They started back through the trees, Dillon striding along as if he was wearing an expensive suit rather than nothing at all. The other shifter stayed in his wolf form and loped along beside them.

“So who are you that someone like Dominic Vascenti is looking for you?” Dillon asked. “You steal from him or something?”

“No, I didn’t steal anything from him. I didn’t even know who he was until some of his thugs murdered my brother three weeks ago over a gambling debt,” she responded. “Rick and I went back to New York to try to help him.”

“Sounds like something Rick would do,” he muttered with a shake of his head.

“What do you know about Rick?” Laura demanded, angry that this lowlife would dare look down on someone as good as the man she had come to know.

“Just what I’ve seen and heard around town. Gentle, nice guy, helpful to everyone around him, would give you the shirt off his back. Volunteers at orphanages, saves women from burning buildings,” he muttered with a chuckle. “Stupid, basically.”

“Fuck you, you scumbag!” Laura shouted, somehow angrier at the slight to Rick than at her forcible abduction. “Rick’s got more courage in his pinkie than your whole pack. Out here kidnapping a woman for a bit of cash. You’re pathetic.”

“Courage?” Dillon chortled, sounding incredulous. “Courage is a word invented by the people who run things so they can get the poor of society to fight their wars and protect their estates.”

“Better than being a spineless coward who only picks on people weaker than him,” she muttered, some of the fight gone out of her. What was the point of arguing with him?

Something about that got a rise out of him, however. “Screw you princess,” he snarled, grip tightening painfully around her arm. “You don’t know who I am or how I ended up here.”

Why had that set him off? And what had she heard in his voice? It had sounded like regret, but that didn’t make any sense. She decided the stress of the situation must be getting to her.

“Right, I’m sure you’re a solid upstanding member of society,” she snarled back, the anger that had been sitting inside her for so long starting to come out again. It was shockingly easy to be unafraid when you’re angry, Laura was beginning to learn. “Let’s get back to the car quick, so you can get back to doing volunteer work and looking after your sick grandma.”

The man beside her let out a growl that sounded more wolf than man. He shoved her forward, falling behind her. It was an effective way to end the conversation, she supposed, though she still didn’t understand why her jabs were getting to him. What did a career criminal care what some random person thought of him?

Laura mulled over what she now knew. Their short conversation had been surprisingly informative. Dillon didn’t know who it was who was after her. It was possible that some of Vascenti’s thugs had come into town and asked around until they found whatever underbelly a small place like Blackendale possessed. And it made sense that they would refrain from mentioning who it was that they worked for. No reason to share information like that when they could just offer money instead.

That was all easy enough to figure out, but the one thing she kept coming back to was Dillon’s surprisingly thin skin. The only way to make sense of it was to believe that he didn’t really want to be doing this, or other things like it. But as the alpha of his pack, he should have enough control to steer them away from shady activities like this. And from what Rick had said, the wolf pack had only started engaging in illegality around the time Dillon took over.

So he leads the pack in a direction that he himself doesn’t like. What could make a man do that? Laura didn’t know, and she didn’t think he was likely to tell her if she just up and asked.

The trees were beginning to thin at this point and she knew they would be back at the cabin soon. Her mind spun, looking for any way out. It spun with an unusual slowness, however, as resignation crept in little by little. Scream for help? A hand would be over her mouth in an instant. Find a big enough branch laying on the path to take a swing at Dillon? If he was anything like Rick he could walk through any blow she could give, regardless of how big the stick was. Besides, the other wolf was still shadowing them to their left, and would be on her in a heartbeat if she made a move.

So she just walked along meekly, something which angered her. She had been constantly put in situations she had no power to change over the last few weeks, and that was something that bothered her. But beyond that, she might never see Rick again. She didn’t imagine that Dominic Vascenti was the type of person to let someone walk after they killed one of his men. People in positions like his made examples.

The cabin appeared through the trees then, bringing a sad pang to her heart. No more waking to the sound of wood being chopped, or spending a quiet afternoon in the sun reading a book. That this second, new life could be taken so suddenly wasn’t surprising to her. Her first life had been disappeared just as easily.

Dillon and the wolf herded her around the side of Rick’s home. There were two piles of clothes there, neatly folded and laying on the ground. They hadn’t even hurried to catch her, had taken the time to remove their clothes and arrange them carefully before shifting. It rankled, though she knew it shouldn’t.

The still shifted wolf trotted past her then, stopping at the clothes. In an instant he was a man again, a bit shorter than Dillon, though still lean and athletic looking. This one had an unkempt beard and was wearing a small earring in his right ear. He appeared just as unconcerned about being naked in front of her as Dillon had.

Dillon motioned for her to stop as the two of them dressed themselves. It almost looked like they were wearing a uniform, blue jeans, dark t-shirts, work boots and leather vests. There was a large symbol emblazoned across the back of the vests, but she didn’t get a good look at it before she was shoved forward again. Both Dillon and his companion remained silent.

