by Alisa Woods
In a rush of fur and adrenaline, they rounded the corner of the house and bounded across the lawn. They had perfect timing: the four Red wolves had the door open, but were still filing in. Without a single growl among them for warning, the team attacked from behind. Lucas surged ahead so he reached them first, but he was just the tip of an avalanche of fur and teeth mowing down the pack members in the doorway. Two of the Reds reflexively shifted—Lev and one of the younger wolves wrestled with them, rolling in a ball of claws and clothes across the entranceway. Lucas’s father and Rent took the two in human form, knocking them down and getting jaws to throat in no time. The Reds still fought back, but Lucas knew they were caught. He plowed forward into the living area, looking for Mia. He and Lev were tasked with extracting the girls, but Lev was occupied, so Lucas would secure them first, then figure out the situation for retreat.
There were no girls in the living area, but the place had plenty of beer bottles. A growl rumbled in his chest with the thought of Mia being held not only by that bastard Mace, but a drunken pack of his wolves as well. Lucas sniffed and ran—through the kitchen, hallway, rear bedroom and bath—but they were empty. It had only been a few seconds since they’d entered, but that commotion couldn’t have been missed by anyone else inside the house. Lucas stopped and listened… sure enough, shouts of alarm came from upstairs.
He ran back to the front, where the four Red wolves were now subdued, just as he expected, then bounded up the stairs, three at a time. He heard someone following behind him, one of his father’s pack, but Lucas had speed and a head start and reached the second floor first. It was a hallway with several bedroom doors. Most were closed, but the closest one was open, spilling light into the hall. Lucas rushed the room, hoping to catch whoever was inside by surprise. The pack brother who had followed him up the stairs was right behind him.
Lucas pulled up short when he saw the gun.
But it was too late.
Mace fired.
The sound jerked through Lucas’s body, jolting him and making him crouch. But after a half second, he realized he wasn’t shot. In the other half of that second, he took in the scene: Mace standing with the gun; a female huddled behind him; two of Mace’s betas, weapons drawn. Lucas’s legs unlocked, and he scrambled backward. He was seriously outmatched. More importantly: the female wasn’t Mia or her roommate.
“Stay where you are or I’ll shoot you, too.” Mace’s growled words only registered when Lucas backed into something warm and furry in his retreat. He whipped his head back: a wolf lay on the floor, and two more were standing just outside the door. The one on the floor whimpered and whined and tried to drag himself back. He left a smear of blood across the pure white carpet… all the air went out of Lucas.
It was Lev.
The moped beyond the electrified fence shone in the moonlight, like a beacon calling to Mia. So close… yet so far…
“What is taking so long?” Jupiter asked. It was only the fourth time in about a minute.
“Maybe the guard already took his smoke break.” Mia tried to sound calm, but her nerves were ramping up, too. “I’m sure Jak’s working on it.”
Jupiter picked her way through the undergrowth to stand next to Mia again. Her roommate had been pacing between the fence and the trees, peering into the forest as if she could force Jak to shut down the fence with the power of her glare.
Mia’s phone lit up, sending an eerie glow out in a circle around her. It caught Jupiter’s eye, too. Mia quickly scanned the text: it was from Jak, but it didn’t make any sense.
“What does it say?” Jupiter demanded.
Mia frowned. “He’s asking if we did something to the fence.”
They both looked at the fence. It was still humming and looked the same.
“Is it still live?” Jupiter asked. They’d already figured out that Mia could hear the fence’s electric hum, while her roommate couldn’t. Mia’s inner wolf enhanced her hearing somewhat, but nowhere near as much as her smell. The hum must be just inside the range she could detect but normal humans couldn’t.
“Yeah, it’s still live,” Mia said. “Don’t touch it.” She bent over the phone and rapidly texted back, fence still live.
They both waited for his response.
Part of fence breached. Find it. Get out.
Mia showed it to Jupiter, then quickly scanned up and down the length of the fence. She was sure it went for a good mile or more. The estate was huge, and the fence had to run the whole perimeter. How would they find the section that was out?
