As soon as she was halfway through, Cooper reached up, grabbed her under her arms, and hauled her the rest of the way out. He kissed the top of her head briefly, hugged her tight, and then lifted her into his arms and turned around.
Everyone was turning away from the cave hastily.
Her parents hung back. Her father smiled, wiped her hair from her face, and kissed her forehead. And then he grabbed her mother’s hand, turned around, and jogged away from the cave.
Tears stained her mother’s face, but she could only sniffle and run alongside her mate.
The others had already started running.
As Cooper ran with her in his arms, she dragged in a ragged breath. The air was thick with smoke.
“Cover your mouth, baby,” he shouted. “We don’t know the effects of ash on a shifter.” He lifted the front of his T-shirt over his own mouth and nodded at her jacket.
She did as he asked, ignoring the jacket to grab the front of her shirt. The material was thin enough to breathe through without depleting her oxygen.
Jackson ran beside them. He glanced at her every few seconds, holding his shirt over his mouth and nose also.
They emerged from the dense trees onto a service road. Three trucks lined the edge. Cooper nearly threw her into one of the cabs and climbed in beside her. Jackson rounded the hood and swung into the driver’s seat. Two of her brothers jumped into the back of the truck, and Jackson peeled away from the side of the road at the same moment the other trucks did.
“Come on. Come on…” Jackson seemed to plead with the gods for assistance.
“Are we that close to the lava?” she asked.
Cooper had one arm around her and twisted his head to look over both their shoulders. “Yes. But more importantly, we need the truck to run. If the engine gets clogged with ash, it won’t run.”
Jackson drove as fast as he could, knocking them all repeatedly into the doors. She felt bad for Trace and Griffen in the back. Her two oldest brothers held on to the sides of the truck with both hands, but they were constantly tossed to one side, making it difficult to keep a grip.
No one said a word for several minutes. A collective holding of breath filled the air. Ominous. Scary. Like nothing she’d ever experienced.
She craned her neck backward, and her eyes threatened to jump out of their sockets at the sight. Careening down the mountain was red hot lava.
Jesus. Could they even drive fast enough to escape it?
“You cut it too close rescuing me… Why didn’t you leave me?”
Cooper hugged her to his side with the arm around her shoulders. “Wasn’t an option. Not for any of us.”
She swallowed. If they weren’t still in dire straits, she would cry. But she needed to remain alert for the time being. There was still the chance the truck would stall out and they would have to run on foot.
She set a hand on Jackson’s thigh and squeezed. He was human. He wouldn’t make it out if they had to shift.
The engine choked.
She held her breath.
“Don’t die on me now,” Jackson muttered to the truck. “Don’t you dare.”
The truck kept moving, picking up speed as Jackson slammed on the gas to get them to safety. How far would they have to drive to escape the lava?
She twisted to look out the rear window again. It seemed they were farther away from the red oozing flow. Maybe?
Jackson took every turn right behind the truck in front of him. The truck that held her parents, Melinda, and another brother, Zach, in the cab. The one in front of it held her youngest brother, Logan, and two men who were…bears. Isaiah and Wyatt. She knew instinctively the two strangers had played a tremendous role in saving her life.
Cooper blew out a breath. “I think we’re going to make it.”
She craned her neck again, remembering the spirit that had waited with her. Was it still there?
She would probably never know.
The front truck took a sharp turn, followed by the second truck, and finally Jackson made the quick right also, onto regular pavement.
She blew out a long breath. They would live. They had to. There was no other option.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Cooper turned toward Jackson as soon as he was sure they were a safe enough distance from the lava to breathe easier. “Can I use your phone?”
Jackson grabbed it from the cup holder and reached across Sharon to hand it to him. He set his hand on her thigh and squeezed after he released the phone.
Cooper hadn’t stopped touching her from the moment they entered the truck either, as if she might disappear if they didn’t remain connected.
He punched in the numbers for Chuck from memory and waited for his coworker to pick up. “Come on. Come on.”
“This is Chuck.”
Cooper blew out a sigh of relief. “It’s Cooper. Where are you?”
“Flying down the mountain in a rickety truck. You?”
“Same. Did everyone make it out safely? You were so close to the eruption.”
“Not everyone. No.”
“Shit.”
“Our guys did. A few stubborn people at the fracking site refused to leave until it was too late for them. I fear the worst.”
“Stupid greedy assholes.” Cooper slammed a hand on the dashboard in frustration.
Sharon flinched, and he took a deep breath to calm himself, grabbing her hand to absorb her strength.
Chuck continued. “The eruption is small. It shouldn’t reach Cambridge. We aren’t out of the woods, but the lava is slowing considerably, and the seismometers are showing a decrease in tremors. It’s a good sign. Did everyone make it out safely where you were?”
“Yes.” Cooper didn’t elaborate. “I’ll meet you at the college in a while.”
“Okay. I’m with Jason. The other two are ahead of us.”
“Good.”
“Cooper, I’ve seen things I can’t unsee.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t sign up for this. I’ve studied earthquakes all my life, followed their patterns since I was a small child. Always fascinated. Volcanoes aren’t my thing.”
