ChangingPaths (20 page)

“What?” She couldn’t help but stare. He planned to take them
to Mexico? He wasn’t just insane. He was fucking mad. “Tom, we can’t go to
Mexico.”

“We can go wherever I say we can go.” The table shoved
toward her as he violently jabbed the gun at her. “I am the head of this
household. I am the one who makes decisions for this family. And I say we’re
going to Mexico.”

He raised the pistol to bring it down hard. Instinctively
she flinched away so that the gun clipped her cheek. Searing pain radiated out
from her cheekbone across her face. The gush of warmth informed her he’d broken
her skin.

Then things went crazy. Rain howled in rage, lunging for the
gun. Harmony’s vision blurred as she struggled to intervene but was knocked
back by Tom. Though he’d lost weight Tom was stronger than she’d expected. As
her daughter screamed, bit and clawed at her father Harmony watched in horror.
She waited for an opening but none came. The few minutes they grappled seemed
to be an eternity. Harmony stood frozen in the corner. She panted, trying to
keep one eye on her crazy ex and the other on her daughter.

Then the two parted. Harmony flung herself forward, knocking
Rain backward.

“Rain. Run!” She shouted it out, hoping the girl would listen.
Not waiting, Harmony dug her nails down Tom’s face. He yelped with pain then snarled.
When he threw one rock-hard fist into Harmony’s face the sharp pain made her
drop to the floor. Harmony felt as well as heard the snapping sound of her nose
breaking.

Her daughter’s terrified scream lanced through Harmony. She
raised a hand toward Rain, pointing at the door, but the child didn’t move.
Harmony retched as she tried to get up but she couldn’t get off her knees. God,
her nose hurt. Blood fell, making a small crimson pool on her clean kitchen
floor.

“Stupid bitch. Your mother is a stupid bitch.” Tom’s voice
sounded as if it came from a distance. Harmony sucked in air. She couldn’t pass
out now. She had to protect her baby. The sound caught his attention. Harmony
wanted to scramble out of the way but fear held her there. She froze just long
enough for Tom to knock her over. Even though she tried to curl away from him
his boot slammed into her stomach. Agony ripped through her as she retched
again.

Then her heart stopped as Tom pointed the gun back at Rain,
who hadn’t moved.

Though he panted in short, hard puffs, his hand held steady.
Rain’s face looked like the color of ice—translucently white. In spite of his
choppy breathing Tom’s voice was curiously calm. “Keep fighting me and I’ll
shoot her right here.”

Harmony gasped for breath but quit moving. Tom yanked her up
to her feet by her hair. He slapped a dishtowel on her face then shoved her
toward the door. “Move. Both of you. I have a nice quiet place for us to talk
all about our trip and how you’re going to behave until we get to Mexico. Now
move
!”

Rain streaked to her mother’s side. Harmony winced as the
girl hugged her tight. She put her free arm around her daughter. Taking shallow
breaths, she gave thanks he hadn’t broken her ribs. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll be
okay. Just hang on.”

She continued talking softly, soothingly as he barked out
commands. They headed off into the woods. The direction they were taking would
lead them away from the res and town, deeper into the national forest land.
Rain wept softly but at least they were both still alive. She’d do everything
she could to keep her daughter that way.

Gareth jerked upright. His hand covered the throbbing mark
on his chest. “Stop the car!”

Rion slung his head around to gape at his twin. “What? What’s
wrong?”

“Stop the goddamned car! There’s something wrong. Harmony.
Turn around. Goddammit, Ri, do it now!” Reaching out, he grabbed the steering
wheel. They wrestled until Rion was able to force the car off onto the shoulder
of the highway.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rion had one hand on his
shoulder, pinning him away from the wheel.

His mating mark felt like it was being burned out of his
skin. Everything was about her, about Harmony. “Something’s happened to
Harmony. Turn around, Rion. We have to go back.”

Rion nodded. They both knew how strong a mating bond could
be. Gareth gripped his brother’s arm. “Please.”

“Okay, Brother, but you have to calm down. You can’t go
grabbing the wheel like that. Let me get us back in one piece.” Rion eased his
arm out of his brother’s hand.

