Pride's Run (25 page)

As the smell of death surrounds me it’s all I
can do not to weep as I look at the man beneath me. I take note of
the fear in his eyes, the white pallor of his skin, the unnatural
twist of his neck and I begin wonder, is he any different than
me?

Is he not just doing what he’s been trained
to do? Just like my wolf is doing what she’s been trained to
do?

But since I’ve left the compound haven’t I’ve
been taught to control my primal side, taught that I’m more than
just a killing machine?

Perhaps these men could benefit from learning
a thing or two as well, mainly that not all wolves are cold-blooded
killers like they believe.

If I kill him now, wouldn’t I simply be
feeding into that belief? That last thought stops me cold and I
breathe deep to take control of my ravenous wolf.

As her hackles settle, only one thought fills
me. The killing has to stop.

I tear my mouth from his neck, and toss my
head to the side to see the others. Both Logan and Stone are
watching me. I look at the officers trapped beneath them. When I
see that they’re wounded, not dead, I inch back and do a quick
assessment of the man I’d taken down. He’s lost a lot of blood, but
from the confusion on his face I know he’s still alive.

I shake off my wolf and as we all morph back
Stone and Logan take up position on either side of me. Breathing
hard, silence stretches as I search for my clothes.

“
Are you okay
?”

I turn to Stone as he speaks to me
telepathically in his human form and I could sob at the pain I see
in his eyes. “
Yes, are you?”

When he nods, I twist around to check on
Logan. He’s staring at me, an odd look on his face.

I touch his cheek, concerned. “Are you okay?”
I ask, unable to use telepathy with him.

He nods and gestures toward the fire escape
staircase leading to the top of the building. “Stay right here. I
need to get my clothes. Then I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

I twist back around, but when I do, I no
longer see Stone. Frantic, I rush to the mouth of the alleyway.
Caution aside, Stone walks along the sidewalk, toward one of the
master’s handlers who, undoubtedly, is searching for me. I open my
mouth to yell.

Logan clamps his hand over my mouth and hauls
me against him. “It’s too late,” he whispers.

I spin around and rush out, “You don’t
understand. You don’t know what they’ll do to him.”

“Pride—”

My stomach cramps and I almost forget how to
breathe. “He’ll be brutally punished. I can’t let that happen.”

“He’s buying you time, Pride.”

I steal another quick look at Stone, and can
feel a deep sadness seeping from him. Pain slices at my heart to
know I’m the one who put it there.

I give a savage shake of my head. “I can’t
let him.”

Logan spins me back around to face him.
“Listen to me,” he says, worry sharpening his words. “Right now
you’re not in any position to stop it.”

I look at him and while I know he’s right,
that it will take careful planning to take down my master, it
doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.

Before I can say anything, before I can tell
him of my plan to go back and that I want to ask his family for
help, we hear the ferry sound the horn.

“We need to go.”

I nod.

“Stay here. I’ll get dressed then pull the
car around.”

Moving numbly, I morph back to wolf. Logan
grabs my torn clothes and rushes up the staircase. A moment later
he pulls the car up to the alleyway and I jump into the passenger
seat beside him. He’s speaking to me, but I have no idea what he’s
saying. When he pats his leg, I curl up on the plush fabric and lay
my head on his lap. As he runs his hands over my fur, I snuggle in
close and once again put my safety in his hands.

Exhausted, and unable to communicate during
the crossing, I take that quiet time to sort through matters and
work on a plan to free the others.

A long time later when darkness is upon us
Logan negotiates his car off the ferry. He travels along the
highway and when the traffic slows he pulls his car over.

I take that time to morph back. “Hey,” he
says in a soft voice. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I say as his warmth
wraps around my heart.

With that he reaches into the back seat and
hands me a t-shirt and pair of sweat pants. “They’re big, but
they’ll do the trick.”

After I hurry and dress in Logan’s clothes,
he pulls back onto the road. Both lost in our own thoughts we don’t
talk about what happened, and we definitely don’t talk about Stone.
Perhaps neither of us is ready for that just yet.

