by Abigail Owen
He ran and ran. No purpose, no direction guided his paws. With all his heart, he wished Tala was at his side, gorgeous with her white and grey coat and smooth movements. Had their one day together been enough?
Eventually Marrok knew he had to go back. For a brief moment, he turned his face up to the sky and enjoyed the breeze ruffling through his fur. He dug his claws into the hard ground and enjoyed the power of his muscles tightly coiled. But the need for his mate turned his feet toward the cabin.
As he neared the clearing, his pace slowed to an easy lope, then a trot. A truck built for off road stood parked out front. Marrok circled the clearing, still hidden in the woods and cautiously sniffed the air. Recognizing the scent of one of his people, he relaxed and emerged.
Outside the cabin he took the minute to make the change. With a groan and the crunch of bones and stretching of skin, a million bolts of electricity zinged through him as fur withdrew and his body realigned. He stepped inside to find Blaez waiting for him at the small kitchen table. “I won’t take long.”
The werewolf, never much of a talker, gave him a thumbs up.
Marrok pulled on his jeans and had his t-shirt over his head when his satellite phone rang. He yanked the shirt down and grabbed the phone off the coffee table. Tala’s number popped up on the display, and he answered. “Tala?”
A short silence greeted him, but he could hear the noise of her SUV on the road. “Tala?” he repeated.
“Do you mind if we stop?” Her voice was faint, far away from the phone.
Panic slammed through him. She wanted to stop their mating? Stop the truce? What? He thought they’d made progress. “Baby, wait—”
“Why?” A male voice cut him off. He recognized Dolph, the guy who’d picked her up. Marrok frowned and listened.
Tala spoke next. “Reading on a bumpy road was a terrible idea. I’m not feeling all that hot.” Had she butt-dialed him?
“We’re not far from Rand.”
Marrok cocked his head. Rand was the exact opposite direction from where Tala was going. “Wow!” she said. “We really did get rerouted.”
Dolph grunted in agreement.
Another pause. “Can you unlock the window?” Tala asked.
Something was definitely wrong. No way had she dialed him by accident. Tala was nervous. Marrok could hear it in her voice, though he doubted Dolph could. Marrok knew his mate. How he did after a relatively short time with her was beyond him. Perhaps their bond was solidifying?
“Why?” Dolph asked.
“Because I want to roll it down.” No irritation laced her words.
Dolph remained silent.
“Stop the car.” She’d changed from requesting to ordering.
No response.
“Now.” That was an alpha’s command if he’d ever heard one.
A soft gasp reached his ears. If he hadn’t been a werewolf, he wouldn’t have caught it. A strange thud was followed by the unmistakable blast of a gunshot followed by a terrible racket. Panic slammed through him again, his heart taking off. Marrok gripped the phone. “Tala?” he yelled.
“Tala!”
But the line was dead.
Marrok breathed hard, trying not double over. He had to think, had to save his mate. His wolf was frantic inside his head.
“Boss?” Blaez’s snarl caught Marrok’s attention, and he raised his head to find the werewolf beside him. “Did you hear all that?”
Blaez nodded.
Marrok shoved the phone at him. “Keys.”
Blaez fished them out and put them in Marrok’s outstretched hand before he followed Marrok out to the truck.
“Call Shyla first,” Marrok ordered as they got in. Tala’s sister might be in danger too. “Then call Rafe.” Blaez would understand Marrok meant to have his second-in-command rally the troops.
He cranked the engine and took off through the trees. White knuckled, he gripped the wheel, pushing the truck over the rough terrain faster than was prudent. How long had he been out there running? If they were close to Rand, they were almost two hours away.
He had to get to his mate. Now.
CHAPTER 19
Ninety minutes later, Marrok crouched beside the demolished SUV his mate had driven away in this morning. Only sheer will and the knowledge that losing his shit wouldn’t help had him biting back the surge of panic and fury filling him. His wolf clawed at his insides, slamming against his skin in a frenzy to get out. He’d loose the beast soon enough, but first he needed to determine a plan.
