by Morgan Fox
Staring down at Ryken’s slumbering face, now cleaned of blood, she understood the strange feelings in her stomach to be more than just infatuation. She was falling in love with these men—men who gladly put their lives at risk to save hers.
Who knew heroes still existed…
During Ryken’s surgery, Tiffany had arranged with Sebastian for another Suburban to take them the rest of the way to McCarthy Ranch, but this time Ryder, Dominic, and Reyes were also part of the escort team.
Dominic, a fierce, six-foot-six giant of a man dressed in all black with shoulder-length black hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, possessing dark and mysterious eyes, forced her to take a step back to take in his enormous frame. Reyes, on the other hand, while still a towering six foot four, had more of a refined, sophisticated demeanor. His short, black, cropped hair and groomed goatee combined with his elegant dress of slacks and collared shirt had her scratching her head in wonder.
How could a man with the most alluring crystal blue eyes and regal appearance be one of Sebastian’s most trusted and feared lycans? As strange as it was, they were, and she was plenty glad they had come to help. The last thing she wanted was to worry that something else would happen to Ryken or Luken as they drove the last hundred miles to McCarthy Ranch.
Tiffany had shared with her just how lethal these men could be and what they had done to keep their pack protected. Knowing all those unique details about their warrior-like past eased her fragile mind. Surely, their massive physical size alone would frighten away anyone who would dare try to get in their way.
As they drove, Ryken’s head lay in Tabitha’s lap, and she stroked his soft blond hair. Thrilled that his fever had broken, she waited patiently for his eyes to finally open. She couldn’t wait to gaze into those ocean blues that always made her heart race just a little faster. Caressing his cheek, she stared down into his masculine face. Her fingers teased over his square jaw and full bottom lip.
She knew he was going to be all right, felt it down into her soul, but it still didn’t stop the well of emotion in her mind. Before she could wipe it away, a single tear rolled from her eyes, landing onto Ryken’s cheek.
“Don’t cry, baby,” said a husky voice. “I’m okay.”
Gasping, she cried, “Oh, God, Ryken. You’re okay.” She leaned over and kissed his lips repeatedly, moving to kiss all over his face. “You scared me half to death.” She held his face in her hands.
A faint smile tugged at his lips. “I’m glad to see you, too, babe. I take it they got all the silver out?”
She stared at him, dumbfounded. “You nearly die, and that’s what you have to say to me? Your concern is for the silver?” She slapped him on the shoulder. “Where the hell are all the romantic words? You could’ve died on me. You said you would protect me. What if something happened to you, Ryken?” More tears leaked from her eyes, and she trembled. “What if I never saw you again?”
Ryken grunted as he sat up, twisting to take hold of her.
“Ryken, your wounds,” she breathed.
But as much as she might protest about his wounds, it was what he did next that had her toes curling in her shoes and her mind going blank on everything else. His mouth took possession of hers like a man starved for it, desperate to taste her. So damn hungry for her, he was clearing his plate and asking for seconds. His large, powerful hands cradled around her head, pulling her into his strong hold. She responded to him as she always did, opening for his kiss, moaning with the satisfaction of his taste and touch. He drove her wild, made her hot with lust, made her burn with need.
He licked the seam of her lips, pulling away to gaze into her eyes. “Tabitha, I wouldn’t let something like a little silver separate us. I want you too much. I need you and as much as you hate the idea of feeling something for me other than sex you have to know by now that I’m falling in love with you.”
Eyes wide, she sucked in a sharp breath. “Ryken?”
He kissed her lips gently, cutting off any chance she had to object. “Don’t say a word, Tabitha. I don’t want to frighten you. I only thought you should know you mean a hell of a lot more to me than damn silver.” He grinned, lifting her chin in his hands, pressing another kiss to her lips. “Thank you for caring about me, Tabitha. You are the first woman to ever do so that wasn’t my mother.”
Surprised by that, she licked her lips, her mouth dry. “Ryken, I’m glad you’re okay. I prayed you would be. My heart was so broken at the thought of losing you. I know that means something, but I’m just not ready to admit what.”
