“Sawyer!” Nadine put one hand on her hip and used her other to smack his arm. “Go get some exercise with your brothers and take Dakota with you. I think he’s inhaled too many paint fumes.”
Sam chuckled, noticing Dakota’s dazed eyes looking at him. “Oh yeah, you need some fresh air, babe. Go shift, I’ll clean up.” Sam pressed a soft kiss to Dakota’s lips, caressing his cheek.
Nadine watched as all the boys tore off outside, whooping and shifting. She turned to her son, a knowing smile on her face. “You’re going to propose.”
“Mom!” Sam shut the door. “Don’t talk so loud, you know they can hear everything.” “ It’s a good thing you turned the other room into a nursery. Now you’ll need to add a guest bedroom in the back.” Nadine winked, making her way to the kitchen.
Sam sighed and peeked out the window to make sure
Dakota hadn’t heard. They were long gone. Hewas
going to propose. He just needed to find the right time. Things were coming together for them, and Sam wanted to do it soon.
~~ Dakota took off at break neck speed towards the woods and the rest of them gave chase. Grayson was the closest one to him and got a good nip at Dakota’s tail before taking off towards the beach. Xander flew past him with Wyatt. Dakota took a double take at Wyatt. He was bigger in wolf form now. Sawyer ran with him, until he too took off down the path to the beach. Sawyer slid to a stop, knocking into Xander as they looked at the ocean spread out before them. Grayson nipped his brother, and took off down the beach and was promptly hit in the side by Dakota. They wrestled in the sand and Dakota nipped his hind quarters and took off running again towards the woods. Grayson whined and took off after him. Sawyer was wrestling with Xander and Wyatt was jumping on both of them, making his puppy growls again.
Dakota felt Grayson behind him, but he was still far enough ahead he’d make it back before Grayson did. He felt a searing pain in his neck and skidded to a stop, flailing over his own legs, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop. His body wouldn’t respond to his brain as he tried to shift, to no avail. His muscles had stopped working. He heard the sounds of boots and made out three blurs before his eyes closed and darkness covered him like a blanket.
~~ Sam was pouring another cup of coffee when he felt something in his chest; the coffee pot hit the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces, covering the floor and the wall in coffee and glass. As Sam’s chest constricted, he looked up and ran out the door with one name on his lips. Dakota.
~~
Xander and Sawyer had lost Wyatt somewhere in the woods. A feeling of dread and fear overwhelmed them both. They followed Wyatt’s scent for a good mile. They came to a stop in a heavily wooded area and saw a white wolf sitting on its haunches with Wyatt underneath him. Sawyer let out a loud growl and put his ears back, advancing on the white wolf slowly as Xander went around to the other side. Ears back and teeth bared, they boxed him in. The white wolf nuzzled Wyatt, pushing him forward and backed off a little bit, his own teeth bared at the two wolves advancing on him. Sawyer readied himself to leap and Wyatt shifted, screaming at them to stop.
“Don’t you hurt him!” Wyatt turned to the wolf, sniffing him. “You smell so good.” Xander watched as the White wolf pushed Wyatt towards them and backed off, head down. Xander nudged Wyatt towards Sawyer and let out a low menacing growl at the intruder.
“No, no, no! You leave him alone!” Wyatt smacked Xander’s muzzle.
What the fuck? Xander shifted looking down at his
brother. “What is your malfunction?Thatis the bad wolf!”
“No, he’s nice.” Wyatt smiled at the retreating wolf. “He covered me.”
“He what?” Sawyer had now shifted back, and standing in the cold snow, naked in the middle of the forest, was
nothis idea of a good time.
“The bad men came and took Dakota. He covered my smell so they wouldn’t find me too.” “ Oh shit!” Sawyers swore. Both he and Xander shifted back, grabbing Wyatt and tossing him on Sawyer’s shoulders.
By the time they got back to the reservation, everyone already knew. Sawyer paced the ground in front of the fire and looked at Sam. He sat in a daze, looking into the fire. He didn’t even look like himself any more. Part of him was gone, taken right off their land. Sawyer made his way over and slapped Sam hard across the face. “Get the fuck up!” Sawyer glared at Sam.
