by Abby Weeks
Aisha asked how they’d known he was a shifter, but he refused to answer her. All he said was that they were very angry, and they were taking him back to Dead Wolf to kill him. They wanted to string his body from the guard tower as a warning to the other brothers not to try and mate with human females.
She asked him why he’d done it, why he’d needed to try and mate with a human, but again he refused to answer.
Aisha sat on the steps of the porch and began to weep. She couldn’t keep the tears in. She knew there were things she should be doing to prepare for a rescue attempt, but she couldn’t help it. She was overcome with emotion. She was hurt. Logan had rejected her, had rejected her offer of forming a handmaiden’s bond, and instead had gone to the human town to seek out human females.
She wanted to ask him more questions, but she knew it wasn’t the time. She also knew that she already had the answers she needed. Logan hadn’t been ready to bond with her because he hadn’t been ready to accept the fact that he’d be sharing her. He’d sought out the human females because of the passions she’d stirred up in him. It was her fault. If she hadn’t come, he wouldn’t have felt so desperate to mate, and he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this terrible situation.
She told the other three brothers that she was heading for the village. They told her not to go, they said it was too dangerous, but she ignored their warnings. She had to get to the village. The brothers were rushing toward the highway. They were going to try and ambush the vehicle, but Aisha wanted to get to the village first. She had to see Ma Hetty.
Chapter 29
WHEN AISHA REACHED THE DIRT road leading into the village and looked ahead at the guard towers and fence, she didn’t know what to expect. She had a strange mix of emotions as she approached the village. She felt like she was returning home, in a way, after a long journey. She’d only lived in the village for a short time, but to her it represented all the years she’d lived among humans, first in Washington, and then in Alaska. It represented all those years she’d felt powerless and lost, without a family and without love in a world that sought to keep her down and deprive her of any power over her life. It was scary, and not just because there was a security guard standing in the tower with a rifle pointed at her.
“What do you want?” the guard called out to her.
Aisha ignored him. She wanted to see Ma Hetty and she didn’t care what the men in the village thought of it. She didn’t even care what they did to her. She was beyond caring about that now. She’d seen her power over Heath, she knew she wasn’t the same timid, weak creature she’d once been. She was a shifter now, and she could look after herself.
“Hey,” the guard said.
“I’d advise you to put that rifle down,” Aisha said. “Unless you want to force my hand.”
The guard looked at her, startled. He hadn’t expected her to speak to him like that. He looked around, but there weren’t any other guards around who could back him up. His choices were to try and shoot her, something that was by no means guaranteed since he knew the speed she was capable of, or let her pass.
He chose the latter. He put his gun down against the wall of the tower and waved her on into the village like it had been his idea. Aisha walked on past him. There weren’t many people in the village—they were all out in the forest doing their various jobs. She walked past the brothel which was still boarded up and remembered what the human men had tried to do to her. It gave her a shiver along her spine.
She walked on past it and stopped when she reached the inn. She remembered her time in there with Tilly and Hilda fondly. She walked up to the porch and opened the door. The bar was deserted apart from two old men sipping beers. They paid no notice to her.
She walked up to the reception desk and rang the bell. A moment later, Hilda, the plump innkeeper, appeared at the door to the kitchen. Her jaw dropped when she saw that Aisha had returned.
“It’s you,” she said.
Aisha smiled at her nervously. She still wasn’t sure of the reception she was going to get. Was Hilda going to be mad at her? Was she going to turn her in to the men?
Hilda put her hands up to her face. Aisha saw that she was crying.
“Oh, Hilda,” she said and ran forward to embrace her. It felt so good to be hugging Hilda.
“I was so worried for you,” Hilda said.
“I was worried for you,” Aisha said.
“Why?”
“I thought the men might have turned on you for being my friend.”
Hilda laughed. “The men in this town wouldn’t turn on their bartender. They’re such idiots, they wouldn’t know how to pour their own beers without me.”
“And how is Tilly?” Aisha said.
Tilly appeared in the kitchen doorway, smiling warmly at Aisha. “Tilly is doing very well, thank you,” she said.
Aisha hugged Tilly too.
“So where have you been?” Tilly said. “What have you been up to? I was so worried for you when you went off with the shifters into the forest.”
“I’ve been fine,” Aisha said. “I’ve made a home with them. They’re my kind, after all.”
Tilly and Hilda looked a little strangely at her when she said that. They’d knew it was true, but Aisha saw that they were still struggling a little to fully come to terms with it.
“Well, never mind about all that for now,” Hilda said. “Come in and have some tea. You must be dying for a good cup of tea.”
“I am,” Aisha said, “but I can’t right now. I have to speak to Ma Hetty. Logan’s been captured.”
“Oh,” Hilda said. “What happened?”
“He was in Fairbanks,” Aisha said.
“Uh oh,” Hilda said. “I can see where this is going, and it’s not going to be pretty.”
“What do you mean?” Aisha said worriedly.
“Was he at the strip club?”
Aisha looked at Hilda. “Yes,” she said.
Hilda shook her head. “They haven’t tried that in a long time, the shifters. But that’s gotten them killed a lot in the past. If they caught Logan flirting with human females, they won’t have any mercy. They know it can kill the female.”