A long while later he drives through a street
lined with houses. I sit up and look at all the quaint homes and
when I hear children playing on their lawns or passing a puck on
the pavement, my heart turns over in my chest.

“We’re here,” he says as he pulls into a
driveway.

I blink up at him, and we exchange a look
before I take in the two-story house in front of me.

“Ready?”

I nod but nervousness invades my stomach.
Logan comes around to my side of the car and opens the door. He
grasps my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”

He leads me up the walkway but the front door
swings open before we even reach the landing. We’re instantly
bombarded by a group of anxious people who are all talking at once
and ushering us inside.

It’s so overwhelming that I find myself
moving closer and closer to Logan. He pulls me in tight and does a
quick round of introductions. Everyone is watching me, like they’re
waiting for some sort of reaction.

Logan senses my distress and leads me down a
long hallway and into the sitting room. He guides me to the sofa
and sits down next to me as everyone fills in the seats around us.
The lady he introduced as his aunt comes in with trays of food and
sweets. And all eyes turn on us, anxious to hear about our journey
as the food is passed around.

As Logan begins to fill them in on our run,
my thoughts return to Stone, Jace, Clover, and the puppies and
anxiety wells up inside me.

I look at the people smiling at me, and
understand those still trapped at the compound have offered me this
life. They wanted me to have my freedom, even at their own expense.
A wave of unstable emotions makes me feel light-headed. I’m not
about to let them suffer while I lavish. I have to go back. I have
to fight. I have to put a stop to the brutality once and for
all.

As I look around Logan’s pack—a loving family
who, without question, have welcomed me with open arms, I know I
can’t ask them to risk their lives by joining me in my dangerous
pursuit against my master. It’s my fight and I have to fight it
alone.

I have to say goodbye to Logan and I have to
do it now before I get in any deeper. I sniff and when I brush at
my face, my fingers come away wet.

A hush falls over the room and Logan gestures
for everyone to leave. After they all exit the room, he turns to me
and pulls me closer.

His voice drops to a whisper, “Are those
tears, Pride?”

“No,” I say, and give a big hiccupping
sob.

“Ah, you’re not so tough after all,” he
teases, trying to lighten my mood as he uses his thumb to brush
away the moisture.

“Weren’t you the one who said I should never
be underestimated?”

He pulls a face and quivers, feigning fear,
“Oh, yeah. You’re right.”

I pound his chest. “Logan, you don’t
understand.”

“Hey come on.” He shackles my wrists and
holds them to his chest. Heat and strength radiate from his body
and only makes what I have to say harder. “What is it?” he
asks.

“I have to go back.” Contrary to my words I
lean into him and my heart aches so much it feels like it’s going
to explode. But I know what I have to do, and I’m determined to do
it.

Still, it doesn’t make leaving Logan, his
family, and the chance to live a normal life any easier.

“I have to go,” I say again and climb to my
feet.

“I know you do, Pride.” Logan stands and
pulls me into him. “I know you have to go.”

I swallow and blink up at him. “You do?”

“Of course I do. You’re smart, strong and
whether you want to admit it or not, you’re the most compassionate
girl I know.”

I sniff and as I force myself to take a step
back I work hard to desensitize. “Please say goodbye to your family
for me. They seem so—”

Logan shakes his head, pulls me hard against
his chest and cuts me off. “Don’t you see, Pride. I was waiting for
you that night at the pub. Waiting for you to come find me.”

My mouth drops open and equal measures of
shock and confusion rush through me. “What are you talking about?”
I recall our initial meeting and remember those fleeting moments
when I felt like he’d known who I was, like he’d been waiting for
me.

“Because I needed the smartest wolf in the
compound at my side.”

“To make it through the woods?” I ask and
give a quick shake of my head. “I don’t think so. You were the one
who kept me alive.”

“What I was doing was training you.”

