As Malac’s form began to descend in the air, in a motion that defied his bulky size, the panther moved with grace, rolling forward to land underneath Malac where he hammered his back paws into Malac’s underbelly.
Malac’s body bowed from the impact before vaulting across the entire room’s expanse to land with a sickly thud against the grand piano. Eerie notes played as he slithered across the keyboard. The bench fell to its side before he landed with a solid thump on the floor, lying completely still.
Emma turned frightened eyes to the panther who now approached her with sure-footed steps. Not once did he make a sound. No growl or roar of fury erupted from him while he’d attacked Malac. He’d just taken out the bastard as if he were a weak-limbed rag doll, full of fluffy stuffing.
When the panther reached her, he lowered his head and pushed at her shoulder.
Emma stumbled back, unsure what he was telling her. He did it again, this time more forcefully and she realized he was trying to direct her toward the window.
She shook her head. She wasn’t leaving without her aunt. The lights on the elevator began to move. She waited, watching them. Once the elevator finally reached the floor and the doors slid open, she’d force her way in, taking out whoever was in her way.
When she tried to sidestep him, the panther’s low warning growl surprised her. She dodged, then attempted to dive past him, but he was much faster than she expected. Before she knew what had happened, he’d grabbed her wounded scruff with his teeth, then hurled her across the room toward the window.
Emma landed on her side, sliding across the floor. She quickly rolled to her feet and started to charge toward him, but bits of glass had embedded in her paw pads. As she yelped and tried to shake the glass from her paws, she was surprised to see him run toward her, then turn onto his side and skid across the floor in front of her.
He stood up and shook the bits of glass from his fur, then looked at her and jerked his head toward the window with a commanding grunt. He’d just cleared a path for her to the window and he wasn’t going to let her go in any other direction.
Emma was torn. She didn’t want to leave Mary behind, but this panther wasn’t giving her a choice. The elevator dinged, and three men stepped out holding pulser guns. Damn it, they weren’t giving her a choice, either.
One man yelled and pulser fire zoomed past Emma, jolting her into action. She ran a few steps and vaulted toward the window. Something pinched her side as she crossed the windowsill, but she didn’t pause once she’d landed on her feet on the concrete patio—which turned out to be a flat roof. Following her rescuer’s lead, who’d landed beside her, they took off in a fast run. Pulser fire singed the snow-covered cement around them as she headed toward the edge. Emma’s heart jumped to her throat when the panther in front of her bunched his long powerful legs and easily cleared the six-foot distance to land on the flat roof of an adjacent building.
She came to a skidding stop, sending snow scattering over the building’s edge.
The panther impatiently pawed at the cement under his feet, then let out a bellow, commanding her to follow.
Pulser bursts zipped past her ear, elevating her heart rate several notches. Emma backed up several feet, then sucked in a deep breath before bolting forward. Her heart nearly stopped as she took the flying leap between the buildings. When her paws landed on the roof, the shock sent jabs of pain shooting up her legs, making them as useless as rubber. She came to a jolting stop for a second, trying to regain strength.
The panther nudged her with his snout and a low purr of encouragement against her jaw, combined with his familiar scent, evoked a strong feeling of support. She took a deep breath and put one paw in front of the other in order to shrug off the pain in her shaking legs.
Emma followed him inside the building where a rock had been wedged between the rooftop door and the frame, holding it ajar. Her right side stung like someone held a match against her skin, but she pushed forward. Their paws made no sounds as they trotted down the three flights of stairs and then out another door the panther shoved open once he’d pushed down on the metal bar with his front paws.
As soon as they were free of the building, he began to run on the pavement, his sleek, large muscled body both powerful and graceful in his movements. Was that how she looked? She doubted it. Emma gave a self-deprecating snort as she clumsily tried to match his smooth gait. She at least kept up with his pace for a good five blocks while they weaved through what appeared to be a snow-covered, run-down industrial area of town.