The vehicle had been abandoned. A small pool of blood stained the ground on the driver’s side. Marrok trailed his fingers through it and inhaled. Not Tala. The scent of her blood was sweeter, richer. This blood was tangier. Dolph probably. Good. He hoped that fucker was bleeding to death somewhere in the woods.
“Boss,” Blaez called from the tree line.
Marrok rose and crossed to where he stood.
“Look.” Blaez indicated a series of paw prints. The smaller set had to be Tala. He could smell her—earth and wildflowers, like the field at their cabin. His wolf snarled. More prints followed hers into the woods. Tala was being hunted.
These prints were bigger, male werewolves—at least six of them. Too many for Tala to fight on her own. The new set of prints were fresher, the scents newer. At a guess, he was only twenty minutes behind them, which meant Tala had a decent head start, assuming she wasn’t hampered by injury.
Marrok yanked his shirt over his head. “I’m going after her. Stay here and wait for the others.”
Blaez opened his mouth to argue, but shut it, his jaw squared, and nodded.
“I’ll leave an obvious trail to follow.” He didn’t wait for Blaez to acknowledge. The change couldn’t come fast enough. He willed his body to break and reform faster. His wolf practically burst from his skin.
“Damn!” Blaez jumped back.
Marrok took off after this mate and the wolves who hunted her. His long strides ate up the ground as his enhanced sense of smell allowed him to keep a decent pace. After about ten minutes, though, he skidded to a halt. The obvious trail went off to his left, but his wolf insisted they go right, a gut level instinct telling him he’d find his mate this direction.
He wasted time debating what the facts told him versus what his soul told him was true. If he chose wrong, he’d never get to her in time. His wolf made the decision for him, taking off to the right, following that gut-level instinct.
Twenty more minutes of running—the sounds of the woods fading under the steady beat of his feet against the ground and the rush of air in his lungs—and the trail, or whatever pulled him through the woods, went cold.
Marrok stopped and stood in silence. He engaged all the enhanced senses at his disposal to search the trees around him. His wolf whimpered. Had he chosen wrong?
A soft whistle caught his attention. Marrok whipped his head to look straight up into the eyes of the woman he loved. Tala, in her human form, perched high in the branches of a tall pine tree.
Relief and realization flooded his system in a simultaneous rush. She was safe. He’d found her in time. And he loved her. With everything he had inside him. Tala was the other half of his soul, and if he’d lost her today, nothing would have brought him back from the pit of despair he and his wolf would have sunk into.
He changed before he consciously thought to do so. He needed to hold her in his arms, assure himself she was real. While his body realigned, she must’ve scrambled down the tree, because when Marrok rose, her body slammed into his. Naked woman wrapped herself around him, and he closed his arms around her, breathing in her sweet scent, grateful as hell he’d found her.
After a long moment just holding her, Marrok pulled back, though he didn’t let her go. “Are you okay? Hurt?”
She shook her head, her blond hair falling into her eyes. “Bruises, scrapes from jumping tree to tree. Nothing that won’t heal. How’d you find me?” She scrunched her nose.
Without her saying,
he knew she was chagrined at being tracked so easily. He brushed the hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I don’t know. My wolf knew you were this way. Did you lay a false path?”
She leaned into his touch. “Yes. Then doubled back in the trees.”
Pride joined the relief and love pulsing through him. “You’re incredible.”
She grimaced. “My own people are trying to kill me. Maybe incredible is a strong term.”
“Not all of them.”
She frowned her question.
“Shyla says only eight or nine wolves appear to be in on this attempted coup. No one else is involved.”
“That doesn’t mean much. I’m losing my pack, Marrok.”
Because of him. She left that part unsaid, but it floated between them.
“What now?”
Tala grinned, though the deadly glint in her eyes made her smile more evil than humorous. Marrok shivered.
“Now I’m going to kill them.”