Nadine let out a loud gasp and moved forward. Joe held her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and shaking his head. Sawyer was right, Sam needed to snap out of his devastation and get his man back.
Sam stood up, eyes blazing with anger. “What the fuck?” “ Is this what you’re going to do? Sit here and whine? That’s not the Sam Waters I know. Now get your head out of your ass and let’s get your man back!” Sawyer put his hand out.
Xander made his way over and put his hand on top of Sawyer’s, John was next, then Archer. One by one, all of them put their hands on Sawyer’s. Sam smiled and put his hand on top of the pile. “Let’s go.”
“Xander, you and Grayson will stay here.” John looked at his sons.
“Wait, what?” Xander sputtered.
“I cannot lose you, the northern pack will help. Please understand.” John held his sons.
Sam looked over at Sawyer. He knew Sawyer would go and there was nothing John could do to stop it. ~~ Dakota tried to move, but his legs still weren’t working. Dammit. Voices walked around the truck and then were gone. Dakota saw the tailgate of the truck lower and then Taylor crawled in. Dakota panicked and tried to move.
“Shhh!” Taylor slid into the back of the truck. “They drugged you Dakota, can you feel anything?” Dakota whined and put his head back down. He concentrated and shifted back to human form. “Why Taylor?” He whispered.
“Look Dakota, I’ll do my best to lure them away, but you have to help me out here.” Taylor tried to move Dakota’s mass and sat back, head tilted to the side. “Someone’s coming. Look, I’m going to get Jagger and the rest of the
guys to help, okay? Iwillbe back with them, Dakota. I
owe you that much. I have to go, hang in there.”
Taylor slid out, putting the tailgate back up quietly. Then he slipped away. Dakota heard footsteps in the snow, walking around the truck. He tried to pick up his head and couldn’t. The tailgate was let down and Dakota’s eyes met with those of another man. Dakota tried to shrink back from his touch, but his body wasn’t responding. He was vulnerable and naked, and very much in human form. He saw a needle come out of the man’s pocket and he tried to move again. Pain seared his thigh as the needle pierced his skin, sending heat through his veins.
“I’m sorry.” The compassion in the man’s voice had Dakota looking up. This man didn’t want to harm him, he was just following orders. “ S’okay,” It came out as a garbled moan and Dakota closed his eyes, feeling arms wrap around him with a blanket. Carson’s voice floated somewhere behind them.
“Put him in the cage and lock it tight.” “But Carson, he’s barely conscious. Couldn’t we just…”
“Goddammit Conner, just do it!” Carson shouted. Dakota looked up into very sad eyes. His own lids were too heavy to keep open and he felt himself slipping under a veil of black.
~*~ Sam had called in a favor and now they were on their way to the Army post in Lakewood. Thoughts of what could be happening to his mate had Sam unable to concentrate on anything. Why hadn’t he seen this coming? He’d failed to protect his mate and now he was gone. Sam tried to relax, but felt his fingers digging into the steering wheel instead. His mind was going a mile a minute and being able to hear the thoughts of all the people in the truck wasn’t helping matters. Then a small voice blast through all the others.
“Sam.”
Sam’s breath caught in his throat.“Dakota?”
“You hear me?”
“Yes! Oh God. Baby, are you ok? They haven’t hurt you, have they?”Sam realized he was drifting off the
road. He pulled the
truck over in a spray of gravel, shushing everyone around him. “It’s Dakota. I don’t know how, but I can hear him.”
He was rewarded with blessed silence.
“I don’t know where Carson is. I haven’t seen him yet. But I’m in the cabin I woke up in when I first shifted. I believe Taylor will be looking for you. You have to work with him Sam.”
Sam glanced over at Archer, who was sitting next to him, paying close attention. “Dakota wants us to work with the Denali pack’s sons.”
Archer nodded. “Yes, we will.”
“Sam...”
“Are you sure you’re ok? God, I should have been there.” “So they could get you as well? No thanks, Sam. I love you.”
“I love you.”
And then the connection broke. Sam could feel it click off in his head and panicked. “Dakota? Oh God, please answer me!”
