Kidnapped by the Werewolf Hunter [DeWitt's Pack 13] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (10 page)

BOOK: Kidnapped by the Werewolf Hunter [DeWitt's Pack 13] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)
6.26Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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Cole didn’t see the logic in what Everett was telling him. If anything, he only got all the more angry.

Everett appreciated the loyalty, but not when it risked Cole’s life.

“Get onto your fucking feet. I’m going to shift and your going to ride on my back. I can get us back to my pack faster that way.”

“Will you be able to consistently run with all the extra weight? Because those men back there won’t need to stop and rest their four-wheelers.”

“Stop arguing with me,” Cole snapped, fidgeting around and pulling off his clothes.

By now even Everett was starting to hear the rumble of the engine. Now that they knew he and Cole were so close, they weren’t going to bother with being all quiet in their hunt.

“Cole, I’m not even saying it to be noble or anything. It’s the truth. I’m slowing you down.”

“If you don’t get onto my back when I shift, not only will I not run away and leave you here, I will let those hunters take me when they catch up to us.”

Everett’s eyes widened. “There’s no way in hell you’re that stupid.”

He heard Luke’s angry voice cutting through the night. “Everett! I’m going to fucking kill you! I’m going to kill you!”

They were really close now, and Cole was still staring down at him, determined like the idiot he was.

Everett got to his feet. “Fine. I’ll climb on your back and think thin or something.”

Cole might be a werewolf, and strength might go hand in hand with that, but there was no way Everett’s two-hundred-and-some-odd-pound body wouldn’t slow the man down, but this argument was slowing the both of them down, and they had to get out of here.

Cole nodded and fell on all fours. This was the first time he’d ever seen a man actually make the full shift into a wolf, and he still couldn’t see it properly thanks to the darkness.

Cole had made fast work out of it, and he shook himself out quickly, those golden eyes of his looking back up at Everett expectantly.

The roaring of the engines from those four-wheelers was as loud as ever. Either the hunters were going to keep driving down the river, and maybe go right past where he and Cole were, or they were going to point their giant flashlights into the woods and see Everett and Cole just looking at each other then they should be making their escape.

Cole was a large wolf, so Everett didn’t feel like too much of an idiot when he climbed onto the man’s, wolf’s, whatever’s, back.

The only problem was that it was hard for him to get a proper grip. It wasn’t like there was a saddle for him to sit in or a harness for him to gasp. All he could do was grip the fur as tightly as he could and hope for the best.

Cole made a rumbling sound deep within his chest, and Everett replied to what he believed the sound to mean. “I’m ready.”

Cole launched himself into the woods, and the wind sailed through Everett’s hair almost as quickly as if he was on any four-wheeler.

Almost.

He could vaguely make out the bright lines of flashlight beams out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t dare look over his shoulder because of the way he bounced up and down on Cole’s back. He was clinging to the body beneath him with his arms and legs just to keep from flying off.

A loud whoop sounded through the air as one of those beams of light passed right over the pair of them before coming back and staying on them. “I got ’em! They’re right there!”

Shit, shit, shit!
They were going to get caught. They were never going to make it back to Cole’s pack in time, and to ever assume they would outrun those machines had been beyond stupidity.

He still had his weapons in the bag. Surprising them would be simple with how into the chase the hunters were. They might not even notice Everett’s attack before it was too late.

Everett let go of Cole’s fur and rolled along the hard ground before finally coming to a stop. It took him a few seconds longer than he’d hoped to pull his weapons from out of the bag he carried, but then he finally had the sawed-off shotgun up and pressed to his shoulder, pointed right at the blinding lights zooming toward him, and he pulled the trigger.

Chapter Eight

 

Cole had been so focused on running that at first he wasn’t entirely aware of Everett jumping off of him. It took him about two seconds to realize that his back wasn’t feeling a whole lot lighter because the man had dropped their bag of supplies, but by then, he was already another fifty feet away, at least.

He skidded to a halt just as the sound of a gunshot blasted through the air following by a crash. His heart stopped for a split second before he started running back to his lover.

If Everett wasn’t dead, then Cole swore he was going to kill that idiot.

More guns went off from different directions. The hunters were closing in on Everett. It seemed they were going after the threat that was firing back at them.

Cole had better night vision than they did, so now that the hunters were no longer paying attention to him, he was able to sneak back into the fighting.

He found Everett hiding behind the base of a large and thick pine tree. The branches on the other side of him, where the bullets were striking, were being blown off, but so far he seemed like he was uninjured except for a new cut on his forehead.

He was going to have a scarred face at the rate this kept going at.

He ducked away as the headlights from the four-wheelers flashed by. The hunters were parking their vehicles and using them for cover whenever Everett managed to reach around the tree and fire a shot off.

He was a sitting duck there.

Cole sneakily made his way around the circle of fighting. He caught sight of one hunter in particular, a muscleman with long hair tied back and a blue baseball cap on his head.

He had a rifle against his shoulder, and he was using the shots his friends were sending off as a distraction to circle around to the other side of the tree. Kind of like what Cole was doing.

No way was he letting this man sneak up on Everett.

There was a hill where Cole stood, and he watched this hunter carefully, following him. The man’s heartbeat was calm and ready. He was focused, so much so that he didn’t even know Cole was watching him.

Everett was in the same condition. He was looking around one side of the tree, firing off his handgun, while the hunter snuck up on the other.

The hunter lifted his weapon when he was nearly across, almost to where he would be able to see his prey.

Cole jumped when the man was at the perfect spot, his long claws out and his jaws open and ready.

He bit down on the hunter’s forearm, knocking him back, and the hunter screamed and fired the gun in the air. He fell on his back, and he tried to pound his fists against Cole’s snout and neck to make him release his arm, but he wouldn’t do it.

