Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (77 page)

Holly was waiting for her when she got there. Or at least her mother said she was. She was still in the bathroom throwing up. A lot from the sounds of it. When she staggered out a few minutes later, she sat down on the couch and pulled a pillow over her belly.

“So far, this pregnancy isn’t what I thought it would be.” She smiled at her mom when she gave her crackers and tea. “And every time I throw up, Phil makes me eat something to replace whatever it was. I think he might be at the top of my hit list right now.”

“He loves you and hates that you’re sick too.” Nancy Force sat in the chair next to the couch and picked up some knitting. “Besides, when you’re ill at the beginning of the pregnancy, then you’ll have an easier time at the end.”

Stacy smiled when Holly stuck her tongue out at her mother. Holly turned and looked at her. “I’m supposed to tell you that Dallas is a big boy and will be fine. But in reality, he’s a pain in the ass and will probably beat the crap out of the guy who took him and be waiting for them when they show up. Dallas didn’t go down easily.”

“He was injured when he was taken.”

Holly nodded at her.

“He may be hurt badly and then I will be responsible for that as well.”

“I think if he heard you speaking like that, he’d be upset with you. Now, Holly wants to work with you trying to remember everything you can.” Nancy stood up and took her knitting with her. It was a bright blue something. After kissing her daughter, she stood before Stacy. “I’ve not had the chance to welcome you to the family. I’m very happy that you and Dallas finally made the jump and noticed what all of us have seen for months.”

With a kiss to her cheek, Nancy force left the room and closed the door softly behind her.

Holly grinned at Stacy. “My mom is the greatest. She can be a pain, too, but she is the greatest.” Holly pulled the laptop that was sitting next to her on the couch. “Now then. Was there a car nearby when you came out of the mall? And if so, what color and make was it?”

The questions went on for hours. By the time she started slowing down, Stacy knew three things. She thought maybe they would be able to find Dallas, that she was giving them more information than they ever would have gotten from anyone else, and that Holly Campbell was the scariest woman she’d ever met.

Chapter 17

Dallas moved slowly. He didn’t want to move because he knew that he would hurt and he wasn’t sure if he was alone. He was tied to something, he couldn’t tell what, and he was pretty sure that it was nothing more than simple chain holding him. Attached to what, he couldn’t tell. He was too hurt to care at the moment. He moaned when he tried to lift his head up to have a better look.

“So, you wake now. Has anyone ever told you that you’re heavy? It took me nearly two hours to get you in here and nearly another hour to get the chains on you.” The man shined a light into his face and Dallas flinched away from it. “Be still so I can see your face. I want to see how much damage I did to you.”

“If you would untie me then I’ll show you how much it hurts. Better yet, I’ll return the favor.” Dallas didn’t move when the man grew closer. He figured he was going to be hit, but what he didn’t expect was what he looked like. “Christ, you’re huge.”

Okay, in hindsight, he should have kept his mouth shut. But he’d been surprised. He’d seen some big wolves before, but none as big as this man. When the flashlight hit him in the ribs for the third time, Dallas fell into a black void. His last thought was that he hoped the man didn’t eat him.

When he woke the second time—or was it the third?—Dallas was alone. He knew that his jaw was broken and that several ribs were as well, but it was his leg that worried him the most. Looking down at it, he saw the bone sticking out at an odd angle. Dallas called his wolf to shift partly, but he was too weak to manage a shift, even a small one. He knew he would have to shift soon or his leg would heal this way. And then it would have to be broken again to heal correctly.

Dallas looked around his surroundings. He knew it was a cave; thick stone walls were everywhere and he knew he was deep enough in the cave that he couldn’t see the opening. Moving slowly, Dallas tried to get his bearings, but all he did was make himself sick with pain. He reached for Stacy again.

Nothing. He had felt her once or twice when he’d been riding in the back of the van. Her pain rode him more than his own, but he was happy she wasn’t hurt too badly. When Dallas had felt the gun at his head back at the mall and Luna tighten her grip on his arm, he’d known almost immediately that it was Rich Sterling.

He’d been buckling Luna in the car when she’d whimpered. He thought he’d hurt her, but when she dug her nails into his arm, he was about to turn when the gun touched the back of his head.

“Move and we’ll kill you.” The laughter sent chills up and down his neck and arms. “Poor wants to know if you’ll move enough that he can have a chance at you?”

“Sterling?” The gun pressed harder into his scalp. “You let Luna go and I’ll come with you with no problems.”

