Erin pointed a long black fingernail at Derek. “He’s the one to blame for all of this. He stole from me. He’s been using you and your pack. There’s really no reason to protect him, is there? You don’t lose anything by giving him up. I’ll leave and take my shifters with me as soon as you do.”
Willow snarled. She shoved off Derek, wobbled, and began to shift. The process was slower than usual, painful. Each snap of bone was slow and deliberate, happening one at a time. But she eventually emerged from the shift looking human once again. She stood tall, not giving a damn that she was naked in front of everyone. She was doing her best to hold herself together, but she couldn’t hide her fatigue from Derek. Tiny shakes racked her body. She needed to rest.
“You can’t have him,” Willow stated.
Derek shifted too. He was feeling light and energetic despite what his body had just gone through. As a result, he shifted in a blur of motion. He wanted to dive back in and kill Erin for what she was doing, but he knew that would have been foolhardy. Besides, if he got hurt again, he didn’t know if Willow could take it. He understood what had happened now. It was what Willow had told him before, about the magic of a Lunas Sigil. He had used her life force. Or she had given him some of her life force. She had done it before too. He took a defensive stance in front of Willow. Even when he was doing his best to protect her, he still managed to hurt her.
“I’ll go with you if you promise to leave and never harm this pack again,” Derek said. He didn’t take Erin for the type to keep her word, but he did believe she didn’t want any more trouble this morning. All she wanted, right now, was him. And those Trinity people, people who supposedly knew how to handle this shit, were supposed to arrive sometime today. The pack would be safe if he could buy them a little time. Willow would be safe.
“No!” Willow said as she grabbed his arm. “She’s lying, Derek.”
As much as he wanted to savor her touch, he couldn’t afford to. He needed to make this cut clean. “Don’t let her come after me,” Derek told Nick.
Nick’s eyes hardened, but he gave a slight nod of his head. Good enough.
“What are you talking about?” Willow pleaded.
Nick grabbed his sister’s arms and Derek jerked out of her grasp. He walked forward and stopped when he was at Erin’s side. Erin gave that sly vixen smile of hers. She pressed her hand to his chest and felt down to the muscles in his stomach. His skin was crawling. He didn’t want her touching him. He growled when her hands sank lower. Thank the supposedly god-like Moon. She actually stopped.
“Fine, I’ll wait,” she said. “You’ll change your tune soon enough.”
Willow was snarling and fighting against her brother, trying to break free of his grasp as she lashed out at him, but he had his arms tight around her. He was too big and wasn’t budging an inch. His eyes were dark as he looked at Derek. Derek wasn’t sure how to interpret that look, but he figured it didn’t matter anymore. He might not be himself much longer.
Erin snapped her fingers and Derek felt the cold barrel of a gun digging into his back. “Let’s go,” she ordered. Derek tore his eyes away from Blue Pack. He tore his eyes away from Willow, the wolf he had been searching for his whole life without knowing it, and left with the deranged sex slave owner and shifter collector known as Erin Smith.
“Let me go!” Willow screamed. “Nick, let me go!”
Don’t look back.
Derek’s heart was cracking. He felt every little fracture rip through him as Willow pleaded desperately.
“Derek!”
He didn’t look behind him, but it sounded like other Blue Wolves were helping Nick restrain his sister now. She was bawling. Begging. She was making such a fuss over him and… it gave him something. Courage, perhaps. Determination.
I’ll do everything in my power to come back to you, Willow. But if I don’t, I hope you know that you saved me. And, more than anything, I hope you get that true love you’re looking for. You deserve it, princess.
Chapter 13
“LET ME GO,” WILLOW pleaded. Her voice had faded to nothing more than a desperate whimper. She was on the ground, trapped underneath her brother. She had almost gotten away from him, but Howard and Casey had grabbed her too, and then Nick basically sat on her. He used to do this when they were pups and she wouldn’t stop pestering him. Now he was doing it to keep her from going after Derek.
“Howard, Casey, get Max inside his motel room,” Nick ordered. “He’s going to lose it. Calm him down.”