He’d been right to be wary. At the same time, he understood. Any wolf who challenged an alpha knew the law. Win the challenge or die, or, if you were lucky, be exiled. But Tala had shown Sandalio mercy, and it bit her in the ass. Now she had something to prove to her people.
Which meant he couldn’t help. Already his wolf was growling at the thought of letting her fight on her own.
“Get me back to the crash,” she said. “I need my things.”
“Is your wolf going to maul me again?”
“I think, like when we fought Kaios together, she’ll be focused on the more immediate threat.
Marrok wasn’t as confident. “I’ll change first.”
Tala chuckled. “Scared of poor little me?”
He ignored her teasing and forced his body through the change. As soon as he was set, she did the same. A low growl ripped from her, but she took off through the trees rather than attack, so he followed.
While her wolf snarled at him any time he came in her line of sight, she kept going. They made it back to the scene of the crash to find not only Marrok’s forces, but many of Tala’s. She nodded at her people before moving to the back of the SUV. Shifting with only a small grunt at the end, she showed no shame in her nakedness as she pried open the door and pulled out her suitcase.
Still, Marrok, who also shifted and pulled on a pair of jeans handed to him by Blaez, growled and stepped between her and the others. Tala was his woman, his mate, and his to appreciate naked. No other man’s.
She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “This possessive streak is going to be a pain given how often werewolves strip down,” she pointed out.
“Uh-huh.” He grunted without moving.
She snickered before turning back to her suitcase. After dressing in form-fitting black athletic pants and a matching tank top and strapping black boots to her feet, she wound the thin chain—the one Marrok knew first hand was a whip of sorts—around her slim waist. A wicked looking halter holding a set of small knives went around her shoulders to be hidden under a leather vest. He didn’t see what else she stashed on her person, but, knowing Tala, she was loaded down with weapons of various kinds.
“Why didn’t you do this earlier?” he asked.
“No time.” She turned to face the gathering. “Follow me.”
Retracing her original steps, she moved them off the road—where unsuspecting humans might cross their paths at any second—and into a small clearing not visible from passersby. “When they come, I deal with them. Alone.”
Tala cast a hard stare around those gathered. Every pair of eyes except his dropped before her gaze, unable to face an alpha head on. Not when she was throwing off alpha vibes as she was.
“You too.” That glare was aimed his way now.
“I know,” he agreed softly.
“I want your word.”
That she would take his word told him some trust had been built, but hope couldn’t penetrate the fear for her life currently gripping his heart. His mate was about to go up against six male werewolves on her own.
“You have it.” His wolf, however, might not be as controlled.
CHAPTER 20
They didn’t have to wait long until six wolves slunk into the clearing, hackles raised, teeth bared, regarding all gathered there with wary hate blazing from their eyes. The traitors knew they had no option but to challenge Tala openly, unable to deny being a part of the plot against her. Their scents were all over the car and the woods.
Sandalio she recognized immediately. Hard not to. The remaining five included Dolph, Sandalio’s two sons and only grandson, and Connor, who came as a shock. She never would have guessed Connor opposed her. The heavy weight of sadness dragged at her heart because now she had to kill him.
But he’d made his choice.
Tala stood in the center of the gathering, legs planted wide, hands loose at her sides. The rest of their people, Marrok included, stayed at the edge of the clearing where the trees started, giving the area the feel of a boxing ring. This would be the fight of her life.
Rather than make the first move, Tala waited in silence. No doubt Sandalio and his wolves had discussed their plan before confronting her there. No way could they miss the presence of many of both packs as they traced her path.
Rather than watching their eyes, Tala focused on the chest of the dark grey wolf in the middle--Sandalio. Of course, he was the leader. She studied the movement of his body, staring at a spot mid-chest. She’d learned long ago that eyes might lie, but the body would tell her what moves were coming.
Taking deep, calming breaths, she readied herself for what she was about to do.