The pain in his head was blinding. Dallas started to turn, but Sterling lunged for the little girl. Dallas moved to intercept him and felt the bullet zip by his cheek, opening it up.

“You’ll come with me, or so help me, I’ll go into that mall and kill that woman you were with.” He hit him again. “Why can’t you younger pups leave the humans alone and simply stay within your own kind?”

His first thought had been that Sterling didn’t recognize his own daughter and then he realized that, for now, she was safe. Dallas moved slowly, mostly because he was dizzy, and secondly, he wanted Sterling to stay focused on him. But Stacy came out of the mall just as Dallas was going to get into the van and go with him.

She had attacked, he knew that. And he knew that she’d been hurt as well. He’d seen her flying across the parking lot as if she’d been a rag doll. When she’d hit the pavement, Dallas had tried to go to her, but he was hit again from behind. This time, he couldn’t get up from it.

The sounds coming from above him echoed around and behind him. Dallas looked into the darkness and watched a sliver of light coming toward him. He knew it was more than likely a flashlight and he also knew that it wasn’t his family. The sounds coming toward him were too heavy and shuffled.

“So, did you eat the townspeople or is there enough for later when you get hungry again?” Dallas knew he was baiting the man, but if he could get him to come closer, he might be able to hurt him too. “I heard tell of a blob leaving twenty-nine missing in another town. Was that you?”

Sterling started to come toward him, fury in his stance, but he stopped at the last minute and stood very still. Then he started talking and it took Dallas several seconds to realize he wasn’t speaking to him.

“I know, I know, but he’s just going to get worse if he thinks he can get away with this. I don’t know why I can’t just kill him.” Silence, and Dallas had a feeling that he was listening to someone. “Okay, but for now only. I don’t have the time to hang around here. Are you Austin Force?”

Dallas was startled by the question. He thought his brother was here until he realized that Sterling was asking him and not whoever he was speaking to.

“Yes.” Then he grinned. “You thinking about dating me?” The stone hit the wall behind him. Dallas had to catch himself when he started to laugh. He needed the guy closer, not taking pot shots at him.

“No, I do not want to date you. I want that brother of yours too. The one from Texas.” Dallas wasn’t sure who he meant until Sterling spoke again. “Does your mother have a fetish for cowboys?”

Dallas laughed. He couldn’t help it. The man was certifiable. Dallas leaned heavily on the rock behind him, felt his wolf stir a bit, and felt the rope bite into his arms. He wasn’t sure what to answer when a sudden flare of light illuminated the room. He looked around as best he could without giving away that he really cared. “You want my brother? Why? I thought I was on your shit list.” Dallas saw the injuries now. Stacy had gotten in a few, it seemed. “I took your pack, didn’t I?”

“Because that piece of shit thinks he can mate with my daughter.” He seemed to be listening to something or someone again. “What’s her name? Poor thinks it’s a common name like her mother’s.”

“Her name? It’s April. April Force. And she’s very happy where she is. I hear tell that they’re going to move on soon. Probably to some other state.” Dallas didn’t want him anywhere near his mate or is brother. “You should probably do your worst to me and forget them.”

“No, no, no, no. I want them dead too. They have taken everything from me.” Then Sterling put his hand over his ears and started to hum. “I won’t listen to you anymore. You aren’t real. La, la, la, la.”

This went on for perhaps five minutes. Sterling making noises like he was trying to drown someone out then speaking to what Dallas now assumed was the person he called Poor.

“He wants me to kill you now.” Dallas didn’t move; he was afraid the man would actually do it. “He said that you’re no better than your brother and that I should kill you.”

“Who wants you to kill me?”

The man seemed to have another conversation then looked right at Dallas. “I’m the other one. Poor, he calls me. I can take him over now, but not for long. Where is the gun?”

Like he’d tell him. Dallas shrugged and then moved his leg. He still didn’t have enough strength to shift, but he could get ready. He reached for Austin and felt a very small connection.

“I’m in a cave. Not far from the mall. There should be a gray van with the last three letters seven twenty-one.”

“You all right?”

Dallas grinned as he told his brother yes.

“Stacy said she’s going to kick your ass when you get back here. She wants to know if she can come and get you or do you think you can help her by killing the bastard and coming home on your own?”

Dallas knew she was scared. He would be if it were him waiting for her to come to him.
“Tell her that I might need her to save me. Tell her…Austin, will you tell her that I love her very much?”