“I know,” Cooper repeated. Even though volcanoes could be an effect of earthquakes, no one living in the continental U.S. would expect to experience anything like today in their lifetime. It wasn’t in the cards.
∙•∙
As they drove several miles before reaching the city limits of Cambridge, Sharon scanned left and right. Hundreds of people lined the streets. It was difficult to get through. The two trucks ahead of them paved the way. When they finally came to a stop, they were at the sheriff’s office.
Trace jumped out of the back of the truck and beelined for the entrance. He only made a cursory glance over his shoulder to indicate they should follow him by pointing to them and then the front door.
Griffen followed his brother.
Sharon let her shoulders fall and glanced back and forth between her men. “We’re mates,” she declared.
“What did that man drug you with?” Jackson hauled her against his chest and kissed the top of her head.
“Something called diazepam. I found the bottle.”
“Lord, that makes sense,” Cooper said. “If he gave you enough, it would cause amnesia. He was probably simply trying to keep you from being able to reach out to us.”
“I can’t believe that asshole kidnapped me.”
“Yeah, he’s a worse egg than any of us thought possible,” Cooper said. “I wasn’t here for his previous antics with your last two brothers’ matings, but I heard he was a true asshole both times. They simply couldn’t pin enough on him specifically.”
She nodded. “Yes. That’s what happened. We knew he was with the group of bigots who threw a brick through the bedroom of the condo just days after Zachary mated with Corbin and Laurie. Corbin was pissed. As a deputy on the reservation, he beat himself up for not being able to more thoroughly protect us. And he has worked with Sandhouse ever
since that day. He had no proof. I’m sure he wanted to wring the guy’s neck. And here we are.”
Jackson slid a hand around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. “You scared the hell out of us.”
“Not intentionally,” she muttered against his mouth.
“Did he say anything?”
“Sandhouse?” she asked. “Yes. It was all a pile of craziness though, as if he’d gone insane. He babbled on and on about how this was my fault for mating outside my race.”
“Shit.” Cooper set a hand on her back.
Sharon eased back so she could see both her mates. “He said he met his mate once. I guess she was white, so he denied her.”
“Seriously?” Cooper’s eyelids shot up. “I never heard of that. If that’s the case, there must be a woman out there who knows.”
Sharon shuddered. “Yeah. I’d hate to be her.”
“And he thought he would ruin your life since his world was ruined too?” Jackson asked.
“I guess. He seemed to think he needed to punish my family. I imagine he was on a mission to make sure as many other people’s lives were destroyed since his was.”
Cooper grabbed her hand on the other side. “Let’s go inside. We need to tell someone what happened.”
She nodded, wishing she could just go home and sleep for fifteen hours. Whatever that drug did to her, in addition to keeping her asleep for hours, it obviously hadn’t worn off completely because she was still so tired. Even the adrenaline rush of the last hour didn’t help. And now it was the middle of the night.
She swung out Cooper’s side of the truck and took a deep breath as they headed for the front door of the sheriff’s office. Trace looked up when she walked in and motioned them toward a room to one side. At least it would be quieter in there. The volume in the station’s main room was high. Understandable with a volcano threatening the town, but the noise made Sharon’s head pound even worse.
She followed Cooper into what looked a bit like a conference room and sighed when Jackson closed the door behind her. Cooper took two strides to reach the blinds on the window that permitted everyone in the rest of the station to see in. He pulled the string on one side, closing them.
Two strides back and he had her in his arms. Jackson plastered himself to her back at the same time.
She sucked in a sharp sob. Now that they were safe, her adrenaline rush deflated quickly, and she nearly collapsed. If Cooper and Jackson hadn’t been holding her up, her knees would have buckled.
“I’ve got you, baby.” Cooper cupped her face and kissed her forehead.
Tears fell down her cheeks. Relief. Stress. Fear. Every emotion possible flooded her system. She grabbed his forearms and fisted her fingers into his jacket.
Jackson leaned his face around to her cheek and kissed it tenderly. “You’re okay now. It’s over.”
She shuddered as the door to the room opened, twisting her head around to find Trace and two other men stepping inside. They shut the door behind them. Thank God both men with Trace were shifters. She didn’t think she could hide her relationship with Cooper and Jackson even for a moment. She needed to touch them, and she needed them to touch her.
Cooper and Jackson angled her to sit in a chair at the table, each of them flanking her. Other than the table and a few chairs, there wasn’t much else in the room.
Trace leaned over the table and spoke first. “Sharon, you know Sheriff Bergman.”
She nodded and shook his hand.
“And this is Sheriff Richards from Sojourn,” Trace continued, indicating the other man.
“I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through today. Do you mind answering a few questions?”
“Of course not.”
The three men took seats across from her.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Sheriff Bergman began.
“There isn’t much to tell. My memory is coming back, but I spent the better part of the day knocked out with some drug called diazepam. I found the bottle of it in a duffle bag in the cave. I remember I was driving home from Sojourn and stopped at the roadblock.
