“Don’t think like that! If anyone is a survivor, it’s Tatum. I think you’re forgetting how tough that chick is. I’m making my way up the road now. Hopefully, I’ll run into her car and get an idea of where she went missing.”
“Okay, I’ll take the woods.”
“Meet you in the middle.”
“Thanks bro.”
“Why are you thanking me? She’s my family too.”
Jett hung up, his heart sinking with every step he took. What if they never found her? What if they did find her; in pieces? No, she was fine. She had to be. More importantly, why was he still in human form? He would never get anywhere like that. Jett morphed into his wolf, taking off at top speed. That was more like it. He could cover ten times more acreage in his present form. His heightened sense of smell could also be used to his advantage. His wolf would find her a whole lot quicker than if he was in human form. A few miles away from the hotel he started to pick up a familiar scent. He would recognize that smell anywhere; motor oil and oranges. Tatum’s unique scent permeated every cell in his nose, beckoning him to her side. He only hoped he wasn’t too late. Jett slowed to a light trot until he saw her standing the foot of the riverbed, alone. What the Hell was she doing out there alone? How could she have everyone sick to death with worry and not let anyone know she was okay. Relieved she was alive, he sped up his pace again. When he neared her, he saw shaking. An ominous tremor shot through him and he knew then it was a trap.
What a fucking dumb asshole. He should have known better, of course it was. There were three wolves travelling together, looking for the most opportune time to strike and Jett handed them all over to the rogues on a silver platter. His thought process had been completely clouded because he was so worried about Tatum not being safe.
He slowly strode over to the clearing where Tatum was standing and when she turned her head, he saw the mark on her beautiful face. Blinding, white hot rage coursed through him as he raced over to her.
“Don’t! It’s a trap!” Tatum yelled, holding up her hands for him to stop.
Of course he already knew that, but that fact wasn’t going to stop him from being by her side. A gray wolf cut him off, but he was ready for him and dodged his attack. Jett kept running, not slowing down until he got to Tatum. Another gray wolf came out of nowhere, ramming Jett in the side and knocking him to the hard soil. Jett quickly recovered, but now he was surrounded by the rogue wolves. They circled him like a bunch of starving vultures ready to scavenge their last meal.
Jett sized them up and was positive he could take them all down. The only one that might give him trouble was the black wolf facing him now. He sensed he was their leader and he had nothing to lose by fighting Jett. Jett, on the other hand, had plenty to lose. Losing his position in the pack as alpha was nothing compared to the loss he would have to endure if he didn’t have Tatum. If these assholes found a way to kill him, Tatum would literally be left to the dogs and that outcome was not acceptable to him. Fuck that shit.
The black wolf snarled, and his two henchmen began nipping the air, trying to scare Jett into submission, but there was no way Jett was ever going to back down from this fight. This fight was to the death and one or more wolf would not see the light of another day.
When Jett turned to face the two gray wolves, the black one bit his backside, and Jett spun to tackle him. They rolled on the ground, over and over, and over until they reached the river. Jett latched onto the rogue’s neck, slamming him into the water. He snuck in a quick glance at Tatum to make sure she was okay and spotted Ronin, sliding down the hillside toward the other two wolves. Before he had a chance to make his way back to land the river rushed him and his opponent downstream. Jett inwardly cursed. This was not good. This was not...fucking...good...at all. They were headed straight to the waterfall, which wouldn’t have been that bad, except that the water wasn’t deep enough to carry the splash of a three-hundred-and-fifty-pound wolf from five hundred feet in the air. That would hurt...a lot.
Jett began to swim, well doggie paddle to the edge of the water to try and grab onto something with his teeth, but that wasn’t working out for him so well. He had to shift back into human form if he had any chance of coming out of this disaster alive. Since that was his only option he had to make it work. Once he was transformed he would be far too exhausted to change back into animal form and if Ronin still needed his help when he got back there they’d all be fucked. Shit. Shit. Shit. He had to make a decision and fast before it was too late.