Gareth tried to calm down as Rion checked the mirror for
traffic behind them then turned the car around. He nodded grimly as his twin
hit the gas hard as they headed back to Wisconsin. They’d only managed to
travel a few hundred miles into Minnesota. It would take them the better part
of the day to get back but something was definitely wrong. She needed him.

Harmony tried to stay calm as Tom forced them down a barely
visible path. There was a small structure ahead, hard to tell exactly what it
was through the thick trees. It was obvious this plot of land had been
abandoned for a long time. He pushed them up the rotting steps then across the
porch with its missing boards. The windows in front of them were all broken
while the door hung on only one set of hinges.

The only furnishings in the house were a broken table and a
woodstove missing half of the chimney. He shoved them toward a corner where
they sank down on the floor, holding tightly to each other.

Tom paced in front of them, alternately swearing then
muttering under his breath then looking at them with wild eyes. She kept her
hand on their daughter, willing the girl not to say or do anything to draw
attention to herself. Harmony knew from past experience that he would strike
out at anything that moved and she was determined that it wasn’t going to be
them.

He suddenly swung around, heading for the far corner of the
room. Her eyes widened when she saw the stash of weapons there. In addition to
the pistol he had a big rifle, bigger than any she’d ever seen before as well
as another smaller one that she knew was a hunting rifle. There were several
backpacks there as well with empty cans strewn in another corner. He’d
obviously been living there for several days. She hadn’t seen a car but there
was no doubt he had one hidden somewhere.

If he planned to take them to Mexico he’d need one. She
wondered if he was going to drug them or just threaten them one at a time to
keep the other in line. Regardless, she would get her daughter out of harm’s
way.

He whirled back around, sneering at how they huddled
together. He hadn’t allowed either of them to get a coat. The bitter cold
seeped in through the broken windows, up between warped floorboards.

“Weak, like all women, you’re just weak. That’s it, isn’t
it? That’s why you opened your legs to that shifter bastard. I could have
killed him you know? I had him in my sights on more than one occasion. Not that
it matters, once we get to Mexico he won’t dare follow us. The Denieds will
kill any shifter who comes on their land.”

Rain gasped but Harmony squeezed her hand. No way would she
let Tom know their daughter wasn’t Denied like the two of them. In his current
state of mind he’d shoot her without qualms. They just had to hang on until an
opportunity presented itself for them to escape.

Tom rooted around in one of the backpacks then pulled out a
brown prescription bottle. He shook two tablets into his hand. Swallowing them
without water, he gagged a bit as the pills went down. She prayed he’d choke on
them. He laughed a high-pitched, crazy sound.

“There, that’ll keep me awake until dark. Then I’ll go get
the car. Tomorrow we’ll start out for our new home. You might as well go to
sleep.”

He waved a hand in their direction then started pacing
again. She pulled Rain closer, stroking her hand over the girl’s hair, wanting
to share her body warmth. Her daughter was warmer than she expected, then she
remembered how warm all the other Moon-Called she’d ever know had been.. Rain
had stopped crying now. Harmony could almost feel her thinking. Harmony tried
to send her own thoughts to Rain, just repeating in her own head, “It’s going
to be okay, baby. We’re going to be okay.”

Gently pressing on her daughter’s head, Harmony sighed as
they settled even closer together. Somehow they would make it out of here—or at
least her daughter would. She thought about Gareth again, wishing they’d had
more time to be together, hoping Rion would help him get past this. She knew
both men would be devastated if she died, they’d compare her death to their
sister’s. She closed her eyes, praying that he would stay safe.

Gareth kept glancing at the speedometer. Rion wasn’t driving
nearly as fast as he’d like, but he knew that his brother wanted to get them
there in one piece. There was no doubt in his mind that her crazy ex-husband
was involved in this. He kept getting weird vibes from her—she was cold, she
was scared, she was sad. It was killing him to be sitting in a car when his
mate needed him so badly. He never should have left her there alone. He should
have insisted that she and Rain come with him—school be dammed. Rain was a smart
kid, she could miss a week without trouble. And…his thoughts came to a
screeching halt.
Rain could shift.

That could be critical in getting them to safety if that
bastard had done something to them, and every god known to man help Tom if that
was the case. Gareth would tear him limb from limb.

