Bound to the Prime (Bound to the Pack, #3) (6 page)

An eerie silence descended upon the house, the calm before the storm. Troy and the guard stood unmoving, barely seeming to breathe. Troy still had the same shocked, wide eyed expression on his face.

The house shook.

Screams filled the room below. These weren’t the sounds of anger about to be unleashed, in fact very few shots rang out. These were the cries of pure terror.

The guard stepped back from the door, pointing his weapon out towards it and visibly shaking. Troy had turned to stare as well, face unreadable, though he also stepped back. Several times.

With their attention on the door and the noises still ringing out from the fight I seized the opportunity. Putting my efforts into breaking the chair instead of my bindings I was rewarded with freedom as it broke apart beneath me, far more easily than I had expected.

Troy and the guard both clearly thought the noise had just been part of the slowing cacophony downstairs, their attention still fixated on the door. Thanking their continued distraction I grabbed one of the chair legs and lept forward.

Troy saw me moving and his eyes opened managed to open even wider, they looked ready to roll right out of his head. The guard however, he never knew what hit him as I brought the wooden club down onto his head with as much strength as I could muster.

He crumpled to the ground without a sound as I turned to face Troy. He was backing away in fear, shock coming through his every feature and movement. I wasn’t going to give him time to recover.

I dropped my improvised weapon and charged at him. He might have blocked the chair leg but his worry of touching me stopped him from defending himself as I grabbed the sides of his face with both hands and focused on sending continuous blasts of calming through him.

His eyes refocused and his struggles redoubled, making it supremely difficult to keep my hold on him. I managed, barely, but it was a constant struggle as I kept trying to force him to calm down.

The violence was ending in the main room, but it put both Troy and I on edge as we struggled with each other. Each of us wondering who had come out on top in the fight below and what it would mean for us. I had to fight dirty.

“So Troy,” I panted as we fought, “who is Heather?”

His shock was so great that I was quickly able to trip him to the floor and pin him beneath me. By the time he recovered enough to fight back it was too late.

I straddled his chest and pressed his head to the floor, putting my full weight and strength into it, and stared into his eyes. Forcing calmness through him was beginning to drain me, but I continued as I read him.

“I see,” and I finally did. “She was your bond mate, your first love.”

“Stop.” Troy’s struggles increased, my soothing getting less and less effective. He closed his eyes, clenching them shut in an attempt to keep me out. Apparently it didn’t matter right now. “Stop!”

“She betrayed you. After you had sold out the rest of your clan for human comforts, for
money
.” I could see it clearly and tears began to creep their way from Troy’s eyes as he let out a howl, feeling the pain as clearly as the day it had happened.

“She tried to have you killed by hunters, she wanted all of the money for herself, but you got to her first and murdered her with your own hands.”

“Get out of my head!” Troy screamed and bucked beneath me, nearly unseating me. “Get!
Out!
”

“Not going to happen. I’m a mystic. Healer. All that jazz.” Holding him down was getting more and more difficult, I was beginning to breathe heavily with the exertion.

“Jen!” Liam’s voice called from the great room.

“I’m here! Upstairs!” I heard footsteps running up the stairs and I smiled. “Looks like my team won Troy, it’s over.”

“No!” Troy screamed before doing something unexpected that I should have seen coming.

He shifted.

His clothes shredded around him as the shift overtook him and I quickly decided that holding a cougar wasn’t likely going to end well for me. Leaping away I stood and watched warily as he finished his shift just as the door shook from a heavy blow.

Troy cast one glance at me, cat eyes shining in the starlight, before turning and leaping right through one of the giant windows. Glass fell to the floor, the door crashing open at the same time.

No longer caring about Troy I spun around and felt a wave of relief wash over me as I saw the silhouette of Liam standing in the doorway. Time seemed to pause as we both looked into each other’s eyes before smiles split our faces.

“Jen...” He stepped forward slowly and I walked into his arms. And just that easily everything felt right in the world.