“I’ll go,” Gwen said. “Too much testosterone makes him worse.”
“No,” Nick growled. “You’re hurt, and I don’t want you anywhere near him when he’s like this.”
“I-I’ll go,” Karol volunteered.
Nick paused.
“It’s fine,” Casey said. “I’ll send her out if things get bad.”
“Just be careful,” Nick concluded.
Willow was lying on her ear so she wasn’t kissing dirt. She heard Max’s out of control snarling. She saw Karol leave her shifter son with her human family as she went after Casey and Howard. Julie stayed behind with the rest of Casey’s family, looking after them like the sweetheart she was, and as a grandma. They all looked okay. There were a few scratches here and there. Nick looked bad. She caught glimpses of other Blue Wolves who looked worse, but everyone was still alive. At least Erin hadn’t seemed to be lying about not killing anyone.
“Derek,” she cried. She couldn’t cry as much as she wanted to because her air was restricted. Good Moon above, her brother was crushing her.
“Willow,” Derek said her name with so much authority she could feel his Alpha dominance seeping into her body, forcing her to still. “Calm down. I need you to calm down.”
“Those shit faces took him away,” she blubbered. “How can I calm down? You’d be acting the same way if they had taken Gwen.”
“They’ve marked up my mate and my entire pack! They’ve done more than enough to make me angry,” Nick retorted.
“Let me go. I’m going to find him.”
“Wait, Will. Don’t be hasty. It’ll just make things worse. Those Trinity guys will get here soon. Right now your pack is hurt and could use your help. When Trinity gets here, we can come up with a better plan, a better way to get Derek back. And put some fucking clothes on before some random human decides to visit Moonwatch and sees us all in this shitty mess.”
“Fine, okay. Will you get off me, fat ass? I can’t breathe,” Willow muttered.
She sucked in the deepest breath of air she could manage when her brother complied with her request. She was covered in dirt and blood now thanks to him. Nick grabbed her hands and helped her to her feet. Willow glanced at Casey’s human family again. They had their eyes downcast. The oldest boy who looked to be around twenty had that downcast look as well as an embarrassed heat on his face. They may have had experience with Casey and his son as shifters, but this was a lot to take in. Willow realized she should get dressed for their sake as well. Humans really had a problem with public nudity. It was only polite she supposed.
Willow sighed. Casey’s family. Those words didn’t hurt like they used to. She wasn’t so angry anymore.
“Take a quick shower, get dressed, and we’ll figure out what to do,” Nick told her. “Hopefully that Trinity representative and the peacekeepers will get here soon after that.”
Willow nodded. She would go along with her Alpha for as long as was reasonable, but if those Trinity Shifters didn’t get there within an hour, she was getting Derek back by herself.
She couldn’t wait anymore. She had helped out, dressed wounds, and the Trinity Shifters hadn’t made it to Moonwatch yet. Willow got in her turquoise Thunderbird and started the engine. She tried not to look at Derek’s motorcycle. It made her miss him more. But it was going to be okay. She was going to get him back.
She jumped when Nick slapped his hands on her Thunderbird’s hood.
“Hey!” she shouted. “Be nice to my ca
r.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Nick asked.
“To save Derek.”
“You don’t even know where he is.”
She touched the back of her neck. “The Moon will tell me where he is.” She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it resulted in tears stinging her eyes instead. “What good is this Lunas Sigil if it can’t even do that?”
Nick opened her door, turned her keys, shutting off the Thunderbird’s engine, and pulled Willow into his arms. He hugged her tightly. She hugged him back.
“Nicky,” she whispered, “I don’t want to lose him.”
“Apparently, a lot can change in a day. You’ve really grown attached to him, haven’t you?”
She buried her face in her brother’s broad chest. “I’m afraid I’ll never see him again.”
“You’ll see him again. And soon,” a voice from behind said. It was a voice Willow knew quite well. She used to relish the sound of Casey’s voice.
