Hell's Wolves MC: Complete Series Six Book Box Set

by J. L. Wilder

  “Let’s go,” Harley said.

  “I can’t—”

  “Let’s go.” He swept her up onto his back with a strength she wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it for herself. It must have been the adrenaline of the moment, she thought. There was no way he was strong enough to simply lift her. He hadn’t even lost momentum. His run was as fast paced as it had ever been—in fact, she could see, looking over his shoulder, that he was gaining on Jamie.

  She looked back the way they had come.

  There was a Death Fang standing in the doorway through which they’d left.

  She recognized him at once. She knew him by his red hair and by the scar on his face. He was one of the ones who had liked to torment her when she’d been their prisoner, the one who had rattled the bars of her cage and mocked her on a regular basis. He was the one who had come to get her the day she’d been cleaned up and made ready for the auction.

  She still didn’t know his name. But she would never forget that face as long as she lived.

  He was standing among several members of the hotel staff. They must have come running when they’d heard the siren, and the Death Fang must have followed. And now, as Maddy watched, she saw a man in a double-breasted jacket lift a finger and point at Harley’s receding back.

  She saw the Death Fang follow his pointing finger—

  The red-haired man locked eyes with her for an instant, and in that terrifying moment, Maddy knew it was all over.

  “He sees us,” she breathed. “Harley, he sees us.”

  Harley didn’t look back, but she felt him run harder.

  She expected to see the Death Fang break into a sprint after them, but that didn’t happen. For a moment, she was confused. Was he letting them go? The Death Fangs were in peak physical shape. They were fast. There was no way the red-haired man was worried about their having gotten too much of a head start.

  He raised a hand to his mouth.

  What?

  There was no time to worry about what that meant, about why this man Maddy knew hated her had apparently decided to let her flee. Suddenly, the tree line was upon them. Maddy ached to swerve, to turn directly left and run in an unpredictable pattern that would make them harder to follow. She was sure Harley had felt the same instinct. But the pack had agreed to run straight into the woods. They couldn’t allow themselves to be separated now.

  They almost ran headlong into Jamie, Piper, and Reese, who had stopped to wait fifty yards in according to the plan. Jamie took one look at Harley and seemed to understand. “They saw you?”

  “Climb,” Harley said shortly, and grabbed the nearest tree branch. “Hang on, Maddy.”

  Maddy wrapped her arms and legs as tightly around him as she could. It was hard, with her stomach in the way. It felt like she wasn’t getting a very stable grip. But there was something reassuring about it too, about having their babies cradled between her and Harley like this. It felt a little safer, a little more secure. You’re okay, she thought to them, trying to convey the message of calm physically, willing her pounding heart to slow. Mom and Dad have you. We’re not going to let anything happen.

  But it was hard to calm herself down as they scaled the tree. Harley was an adept climber, and before long, they were at least twenty feet in the air. She pressed her face into his shoulder, afraid to look down. The last thing they needed right now was for her to start panicking and disrupt his careful balance.

  In the next tree over, Maddy could see Piper crouched among the branches. The girl seemed comfortable with heights. Maybe it had been part of the training she’d received growing up. Maddy knew that the kids had been taught to hunt, fish, and survive extended periods in the woods. It made sense that they’d have learned to climb trees too.

  She held a finger to her lips. Piper nodded and then turned away, to the tree on the other side of her. Maddy figured Jamie or Reese, maybe both of them, were in that tree, and Piper was passing along the message.

  It felt like hours huddled in the high branches, waiting. Later, Maddy would think that it had probably only been a few minutes, but every second seemed like an eternity. How would they know when it was safe to get down? The Death Fang had definitely seen them, and he would have told his compatriots, by now, which direction they’d gone. How long would they have to stay up here?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a rustling sound from below them. Carefully, slowly, hands wrapped around a branch above her, she slid off Harley’s back and found her own footing. She had a feeling he might need to have his hands free.

  Sure enough, a group of men came into view in the woods below them. The red-haired Death Fang was among them, and he was accompanied by two others. “You said they came this way,” one of them said with a growl.

  Maddy shivered. If they were that angry with each other, how angry were they going to be with her?

  “They did come this way,” the red-haired man said. “They must have gone deeper into the woods, that’s all.”

  “Bullshit, Rocco,” said a scrawny one with a face like a rodent. “You know they could have split up and gone in a thousand different directions by now.”

  “They’re not going to split up, Max,” Rocco the Redhead said. “They’ve got a pregnant omega with them. You think they’re just going to let her wander around the woods on her own? They’ll be protecting her like she’s their life savings.”

  “But they split up from the other two—”

  “Shut up, both of you,” said the first man who had spoken. He was bigger than all the others, and looking down at him now, Maddy realized she had seen him before too.

  It was the alpha.

  He stared them all down now, his face a study in disgust and anger. “Listen,” he said. “Listen and look. Quit running your goddamn mouths and just find them.”

  The Death Fangs pressed on, disappearing into a copse of trees, their footsteps receding and, eventually, fading entirely.