“I was worried you wouldn’t be able to find this place, but I knew you were coming for me.” I smiled against his bare chest, wrapping my arms around him and savoring the moment.

“I’m relieved to find you safe, I was concerned.” His voice faltered slightly at the end. He looked around and brightened up slightly. “Though I’m glad you didn’t emasculate me fully by rescuing yourself completely.”

I looked up into his eyes and laughed softly. “Well, I figured you would want to feel useful and all.”

“How very kind of you.” He smiled, but it faded quickly. “We need to leave this place.”

I nodded and stepped away reluctantly, I needed to be touching him, assuring myself he was really there. His hand found mine and I smiled widely, he felt the same way.

After taking a few steps towards the door he paused and looked to me. “You may want to close your eyes.” His voice was quiet and he watched me for a reaction. “Things are... messy through this door.”

I nodded but didn’t follow his suggestion as we stepped out onto the upper walk. I immediately regretted my decision and shut my eyes quickly, but the image would be etched in my memory for quite some time.

Something had taken down a large section of the far wall, whatever Liam had done to get inside, and parts of it had been strewn all over the main area. Along with parts of people. Blood was everywhere.

Liam guided me down the stairs and out through the front door with whispered directions and I met the cool night air gratefully. One of the automatic lights came on as he guided me to a seat on the porch.

“Ok, you can open your eyes.” Liam’s voice was quiet, worried. I probably looked ready to be sick.

Opening my eyes slowly I realized that wasn’t his concern.

He was injured, badly at my guess, though he was putting up a strong front. He had clearly been shot several times, I hadn’t been able to see clearly in the room upstairs. I also noticed that I had gotten quite a bit of the blood on myself when I had hugged him inside.

I didn’t care.

“Oh god Liam! No!” I stood back up quickly and moved toward him but he held up his hands.

“I’ll be fine, really, it looks far worse than it is.” His smile did little to reassure me.

Movement nearby caught my attention and I looked around to see another wolf standing slowly, shakily. Ian.

“Goodbye my friend.” Liam’s voice was heavy with sadness as Ian looked between us and turned slowly before padding slowly down the stairs. His legs weren’t moving properly.

“Ian needs...” I had barely begun to speak before Liam was shaking his head.

“There is nothing that can be done.” His voice was barely a whisper. “He wanted to see you safe, before...”

I felt myself crying as I watched Ian making his way awkwardly across the grounds and into the treeline. Liam stepped over to me and held me close as Ian passed from his view as well.

We stood there for a time before Liam spoke softly.” I’m going back inside to get you a change of clothes and a coat, you should wait here.”

I nodded and sat at the top of the stairs as Liam walked inside. The tears kept flowing for a while as the sadness changed to resolve. All of this pain was because of Troy, because of his greed. So many had been hurt, or worse, by his actions.

Humans and shifters both.

By the time Liam returned with my change of clothes I was determined to see Troy brought to justice. He wouldn’t keep escaping, we weren’t going to let that happen.

“Liam, we need to get you patched up and get out of here. We’ll take Troy’s truck, the keys should be inside.” I began to change into the new clothes and caught him smiling at me from the corner of my eye. “What?”

“You are an amazing woman love. When I left you were overcome by sadness and now, a few minutes later your emotions are more in line with an avenging angel.” He touched my face lightly, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. “Meeting you was the luckiest moment of my life.”

I smiled and reached up to pull him into a kiss. “It was my luckiest moment as well.”

Just over an hour later I was driving down the narrow access road leading away from the nightmare of the past few days. Liam had been cleaned up and bandaged and he had been right, most of his injuries had been superficial.

He had even gone off to retrieve his clothes from somewhere and now sat in the passenger seat looking like his usual gorgeous self. Well, an exhausted version of it at least.

The sound of a phone ringing startled us both. Reaching into a pocket he pulled out Kris’s phone, his face becoming a thunderhead as he looked at it before answering.

“Hello Troy.” His voice held a quiet menace.

“Liam,” Troy’s voice was strained. “When you called before, you said Kristen was still alive. Was that a lie?”

