by J. L. Wilder
Jamie wrapped an arm around Maddy’s shoulders. She looked afraid, he thought, but she also looked resolved. He was proud of her. After everything she’d suffered at the hands of the Death Fangs, he wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d completely melted down upon hearing that they were back.
Harley, Jamie, and Maddy joined Piper and Reese in the garage. A moment later, Mark followed, leading Amy, who looked confused and half awake.
“How did they find us?” Mark fumed.
Maddy looked distressed. “They must have seen me,” she said. “They must have been in town when Jamie and I went to get the baby supplies. We gave our address to the clerk at the store. I’m sure the Death Fangs wouldn’t have hesitated to threaten her to get our information...I hope she’s all right.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Jamie said, although he wasn’t at all sure. “They wouldn’t have wanted to leave a trail behind, would they? It’s us we’ve got to worry about.”
“How are we going to get seven wolves out of here without being seen?” Harley asked.
“Slowly,” Mark said. “Slowly and carefully.”
“What do we do?” Maddy asked. Her face was pale but her voice didn’t waver.
“Harley, you go first,” Mark said. “You and Piper and Reese. I want you to do your best to reach the highway without being spotted.” He turned to Piper and Reese. “Do you remember when we practiced stealth, out in the woods? How to move without being detected, and how to minimize your trail?”
They nodded, both looking very nervous.
“This is just like that,” Mark said.
“What if they catch us?” Piper said.
“They don’t want you,” Mark said. “The Death Fangs only take omegas. You two will be fine. I just don’t want you anywhere near the house if they attack. So, go with Harley and do everything he says, all right?”
They nodded.
“What do we do when we reach the highway?” Harley asked.
“At that point, if no one has caught your trail, you run,” Mark said. “It’ll be harder to track you on the highway. Don’t go to Boise. If Maddy’s right, they’ve already tracked us there, and they probably have a presence in the city. Go to Meridian. There’s a Ranchero Inn on the edge of town. Get a room under a false name. The rest of us will be behind you.”
Harley nodded. He shifted into his wolf form, and beside him, Reese and Piper did the same. It comforted Jamie a bit to see them in this form. They were stronger as animals. They could withstand more, could protect themselves.
Of course, the Death Fangs were likely to take wolf form too, once they realized the Hell’s Wolves had ran...
Mark opened the back door of the garage, and Harley, Piper, and Reese slipped away into the night.
“We’ll wait ten minutes,” Mark said. “That’s all we can spare, I think. Then, Jamie, you and Maddy follow them.”
“Can she run?” Jamie asked. “She’s pregnant.”
“She’s going to have to,” Mark said.
“I can do it,” Maddy said.
They passed the ten minutes quietly, not even speaking to each other, and then Mark opened the door again. Jamie closed his eyes and allowed the strength and calm of the wolf to flow through him. When he opened his eyes, Maddy stood beside him, a tawny wolf with a tufted tail.
He stepped through the open door, and she followed.
Side by side, they picked their way through the woods. Jamie fell in behind Maddy, so they’d only leave one set of tracks. The first time he did this, she stopped and looked back as if waiting for him to catch up, but when he didn’t pull even with her, she seemed to understand and continued walking.
They moved slowly. Jamie was itching to run for the highway, and he could see by the tension in Maddy’s shoulders that she felt the same way, but he didn’t dare. Right now, it was more important to step softly than it was to hurry. In a footrace, they were only as fast as Maddy could run, and Maddy was five months pregnant. Wolves carried more easily than humans, but she still wouldn’t be able to outrun the Death Fangs. There wasn’t a chance in hell.
The journey seemed interminable. Jamie kept looking over his shoulder, convinced at every turn that he would hear the footsteps of the Death Fangs behind him, or see them approaching. Just when he thought he couldn’t take another minute, they came upon the highway.