His thumb stroked her bottom lip, his eyes staring at her mouth for a long, heated moment and then shifted to her eyes. “I don’t want you to right now, baby. When the time is right, you’ll know.”
The static of the radios between cars drew their attention. “Luken?” called a deep, resonating voice.
Luken pressed the button on the radio receiver. “Yes, Dominic,” he replied, glancing in the rearview mirror at her, making her suddenly realize that he had heard her and Ryken’s discussion. She swallowed back the nerves that choked her.
Wow, could things get any more complicated?
“We’re just outside McCarthy Ranch,” Dominic said with an edge to his voice that was even more fierce than normal as if he were on guard. “Up ahead on the left will be a long stretch of dirt road. Space out, give us some distance to make sure the road is clear.”
“Will do,” Luken confirmed, easing off the accelerator as they watched Dominic and Reyes turn onto the desolate dirt road.
As they traveled down the road after Dominic and Reyes’s Suburban, she leaned forward to take a better look out of the windshield. Tabitha crinkled her nose and said, “Please tell me McCarthy Ranch is not in the middle of these spooky ass woods? I really can’t handle any more spooky.”
“Spooky?” Ryken asked, inclining his head towards her. “These woods are the most spectacular woods you’ll ever see, babe. And soon enough, we’re going to show you exactly why.”
Then it happened. The world simply began moving at supernatural speeds. All around them were swarms of men, large, fierce-looking men who possessed the same yellow and red eyes as the men on the train. Once her eyes focused, she realized that these weren’t just men charging after them from the thickening woods, but men who looked more like animals. Claws and sharp canines sliced through the air as they rammed their menacing bodies against the sides of the Suburbans, rocking the trucks as if they weighed almost nothing.
Dominic swerved, slamming his truck into a tree, blocking the road. Jumping from the vehicle, Dominic and Reyes leapt into battle, shooting and slicing anything that approached them. Ryken and Luken grabbed their guns and prepared to do the same.
“Sweetheart, you need to do us a favor,” Luken said.
“What?” she breathed nervously.
“You need to run as fast as you can up that dirt road. The cabin is only a few miles up ahead and you can make it. We’ll hold them off for as long as we can, but you can’t stay, Tabitha. You have to promise us you’ll run and run fast, don’t linger, no matter what you hear or see.”
Trembling, she shook her head. “I don’t think I can do this.”
Ryken pulled her back into his arms, kissing her lips to distraction. He told her, “Sure you can, babe. Brie is up at the cabin. Sebastian and Jonah are up there, too. We need their help, and you have to go and get that help for us. Can you do that, baby?” He brushed her hair back away from her face, his fingers molding to the back of her neck, holding her face close to his.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I can do that.”
“Good,” Luken said. “Because all hell’s about to break loose.”
Luken rammed the back of Dominic’s truck trying to get past it, but all it managed to do was debilitate his own vehicle, crushing the engine block and clipping a row of trees. At least he’d taken out a few of the creatures presently attacking them. Granted, running over them wasn’t the most graceful of tactics, but
definitely the most effective.
Opening the door, Ryken turned and kissed Tabitha one more time. Then, he shoved her toward her own door, shouting, “Go, baby. Run. Now!”
Without looking back at her, Luken jumped from the vehicle just as she did, bolting out of the door like lightning. Tabitha sprang right into action, sprinting faster than she ever had. Her arms pumped, and her heart raced. She felt powerful and strong as she ran, even knowing that the men behind her were fighting to keep her safe. She was running for them, not from them. They needed her help, needed her to find Sebastian and Jonah, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.
She felt the presence of something wild crawling along her skin, something evil lurking at the back of her mind, scratching at her flesh and pulling at the fine strands of hair on her head. Instinctively, she knew what that feeling was. Someone or something was following her, tracking her like prey as she ran for her life.
