by Becca Van
Men went running in every direction. His Alphas bounded up the stairs, obviously intent on checking on their mate and son. Chris ran toward the study. He grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. James entered the room and threw some clothes at him as he hung up the phone. He pulled them on and grabbed his keys. Blayk would be busy tending to whoever was hurt, so it was up to him and James to track Talia. He ran outside and got into his truck. James was close behind him, and his brother jumped in his own vehicle. They went roaring down the driveway, heedless of the gravel spraying from beneath their tires.
Chris turned right at the end of the drive, and James headed left. They had to split up if they wanted to find their mate. Chris’s heart beat a painful, rapid tattoo in his chest. He felt sick to his stomach with fear as he remembered the blood trickling down Talia’s throat from several nicks in her skin. He wanted to find that motherfucker and tear his head from his body. Chris knew who the fucker was on sight. He had found his name when he looked at Paul’s Swiss bank account. He had run a check on Tony Picotti and had found a photograph of the bastard in a large newspaper.
He pushed the answer button on his Bluetooth when his cell phone rang.
“Yeah,” Chris snapped.
“Hey, man, we’re on our way to help.” Greg’s voice came over the speaker. “You need to be very careful if you find them. The man who has her is the mob leader, Tony Picotti.”
“I know. Fuck,” Chris roared, fear forming a larger knot in his gut. “He’s won’t hesitate to kill my mate. We have to find them.”
“The cops are on it and the Feds have been called in. If we can’t find him, they will,” Greg stated. “I’ll be on your tail in a few.”
“Does James know who we’re dealing with?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, Jake’s calling him as we speak. Cindy was hurt, but Blayk’s looking after her and she’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
“What about Michelle and Stefan?”
“Safe and well. Your woman let Michelle know there was danger and she locked herself in her rooms.”
“Thank God.”
“Yeah. The Feds are already in Aztec. They had a tail on Picotti, but he gave them the slip. They’re scouring the countryside for him. He won’t get away,” Greg said.
“That’s not what I’m worried about. He has my woman and she’s hurt. God, I can still see the blood on her throat,” Chris rumbled.
“Keep it together, man. You can’t lose it now. Talia needs you,” Greg said in a calm voice.
“Yeah, I know,” Chris replied with a sigh.
“I’m on your six,” Greg stated.
“I see you. Thanks, Greg,” Chris said and ended the call.
* * * *
Talia was so scared, she was in danger of wetting her pants. She was having trouble concentrating on driving. The SUV swerved again, and she corrected the wheel as she felt the knife blade prick the skin of her neck, yet again.
“Keep it together, bitch. You and me are gonna have so much fun. I can just see it now. I am going to have all the werewolves bowing down to me and nobody is going to be able to stop me.”
Her peripheral vision caught movement, and Talia glanced over at him. He grabbed hold of her hair and ran his tongue up the side of her face, and then he laughed at her as she tried to shrink away. Her stomach roiled with revulsion. Air rushed in and out of her mouth as she tried to control her nausea. She had no idea where they were going, but she tried to push her panic down deep. She had to try and keep her wits about her if she was going to have a chance at escaping the sick bastard.
She tried to reason with him. “I told you that I don’t have the information you’re looking for. Now you’ve got a lot of angry wolves after you.”
“Yeah,” Tony grunted. He didn’t sound nearly as confident as he had before. “Those wolves…Big, aren’t they?”
She could tell he was rattled. It crossed Talia’s mind that he’d panicked back on the stairs when he heard the wolves returning. Probably he had never intended on kidnapping her in the first place. The thought filled her with helpless rage. Why did this keep happening to her? Why was it she always ended up in trouble and in the hands of sick motherfuckers? Maybe she could grab the upper hand now that Picotti was nervous. She took a few deep breaths and pushed her fear to the back of her consciousness.
Talia saw flashing blue-and-red lights up ahead and knew the police were looking for her. Her men must have contacted the authorities, and she felt relief permeate her body when she finally realized she wasn’t alone. She hoped Chris, Blayk, and James were okay. She knew they would be out looking for her. She had seen the anguish in their eyes even when they were still in their wolf forms. She had wanted to run to them and hug them to her tight.
Talia slowed the SUV as the flashing lights came closer and closer. She hoped the police would be able to cut her off and get her out of Tony’s clutches. The man had such insane dreams of power and grandeur. She only wished the prick hadn’t pulled his safety belt on.
“Put your foot flat to the floor and don’t swerve,” Tony commanded in a hard voice.
“What? Are you trying to get us killed?” Talia asked incredulously.
“Don’t sweat it, sweetheart. Cops don’t play chicken very well,” he replied with a chuckle, then pricked her neck with the knife. “Do it!”
Talia was thankful they were on a straight stretch of road and prayed she would be able to keep the vehicle under control. She planted her foot on the accelerator, and the pedal met the floor. She clutched the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white.
The police flew past the car, a blur on either side of her since she was now driving in the middle of the road. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw smoke rising from the tires as they slid along the asphalt of the road.
