“How did this happen? How the fuck did this happen?” My chest clenched with the pressure of the angry animal inside. “Someone walked onto our land and shot my mate. They shot my fucking mate! Right underneath our noses!” I stomped over to Mary and Max who stood stoically by the door of my cabin. “How did they do this?”
“Rhys.” Natasha’s voice pulled me back from the edge. But only a little.
“We don’t know,” Max said quietly.
“Natasha said she smelled a lynx,” I growled. Walking closer to Mary, I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the wall. “Was it one of your people?”
“Rhys!” Donovan shouted.
“No…no. They would never…” Mary’s words were cut off by the lack of oxygen as I squeezed her neck a little harder.
“Rhys!” Donovan shouted again. “Put her down.”
I’d heard the command in his voice and my animal wanted to obey. But someone had hurt my Natasha and I needed answers now.
“Rhys, please.” Natasha was sitting at the kitchen table, one leg propped up on an empty chair, eyes pleading with me when I glanced her way. “It wasn’t Mary.”
“Are you sure?” I grumbled, turning my glare back to the lynx shifter underneath my grip.
“Yes.”
Donovan cleared his throat before I finally let Mary go. When I did, she slid to the ground, coughing and panting and holding her neck. Mariah rushed to her side and started to coddle her. Focusing my attention to someone I once considered my friend, I glared at Max. “How did they know where to find her?”
He held up his hands. “I don’t know, man. But half a million dollars is going to be very tempting for a lot of people.”
Rushing forward, I drew back my arm and punched Max right across the jaw. Everyone crammed into my cabin gasped and started yelling at me. But I ignored them because I wasn’t the one causing all the trouble.
“What the hell, man?” Max said, rubbing his jaw and letting Fawn wrap her arm around his waist.
“Yeah, Rhys,” Fawn said. “This wasn’t his fault.”
“It wasn’t,” Natasha said. “Cade’s offer is to blame.”
“Well,” I shouted, “he can’t have you for half a million dollars. He can’t have you at all!”
Natasha smiled at me and reached out her hand. “Come here,” she cooed. “Come sit next to me so we can make a plan.”
Reluctantly, I complied. Glaring at everyone else in the room, I lowered myself into the chair next to Natasha and pulled her in close. “I already have a plan,” I grumbled.
Donovan crossed his arms and stared down at me. “What are you talking about, Rhys?”
“On my way home, after you called me, I reached out to Sutton Lowe.”
“The trooper from Homer?” Mariah asked. “Calvin’s mate?”
“Yes. She’s working very closely with the ISC and I thought maybe she could use her position to secure us some more protection.” Natasha squeezed my thigh a moment before she kissed my cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“What did she say?” Max asked, still moving his jaw around like it was hurting him.
“I don’t know yet. I’m supposed to meet her in Fairbanks in a few hours.”
“Fairbanks? Tonight?” Natasha’s voice trembled with those questions.
“She’s at a conference and doesn’t have enough time to come here.” Looking around the room at the faces full of questions, I decided to explain. “She said she needs to talk to me about Cade and his pack but she’d only do it in person.”
“I don’t want you to leave,” Natasha said.
“I know, but I’ll only be gone for a couple of hours. Donovan will make sure you’re safe. Right?” I asked, looking up at my broody alpha.
“Of course.”
“Why don’t I go get some food and we’ll have dinner here,” Fawn suggested. “I think pork chops were on the menu tonight.” Before anyone could answer, she rushed out of the cabin, Mariah and Mary close on her heels.
I could feel Natasha’s eyes on me and smell the worry and sadness wafting off her body. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I kissed the top of her head and tried not to make her move too much. “I don’t want to leave you either, but I need to do this so you can be safe all the time.”
“Can’t one of them go?” She’d whispered it just to me, but of course Max and Donovan heard every word.
“It has to be me,” I told her softly. “Sutton hinted that it was pack related and I’d be the only one to understand.”
“Understand what?” Natasha asked, a few tears brimming in her eyes.
“Pack business,” I said. “I have a feeling there’s more to the story than Sutton’s letting on. And any dirt we can gather about Cade Jenssen and his pack, the more leverage we might have to be able to get this bounty off your head once and for all.”
“I don’t like this,” Max said as he sat down in the last available chair.
“Neither do I,” Donovan agreed.