She didn’t have time to look at street signs, they were moving so fast. The panther seemed to know where he was going. The way she was starting to feel—run-down and weak, her side stitching and throbbing with each pounding brush of her paws across the snow-covered pavement—she hoped he didn’t suddenly take off or she’d be lost forever in the maze of buildings and streets around them.
Only, her body had decided it had had enough, even if her mind screamed for her to continue. Emma’s rapid run slowed to a trot, and she finally managed to mewl a tired growl before she stopped and fell over onto her left side. As she lay on the freezing asphalt, her nose deciphering car oil and gas aromas under the heavy layer of snow, her ribs heaved up and down with each wheezing breath.
Emma’s racing pulse spiked when her vision began to fade in and out. She couldn’t pass out. Not now.
A dark-haired man with deep green eyes came into view. His forehead creased with worry and he leaned over her to run his hand across her shoulder. “What’s wrong—” he started to say, then swore under his breath. His high cheekbones hollowed with his swift intake of breath when his palm reached something sticky wet on her side.
Bright red blood coated his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” he said in a harsh tone.
Emma grunted her annoyance. How could he give her a hard time about speaking up? It’s not like she could at the moment. But if she were in human form…
As if he knew what she was thinking, he ordered, “Don’t shift!” while he moved behind her. One big hand slid under her hips and another under her shoulder. “You’ve lost too much blood as it is. Your human form couldn’t handle a wound like this.”
She whimpered as he lifted her. Cradling her body against his broad chest, he whispered against her ear, “Hang on. We’re almost to my truck.”
A few minutes later, he rounded a building and stopped behind a truck. Emma let out a tiny yowl when he shifted her so he could open the covered tailgate.
Sliding her body gently onto the truck bed, he said, “The hard cover above you should keep off the wind. I’m going to slide you forward a little bit so I can talk to you through the cab window.”
Emma could only moan her approval. Her eyes rolled in her head and she was having a hard time staying awake, the pain hurt so much. As he pushed her forward, she bumped into rolls of paper. She blinked and tried to focus. Maps. Tons of maps were all around her. One had unrolled near her nose and she saw trails among mountain ranges and trees; they had all been intricately hand-drawn.
He’d disappeared for a second and then he was climbing into the truck bed beside her. She lifted her head at the sound of material ripping. Bare-chested, he sat on his knees in a pair of faded jeans and no shoes, ripping open a T-shirt at the seam. He must’ve grabbed the jeans and T-shirt from the front of the truck.
Moving at a rapid pace, he cinched the T-shirt tight around her waist, covering her wound. After he jumped out of the truck, he put his hand on her hip and murmured, “That’s all I can do for now, Emral.”
Emral? The name stirred something familiar deep within her. She knew this man…somehow. The truck started and Emma closed her eyes, trying to remember.
The vehicle began to move and a window slid open at the same time he barked in a gruff voice, “Stay conscious!”
Yeah, yeah, she thought even as his commanding tone jerked her eyes wide open. It was an involuntary response, but one she felt must’ve happened oft
en in her past for her body to instantly react like it did.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he called through the window.
Emma sighed, wishing she could talk.
“I couldn’t let Malac do it to you—I had to save you from the same fate,” he ground out. “I promised you I’d always protect you. When I found out Mary had taken you and even Malac didn’t know how to find you, I thought you were safe, but I always kept tabs…” He flipped on what sounded like a radio. Airwave static filled the air, then angry squawks came through.
“That traitorous bastard has taken her. Find Hawkeye, no matter the cost,” Malac’s enraged voice shot through the truck’s cab.
“Do you want us to take him alive? His DNA—”
“I don’t give a damn about him,” Malac snarled. “Kill him on sight, but I want her back.”
So this was Hawkeye. But why did he call her Emral? Her name was Emma. The hitching pain in her side kept her from thinking about anything for very long. Her stomach knotted and the burning wound on her side seemed to grow even hotter while the pain throbbed incessantly.
They swerved around a corner and she rolled into some of the maps. Emma moaned. “You okay—” he started to ask through the window, then hissed, “Sonofabitch.” Two seconds later, she heard a cell phone being dialed.