Jett used what little energy he had left and morphed back into human form. He swam his heart out, against the current, and against all odds of surviving, grasping at the one root that happened to be floating in the water. For the first time in his life, Jett prayed. He prayed that floating root was attached to the bottom of the tree it was under. He stretched his arm out as far as he could. He made several attempts to grab it, but he failed each time. Pushing himself to the limit of exhaustion, he tried one more time and gripped it in his fist. His excitement was short lived when he realized he was not stationary. Instead, he floated further down the river and was now careening toward a fallen tree that looked as thick as river was wide. Great, just what he needed. It wasn’t enough he was almost ripped apart by rogue wolves and almost drowned. Now, he could look forward to slamming his head against that tree and suffer a concussion before falling down the waterfall to his imminent death. He should just drown himself and get it over with to end his suffering.
No, he had to do something. Tatum was still out there and she needed him; his brother needed him. Jett steadied his breathing. When he was almost to the tree, he raised his arms above his head and crashed into it. He dug his blunt nails into the hard bark, holding on for dear life as the water dragged him under. The only thing that was keeping him latched to that tree hope and sheer determination to make it through to see his family.
Reaching deep inside himself he found the strength to claw his way above the water and onto to the sodden dirt of the riverbed. Jett lay sprawled on his back, desperately gasping for air. He didn’t think he could move, let alone run or walk back to where Tatum and his brother were. One thing he knew for sure though, he would crawl his ass over there if he had to.
Naked and soaked to the bone, Jett staggered all the way back to the two most important people in his life. When he came to a nearby tree, he leaned against it to rest for just a minute. That minute was going to cost him however. Lifting his heavy lids, he spotted his brother bleeding on the ground and one gray wolf darting toward Tatum who was scrunched by the base of a tree. Jett tried to scream to warn her, but no voice would come out. His energy had been so depleted he could barely stand on his own. He had to get to Tatum before it was too late.
Jett held his breath as he watched the gray wolf leap into the air. Tatum was done for and he couldn’t do a thing to save her now. He collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees bowing his head in shame and disgust with himself. His family was dead. His brother and his mate were both gone, and he had no idea how he could go on without them. As a single tear streamed down his cold face a loud yelp ripped through the air. Snapping his head up, Jett caught sight of Tatum sitting with her back against the tree and a gray wolf lying on the ground next to her with a very large stick jutting out of his chest.
Epilogue
Two weeks later
“I can’t believe the babies are a week old already. I can’t wait to see them.” Tatum ran into the living room holding two big boxes filled with clothes for each of Eira’s twins. One box, pink...and the other, blue.
Jett took the boxes out of Tatum’s hands and set them down on the oak coffee table. “Will you relax. They will be here any minute. You seriously need to calm down. They’re just babies for goodness sake. It’s not like you’ve never seen one before.”
“Hey, this is the first time I get to be an auntie and I’m going to savor every single second of this.” The doorbell rang followed by a loud wrap on the hard wood. “Yay!
They’re here.” Tatum bolted to the door and swung it open and her excitement quickly deflated. “Oh, it’s you.” She walked away from the door leaving it wide open.
“Nice to see you too sis. Can someone give me a hand please?”
Jett stood from the couch and clapped for his brother.
“Ha. Ha. Ha. You’re a fucking comedian. Now, help me. I walked up the stair all by myself.”
Tatum shoved a pretzel in her mouth. “So? What do you want a cookie? Or maybe a doggie treat? I think I have some left in the pantry for you.”
Ronin paused long enough to steady himself on his crutches to flip Tatum the bird. “Sit on it and rotate.”
Tatum swept her hand in front of her, pretending to take the finger from him and kissed it before placing it in her pocket. She smirked. “I’ll just keep that for later.”
“You do that. Now, can somebody please help me?”
“Fine. You’re so needy.” Tatum took one of Ronin’s crutches from him and guided him over to the sofa.
Ronin plopped on the cushion and lifted his leg onto the table next to the boxes. “Ah, that’s the stuff.”
Tatum pushed Ronin’s leg as she sat down. “No, that is certainly not the stuff. Get your stupid broken leg away from the babies presents.”
“Ow! Shit Tatum, that hurt.”
Tatum elbowed him in the rib. “Don’t be such a baby!”
Ronin hunched over from the pain of her blow. “Fuck!”