He was going to bite the bastard’s arm off for thinking he could hurt his mate!

The screaming attracted the hunters, as well as Everett from his hiding place.

“Cole!”

More lights flashed. “Stop right there, Everett.”

“Luke, please.”

“Shut the hell up!”

Cole didn’t know what they were saying after that. His inner wolf was going wild. He was going to kill all of them! The hunter body beneath him relaxed a little, and he was sure the man was faking it because there was no way he could be dead yet from something like this.

Then he managed to finally shove Cole off of him, despite how tightly he had his teeth locked down on the man’s arm. Cole tried to get up and follow him as he scrambled away, but his limbs were heavy, and he was tired.

This wasn’t right. This shouldn’t be happening to him. It was possible for even a werewolf or any sort of shifter to become tired and all, but he should still have more than enough energy left over to keep on fighting.

Then he noticed the object the hunter held in his hand that wasn’t dripping with blood.

He wasn’t sure how to describe it, it was too big to be a needle, but it wasn’t a knife either. Whatever it was, it had something other than Cole’s blood dripping from it.

Fuck, he’d just been poisoned.

Cole keeled over as his body betrayed him and gave out. Everett screamed, and from the sounds of his feet, he’d tried running to him, but the other hunters prevented that.

The one hunter that Cole had bitten was going crazy. He was screaming and jumping up and down and clutching at his arm.

He tried to ignore it and shift back into a human. They couldn’t skin him for his pelt so long as he was in that form. He felt his hair shed away and his body change, but he didn’t know if it was enough to save him.

Cole wasn’t able to see any more of what the hunters were doing or even make sure he made the full change because he passed out.

 

* * * *

 

Everett was forced to watch as his former friends fought amongst themselves. Adam had screeched and cried when Daniel came and cut off his lower arm with a machete. That was the only way to prevent him from transforming into a demon, he’d said. Remove the limb before the poison could spread.

At least now Everett knew who was taking command of the group.

The men had basically made camp in the spot where Cole and Everett were captured because of that injury. It needed to be dealt with, as well as cleaned and sterilized and bandaged. Dan was talking with Luke about the likelihood of even being able to go anywhere for the next couple of days.

That wasn’t good. Everett needed this camp moving. If Dan decided to do everything here, he could kill Everett and have Cole tortured and skinned before the night fell.

It was about six in the morning now, and dawn had finally come. Everett had his hands bound behind his back with some rope to the very tree he’d been hiding behind. Cole was strapped to one of those fold-out tables the men had brought with them, barely five feet away.

It was some plastic thing with metal legs. If only the poison Cole had been injected with would wear off, he could break through it without a problem. He needed to wake up first.

Dan had set up a tent and a cot for Adam. The four-wheeler Everett had shot at had crashed into another tree and was pretty much toast at this point. Everett could still smell the burning that came from the dead engine.

Dan had been riding it, and not only was he the one in charge of strapping down Adam and removing his arm, but he also picked out the pellets he’d been struck with by himself.

He was an independent guy like that.

It was maybe another half an hour before Luke couldn’t take it anymore and came up to him. His face was grim and determined, and his dark-black brows were pulled down in a hard frown. He wet his lips, looking over to the table where Cole was and then back at Everett.

“Why did you do it? Owen was one of us.”

“Owen tried to kill my boyfriend,” Everett said without any hesitation.

Luke’s head shot back a bit at the statement, and he looked back at Cole. “What?”

Everett was going to have to explain himself here. Owen hadn’t wanted to hear any excuses, but maybe Luke would be a bit more receptive. “Luke, that’s him. That’s Cole. You remember I told you about him.”

Luke’s dark-black eyes widened so much that Everett could see the whites all the way around them. “You said he was killed.”

“I thought he was. I noticed it was him when we stormed that pack a couple days ago. You know I couldn’t kill him. I still can’t, and I don’t want any of you to kill him either.”

Luke rubbed his face and shook his head. “He’s a monster now, and you’re forgetting that just because he looks like your dead lover.”

“He’s not dead! He’s lying right there!” Everett lowered his voice immediately after his outburst. He didn’t want any of the others hearing this just yet.

Luke shook his head again. He reached out and touched Everett’s face. Everett yanked is head away from Luke’s hands.

Luke actually appeared hurt. That was strange, considering Everett hadn’t thought they’d been close enough to produce that sort of reaction. They’d had sex once, as a way to take their minds off of the shit they’d both been dealing with, but that wasn’t enough to produce feelings, was it? Everett had felt more of an emotional pull toward Dylan for God’s sake, and they’d both known that what they were doing wouldn’t last. Maybe he’d misjudged the other man?

Luke set his lips into a thin line. “I’m going to tell Dan what you just told me. Maybe he’ll understand and let you go, but you know we can’t let any of his kind run around. They’re dangerous, Everett. They kill people.”

“No, they don’t. Only the wild ones do. The one’s who forget they’re human, too. They go kind of crazy. Those are the kinds of werewolves who hurt other people, and they’re really the ones who killed Owen’s woman and baby, and they’re the ones that killed your little brother.”

Luke was no longer listening. His face was blanketed in rage. He looked like he wanted to punch Everett in the face. Actually, his fists were clenched to do just that.

“I am killing these animals for my brother. I have been doing it long enough to know that I am not some idiot who runs around killing people. They are not people, they killed my brother, and you even suggesting that they aren’t responsible is the worst kind of slap in the face I never would’ve expected from you.”

BOOK: Kidnapped by the Werewolf Hunter [DeWitt's Pack 13] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)
6.26Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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