There was no sign of Harley and the others. That’s good, Jamie reminded himself. You don’t want them to have left signs. It means they got away clean. Still, he couldn’t help wishing for some evidence that they’d made it this far, that they hadn’t been grabbed in the woods.
Maddy stepped up onto the road behind him, her eyes gleaming in the darkness.
Jamie jerked his head in the direction they needed to go and, together, they set off in a run.
HARLEY, REESE, AND Piper had reached the hotel without issue, but now, it felt as though they’d been sitting here for hours waiting for something to happen. Harley glanced at his watch again as he paced the room and was surprised to see that it had only been fifteen minutes.
But was that too long? Shouldn’t someone have gotten here by now?
What if something had happened to the others?
Reese got off the bed, walked to the window, and drew back the curtain, peering out at the night.
“Close that,” Harley snapped.
Reese dropped the curtain, looking shocked.
“Sorry,” Harley said. “I didn’t mean to snap. But we can’t have the curtains open. Anyone could be looking in.”
“You mean, the Death Fangs,” Piper said.
“Why do they want Maddy so bad?” Reese asked. “Don’t they have a ton of omegas? How much difference could one make to them?”
“It’s not having her specifically that matters to them,” Harley said. “It’s the fact that we got her away from them. We took her from them, in their eyes. And we got away with it. They can’t stand for that. They can’t allow someone to rob them and get away with it.” He looked out the peephole of the hotel room door at an empty hallway. “They just can’t stand being bested at anything, the fuckers.”
“What will they do if they catch us?” Piper asked.
“They won’t do anything,” Harley said. The truth was, he didn’t feel confident in that assessment at all. He didn’t think the Death Fangs would hesitate to hurt innocent people on their way to achieving their ends. But he had to hope they’d at least leave the kids alone. Piper, Reese, and Amy had nothing to do with any of this. There was no point in attacking them.
Besides, he wanted them calm. He wanted to reassure them.
“Mark was right,” he continued. “They’re after Maddy. They’re after us—me, Mark, and Jamie—for taking her. They’re not after you guys. You don’t need to worry.”
Reese and Piper didn’t look reassured at all. Harley supposed he didn’t blame them. Even if they were safe from the Death Fangs, half their family was still being hunted. He couldn’t expect them to be fine with that.
Then came a knock at the door.
Everyone started. Reese moved away from the window and over to stand beside Piper, who was sitting on the bed, trembling slightly. Harley held up a hand, warning them to be quiet, then peeked out through the hole.
It was Jamie and Maddy.
He threw the door open and pulled them inside, where he immediately embraced Maddy. She was shivering, and he realized she was chilled. “Let’s get you into a bath,” he said. “We have time before Mark arrives and we have to do whatever comes next.”
She nodded.
Harley clapped a hand onto Jamie’s shoulder. “Everything go all right?”
Jamie nodded. “Mark and Amy should be right behind us. I’ll run down to the lobby and get something to eat at the vending machine.”
“No,” Reese said, “I’ll go.”
They all looked at him.
“You said the Death Fangs aren’t after me, right?” he said. “So, they won’t notice me, if they see me. It’s s
afer if I go.”
He was probably right, Harley thought, but they couldn’t allow a teenager to risk his life on their account. “No way,” he said. “You stay here. Jamie can handle it.”
Reese and Piper exchanged looks, but there was no further argument.
Jamie took the hotel room key from the dresser and slipped out into the hall. Harley took Maddy by the hand and led her into the bathroom, where he carefully undressed her and helped her into the tub. He started the water, holding a hand under the faucet to ensure that it was warm but not hot. “You did really well,” he said.
“You didn’t even see me.” She smiled a little.
“No,” he agreed, “but you must have done well to escape without the Death Fangs catching you. And you’ve been very calm. You’re coping well with all this.”
Her smile wavered. “I’m not,” she admitted. “If it were just me, then I might be okay. But if they take me, Harley, they’ll have our babies. I can’t even imagine what they might do with them.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “Probably raise them to be Death Fangs,” she said. “To be like them. I couldn’t stand it if that happened.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Harley said. “I promise.”
