“Do you think if they all live he’ll let me go?”
Tess met those beautiful blue eyes and the hopeful look on Anna’s face.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer,” Anna said.
Anna was part of the team that created the virus, though her involvement in that still wasn’t clear to Tess. Anna didn’t want to talk about it, for obvious reasons. The second she gave Drake what he wanted, he’d kill her. He might yet. No matter her crimes, Anna didn’t deserve this treatment. No one did.
“You have to hang on for eight more days,” Tess said. “Then my month is up, and I can get help.”
“How?”
“I’ll return to my pack.” Tess was surprised at how easily she now thought of Damien’s pack as her own. She wasn’t sure when that had happened, but it had. Well, whether it was or wasn’t her pack officially, Damien’s shifters were the only ones who would help Anna.
“Get moving, female,” said the guard from the mouth of the cave.
“I’ve got to go,” Tess said, reaching in to brush her hand over Anna’s. Tess could still remember her own isolation at the research lab and how something as basic as a simple touch would have meant so much to her.
Anna’s smile was slight, but genuine. “Thank you, Tess.”
“Make sure you eat. That protein smells especially good.” It actually smelled and looked like dog crap, but that wasn’t the point. “It has a real edge to it tonight,” Tess said as the guard grabbed her from behind and pushed her toward the entrance.
“I will,” Anna said with a slight nod, and Tess knew Anna had understood.
Tess yanked her arm out of the guard’s grasp, resisting the urge to strike him with the heavy flashlight. She stepped out of the cave, plunging Anna back into total darkness. Hiding a knife in Anna’s food wasn’t much, but it was all Tess could do. Last week, the guards had shredded the blanket Tess had brought for Anna. Tess would have ended up with a black eye had she not dodged the guard and ran off when she had given Anna a flashlight.
“You’re no longer on food detail,” the guard said, still holding Tess by her arm as he escorted her back to the small building that housed Ravirez’s lab. She wanted to ask why, but it wouldn’t get her anywhere.
When Tess entered the small workspace, she knew something had gone wrong. The lab was a mess and Ravirez had a set of claw marks across his chest. But he was scrambling to repair the damage and get back to work.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Lazer and Gerig died. Drake isn’t happy.”
Enough said.
“Collect more blood, from everyone,” he ordered as he swept some broken glass into an empty box.
Tess grabbed the necessary equipment. Since Ravirez had taught her how to draw blood on her first day here, she had become quite adept at the procedure. She was also the one person who wasn’t squeamish about getting exposed to virus-infected blood because of her natural immunity. It wasn’t like Drake bothered to get the necessary protective gear for those tending to the sick, which was why she got the most dangerous jobs involved with caring for them.
“Get going!” Ravirez screamed, when she was moving too slowly for his liking.
She grabbed the new packet of needles and shot out the door toward Drake’s house. Similar to the layout to Damien’s territory, Drake’s house was situated in the center of several utilitarian buildings with the majority of the shifters’ homes scattered throughout the territory. At present, Drake was using his house for the sick, a make-shift hospital of sorts. The best she figured out about Drake so far was that the shifter cared little for opulence or status symbols, but needed—needed—to control.
Drake was barreling down the steps. The anger pouring off of him was palpable, even at this distance. Tess quickly averted her eyes.
“You!” he said, heading straight for her.
She stopped and raised her head to greet him. “Yes, Drake. What can I do for you?”
“Is that fool goofing off or finding the cure?”
“Ramirez is working on the cure. I’m on my way to collect more blood samples for him.”
Drake cupped her by the chin, none-too-gently. “It’s a pity the virus killed the shifter in you. You and I would have made a good blood-bonded pair.”
Her stomach churned at the thought, and for the first time since she had lost her ability to shift, she was very thankful for having had the virus.
“Get going,” he said, releasing her and shifting, fast. He shifted as fast as Damien.
