She grimaced. “I’d love a hot bath, some pain relievers and a good night’s sleep. Other than that, I’m a bit banged up, but I’ll be all right.”
He noticed then that she still had her gun clasped in her hand. “Why don’t you tuck that away for now.”
She stared down at her hand and almost seemed surprised to still see the gun there. “I’d forgotten I was still holding it.” She finally had to reach down with her free hand to pry her fingers from around the metal. Once she had it tucked into her jeans at the small of her back, she flexed her fingers. “I didn’t want to lose it this time.”
No, he thought. She’d lost her weapon during the fight in the garage and his little warrior wouldn’t want to do that again.
Alex slipped on her leather jacket and he tied the windbreaker around his waist as they hiked onward. It didn’t matter to him what the terrain was. He knew he could take care of both Alex and himself. He was headed in the direction of Wolf Creek and that was all that mattered. Eventually, his brothers would know something had gone wrong and they would come looking.
If he’d been on his own, he would have shed his clothing and shifted. In his wolf form he could have run for hours, outpacing the hunters. But Alex couldn’t change yet and he wouldn’t leave her.
He sniffed the air constantly, testing it for smells that didn’t belong. He ignored the sweet smell of Alex that drifted up to his nostrils. Yes, she was sweaty and dirty and he hated the scent of blood that surrounded her, reminding him of her injuries, but beneath it all was the sweet smell of woman.
A bird flew up from the trees behind them. Joshua whirled around. Instinctively, he leapt at Alex, catching her in his arms as he threw them both to the ground, sheltering her so that his much larger body took the brunt of the fall. He heard the telltale whistle before he felt the pain. A large silver-tipped bolt from a crossbow pierced his left shoulder. If he hadn’t jumped when he had, it would have been buried in his heart.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex stared in horror at the large arrow protruding from Joshua’s body. He seemed oblivious to it as he drew his gun with his other hand and crouched beside her. She tried to scramble to her knees, but he knocked her back down with his shoulder. “Stay down,” he hissed. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, but in no other way did he give any indication he was in any pain at all.
The man was unbelievable.
Reaching behind her back, she pulled out her gun. The weight felt solid in her hand. “How did they find us so quickly?” She’d thought that with Joshua’s skills in the woods the hunters would have a harder time finding them. Which was a stupid assumption when she really thought about it. If these were professional bounty hunters they would be skilled trackers. She excused her brief mental lapse, telling herself the blow to her head from the accident had momentarily scrambled her brains.
“We’ve got to move.” His eyes scanned the woods around them. “The two hunters are coming from the east, but they’ve got company. Keep low.”
She scrabbled to her feet, but kept her head and body as low to the ground as possible as she followed him behind some heavy brush. She could hear a shout in the distance but couldn’t make out what was said. “More hunters?” Her voice was hushed, but it still sounded incredibly loud. She knew she shouldn’t be talking, but she had to know what was going on.
“Werewolves,” he growled, disgust dripping from that single word. Betrayal. He didn’t say it, but Alex could all but hear it. The fact that a werewolf would join forces with bounty hunters to destroy another of their kind was an abomination. These hunters routinely killed women and children in their efforts to destroy the species.
Alex didn’t speak after that, but concentrated on putting one foot carefully in front of the other. She tried to match Joshua’s steps. He was absolutely silent as he moved fluidly and quickly through the forest. He didn’t lead her in a straight line, but had her moving over rocks and fallen logs, zigzagging their path. He always seemed to know where to step to avoid making any sound. It seemed as instinctive to him as breathing. This was the wolf inside him, she realized. This was the predator, at home in the woods.
It occurred to her that if she weren’t with him, he’d be stalking those hunters and rogue werewolves instead of running from them, wound or no wound. Her fingers tightened around her weapon. He stopped behind a large boulder and pulled her down beside him.
“The arrow has got to come out. It’s getting in my way.”
Of course it was. Not that it hurt him in any way. It was just getting in his way. She was filled with the totally unreasonable urge to yell at him. Instead, she pushed back her anger. “What do you want me to do?”
He gave a single nod of approval as if he’d expected nothing less from her. “You’ll have to break the end off the bolt. It’s tipped in silver and is too big to pull back out without causing more damage.” Reaching down into his boot, he withdrew a wickedly sharp hunting knife. “If you can’t crack it off, cut it with this.”
Laying the gun down on the ground next to them, she stared at the arrow protruding from his body, trying to figure out the best angle of approach.
“Just do it. We don’t have time to waste.” He braced himself against the rock, the muscles of his good arm tensing as he waited.
She wasn’t trying to waste time. She was trying to build up enough courage to do this. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped her hands around the top of the shaft just below the tip and put all her strength into the task at hand. Doing her best not to jolt him, she cracked off the deadly silver end and tossed it to the ground.
Joshua was breathing heavily now, and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. “Good. That’s very good. Now come around to my front, brace your hand on my chest and pull the rest of the arrow out.”
Alex swallowed hard, but did as he instructed. His body was warm beneath her hand, his heart beating steadily beneath her palm. There was no give in the wide expanse of muscle that banded across his chest. She gripped the shaft with her other hand, took a deep breath and pulled in one hard motion, much like ripping off an adhesive bandage.
