

  For now.

  SHANE

  Shane was a fucking idiot. He’d betrayed his country, his team, to save this one wolf. But if he hadn’t, he’d have kept the dark mark on his soul for far longer than he could live with. As it was, he’d only just found out about the true natures of McMaster and Montag.

  Now, he’d taken a stance with this Ryder, but no one on his team actually knew what he’d done. He’d disabled the cameras and hid his tracks, but if he weren’t careful, he wouldn’t live long enough to find a way to right the wrongs of those he’d once trusted.

  “I can get you to the outside of the compound, but then I need to go back,” Shane said softly, careful of who might overhear. “I can’t let them know I’ve gone rogue.”

  Ryder met his gaze. “You want to gather more information. Work from the inside.”

  Shane nodded once. He would do what he could with the time he had left. If the public knew exactly what went on inside these walls…hell, he couldn’t even think of the ramifications.

  “Come to us,” Ryder said finally. “Come to us when you need to. My wolf trusts you, though I don’t know why.”

  Shane let out a breath and continued to move. He knew shifters weren’t the bringers of death the others thought, but he didn’t know if he could give up everything to live with them like that. He also didn’t know if he could truly trust them, knowing what he’d been part of in the past.

  All he knew was that he had to get Ryder to safety and hurry back before it was too late. As soon as he got to the edge of the perimeter, he froze. Someone else was out there. He could feel it. He might only be human, but he was far more trained than most.

  Ryder let out a slight growl. “My people are close. They must have followed my scent.” There was something else left unsaid, Shane could tell, but he didn’t have time to figure out this wolf’s secrets.

  “Ryder!” A light-brown-haired woman came toward them, her palms out and water sliding over them.

  A witch, then. The same one from the feed that had shown Ryder change from man to wolf.

  “I’m here. Shane got me out.”

  Others slid from the trees, but he knew there were more than just those who had shown themselves. Wolves were pack hunters, after all.

  Shane stood back and waited for the witch to hold Ryder close. Two males came forward and helped Ryder move, their feet not making a sound. Shane watched all of this with a careful eye, but it was the dark-haired beauty that captured most of his attention.

  He didn’t know who she was, nor why he couldn’t stop staring, but she looked right back at him. Her eyes narrowed and she turned away. A dark-skinned man glared at him and then followed her.

  “I need to go back before they notice I’m gone,” Shane finally said.

  Ryder looked over his shoulder. “You can come with us,” he said honestly.

  Shane shook his head. “If we all go, how we will know who the monsters are?” With one last look at the woman, he trotted back toward the compound.

  He made his way into the building without making a sound, his thoughts going in a thousand different directions. It was probably for that reason that he didn’t hear the sound of the gun going off until it was too late, or feel the burn at his side until his head hit the floor.

  He’d been found.

  It was too late.

  And yet, all he could think of was the woman with the honey-colored eyes and the man who had been behind her.

  A stark image to have as one’s last impression, even in the throes of death.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Leah tried to keep from crying as she and Charlotte bandaged up Ryder’s wounds. There was no use, though, because she was just so damned grateful for the human who had saved his life. Her mate had almost died, and she’d almost been too late to stop it.

  The SUV hit another rut, and she banged her head on the ceiling. Holding back a curse, she glared up at Brandon.

  “Sorry. I’m trying to go as fast as we can so we can get to Walker and behind the wards. We’re off-roading as it is.”

  She let out a sigh and went back to cleaning up her mate. Only the fact that Ryder needed help held Leah back from snarling at Charlotte for daring to touch her mate’s skin. She might not be a wolf, but, apparently, she had mating territorial issues.

  As soon as they’d caught Ryder’s scent back at the Coven meeting place, they’d all jumped into one SUV and did their best to follow it. Between that and the low pulse of the mating bond she’d finally been able to find, they’d found where the humans were keeping Ryder.