The deep sense of longing for Damien returned. Her soul felt empty here, empty without Damien. It was times like this that she wished she could lean into him and feel his arms wrap around her, and know that he would always be there for her. She shook the idea away. She had to stop thinking of Damien. Help her patients, then get out of here and let the pack know about Anna. That was the plan. Only eight more days. Tess prayed Drake would keep his word and let her go at the end of the month.
* * *
DAMIEN
The woods around Damien seemed dark and lonely, except for the angry growls of five wolves surrounding him. He spent a lot of time in the forest since Tess stayed behind with Drake. Damien wasn’t sure when it had happened precisely, but after he left her behind, some essential part of him broke. He could still function as alpha, give the necessary commands, and engage in the occasional fight as was needed to put a young upstart shifter or two in their places, but there was no joy in anything he did. Talking and hanging out with friends seemed pointless, so for the most part, he avoided them.
A few females, ones Damien had known his whole life, a few that he had even dated, approached him and offered to blood-bond. Blood-bonding an alpha was considered a great honor, a great opportunity, a chance to increase one’s abilities while also becoming the female alpha of the pack. A coveted position Tess had turned down, over and over.
In the last few days, the resentment within his wolf had skyrocketed, making it harder than ever to keep those feral urges under control. He had growled at the females who approached him until they stopped approaching all together. That was just fine with him. They couldn’t replace Tess, and he didn’t want them to try. His wolf be damned, he wouldn’t blood-bond another, for his need was soul-deep and could not be fulfilled by anyone except Tess.
Damien growled at the wounded wolf pinned beneath his paw. The brown wolf with the scar across his muzzle whimpered, submitting to him.
The five wolves who circled Damien, however, had no intention of submitting or leaving. The all-black wolf bared his teeth, while the brown and tan wolf and the light gray wolf stood uncertain, their eyes seeking cues from the white wolf. The tan wolf held his position, with no emotion showing in the least. That one kept his eyes focused on Damien as if he was the only wolf there, with no other wolf to fight alongside him.
It was the white wolf, the one that appeared to be in charge, that instilled a deep hatred in Damien for no apparent reason other than he reminded him of another white wolf. None of the wolves moved close enough to be a real threat, not yet. If Damien tried to end the wolf he’d pinned to the ground, they’d attack.
Fighting against the five wolves he had fought alongside for years, the wolves who were as close as brothers to him, was not something Damien wanted to do. They’d put him down if he didn’t release the submissive wolf, but the need to dominate, to conquer, even to kill, was so overwhelming that Damien bared his teeth and growled once more, warning them to back off.
The black wolf, his enforcer, dropped his head below his shoulder blades as he prepared to lunge. Then the white wolf shifted. Hayden stood tall among the pack, a natural leader who didn’t want to lead.
“Damien, release Alex.”
Release the male that smelled of Damien’s mate? No. The male needed to understand who she belonged to.
“It’s only her blood you smelled, Damien. Not Tess. Alex was working with her blood sample, nothing more. He wasn’t near Tess. Te
ss is with Drake.”
Drake. Enemy. Alpha. He had Damien’s mate? Panic rose in every corner of Damien’s being as the memories flooded him. He had left his mate with another male, an alpha. Why had Damien done that? He needed to find her before the other alpha harmed her or tried to claim her as his own.
Damien scented the males surrounding him. Not fear. Grief. Sorrow. They were not a threat to him if he released the weak one. Damien withdrew his paw, releasing the wolf that now crawled away, his ears pinned back. He knew who was in charge, but the four remaining wolves who surrounded him, each fierce and proud, were not ready to submit.
The one who had shifted to stand as human, what was his name? Damien was sure he knew it. The white-wolf-turned-man stepped aside toward the black wolf, opening a path for Damien.
Another snarl escaped Damien, though he wasn’t sure why. It simply needed to come out. One step forward, a test, to see how the four wolves and one human would move, if at all. To Damien’s surprise, the path widened further. A howl in the distance caught his ear. Someone was announcing an intruder.