Praying she would make it, she reached inside herself, conjuring all the strength she possessed. Her legs burned and throbbed. She stumbled, but quickly regained her momentum. All the while, the eerie sounds of the night accompanied the mayhem of battle and the death cries of war. Ryken and Luken and the others were fighting for their own lives as well as hers, and she had to make it to McCarthy Ranch, had to get there to send help.
The cabin was up ahead, and she could see the light filtering through the trees. A sudden wave of nerves twisted in her belly. The sight of her salvation made her legs move faster, arms pump harder. A surge of joy filled her heart at the simple thought that she was going to make it.
Hurdling over a stump, she cut a path through the trees, rather than sticking to the dirt road. She scraped her arm on a tree and it tossed her off balance. Stumbling, she landed on her chest, hands splayed out to brace for impact. Mouth full of dirt, she scuffled back to her feet only to feel the heavy weight of something snarling land on her back, shoving her face back into the dusty soil.
Tabitha fought hard against the monstrous weight overpowering her, pushing with all her might to get free. Gasping for air, she screamed, praying that someone would hear her cries for help and save her before she was killed by whatever was attacking her. Then her head slammed hard against the cold, solid ground and her vision went blurry, all but the sound of her own screams were left ringing inside her head.
* * * *
Brie shot up to stand, her heart pounding in her chest at the sound of a woman’s screams. Running for the door, she opened it, stepping outside onto the porch. Her eyes drifted over the woods, unable to see anything out of the ordinary. So instead of relying on her eyes, she reached out with her instincts, sensing all the energy that surrounded the ranch.
A gut-wrenching presence robbed her of breath and forced her body to react. Fear was far from her mind as her body was consumed with more electrically charged energy than she’d ever felt surging through her veins. Her hands extended out to her sides, and her chin raised up to the heavens. The power she harnessed was quickly released, sending a blue current of energy blasting out of her body and out to anything within several miles. The pulse of energy felt like an aftershock, the sound like a sonic bomb.
“Sebastian!” Brie cried before collapsing onto the porch of the cabin.
Sebastian and Jonah were on her in seconds. “Brie, what happened? We felt your energy. What did you do?”
Sebastian’s head shot up, scanning the woods around them, sniffing the changing air. She didn’t have to tell him. He was already sensing it.
“We’ve got company,” Sebastian said, his voice so deep it was almost a growl.
Her body weak, she raised her head, pointing in a specific direction. “Tabitha. She’s out there. Something was attacking her.”
Jonah leapt over top of them, storming into the woods like a madman, charging into the direction Brie had pointed.
“Come on, darling. Let me get you inside.” Sebastian moved to pick her up, but she grabbed his hand and squeezed, the panic and fear alive and thriving inside her heart.
“Sebastian, if Tabitha’s here then the others are close. You must go after them.”
He stared at her, his jaw tightening under the compression of muscles. “I’m not leaving you alone, not when you are so weak.”
She held his hand close to her breast. “I’ll be fine,” she assured him, stroking a trembling hand over his cheek. “I just need another moment, and then my strength will return. Trust me, they need their alpha.” She kissed his lips. “Go.”
Lifting her into his arms, he carried her inside the house, placing her on the sofa, then fled the room, running into the night after Jonah and God only knew what else.
Brie quickly regained her strength as Jonah burst in the cabin carrying a very unconscious Tabitha. Brie sprang up off the sofa and ran towards him.
Her arms cradled around Tabitha face, and then she turned and pointed towards the sofa she had just vacated, telling him, “Put her here, Jonah.”
Brie felt for Tabitha’s vitals. Her pulse was weak, but there. She was pale, her lips slightly blue, a deep gash on her forehead. Brie’s hands began to warm. The healing powers that lived inside her instinctively prepared to help her friend.
Glancing to her mate, she told him, “Jonah, go after Sebastian. Ryken and Luken wouldn’t leave her unless it was necessary. Neither would Dominic or Reyes for that matter. They need you.”
Arching a brow, Jonah asked, “Are you sure, Brie? I’m not crazy about the idea of leaving you alone.”
