Dominic was never able to be sure if it was that he had charmed Cherise away from Ronald or that he’d torn at him so badly during the fight that had caused his parents to send him away. Since then he’d thought about the fight often, secretly ashamed at his behavior, but in the moments while he was slinking through the woods on high alert and ready for an even bigger brawl, he was glad to know that he had that kind of aggression in himself.
After all, if he could so ruthlessly attack his own twin brother, someone he’d once not only shared a castle with but also the closeness of a womb, then he could certainly do far more damage to someone who was attacking his new pack. Especially someone who was threatening Olivia.
Chapter Eighteen
Olivia
Deep in sleep, Olivia was plagued with a wild dream that she couldn’t seem to get out of. She was flying through the trees of the woods, the greenery below her was blurred due to how fast she was racing. As she watched down below her, trying to discern everything underneath her, she discovered all she could see was the green of leaves and spaces of brown that she knew to be dirt. But there was something else below her, moving just as fluidly as she was.
It was golden, shining brightly in the rays of the sun. Once Olivia spotted this creature she couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. If she could only get down low enough, see what it was, she could possibly understand this creature, the only thing she’d ever seen that could keep up with her. But try as she might, there was no way to get down that low. This creature stayed just out of her reach but never slipped from her sight.
Something pulled in her chest, like a string connecting her in the sky to this golden creature. If it moves one step behind or went one step ahead, it became hard to breathe due to the intense pull. But when it stayed with her, it felt just right.
Out of nowhere came a sudden lurch in her chest that was so painful it woke her. Olivia bolted straight up, gasping for air. She pushed the hair back from her face that was stuck and looked around the cabin wildly. It took a moment for her to place where she was and why.
It came flooding back to her when she realized it, she knew instinctively that it wasn’t just the dream that made her feel as if something was wrong. Something was wrong. Olivia set her feet on the floor and lifted herself out of bed. Her heart was racing and she knew there was only one thing she could do to calm it. She needed to check on Dominic; if she could see him on the couch, if she knew he was there right outside that door, she would be able to steady the beating of her heart and hopefully clear her cluttered mind.
But when she cracked open the door to peak out toward the living room, she didn’t see Dominic’s head of mussed hair on a pillow as she had expected and hoped. The couch was empty.
Her heart gave a large slam into her chest as she took tentative steps out of the bedroom and prayed over and over that she would find him in the kitchen at the table. But when she looked he wasn’t there either. The bathroom was empty as well with no sign of him. Dominic wasn’t in the cabin, that she was sure of, but then where was he?
Shakes had started to vibrate through her body as she became more aware with each passing second that there was danger in the in the air. She could taste it, feel it, and she knew that wherever Dominic was, he was out hunting for it. She wanted him to come back to her, she needed him right in that moment. She wanted to feel the strength of his hard body, run her fingers through his impossibly soft hair, and know that whatever might be going on outside of the cabin they were both safe inside of it. Knowing Dominic as she already felt she did, she was certain that if there was actual danger outside and she wasn’t overreacting, then that’s where he’d be. If she was going to find him, she was going to have to check outside of the cabin and hope that he hadn’t gone too far from her.
Olivia knew that he was a natural born fighter and protector. Fighting had never been something she found necessary or useful, believing that even half-humans should be able to settle disputes better than that, but she somehow knew on Dominic it worked. Not only did it work with who he was, but that dark intensity he carried made him the fighter she imagined him to be, also made him even sexier than he already was..
If that was possible.
Still, she had to hope that even with his need to fight, he’d have common sense. If he went out to protect and investigate, hopefully he hadn’t done it alone.
Olivia opened the front door and stepped just outside of the frame. She looked around in the night but it was difficult to see anything in the dark. It was one of the few times she wished she had all the abilities like the others in her pack. A keen sense of sight would have been very helpful in that moment. But she didn’t possess that extra sense and found herself stepping out a little farther hoping for a glimpse around at the other cabins.
It was late, how late she wasn’t exactly sure, but late enough that the lights were off in all of her neighbor’s cabins. Everyone seemed to be sleeping, everyone but Dominic that was.
There was a creak behind her and Olivia felt her pounding heart stop as fear sliced through her. Strong arms grabbed her, one wrapping around her waist and the other around her mouth, preventing the scream that was desperately trying to escape her mouth.
“I’ve got her,” a voice hissed from behind her.
Olivia felt her knees go weak. She tried to fight back, tried to resist, but he held her so tightly not only could she not move but she could barely breathe.
“Now you’re going to want to calm down or it’s going to make this a whole lot worse for you,” he said in her ear. His breath was hot and she pulled away from his lips that were leaving droplets of spittle on her ear.
“You’re going to cooperate with me or else everyone will die. Do you understand?”
Tears streamed out of the corners of her eyes but she managed to nod that she did understand. She knew what they had done to those other packs, those families. A picture flashed in her mind’s eye, of her pack, her family, and what these poachers wanted to do to them all. Though she’d always resisted being one of them, in that moment of fear, she knew she loved them more than anything.
