Chapter Eleven
Michael felt a little shy the next morning after that amazing kiss. He was half-afraid he’d dreamed it, especially since the alpha seemed distant now, his attention elsewhere.
He washed up in a nearby stream, bathing his feet in the cool water while he waited for Max to return. When the bear did, he was gruff.
“We need to get moving.”
“Oh. Okay. Is something wrong?”
The alpha glanced at him. “No. We just shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.”
They shifted and moved off, Michael sticking close to the alpha. He couldn’t help his thoughts turning negative. Had the alpha realized he’d made a mistake, kissing him? Yet Max was just as attentive as he’d been the previous day, checking on Michael frequently as they walked, never getting too far ahead.
At some point, they seemed to change direction. Around them, the forest thinned and then they were right at the edge of the woods. Max slowed to a stop and shifted back to human form, staring out through the trees. Michael padded over to stand beside him. There were houses nearby, three of them. Had they reached their destination? He changed back, looking from the alpha to the houses.
“Is that where we’re going?”
“No,” the alpha said shortly.
“Then shouldn’t we keep moving?”
“Not on foot.” Max rested a hand on his shoulder. “There’s someone on our trail. We need to gain some ground.”
So that was what had the alpha on edge.
“How?”
Max pointed to the houses. “We need some wheels, and I guess that’s where we’ll find them.”
“Steal a car?”
“Borrow a car. We’ll return it when we’re done.” The alpha’s lips quirked upward in a smile. He tugged on Michael’s sleeve. “Come on.”
They kept to the edge of the trees as they circled toward the houses.
“I could shift and scout ahead,” Michael suggested.
He could see from the look on Max’s face that the alpha didn’t like that idea.
“I’ll go.”
“Yeah, because a bear is so much less conspicuous than an ocelot.”
He waited, knowing the other shifter would see sense.
“They could be hunters. I can’t protect you from a gun if I’m all the way over here.”
“I’m quick and small. I’ll be in and out before they see me.”
Max stared at him for a long moment. “Be careful. Stay low. If you’re seen, just get out of there.”
“I will,” he promised, shifting quickly before the alpha could change his mind.
He tried not to think about who might be following them. Was it just the coyote or had he brought friends?
The first of the three houses was the smallest and empty with no car outside. The second had a car but also two big dogs in the garden who barked loudly once they caught Michael’s scent. He quickly skirted around to the third house, hoping the dogs hadn’t alerted anyone.
The third house’s back door was ajar, and Michael could see keys hanging on a hook just inside. Around the side of the house, there was a four-wheel drive. That would do.
He raced back to Max, shifting and explaining what he’d found. Opting not to risk alerting anyone with the dogs in the second house, they decided to give them a wide berth.
“I’ll grab the keys,” Max told him. “You go to the car.”
Michael dashed around the side of the vehicle, ducking down so he was out of sight. Max arrived seconds after him, easing the door open and urging him inside before climbing in after him. The alpha didn’t delay, starting the car and driving off, accelerating away as soon as they were out on the road.
“I’d be surprised if they didn’t hear us driving away in their car,” Max said. “We need to get out of this area as fast as possible. I don’t want some local sheriff trying to stop us.”
“What about whoever is following us?”
“Hard to keep up when we’re going a hundred miles an hour,” Max threw back, putting his foot down on the gas, the acceleration throwing Michael back against his seat.
“Are you sure you know where we’re going?”
He didn’t mean to doubt the alpha but Max himself had admitted his memory was spotty.
“Yes, but we’re at least a day away. Still quicker than going on foot.”
“I kind of liked it. It’s been a long time since I…” He turned his gaze to the window, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “I haven’t changed since before I was taken. Ryan and Eliot never saw me as an ocelot. I never got to cuddle them, shifter to shifter. So many things I never got to—”
A hand pressed against his knee, squeezing firmly. “We’ll find a way, Michael. First things first; let’s get somewhere safe and figure out what’s going on. Then we can think about next steps. Finding your brothers, rescuing your sons.”
“But they’re not just my sons,” he said, his voice cracking. “They’re also Julian’s. He’s their father. And the alpha of his pack. They’re not going to just let them go.”
He forced back the tears. There was nothing he could do for his kids right then except stay strong.
“I don’t know how to drive,” he pointed out, feeling once again a little useless.
“It’s an automatic. Doesn’t take much skill,” the alpha said, not blinking at the sudden change of subject. “But I’ll stay behind the wheel for now.”
It was already growing dark, and Michael was feeling tired again. Not physically so much as mentally, his mind going around in circles. He had this idea that if he could just find his brothers, they’d fix everything, make it better. But a part of him knew it wasn’t that simple. His brothers’ lives can’t have been all that different from his. Finn and Drew had been sold too, must have suffered just like him. Had Finn been in a breeder house? Had Drew been thrown into the fighting rings? Were they still the people he remembered or were they strangers?
At some late hour, Max pulled off the road.
“I need a few hours shut-eye before we go on,” the alpha said. “And from the looks of it, so do you.”
He helped Michael tilt his seat back so he could sit a little more comfortably. The last thing he saw as his eyes closed was Max’s face right opposite him.
When he opened his eyes again, Max was gone. Michael sat up, looking around frantically, his heart racing.
“Max?”
The alpha was nowhere to be seen. He pressed a hand to Max’s chair. Still warm. He hadn’t been gone long. Lying back, he tried to calm the racing of his heart. The other shifter had probably just gone to get some water or something to eat. Michael’s stomach was starting to feel hollow.
It was early morning, misty but bright. He felt hopeful at seeing daylight once more. He was still free, still searching for his brothers. His kids were safe at home.
