by Dena Christy
“I need to run,” she said, and smiled at Hadria and Samara as an apology. The two women didn’t seem at all offended as they waved them off and went into the house.
They went into the woods and she and Rowan stood a short distance away from the other two so she could change in private. The transformation to wolf was as painful as it had been before and she wondered if she’d ever get used to it. The pain was soon forgotten when the exhilaration of being a wolf took over. She and Rowan joined his brothers and they all took off through the woods. Kate kept pace with them for a while, but the newness of her surroundings, and seeing the world from this perspective soon distracted her, and she fell behind. A movement caught her eye, and she watched a rabbit cross her path. Some instinct she didn’t know she possessed took over and she took off after it, forgetting about her companions in the thrill of racing after prey.
The rabbit got away, and she slowed to a walk as she tried to get her bearings. She’d strayed off the path, and she stuck her nose to the ground, trying to pick up her own scent so she could find her way back. A different scent mingled with hers, and the fine hairs on the back of her neck rose as she realized the scent belonged to a wolf, but not to that of Rowan, Nick or Eric. She lifted her head and looked around. She froze when she saw amber colored eyes glowing in the trees, and she tried to chalk it up to her imagination, but the eyes grew closer until a wolf revealed himself. It was her nightmare come true. She turned to run away but he was quick and cut her off. She backed up, looking frantically for a means of escape as he stalked her. He growled at her, but made no move to attack. She didn’t know if he was just fucking with her and she didn’t care. The urge to scream built inside her until it came out in a terrorized howl as she continued to back away.
Chapter 8
Rowan slowed his run as soon as he realized Kate wasn’t with them. He yipped at his brothers and they slowed their pace as well. He figured she’d found something interesting to chase, since it was pretty common with wolves, especially newly turned ones. He started to retrace his steps with his brothers behind him so they could find her.
Her howl of distress reached him, and his hackles raised on the back of his neck. He took off like a shot toward the direction it had come from as adrenaline slammed through his body. He didn’t look behind him to see if his brother’s followed, but he knew they would. He raced through the woods for what felt like forever to reach her. When he finally found her, he took in the scene in a glance. A large male wolf he didn’t know stalked toward his woman, and Kate was backing away with her belly close to the ground.
He operated on pure instinct as he charged at the wolf, putting himself between him and Kate while his brother’s flanked him. A dark menacing growl ripped from his throat and he peeled back his lips to bare his teeth. His muscles vibrated as he fought the urge to tear the wolf’s throat out right then. He wanted him away from Kate first. He and his brothers advanced on the wolf, being sure to leave no opening for him to get to Kate. Rowan lunged at him as the other wolf darted away and off into the woods. He desperately wanted to give chase, but wouldn’t leave Kate alone. He looked at Nick and Eric, and they both took off after the other wolf. Rowan made his way back to Kate, who stood with her head down. He nuzzled her face before leading her out of the woods to where their clothes lay in an abandoned heap. Rowan changed back into his human form as quickly as his nature allowed. He went to her and he could see she was having difficulty. He put his hand on her back.
“Just relax sweetheart and let the change come. You can do it. I’m right here and I am not going anywhere. I’ll protect you.” He felt the undulations under her fur, and knew his words had relaxed her enough to enable her to change back to her human form. Once she was human again she reached for her clothes and dressed at a frantic pace. Rowan dressed quickly as well, his eyes never leaving her. Once she had her clothes on, she seemed at a loss as to what to do next.
“Let’s go back to Nick’s place and wait for him and Eric there. I want to check and make sure that Samara and Hadria are okay too.”
Kate’s face was bone white, and she looked so vulnerable that it made his chest hurt. She trembled and he couldn’t hold himself back from her. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to Nick’s cabin. Samara held the door open for him as he carried Kate inside, and went into the living room.
“Is she alright? Did something happen out there?” Samara asked as she hovered around them.
“Just give us a minute, please. I’ll explain everything soon,” he asked as he continued to focus solely on Kate. Hadria led Samara away to the kitchen. Rowan sat on the sofa and settled Kate on his lap with his arms tight around her.
“You’re okay Kate. He’s gone now, and he can’t hurt you. We’re in Nick’s house and we’re safe. You were so brave in the woods. I’m so proud of you sweetheart.”
He continued to murmur his reassurances to her, and eventually his words got through to her, because her trembling stopped and she relaxed against him. He continued to hold her, since it made him feel better too. Now that he wasn’t running on the adrenaline he’d needed to get to her, his mind played all sorts of grisly images for him with what could have happened to her. His arms tightened further around her.
“Don’t ever take off like that again,” he said, more harshly than he intended. She stiffened for a moment, and tried to pull away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You thought you were safe. Christ we all thought you were safe.”
Rowan looked up as his brothers entered the living room followed by Hadria and Samara.
“Did you get him?” he growled with his arms still banded around Kate.
“No,” Nick said tersely as he sat down on the coffee table across from him and Kate. “I want to know why the fuck he was here. Was he some random wolf out for a run?”