“What the heck does he mean by breached?” Jupiter asked.
Mia was wondering the same thing. “Maybe Lucas has come for me.”
Jupiter raised an eyebrow.
“Trust me,” Mia said. “It’s totally something he would do.”
Jupiter nodded, but then she frowned at the fence. “So… do we just scout along until we find the part that’s broken?”
A bang cracked through the air, like a car backfiring or a transformer blowing. It jolted through Mia, and they both turned toward the estate where the sound had come from.
That sounded like a gunshot. Fear gripped her heart, but it wasn’t for herself. Or even Jupiter. Mia was sure Lucas had come for her. If he was already inside…
“What was that?” Jupiter’s voice had pitched up.
“We have to go.” Mia grabbed her roommate’s hand and dragged her along the perimeter. She had no idea which way to go, how close the breach was, or if they could reach it in time, but they had to move. Fast.
Except the dark and the underbrush were slowing them down. Mia uncovered her phone, using it as a flashlight to shine ahead of them, and they were able to make better time. She strained to hear the fence over the shuffling and stomping of their feet through the underbrush. Every fifty feet or so, she stopped to listen, to check to see if the hum was still there, and then they started running again.
They were getting farther and farther from the moped, but that didn’t matter—they could always double back along the fence, or if nothing else, she had the phone’s GPS. She and Jupiter were both getting winded with the run, and her roommate fell once, but she got right back up and kept going. The next time they stopped, they had to hold their breath for a moment so she could hear the fence over their panting.
It was still humming… and there was something else in the woods as well.
Mia whipped her head around, peering into the forest toward the estate, her nostrils automatically flaring to try to catch the scent of whatever was making that noise: something was moving through the underbrush. And it was coming closer.
Mia grabbed her roommate’s arm and yanked. “Run!” she said in a harsh whisper. They picked up speed, making way too much noise, but Mia figured they had probably already seen her phone bobbing through the forest.
They kept running. The forest seemed to creep in on them, dark fingers reaching out from the underbrush to grab at their legs and feet. Jupiter was keeping up, but Mia could tell she was flagging, either from the run or the terror. They stopped for a moment to listen again. The fence was buzzing, but Mia almost couldn’t hear it over the crashing through the forest toward them. She still couldn’t see them through the dark, but there was definitely more than one. And they were moving fast.
Then up ahead, Mia spied something attached to the fence… on the outside.
“Come on!” Mia ran ahead, as fast as her human legs could carry her. When she reached the part of the fence with the elaborate cables and insulated lines on the outside, it was easy to tell this was where the fence had been breached: it no longer hummed, and there were men’s clothes scattered all along the forest floor.
Jupiter caught up to her. “What in the world?” she asked, breathless.
“This is where Lucas came in.” Mia gestured to the clothes. “And he brought friends.”
The crashing through the forest sounded closer. Mia and Jupiter both turned to see dark shapes bounding straight for them.
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“Go, go, go!” Mia shoved Jupiter toward the fence. But she could tell it was already too late—even if they made it over, the wolves were too fast. They would catch them. If it was only Mia, she might have a chance of outrunning them, but Jupiter…
Mia grabbed Jupiter’s hand and shoved her phone into it. “Take this and go! I’ll hold them off.”
“What?” Jupiter screeched, then her eyes went wide watching the black shapes close in on them. “Mia, that’s crazy! I’m not leaving without you.”
“They want me, not you. This is stupid shifter business. And they’re not going to hurt me. But you… dammit, just go!”
Her roommate didn’t move for a horribly long second, then she shoved Mia’s phone in her pocket and scaled the fence like a monkey. Mia turned her back to the fence and faced the oncoming wolves. She couldn’t shift—one of them might be Mace. She had a hard enough time leaving his house in human form, much less fighting him in wolf form. But she would surrender quickly. Or fight and scream. Or possibly shift. Whatever was necessary to distract them from her fleeing roommate.
