Pretty Poison (20 page)

That didn’t bug him as much as his escort. Fletcher strode, bare ass naked, through the tangled weeds and bushes beside Noah.

Noah bet nobody else ever had a chaperone during the full moon hunt. Maybe the kids, when they first began shifting. Everything was so terrifying, painful, and awkward then. But certainly no adults.

Gritting his teeth, Noah jerked the tip of one crutch from the swampy muck of damp dead leaves and continued on, threading between the narrow V of two skinny trees.

The pack had accepted him as alpha mate so the only event left in tonight’s festivities was the hunt. Wolves didn’t just bring down prey animals. They played and fought. They fucked. They chased their mates, and Wade’s first priority as soon as Fletcher gave the signal would be searching for Noah. The pack wouldn’t truly recognize their mating until and unless Wade’s wolf pursued Noah’s and ran him to ground. When they rolled in the grasses and brambles, when they made love, and shared freshly caught game,
then
the pack would officially avow the mating and Noah as alpha mate.

Which was why Fletcher trudged next to Noah through the underbrush. If there was trouble, Wade sensed it would happen during the short moments he and Noah were parted. The best shot at preventing the pack from formally acknowledging the mating bond between Wade and Noah was to attack while Noah was alone, keep him from Wade until the sun rose. He and Wade would still be just as mated. They’d simply wait until the next full moon and repeat the exercise again and again and again, if necessary, until the ritual had been completed. But a delay might buy objectors time to sow perilous discord.

Noah had to admit his mate’s logic was sound, except for one issue. Other than Fletcher, pack members had remained with Wade in the clearing Noah had left behind minutes ago. Who, exactly, would bar Wade from reaching Noah? A rebellious squirrel? The site Wade had chosen inside the pack’s territory was so isolated and the terrain so forbidding, none would be out here. Few would be able to find him, even if they were looking. There was no danger. Wade’s sole challenge would be finding Noah first, before legitimate challengers to the mating and teasing friends got in Wade’s way. Affectionate ribbing of the alpha aside, nothing would stop his mate from reaching Noah. He had little concern about Wade on that score, at least.

He wished he could say the same of his mate.

Who had sent Fletcher.

Noah hadn’t learned how to wrestle and fight in his teens like everyone else had. That was true. But Noah wasn’t useless. Wasn’t helpless. Wasn’t—

“This is where we part company,” Fletcher said, beaming at Noah in the darkness.

Coming to a halt in the muddy overgrowth, Noah frowned at him. “What?”

“Wade’s allowing his over-protective streak to turn him into a fussy old lady.” Fletcher took a step in retreat, but lowered his voice. “You’ll be fine on your own. Give me your brace and crutches.”

His grip on his crutches tightened. “I need them.”

“I know.” Fletcher shook his head. “You won’t have to go far. Shift, then hide in the brush nearby. He won’t expect that.” The beta nodded at Noah’s forearm crutches. “Wade is so addled he might stick to what he expects, your scent and mine mixing together. In which case he’ll follow me,
if
I’m carrying your crutches and brace.”

Surprise and happiness bubbled up inside Noah. “You want to make this a real chase.”

“A more sporting one, anyway.” Fletcher laughed. “He’s my best friend, but he deserves a little badgering, don’t you think?”

Relief streamed through every fiber of Noah. He chuckled. “Teasing and distracting the alpha from his mate
is
traditional.”

“And you’re all about tradition lately. I heard.” The beta waved him on. “Hurry up or you’ll ruin my fun.”

As quietly as he could, Noah released the straps holding his brace onto his bad leg. Once he’d passed his crutches to Fletcher, he removed the brace. Hands shaking, he rolled the pressure stocking that regulated his blood flow down and off, too. He tossed the bunched fabric, the sole scrap of clothing Noah had retained, to the beta. “There. Metal doesn’t retain scents very well, but that should be saturated.”

Fletcher snatched the stocking out of the air. “You’ll be all right? Shifting by yourself, I mean.”

“Nobody has to hold my hand. Give me a few minutes to shift and camouflage my hiding place before you signal Wade.” Noah shooed him. “Go on.”

The beta beamed. “I’m glad you didn’t turn out to be a pain in the ass.”

Noah blinked at him. “Uh...Thanks,” he said, but he was talking to leaves and brambles, where Fletcher had been. The beta took off through the brush, fast as lightning.