The other two shifters were still waiting beside the old car, one leaning against the front end casually. Both straightened as they saw the two men and Laura come around the corner to the front of the cabin.

One final shove from Dillon sent her to the two who had been waiting. She heard one word from him as they grabbed her.

“Trunk.”

 

Rick’s drive out to the work site was proving uneventful, but the time passed quickly. The site Danny’s crew was working at was about an hour and a half away from his cabin, mostly on smaller back roads. They were building what would be an automotive shop.

What was odd is that Rick’s portion of the job was already finished. He was skilled at framing, roofing, putting walls in, that sort of thing. The structure itself. They had finished that part during his last stint at the site a few days before. The crew should be working on things like electrical and plumbing, as well as installing shelves and counters and the like. For work like that he would be more in the way than anything else.

Maybe some random motorist had drunk a few too many and driven his car through a wall or something, Rick mused. He couldn’t think of any other reasons that made sense for Danny’s call this morning.

Regardless, he was sure Danny would not have bothered him for nothing. He had been unusually cagey on the phone, but he was a trustworthy guy. Rick had known him for years and he had always been honest and friendly, two traits that were sometimes lacking in the construction industry. He had worked for other people who had required a bit of persuasion before they were willing to pay what he was owed. Nothing violent, a man of Rick’s stature only needed to imply.

After a few moments mulling over the unexpected call, his thoughts returned to Laura. He was growing more and more sure that there was very little they could do to avenge her brother’s murder. It angered him to admit it, but it was the truth. He was more physically capable than any human, but he wasn’t immortal. He couldn’t fight a gang of men with guns on his own, and even if he could he sure as hell couldn’t do it in a place like New York. Not without being thrown in jail, or worse, in some underground lab somewhere with needles sticking out of him. Big cities and shifters don’t mix, it was something all shifters were taught from a young age.

It broke his heart to know that he couldn’t get this done for Laura, though the rational part of him knew that it had been an impossible task from the start. That rational part didn’t play too large a role in his mind when thinking about his mate, however.

Could she give it up without breaking? Without losing some part of the person he loved so much? He knew that if she couldn’t he would still help her fight, regardless of the consequences to himself. His feelings for her were strong enough to make his own life seem inconsequential.

The miles flew by as his thoughts trundled along. Rick had long ago accepted that he wasn’t a particularly smart person. Not stupid, either, but he wasn’t winning any debate contests. Rather than being smart, he’d settled for being deliberate. When presented with a problem he would think it through from every possible direction before making a decision. This habit had served him well for his entire life, but as things currently stood it wasn’t proving useful at all. It was impossible to make a good decision when all the options were bad.

Before too much longer Rick had arrived at the work site. His eyes scanned the building as he pulled up. There didn’t appear to be any exterior damage, and the roof looked fine. On top of that, there was only one vehicle in the lot, Danny’s truck. It was possible Rick was just the first to arrive for the day’s work, but unlikely. There were about a dozen guys total on the crew, and a few of them were the type to show up to work early.

A sliver of unease wormed its way into his mind. What was this about?

He parked his truck next to Danny’s and got out, heading for the front door of the building. It was unlocked, and he stepped inside into what was a fairly dim room. Dim for a human, anyways. The soft morning light coming in through the partially blocked window was more than enough for him.

Immediately he knew something was wrong. Danny was on the other side of the room hunched over a counter set against the wall. Rick’s nose brought him the scent of blood.

Danny started at the sound of the door closing, apparently oblivious to its opening. He stood and turned. “That you Rick?” he asked, voice unsteady.

“Yeah it’s me. What’s going on Danny, did you get hurt?”

“I’m sorry man, I don’t know what it’s all about, but some guys showed up at my house early this morning.” His breath wheezed a little as he spoke, and he seemed shaky on his feet. “They forced their way in and made me call you in today. I tried to tell them to fuck off, but they weren’t the type to take no lightly.”

Rick walked forward, ushering Danny into a chair. “How bad did they rough you up? Do you need an ambulance?”

“I don’t think anything’s broken, I’ll be fine,” he replied, grimacing a little as he sat down. “Mary and the kids were scared shitless though, let me tell you.”

“What did they look like?” Rick asked, the unease from earlier having graduated from sliver to bucketful.

“Three guys, maybe a bit taller than average. Tough looking, but a bit ragged, beards or stubble on all of them. Longish hair. They made me think of bikers even though they showed up at my place in a car.”

Alarms went off in Rick’s head at that. Dillon’s pack? Why would they want to draw Rick here today? He hadn’t smelled any of them on the way in, so it was a safe bet that they weren’t trying to ambush him. But what if their goal wasn’t to get him here? What if they just wanted him out of the cabin?

They were going for Laura. He didn’t understand why, but it was the only thing that made sense. He had to get back to the cabin as fast as he could.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this Danny,” Rick said, fighting the urge to just rush out the door. Time was of the essence, but Danny was a good man who had been put in a tough spot because of him. “I have to go, those guys that roughed you up wanted me out of my place, they might be after my girl.”

