Bounty Hunter- Mack

by Kim Fox

  It was in her third year when she was captured.

  She had just taken her last exam of the semester—a bitch of a final test in Business Law—and was feeling on top of the world as she walked to the pub with her friends to celebrate another completed year of University. It was a fun night of letting loose after a rough few weeks of finals. Her poor roommate Janice was still studying for her final exam in two days. If not for Janice missing, the night would have been perfect.

  She danced and drank all night, rapping with PitBull and shaking her ass with Rhianna. It was the kind of fun, carefree night that only occurred in College bars after final exams. Where everyone could sleep in the next morning and were partying with their friends one last time before they all went home.

  Kara stumbled out of the bar with Ally and Mitch and went to get something to eat. They sat slumped in their chairs as they stuffed the best falafel ever into their mouths while laughing about the drunk girl who fell off the bar while she was trying to do her best Coyote Ugly performance.

  It had been a fun night and one that Kara knew would be etched into her memory for a long time. Mitch was leaving the next day. Ally the day after that. She was a senior and wouldn’t return. They told each other they would keep in touch and visit often, but they both kind of knew that it probably wouldn’t happen. Ally was returning home to Tucson, and Arizona was a long way from Maine.

  They said their tearful goodbyes and to Kara’s surprise, Mitch stayed with Ally. Those two had been flirting off and on for the entire year and leave it to last-minute-Mitch to also leave this to the last minute.

  Kara smiled as she walked back to her apartment. She was going to miss this place, but she was also excited for the summer. She was headed back to Maine before she had to return for her last year in the fall.

  A tingle of nerves rippled through her as she walked along the street. A man was walking toward her with his hands in his pockets.

  She casually slipped her hand into her purse and gripped the pepper spray that her brother had given her before she left for University. “If any guy starts acting like a prick you don’t stop spraying until their eyes become permanently bloodshot,” he had said with a grin. “That way I can find him and finish the job.”

  She had laughed at the time but she wasn’t laughing now. She gripped the canister, but then breathed a little easier as he nodded at her with a polite smile as he passed.

  Kara had barely taken three steps when a hand suddenly covered her mouth from behind and yanked her back. A dark van appeared out of nowhere, screeching to a stop as the doors flew open.

  She fought and tried to kick away, but the man was so strong and he was dragging her to the van so fast. Something pricked her in the lower back and it was like someone had turned the power down. Her arms became heavy and her movements sluggish. Her vision blurred and spun as her mouth hung open. The man easily lifted her and placed her in the van, and the last thing that Kara remembered was the slamming of the door.

  Her mother was there when she woke up. At first, she thought she was dreaming. How could her mother be there?

  Then she saw everyone else. Her father was there, as well as Henley and Bethany too.

  “It’s okay,” her mother whispered as she stroked Kara’s head. She was crying. Everyone was, even her father.

  Kara sat up with an intense migraine, but the horror was only beginning. They were locked in a small apartment with two twin beds, a TV, a tiny bathroom, a kitchenette, a small table with two chairs and no windows. Her crappy University apartment felt like a palace compared to this.

  Her family told similar stories of being taken, and they all worried about her brother, hoping that he managed to escape.

  They had no idea what the hell was going on. Cold stale meals slid through the slot at the bottom of the door three times a day, but other than that, they had no contact with the outside world.

  Until one day, the doors opened and guards appeared, telling them that it was time to go outside. Kara always had fair pale skin—the kind that gave her the nickname Casper by middle school bullies—and the sun felt incredibly intense after a week indoors.

  The guards took them down to a grassy area where they were able to hang out for two hours. Kara looked around at all of the other people, wondering what was going on. It was a prison, but instead of thugs and criminals, it was families and kids. The kids ran off with each other, playing games and laughing while the parents huddled together, looking concerned and distraught as they whispered to one another.

  Kara’s father joined one of the groups and gathered some information. Some of the families had been there for years. The one common denominator between them all was that there was a family member who was always missing, and that family member was always a shifter.

  That’s why Kara’s brother wasn’t there. She wondered how they knew. Even her best friends didn’t know. They lived next to a forest in Maine and they had always hidden it so well.

  But here they were, stuck.

  The days turned into weeks, which turned into months, which turned into years. They had been there two long years when, two days ago, it had all changed.

  Sometimes they would be allowed to do jobs around the facility which would help pass the time. Kara was near the front gate scrubbing the pigeon shit from the walls of the security booth with her father. It was cold, but her father was in good spirits and they were glad to be outside. They joked around as they worked under the watchful gaze of the on-duty guard.

  Suddenly alarms blared. There was a commotion somewhere in the facility and guards rushed past them nervously clutching their automatic weapons to their chests. The guard watching them looked uneasy. He had asked a passing guard what was up and the guard yelled back, saying that B-27 was loose, whatever that meant.

  “Keep your head down,” Kara’s father warned as he continued scrubbing. The guard held his gun close as he paced nervously. The fighting broke out nearby and gunshots filled the air like firecrackers on the fourth of July.