He sucked in a breath between his clenched teeth, but other than that he gave no sign she’d hurt him at all. His body was rock steady, but she was feeling a bit wobbly. Kneeling in the dirt, she wiped a hand over her damp forehead. Blood welled from the hole. “That needs to be cleaned so it doesn’t get infected.”
“Later.” He glanced back toward the direction they’d come from, his eyes narrowing. “Help me get my shirt off. I need to wrap something around this to stop the bleeding.”
God. She’d been sitting here just watching him bleed. Her head must be more muddled from the crash than she’d thought. Galvanized into action, she shucked her jacket and tore her own shirt over her head. Using the knife he’d handed her, she cut it into strips. She had a momentary pang over destroying the shirt because he’d given it to her. Which was actually quite a silly sentiment at a time like this.
She also wished she had her grimy sweatshirt to pull on. But that was back in the wrecked truck, rolled up in a paper bag with the rest of their belongings. She hadn’t even noticed the bag when she’d crawled out of the truck. Obviously, it had gotten tossed somewhere during the accident. No matter where it was, there was no going back for it now.
Alex ignored his questioning stare as she carefully cut away the short sleeve of his shirt. She folded several of the strips she’d cut in to thick pads, placing one at the entry point of the wound and the other at the exit. She then used several more strips to wrap his shoulder, hoping this would stem, if not stop the bleeding. When she was done, she hauled her leather jacket on over her bra. “You should wear your jacket.”
He shook his head as he used the windbreaker to clean most of the blood from his arm. “I’m going to use it to try to lead them away from us.” His eyes softened as he cupped her jaw in his hand. “Thank you, Alex.” His thumb stroked her bottom lip before he pulled away and gathered his huntin
g knife, placing it safely back into his boot. He picked up his handgun and nodded. He was ready to go.
Alex grabbed her gun and checked her knives, which were still safely tucked in her boots. Joshua was already moving, but she stared down at the long broken arrow that lay discarded on the ground. The arrow was tipped in silver, which was deathly poison to werewolves. They’d meant to kill him and had come close. She could not allow that to happen. Tightening her grip on the cold metal in her hand, she decided then and there she would have to be more vigilant. He was prepared to protect her with his life. She could do no less for him.
They walked for about fifteen minutes, when he stopped and crouched beside a birch tree that had fallen in some storm. Using his hand, he scooped away some of the soft ground around the base and partially buried his windbreaker. As he stood, he swiped his dirty hand over the leg of his jeans. Then he had them backtrack for several yards before he led her off in another direction, telling her to make her steps as far apart as possible.
Time moved onward. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been walking, but it must have been at least an hour. Joshua was very careful. Every now and then he’d stop and listen. Neither of them spoke, both of them conserving their energy in case they had to run or fight. She ignored the worried glances that Joshua kept giving her and tried to look energetic and alert whenever she felt his eyes on her. But it wasn’t easy.
Every ache and pain in her body was making itself known. She felt as if she was one big throbbing mass. Her face hurt and her head was pounding. The muscles in her legs burned with the unfamiliar exercise and her feet hurt. She imagined she had more than one blister on each foot. Her boots had not been made with this kind of activity in mind, plus they were fairly new and not quite broken in yet. After spending all day yesterday walking, her feet were beginning to complain.
The gun in her hand was beginning to feel as if it weighed a ton and she kept flexing her arm, trying to relieve the strain. She wasn’t willing to tuck it away any longer. Their enemies were too close for her to risk it.
All she wanted to do was to lie down in the dirt and sleep. Right now, she could probably sleep standing up. Every now and then her eyes would start to drift shut and she’d have to jerk herself awake. She figured it was her head injury making her tired. She probably had a mild concussion, but there was no time to worry over that minor detail. They had much bigger problems chasing them through the woods.
Joshua held up his hand and she almost plowed into him before she could stop. She curled her fingers into the back of his shirt and held on for a moment, longing to just snuggle against him and rest. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her low, practically shoving her behind the trunk of an oak.
He held up two fingers and pointed off to their right and then one finger and pointed to the left. Gripping her right hand, he pointed her gun with its silver bullets toward the left. Werewolves. She knew then it wasn’t the bounty hunters who had found them.
Joshua then pointed two fingers straight ahead and shook his head. So it wasn’t just werewolves, but bounty hunters as well. She nodded so he’d know she understood. His dark eyes were fathomless as he leaned forward and dropped a quick, hard kiss on her lips before disappearing into the forest around them. One moment he was there, the next she was alone.
Cold sweat broke out on her body as fear filled her belly. She knew he was going out there to fight them, possibly even to draw them away from her. If she’d have known his intent, she could have stopped him.
No, she honestly told herself. She couldn’t have. The look in his eyes had told her that nothing could stop him. Not until all their enemies had been eliminated.
She shivered beneath the leather jacket, suddenly chilled to her bones. Only two days ago, she’d had no idea this world existed. Now she’d been plunged into the middle of a war that had apparently been ongoing for quite some time. Right now, she longed for her old life with its predictable, if slightly boring, routine. She wanted to work alongside her father at the garage and drink in his familiar, comfortable presence. She wanted to curl up in her living room and read a book while she sipped a huge mug of coffee or wander out onto the street and shoot the breeze with Divine.
