Man to Man [Wolf Creek Pack 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (18 page)

Donovan rolled his eyes and shifted again. He stood up and walked over to the vampire, grabbing him by the shirt and jerking him up. One swift punch to the face and the vampire was out cold.

Donovan tore the guy’s shirt off into strips and tied his hands together behind his back. He doubted it would hold him long, but it was that or cut his throat, and he preferred less bloodshed if he could help it.

The other vampire was out cold. It was only as Donovan approached him that he realized the vampire had hit a tree when he was kicked away. Good, that meant less work for Donovan. He also realized that the vampire seemed to be just about the same size as he was. And since Donovan was naked, the unconscious vampire’s clothing would help. He stripped the second vampire down to his silk underwear and then tied him to a tree along with the first vampire.

After they were both secured to separate trees, he gathered the vampire’s clothes together and tied them into a bundle. He shifted back into his wolf form, grabbed the bundle with his teeth, and started for the woods.

“Jim, where are you, baby?”
Donovan asked through their link.

“We’re in the woods about five hundred yards from the house,”
Jim replied almost immediately.
“Be careful. There’s someone following us.”

“I will be, babe.”

Donovan took off running into the woods as fast as his four legs would carry him. He had a general idea of which way Jim, Ethan, and the kids had gone but not exact. Luckily, the farther into the woods that he ran, the stronger their scent grew.

Timmins’s scent also grew stronger, which meant the man was in pursuit of Jim, Ethan, and the children. Donovan put on a burst of speed as he wove around trees and pushed through underbrush.

“Jim, Timmins is behind you.”

“I know. I can hear him.”

“Just keep going. I’ll be there soon.”

“Too late.”

Donovan almost stumbled when he heard Jim’s words. He dropped the bundle of clothes from his mouth and started running faster than he ever had in his life, mostly because his life depended on it. If anything happened to Jim, Donovan doubted he would want to go on. He meant it when he told Jim that he loved him.

Jim was his life.

“Jim?”
he shouted through their bond.
“What’s going on?”

“Timmins has us cornered at the edge of a cliff. I don’t know how much longer I can hold him off. He’s insisting that Ethan go with him, but he has a gun. I seriously doubt he plans on letting us get away unscathed.”

“I’m coming, baby. Just hold him off a little longer.”

“Well, get your ass in gear, damn it,”
Jim replied snappishly.
“I’m not sure I have a little longer, Donovan.”

Donovan broke through the edge of the trees a moment later. He stopped and crouched down low to the ground so he could assess the situation. What he saw put him in action once again. Timmins held a gun in his hand, and he was pointing it directly at Jim, who stood in front of Ethan and the children.

“Get down, Jim!”
Donovan shouted as he ran across the small clearing and dove for Timmins. They both crashed to the unforgiving, hard ground. Donovan heard the gun go off and felt an almost instantaneous sear of pain in his shoulder. He knew Timmins had shot him.

Jim was going to kick his ass for getting shot—again.

Donovan growled viciously as he grabbed onto Timmins’s arm and sank his sharp canines in as far as he could. The bitter coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, and Donovan almost gagged in disgust. Timmins tasted like boiled shit. Donovan could only guess at what the man had been digesting. Roadkill came instantly to mind.

Donovan heard Jim shouting as he rolled on the ground with Timmins, but he couldn’t take his concentration off the man he was fighting. He had never seen Timmins fight before, so he didn’t know how strong the man was.

But he was an unscrupulous fighter. Donovan found that out when Timmins tossed a handful of soil into his eyes. Donovan jerked back and shook his head, blinking rapidly. His eyes stung like shards of glass had been thrown at him instead of dirt. He swiped at his eyes with his paws until he could open them without too much pain. When he did, Donovan found himself looking down a barrel of a gun.

Shit.

Timmins’s hands were shaking, and the man had quite a bit of blood on him. His hair was mussed, and dirt stained his clothes. He looked like he had been put through the ringer, not a usual look for the guy. The gun in his hands, however, looked huge.

“I want Ethan,” Timmins snapped. He waved the gun back and forth, a gesture to move that Donovan clearly understood. “And I want him now.”

Donovan climbed to his feet and limped over to stand next to Jim. He felt Jim’s hand curl into his fur. He wasn’t sure if Jim was trying to reassure him or restrain him. But they both took a step back when Timmins waved the gun again.