As soon as he had a signal, he tried calling her but got no
answer. Then he tried the lodge, only to find out that Micah and Olivia had
gone out for the evening, leaving one of the other Beta males in charge of
things. They’d even hired a sitter, which told him that Micah wanted some
uninterrupted time alone with his mate. Cursing under his breath, without
saying anything else to the Beta, Gareth disconnected the call then glanced at
the speedometer again. Rion took a look at his face and pushed a little harder
on the pedal. Gareth gritted his teeth, praying for patience.

Tom was still pacing and muttering to himself. He would go
to the door to look outside then turn to study them for a few minutes then walk
back over to his stash. Rain’s deep breathing told Harmony that she’d fallen
asleep. She, however, had no intention of sleeping. She was going to stay awake
as long as it took. The light in the room faded, the shadows deepening as time
passed slower than she’d ever known it to go.

“It’s time.” The loud words caused Rain to jerk awake.
Harmony took a deep breath. They both watched as he dug around in the mess in
the corner to come out with a long piece of thick rope. He came back over to
them sneering, “Stand up, both of you.”

They got slowly to their feet. Tom handed the rope to
Harmony. “Tie her up. Do it right or I’ll shoot her and save myself the trouble
of transporting both of you. After all, you’re still young enough to have
another baby. Maybe a boy this time.”

They both flinched but she took her time tying Rain up, all
the while whispering to her daughter that it would be okay. When she’d finished
Tom checked the rope then nodded. He shoved Rain back into a corner where she
stood shaking violently.

“Good. You’re finally learning to listen. You should have
done that a long time ago and we wouldn’t be in this mess. You always had to
ruin things, didn’t you? This is all your fault. Everything is your fault.”

She knew it was coming. He’d said the same thing to her the
first time he’d put her in the hospital, still the brutal punch to her jaw
snapped her head back. She heard Rain screaming as he hit her again and again.
Harmony tried to protect her head but he just hit her harder in the stomach,
the breasts and her sides.

She wouldn’t go down, she had to stay aware, had to stay
awake. That kept going through her head until he pulled the gun out of his belt
and smacked her across the face with it. She fell heavily to her side, trying
to focus.

Rain was still screaming at him from where she stood in the
corner. Through blurred vision Harmony watched as Tom turned. Raising the
weapon high, he hit her daughter once with the gun. The sharp sound was
followed by a dull thud as Rain collapsed hard on the floor. Harmony softly
cried, “No!”

Tom sneered at their daughter again before kneeling beside
Harmony. “I told you that you had to listen. This is all your fault, remember
that.” He tied her hands together with the end of the rope that bound Rain then
snorted as he stood.

“Get some rest, honey. I’ll be back soon with the car and
then we’ll leave first thing in the morning. I just know you’ll like Mexico. It’s
so beautiful and warm. So warm. I’m so tired of being cold.” He’d gone back to
that almost normal tone of voice that chilled her more than the icy floor. He
left without another word. Harmony took a deep breath, trying to asses her
injuries. She had to get to her daughter.

This wasn’t the worst beating she’d ever gotten from her
husband. Gritting her teeth, she grunted softly as she wormed her way closer to
Rain. Harmony gasped at the piercing stab of pain in her side. Then she spoke
softly, hoping the child wasn’t too badly hurt.

“Honey? Rain? Wake up, sweetie. Wake up now. C’mon, sweetie,
wake up.” Nudging the girl gently with her head, Harmony wished she could put
her arms around her daughter. She just wanted to hold her.

Rain woke up with a gasp, eyes wild as she looked for her
mother. “Mom! Oh Mom, I’m so sorry. I should have helped you. Are you okay? Oh
my god, Mom, your face.”

Before Rain could start crying again Harmony shook her head.
“Rain! Stop. Listen to me. You have to get out of here. I have no idea how long
he’ll be gone but you have to go for help. I can’t run as fast as you can, so
you’re going to have to go, honey.”

“No, Mom…”

“Rain. Do as I say. Just take a deep breath and concentrate.
You can do this, you have to do this. You need to shift and go for help. Do you
think you can find your way back to the road?” At her nod Harmony took a shallow
breath. “Good. Follow it to the lodge. Find the Alpha and tell him what’s
happened. They’ll come back for me. You can do this, honey. I believe in you.”