Another thing he’d forgotten. Shifters could be pretty fast when they wanted.

Which meant Noah better hustle to get his part of this show on the road or Wade would find him, partially shifted and writhing in the mud, ending the party before it started. Careful of his knee, Noah crouched in the dead leaves and twigs that littered the ground and let his shift take him.

Instead of bracing against or fighting the pain, he welcomed it. He allowed the sting to roll through him. Speeding his shift had demanded exhausting practice, but that effort hadn’t been wasted. Noah wasn’t as quick as Wade or Fletcher. Two of the teens he trained with could complete their shifts in less time than Noah, and all five teenagers shifted with a smooth elegance Noah lacked. But he got the job done. When Noah lifted his freshly elongated nose from the ground, panting with the exertion of pushing his shift a little more swiftly, his wolf was vigilant. Ready.

Not so scrawny anymore, either.

With wary caution, Noah climbed to his feet. Three of them, anyway. The fourth dragged the damp earth. His body had filled in during the past weeks, built muscle. His ribs didn’t show through a thin coat of fur. Now, his wolf’s pelt emerged thick and lustrous, mostly black with bands of gray and red peppered through it. The ears on top of his head perked, the distant murmur of the pack restlessly waiting for Fletcher’s sign almost imperceptible to him. He couldn’t differentiate voices, not even Wade’s, but a month ago, he would’ve heard nothing. Probably not even the rustle of the bushes closer to him, evidence of other animals sharing the undergrowth. His night vision was fantastic, though, the world sharper and clearer to him as a wolf than as a man.

His glasses!

Noah tried to scowl, then remembered, with his wolfen features, he couldn’t. Huffing in frustration, Noah steadied his weight as best he could and pawed the leaves he’d disturbed when he’d twisted and writhed in the shift until the metal frames of his glasses glinted in the moonlight.

Damn it.

If one of these shifters stomped on his glasses, scratched the lens...That the damage would be his fault for failing to tuck his glasses safely away before he shifted was immaterial. The glasses were new. Wade had paid a small fortune to have them delivered overnight. Noah would strip the skin off any moron who—

Fletcher’s low howl broke the night, calling sweetly to Noah’s wolf, beckoning him. Transfixed, Noah raised his head. He stared, mesmerized, to his left. The beta had run from Noah farther than Noah had guessed was possible in so short a time. Too far. The mournful howl haunted him. Beguiled him. Reaching the wolf making that lonely, beseeching cry suddenly crowded every other impulse from Noah’s mind. Regardless of the distance or how long the journey would take, Noah lifted a paw to answer the soulful invitation to join Fletcher when exuberant barks, yips, and answering howls erupted from the clearing in which the pack had waited. Noah startled. He cringed from those sounds, closer than the beta’s single wailing voice. Then, he shook his head.

Oh. Right.

Hide. He was supposed to hide while Fletcher drove Wade and the pack crazy.

He quickly pawed the dirt to smooth leaves that would mask where he’d shifted. Looking around him for the densest patch of thicket to crawl inside, Noah bent until his stomach was a couple inches off the ground. Easier to move forward when his center of gravity was low. He was less likely to lose his balance. Pulling his bad leg behind him as he crawled disturbed the ground less, the telling pops and crunches that might have drawn Wade’s attention partially smothered by Noah’s belly. He nosed branches aside and squirmed into the deepest and darkest part of the concealing bush just in time. The thundering sprint of his alpha, glorious in shifted form, tore into the space Noah had vacated, Noah’s mate barely pausing as he raced to the left.

Toward Fletcher.

If Noah had been in his human form, he would’ve hooted with laughter.
Sucker.
Holding his breath, frozen in place, Noah watched with glee while a dozen shifted pack members ran past, following their alpha.

The mating chase was on.

Who’s helpless and vulnerable now?
Noah grinned, tongue lolling from his wolf’s snout. When the last of the pack’s wolves zipped by, Noah listened, but only the happy squeal of one of the kids back in the field and Scott’s booming chuckle tickled his ears.

He could stay inside the brush. Noah knew Fletcher expected him to remain where he was while the beta taunted Wade and the trailing pack members. Truthfully, Noah’s leg was already tiring, the burn of muscle in his so-called good leg warning him not to try it.