When he heard the car, he didn’t pay too much attention at first. They were near a road, it was daytime. There’d be people moving around, going to work, to school, doing normal human things. But in the rearview mirror, he saw a vehicle pull in right behind them. The car was a plain black color. Not police. Locals, maybe? People wondering why they were parked by their land?
Two men got out, and Michael knew all his guesses had been wrong. They were shifters. There was no mistaking it from the way they moved, the way they looked. He knew staying in the car was a mistake. He’d be trapped. His best chance of escape was to shift and run.
Slipping out of the door, he moved back from the car and away from the approaching shifters.
“Michael?” one of them called.
He didn’t react to his name, not even looking in their direction.
“It’s okay, Michael,” he continued. “We’re here to help you.”
Glancing back at them, he kept moving.
“We’re here to take you home,” the shifter said, “back to Ryan and Eliot. They’re really missing you.”
Hearing his sons’ names, he turned and faced the shifters.
“We know you were taken against your will by that alpha guard. I don’t know what lies he’s told you since he kidnapped you, but everyone at home is really worried about you. Mr. Ingles himself sent us to track you down and bring you back to your family.”
“Are they okay?” he asked. “The kids?”
The shifter smiled, making steady eye contact. “Oh, they’re fine. Eliot’s been fussing since you left and Ryan keeps asking about you but they’re both safe.”
“Max… Max said Julian and Claude were selling me.”
The alpha’s smile became a frown. “That was a lie, Michael. Max is lying to you. I don’t know why, or why he took you, but he’s not right in the head. He lied about everything: who he is, his past. He killed two guards when he took you. Has he hurt you?”
Michael thought of the alpha, who’d been nothing but kind and gentle if confused.
“No, he hasn’t.”
“Good, that’s good. We know he’s capable of violence. I’m relieved he hasn’t hurt you and that he didn’t get the chance to hurt Ryan or little Eliot. But we need to get you to safety before he comes back. He’s close by, right?”
“I… I don’t know. You’re really taking me home?”
The shifter smiled at him, his face kind. “Of course. You belong with your family. With your kids.”
He waved Michael toward him, not moving in his direction but letting Michael come to him.
It could be true, couldn’t it? He only had Max’s word for it that they’d planned to sell him. The alpha had dragged him from the house, and he hadn’t wanted to go, not until he’d heard his brothers’ names. If he could go back to his kids, if things could go back to the way they had been… wasn’t that better?
He started toward the men, feeling relieved that it was all over, that he was going to see Ryan and Eliot again. He’d missed them beyond words. When he came within reach of the kind-faced man, the shifter wrapped an arm around his shoulders and urged him toward their vehicle. The other shifter smirked at him, and something in his expression made Michael’s stomach turn.
“Wait,” he said, trying to slow down. The man holding him tightened his grip, propelling Michael toward the car.
“Be a good boy now,” he said, “or we’ll have to put you in the trunk.”
He started struggling in earnest at that. “No, let me go.”
A blow to the side of his head rocked him, his vision spinning. “Shut it. I don’t want that alpha bearing down on us.”
“Just get him in the car,” the other shifter barked at him. “Before the bear comes back.”
“Too late for that,” a voice growled ahead of them.
Max stood in front of their car, his arms folded, a glint of fury in his eyes.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” the shifter dragging Michael said.
“Good. Then let him go.”
“We can’t do that. He belongs to some powerful alphas. You’ve woken a sleeping giant by stealing him. The best you can hope for is to give him back now and go to ground. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll survive this.”
“So they did sell me,” Michael said dully.
The shifter shook him by the shoulder. “Shut up and let the grown-ups talk.”
“He’s not a child,” Max growled.
“No, he’s a slave, bought and paid for. Stolen property that we’re returning to its rightful owners.”
“Or how about this,” the alpha countered. “You let go of him and drive away right now, and I won’t kill you.”
“Killing us won’t help you,” the shifter replied. “We’re not the only people tracking you. More will come. Better for you to give up now before we tear your life to the ground, person by person.”
The shifter was reaching into his pocket. He had something, a knife or a—
A roar shook everything around them, and Michael ducked toward the ground as a paw sailed through the air and knocked the shifter holding him off his feet. The shifter didn’t let go of Michael, and he was pulled along with him, slamming into the ground, the air knocked right out of him. He heard a guttural scream and the sound of flesh tearing and closed his eyes.
When a hand touched him, he flinched.
“Michael?” The hand ran along his back. “Shit, are you hurt?”
Blinking his eyes open, he found Max crouched over him, blood on his face and shirt.
“No. Are you?”
He looked the alpha up and down as he sat up.
“Not my blood,” the alpha said grimly. “But we need to get out of here, right now.”
Max helped him up, and Michael went to walk to their car only for the alpha to pull him back.
“No, we’re almost out of gas. We’ll try theirs.”
Michael deliberately didn’t look at the body of the second shifter as Max searched his pockets, coming back with a set of keys. They got in, both silent as the alpha turned on the engine.
“Three-quarters full. That should be enough to get us to where we’re going.”
He put the car into gear and drove off.
“I’m sorry,” Michael told him.
“What?” Max asked, clearly distracted.
“I… they said I could go home, could go back to Ryan and Eliot. They said you were dangerous, that you were lying. I-I’m sorry.”
What else was there to say?
“Well, right now I can’t tell you differently,” Max said. “I’m not surprised you’re questioning everything. And he dangled your kids in front of you, Michael. Of course, you said yes.”
“But who were they really? Who are the alphas they work for? Why do they want me so badly? I’m just a… a breeding omega. And an old one at that. I can’t be worth much to anybody.”
“I don’t know,” Max said. “But if we get to where we’re going, maybe we’ll get some answers, for both of us.”
Michael hoped he was right.