As one, the six wolves lunged for her, deep growls ripping from their throats. In a flash, Tala drew out two knives from her vest. Rather than back up, she rolled toward them and, using her momentum, hurled the knives as she came up from the roll. Two of the wolves—Sandalio’s son and grandson, dropped to the ground with a thud, the knives embedded between their eyes.
Tala came up from her roll and snatched the metal whip from around her waist. With a flick of her wrist, she sliced open Sandalio’s face. He pulled up from his charge, giving her space to crack the whip, wrapping it around Connor’s legs. She tugged on the whip, setting it to tighten if he struggled. Three down.
Before she could reset, though, a pair of massive arms came around her neck from behind, squeezing the life from her lungs and threatening to crush her bones.
“Watch her, Dolph,” Sandalio warned. He too had shifted to his human form. “She always has a blade on her.”
Damn straight. As a female werewolf, smaller than the males in wolf form by a third or more, her ability with weapons was a strength—one she’d exploit to her dying breath. That ability had made her alpha. Tala stomped her foot, activating a mechanism in her boot which thrust a steel knife out of both the toe and the heel.
Using a self-defense maneuver, she dropped into a crouch, leaning forward, which made it harder for Dolph to squeeze her or pick her up. She thrust her hands forward, locking her elbows, which loosened his grip slightly, then slung her right hand back behind her with a karate chop move, right into his balls. To give him credit, Dolph didn’t let go fully, but she’d created enough space that now she could swing her leg. She kicked her heel backwards, aiming for his shin. The knife point hit bone with a satisfying crunch, and Dolph released her with a howl of rage and pain.
He dropped to the ground, hand over his shin. “Bitch,” he spat.
Tala had already slipped her kubotan from the pouch on her sleeve. Hand gripped around it, she slammed the end of the hard instrument into his temple. Down went Dolph. Dead or unconscious, she didn’t care.
Sandalio and his other son hadn’t stood still though. The lighter grey werewolf, still in wolf form, charged. As she turned back to them, he bit down on her forearm, hard. Tala cried out as shards of pain splintered out from the bite. Her bones broke with a sickening crack. The wolf locked his jaw and shook her like a rag
doll. Vaguely she was aware of thundering growl followed by shouts and yelps. Marrok must be going crazy.
The wolf dropped her the ground. Tala lay there, a limp broken woman. She allowed the tears of pain and rage to escape her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. She held up her damaged arm, shaking with the effort. “Don’t kill me,” she pleaded.
The wolf stood over her now, his feet on either side of her, waiting for the kill order from his leader.
“So weak. You never were worthy to lead.” Sandalio stood at her head now. He gave a nod.
A snarl ripped from his son before he lunged for her neck. Only Tala moved faster. With her one good hand, she whipped one of the steel hair sticks from a pouch at her ankle and jammed it up through the soft spot under the wolf’s jaw, through the soft palate of his mouth and into his brain.
She rolled out from under him before he could collapse on her. Raising to her feet, she faced Sandalio, who stared at the body of his son with shock, a pallor crept over his face.
“I guess age doesn’t always come with wisdom,” Tala taunted.
“Mercy.” The plea fell from his lips as a whisper.
She held back a grim smile. Sandalio never was a fighter on his own. He’d always relied on numbers and smarts. A glance revealed Marrok, in wolf form again, barely held back by six of his own wolves.
“I won’t kill you,” she said. “I believe my worthiness to lead should no longer be in question.” She glanced around the clearing. Her words weren’t a question, but a statement. The emotions reflected back at her told her she’d won her people’s respect. Again. For now.
Relief, almost comic in its intensity, passed over Sandalio’s features. “Thank you.”
“I can’t say the same for my mate, however.” She nodded at the wolves holding Marrok back. They moved aside, and the black wolf was on the man in one massive leap. He had Sandalio by the neck in an instant. With a vicious snarl, he shook Sandalio until he was limp, then dropped him in a pool of his own blood.
Marrok stood over the body, fur standing on his back, teeth bared, as he growled over his kill.