Aisha shook her head. It was too much to think about. She had to go talk to Ma Hetty about it.
Chapter 30
STANDING OUTSIDE MA HETTY’S DOOR brought Aisha back to her first visit. It seemed so long ago now. So much had happened since then. Her entire life was completely different.
Ma Hetty opened the door and greeted Aisha with a long, warm hug.
“What are we going to do?” Aisha said.
“Shh,” Ma Hetty said soothingly. “We’ll come up with something. Now is not the time to start worrying.”
“Really?” Aisha said. “Because Logan said they’re planning on killing him. He’s locked in a cage.”
Ma Hetty brought Aisha into her cabin and sat her down at the table. There was a pot of hot tea waiting for her. Aisha poured herself a cup and sipped from it. She immediately felt calmer.
“So what are we going to do?” Aisha said. “How are we going to get him out of that cage? The other brothers are already headed toward the truck on the highway.”
“I’ve been communicating with the others. I told them not to do anything.”
“Why not?” Aisha said. “They’re going to kill him when he gets here.”
“I told you not to panic,” Ma Hetty said, putting her hand on Aisha’s shoulder. “We’ll figure something out.”
Aisha tried to remain calm. She knew Ma Hetty was right. It was just very difficult not to panic when she knew that at that very moment, Logan was locked in a tiny cage, being poked with sticks.
“What are the brothers doing right now?” Aisha said.
She reached out to Packer. He was running through the forest with Tucker and Hardy. They were following the truck into town, but staying out of sight. They were waiting for her and Ma Hetty to come up with the plan.
“This is what’s going to
happen when that truck gets into town,” Ma Hetty said. “They’re not going to just kill Logan. They never do it like that. They always have to make a big production out of it, make the killing into a big event that sends a message to the other shifters.”
“Like they were going to do to me at the brothel?” Aisha said.
“Exactly. They want to enjoy the process. They don’t want to kill Logan too quickly, because where would the fun be in that? They want him to suffer. They want to make him pay. He committed the very worst offense a shifter can commit. He went after their women. They’re going to show no mercy.”
“That’s terrible,” Aisha said.
“Yes, it is, but it also gives us our opportunity. We can use that time to get him out. We can wait till they make a mistake and then we can rescue Logan.”
“Will they make a mistake?”
“You’ve seen these men,” Ma Hetty said, smiling. “They always make a mistake.”
Aisha smiled even though she was anything but amused. She let out a long sigh.
Ma Hetty looked at her meaningfully. “Let it out,” she said.
“What?” Aisha said.
“You want to say something. Just say it.”
Aisha wasn’t sure how to put into words what she was feeling.
“You want to know why he did it?”
Aisha nodded. “Why did he feel like he had to run away? Why did he refuse to bond with me? I was offering him more than those human females ever could have given him.”
“That’s not the point though,” Ma Hetty said. “It wasn’t about what you could offer. It was about control. It was about emotion. It was about the power of Logan’s lusts and desires for your body.”
Aisha nodded. “I know he has strong passions.”
“They’re stronger than any of the other brothers.”
“I can sense it,” Aisha said.
“Packer has powerful emotions. He killed fifty wolves before submitting to your offer to bond. Logan had to go even farther. He had to go through all of this.”
“Even being captured.”
“Yes, even being captured. He had to bring himself to the very edge of death. He had to face real danger. Killing wolves wasn’t enough for him. He does that every day. He wanted to face the humans, and the only way to do that was to get caught fraternizing with their females.”
“So he got caught on purpose?” Aisha said incredulously.
“Not exactly. He wouldn’t have thought everything through like that. It wasn’t like he had a plan. He didn’t know what he was trying to achieve. His emotions were in control. All he knew was that he needed to go down a certain path, a path that would lead him right up against the edge. That’s the way the prime alpha works. He has to take things to the very limit.”
“I thought Packer had taken things to the limit.”
“Well,” Ma Hetty said, “now you see what’s beyond that limit.”
“Yes, I do,” Aisha said.
She wasn’t sure why, but whatever Ma Hetty had just told her in some way made her feel better about Logan, about what he’d done. She’d been feeling like he rejected her, like he didn’t want to bond with her. She’d thought he preferred the human strippers at that seedy bar in Fairbanks. Now she saw what he’d really been doing. He’d been looking for trouble.
“So, let’s come up with a plan,” Ma Hetty said. “I suggest that you stay in here with me. No one knows you’re here apart from Tilly and Hilda, and they’d never turn you over to the men of the village.
“The guard in the tower saw me enter the village too,” Aisha said.
“Everyone will be too caught up with Logan to pay attention to that. You’re pretty safe here.”
Aisha nodded.
“Packer, Hardy, and Tucker will have to wait in the forest outside the village,” Ma Hetty continued. “They’ll have to stay out of sight. When the moment’s right, we’ll let them know.”
Aisha shrugged. It was a pretty basic plan, but she knew there wasn’t much else they could do.
“I’ll go out and watch everything,” Ma Hetty said. “I’ll communicate all that I see to you and the brothers.”