  Maddy felt Harley exhale silently. She turned to look at him and saw her own fear reflected on his face. They split up from the other two, the one called Max had said. He could only have been referring to Mark and Amy. Did that mean that the Death Fangs had found them? Had captured them? Or worse?

  It was a terrifying thought. This is all because of me, Maddy thought, her heart sinking. I’m the one who put them in danger. The Death Fangs are hunting them because I ran away. If I’d just gone along with the auction like I was supposed to—

  How could she have done that? She couldn’t have. She would have been a sex slave for the rest of her life.

  But was her freedom worth putting these people in harm’s way? It couldn’t be, could it? She was just one person.

  She felt a little nudge from within. No, she thought. I’m not just one person. Not now. Not anymore.

  Harley was holding up a hand to Piper, indicating that they shouldn’t climb down out of the trees yet. Piper nodded and then turned to pass the message on. Maddy thought it was probably safe to at least whisper between them now, though. “Do you think Mark and Amy are okay?”

  “I think so,” he said. “They’re strong, both of them. They’re good fighters. If two of us had to be off on our own, they’re not a bad pick.”

  “I’m so sorry, Harley. I’m so sorry I put your family in this danger.”

  “No.” He rested a hand on her arm. “Don’t ever say that, Maddy. Don’t even think it. You have nothing to be sorry for. You are our family.”

  “If I hadn’t run away—”

  “You didn’t run to us. Remember? We brought you to us. We found you and brought you home. We made that choice a long time ago, and all of us stand by it. You’re worth it. Whatever comes, you’re worth it. So, don’t apologize to me for this.”

  “What are we going to do?” She glanced down at her stomach. The babies must have been excited by the adrenaline coursing through her system, because they were doing flips. “We have to keep them safe, Harley. We can’t let the Death Fangs get their h
ands on them.”

  Harley shook his head. “I’ll die before I let that happen.”

  Was that meant to be reassuring? If so, he’d missed the mark. Maddy felt suddenly seasick. What if she escaped this mess, her children safe and sound, but all their fathers were killed? How would she move forward without her alphas?

  THEY SPENT MOST OF the day in the trees, waiting to see what would happen. Maddy’s muscles were cramped and sore by the time Harley indicated that they could get down. She climbed down carefully, slowly, each step feeling like a risk, worried that she would miss her footing and plummet to the earth.

  Then, strong hands were on her waist, lifting her easily, setting her on the ground and turning her. It was Jamie, his arms a circle around her, his face white. He slid his hand around to rest on her belly, and she took his other hand and held it. This must have been hell for him, she realized. Being away from her and the babies all day. He must have been losing his mind.

  Harley seemed to pick up on his brother’s anxiety. “We’ll camp here for the night,” he said. “They won’t come back and look for us here, I don’t think. They checked this area already. I’m sure they think we’ve moved on. Piper, why don’t you and I take the first watch?”

  Piper stepped forward. She was pale, Maddy saw, but her mouth was set in a grim line. She nodded and shifted gracefully into the form of a lithe young wolf.

  Reese sat down right where he was, at the base of a tall sycamore, and let his head curl in toward his chest. He was asleep in moments.

  Jamie led Maddy off a little way, behind a bit of shrubbery, and pulled her down to the ground. She laid beside him and touched his face, feeling the reality of him, reveling in the fact that he was present and that they were together and—for the moment, at least—safe.

  She was surprised, as he answered her touch with his own, to realize that the arousal that had been a constant undercurrent in her life since she’d become pregnant hadn’t been stifled or dampened by the intensity of their flight from their home. Laying with Jamie now, she found she wanted him just as much as she ever had. More, maybe. It was as though the panic and desperation had combined with her lust and stoked the flames of passion. Suddenly, she couldn’t resist him.

  She rolled onto her back and smiled as a knowing gleam came into his eye. They didn’t remove their clothes, not completely—Maddy knew they might have to run at a moment’s notice—but they put things off, pulled things aside, made room for each other in the way of desperate teenagers who knew they might have only a few moments of privacy.

  As hasty as they’d been in preparing, he entered her slowly, and she watched as his eyes drifted closed in satisfaction. She hummed softly as he filled her, reaching up to pull his face down to hers so she could kiss him. They laid like that, their movements slight, breathing against each other’s mouths, reveling in the feel and the taste of each other.

  “Am I hurting you?” he whispered, tracing a hand over her body, feeling the new curves and swellings there.

  She shook her head. “You’re perfect. Don’t stop.”

  He sat back on his knees and pulled her hips into his lap. The angle was new and strange, erotic and exciting, and Maddy closed her eyes and reached her arms up to press into the tree behind her, to push herself more firmly toward him. He rocked gently, thrusting into her with slow and steady force, until Maddy thought the pressure building within her would drive her wild.

  “Faster,” she whispered. “More, Jamie, please...”

  Something in her voice must have set him off, because a low growl ripped through him. He scooped his arms under her back and lifted her to him, bringing her breasts within reach of his mouth, never separating from her. He suckled at her as she ground into his hips. He continued to thrust upward, his embrace tightening as she tightened around him, until it seemed they would both go mad.