The black wolf’s left ear turned back, the wolf eager to leave. He deferred to the man who used to be a white wolf. “Go,” the man commanded, and two wolves left.
Now, only two wolves and one human remained. The odds had improved considerably. Damien could stay and fight, and he’d probably win. The fire in him burned. Yes, he needed to fight, to taste their blood.
“You can go, Damien. Or you can stay and wait for her.”
Her?
“Drake will release Tess in a few days. Then, we can bring her here.”
Drake. Damien growled. That was the alpha who had Damien’s mate. Damien couldn’t remember what the female wolf looked like, but he knew she existed. Her scent had imprinted on his brain and his soul, long ago. That weak wolf, where did he crawl off to? He had her scent on him. Yes, kill the weak wolf for going near Damien’s mate.
Damien scented the air and found the trail of the weak wolf. His head turned in that direction, and immediately the three wolves—the man had disappeared, and the white wolf had returned—blocked Damien’s path. They were protecting the weak one.
The other wolf, Drake, he was a formidable opponent. He would be a good challenge, and then Damien would claim his mate. Yes, that was worthy of his skill. Hunt the male who kept Damien’s mate away.
Damien darted past the three wolves and ran deeper into the woods. Damien would find his mate, the one he could not picture in his head, but the one whose scent he knew so well. Honey and flowers. Once she was his, he might return to this place, to challenge them all, but only after he claimed his mate.
* * *
TESS
Ravirez really was a genius. Tess had to give Drake credit for finding the right shifter for the job. On day twenty-nine, the shifters who she and Ravirez had injected with the cure started to get better. One by one, their fevers broke. Ravirez told Drake that the doctor needed Tess for a few more days to collect more blood for him.
Drake looked at the ill members of his pack and promptly told her she would be staying for four more days. Arguing with Drake was never wise. She could survive four more days, and part of her needed to see the treatment through, to know that shifters had a fighting chance against the virus.
Ten days later, Drake finally released her, with instructions to his shifter to take her wherever she wanted. Drake had abided by the agreement, more or less. After all, thirty days had been a random number she had chosen in the beginning, so ten extra days meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The shifter drove her to Devil’s Peak. That was as close as he was willing to get to Damien’s territory because of recent attacks by Damien’s pack along the shared border.
“Why is Damien’s pack attacking?” she asked as he revved his motorcycle and took off without answering, leaving her to choke down a cloud of exhaust.
Tess walked. Last time, Damien had carried her from town. She couldn’t help but smile at the memory. She glanced from side to side. She was free of Drake, free to smile whenever she thought of Damien or heard his name. Free!
The full moon helped Tess see the road and ultimately the various landmarks once she entered the woods. Eventually, one of Callen’s patrols would find her and escort her to Damien, so all she needed was to get the general direction right. The road would have added another three miles through twisty terrain up a mountain.
Within an hour, one of Callen’s patrols discovered her. The guard growled, stopping her cold in her tracks.
“Why are you keeping me out? You’ve seen me before. You know me, don’t you?”
The large, brown wolf bared his teeth when she took another step forward. Maybe she hadn’t thought this through. She had left Damien, told him she wouldn’t be coming back. Had he grown bitter because of how she’d left him? Had he told the pack to make sure she never returned? That didn’t sound like him at all. Then a thought occurred to her. What if this shifter was one who never approved of her in the first place? No one knew she was returning. He could easily kill her.
A howl went up. He was sounding the alarm. Another set of yellow eyes appeared between two trees. This wolf growled as well. Slowly, Tess backed away, wishing she could shift and have a chance of outrunning them.
She hadn’t thought about her inability to shift in a while. Damien had been so accepting of her the way she was that she had begun to accept that she would never shift again.
Another growl came from a third wolf, a white and brown who had her turning. They were surrounding her, preparing to take her down.
