Argus: Accepting the Challenge (16 page)

She knew she looked like shit.  She felt her teeth with her tongue and thought; well at least he did not knock any of them out.  She pushed herself up slowly wincing when she felt the soreness in her ribs.  Some were broken, she could tell.  When she moved she could feel the bones rubbing.

Determined to be ready for the next round she crawled to the small door.  With one of her eyes was already swelling shut, she had to squint.  It took her a few times to get the door open because when she raised her arm the pain was unbearable.  She scooted until she was able to open the door without having to reach so far.

This sucked.  She thought and peered inside.  Oh thank you.  A family lived here before and had children.  She saw a small bat leaning against the wall.  It was the size a peewee would use, and was nerf on the outside, but it was solid on the inside.  It would work.  She reached in and bit her already bleeding lip to keep her from crying out. 

Once she had it in her hand, she felt better.  Even if it hurt, she had a weapon.  Bob was not going to kill her.  She would fight until her last breath.  She had a reason now.  Her mates.  Yep, that is right, she thought, her mates, somewhere between the kicking in the side and the punching in the face; she had made up her mind.  She was going to be the lioness to the Southern Pride and damned if she was not going to act like it.

Skye pushed herself until she was sitting against a wall.  She needed just a few minutes to catch her breath.  She closed her eyes and pictured her men.  They were lying in the bed smiling at her, naked and covered with a sheet that rode low on their hips.  Her raw and cracked lips smiled.  They were waving for her to come closer.  She laughed because she could see the hunger in their eyes.  They wanted her.  Skye Thomas a little nobody for most of her life, but now she was not a nobody.  She was the mate to two very sexy lions and they were coming for her.  She could feel it. 

She took a deep breath concentrated on her fantasy.  They would help her make it through.  She could almost feel herself walking to them and crawling on the soft bed right in between them.  Jacob would pull her on top of him and kiss her soundly before handing her off to Argus.  Argus would ravage her mouth.  She could almost feel him swiping his tongue in and out of her lips, tasting her.

She groaned when she felt the pain trying to get through her fantasy and she needed to focus.  Bob was sleeping; she could hear him snoring in the other room.  After he beat her, she had heard beer tops popping every few minutes, indicating he was celebrating kicking her ass.  Then he had passed out.  When he woke, he promised to give her more of the same.  Her only hope was the fact that he would be hung over.  Bob was not a good drunk, or a good day after drunk.

She thought back to her men.  They would caress her and undress her, until she was writhing with pleasure.  Argus knew how to play with her breasts the way she liked.  He had spent hours learning her body the other night.  So had Jacob, but he was more of an ass man.  He loved to play with her ass.  She was shy at first, but by the end of the night, she was more than happy to let him do what he wanted.

Things had been so crazy for the last few days.  Her life had changed for the better, but still it had been fast.  She wondered if other shifters were like this when they found their mates.  Would she feel differently when they changed her?  Oh how she wished they had changed her before.  She would have gone furry on his ass and mauled him.  The thought made her smile.  She dreamed of him screaming out for mercy, which of course she would not give the little pecker. 

That is probably what pissed him off earlier.  But it had made him stop.  While he was beating her, she had laughed at him and told him of her lovers.  How they were better endowed than he was.  Of course, it had enraged him.  At least it had frustrated him enough to leave and get drunk.

She held her breath when she heard him snorting.  He was waking up.  At least she knew him.  First, he snorted and then he would groan and moan, before belching and then rubbing his stomach.  She had about an hour before he would be back.  And she would be ready.

Chapter 14

Levi stopped the bike about a mile from the compound and pulled off his helmet.  Jacob pulled up next to him and watched and the wolf lifted his head and took a deep breath.  He looked around and then put his helmet back on and turned the corner.  They were in a small little subdivision that was run down.  The housing market had affected it a lot.  Many of the homes were in foreclosure.

Jacob felt Argus behind him.  Warren must have sent him the same way.  They wound their way through the curvy streets before Levi stopped again.  Jacob waited patiently as the wolf did this three or four times, before finally pulling off to the side. 

He got off his bike and looked around, and then he pointed to a small house that sat back a little ways from the road.  Jacob took off his helmet and looked around.  Argus, Ari, and Devon got out of the truck and stepped forward staying on the side of the truck so Bob could not see them directly if he was looking out the window.

“There.  That is where his scent stops.”  Levi said and they stood looking at the house.  “I will go and look; you stay here in case he is watching.”

They nodded and watched the man slink quietly around the side of the house and disappear.  Argus shifted on his feet and waited.  His lion was pushing against him demanding that they storm the house.  But they did not know what kind of weapons the man had.  They could not chance that he would kill her before they reached the front door.

After what seemed like hours, Levi walked calmly from the side of the house.  His face was grim and Argus and Jacob held their breaths while he quickly walked to them.  “He just woke up.  I could see him stumbling around the living room, I think he is drunk.  Skye is in the back room in the corner.  I could not see her, but I scented blood, a lot of it.  We need to get in there before he decides to go back in.”  He said and looked back at the house.

The men quickly planned their entrance and then split up.  Jacob and Argus were going to go in the back.  Their lions were pushing too hard to remain in control.  They were going for their mate.  Devon and the others could handle the man who took her from them.

By the time they were all in place, they heard Bob calling out to Skye in an attempt to scare her.  Argus growled when he heard what the man was saying.

“Skye, I am coming for you.  Are you ready?  I am gonna fuck those bastards right out of your mind.  When I am done with you, they will never touch you again.  You will be used trash like you always have been.”  Bob called.

Jacob grunted and then turned to Argus.  He saw his mate’s teeth growing.  His lion was pissed.  They needed to get her out now.  Argus turned his head and listened for the others signal.  When he finally heard it, he was ready.