But that was over. She knew those days would never return. All she had now was the life ahead of her and that included Joshua. She grasped her weapon more firmly and risked a glance around the tree trunk. A rustling sound came from ahead of her. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Her arm was steady as she extended it in front of her. Time seemed to slow down as the wait became unending. Her fingers flexed as she heard the faint sound again.
She blinked away the sting from a bead of sweat, not willing to move to wipe her eyes.
It got closer.
And closer.
Her finger caressed the trigger.
A small furry animal burst from beneath a pile of leaves and scurried across the ground in front of her.
Alex sucked in a breath and dropped her chin down to her chest. Her heart was pounding and she had the sudden urge to laugh. She could just imagine how she looked, the fearless hunter facing down a killer squirrel.
Swiping her free hand across her face, she shook herself.
She got no warning at all, but suddenly she knew there was someone, or something behind her. Instinct? Or maybe she felt the subtle shift in the air? Whatever it was, Alex suddenly threw herself to the right as she turned. A huge gray wolf was already airborne as she fell to the ground, raised her arm and fired off several quick shots.
The large animal yelped and jerked in midair before its heavy weight came tumbling down on top of her. All she could see was a huge muzzle with large teeth coming toward her. She fired again, but the wolf kept on coming.
The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Frantic, she dropped the gun and shoved at the animal’s head. It took her a second to realize it wasn’t moving. It was dead. She’d killed it. Him. It.
She shook her head and tried to clear her vision. The impact with the wolf hadn’t helped her already battered body, but she knew she couldn’t stay like this. There were more of them out there and she was vulnerable just lying here.
Arm muscles straining, Alex thrust the animal’s head away and then concentrated on moving the heavy body off of her, but it took some doing. This was no regular-sized wolf and it was a deadweight. She half-pushed, half-squirmed out from beneath it, flopping onto the ground beside it to catch her breath.
As she lay there, she silently thanked her father for all the shooting lessons she’d had since she was a kid. She hadn’t had to think in order to act, but had done it purely on instinct.
Her limbs were shaky, but she managed to grab her gun and crawl back to the trunk of a tree. Briefly, she rested her forehead against it. Where was Joshua?
A low, menacing growl echoed around her and her fingers closed around the hilt of her weapon. How many bullets were left? She thought she’d fired seven shots—four today and three back at the garage. Had it been more?
Steadying herself against the base of the oak tree, she took several slow, deep breaths to calm her breathing. She didn’t hear a sound, but suddenly a man stepped into view about fifteen feet away. Had her shots given away her position to the bounty hunters? Man or werewolf? She didn’t know and couldn’t take a chance. She fired off a round.
She swore when he ducked out of the way just in time to avoid being hit. Bark exploded from the tree just above her head and she ducked before popping up again to return fire with two quick shots. As she pulled back behind the tree, she admonished herself for wasting her ammunition.
“That’s what he’s trying to do and you’re obviously playing into his hands,” she muttered as she shifted to the next tree. The man shot at her again, but this time she didn’t return his fire. She’d already wasted three of her precious bullets on him. She needed to make every shot count.
“Come on out,” a male voice yelled. “We don’t want to hurt you. We only want the wol
f.”
Yeah right. Like she’d believe that. She crept as quietly as possible through the trees, scooting from one to another. Another shot grazed the tree in front of her and she flinched.
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the forest. Alex wanted to cover her ears against the horrid sound, but couldn’t move. Then silence. Joshua had found one of the bounty hunters.
Alex swallowed, but it wasn’t easy. Her mouth was as dry as sandpaper. Her stomach churned. She took a deep breath and then another. She dropped to her knees and sucked in air just as another shot rang out, shattering the bark just inches from her chest. Splinters of wood flew wildly and she was thankful for the protection of her leather jacket.
Flinging her body to the side, she fired from flat on her stomach, sending three quick shots in the direction of the shooter. She was swearing even as she was dragging her body across the forest floor. They had somehow surrounded her. And just where in the heck was Joshua?
Several more shots were fired in quick succession. One of them plowed into the ground beside her. She felt a sharp sting in her arm. Whether it was a rock from where she’d flung herself to the ground or a shard from the exploding tree trunk she didn’t know and she didn’t have time to check.
She saw a tiny movement in the trees just a few feet away. Saying a quick prayer, she fired. A man’s body jerked into sight and he swung his rifle toward her. She fired over and over, emptying her gun into his body. He toppled backward, his rifle dropping to the ground beside him.
There was no time to breathe as two wolves, both a dark brown, sauntered into view. “Shit!” She dug her feet into the ground and scuttled backward. They lowered their heads and growled menacingly.
She raised her weapon and pulled the trigger. The metallic click reminded her she was out of ammunition. Dropping the Glock, she grabbed her two boot knives out of their sheaths, flinging them in rapid succession. Both animals were quick, their reflexes astounding as they managed to sidestep the blades at the last possible second. She was well and truly screwed.
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