But he wanted to be the same as everyone else, just this once,
so bad
. His wolf didn’t want to obediently wait for his mate to realize he’d been tricked and double back to Noah. His wolf craved the stretch of his legs, even if he only managed a slow and clumsy shuffle. Wade shouldn’t find him hiding. Cowering. That he couldn’t run, however, didn’t mean Noah had to stand still.

Rather than lingering in the brush like a sitting duck, Noah writhed backwards. After he was free of the thicket, he’d head to the right, in the opposite direction Wade had dashed. He was no match for the alpha, but—

He yipped at a sting that stabbed into his right flank.

When he turned his head to look, the pain in his hip already exploding, the feathered end of a hypodermic syringe jutted from his fur, the tip buried in Noah’s muscle. A tranquilizer dart? Wha—?

The shift was on Noah, tearing him from his wolf’s form before Noah’s head could wrap around what had happened. Forget being a normal wolf, one Wade could merrily chase. Noah wanted to run, not to play, but to escape. There was no evading this, though, nor the hurt of his bones popping and his muscles reshaping as the drug raced through his bloodstream.

Aconitum.

Familiar with the drug’s side effect as an initial slap of nausea, Noah would never mistake what pumped into his bloodstream.

The agony of fighting the shift back to his human form zapped through him, forcing a cry from his throat, even as his dad leaned over him.

“Shh. It’ll be all right, Noah.” He glanced at Noah’s brothers, Mikael and Geoffrey, who flanked him. “We’re here for you.”

God, Wade would kill them. To hell with the bargain he’d struck, the alpha would slaughter his father and brothers where they stood for hurting Noah, for poisoning him again. “Go. You have to go,” he tried to say, but with his mouth reforming, his human words came out as an incoherent and guttural groan.

“Don’t be scared. A couple of sympathetic pack members stashed ATVs to help us. We’ll have you away from here in no time.” Dad patted the bunched line of Noah’s back, his wolf’s coat of fur already receding. “That son of a bitch will never touch you again. Let the medicine do its work.”

“No,” Noah finally managed, the ache in his chest rivaling the tormenting pressure in his skull.

“Dad?” Geoffrey said, voice muted but urgent.

“He’s fine. It’s the physical pull of mating. I told you that, but aconitum will dull those ties. Soon, he won’t be a slave to them anymore.” Dad stroked Noah’s trembling shoulder. “Help me lift him.”

Noah screamed, the pain whiting out his vision for a few heartbeats, but not his hearing. He heard Wade’s snarling roar as he sped to Noah perfectly.

When Noah’s eyes refocused, Mikael stared down at him, face wan and pale in the moonlight. “You didn’t think we’d leave you a prisoner to those bastards, did you?” he said, but he gulped.

“Stop,” Noah moaned as his father and brothers carried him deeper into the underbrush. He writhed in their grip, slowing them down. Noah didn’t know whether to be ecstatic about that or terrified. All he knew was that he had to get loose and his family needed to flee. “You have to stop. Run.”

“I knew it!” Lydia’s piercing shriek stabbed through Noah’s aching head like a pickaxe. “I knew you couldn’t leave well enough alone. I
told
you he wants this. Wants Wade. Are you insane?”

Dad’s grasp on Noah tightened as he faced Noah’s sister. “Believe what you want. I’ve heard differently, and I will
not
abandon my son.”

“Drop him. Right now.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Noah swallowed down his relief. Even the knee-jellying menace in Wade’s warning was welcome and so dear to him. Knee screeching in misery, he halted the contorting that had hindered his dad and brothers and made his body relax. Hopefully, that was enough to show Wade that he wasn’t seriously injured. Much. “Please, don’t hurt them, Wade. I’m begging you.”

“I won’t say it again,” the alpha said, stalking forward. When Noah dared to stare at him, Wade’s eyes were blood red with fury. The pack’s shifters gathered behind him, as tense and prepared to spring to the attack as their alpha seemed to be. “Put him down.”

Oh, fuck.
“Dad, I love him,” he said out of sheer desperation. “I choose him. Do you understand? You have to let me go.”

Mikael yanked away, eyes rounding to astonished
O
s.

Too bad Mikael had been the brother hanging onto and stabilizing Noah’s bad leg. When his foot crashed to the earth, the jarred landing burst through Noah like a supernova. He clamped down his teeth to silence his scream.

“Easy,” Lydia said. “Slowly. Or you’ll hurt him worse.”

“Dad?” Geoffrey said, lowering Noah’s other leg more gently.