She eased down into the warm water and allowed him to wash her hair, the swell of her stomach and twin hills of her breasts rising above the water’s surface. He scrubbed gently, massaging her scalp, and she closed her eyes and smiled.
When the bathing was done, he helped her up out of the tub and wrapped her in a bathrobe he’d found in the hotel closet. As he did so, he heard the sound of the hotel room door opening.
“Stay put,” he said. “That’s probably Jamie coming back, but I want to be sure the coast is clear. Lock this door behind me.”
She looked frightened. “Okay.”
“I’m overreacting,” he said. “Nothing to worry about. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
She nodded.
He kissed her and headed out into the main room.
Sure enough, Jamie had returned. But he hadn’t brought food, and the look on his face was like nothing Harley had ever seen there before. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Death Fangs in the lobby.”
“Shit. How did they find us?”
“I don’t know if they did. Not for sure. They didn’t see me just now. But we can’t stay here.”
“We have to wait for Mark,” Harley said.
Jamie shook his head. “We can’t afford to. We can come back to meet up with him later, but right now, we need to get the kids and Maddy out of here while we still can.”
MARK LED AMY ON A MORE roundabout path through the woods to the highway, hoping to obscure the trail the others might have left. Likely as not, it wouldn’t make any difference—if the Death Fangs caught any one of these trails, they’d eventually find their way to the highway—but following Mark and Amy’s path would take just a little bit longer, and any time Mark could buy his family was worth the effort.
Amy kept up perfectly, nose to the ground, trotting along behind him as though she’d done this a hundred times. He had kept her back for the last round because she’d always performed well in stealth exercises, better than either of the other kids, and because he had no idea how Maddy would do in the woods. He hadn’t been able to hear her leaving, which was probably a good sign. He did detect her scent in a few places in the woods, but maybe that was just because he knew her so well. He probably would have recognized the smell of her anywhere. Maybe the Death Fangs wouldn’t be so in tune.
He could hope, at any rate.
He stopped behind the tree line at the highway and lurked. Cars were passing. He felt more than saw Amy pull up beside him, waiting for his signal to move, to do something.
And then, he heard an unmistakable click.
A weapon being cocked.
His hackles rose. A growl escaped Amy’s mouth, and he wondered whether she was responding to the sound of the gun or the sudden fear in the air she felt coming from him. There was no way to know, and it didn’t matter. All that mattered now was that they’d been caught.
Which meant two things.
It meant they were in very bad trouble, of course. The Death Fangs were no trifling matter, and for all Mark knew, he and Amy were about to be shot where they stood.
But it also meant that the others might just have gotten away unnoticed.
He felt a grim sense of satisfaction.
A man stepped out of the woods, his gun held level with Mark’s head. “Don’t even think about moving,” he warned. “We’ve got you on all sides. I’ve got three different guns on your girl there, and we’re not afraid to shoot if you make us.”
Mark didn’t move.
“All we want is the omega back,” the man said. “This doesn’t need to go any farther than that. We don’t need to get violent. We just want our omega, and then you can go your way.” He gestured with the gun. “Send her over, and we’ll leave you alone.”
Send her over? It was just him and Amy here. Did they think he had Maddy hidden away somewhere in the woods?
The Death Fang gestured with his gun again. “Send her over, I said. Now.”
And with a thrill of foreboding, Mark understood. They thought the wolf beside him was the omega they had known. They thought that Amy was Maddy.
The thought passed through him that perhaps they should run—but that would be in vain. Even in the dark, he could see that the Death Fang had told the truth. Moonlight glinted off gun barrels at several points in the trees. Mark thought he could even see their eyes looking out at him. Too many to fight. They got the drop on us.
And now, to his horror, Amy was stepping forward.