Aisha didn’t like the fact that she had to wait inside the cabin, but she knew there was nothing else she could do. It would complicate things too much if she showed her face to the townsfolk when they were getting ready to kill Logan.
She nodded. “It’s a plan,” she said.
Ma Hetty rubbed her shoulder again. “Stop worrying,” she said. “Everything is as it should be.”
“What do you mean?” Aisha said. “What if something goes wrong?”
“Don’t you see,” Ma Hetty said, “that’s the whole point. There has to be danger. It’s the only way for you and Logan to finally bond. Only by creating this big dramatic scene will Logan feel ready to submit to a female’s bond. It’s his way. That’s the kind of alpha he is. You’d never have been able to mate with him without going through some sort of production like this. I knew it all along.”
Aisha was shaking her head. “You could have warned me,” she said.
“Come on,” Ma Hetty said. “You knew it all along. There was no way a carnal creature like Logan was going to get in line and wait his turn to mate with you. He’s too proud.”
It was true. Aisha had always known, deep in her heart, that it was a long shot to expect Packer and Logan to accept the bonding ritual she’d attempted.
“And don’t pretend there isn’t a little part of you that likes it this way,” Ma Hetty said, a sly smile on her face.
Aisha blushed.
Chapter 31
AISHA SPENT THE NEXT HOUR preparing herself mentally for what was coming. Even still, when the truck carrying Logan finally came up the muddy street into the village, she was terrified. She was afraid of what might happen if they didn’t manage to rescue Logan in time. She realized just how deeply she felt for him. She’d hardly spoken to him, she’d only been with him for a few days, but knowing everything that he’d gone through, and knowing that it was because he felt so passionately about her, she was desperate to rescue him.
She wanted to make him happy. She wanted to please him. She wanted to give him what he deserved, and what he deserved was to truly mate with a shifter female.
“This is it,” Aisha said.
Ma Hetty nodded. She opened the door and stepped out. “You’ll be able to see everything I see,” she said to Aisha before shutting the door behind her.
Aisha sat down at the table and waited. She took a deep breath. She could feel Packer and the other two out in the forest, waiting. She reached out to Logan and felt pure emotion from him. He wasn’t afraid. He was hardly concerned about the predicament he was in. All he wanted was to connect emotionally with Aisha.
She tried to tell him everything was going to be okay, but she wasn’t sure he understood her. Everything was confused. She told him she was coming for him. He told her he was sorry. He told her he’d never meant to hurt her. He’d just wanted to get away, get some space so that he could get through all of the emotions he was feeling. She told him everything was going to be okay, and that she understood. He couldn’t always control himself. That was his nature. That was just who he was.
He seemed to be calmer after she told him that. She reached out to Packer and the others, and then watched the scene that was unfolding in the village through Ma Hetty’s eyes.
The truck had stopped right in front of the cabin, and Aisha was able to look out the window and see what was happening that way, too. The truck hadn’t been traveling alone. Apparently a whole group of men had gone down to Fairbanks to help escort Logan back to the village. She counted six cruisers, and almost thirty of the village men piled out of them holding axes, picks, rifles, and rope. It didn’t look like it was going to be a pretty sight. A crowd was gathering around the back of the truck, and men were beginning to come out of the buildings or come back from their work and join the crowd.
The truck remained l
ocked, and Aisha reached out to Logan to find out what was happening inside. He was being taunted mercilessly by the men who were inside with him. They were poking him hard with spiked sticks and swinging chains at him through the bars of the cage. Logan was in his wolf form, which protected him somewhat from their attacks, but she could still feel the pain he was going through. It drove her wild. She wanted him out of there.
She heard a tractor coming up the street and strained to see it. It was chugging up the muddy street, and chained behind it was a large log. The tractor stopped in front of the truck holding Logan, and the men unhooked the tree trunk and began erecting it in a grassy area by the side of the street. They quickly dug a deep hole and put the log in it. They used cords to support it more fully. When it was up securely, a man climbed it and attached a long chain to it. Aisha knew it was for Logan. She shuddered at the thought of him being chained to the post.
Once everything was ready, the men opened the back of the truck and Aisha held her breath. Some men climbed in the back and helped those already in there. They pushed the cage out of the back of the truck and it fell to the muddy ground with a loud thump. Logan looked shook up.
The men all closed in and jeered at Logan. Those closest continued prodding him and kicking him.
“Have the courage to show yourself as a man,” someone shouted. Aisha looked and saw that it was Harry, the man who’d led the attack against her.
Logan looked at Harry and defiantly shifted into his human form. It was then that Aisha could truly see how badly he’d been treated. His fur had been hiding deep, black bruises all over his body. He was also cut on his arms and legs, and his face was badly bruised.
Aisha put her hand over her mouth. He looked awful. The men opened the cage and pulled the door open. Many of them had guns pointed at Logan. Others had axes and picks. As he climbed out of the cage, naked and battered, someone hit him hard across the face with the side of an axe. Logan collapsed onto the ground.
The men took him by the wrists and dragged him out of the cage, jeering and laughing as they did so. They brought him to the pole. Harry put a black leather collar around his neck and attached it to the heavy chain that was suspended from the top of the pole.