I looked at my two closest friends and tried to smile. “I don’t either, but I need to do this. Natasha deserves better than to be looking over her shoulder every minute of every day. She’s done running. She belongs with me, in Eagle Creek. And the sooner we can remove the reward money, the better off we’ll all be.”
Donovan nodded and turned his attention toward the window. “The girls are coming back. We will make sure Natasha stays safe while you visit with Sutton.” Then, turning to my mate, Donovan smiled just a little bit. “You are a part of this crew now. We all protect each other.”
Tears slid down Natasha’s cheeks so I held her even tighter. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
****
An hour later, belly full of meat and potatoes, I found myself standing by the door trying to leave. Natasha had limped over to me, her hip and thigh still hurting, and now she was wrapped up tightly against my chest.
“Are you sure you have to leave?” she asked.
“If it will help you, I need to.” I kissed the top of her head and breathed in the sexy scent she constantly emitted. “You should always feel safe.”
“I already do,” she whispered as she lifted her chin. “You make me feel like I have a home, Rhys.”
Bending down to reach those succulent lips, I couldn’t stop myself from devouring them. So plump, sweet, juicy…if I’d known what I was missing all those years ago, I would have fought harder to get Natasha’s attention. She was perfect for me. A mate that could match my animal. A girl who could steal my heart. And a member of my crew in no time at all. I loved her. I really did.
That realization stopped my heart. As I sucked in a breath, Natasha shivered beneath my arms.
“What?” she asked.
“I love you and I don’t want you to leave.”
She smiled and nestled her head beneath my chin. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” she whispered. And then she gave me a little nip on the chest. “And I love you too, Rhys Murray. I always have.”
I wished, for the hundredth time that night, that we were alone in my cabin so I could show her just how much she meant to me. But I needed Max and Donovan and Mariah and Fawn and even Mary to protect Natasha while I was gone. I needed my crew—we both did.
With one last kiss on her lips and squeeze of her breasts, which earned me a playful slap, I walked out the door and started my truck. Meeting with Sutton was necessary. Not only would she give me insight into Cade’s pack, but she’d also said she had information for me to pass on to Natasha’s family. I didn’t know if it was information about Cash or about exactly what went down that night when Natasha killed him, but I had a feeling it was important to help my mate move on and accept her new life by my side.
I hated lying to her. In fact, I hated lying to everyone sitting in my home right now watching over the woman I loved. And I hadn’t totally lied, I supposed. Sutton did have information about pack politics, and I would be asking her to see if she could manage extra protection around our woods. Max had been right. Half a million dollars would bring all the crazies out. Maybe even some in our own backyard. No one around here was rich…and that kind of money could give them a chance to start over.
“Fuck,” I mumbled to myself as I pulled onto the main highway that would take me to the city. It would be very hard to keep Natasha safe while that kind of bounty was hanging over our heads. Maybe we should leave. Maybe we could go to Toronto for a while and hide under the safety of her father’s pack. But that would mean facing people I had no desire to face. And I had a feeling Natasha would nix that idea right away.
Smiling at the thought of my headstrong mate, my boner instantly moved against my pants. I’d never met a woman who could turn me on without even being in the same room as me. But that was Natasha—strong, sexy, magnificent Natasha who was mine. All. Mine. She’s always been a spitfire, even as kids. Her and Portia fought constantly, but that’s what I’d admired about her. She didn’t back down from a fight. She’d stand her ground even when she knew she was dead wrong about something. She was a fighter and a survivor. And even though she’d let Cash Jenssen have the best of her sometimes, in the end, she was the one who’d won that battle.
Lost in my admiration of my mate, I had to slam on the brakes when I finally noticed that the traffic on the highway was coming to a stop. Around the bend a half mile ahead, I saw the flashing lights decorate the sky and knew that wasn’t a good sign. It was already eight and I still had nearly sixty miles to go. I quickly pulled out my phone and glanced at the map. Realizing there was a side road I could take that would eventually get me back to the highway, I pulled onto the shoulder and gunned it. Hopefully the cops were all busy with the accident. By the time I reached the exit ramp, and after a number of horns and shouts from my fellow drivers, I had only fifty more minutes to get to Fairbanks. So, as I jerked my truck onto the back-country road and flipped on the high beams, I pushed the gas down and hoped the deer would stay out of my way tonight.