Tatum slammed her hands over her mouth. She didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or feel bad for him. “I’m sorry. I forgot your stitches.”
Leaning back with his eyes closed, Ronin blew out a ragged breath. “I survive a rogue wolf attack and this human is going to kill me.”
Tatum lifted his Ronin’s t-shirt to inspect the damage. “When was the last time you changed the bandage?”
“A few hours ago.’
“And when did you last take your pain meds?”
“Yesterday. I don’t need them.”
Tatum rose off the sofa. “You do too need them. I’ll be back. I think you left some here when you stayed with us.”
“If I wanted a doctor I would go see Drake.”
Turning on her heel, Tatum squinted her eyes at him. “Theodore is an obstetrician, not a medical doctor.”
“So what? Tomato, potato. Same thing.”
Tatum shook her head in annoyance. “I don’t want you teaching those babies anything. Ever.”
The doorbell rang again and she dashed for the entryway swinging the door open again. It wasn’t Eira and Adonis, but the man standing in the doorway made her just as happy. She threw her arms around his neck, drawing him into a tight hug. “Jasper! What are you doing here?!”
Ronin yelled from his spot on the couch. “Why didn’t you greet me like that?”
“Because she doesn’t like you.” Jett said as he placed a pretzel in his mouth and smiled.
Tatum took Jasper by the hand, dragging him into the living room to meet everyone. “Jasper, this is Jett, and that lump on the couch is Jett’s brother.”
Jasper smiled, stretching out his arm to shake Ronin’s hand. “Does Jett’s brother have a name?”
“No.” Tatum said before anyone had a chance to answer Jasper’s question. “We just call him The Thing.”
Ronin took Jasper’s hand and shook it as he shot Tatum a playful wink. “I think you should take that finger out of your pocket and rotate on it, like I told you to do before.” He turned to face Jasper. “Ronin.”
Jasper laughed. “Oh no, she does that saving the finger for later thing with you too?”
Ronin rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately yes.” Ronin looked down at their joined hands and smiled before gracing Jasper with a lust filled gaze. “Can I have my hand back now.”
Jasper was mesmerized by Ronin’s golden eyes and for a fraction of second, so was Tatum. Jasper pulled his hand away from Ronin’s as if it were on fire. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”
“Uh, what kind of greeting is this. We have to let ourselves in now.” Eira’s voice had Tatum spinning around and pushing Jasper out of the way. In the corner of her eye she Jasper stumble onto Ronin’s lap and heard Ronin groan from the pain of Jasper jostling his leg. But, Tatum didn’t have time for that, she was dying to see the babies. “Oh my God! They’re so beautiful. Can I have them?”
“No!” Jett yelled from the couch as he stood and took one of the babies from Adonis. “Give me Atlas. You two take a load off. I got it.”
“You do?” Adonis and Tatum said in unison.
“Shut up. How hard can it be to take care of a little baby?”
Adonis laughed. “You can figure that out when you babysit for us next week.”
Jett placed Atlas on the coffee table next to the presents. “When did I agree to do that?”
Tatum took Aleera out of her car seat and placed her on her chest as she addressed Jett. “You didn’t, we did.” Kissing the baby on top of her head, Tatum breathed in the wonderful baby smell she heard everyone talking so much about and they weren’t wrong. It was the most beautiful scent she ever experienced. “Oh, I could just squish her.”
Eira laughed. “Please don’t squish my child.”
Adonis sat on the arm of the couch, elbowing Jett in the arm. “So, when are you going to have one?”
Jett arched a brow at Adonis. “Have one what?”
“A watermelon.” Adonis said giving Jett an exacerbated look. “A baby, you moron.”
Jett glanced at Tatum and smiled. “Whenever she wants one.”
Tatum pretended she was going to give Eira back the baby. “Can we start now?”
“Ew. No. Not while I’m in the house please.” Ronin groaned.
Tatum settled back against the sofa with baby Aleera snuggled on her chest and as she looked around the room at all the smiling faces, she wondered how she got so lucky to have wound up with such an amazing, loving family.
Paranormal Dating Agency: Where He Leads (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 7