Argus and Jacob broke down the back door as Devon and Levi went through the front.  Ari went through a side window.  Bob had just entered a room closest to them when they got in the house.  The man looked back at them startled and then narrowed his eyes and glared.  “Too late fuckers.”  He ground out and then walked into the room.

Argus roared and ran toward him right when they heard a grunt and the large out of shape man appeared before them again looking stunned.  They could smell his blood and paused for a second. 

Devon, Ari, and Levi grabbed the man and slammed him back into the living room.  Argus and Jacob ran around the corner, entered the room, and saw their mate standing in a Warriors pose with a small bat raised above her head.  She was not focusing because she ran at them screaming ready to use it to protect herself.

“Skye.”  Jacob cried and grabbed the bat as it came close to his head.

“No.”  She cried and tried to pull the bat away.  She was weak and beaten but she showed strength and courage.  It made them proud to see she had not given up.

“Baby, it’s us.”  Argus crooned and waited for his voice to penetrate her foggy mind.  He kept repeating it to her as she struggled with Jacob.

Finally, she seemed to lose her fight and she slumped against Jacob.  “My mates, they will come for me.”  She whispered.

“We are here.”  Argus said and took both of his mates in his arms.  Jacob was whispering over and over again that they were here also but it did not seem to get through.

Devon came into the room, looked at the scene, and said quietly.  “We have to get her to Teagan.  She is in shock.”

The men nodded and Jacob scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the truck.  Neither of them noticed the man lying on the floor dead.  They would not have cared anyway.  He got what he deserved.  Levi and Ari ran in front of them getting the doors open.  They laid her on the back bench and Jacob pulled his keys from his pocket and threw them at Ari.  The Warrior caught them and ran for his leader’s bike. 

They were on the road in less than a minute.  Argus driving while Jacob sat on the floor in the back holding their mate in place as she struggled and fought him, telling him over and over that her mates were coming for her.

It made him want to weep, the desperate tone in her voice.  She was clearly in another place in her mind.  She had gone somewhere she could block out the pain of what had happened to her.  Even their small clinic may not be enough.

Argus heard Devon on the phone, calling ahead and warning them they were coming with Skye and she was hurt.  The mile to their house was more like ten as they drove as fast as they could.  Argus kept looking over his shoulder, and making sure, she was in the same place.  He saw the tears on Jacob’s face and he ground his teeth together.  Damnit, his lion growled inside him and paced. 

When they finally got to the gates, they were open with men standing by guarding it to see who tried to come through.  When they saw his truck, they parted.  As they passed the gate, Argus looked in his rearview mirror and saw they shut it and locked it before shifting.  The men followed them through the town.  Word must have spread because his entire Pride was standing outside of the house waiting.

They could see a stretcher was waiting with Teagan and Darien holding it.  Argus pulled in and slammed on the brakes barley putting it in park before he threw open his door and pulled his seat forward.  Jacob handed Skye to him and he transferred her to the stretcher.  Teagan and Darien quickly pushed her into the house.  With Jacob and Argus following close behind.

The people that were in the house barley registered.  He saw his mother and Jacobs parents.  They stood at the entrance of the medical room.  When Teagan rolled her in Lena and Seila went with her and closed the door.  Argus wanted to pound on it and scream for him to be allowed in.  But he didn’t.  Instead, he stopped in his tracks frozen looking at the door.  He best friend and mate beside him doing the same thing. 

He heard Devon on the phone again.  He assumed he was talking to someone in Milliken, explaining the situation.  He felt his Warriors standing behind him, the fury of what happened to their lioness was radiating off all of them.  No one knew what to do, or what to say.  So they stood vigil with their leaders and the members of the New Council silently.  Every once in awhile they would move and pace.  But Argus and Jacob never moved a muscle.

When the door finally opened and Lena stepped out Argus and Jacob held their breath.

“She is unresponsive to people talking to her.  She is muttering to herself still, but she has stopped fighting us.  She has shut down.”  She said tears, rolling down her cheeks.  “Teagan is working to stabilize her.  She has a lot of injuries.  Teagan is requesting that we get the plane ready; she needs to be taken to Milliken where Cloe is.  We can’t take her to the hospital here.  You both claimed her; the blood test would show it.  He is going to stabilize her; her unresponsiveness is probably more emotional than physical.  She isn’t in a coma.”

Darien stepped forward and said.  “I will arrange it.  Levi and Devon followed quickly, all of them on the phone talking to someone.  Argus nodded and turned to Jacob. 

“Have Sierra pack our bags, we can be in the air within the hour.”  He said and looked grimly around him.  “I will address the Pride.”

***

His Pride made him proud.  They were rightfully enraged and took over cleaning up the house that Skye was held in so the authorities would not ask questions.  Argus and Jacob waited until Teagan emerged from the room and allowed them to see their mate.  He had drugged her so that she would remain unconscious during the plane ride. 

It broke both of their hearts to see their mate in that condition.  They arrived in Milliken hours later and Skye was rushed into surgery.  They did the same thing they had done before and stood vigil.  This time there were new people with him.  The entire New Council came and introduced themselves, and sat with him.  Ryan and Ariel were also there.  The female Pride leader gave them hugs, and helped them settle their beasts. 

Ryan took each of them in turn and allowed them to shift and run.  Letting their lions blow off steam.  While Ariel sat with the other and calmly ran her hand over their hair.  She knew what their cat needed.

Quin and Jaden made sure that a nurse kept coming in with updates.  The list of her injuries made them all grimace.  Jordan spoke softly to them, telling them that if she could survive what she had, then Skye would pull through.  The doctors here were top notch.