“I need the address for Landon Rourke Private Investigations in New York City.”
Emma’s ears perked up. Landon was the name Caine had mentioned.
“That’ll do.”
When he snapped closed his cell phone, he gunned the engine and the truck shot forward. Several minutes passed, or was it a half hour—she’d lost track of time as her eyes opened and closed—before the truck rolled to a stop?
The tailgate opened and Hawkeye slid her out of the truck, lifting her into his arms. All she could tell was that they were in some kind of alley. “Let’s hope he has this place on an alarm,” Hawkeye mumbled. Emma jerked when he lifted his foot and rammed it into a door, splintering it off the hinges.
He carried her inside a storage room and through another door to lay her on the carpet. A desk, a rolling chair and a lateral filing cabinet was all she could see from her vantage point on the floor while he scribbled something on the desk.
An annoying beeping sound invaded her mind as he went down on his knee and ran his hand across her forehead and over her ears. An alarm was going off. “You’re bleeding too much. For obvious reasons, I can’t take you to the hospital.” He glanced toward the front door and her gaze followed his. Landon Rourke Private Investigations, she read the backward words on the glass as Hawkeye finished, “This man saved us once. He might be Lupreda, but he’s proven he has a conscience. Right now, he’s the only one I trust.”
He stood up and Emma made whimpering clicks. She didn’t want to be left alone. Crouching beside her once more, he ran his hand over her pelt. “I’ll be watching from a distance to make sure he takes care of you.”
With a sigh of relief, Emma quieted and closed her eyes.
“Stay conscious,” he reminded her in an authoritative tone not to be ignored.
When her eyes flew open, he was already gone.
Chapter 9
C aine jerked his gaze to the rearview mirror. Something heavy had landed in the back of his truck. Landon knocked on the glass behind him, then made a thumbing motion to the side of the road.
Gritting his teeth, Caine gripped the steering wheel tight and for several seconds considered swerving to the side, just to knock the Alpha on his ass. He was so pissed at Landon for waiting an hour and a half to wake him, he could feel his Musk form howling to be free, itching for a fight. The tips of his fingers tingled, his wereclaws scratching just below the surface.
When Landon pounded a dent in the roof above his head, he finally pulled his truck to the side of the interstate. Laird drove up behind him in Landon’s truck with Kaitlyn in the seat beside him. Roman stood in the bed of their truck, his hair windblown to hell, grinning like a fool at the icy wonderland around him. The idiot.
Why had Landon chased him down? He was almost to the city at this point. He sure as hell wasn’t going back to Lupreda land.
Before he could say a word, Landon had jumped down and climbed into the passenger seat. “I told you not to leave without me,” Landon snarled.
“And I told you to wake me in an hour,” Caine challenged, pulling the truck back onto the road.
Landon’s low growl was interrupted by his cell phone’s ring. Grabbing the phone from his belt, he flipped it open and read the text message.
“Hell and damnation,” he mumbled, then hung up and called another number.
“What is it?” Caine’s shoulders tensed.
“My office has been broken into again,” Landon said before he spoke into the phone. “Gabriel, I got an automatic call. Can you pull up the monitoring system and tell me what body temperature the sensors are registering?”
Caine heard Gabriel’s rumble across the line. “One hundred and three, Landon. Definitely not human, unless the human’s sick as a dog.” Gabriel snorted at his own joke, then quickly sobered. “You want me to cut the backup call to the police?”
“Cut it,” Landon said in a brisk tone before he closed the cell and addressed Caine. “Gotta be Velius. Let’s see how fast this souped-up rig of yours can go.”
When he gunned the truck, Laird honked and followed suit. Caine glanced in his rearview mirror to see Roman now hanging out the passenger window, shaking his fist and yelling, “Yeah, baby! Go!”
Caine shook his head. “We can’t take him anywhere.”