The only thing she could hope was that out there somewhere, Dominic was alright and going to come to her rescue. To all of their rescue. Because without his strength and his aggression, she didn’t think they stood any chance of survival.
Chapter Nineteen
Dominic
Nothing was out there, nothing that he could see, but the feeling of something being wrong was growing deeper inside of him. The woods had become silent, almost too silent. No animals scurried around, not another limb snapped, nothing at all but a hollow, stillness night. And Dominic knew that wasn’t right.
Feeling overly cautious with every bone in his body, he was only a few steps in the woods but turned around and quietly crept back to his own cabin. The lights were still off, and at first glance nothing seemed to be disturbed at all. But as he stepped one paw onto the porch, he saw that his front door was open just the tiniest crack. With his nose he pushed it open and tentatively stepped inside.
Nothing was out of place but he could tell immediately that Olivia was no longer inside. The air, the feeling, the warmth that had surrounded him every time he was in her presence was gone. She wasn’t in the cabin and he would have felt her outside, where did she go?
One job, Atticus had given him just one job, to protect his daughter and that was the only job in his life that ever even mattered to Dominic, to make sure that he kept Olivia safe, and now she was missing.
He hopes that he hadn’t failed and that she was still safe somewhere. That he wasn’t too late. But if they caught her, then why would they have kept her alive? He knew what those poachers were capable of and they showed no mercy. This wasn’t about hurting and killing, this was about destruction for a game. For amusement. So if they really did have her, then he was going to have to find her fast.
Back outside he slowly made his way from cabin to cabin, a shadow in the night. Many of the shi
fters had been called away to help guard the other packs, those that were left were exhausted form their constant duty. If there was nothing wrong at all, he didn’t want to cause a raucous. There was still a chance, though Dominic knew it was smaller and smaller, that nothing was wrong at all and that everything was in his head.
Suddenly there was a high-pitched scream. Commotion tore apart the silence of the night and Dominic turned quickly in the direction of Atticus’ cabin. Before he could even think about it he was racing toward to Atticus where he was sure that he would find Olivia.
The light was on outside of Atticus’ cabin where it hadn’t been before and he could see a ring of men standing outside in the yellow light. Dominic slowed and surveyed the scene. He wasn’t sure what was happening but before he went barreling into a group of dangerous men who potentially held Olivia, he had to get a better sense of what was happening.
He got down low in the shadows next to the cabin and was ready to pounce at any moment if needed.
“Listen, Alpha, we’ve got your daughter. Took her without even trying, we’ve got the upper hand here,” one of the poachers said.
Atticus stood there in the middle of the ring of poachers, they were large and Dominic could see how dangerous they were. In their hands were knives that glinted in the moonlight. They weren’t playing around and they clearly didn’t intend to leave anyone alive.
But why were they taking to Atticus like that? They’d had the upper hand. Even with the commotion the other pack members were still in their cabins and Dominic wasn’t sure if it was because they hadn’t heard what was happening or if they were too afraid to come out. He hoped it was one of those possibilities and not that they’d already been attacked themselves.
“What is it you want?” Atticus asked.
Dominic had to admire the calm in his voice; the strength that exuded from him even when they were threating his daughter. Though Dominic felt anything but calm. He could feel the snarl on his lips and the growl inside him was building low and steady. The only thing he wanted to do was to rip these men apart, but he needed to follow Atticus’ lead and stay calm.
“We want you. We want all of you dead.”
Atticus spoke again, only a slight tremor to his voice. “But my daughter, there is no reason to take my daughter. She isn’t a shifter— she’s human. You’d be killing a human.”
The main poacher shrugged with indifference. “She’s one of you, she dies too.”
“Then why use her as bait? Why haven’t you killed her already? Perhaps you don’t want to kill a human?”
He had to give it to the old Alpha, using logical tactics on men that had torn apart whole packs before was risky. But what choice did he have?
“Because, Atticus, we needed you to come out here. We needed to capture you, an Alpha is the winning ticket in this game. But do you know what’s even better?”
Atticus shifted uncomfortably, he was running out of words and ways to stall these men. Death was becoming more imminent as each second ticked past.
The Poachers didn’t say anything again, not until Atticus spoke.
“What is better than catching an Alpha and winning the game?”
“Killing your daughter right in front of your own eyes. Destroying the Alpha before we cut off his head.”
Dominic was almost ready right then to pounce on these men and kill as many as he could, no one was going to talk to Atticus that way. But before he could, one of the men with the largest knife on the outer ring shifted just enough and he could see Olivia.
His girl.
And she was being held hostage by a man that was as large as Dominic. But his stomach sank when he saw that the man had a knife too and its sharp blade was pressed against the soft flesh of her throat. He held her so tightly that a bead of blood was dripping down her neck.