“Yes. I love you too, you big oaf.”

He lost him for several minutes, but Dallas felt better just for having spoken to him. He watched as Sterling paced the cave and tried to reach for Stacy. He was surprised when she answered so clearly.

“I am near to where the van he took you in is parked. Your brother has a fix on the GPS in the van. It is pinging back to them. Also, your cell is on. Are you hurt badly?”

“My leg is broken and healing. I need to shift, but I’m afraid that dumbass here is going to kill me
.” He paused long enough to try and see if she was close to him
. “You aren’t alone, are you?”

“Yes. I can move faster without others with me.”
He felt her humor
. “Your brother believes I am in the bathroom being ill. He does not know that your other brother has been telling me where to go by cell phone. Connor is quite good at this.”

And when Dallas got back home, he was going to hug him. Then beat the shit out of him for allowing his mate to go out on her own. She was too precious to allow anything to—

“Would you like to know something else?”

He told her he would.

“Your sister has invited me to—”
He was terrified when she suddenly stopped. Before he could beg her to go back home and wait for him, she spoke again.
“I have found the van. It is in a parking space at a state park. If it is here then you must be close.”

“I’m going to kill you. Now, as a matter of fact. Richard has completely lost his mind and I’ve decided that you are a liability rather than a help.” Sterling, or whoever he was, came toward him as he spoke. “I hope you have your house in order. It would be a shame for it not to be.”

“And you think I’m going to lay here and let you?” He tried to reach for Stacy, suddenly needing her to hurry up. “Bring it on, nutcase. I’m ready for whatever you think you can dish out.”

~~~

Stacy shifted again and moved up the mountain. She had been here before and knew the area. She had even slept in one of the caves because she had thought she was being followed. About halfway up, she ran into three wolves trying to bring down a deer.

They were wild and hungry. She tried to skirt around them, but one of them saw her and snarled. Stacy growled low and raised her hackles. She was much bigger than them and had a great deal more experience fighting her kind. She watched as they began to circle her. That’s when she saw the opening of the cave and the trash sitting outside of it.

“Okay, big guys, I do not want your meat. I have more important things to do than play with you.” One of them crouched down and was starting to lunge when something flashed between them.

“Go now. I have this.”

She looked at Myles.

“I said to go. I want to show them what a vampire can do when he’s pissed.”

Stacy wanted to make sure Myles was all right, but she needed to get to Dallas. Racing up the hill without a backward glance, she moved to the mouth of the cave and started in. She nearly leapt with joy when she smelled her mate.

“I am coming.”
She didn’t know what to expect when Dallas did not answer, but hurried to climb down into the belly of the cave. What she saw when she got there would be a memory that she’d never forget.

Dallas lay on the ground, his leg broken. She could see the bone sticking up from his calf as if it were a stick. She moved slowly around the cave, not making a sound, hoping to see what she was up against.

“You’ve been a pain in my ass since I was born.”

She stopped suddenly and looked at the man standing over Dallas.

“I could have been great if not for you.”

“You didn’t even know me when you were a kid. How the hell is it possible that I have been a pain in
your
ass? You’re a moron, did you know that?” Dallas caught her eye and looked to his left. That’s when she saw the long sword that was in her sire’s hand. “Why don’t you come on around to the right and take me out? You too chicken to fight like a real man?”

She nearly did not catch what he was trying to tell her. She’d been so focused on the blade that was pointed into Dallas’ chest that she didn’t see that the fire was just to the right and if she attacked from there, she could use the pit to her advantage. Circling to her left, she kept to the darkness.

“You made me fat.”

That startled her. How did one make another fat?

“And you took all my money.”

“I did take your money. Yeah, can’t deny that.”

She was nearly to her sire when he turned to look right at her. “What have we here?”

She leapt at him just as he brought the sword up. She didn’t have time to catch herself so when the blade pierced her chest, she opened her jaws wide and bit down just as they both tumbled to the ground.

Blood filled her mouth, though she was not sure it if were his or hers. She shook her head as she heard Dallas scream out her name. This ended now and she was not going to let him go until she knew he was dead.

Blackness tried to take away her sight, but she fought it. Even as her sire struggled less and less, she did not let go. Dallas was saying her name, telling her that she’d killed him, when she felt his hand along her fur.

“Let him go, love, so that I can take you to be healed.”

She heard the words, but didn’t understand them.

“Come on, baby. I have to get you help. I won’t allow you to die.”