She looked out front again and saw more lights up ahead. It didn’t look like they were moving. She just hoped they hadn’t blocked the entire road. The last thing she wanted to do was crash into a stationary vehicle at such a high speed. She glanced down to the dash and gasped when she saw how fast they were traveling. She knew that if she were to crash she would be a dead woman.
A bubble of hysteria rose in her throat in the form of laughter. She didn’t know what she was worrying for. She was a dead woman anyway. There was no way in hell she was letting that bastard touch her. Think, Talia. You have to do something! You can’t let him win!
Talia sped past the two police cars on the side of the road. She heard a pop, and then she struggled with the steering wheel. The police must have put spikes across the road, and now the tires of the vehicle had blown out. She slammed on the brakes and used all her strength to keep the vehicle straight and upright. She felt the car teeter on two wheels, and she pulled her foot from the brake. The SUV slammed back down onto four wheels, and she went to put her foot on the brake, but the knife at her throat pressed harder.
“Floor it, sweet cheeks.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? We have no tires,” Talia cried.
“Do as you’re told. Floor it now!”
Talia slammed her foot onto the accelerator, and the screech the rims made against the asphalt set her teeth on edge. They weren’t traveling nearly as fast now, and she wondered how Tony thought he could escape.
“Pull into the roadside stop, twenty yards ahead.”
Talia did as she was told and pulled the vehicle up and into the rest stop.
“Come on, sweetheart. We’re going for a little walk,” Tony said and pulled her across the seat and out the door.
Talia cried out with pain as he pulled her by the hair and her thigh scraped on the door of the car. A sharp piece of metal cut into her thigh. She stumbled, trying to get her feet beneath her, and then he was pulling her in amongst the trees. Shit, the police were never going to be able to find them out here. It was dark, but the moon’s glow made it easier for her to see. Tony would have the advantage over the law. He could hide them amongst the shadows and watch as the police sea
rched for them. She stumbled over a tree root and would have fallen if Tony hadn’t been gripping her hair so tightly. And then her brain began to kick into gear.
She was going to escape. Come hell or high water, she was getting out of his clutches. She watched the ground carefully, looking for the perfect place to stage her plan. She pushed her fear down deep and thought through all the possible scenarios. They all led to her death. She didn’t have a choice. If she was going to get out of this, she would have to take a risk.
She saw the large tree root and the rocks strewn around it. She had found the perfect location.
Talia made sure to hook her toe beneath the root and used her body weight to push herself forward so she fell to the ground. She cried out as the palm of her hand connected with a sharp rock, slicing her skin. The hold he had on her hair hurt her scalp, but he let her go so he wouldn’t go tumbling to the ground with her. She didn’t care about the pain. She pushed it to the back of her mind. Pain let her know she was still alive.
“Get up, bitch,” Tony barked out.
Talia pushed up from the ground, her hand closing around the rock, and she stumbled again. He must have put the knife away, because she felt two hands on her shoulders helping her to her feet. She tensed her muscles and swung up with all her might. The rock connected with the side of Tony’s head, and he let her go. Talia took off.
She ran and ran and ran. Her lungs burned from lack of oxygen, her head and neck throbbed, and her thigh ached, but she didn’t stop. She was so scared she couldn’t see straight. She had no idea in which direction she was heading, but she didn’t care. As long as it was away from him. She heard a loud roar, and she knew he was after her.
Talia ran faster. She was heedless of the branches slapping against her face and body. She darted around trees, jumped over fallen tree trunks, and stumbled over rocks. She could hear water, and if she could find it, she might find somewhere to hole up, like a cave or hollow. The sound of the water would cover any sounds she made. She saw the dead log at the last minute. She jumped over it and then opened her mouth on a silent scream. She was falling.
Her stomach rose up into her throat, and she looked down. She saw some sort of tree limb at the last minute and reached out. One of her hands caught hold, and her arm was nearly pulled from its socket as the limb halted her fall. She looked down and whimpered with fear and closed her eyes. She was hanging by a thick tree root on the side of a cliff wall.
She reached up with her other hand, and the bark on the tree limb bit into her sliced palm. It hurt badly, but she just gripped tighter. She was hanging at least twenty yards from the ground, and she had nowhere to go. She looked up, and even though she might have been able to climb back to the top, she was too scared to. Tony was looking for her.
Talia used every bit of strength she possessed and tried to pull herself up onto the thick root. Her arms shook, and she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. She couldn’t pull herself up, but maybe if she could hook her legs up over the limb she would be more secure. She began to swing slightly, forward and back, gaining momentum as she did. She flipped her body through her arms, and the backs of her calves slammed down over the root. She slid her thighs back a little until her knees were hooked over the limb. She was just in time. The strength in her arms gave out, and she ended up hanging upside down over the drop. Her arms felt like lead weights hanging above her head. Her whole body trembled with shock, cold, and fear. She couldn’t hang upside down for long, but at least she was giving her arms a rest for the moment.
Tears leaked from her eyes, and her right shoulder was aching so badly now that she wasn’t using her arms. Talia heard movement above her and lifted her head. She thought she saw a glint of light, but she wasn’t certain. She breathed lightly and shallowly as she listened. The sound of cussing reached her ears, and it faded as Tony Picotti moved away.