Kate stirred in Rowan’s arms, and she shifted so she could look at Nick. Rowan loosened his hold on her, and stroked his hand up and down her back. She made no move to leave his lap.
“He was after me,” she said quietly and Rowan stiffened as he sat up straighter.
“How do you know?” he asked. “Do you know who he is?”
“I saw him, the night I escaped. He was one of the two wolves I saw in the parking lot. I’m positive, since it’s not something I’d forget.”
“Are you absolutely certain? Because if he is associated with those who held you, then it means they have come after you.”
“He had a very distinctive black patch of fur on his right front leg. I remember seeing it on him that night at the building, and it was there on the wolf who was here tonight. His name is David O’Connell.”
“You know his name?”
“Yes. When I was trying to escape, I went through the employees’ lockers trying to find something to wear. I found his wallet in his clothes, saw his ID and stole about a hundred bucks from him.” Kate levered herself off Rowan’s lap, and he could see the panic rising inside her. The fact that the wolves who held her were after her must have finally penetrated her consciousness. “I have to get out of here.”
“Rowan will take you back to his house when we are done here, but I don’t think he’ll have the balls to actually come into the house and try to take you. Not with three werewolves, and three members of the Order sitting here with you,” Nick said in his most soothing voice.
“No, I have to get out of Kingston,” she said, and Rowan stood and drew her into his arms. There was no way he was going to let her leave town, not now when he knew someone was after her.
“They found you here, and if you leave, we won’t be able to protect you. Whose to say they won’t find you again? What I want to know is how he knew you were here in the first place?” Rowan asked, looking at his brother Nick to see if he had any ideas. His brother contemplated his words for a moment, and Rowan knew the exact moment when Nick struck upon an idea.
“When you were examined at headquarters did Tasha look at your arms?” Nick asked.
“No, she took some blood, and talked about what I could expect but no, she didn’t specifically check out my arms. Why?”
“Can I examine them now?” Nick asked as he stood.
“What are you thinking Nick?” Rowan asked as his pulse increased slightly at the thought that there might be something wrong with Kate.
“They may have put a tracking device in her arm. It’s a slim chance, but I think we should check. If they knew you were the wolf who bit her, then perhaps they realized that she would go to Kingston to find you, and they’ve been watching you and followed you here. I still want to know if they can track her though.”
Kate stepped away from Rowan and took off her jacket, pushing up the sleeves of her T-shirt. Nick gently palpitated the underside of her left arm, and when he moved to the right, she jumped when he hit a certain part.
“Does that hurt?” he asked as he pressed against the spot.
“Kinda, it feels like a hard ball pressing against my muscle. I don’t feel it unless you touch it.” Kate said, and the implications that they were tracking her like an animal added to the hard knot of anger already festering in Rowan’s stomach. How was he supposed to keep her safe, if they could always find her? Nick must have seen his concern, because he was quick to assure them.
“I can take it out. It’s not embedded too deeply, and it should only involve a quick incision. Come to headquarters tomorrow and I’ll take care of it.”
“No,” Kate said adamantly.
“Kate you need to have it taken out,” Rowan insisted. He didn’t want to subject her to unnecessary pain, and if this wasn’t so important he wouldn’t insist. But he couldn’t keep her safe if they had a way of finding her. He didn’t mind needing to be with her twenty four seven if that’s what it took, but he knew Kate well enough by now to know she would find that stifling.
“That’s not what I meant. I want you to take it out tonight,” she said to Nick. “Can you do it here, right now?”
“I can, but I don’t have any local anesthetic here at the house, and I do have to cut open your skin and fish it out. It’s going to hurt,” he said.
“I want you to do it. I won’t feel safe and I won’t be able to sleep until it’s out of me. I’m sure they know I’m staying at Rowan’s house, but I can’t stay in the house forever. I just want it gone.”
Nick nodded and left the room. Rowan watched Kate breathing deeply and he pulled her down beside him. “Are you sure about this?”
“I need it out Rowan,” she said firmly.
“I’m with Kate on this,” Samara said from the other side of the room. “I know you want to spare her pain Rowan, but she’s a nervous wreck over this, I can feel it. That tracker needs to go, and I’m sure Nick won’t make it any more painful for her than he has to.”
Rowan nodded, and brought Kate’s hand to his lips and kissed it. Kate put her head on his shoulder as they waited for Nick to return.
Nick came back a few minutes later with a black medical bag, and he looked around the room. “I don’t know where we are going to do this. The tracker is in the underside of her arm, and it may be more comfortable for you to lie down while I work. I don’t think we should do it here, and the kitchen would be better I think. You can lie on the kitchen table.”
Kate stood and followed Nick to the threshold of the living room. Rowan sat on the couch, not knowing if she wanted him with her. She looked back at him, and he soon had his answer.
“You coming?” she asked as she held out her hand. He stood and took it. They followed Nick into the kitchen while the others stayed behind in the living room. Rowan was glad, since this little operation didn’t need an audience.
“Ok. Rowan why don’t you help her get on the table and put this under her arm while I wash up,” Nick said as he handed Rowan a clean white towel. While his brother scrubbed his hands in the kitchen sink, Rowan lifted Kate onto the kitchen table and helped her lie in a prone position. He lay the towel on the table, and she put her arm across it, turning it so the spot where the tracker was could be more easily reached by Nick.