Willow peeked over Nick’s shoulder to glance at the wolf she had loved for so long. Nick let her go and backed away so she could see Casey better. Right now, she didn’t feel the pain that always went along with anything relating to Casey. She was too worried about Derek. What happened between her and Casey didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was getting Derek back safely.
“Isabelle and the peacekeepers are here,” Casey said as he waved down a black Porsche pulling into the open land near Willow’s home. A couple black SUVs followed suit.
“Are they really going to be able to help?” Willow asked, disheartened.
“They will,” Casey replied with conviction.
“Thanks.”
“You don’t have anything to thank me for.”
“I do. You asked your friends to come here and help. For the pack, for Derek, I definitely have something to thank you for.”
He glanced at the parked cars.
Willow walked up to Casey. It was time to do this. It was time to break free from the shackles she had created for herself by blaming Casey for all of her problems. “And I think it’s time I forgave you. Not for you, but for myself.”
He offered a smile. “Let’s bring your Fated Mate back home.”
Blue Wolves gathered around the Trinity vehicles as the shifters inside them revealed themselves. The first shifter to come out was driving one of the SUVs. Willow’s heart rate picked up when he stood at his full height, dressed in a tight black combat shirt and fatigues. He wasn’t much taller than Nick or Derek, but he was brawny in a bulky sense. He didn’t have the streamlined body of a typical wolf shifter. He was as solid as a boulder. When she saw his face, a spark of fear lit inside her chest. His face was hard and blocky like the rest of him, handsome enough, but his left eye was almost a blinding white. There was a large scar reaching to his cheek below that eye all the way up to his forehead. He smelled like the grizzlies Willow had come across a time or two when she had taken runs inside of Blue Forest.
“Blue Pack,” the shifter said.
“Hey, Bruiser,” Casey greeted.
The intimidating grizzly nodded his head.
Several other combat ready shifters emerged from the two SUVs, but none of them had the presence Bruiser had. He intimidated all of the wolves, including Nick—though his intimidation meant more aggression. None of it seemed to bother Bruiser, though. He was perfectly calm.
There was a single shifter inside of the Porsche. She was the only female shifter among the group, and she didn’t look like she belonged. She wasn’t wearing Kevlar. In fact, she looked like she was dressed up for a party. She wore at least one glimmering ring on each finger and multiple necklaces. She wore a chic black dress and heels. Her makeup was spot on. She had a couple gray streaks through her hair. Willow could tell she was an older shifter, but by human standards she looked quite young.
“What the hell, Isabelle?” Casey said with a smirk.
“What?” she replied. “I’m not fighting. I’m not suited for that kind of work.”
Casey shook his head.
“I’m Nick, Blue Pack’s Alpha,” Nick spoke up. “It’d be great to chat, get acquainted and all that, but that has to wait. One of our wolves was captured.”
Willow squeezed her brother’s hand, trying to let him know how much she appreciated that statement.
“Casey filled me in on the phone,” the grizzly replied gruffly. “I’m Bruiser, head peacekeeper. Our top priority is getting that shifter collector.”
“But no one knows where she is,” Willow interrupted. It took everything she had to hold back the tears. “You don’t have some magic way to track a shifter collector, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, we do.”
“We’re listening,” Nick said.
“It’s called Terros. The Earth’s power. Some Earth Shifters like myself can see through the Earth using Terros. Longer distances are harder to access, and it might take some time, but it’s much easier to do recon this way than on foot. And it’s basically undetectable.
“We’ve been tracking a lot of shifter collectors, and we’ve taken down every one of them. We’ve never heard of this Erin Smith bitch, but she’ll get the same thing coming to her.”
“But how long?” Willow asked.
“Longer than any of us want probably,” Bruiser replied, not bothering to sugarcoat it. “But I guarantee we’ll get your wolf back. Collectors are fond of their… property.”
“I’ve seen what she’s done to her property!” Willow screamed.
“We have a way to revert them, the soulless shifters.”