No! She was just a kid! He had no idea what the Death Fangs would do when they realized they had the wrong girl, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. He couldn’t allow her to sacrifice herself. He stepped forward—
The gun’s report split the night. Agony tore through Mark’s shoulder, and he couldn’t swallow back the howl of pain that rose in his throat. “Stay there,” the Death Fang warned him.
Mark stayed. If he tried to follow Amy, they’d kill him. He’d be no good to her dead.
She stopped before the Death Fang, shoulders drawn back, head low, ears plastered to her head. She wasn’t showing her fangs, but Mark had an idea that it was only with extreme effort that she was holding back.
The Death Fang lowered his weapon, gave her a leering sort of smile, and nodded to Mark. “I knew you’d see sense,” he said. “It was bound to happen this way, wasn’t it? Nobody steals from the Death Fangs.” He turned to Amy. “And no one leaves. Not without our say so. You shouldn’t have run from the auction, girl. But at least you’re bringing something back to us, eh? A nice new litter of pups we can raise to become the next generation of Death Fangs. Maybe you’ve even got a new little omega in there for us.” He chuckled. “Shouldn’t have gone to that baby supply store in public like that. That was careless.”
Mark crouched low. He wasn’t going to let these men leave with Amy. He’d be damned if these bastards would split up his pack—
But before he could attack, Amy pounced.
She dived onto the man in front of her. Mark heard a cry and smelled fresh blood in the air, heard the sound of tearing flesh. Guns fired all around them. He skidded to her side, pressed his face into her shoulder, and jerked his head toward the highway.
She understood. She ran, and he followed close on her heels. They broke through the tree line and out onto the road, the sound of weapons following them all the way.
Chapter Sixteen
They couldn’t go through the lobby in wolf form. They had to remain human. Maddy felt painfully visible and vulnerable as she crossed the tile floor. The Death Fangs knew she was pregnant. They’d gotten her address from a baby supply store. Her belly, which had been a source of joy and pride, now felt like a flashing signpost calling attention to her.
Harley threw out an ar
m to halt the others. He was peering around a corner, and Maddy felt anxiety steal her breath. She knew Jamie was behind her, keeping watch on their rear. She had Piper and Reese on either side of her, blocking her from view. But standing still felt like torture.
Harley waved them forward.
They rounded the corner and found themselves in a short hallway with hotel rooms on either side. There was a back exit at the end of the hall. Harley pointed to it and beckoned them forward.
They jogged along, single file now, quickly crossing the distance to the door. Once there, they huddled together, all of them peering out through the glass.
“It doesn’t look like they’ve got anyone out there,” Jamie said in a low voice.
“No,” Harley agreed. “I think this is our best way out.”
“What do we do when we get out?” Maddy asked.
“Straight into the woods,” Harley said. “And everyone, stick with me. We don’t want to get split up. We’ll go about fifty yards in, then we’ll stop and regroup. And no shifting, all right? That’s what they’d expect us to do.”
That’s what they’d expect us to do to because it’s smart, Maddy thought.
Jamie seemed to be on the same page. “We’re going to need to run once we’re out, Harley.”
“No,” Harley said. “We don’t run. We walk. Running will catch attention. I don’t see any Death Fangs right outside, but if they’ve got a guard stationed somewhere with an eye line on this door, our only chance at not raising alarm is to act casual. So, we stay human, and we walk into the woods like a family of hikers. Got it?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay,” Harley said. “Let’s go, then.”
He pushed the door open.
A loud, squonking alarm rent the air.
Piper clapped her hands over her ears.
“Shit!” Harley yelled, pushing Reese forward. “Go! Run!”
Reese bolted into the woods. Jamie grabbed Piper by the arm and tore after him. Maddy looked up at Harley fearfully. Did they dare try it? Should they find somewhere to hide? If the Death Fangs saw them, they wouldn’t have a prayer. Maddy couldn’t outrun them. In human form, she wasn’t too sure she could run at all.