I have no idea what he’s getting at. I look
at him, confused. “For what?”

“You have all the makings of a great hunter,
but what you lacked was real life experience. I was there to give
it to you. If we’re going to retaliate against our masters, we have
to be prepared for anything and everything.”

I gasp, shocked. “You mean…”

“Yes, I mean we’re all going back.” He waves
to the group of men and women hovering near the door watching
us.

“Logan, I don’t understand.”

“We heard rumors about wolves who were being
imprisoned, and my pack sent me to investigate. I allowed myself to
be captured on purpose so I could better understand the workings of
the system. I broke you out because at the estate where I was held
we all heard stories about Pride. Smart, lethal Pride who even the
handlers are afraid of. If there was one wolf that could help us
break back in, and free the others, I knew it was you.”

I shake my head and I try to take it all in.
“So you actually wanted the handlers to find you at the pub.”

He shivers. “I practically lit myself on fire
to be found. What I hadn’t expected, however, was for the PTF to
show up. Although I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d been running
around town in wolf form and causing a load of trouble, hoping to
get the attention of our masters. They knew I’d removed my
microchip so I knew they’d send their best tracker after me.” He
grins and taps my nose. “And they did.”

“Is that why my master was so angry? Because
you figured out how to remove the microchip?”

“I suspect he knows who I am and is worried
about a retaliation from my pack. He wanted me stopped before I
reached the border, and he wanted me alive so he could interrogate
me.” He goes quiet for a moment and his voice drops, to showcase
the seriousness of the situation. “I believe he knows we’re going
to come for him, Pride, and that makes our rescue mission much more
dangerous.”

I realize what he’s saying fits in with
Stone’s theory. The master rewired the estate with a new system not
to keep his wolves in, but to keep an army of wolves out.

I lower my voice and ask. “Why have you kept
this from me?”

Logan looks past my shoulder, a silent signal
to his family and a moment later we’re all alone. “I wanted you to
come to me on your own terms. I wanted it to be your decision.”

“How did you know I would make the right
one?”

He grins and the warmth in his expression
becomes my undoing. “Because you’re a wolf who lives up to her
name.”

“So it’s not because your name is Logan and
you’re so smart?” I question and eye him skeptically, wanting to
get to the bottom of what his name really means.

He grins. “Ah, yes, that.” He hugs me and my
pulse leaps. “If you must know the truth, Logan means hollow.”

My head comes up with a start. “Hollow?”

“Yes, hollow.”

I wave my hand around. “Like empty space or
air.”

“Pretty much,” he says.

I laugh. For the first time in my entire life
I laugh and as a rich, musical sound fills the air it surprises us
both.

“Why didn’t you tell me what your name really
meant?”

“Would you really have trusted a wolf who was
named after empty space?”

“Come on, Logan, there must be more to it
than that. Your parents would never have given you a name that was
so…undignified.”

Logan taps me on the nose a second time and
says, “Such an astute little girl. Okay, it also stands for tree
hollow,” he explains.

When I give him a puzzled look, he continues.
“A tree hollow is a branch or trunk that provides a habitat to
others. Like you, I’m a protector. As the alpha, it’s my job to
oversee the pack and make sure all needs are being met.”

We stare at each other for a long, thoughtful
moment and I think about how much we’ve been through over the last
few days and how much more we’re going to go through in the
upcoming weeks, and I can’t help but think how happy it makes me to
know we’re going to go through it together. An invisible band
tightens around my heart.

In the span of a few short days my life has
been turned upside down. Since I met Logan I’ve learned a great
deal about myself, and about others. I’ve learned to trust in
myself, to use my size as a strength, and to fight with my heart as
well as my head.

But most importantly, I’ve learned about
trust and companionship. Although deep in my heart, I know what I
feel for this strong alpha goes much deeper than casual
friendship.

My pulse races as I stare at the boy who
always believed in me—a boy who has taken me from a strong wolf to
an even stronger girl.