  Pleasure crashed over Maddy. She gasped, burying her face in his shoulder, and felt the sharp sting of pain that let her know he’d marked her. Good, she thought, riding him through her orgasm. Claim me. Let everyone know I’m yours. If those Death Fangs ever see me again, let them know I’m used, that they’ll never get a good price for me now. Mark me where everyone can see it.

  They laid on their sides when they were finished and fell asleep like that, wrapped up in each other, clothes half off and lying in the dirt, without a care for what was going on around them, without a thought given to the fact that they were still on the run and that the enemy might be lurking nearby.

  Later, Maddy would realize that this had been careless in the extreme, that they had allowed the afterglow of their lovemaking to blind them to the precautions that should have been taken. Later, she would realize that she’d done everything wrong.

  But, in the moment, all she could think about was the sweet pleasure of Jamie’s embrace and the ecstatic release he had brought her.

  Maddy’s pregnancy had caused her to have all sorts of crazy dreams so far, but that night she slept dreamlessly for the first time in months. Maybe it was because of her exhaustion, which had finally taken hold of her after the stresses of the day. Maybe it was because the lovemaking had been so intense and so good. Maybe it was the wonderful feeling of being held in the arms of one of her lovers and knowing another was stalking the perimeter of their little section of the woods, making sure they were safe and secure. Whatever the reason, when she fell into sleep, it was peaceful and silent.

  For a time.

  When Maddy awoke, it was harsh and cold as a slap in the face, a knife in the back.

  She woke to the sound of a scream.

  Chapter Seventeen

  To stop running, Mark knew, would be suicide. Never mind the pain that shot down his right foreleg with every step. Never mind the fact that he was starting to feel lightheaded. Never mind the fact that the human part of him was growing more and more insistent in the body of the wolf, protesting that they couldn’t keep going like this, that he would kill himself, that he was losing too much blood from his gunshot wound.

  He pushed those thoughts away. He pushed away his humanity and embraced the wolf. The wolf knew only that there was a threat behind them and that they had to get to safety.

  Amy had pulled slightly ahead of him. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure he was still there, and he dug deeper, ran harder. She was handling the situation remarkably, and he was proud of her, but she shouldn’t have had to do this. He was her alpha. He needed to regain control of things.

  She took a sharp left. He followed—

  She seemed to disappear.

  What?

  He stared at the place where he’d lost her. Was he delusional? Was the blood loss getting to him more quickly than he’d realized? Where had his packmate gone?

  Then he spotted her. She was human again, her head sticking up from a hole in the ground. She waved urgently, but Mark didn’t need to be told. He dove in.

  It was dark down there, and damp, but not nearly so much as he would have expected. It looked as though this place had been occupied before, maybe even tended to.

  “Don’t shift,” Amy said in a sharp voice. She was wearing shorts and a crop top. Mark stared in amazement. Where had she gotten those? They’d both had clothes gripped between their teeth when they’d run from the house, but in the scuffle with the Death Fangs, they’d lost them.

  Amy approached him now and carefully probed his shoulder. He felt his lips curl back from his teeth in an unwitting snarl.

  “Knock it off,” she said. “I’m not trying to hurt you, and we both know you’re not going to bite me. But that bullet’s still in. I need to get it out.”

  Mark settled back on his haunches. She was right, he knew, but that didn’t mean he liked it.

  Amy moved out of his line of sight, keeping a hand on his shoulder. Mark felt intense pressure, then a stab of pain. A growl escaped him—

  “There,” Amy said. “All done. You baby. You can shift now. There’s a pair of pants over there you can
wear. I think they’re Harley’s, but they’ll fit you fine.”

  She turned around, giving him privacy, and Mark shifted back and yanked on the pants she’d pointed out. He had about a thousand questions racing through his mind—What was this place? How had she known it was here? Why were their clothes here?—but he turned his attention first to the bullet wound in his shoulder.

  It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought. In the ordinary course of events, he would have wanted to stitch it up, but they were on the run, and he’d have to do without stitches for now. There had been a few more articles of clothing underneath the pants, and he picked up the cleanest looking shirt he could find, ripped off a sleeve, turned it inside out, and tied it tightly around the wound.

  “Good?” Amy asked.

  “Yeah, you can turn around.” She did so. “What is all this?”

  Amy looked a little uncomfortable. “I sort of thought something like this might happen,” she admitted. “When you told us about how you’d taken Maddy from under the Death Fangs’ noses... well, it seemed like there was a decent chance they’d figure it out eventually and come after us. So...,” she waved her hand around.

  “So, you did this?”

  “I figured it would be good to have a place to hide,” she said. “In case we had to run away from home. In case we didn’t have much of a head start. The entrance kind of angles down, you probably noticed, and I piled a bunch of leaves and shit around it so no one would see it unless they knew where to look. And I stored some clothes here for everyone, and there are a few cans of food too—”

  “You stole food?”

  “You’re not seriously telling me off right now. We’d be dead if I hadn’t put this together.”

  He knew she was right. “Okay,” he agreed. “But what do we do now?”

  “Do we wait?” Amy asked. “We could probably hide out here for a couple of days without being found. By then, the Death Fangs will probably abandon the area.”