Tess ran. A wolf slammed her to the ground. His weight forced the air from her legs. Suddenly, his weight disappeared as another wolf knocked him off of her. Air rushed into her lungs as a black wolf stood over her prone form, teeth snapping as he guarded her. The other wolves backed off, the black wolf shifted, and she found herself staring at one very naked Callen.
Her whole life had been spent as a shifter among men and women who were often nude before and after shifting, but she still wasn’t sure where to direct her eyes. The whole be-submissive-to-a-stronger-wolf rule meant lowering one’s eyes. But really, that meant staring where she didn’t want to stare, unless it was at Damien.
Callen offered her a hand up. She couldn’t stop from shaking, but she accepted his hand. His brown eyes locked on her, the yellow in them jumping like fire.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Was Damien so mad at the way she had left him that he had ordered his patrols to kill her on sight? That wasn’t the type of shifter he was, but his wolf had been going feral when she had last seen him. Forty days ago… It felt like a lifetime.
“What’s going on, Callen? Is it Damien? Did Damien order them to attack me if I ever showed up?” she finally asked.
“Of course not, Tess.”
She couldn’t remember a time Callen had ever addressed her by her name. He had always hung out in the background, observing, not talking much, except when he had told her Drake had kidnapped Aloe. That was only because he didn’t think Damien’s plan to rescue her would work and Callen had needed Tess on his side.
There was one benefit of living among the depraved and sadistic wolves in Drake’s pack. Callen no longer seemed scary to her. There was a softness to him that she hadn’t seen before.
Callen motioned for the guards to resume their patrol. “Unfortunately, your timing stinks. I rotated patrols recently. These guards have been up in the northern part of our territory for a while where we have a small camp. They don’t know you. It’s as simple as that.”
Tess relaxed as she brushed her jeans off. “I didn’t think they’d attack.”
“They’re not supposed to attack so quickly, but everyone’s a bit jumpy since we’re on high alert. Some trouble along the border of Drake’s territory.”
“The shifter who dropped me off in town mentioned there’d been skirmishes. That’s why he wouldn’t take me closer, and I entered t
hrough here. Shorter than taking the road in.”
“No one expected to see you again,” Callen said, his face not as hard as she remembered it.
“Circumstances changed. I need to see Damien.”
For just a second, she could swear Callen looked pained. “I’ll escort you back to camp.”
Callen didn’t say a word the rest of the way. The closer they got to camp, the more her heart raced. She was so excited to see Damien; her body was thrumming with anticipation.
As they entered the camp, a thought occurred to her. Damien could already be blood-bonded. She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing that. For an instant, she considered turning around and heading back to town. Then the image of Anna naked, beaten, and shivering in that dark cell struck Tess. She had to fight for Anna, even if it meant seeing Damien blood-bonded to another.
Tess would stay long enough to give Damien the information he needed, and then she would leave. As long as Tess kept reminding herself that Damien had needed to blood-bond a strong shifter then she should be fine. Or so she hoped. She had pushed him to find another, but still, part of her had always hoped he wouldn’t, that he’d figure out how to overcome his wolf and make a blood-bond unnecessary, so they could be together. She had never heard of a wolf who was starting to go feral stop without the blood-bond, but anything was possible. Right? Her stomach sank. She was reaching.
“Where is everyone?” she asked. Not only was the camp empty, with no bonfires by the lake or lights in any of the houses they passed on the way to Damien’s, she didn’t hear any talking or laughing. Only the sound of insects and the wind moving through the trees filled the night.
“A pack run to work off some energy, some frustration,” Callen answered. “The situation has been tense here.”
“You are right, my timing is off. I would have run with the pack. Well, lagged behind at least. I wasn’t allowed much in the way of physical exercise at Drake’s.”
“You can wait at Hay—Damien’s house,” Callen said.
Damien’s Dilemma Page 31