  Kara’s father wrapped a protective arm around her as the guard took off running to join the fight. There was nothing stopping them from leaving. The gate was closed but one touch of the unguarded red button would open it for the ten seconds needed to slip through.

  “Dad,” she whispered. “The gate.”

  She could see the pain in his eyes. She knew that he would never leave his other two daughters and his wife in there alone. “It’s too dangerous,” he snapped back.

  The guard would return and realize that they were missing. They would get the dogs and find them less than an hour later.

  But then, the guard came back. He was clutching his stomach, which was bleeding heavily. His face paled and he dropped to the ground dead.

  Kara’s father exploded up, gripping her arm before she knew what was going on. He slammed his hand on the red button, opening the gate as the fighting continued around the corner behind them.

  “Go!” he shouted, pushing her toward the gate.

  Kara hesitated, not wanting to leave without him. “But…”

  He leapt forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for one last hug. “Go, Kara. Don’t stop running.” He kissed her forehead roughly and pulled away with tears in his eyes. “I love you.”

  Kara was dazed and didn’t know what to do. A part of her wanted to run from this place, but another part of her wanted to stay with the safety of the familiar, with the safety of her family.

  “Go!” her father said, shoving her out as the gate slid closed between them with a click. “Hurry,” he said, rushing back to his work area.

  Her mouth dropped open, but then she turned and ran.

  She alternated between running and walking for two days. The first cold night was spent shivering under a pine tree, so when she had seen this abandoned gas station she was thrilled. When she saw the fireplace, she was ecstatic until she realized there was no wood, no matches, no fire.

  The sun was moving up fas
t now and the dead chill of the dark night was starting to ease a little. She pushed the frozen rug off of her shoulders and stood up on sore, tired limbs.

  Her parents and sisters were still back there, but she got out.

  There had to be some sort of reason for that.

  Kara grabbed an old bag and filled it with frozen expired chocolate bars and chips from the gas station. She threw it over her shoulder and walked into the cool morning air as her father’s words replayed in her head.

  Don’t stop running. Don’t stop running.

  “You escaped for a purpose,” she told herself as she started walking down the road. “You escaped so you can get your family out.”

  She didn’t know how she was going to do that or what would happen, but she knew what she had to do next.

  Take a step.

  One frigid step at a time.

  So she focused on that.

  Chapter Four

  Mack

  Yesterday, Mack and the crew had finally entered Alaska after three long days of driving. The two black Ford 150’s barreled down the cold highway with Grant, Amélie, Logan, and Mack leading the way in the first truck.

  Tempest and Ryder were in the second truck, keeping pace. Mack and Logan had alternated between trucks on the first day, but that didn’t last very long. Tempest’s constant singing had them fleeing to the peacefulness of Grant’s truck where they vowed to stay for the rest of the trip. “Your loss,” Ryder had said when they told him they weren’t coming back, although he did have a look of jealousy in his tired eyes when he watched them climb into the quiet truck. Mate or not, Tempest wasn’t the best singer.

  Still, if Mack had to listen to Logan any longer, he might be willing to brave Tempest’s singing instead.

  “I wish I was there with you,” he gushed into the phone as Mack, Grant, and Amélie were forced to listen. “Me too.”

  Mack turned to the window and sighed as he watched the leafless trees whizz by. He thought of Bryce and hoped that the little twerp knew that they were looking for him.

  “You did?” Logan let out a high-pitched laugh that made Mack cringe. “I love you too. So much.” He smiled into the phone. “No, I do.” He ducked his head down low near the door. “What are you wearing?” he whispered. “No, underneath.”

  Amélie turned around from her spot in the front passenger’s seat and narrowed her eyes on him. She lifted her index finger in warning and it morphed into a long black claw.

  “Okay,” Logan said quickly when he saw it. “Okay, I gotta go! Love you too.” He hung up the phone and sank back into his seat as he stared at the claw with a fearful look in his eyes.

  Grant laughed as he drove. “She’s a little protective of her younger sister.”

  “That’s right,” Amélie said as the claw morphed back into her finger. “And don’t you forget it.”

  “She’s my mate!” Logan said in exasperation.

  “She was my sister first.” Amélie’s hard stare slowly turned into a grin as she turned back around.

  Logan let out a long pained sigh as he turned to the window. “She is so perfect.”

  “Yes, we know,” Grant said as he reached for the radio and turned it on. There was nothing but static up here. “She’s absolutely, positively, undoubtedly, emphatically, one hundred and twenty fucking percent perfect. We heard you the first four hundred times.”

  “I feel like I can say it four hundred more times,” Logan said with a love-filled grin.

  Grant pushed the radio off button a little too hard. “Please don’t.”

  All of this love talk was starting to get to Mack. He was a guy who needed his alone time and three days in the car with these people who seemed physically incapable of shutting up was starting to drive him crazy.

  I need a break or I’m going to throw Logan out the window.

  “Pull up here,” Mack said, pointing to the boarded-up restaurant that was approaching. They were driving down a quiet backroad that seemed like it was abandoned. They had been on it for almost an hour and hadn’t seen one other car.