“Are you comfortable enough?” he asked as he smoothed her hair back from her forehead.
“The angle feels a bit awkward, but I can live with it as long as this isn’t going to take hours.” She looked past him to Nick, who was pulling latex gloves on his clean hands. Nick shook his head.
“It should only take a few minutes. I just need to set up,” Nick said as he took several items in sealed packages from his bag, along with what looked to Rowan like some sort of disinfectant. He palpitated Kate’s arm again, and when he found the tracker, he marked it with a swab covered in the disinfectant, which colored the skin slightly. He ripped the paper off a scalpel. “Kate if I could get you to turn your arm a little more for me. Rowan why don’t you stand on her other side.”
Rowan moved around the table and Kate turned her head to look at him. She reached out her hand for his and he grasped it immediately. His eyes never left hers, and he knew the moment Nick cut into the flesh of her arm. She flinched, and hissed in her breath.
“Just breathe Kate, you’re doing really good here,” Nick assured her as he continued to work.
“Breathe sweetheart,” Rowan whispered as he sat down so he was at eye level with her. She pulled her lower lip in between her teeth, and her hand tightened on his in a white knuckle grip. As Nick continued to work, she held herself still as a high, pain filled moan escaped. Her hand squeezed his hand tighter, and the cords of her neck stood out.
Rowan took a look at Nick, and his brother nodded as he held up what looked like a bloody tic tac. “He’s almost done sweetheart.”
“Did you get it?” she panted as she continued to look at Rowan.
“I did,” Nick said. “I’m going to give you a stitch to keep the incision closed, and then we’ll be done. I’ll try to be as quick as I can,” Nick said as he prepared the suture.
Kate didn’t look at him, holding Rowan’s eyes. She let out a small whimper when Nick put the needle in to stitch the incision. It was a quiet noise, but it had more of an affect on Rowan than if she’d screamed. He wished he could have spared her this somehow, and he made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t rest until he found the pricks responsible for this, and made them pay for every bit of pain she’d endured.
“Okay, it’s done now,” Nick said as he finished. “Be careful not to open the stitch, and you may want to put a small bandage on it tonight in case it rubs. I can take the stitch out for you in about ten days.” Nick gathered up his equipment, and Kate promptly burst into tears.
Rowan’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach as he helped her sit up and put his arms around her. He looked at Nick in alarm and his brother immediately left the room. Thanks Nick, he thought.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Are you in pain? Please talk to me,” Rowan said as he held her against him. She shook her head against his chest as she continued to sob, and he was at a loss as to what to do. He looked up when Nick came back to the room with Hadria and Samara in tow. The two women took over and eased Kate out of his arms.
“Come on honey,” Samara said as they helped her off the table. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”
The two women led Kate in the direction of the bathroom, and Rowan looked at Nick in askance.
“I think the weight of everything that happened tonight has caught up with her. Let her be for a minute. I’m sure Samara and Hadria will do a better job of helping her settle down than we could. Let’s go in the living room and wait there.”
Rowan went into the living room and threw himself on the couch as he let out a big breath. He never wanted to see her go through anything like that again.
“Did you get that thing out of her?” Eric asked as Nick followed Rowan into the room.
“Yeah. I’ll take it to headquarters tomorrow.” Nick ran his hand over his face. “I’ll fill Cadric in on what happened, but he may want you to bring her in.”
“Fran
kly Nick, at this point I don’t give a shit about what Cadric wants. She’s been through more than enough, and if she wants to go I’ll take her, but if not then no.”
“Rowan, you have to be reasonable about this. You can’t expect to do this alone,” Nick said in his big brother voice, and in that moment Rowan wanted to punch him in the face.
“I know you’re in deep with the Order, but she comes before anything else. So don’t give me that bullshit.”
“We can protect her,” Nick insisted, and Rowan curled his lips and growled at his brother. He stood and went after Nick. Eric intervened and put his arm around Rowan’s waist and pulled him back.
“Bro, I don’t think he was even trying to suggest that you can’t protect your own woman, were you Nicky?” Eric asked as he looked pointedly at his older brother.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t protect her,” he said as he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I just meant that we have the resources to be able to get these guys.”
“We have a resource to catch at least one of them,” Rowan said as he forced himself to calm down.
“And what would that be?” Nick asked as he raised an eyebrow at him.
“You give me that tracker, and I’ll take it to a nice secluded spot. And when he shows up I’ll kill the bastard.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Eric said as he let go of Rowan to stand beside him. “I know that if it was Samara in this situation, that’s what I’d want to do.”
“Well I’m not giving you the tracker. Let the Order take care of it,” Nick said and Rowan knew by his tone that he wasn’t going to budge on this. Rowan opened his mouth to tell Nick exactly what he thought of the Order’s ability to take care of it, since they’d done a bang up job so far, but he stopped himself when the women came back into the room. He immediately went to Kate and pulled her to his side.
“You okay?” he asked.