Talia wanted to sag with relief, but she was still in danger. She wouldn’t feel safe until she was back in the arms of her men. She turned and lifted her head toward the cliff wall, trying to find something to hold on to so she could pull herself upright. Her head pounded from all the adrenaline she had running through her system, and hanging upside down definitely did not help. She saw another smaller tree root sticking out from the rock wall, but she couldn’t reach it just yet.
Talia swung up, and her hands gripped the rough bark. She began to inch her way closer to the wall. It was torture on her sore shoulder and hand and a painstakingly slow process, but she was making headway. She was finally within reach of the other small limb and had just stretched out for it when she heard a crack. She whimpered as the limb she was on jolted.
Chapter Twelve
Chris saw police cars driving toward him. As they came into view, they hooked and did a one-eighty, accelerating in the direction Chris himself was driving. Smoke poured out from beneath the tires as they slid over the tarmac. He pushed his foot flat to the floor and sped along behind the cops. He and the cars in front of him sped past two stationary cop cars, and he saw one of the officers pick up the spike from the side of the road. He knew that the vehicle Talia had been in was now incapacitated. “Thank you, God,” he muttered.
Chris followed the police into a rest stop off the side of the road and slid to a stop. The officers were out of their cars and had their weapons trained on him in moments.
“Put your hands up, now,” one of the officers yelled.
Chris sighed and raised his hands. He didn’t want to have to deal with this shit, but he knew he would have done the same thing if he were in their shoes. He just wanted to find his mate.
His door was opened, and he was pulled from his truck. He didn’t offer any resistance as the officer cuffed him and pushed him into the side of his vehicle. The cop searched his pockets and pulled out his wallet.
“What are you doing here, Mr. Friess?” the officer asked.
“I am looking for my wife. That asshole Tony Picotti has her,” Chris growled out.
“Let him go, Smith,” another voice said from behind him.
“Yes, sir,” Smith answered.
Chris felt the cuffs fall away, and then he turned around slowly, not wanting to startle the young Officer Smith.
“I’m Sergeant Royce Waverly, this is Officer Colin Smith. I’m sorry for the confusion, Mr. Friess, but I’m sure you understand the caution,” Waverly explained.
“Yes, don’t worry about it. Where are they?” Chris asked as he surreptitiously sniffed the air.
“Picotti’s taken her into the woods. Backup will be here any moment. I think you should go home and wait for us to do our job,” Waverly suggested.
“How would you feel if it was your wife or girlfriend? I’m staying and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Chris stated adamantly.
“Just stay out of the way,” Waverly ordered with steel in his voice and tried to glare Chris down.
Chris pretended to back off as he looked down and replied, “Yes, sir.”
He watched as Waverly and Smith disappeared amongst the trees. He heard another car coming and knew the backup had arrived. The officers got out of their car and didn’t even spare him a glance. Chris reached for his cell phone and dialed James. He let his brother know what was happening and where they were so he could spread the word, then ended the call.
Chris’s ears pricked up when he heard another vehicle coming. He looked up and sighed with relief when he spotted Greg’s truck. His backup had just arrived.
“Where are they?” Greg asked, and sniffed the air. He didn’t have to answer, because Greg’s wolf would have picked up and sorted through all the scents in the air. “There are a lot of cliffs and ravines around here. You change forms and I’ll follow with a rope just in case.”
Chris nodded to Greg and stripped out of his clothes. He looked around and inhaled, making sure it was safe for him to change without being seen, then called his wolf forth. He took off into the trees, Greg running behind him.
He snif
fed the ground and air, his nose leading the way. A growl rumbled up out of his mouth when he smelled Talia’s blood and that of Tony Picotti. When he saw that their tracks led in two different directions, he knew Talia had managed to escape the bastard for a while, and he took off again, following Talia’s scent.
He wondered where the cops were looking. He hadn’t sighted them since he had entered the woods. Wherever they were, they were looking in the wrong direction. He sniffed again and caught their scent. They had followed Picotti’s trail. He gave a soft yip and took off running again. He nearly fell to his haunches when Talia’s scent stopped on the edge of a ravine. He threw back his head and let out a mournful howl as grief pierced his heart.
“Wait. Be quiet, Chris,” Greg said as he came to stand at his side.
Chris clamped his jaws tight, stopping his noise of grief. And then he heard her. The sound of her voice was faint. He didn’t know if she was afraid or hurt or both, but she was alive. He stepped up closer to the cliff edge, and using his enhanced wolf vision, he looked over the side.
His heart stopped beating for a moment and then slammed against his chest. She was hanging from a tree root, and the limb looked like it was about to break. He pushed his wolf back and changed into his human form.
“I’m here, darlin’. Hang on, we’ll get you. Don’t you dare let go,” Chris commanded. He turned to see Greg was already securing the rope he carried around the trunk of a large tree close to the edge. He only hoped the rope would be long enough. He wanted to go down there and help Talia, but he knew that root could go at any time. He grabbed the now-secured rope and threw it over the side. He lay down on his stomach, heedless of branches and stones digging into his naked skin and swung the rope over until it was within Talia’s reach.
