Chapter Twelve

Savannah was lying on something cold and hard. Her stomach was roiling and her head throbbed.

What the hell had happened?

The pull of the moon…it was gone. She must have been unconscious all night long. Panic sent her heart racing. Where was Austin? Where was Roy?

Austin’s voice echoed above her, sounding very far away. “Savannah. Talk to me. Say something.”

She groaned into the floor.

“Something,” she muttered.

“Oh good, you haven’t lost your ability to smart off at the worst possible time.” She felt his hand on her arm. “Here. Sit up.”

She sat up slowly and looked around the room.

Cold fear settled over her like an icy fog. They were locked in the concrete cell. She could see daylight through the tiny slit of a window. And Roy was pacing back and forth on the floor in wolf form, ignoring them completely.

They were in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knew where they were, no help was coming. Roy was going to notice them any minute now and tear them to little pieces.

“They drugged our food,” Savannah groaned. “Bastards.”

“Damn it. I’m an idiot. I should have seen it,” Austin cursed. “They were arguing with us about coming here, they were telling us to go anywhere but here, but then all of a sudden they welcomed us with open arms. Of course. Because they did some checking around and heard about the bounty. They decided to take it for themselves.”

He helped her climb to her feet. Her knees were shaky and her throat was dry. She was trembling all over as she leaned against Austin, and he hugged her to him.

She closed her eyes, resting her head on his broad chest. Slowly, the dizziness faded. Their situation was grim, but somehow, being here with Austin was keeping her from full-blown panic.

Savannah flicked a glance at Roy. “Why isn’t he attacking us?” she whispered.

Austin shrugged. “Who knows why he does anything?” he murmured. “I don’t think even he knows.”

She frowned in thought, trying to brush aside the cobwebs in her mind. “Well, the fact that they locked us in here with a shifter who’s known to be feral pretty much means that they want us dead. If he doesn’t kill us, they’ll kill us themselves.”

Austin nodded grimly. “I know, so we’ve got to plan accordingly. When they open the door, we stand to the side. They’ll barrel in spraying silver bullets. I heal very quickly, so you’ll stand behind me. I’ll send a wave of power at them and force them to change. I’ll try to clear a path for you. I want you to run straight for the woods. Roy will go after them, too. No matter how calm he is at the moment, once they come in shooting, he’ll attack. That will help distract them, give you time to get away.”

He glanced at Roy. Roy was still ignoring them completely.

“No,” Savannah said. When Austin started to argue, she shook her head. “Don’t try to take away who I am,” she said. “Running like a cowardly bitch while my mate fights to the death? That’s not me.”

“Your mate? I had no idea you felt so strongly about Roy.” Austin smiled grimly.

She managed a laugh. “Now who’s being sarcastic at the worst possible time?”

He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “We’re so alike, with our obnoxious, asshole sense of humor. It’s like we’re meant for each other.”

She leaned in to him.

“If you stay by my side and fight, you’ll probably die.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “But if I run into the woods and leave you behind to die, then surviving’s not worth it.”

“You understand I don’t have a future, right? We have no future either way. So you’d be sacrificing yourself for nothing.”

Savannah felt anger rolling through her. This again? Roy seemed to pick up on her flare of anger, because his ears flattened against his head, and he growled.

Austin went stiff and stared at Roy.

“I think you saying that is pissing him off,” she informed him. “And it’s damn sure pissing me off.”

“Savannah, I don’t want you to die for nothing. I don’t want you to die for a crazy man. What if I go feral and I kill you?” Austin’s voice was bleak and despairing.

“Oh, for dog’s sake!” she snapped. “What if we mate, and nothing goes wrong, but then ten years from now I get hit by a bus?”

Before Austin could say anything, they saw the barrel of a gun poke through the slitted window.

Quickly, he pushed Savannah out of the way, closed his eyes, and sent out a wave of power. They heard screams of pain as he forced the men outside to shift. Smart thinking. In animal form, they wouldn’t be able to shoot. Savannah could feel the thick wave of power, and she fell to her knees and crawled to the corner of the room.

The gun barrel vanished. Howls of agony twisted up through the air outside the bunker.

She watched Austin as he stood there, power flowing from him, warping the air around him. She knew he wouldn’t be able to hold them forever. After a few minutes, he stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, panting for breath, and she heard shouts and groans as the men outside changed back.

Roy just sat there, staring blankly at the door. Savannah thought about asking him to help them, but she was afraid she’d just set him off. At least he wasn’t currently trying to kill them.

After a couple of minutes, the gun barrel poked through the window again. Once more, Austin sent out the wave of power, and held them for a few minutes before releasing them.

This time, it took about five minutes for them to recover.

Finally, there was a weak, whining shout through the window. “You can’t last all day, shithead! Give up now and we’ll kill you quick! You don’t cut this shit out, we’re going to tear your heads off!”

“Come try it!” Austin yelled back. “After I finish gutting you, I’m going to rip the fur from your flesh! I’m gonna skull-fuck your eye sockets, bitches!”

“Eww, gross,” Savannah winced. “I mean, well-deserved, but gross. Also, could you maybe do the first thing but not the second thing? Because if you did the second thing, I feel like it would flash in front of my eyes at the wrong moments and ruin all future boinking sessions.”

Roy’s shoulders started shaking. He was making an odd noise.

Savannah looked at him in alarm. His lips were curled up. Was he laughing while in wolf form?

Outside, she could hear angry muttering. She and Austin stood there, leaning against the wall. The men outside were frustrated. They couldn’t get close enough to shoot into the room without Austin knocking them on their mangy asses with his power. Same thing with pulling the door of the bunker open.

They were at an impasse, but she was sure they hadn’t given up.

As the minutes ticked by, she grew angrier and angrier.

She didn’t want to die like this. Not betrayed by her own kind. Not for money. Not when she’d met her mate, the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life arguing with.

Suddenly, she heard the crack of gunfire and screams of pure agony twisting up into the air.

There were different people nearby, she could scent them. Not the Deep River Pack.

Austin stepped in front of her. “My brothers!” he said. “My packmates. I smell them.”

Roy went very still.

“Austin, it’s Cliff! Can you hear me?” a man’s voice called out from right outside the little window.

“Well, if I couldn’t, then how the fuck could I answer you?” Austin yelled back.

“Fuck yourself right up the ass, Austin! Stand back!” a man’s voice yelled. “We’re blasting the door open!”

They hurried to the back of the room, and Austin pushed Savannah up against the wall, shielding her with his body. Roy just sat there by the door, tongue lolling out, eyes fixated on the handle.

“Damn it, Roy, get over here!” Savannah screamed at him.

He twitched an ear but didn’t move.

An explosion sounded outside the door, ringing in Savannah’s ears and making her teeth ache. She smelled a bitter, acrid scent. After a minute, the door fell straight outward and landed on the ground with a clang.

One of the men facing them screamed, “Look out!”

Roy lunged straight for his throat.