Four of them exploded from the forest, teeth bared and snarling, red and brown coats glistening in the moonlight that rimmed the cleared space around the fence. They pulled up short, keeping a ten foot distance from her. They seemed to not expect to find her there, especially not crouched in a defensive pose, as if she was going to fight them with her bare human hands. They took a long moment, probably talking amongst themselves. Mia resisted a very strong urge to look behind her, to see if Jupiter had gotten away undetected. But as long as the wolves weren’t scaling the fence, she wouldn’t give them any ideas.
They seemed to decide something, and suddenly, they shifted. Four hulking, muscular, naked men stood before her. None of them were Mace or his betas, but one… Jak stood as strong-jawed and merciless as the rest. The dark look in all their eyes ran a shiver through her, but Jak most of all.
“Come with us.” All the softness was gone from Jak’s voice.
Mace was still pointing a gun at him, but Lucas didn’t care. He shifted back to human form and went to Lev, stepping over the blood trail he had left on Mace’s bedroom carpet.
“Lev,” he said softly. His brother would be getting up if the injury were minor, but Lucas could see the dark, gaping hole in his chest. The blood was flowing freely down his brown fur and creating a small puddle on the floor.
Lucas put pressure on the wound. “Hang in there.” His throat was closing up, making his voice so soft, he didn’t know if Lev could hear him. But his brother’s wolf eyes moved to focus on him, so maybe. Lev wasn’t whining but the look of pain in his eyes nearly killed Lucas on the spot.
He clenched his teeth, and the room seemed unsteady for a moment. But he shoved aside his horror at seeing a blood-soaked hole in his brother’s chest and focused on finding a way out of this. Two of his brother’s pack-mates were outside the doorway to Mace’s bedroom, holding back after Mace shot Lev. Downstairs, Lucas’s father and Rent were probably still subduing Mace’s pack members, but here in the bedroom, they were seriously outgunned. Mace was armed and so were his two betas. And there was Mace’s mate in the room as well.
Lucas couldn’t risk any more bullets flying around.
“He needs a healer,” Lucas called over his shoulder. Crouching naked on Mace’s floor over his bleeding-out brother didn’t exactly put him in a position to make demands. But that wasn’t going to stop him, either. “Let me take him out of here.” Maybe he could carry Lev off the property. Mace didn’t need a dead wolf on the estate. Lucas still hadn’t found Mia, and that wrenched a hot poker through his chest, but at least she wasn’t with Mace, either. Hopefully Llyr’s team would find her in one of the other houses. Or come for Lucas and Lev’s team once they didn’t extract on time.
“Take him?” Mace asked with derision.
When Lucas turned to face him, Mace was waving the gun around, gesturing his disbelief.
“You come into my home and assault me, and you want me to just let you walk out and get a healer? You should have thought of that before you set your pack on me, Lucas Sparks.”
Damn, this was a mess.
“Oh wait… that’s right… you lost your pack, didn’t you?” He sneered. “So, now you’re getting pack members killed who aren’t even yours.”
Lucas winced.
Mace gestured to his two betas with the guns. They edged toward Lucas.
“Pick up your father’s wolf,” Mace said to Lucas, “and get his bleeding carcass out of my bedroom. You can take him downstairs until we wrap this up. And tell the wolves in the hall to surrender, so I’m not forced to shoot them, too. Not that it would bother me to bury a bunch of wolves in the woods. No one would even need to know you were here.”
Lucas’s mind was reeling as to how to find a way out of this. But for the moment, Mace held all the cards. Lucas lifted his brother’s body into his arms and carried him out into the hall. Lev whimpered, and the blood surged out of his wound now that Lucas wasn’t putting pressure on it anymore. He felt the warmth of his brother’s blood on his chest, dripping down. He moved quickly, signaling Lev’s pack mates to join him. They growled but trotted behind him down the stairs.