“Awe shit man, get out of here,” Danny responded. Rick had told some of the guys on the crew about Laura, and Danny in particular had seemed to pick up on how it was more than some fling. “There’s nothing you can do for me here. Should I call the cops?”

“Not on my account,” he answered, already turning for the door. Opening it, he turned back for a second. “I owe you Danny, big time. Anything you need.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, chuckling a bit. The chuckle seemed to hurt. “Call me if there’s anything I can do to help nail those bastards.”

“Will do.”

Rick was running to his truck then, anger already building. He was usually a gentle guy, not the type to fight if he could avoid it. But mess with his mate? People were about to get hurt.

 

The old red truck barreled down the back roads toward the cabin, Rick driving as fast as he dared. Most of his thoughts were devoted to worry about Laura, but some turned towards how he was going to save her. He couldn’t fight Dillon’s pack single-handedly. He could take on two, maybe three wolves and have a fighting chance, but the local pack had at least twenty five shifters. His size advantage would do nothing to outweigh numbers like that.

He needed help, but his options were pretty limited. He knew only a few other bear shifters in the area, though none of them very well. Rick only had a phone number for one.

He was an older shifter, at least a hundred and fifty if Rick’s guess was accurate. He had met him a couple times in the forest when he’d roamed farther than usual. Gerald, he had said his name was. His bear form wasn’t quite as big as Rick’s, who was large even by bear shifter standards, but he was still big, and had seemed spry for his age. They had spent an afternoon pulling fish from a river together as bears once, afterwards chatting while cooking them over a fire as humans.

He had seemed forthright enough, telling Rick that he’d lived in the area for almost thirty years. Gerald seemed to have left his clan, just like Rick had, but he had no idea of why. It wasn’t something you could ask someone you hardly knew. His brief time with Rick had given the impression of someone who could be counted on, but that might just be wishful thinking brought on by his current situation. Regardless, at this point he had no choice. He needed help, and Gerald might be the only help he had access to right now.

A thought struck him just then. Why was he going back to the cabin? Dillon had arranged everything perfectly to draw Rick out, and he had to know that Rick would rush straight back there when he learned of the deception. They would be long gone by the time he arrived.

It came down to Dillon’s reason for all this. If he wanted to hurt or kill Laura, Rick had to get to the cabin as fast as he could. She might need his help. But if Dillon was going to take her, then Rick needed to go where he would be, not where he had been.

He agonized for the next few moments as he drove before coming to a decision. He pulled onto the side of the road and opened the glove box, rifling through the mess of papers inside. Before their meeting had ended, Gerald and Rick had exchanged phone numbers. Rick had scribbled it on a piece of paper from memory upon returning to his truck, and he was pretty sure it was still there.

He quickly found it, a hastily written number marked only with an upper case G. He grabbed his phone from the cup holder where it normally rested, praying that he hadn’t remembered the number incorrectly after their afternoon together.

Rick dialed. The ringing seemed to stretch on forever, though in reality he was sure it didn’t ring for longer than one would expect. Eventually the other side picked up, and a cheerful sounding voice came on the other end. “Yeeeello.”

“Gerald, is that you? It’s Rick.”

“Oh hey kid, how ya doin?” came the answer, the older man sounding pleased at the call.

“I need your help Gerald, and I’ve got nobody else to turn to,” Rick began, forcefully keeping his speaking from coming out in the hurried mess it wanted to.

“Sure Rick, what do you need?”

“Dillon’s pack is after my mate,” he began, trying to keep the story as concise as possible. “They drew me out of my cabin this morning, and the only reason I can come up with is that they’re going to attack her or take her. I’m on my way back now, but if they’ve taken her I’ll need help getting her back.”

“You talkin’ about kickin’ down the door to their den?” Gerald asked, not sounding entirely displeased. “I’ve been thinkin’ that those kids’ve been askin’ for a whoopin’ for a while now, the way they’ve been acting.”

“Something like that, yeah,” he answered, relieved that Gerald would even consider it. “But the two of us alone might not be enough, do you know anyone else around here that would help?”

“Yeah I might have someone,” he answered, sounding more and more jovial. “Not the most personable sort, but I don’t think personable is what we’re goin’ for here is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Rick answered, almost growling by the end. “Meet me at Ernie’s around noon? I’ve got to get back to my cabin first to make sure Laura isn’t there.” Ernie’s was a hardware store fairly close to the club house Dillon’s pack operated out of.

“You got it,” Gerald said right back. He had seemed entirely too excited by the prospect of a fight with the wolves, but Rick couldn’t be too concerned with that right now. Enthusiasm was a hell of a lot better than trepidation, even if trepidation would have made more sense.

He got back on the road towards the cabin again. If one of the wolves had harmed his mate… He could feel the beast within him filling with savage rage. It was all he could do to keep his bear from bursting out of him then and there.