“I kept going after speaking to one of the deputies, and two minutes later, something slammed into my windshield, shattering it, and scared the piss out of me. I pulled off the road and found Sandhouse leaning into my car when I opened the door. The next thing I knew I woke up in the cave. That only lasted long enough for him to drug me again. And then I woke up and found him standing at the entrance during a tremor. He was killed when the rocks fell in all around him.” She trembled as she remembered watching Pete Sandhouse get what he deserved.
Both sheriffs took notes.
Sheriff Richards spoke next. “Did he say anything to you?”
“The first time I woke up, he was talking weird. Something about needing my medicine, and then he forced me to swallow it. He was odd. Loving. As if I were his mate.” She shuddered again. “The next time I awoke, he was scrambling around trying to move rocks out of the way. They’d fallen to block the entrance to the cave.”
She glanced back and forth between the two sheriffs and then told them everything she’d just told her mates in the car.
Bergman slouched in his chair with a sigh. “I bet I know who was supposed to mate with that son of a bitch.”
“Who?” Sharon asked.
“A woman named Karen Wilshire. She was white. Lived outside town about six miles north of here. She went crazy about ten years ago and ended up committing suicide. I’ll never forget the case. She was human. Her parents were so distraught. When I met with them, they said she kept insisting she was destined to marry some guy she met on the reservation. I don’t think the poor girl ever knew Sandhouse was even a shifter. But she felt the pull. And he must have spent enough time with her to ruin her life before deciding against mating with her and breaking things off.”
Cooper shuffled in his seat next to her. She could tell he fought the need to either pull her into his lap or turn around and punch a hole in the drywall.
Jackson was no better. He drummed his fingers on the table and bounced one leg up and down. His free hand rested on her thigh, his grip almost too tight, but welcome.
Richards spoke again, changing the subject. “Do any of you know Veronica Miller?”
Sharon stiffened.
Jackson nodded. “I’ve met her a few times. She went to my high school.”
“What did she do now?” Sharon asked.
“What did she do before?” Cooper nearly jumped out of his seat.
Sharon set a hand on top of his and held it against her thigh in an effort to calm him. “She was dating Corbin when he met and mated Zach and Laurie. She was pissed and teamed up with others on the reservation to wreak havoc on my brother’s life. And his mates, of course. She’s been outspoken about her feelings about threesomes.
“She’s also been dating Pete Sandhouse,” she added.
Jackson flinched next to her. “I’m pretty sure dating is a loose term.”
She released Cooper’s hand to face Jackson.
“So fucking, you mean?” Cooper asked.
Jackson nodded.
Sharon had never been so glad in her life that both sheriffs were shifters.
“They had a common goal,” Sheriff Richards added, rolling his eyes. “And Veronica was in here a few hours ago.”
“Why?” Sharon asked.
“Because she was worried about Sandhouse. She said he was acting strange this morning. He was overwrought about the three of you and insisted that the entire volcano threat was a ruse to gain attention.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cooper said. He nearly came out of his chair. He jerked his hand off Sharon’s thigh and planted both palms on the table. His entire body was stiff.
Richards shook his head. “I wish I was. Veronica was concerned because the earthquakes are undeniable, so she didn’t think the threat of a volcano was all that preposterous. When he stormed out of her house this morning, he told her he was going to teac
h you three a lesson.”
“Shit.” Jackson’s voice was clipped.
“She knew he went to work, so she didn’t think it was worth reporting. But apparently it was bothering her, and she came in. Too late. But she did.”
“That bitch,” Jackson muttered.
“Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better, she did seem quite remorseful, and she spent the entire day volunteering.”
“And that’s supposed to make up for what Sharon went through all day?” Cooper asked. If there was one more detail, she feared he would come unhinged.
Sheriff Richards shook his head. “No. No one can make up for that. But I can’t arrest a woman for coming into the station and informing us she’s worried about a future crime, even if the crime already took place. She didn’t know that.”
Jackson set his forehead in his hands and stared at the table. “Great. Nice lady.”
“In addition,” Richards added, “you’ll be glad to know that the majority of the citizens of both towns have been working together all day to make sure no lives were lost and keep property damage at a minimum. If it weren’t for your family…” he glanced at Trace and then looked back at Sharon, “…I don’t believe this would have been possible.”
He turned his gaze toward Cooper next. “And the Bartel-Hamiltons have been right here also. Your extended families brought everyone together at the high school, warned them, and organized them to rally together. With the exception of a few people who aren’t capable of seeing reason, most have gathered in Cambridge to help. Hundreds of people from Sojourn have been here for hours helping too. Even though the volcano is closer to Cambridge than Sojourn, they didn’t ignore the human call for help.”
Cooper stretched his neck in both directions and lifted his brows. “One small favor in the midst of a shitstorm.”
“How did you guys find me?” she asked.
Cooper touched his lips to hers and then spoke again. “We had a lot of help. Two spirits guided us. And we had Wyatt and Isaiah.”
Sharon's Wolves (Wolf Masters Book 10) Page 26