Archer put a steady hand on Sam’s arm and rubbed it. “He is alright, but we must hurry. How long will the trip take?”
~~
“By plane? Not long.” Dakota’s eyes opened and everything was in color. Shit, he was still in human form. His legs were stiff and still refused to move. He scanned the room, but turned up nothing. He couldn’t see anyone, and the scents he picked up were old enough that he knew he was alone. Carson had been here recently, however, and his scent was still fairly strong. Dakota closed his eyes and tried to sense if any of the pack was in trouble. His concentration was broken when his nose picked up a familiar scent. He tried carefully to look left.
“ It won’t work.” Wesley whispered. “He’s drugged you, paralyzed you so you can’t move. God, I’m sorry Dakota, I didn’t know what to do and you know how Carson is.” Wesley sat in front of the cage and put his hand through the bars, holding Dakota’s.
“ It’s ok, Wes. I know you aren’t doing this of your own accord, where is he?” Dakota strained to move and felt nothing. It was creepy to have your body completely ignore the demands of your brain, when told to move. hen tol€Have you seen any of the others?”
“ Preston’s looking for Jagger and Taylor. He thinks they went into the mountain hideaway, so he’s going to wait there for them. Is there anything I can do? You want me to let you out of there? I can try to drag you.” Wesley looked nervously towards the door.
“ No.” Dakota tried to shake his head and sighed, he couldn’t even do that. “Go find the rest of them, okay? Be careful, stay upwind of the cabin.”
“ I didn’t care that you were gay, Dakota.” Wesley whispered, squeezing his hand. “None of us did, except for him. Even Taylor tried to change Carson’s mind and he got beat for it.” Wesley averted his eyes. “A lot.”
Dakota tried to smile and felt the left side of his lip kind of twitch. Shit, that explained a whole hell of a lot about Taylor’s behavior. He’d wanted to bring Dakota back to the pack to please his dad and maybe stop the beatings. “It’s okay, now go and do what I said.” Dakota watched him sneak out and sighed, closing his eyes. He knew they were coming to get him. He could feel it and most of all, he could still hear Sam like he was sitting right next to him; he kept saying the same thing over and over in his
head.I love you. Dakota closed his eyes and tried to
concentrate on moving a pinky or any other body part, just to see if he could. A scent rolled into the room and Dakota knew who it was in an instant.
Dakota’s eyes fluttered open slightly and he saw Carson sitting on a chair in front of the cage, smiling. He had a bottle of water. Dakota’s mouth was so dry it felt like he’d snacked on kitty litter. Carson wiggled the bottle in front of the cage bars, with a sick sadistic look on his face. Dakota cocked a brow. “Hello Carson.”
“ Thirsty?” Carson sat back and cracked the bottle open, taking a nice long drink. “Ah, nice and cold. How are you feeling, Dakota?”
“ Why would you do this, Carson? You kicked me out, remember? Having a gay man in your midst is disgusting. Isn’t that what you said? So now what? You’ve changed your mind and all of a sudden I’m just supposed to come
back and leave my mate? Sawyer was right, youare
high.” Dakota tried to lift his head, but whatever Carson had drugged him with was still raging through his system. Carson cocked his head and smiled. “So Taylor was right, Sam is your mate. That explains quite a bit, actually. You don’t think it’s strange that your power is tenfold now? Yet you sit here and ask me why I want you back in my pack.” Carson shook his head. “I thought you were smarter, Dakota. When you were brought to me I
thought for surehehad changed you. After a while
though, when I didn’t feel any difference, I assumed you were just a plain old werewolf. Now I know better. Once you found your mate, everything changed.”
Dakota eyed Carson. The man was a cruel sadistic bastard. Why he hadn’t seen the man for who he was before, he’d never know. “Archer was right; you lead with fear and intimidation. What’s even worse, is you beat your own sons. I have no intentions of staying in your pack, that connection is broken. The first chance I get, I’ll be gone, Carson.”
“ Speaking of you escaping, I better get my syringe ready. It seems to be wearing off.” Carson stood and smiled at Dakota. “I know your pack is coming, I’m not stupid. I have a surprise for them.” Carson squatted in front of the cage door. “I’ll be back, I hope you’re comfortable.”