“At least he’s a talented nut,” Landon grunted, then glanced his way. “If we can catch one of them there, we’ll do whatever it takes to find out where they’ve taken Emma.”
Landon had just given Caine his full support, surprising the hell out of him. Caine gripped the steering wheel hard and dipped his head in a curt nod, swallowing the lump of appreciation in his throat.
“You will follow my lead. Understood?” Landon ordered when they entered the outskirts of the city.
Every fiber in Caine’s body howled in protest. He knew Landon was trying to control the situation so Caine wouldn’t use his Musk form. He didn’t like it, but right now Landon had the advantage—a lead on finding the panthers. And Emma.
Setting his jaw, Caine stared straight ahead. “Got it.”
The moment he stepped out of his truck, Caine smelled Emma’s earthy scent and blood. A lot of blood. Panic knotted his stomach. He started to take off for the front door, but Landon was by his side in a millisecond, grasping his arm.
“My lead,” the Alpha reminded him as Laird, Roman and Kaitlyn joined them. Releasing Caine, Landon jerked his chin toward the front of the building. “Laird, you and Roman make sure to shield Kaitlyn as you approach from the front. Caine and I are going around back.”
Laird nodded his understanding and Kaitlyn pulled her gun, rolling her eyes and mumbling about overprotective wolves.
Narrowing his gaze on Caine, Landon said, “We go in together.”
Tension rode Caine’s spine, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He gritted his teeth but dipped his head in agreement.
Landon and Caine headed to the side of the building and rounded to the alley behind it in mere seconds. When he saw the condition of his back door, Landon growled, clenching his fists. “Let’s go.”
Caine prepared for a fight as he walked into the back room, but no one was around. He and Landon made their way to the front room. The moment he stepped through the doorway, he saw the blood-soaked T-shirt wrapped around Emma’s bloody wound. She was breathing with such shallow pants and her pulse sounded slower than it should; his heart nearly stopped. He rushed forward and fell to his knees by her side.
Running his hand over her snout and then down the soft fur along her shoulder, he was so racked with fear she wouldn’t survive that his words came out in a guttural grunt. “Emma, it’s Caine. I’m h
ere. Stay awake for me, sweetheart.”
She whimpered and her forepaw jerked slightly, giving him hope that she recognized him.
“I have the panther’s scent.” Caine looked up at Landon. “I’m going to rip the bastard who did this to her apart one limb at a time.”
“I think you’ve got it all wrong.” Landon approached and with a grim expression turned the piece of paper he held around so Caine could read it.
Save Emral!
Caine frowned. “Who’s Emral?”
Landon glanced down at Emma. “She’s Emral, or Emerald rather. The Lupreda who created these panthers named them after gemstones—Jade, Emerald, Hawkseye, Malachite, Jasper, and so on.”
Caine snarled at the note, mentally plotting his vengeance. “It doesn’t mean the panther I’m scenting wasn’t responsible.”
Landon went down on one knee beside Emma and spoke to her. “It’s Landon Rourke. I recognize your scents now that I smell Hawkeye’s, too. Did he bring you here?”
Emma turned toward Landon’s voice and nodded before letting her head roll back to the floor.
Caine had so many questions, but right now Emma’s dire condition needed to be addressed. He bent down to run his tongue along a wound on her shoulder and was surprised when it didn’t instantly start to heal.
He jerked his gaze to Landon. The Alpha was shaking his head, his jaw set in a hard line. “Apparently our saliva doesn’t heal them like it can humans and our own kind.”
Caine pressed his hand over the largest wound on Emma’s side. “She’ll bleed out if we don’t do something soon.”
Kaitlyn stepped forward to stand beside her mate who was still crouched beside Emma. “Obviously we can’t take her to a hospital and because there aren’t any doctors among the Lupreda…” She placed her hand on Landon’s shoulder and continued. “I have a suggestion. You told me about the vampire leader’s sister saving his human mate, Ariel. Do you think his sister might be able to help Emma?”
“A vampire?” Caine growled low in his throat.
Scions: Revelation Page 13