Her chest filled with his protective love, but she knew the others needed his help more. He was too strong of a fighter not to go. She was sure she would be fine here in the cabin. “If Sebastian is there, do you honestly think I’m not sure?”
Nodding, he said, “Good point. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He ran for the door. Pausing a moment, he turned to glance at his mate. “Brie, if you need us all you have to do is think to us, and we’ll be back in a howl.”
“I know, honey,” she said, smiling. “Now, go.”
The instant Brie was alone with Tabitha, she placed her hands on Tabitha’s head and heart and let the healing powers warm from her hands into her best friend’s body. The wound on her forehead closed with a glowing yellow light, and her beaten and bruised body was healed within seconds. The energy it took to heal her friend was nothing compared to the strength it took to knock out the evil forces surrounding McCarthy Ranch. Brie couldn’t tell how many there were, but it was enough to put her out of commission for a good long while.
“Brie?” Jonah called out to her.
Raising her head, she met his astonished gaze as he moved inside the cabin towards her. A strange pang of emotions sank to the pit of her belly as she stared at the unidentifiable expression on Jonah’s face.
Sucking in a sharp breath, she asked, “What is it?”
He swallowed before telling her, “Mason Levi’s dead.”
She stood, her hand covering her heart. “How?” she gasped with a wave of relief filling her heart and mind. “Did one of you get the drop on him?”
Eating up the last of the distance that separated them, he placed his hands on her arms. Shaking his head, he whispered, “No, honey, we didn’t, but you did.”
Chapter Fourteen
Before Brie had a moment to grasp the meaning of Jonah’s words, the door filled with Ryken and Luken, rushing in to kneel beside Tabitha, who still slumbered on the sofa. She would need to rest for a little while longer as Brie was not at her full strength when she healed her. Ryken and Luken made it impossible to see Tabitha over their imposing sizes as they protectively leaned over her. The sight of their concern for Tabitha warmed her heart. She sensed that they truly cared for her friend, and their reactions toward Tabitha’s physical state couldn’t have pleased her more.
Grasping Tabitha’s hand, Ryken shifted his gaze to glance at Brie. “What happened to her?” he asked, the urgency in his voice telling of his fear for the woman he held. “Was
she attacked? Is that why she’s unconscious?”
Continuing the bombardment of questions, Luken asked, “Is she going to be all right?”
Brie nodded. “Yes, Tabitha’s going to be fine. Just give her a moment. She was pretty banged up when Jonah found her.”
Ryken stood, extending his hand out to Jonah, who took it. “Thank you for bringing her here.” Glancing at Brie, he said, “And I know you healed her. Thank you.” He swallowed hard, emotions filled his eyes, and he quickly turned away from them, staring down at Tabitha.
Sebastian’s warm and soothing hand eased over her shoulder, and the moment he touched her, she wanted to cry, weep like a baby, but she didn’t dare. The feelings churning inside her heart were foreign to her. Emotions Brie had never experienced before raced through her mind, swirling with darkness. She closed her eyes and let his arms surround her. Jonah held her side, while Sebastian held the other. Together they seemed to always make her feel safe and protected, but right now all she felt was terrified. Terrified by what she had done, by what she’d been unable to prevent.
Kissing her forehead, Sebastian cupped her face in his hands. “I love you,” he said warmly, holding her gaze. “And we’ll get through this, I promise.”
The deep timbre of his voice sent a warm chill down her spine. The strength in his presence alone made her feel just a little stronger. Sebastian had a way of doing that to her, and she welcomed the feelings. Jonah at her side was an added bonus.
“Get through what?” Dominic’s voice boomed as he emerged into the room.
Jumping to cover, Jonah simply said, “Mason Levi’s been killed, and we’ve got to get his blood sample to Dr. Shaw, immediately.” He took Brie’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Well, that’s fucking great news,” Dominic roared with renewed energy. “But why in hell isn’t Dr. Pain-In-The-Ass already getting the damn sample herself?”