She was looking around frantically when her eyes locked on Dominic’s. Even in the shadows she had been able to find him. He didn’t know what to do or how to save her, but somehow she was able to get inside his mind.
“Follow my lead,” she seemed to say.
So, Dominic continued to stay in the shadows, ready to follow her into battle.
Chapter Twenty
Olivia
The man that had grabbed her had been rough with her on the porch, clearly not caring how hard he squeezed or how much she was going to bruise from his intense grasp. That was the point after all, wasn’t it? To hurt her? To cause her harm?
While every muscle in her body wished that she could fight him off, but she was no match for a poacher who was used to dealing with fighting wolves, the strength of a non-shifting girl was hardly any match.
Where was Dominic? She knew he’d be able to fight this man off with almost no effort, but Dominic wasn’t there. Maybe if she could have screamed or run then he’d been able to know she was in danger, but that wasn’t possible.
He dragged her off the porch while her legs kicked and flailed with all the effort she could put in. The poacher didn’t even seem to notice. There were few times that she felt being a shifter would make her life better, but being dragged off a porch in the middle of the night without the strength to fight back would have been one of those times. How easy would it have been to shift and fight this man off if she had any wolf inside of her?
“I’ve got her,” the man hissed into the night.
Olivia was frantically trying to adjust her eyes to be able to see into the dark, but panic was causing her mind to whirl too fast. Had anyone else been captured? Was Atticus ok?
Her feet made long tracks in the mud as she tried to dig her heels in but he was relentless. Dragging her towards her father’s house, she was terrified of what she might see when she got there. These poachers were horrible humans that excited themselves over the killing of shifter packs and there was a real fear that snaked through her that these men weren’t going to stop until they got what they wanted.
What was it that Atticus had said when she’d been eavesdropping?
They wanted the Alpha, which was part of the game. So did that mean he was already killed, or that he was going to be?
From outside the cabin, the men called to Atticus, trying to bait him to come outside. Olivia wanted to call to him, to tell him to stay where he was and not come out, but the men held her so tightly, squeezing everything from her and preventing her ability to scream. The knife at her throat pressed hard and one wrong move and the monster would be able to slice right through her.
When they called to him, drawing him out of the safety of the cabin, she realized quickly why she had been grabbed first.
They were using her as the bait.
Had they done that to Dominic too? Had they baited him outside only to capture and kill him?
She didn’t want to think of that possibility, although at the moment it felt like it was all too much of an option.
Stoically, her father stepped out from his cabin, a steady calm over taking his whole demeanor. For a moment she watched him, almost forgetting what was happening. It was so rare that she was ever able to watch her father act as an Alpha anymore. He was always just her father that babied her and drove her somewhat insane sometimes. But he stood outside on that porch, not letting the shake of his hands or the weakness of his body his older age was causing show.
Instead, all of that stayed hidden and she saw the strong Alpha that ran her pack.
Atticus stayed calm, though they had his only daughter, but even with him there she knew he was no match for the men surrounding her. He wasn’t the fighter that she needed, not in that moment.
Suddenly her body felt the heat that she was accustomed to feeling, the heat that told her that Dominic was nearby. Her eyes searched through the crowd of men that had gathered, those that were surrounding her with knives.
Then she saw him, his wolf hunched down low, ready to pounce. But he had to wait, he couldn’t take the whole group on his own. Not without at least one of them all being a casualty. At least not witho
ut a distraction.
Her eyes met his in the night and she pleaded with him to wait, she had to think.
He did catch her eyes and pulled himself deeper into the shadows.
What would she do, what could she do?
She needed to get out of this man’s grasp and throw him and everyone else off balance. Balance… maybe that was it. It would be risky, with the knife to her throat, but if she were able to stumble the right way maybe she could back him out toward the edge of the circle. But if she got him there then Dominic would have to attack and attack fast.
Olivia started to shift her feet, the poacher being distracted by the conversation taking place. She let her knees go a little weak to cause a stumble and the poacher had to back up in order to catch the dead-weight of her body. She glanced toward Dominic, it was working, and she was getting this man closer to him.
In another attempt to get him closer to the edge, she slid her foot behind him causing the poacher to stumble and she’d made it to the edge of the circle. Her heart began to race as she knew she’d done all she could.
Their leader turned toward the two of them tripping over each other and it was just enough of a distraction that she watched as Atticus shifted right in front of her eyes and she felt a hard jerk from behind as Dominic attacked.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dominic
He had to admit, Olivia was a clever and brave. With a knife pressing into her throat and dangerous men surrounding her, she found a way to not only distract the poachers but also get Dominic in a better attack position. Every time she caused them to stumble, Dominic’s heart lurched forward in fear that the knife was going to end her, but she managed to do it all with enough grace that he didn’t even place another cut on her throat.
When the lead poacher turned around to find the commotion, it gave Atticus the chance to shift and Dominic wasn’t going to wait another second.
Tornado: A Paranormal Romance (Savage Brotherhood MC Book 1) Page 37