As the lights from the highway started to fade, I glanced at my map again to make sure I was heading in the right direction. As a wolf, I had a surprisingly poor inner compass. I huffed a laugh and imagined Natasha giving me a hard time about that…and then decided that she probably should never know that particular truth of mine. Wondering what kind of embarrassing secrets she might have, I didn’t even see the car partially pulled off to the side of the road until the very last minute. Jerking the wheel to the side, I swore as my truck lifted up on two tires and barely skirted the other vehicle. It must have been abandoned because there were no lights and no flags, and no fucking warning that it was sitting there in the dark on the open side of a blind curve.
My brakes squealed as I slid to a stop just a hundred feet or so from where the car had been. “Son of a bitch!” With a pounding heart and a wolf ready to burst from my skin, I took several deep breaths to calm them both. Slipping out of my seat, I slammed the driver’s door shut behind me and stomped back toward the broken car. I didn’t know what I was checking for exactly, but perhaps if someone was in need of help, I wouldn’t be so angry that they’d almost caused me to wreck.
Inching my way up to the car, I didn’t feel any heat coming off it and I didn’t sense anyone inside. There was no scent of blood either, which meant that whoever had abandoned the vehicle, they most likely weren’t injured.
“Assholes,” I muttered again as I turned around and strode to my truck. That had just cost me ten minutes I couldn’t spare. I hoped Sutton wasn’t a stickler for being on time, although with her being a state trooper and all, I guessed that probably wasn’t the case.
Climbing back into my seat and putting the truck in drive, I did another quick glance at my cell phone only to see I’d lost service. “Well, that’s just perfect.” I clicked on it a few more times just to make sure…and that’s when I saw the headlights.
Flying around the curve in the road and coming up fast in front of me and behind me, the two vehicles never even slowed. I only had a moment to curse at the world before one truck hit me head on and the other rear-ended me, forcing me to spin further into the road. Like a game of bumper cars, the sound of crunching metal and screeching tires accompanied the back and forth hits like an unwelcomed soundtrack. My head roared in pain since the air bag had hit my face pretty hard while I bounced between the seat and the steering wheel as those fuckers kept slamming into my truck. At one point, they hit the side so hard, I flew across the seat and landed on the floor of the passenger’s side.
And that’s when everything went silent.
“Hello?” I asked the air. I didn’t know why, but maybe I hoped this whole thing was an accident and someone hadn’t smashed into me on purpose.
An engine revved just outside the door. Then another one. Fuck. They were getting ready to hit me again. I needed to get out of this truck…and fast. Another engine, followed by shouting. Men. Shouting and directing each other in a coordinated attack.
Mother fuckers.
Ignoring the pain racing through my body, I slid my hand up the door to find the handle. But when I pulled on it, nothing happened. The window had shattered, so, avoiding the broken glass, I crawled on top of the seat and used my good shoulder to push against the door. Biting my tongue to hold back the curses, I tried again. And again. But nothing worked until the last time when I sucked in a deep breath and…
Someone opened the door just as I was about to push. My forward momentum carried me outside and right into the lap of the man who’d been able to yank the door free. We fell to the ground, me splayed out on top of his legs, and it took a moment before he reacted.
“Get the fuck off me,” he growled, kicking at me and shoving me toward the pavement. “Hey, get him off.”
He slithered out from underneath me and jumped to his feet. And when we made eye contact, he kicked me in the ribs. I flew sideways, landing hard on the shoulder injured in the crash. A wave of pain made be nauseous, forcing me to throw up right in front of these men.
“Fucking pussy ass wolf,” one of them joked.
“I thought you were supposed to be some big, bad alpha,” another said shortly before he spit on me.
“Fuck off,” I groaned, only inciting more laughter.
“Come on, get him up. We have to go before someone drives by.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, although I could barely make my lips form the words.
“To see your executioner,” the man who spit on me said.
I glanced up at him, covering my eyes from the headlights and shadows, knowing I had a concussion. “What are you talking about?”
Someone stomped up behind me and grabbed my shoulders. He flipped me around on my back and glared down at me. His eyes were empty and soulless and I knew whatever he was about to say next wouldn’t be good. “Enough talking.”
And just then, I saw the sole of his boot rushing toward my face…and nothing else.