Dakota watched him leave and felt the tears stream down his face. God, what if Carson hurt one of his new pack? What if Carson hurt Sam? Dakota closed his eyes and tried to pick up the mental connection again, it wasn’t coming. He hoped with all his heart that the packs were getting together, and that they were watching out for Sam.
~~ Taylor and Jagger ran right into Preston in the forest. He was in a panic and pacing back and forth. As soon as he saw them, he rushed forward and then stopped.
“Fuck, we have to turn on your father, don’t we?” Preston looked at their faces. “ I think we all knew this day was coming.” Jagger looked at Taylor. “We need to get Wesley and Tucker and head back to the cabin and get Dakota out of there.”
Taylor nodded.” Let’s go.”
As soon as they turned around, Jagger realized one of the Queets pack was there.
Sawyer stood with arms crossed, his hip cocked jauntily. “I know you aren’t starting this shit without me.” Jagger put his hand out. “Jagger Drake, nice to meet you. This is my brother Taylor and our packmate Preston.”
“ Sawyer Quinton, let’s roll.” ~Chapter Six~
“ No way, Archer.” Sam shook his head. “I’m not sitting back and waiting for the shit to go down. What happens if Carson hurts Dakota? Or one of you guys? I can help.”
“ With what? Your pistol? It may hurt them a bit, but you must have good aim my friend. There is only one way to kill a werewolf. You must hit the heart.” Archer took Sam’s hands in his. “You must stay in the truck and lock the doors. If we are worried for you, it might distract us long enough to get teeth in our throats. How will we save Dakota then?”
“ Archer is right, Sam.” John put his hands on Sam’s shoulders. He knew the man was worried for his mate, and that was the fastest way to get killed. “We will deal with the pack and Carson. We have his sons and some of his own pack on our side. Dakota would kill us if something happened to you.”
“ I’ll get to him as fast as I can.” Sawyer took Sam’s hand. “I promise I’ll rip anything to shreds that comes near him. We have to go.”
Sam watched them all leave and sat back in the truck, rolling up the windows and locking the doors. What chance did he have against a full grown werewolf? Sam fingered the gun in his lap. He’d sit here, unless he heard Dakota. At that point, all bets were off.
~~ Dakota felt his pinky finger move and closed his eyes, attempting to move his ring finger next. He was getting feeling back. How long before Carson came back to inject him again? Carson was keeping him human to have control over him; he could hear most of his packs thoughts, even though he wa
s heavily drugged. An odd tingle slipped up his spine and he heard a voice in his head. He’d heard it before, but he couldn’t place it.
“I’m sending you what juice I have. Get out of there now! I’ll be there when you need me most Dakota, don’t worry.”
The vibrations started in his back and made their way up his arms, his vision changed first then his teeth. The hairs on his arms were getting thicker and much darker as ripples went up both biceps and into his shoulders. It was like he was plugged into an electrical socket. The power flowed through him in currents, sending heat up his spine. His arms cracked as the bones shifted and he felt his jaw jutting out. Large claws exploded from his fingers and Dakota felt the pain in his back legs as they
shifted. He was getting too big for the damn cage.Holyshit.
The grate was straining painfully against his back when he felt the door to the cage pop open. When he turned, Tucker was staring at him, eyes wide and jaw somewhere down around his ankles. “Oh my God! Dakota, you’re fucking huge!” Tucker looked around the room and motioned for Dakota to come out. “He’s coming back; you don’t have a lot of time.” Tucker ran to the window and looked out. “Shit, here he comes! You have to go now; I’ll hold him off, okay?” Tucker pushed Dakota’s backside.
Dakota wasn’t having it. None of his old pack would die at Carson Drake’s hand, especially for him. And Carson
wouldkill Tucker for letting his prize out. He grabbed
Tucker’s jeans and yanked him ahead of himself, shoving his nose in his back to get him moving. They snuck out the back door. Dakota heard the snow crunch behind them, just as Tucker sailed through the air. His body struck a tree about midway up and then fell motionless down the trunk and into the snow drift at its base. Dakota let loose the loudest, most awful sounding howl he’d ever made.
By the Light of the Moon Page 11