  It had only been by chance that they’d gotten there when Shane showed with Ryder leaning heavily on him. She didn’t know anything about the human, other than the fact that he’d saved her mate’s life. She would be forever grateful for the man’s actions, even if she didn’t fully understand them.

  They worked on Ryder’s wounds in silence, though he kept his hand on her thigh. Some cuts were too deep for what little first aid they could do on the move, but the others would heal on their own as soon as he shifted and got some protein in his system. Walker would have to work on the rest. But at least they could stop most of the bleeding.

  She knew she’d almost lost him because of the amount of cuts on his body. How her brave mate could sit there and not growl or whimper was beyond her.

  “I’m getting blood all over my seats,” Ryder said softly.

  She kissed his cheek where they’d already cleaned up the blood. “It can be cleaned. If not, then, whatever. You’re here to bleed on them, and that’s all that matters.”

  “That’s my mate, always looking on the bright side,” Ryder said sleepily.

  “Don’t go to sleep yet, darling,” she put in. “Not until you have Walker check you out.”

  “I’m here with you,” Ryder whispered. “That’s all that matters.”

  “And the rest of us are just chopped liver,” Drake said from the back of the SUV. He, Brandon, and Bram knelt together, not looking too comfortable in the small, enclosed space.

  “True,” Charlotte said with a smile. “We’re not Leah. But we’re here for you anyway.” She handed Ryder some beef jerky. “Now eat this before you pass out. Your wolf is hungry.”

  He took it from her and chewed as Leah worked on a deep cut on his side. Each wound tugged at her and the mating bond flared. But when she looked into Ryder’s eyes, she knew it would be okay. At least for now. It surprised her how quickly she’d fallen for him, even with how hard they’d tried to stay apart. And yet, she knew this was exactly where she should be. At his side, no matter the pain, no matter the cost.

  By the time they got to the Talon den and Walker had Healed him as much as he could, Ryder looked exhausted and ready to pass out. Thankfully, they were allowed to go back to his place—their place now—so he could rest.

  There would be time for talking, planning, and dealing with the ramifications of what Ryder had witnessed, but first, her mate needed to Heal. Kameron and Mitchell were on their way back to the compound to see what information they could gather; however, Leah wanted to focus on Ryder first. The other worries could wait.

  Walker had helped strip Ryder
and put him in bed, leaving Leah to tend to him for now. While her mate slept, she quickly showered, washing his blood from her skin and soaking in the water, needing its healing presence to soothe her soul as well as her body.

  She’d almost lost him today, and she hadn’t even had the chance to fully take action against those who took him. One day soon she would, she knew, but for now, just having Ryder near would have to be enough. Her Pack and her new family were in danger, and all she wanted to do was cuddle into her mate and try to remember that there was a reason they fought.

  That, in its own way, was another form of healing. One she needed to embrace.

  She shut off the water and dried herself off before walking naked into the bedroom. Ryder slept on his back, his wounds almost fully healed. Because he hadn’t broken any bones nor hurt any internal organs, he’d be back to full strength by the morning. It should have surprised her, but considering what she could do with her own magic, it didn’t.

  Leah lifted the covers and slid into the bed beside him, careful not to jostle his nearly healed wounds. When he turned his head and opened his eyes, she bit her lip, another tear sliding down her cheek.

  “Never do that again.” Her voice broke. “I can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

  He lifted his arm, and she carefully pressed her naked body to his. Immediately, her magic reached out and wrapped around him, needing him as much as his wolf needed her. The bond pulsed red-hot between them, and she sighed.

  “I’m sorry, little witch. The only thing I thought about when I was there was seeing you again. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He kissed her forehead and she sighed. “I love you, Leah. You’re my mate, my heart, the other half of my soul. I love you.”

  The tears flowed freely down her cheeks now. “I love you, too, my wolf.”

  They’d mated already, and the bond between them glowed brightly. But it was the words that the humans needed.