“Callen!” Remy roars into the mind link and his fear breaks my heart.
A twig snaps to my left..
I twist instinctively, a growl rising in my throat despite the poison crawling through my blood.
Three men step out from the undergrowth like ghosts. They’re dressed in that sh*tty camo gear that looks. like leaves. No scents. No heat. Just cold eyes peeking through masks, and rifles that look like they were made for killing monsters.
“Shifter down,” one of them says into a radio clipped to his shoulder. “Alive. For now.”
I bare my teeth, already shifting, not fully, but enough to snarl through the agony. “You picked the wrong f*cking territory.”
The leader doesn’t flinch. He just raises his weapon again and shoots me point-blank. The dart slams into my chest, left side, just above my ribs, and the world starts to go black, spiralling out fast and hard.
No. No. No. Not yet.
I slam my head back into the tree trunk behind me. Pain bursts in white stars across my vision, but it keeps me here. Keeps me awake.
I can’t black out. I can’t be taken. Not when I have something to live for.
Paige. Jaxon. Ryder. Remy. The Pack. My pack.
I grit my teeth and try to shift again, but it’s an even worse attempt than before.
The hunters speak again, muffled now, like I’m sinking underwater,
I hear the distant howls of my pack as I lose the fight and darkness crashes over me. I just hope I didn’t imagine them.
A pulse of pain pulls me back to consciousness. My chest burns. My side aches like I’ve been cracked open, and my limbs feel like lead, but I’m breathing. I’m alive, but barely.
I open one eye and wish I hadn’t. They’ve dragged me into a clearing. My arms are tied behind my back, the smell of wolfsbane thick in the air. The hunters are speaking in low voices, and I can hardly make sense of their words, but one word cuts through it all: “heir”
I go still. Suddenly able to focus.
“We don’t need the heir. We need a message. He’s an alpha. He’ll do just fine.
Ice slams through my veins faster than polson ever could. They know something. Maybe not everything. maybe not what Jaxon is or what he might become, but enough to target him. To use me.
My wolf claws at the edges of my mind, frantic to get out, to protect Jaxon, but I’m trapped inside my own body. Half-shifted, half-useless.
I picture Jaxon’s innocent little face. It would destroy Paige if something happened to him, if the hunters got to him. It would destroy us all. We promised he’d be safe here. I intend to keep that promise to my mate if it’s the last thing I do.
Something inside me snaps. I lurch upward, pain be damned, my body shifting more fully now, tearing through the restraints, or trying to. But the wolfsbane has me half-formed, barely coherent. Still, I meet the leader’s eyes and grin, blood trailing from my mouth.
“You’re not leaving this forest,” I snarl. “Not alive.”
The hunter closest to me c***s his head to the side slightly, his eyes narrowing.
Another steps forward and crouches in front of me. “You’ve got a choice, shifter. Cooperate, and this will end fast. Don’t, and we carve what we need out of you slowly and painfully
My lips twitch into a bloody smile. “Go ahead. See how fast my pack rips your throat out.”
He doesn’t flinch, but something flashes behind his eyes, a sliver of uncertainty. He was expecting fear, begging, compliance, but I’m not afraid of pain. I’m afraid of what they’ll do if I’m gone. My eyes start to close again, my lids feel as heavy as stone, and I bite down on my tongue.
Stay awake.
Stay alive.
I can’t let this be how I die. Hog-tied in the dirt while men with god complexes try to erase my kind from the world. I have to hold on, just a little longer.
There’s movement beyond the tree line, shadows flickering too fast to be human… They’re coming.
I lean forward, my chest screaming in protest. “You’re dead,” I spit at them, right before the trees explode with my pack.
A howl tears through the clearing, primal and furious, and Ryder crashes in like death itself, fangs bared, eyes glowing gold. Behind him are Remy, Parker, and three more enforcers.
I let the pain take me then, because I know I did my job. I alerted the pack. I kept them safe. I know with certainty that these hunters won’t be leaving these woods alive. I’m just not sure if I will either.
** Ryder’s POV **
I don’t want to let go of Paige’s hand. It feels perfect in mine. Like it should always be there.
Today has been one of the best days of my life, actually… it’s the best yet.
Waking up with my beautiful mate’s body next to mine. Then a wonderful morning with my son, whose laughter lights up my life in a way I can’t describe. Followed by an afternoon alone with Paige. It’s been perfect. They’re perfect.
We walk up the path to her house and I slow my pace, wanting to squeeze every last second out of this time with her. We reach the door far too soon. I’m still not ready to let her go. I know the minute we go back in there, her brain will go into overdrive again.
I’ve watched her struggle to navigate the pull of the bond all morning. Her mind and emotions are all over the place and I wish I knew what to say to make it easier for her.
Paige stands in front of me, one hand still gripping mine, the other on the door handle. She’s flushed from the heat, her hair a little wind-swept.
I want to kiss her, and I think she knows it. Her eyes drop to my lips and I take that as my cue. But just as I’m leaning in, a sharp bolt of pain slices through my head. The mind link flares wide open, flooded with panic, and then…
“Danger. North woods. Hunters. Wolfsbane. Ambush.”
It’s Callen.
“Where are you? What happened?” I demand.
For half a second, I don’t believe it. It can’t be true. They can’t have found us. Then I feel it, his pain and fear through the pack link.
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