  “We just stopped!” Logan complained.

  Mack turned to him with a challenging look. “So?”

  “So, I want to get back to my mate and if we stop every two seconds, I’ll be an old man by the time we get back.”

  Mack wanted to tell him that he would be a headless old man if he didn’t stop with all of that lovey-dovey mate shit. But they still had some road to travel so he just swallowed it down.

  “Grant,” he grunted. “I gotta go.”

  “All right,” Grant said with a sigh as he pulled over into the restaurant’s parking lot. It was an abandoned diner with boarded-up windows and a sign that was barely hanging on the last rusty screw. “You got forty-five seconds.”

  Ryder pulled up beside them as Mack stepped out of the truck. “Again?” Ryder said through the open window.

  Mack swallowed his reply with a grunt and walked around the building. He didn’t actually have to go, he just needed a break from all of the chatter.

  He leaned his back against the brick and closed his eyes, breathing in the fresh crisp air. We better find him.

  His eyes darted open when he heard a footstep followed by the smell of something sweet. He turned and saw a girl approaching. She was as pale as a ghost, but as captivating as an angel.

  Mack stood there stunned. All he could do was stare in shock as she stumbled forward, dragging her hand on the wall for balance. He could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest as she stared at him with the most beautiful amber eyes he’d ever seen—eyes that seemed to see into his soul, that seemed to be gripping it and refusing to let go. He couldn’t move. He didn’t know what was happening. All he knew was that he couldn’t breathe.

  “Mister,” she whispered in a weak shaky voice. “Can you… help me?”

  It was only then that Mack snapped out of it. Her face was pale, but it also had a blueish tint. Her lips were blue as well and her teeth were chattering. The poor girl was freezing.

  He rushed over and scooped her up in his strong arms, holding her close to his beating heart as she looked up at him with tired eyes that looked beyond exhaustion. One intense emotion was slamming into him after another, nearly dropping him to his knees. He had never felt anything like this before—such an overpowering need to protect someone. But not just to protect her, to possess her as well.

  “You’re safe now, sweet girl,” he whispered to her softly. She was so delicate. So innocent.

  Mack knew in that instant as he held the girl close to his body that she was the missing piece in his world. He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her again. Just the thought of someone else touching her was making him crazy. No, he was going to protect her from the darkness of the world. He was going to be her shelter from the horrible things, the peace in the raging storm.

  “I’ll take care of you,” he whispered as she clung onto his sweater. “I’ll protect you.”

  She didn’t say a word as he carefully carried her back to the truck. She felt so frail in his arms and he was worried he might break her. He felt everyone’s eyes on them as he hurried to the door. Logan’s side was the closest so he went to that door first.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Logan asked, staring in shock as Mack yanked the door open.

  “Out,” Mack growled protectively.

  Logan’s shocked eyes darted from the girl up to Mack’s face. “Out!” he repeated, practically snarling now.

  Even his inner lion was growling impatiently. Mack had been so captivated by the girl that he hadn’t noticed that his lion was in full alert mode, snarling his teeth and ready for a fight. This young innocent girl had awoken the possessive beast in his lion, and neither of them were fucking around while she needed their help.

  “Okay, okay,” Logan said, gulping in panic as he rushed out of the truck through the other side.

  Mack held her close as he stepped into the truck and closed the door.

  She n
ever took her eyes off him as he ordered Grant to turn the heat all the way up.

  No one will treat you better than I will, he wanted to say. You’re mine now and no one will ever take you away.

  Instead, he said nothing as Grant and Amélie stared at them open-mouthed. Those words were for her ears only.

  The heat began filling the truck, blasting through the vents, but it wasn’t fast enough. His girl was in pain and there was nothing else he could do. It killed him to see her like this.

  Who the hell left her out here? His lion raged inside, willing to maul anyone who would dare try to touch her.

  “Who is she?” Grant asked. He leaned over her through the seats to get a better look at her face and a flash of jealousy surged through Mack. “Who are you?”

  Mack held her tighter, turning her face away from Grant. She was weak and needed her rest and he didn’t like his alpha trying to get her to talk.

  “What’s your name?” Grant repeated.

  Mack’s inner lion let out a low warning growl as Mack clenched his jaw. He loved his alpha, but this was Mack’s territory. She was his.

  And it wasn’t like he was able to stop the reaction. She had flipped a switch inside him and he wasn’t sure if he could hold it back.

  His lion’s growling intensified and Grant’s face suddenly turned serious. The two shifters stared each other down as Amélie watched with a nervous look on her face.

  “Let’s just… Everyone relax,” she said as the tension in the car thickened.

  Mack’s lion crept to the surface and snarled. The only thing keeping him back was the sweet innocent girl in his arms who couldn’t be put in harm’s way.

  “Watch yourself,” Grant warned in a low commanding voice as he stared Mack down.

  Mack glared back at him.

  “We’re all on the same side.” Amélie’s soft voice was the only thing cutting through the tension. “We all want the girl to be safe.”

  Mack narrowed his eyes on them. “Get out.”