When Lucas reached the bottom of the stairs, his father came to full attention, ears forward, tail up. He quickly shifted into human form. Mace’s betas were right behind Lucas, so he didn’t have to explain. He simply hurried over to the white leather couch in the middle of the living room and laid Lev out. His brother moaned and closed his eyes. His chest was moving rapidly, panting, and a dark anger rose up inside Lucas. His brother couldn’t shift in this state, so they couldn’t take him to a regular hospital. That left a healer who could properly stitch up a wolf before Lev lost too much blood. Shifters could survive extraordinary wounds, but only if they had a chance to recover. And didn’t lose too much of the blood that carried the magic of shifting within it.
If Lev died before Lucas could get him to a healer, he would rip out Mace’s throat. He didn’t care if Mace shot him in the process, as long as Lucas could sink his teeth in first.
Mace followed his betas into the living room, all three brandishing their guns and growling orders. They corralled all eight of Lucas’s team into the center of the room. The two Red wolves that had shifted under their attack were back to human, putting on their clothes, while the other two guarded the now-closed front door. Lucas had no idea what Mace’s intention was, but at least he had the good sense to leave his mate in the relative safety of the upstairs bedroom.
One of Lev’s pack mates shifted human and bent over Lev, applying pressure and talking to him softly. Lucas’s father was in human form as well and looked like he was having the same thoughts about ripping out Mace’s throat. Rent had remained wolf, along with the three other young pack members. Lucas had no doubt they were mentally discussing their strategy for escape, with Rent leading that discussion, and Lucas’s father shifting human to negotiate with Mace.
Only Mace didn’t seem interested in talking. At least not to them.
He turned to one of his betas. “We’ve got this in hand. Give your gun to one of the others and take care of that business we discussed.”
Lucas’s stomach roiled. He was certain Mace was referring to the girls somehow. Whatever he had planned there, Lucas hoped Llyr would reach Mia first.
Mace turned to him. “Now, Lucas Sparks.” He had a cruel smirk on his face. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
Mia’s heart had already sunk to the bottom of her stomach when Jak and the other Red wolves surrounded her and marched her through the forest toward the estate. But when the five of them broke from the trees and started crossing the lawn toward Mace’s house, her heart sunk all the way to her toes. Each step closer buried it deeper into the earth.
They were taking her back. As soon as she crossed that threshold, she knew the submission bond would smother her again. Jak knew it, too—but h
e refused to look at her, just kept his gaze straight ahead. She thought she saw his jaw flinch, but she couldn’t be sure.
He obviously wouldn’t be saving her this time.
As they approached the front door of Mace’s house, she couldn’t help dragging her feet. Two of the Red wolves simply took one arm each and ushered her toward the door. All four were naked, but that only exposed the extent of their rippling muscles. There was no point in trying to resist. And she wasn’t slowing because she hoped to escape; it was simply a reflex, a revulsion to the idea of being once again under Mace’s roof.
They flung open the door. As she crossed the threshold, the bond hit her like a punch to the gut. It was good they were holding her up, because her knees buckled, and she had to fight to find her footing. When she did and looked up… she nearly tripped again over what she saw.
Lucas standing naked in the living room, blood covering his chest.
“No.” It was half sob, but she couldn’t help herself.
His mouth fell open when he saw her, then he closed his eyes briefly. He looked like she was the last thing he wanted to see, and she could completely understand why: Mace now had them both.
The submission bond kept her from struggling against the hold the Red wolves had on her, but it didn’t stop her from quickly taking in the scene, hoping against hope that it wasn’t as bad as she feared.
Instead, it was worse.
Mace, Beck, and Alric all held guns on the naked men and wolves in the center of the living room. The elder Mr. Sparks stood next to his son. Four wolves huddled nearby. Another man bent over a wolf on the couch.
“Ah, Mia!” Mace said, his grin wide. “So glad you could join our little party.” Then he lowered his voice. “Come closer.”
It was a command. From her alpha. She didn’t need the urging of the wolves on either side of her to stumble toward him. But as she got closer, horror froze her steps: the wolf on the couch was bleeding, and there was blood everywhere. On him. On the hands of the man trying to keep him from bleeding to death. Smeared all over the white leather of the couch.