One last individual emerged from an SUV. A man. He wore casual clothes and offered a shy wave to everyone around. He had dark skin and a bald head. He was small and skinny, but his eyes were strange. They resembled melting gold. So was his scent. There was something off about him, but Willow couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He was no shifter, but he didn’t seem quite human. He didn’t look powerful, but something about his presence was.
“This is Josh,” Bruiser introduced. “He’s a White Witch.”
Nick automatically growled, the rest of his pack following suit.
Bruiser held up his hand and gave a hard stare, forcing Nick to pause. The outsider grizzly effectively silenced the entire pack.
“Josh’s affinity is light. Witches like him are called White Witches. Witches whose affinity is darkness are Black Witches. The two types command very different magic. A powerful Black Witch has taken away those soulless shifters’ free will. That’s why their eyes appear vacant. That Black Witch has reassigned their free will to Erin, who has a rather strong will of her own from the sound of it or she wouldn’t be able to hold so many shifters under her control. Josh can fix those connections and heal these shifters. You’re lucky with this collector. Other collectors hire a Black Witch to do much worse things. Some things beyond repair,” Bruiser explained. “Having said all that, not harming the soulless would be ideal.”
His dark brown eyes grew intense. “Josh is an invaluable member of this team, and I will tolerate no disrespect. I understand the magic and the power of a witch can be unsettling, abrasive against our instincts, but do your best to control yourselves.”
“Understood,” Nick replied flatly. He didn’t look so certain about all of this, but Casey was standing beside him, unwavering. Nick was using Casey as a guide since he didn’t know these Trinity Shifters. He didn’t have time to inspect them himself. Not right now at least.
Willow understood all of that, but she didn’t care. Strangers, trusting Casey, she would go along with anything if it meant getting Derek back safe. But it didn’t sound like they’d be getting him back as soon as she hoped. It could take weeks or even months to find Derek from what she could gather. Blue Pack and the Trinity Shifters may as well have started off with small talk and acquainting themselves thoroughly because it wasn’t going to make a difference.
“Willow,” Nick spoke, bringing his sister out of the downward spir
al of her desperate thoughts, “you said your Lunas Sigil would guide you to him.”
This caught Isabelle’s attention. “You’re tied to the wolf that was taken?”
Casey said, “She is.”
Isabelle rested her black, beady eyes on Willow. “We start with Lunas. If your connection is strong, if you trust in the Moon, it will be the fastest way to find your missing wolf.” She walked up to Willow, standing face to face with her thanks to her high heels. “Are you strong enough,” she looked Willow up and down appraisingly, “to claim your mark?”
Willow suddenly doubted herself. What if she led them all on a wild goose chase? What if she and Derek didn’t have a strong enough connection? What if she didn’t understand the Moon’s directions?
Bruiser rolled his good eye. “Leave it to me. I’ll use Ter—”
“No,” Willow said firmly. “We’ll use Lunas. The power of the Moon is contained in my sigil. It’s not called a Lunas Sigil for nothing. I can do it.”
She touched the back of her neck and felt a buzz of energy. It was as if the Moon was responding to her, telling her she made the right choice.
“You heard the lady, Bruiser,” Isabelle said as she reached up and patted his broad shoulder. “Send everyone you need because you’re going to save those shifters before the day is out.”
He huffed. “Right, then. Any Blue Wolves thinking about joining the fray should get ready to go.” He rested his good eye on Willow. “You, little lady, are leading the way.”
Chapter 14
ERIN WAS HAPPY TO ogle Derek in the nude, but she had enough sense to lend him some clothes in case they ran into some passersby. He was sitting in the cramped backseat of a truck with two other big shifters. He was squished in the middle. Erin wasn’t giving him a chance to run, but she didn’t have anything to worry about. Derek wouldn’t run, not yet. He wanted to give Blue Pack as much time as he could spare before he did anything reckless. If Trinity was as well prepared for shifter collectors as Casey seemed to believe, then Blue Pack would be fine once they arrived.
Her Fierce Wolf (Marked By The Moon Book 2) Page 15