“No,” Liam growled, “yet another thing you failed at.”

“I see.” Troy’s voice was flat and an edge of worry crept into my mind. “Well then. Yes. I need to make sure she’s taken care of. Thanks Liam, give Jen my best.” The line went dead as Troy hung up, Liam looked as if he were about to crush the phone in his hands.

“We need to get back to Kris,
quickly
.” Liam was furious with himself, he had set Troy back onto his sister’s trail.

At the end of the narrow road I took the phone from him and punched in our address. We needed to make good time and I had no idea where we were.

The euphoria of being reunited with Liam was soured by the sense of urgency that had settled over us. It seemed never ending, someone we loved always seemed to be in active danger from Troy.

It wasn’t until hours later that a thought had me on edge. Troy had called us with his cell phone, which he had left inside the cabin when he fled. He had been watching us the entire time, waiting for us to leave.

Because he never had.

M
y mate is safe.

I drew in another deep breath, bringing her scent, and held it inside to lose myself in it all. Happiness and relief were flooding through her, underdcut with an unshaking determination. And beneath it all was the raw sense of
her.

Breathing in again to savor her, I’d been doing so for hours, I caught her smiling out of the corner of my eye. Turning to face her I felt myself smiling as well, the sense of her love for me spiking within her as my lover for her welled up within myself.

During my life with the tribe, for as long as I could remember, I had always scoffed at my friends as they chose a single mate and bonded them. Why limit yourself to a single woman? Had they just given up? Done what was expected of them?

How naive I had been.

I looked at Jen driving beside me and knew I had never seen anyone that could match her beauty. Slumped over from exhaustion, hair disheveled, wearing ill fitting clothes, and human. She was stunning, and she was mine.

“What?” She asked, amused, casting a quick glance at me before looking back to the road ahead.

“Just thinking about how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to have found you.”

“Yeah, right!” She barked a quick laugh, gesturing to herself with one hand. “I look like a drowned rat!”

“I’m being completely serious.” I reached over and took her hand in mine and squeezed it softly. It felt reassuring to touch her.

“I know.” She spoke softly and squeezed my hand, surprising me with her strength. “It clearly proves you’re crazy though and need professional help.” Her laughter died quickly as worry spiked within her , sharp enough to sting my nose.

She had reminded herself of Troy.

“We’ll get to Kris before he does,” I spoke firmly, reassuringly.

“I know.” She gripped my hand tightly again and smiled at me.

Her scent again filling with love and determination and I was amazed, as always, with how powerfully she
felt
. Emotions flickered through her, sometimes too quickly to follow, but always very powerful. Yet she never let them rule her.

“You need to stop that.” She let go of my hand and poked my side.

“Stop what?” I watched her, confused.

“Inhaling my scent. You haven’t stopped since we got in the truck.” She shot another glance over at me, grinning. “I’m amazed you haven’t passed out yet from hyperventilating.”

“Shifter constitution,” I said, shrugging and smiling at her.

“Yeah, well, cut it out.” She poked me again for good measure.

“Of course, wife.” I turned back to watch the road ahead but continued to watch her from the corner of my eye.

“Wife,” she snorted, “Not yet. Right now I’m just your pagan mate.”

“Fair enough,” I laughed and shook my head. “We’ll do one of your human weddings if you want to.”

“That,” she turned and shot me a flat look, “has
got
to be the worst proposal in history.” Irritation became the dominant scent from her emotions. “You had better do it right next time, this is your only free pass.”

Deciding to keep my mouth shut I simply nodded instead. I would need to find time to talk to my sister about this. She knew humans and this had the feel of my having done something wrong in the ‘ceremony.’

“You don’t talk like you used to.” Jen spoke suddenly, drawing my attention back to her.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t sound as awkward as when we first met.” She looked over at me again and smiled. “I guess I’m a bad influence.”

My reply was cut off as the phone began to ring where it was held on Troy’s dashboard. Jen looked at it a moment before answering the call.