“Ethan doesn’t want to go with you, Timmins,” Jim said.

Donovan almost bit Jim in the leg for arguing with a madman, and an armed madman at that. The man had no sense of self-preservation.

“If I can’t have Virgil, I’ll take Ethan.”

Donovan realized he was in wolf form, but he could still feel his eyebrows shoot up at Timmins’s statement. Was the man serious? Ethan had said that Timmins had an obsession with Virgil, but Donovan didn’t realize that it trickled over to Ethan.

Besides being a really sick and twisted fuck, what was this man’s problem? Why did he have such an obsession with Ethan and his brother? Was it because of the vampires or something more? Money and power could only get a guy so far in life. Timmins had to be after something more.

Donovan caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Ethan untying Carrie from his back. He had a really bad feeling as he watched Ethan set Carrie on the ground and squat down to talk to Joey. A moment later, Donovan knew that uneasy feeling was warranted when Ethan stood and walked out in front of him and Jim.

“I’ll go with you if you promise to let my friends go,” Ethan said.

Oh, hell no!
Donovan barked loudly, trying to get Timmins’s attention off of Ethan and back on him.
“Tell him no, Jim.”

Timmins had no intention of letting any of them go, and he knew it. Ethan should have known it to, but apparently the guy was a little naïve. With the way Timmins was waving his gun around, Donovan had serious doubts that any of them would make it out of there alive.

“Come to me, Ethan.” Timmins gestured with his hand for the man to come closer.

A low growl began to build in Donovan’s chest when Ethan started to step forward. Somehow, in the last couple of hours, Ethan had become more than just a pack member that Donovan needed to protect because that was his duty. He had become a friend. Donovan couldn’t live with himself if he let anything happen to the sweet little guy.

Donovan’s growl grew louder and more menacing at the look of triumph that came over Timmins. The lecherous leer that he sent Ethan made Donovan’s skin crawl, and he was suddenly in no doubt what the man planned for sweet, innocent Ethan.

The second Ethan stepped between him and Timmins, and Timmins lowered his gun to reach for Ethan, Donovan leapt. He heard the gun go off and prayed that no one had been shot. He knew he hadn’t. The only pain he felt came from crashing into Timmins and taking him down to the ground.

Donovan opened his jaws, preparing to bite down on Timmins’s throat and rip it out, when he suddenly noticed the gurgling sound coming from the man. He reared back when he saw the bullet hole in Timmins’s neck, and quickly scanned the immediate area for further signs of danger.

A tall, lanky man stepped out of the trees just across the small clearing from where Donovan stood over Timmins. Donovan lowered his snout and growled, showing off his very impressive teeth.

The man instantly lowered the barrel of the rifle in his hands and pointed it down toward the ground. He held up one of his hands. “I mean you no harm,” the man said. “I just want my Ethan, and then I’ll leave.”

Donovan’s head snapped around when he heard Ethan’s swift inhale, and then a small cry fell from the man’s lips and he was racing across the clearing toward the man with the riffle. Donovan stepped forward to stop Ethan, not knowing exactly what was going on. Jim’s hands fisting in his fur kept him in place.

“It’s okay, Donovan,” Jim said. “I’m pretty sure that Ethan knows him.”

Jim’s heart had nearly stopped when he heard a gun go off for a second time. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Donovan had already been shot once, again, something like that. A third time might just send him to his grave.

The sight of a man standing across the meadow from them, holding a smoking rifle in his hands, had sent more elation through Jim than fear. He was especially delighted when he saw Timmins drop to the ground seconds before Donovan crashed into him.

Jim turned when he heard a little cry behind him, just then remembering the children. They were huddled together, holding on to each other, with tears streaming down their faces. Jim let go of Donovan and hurried over to them, dropping to his knees and enveloping both children in his arms.

“Sshhh,” Jim crooned softly. “Everything is all right. You’re safe now.”

Gods, he prayed they were safe now. Timmins was well on his way to death, but he wasn’t dead yet, and they still had no clue who all was involved in the crazy-ass plot to sell pack members to the vampires. For all Jim knew, Timmins was just the tip of the iceberg.

Jim clutched the children closer when he felt them snuggle into his arms, both vying for a closer spot. He swore to himself that he’d never tell anyone how good it felt to be holding the two small children. He knew he had lost that battle when he lifted Joey and Carrie into his arms and turned, and saw the knowing look on Donovan’s face.

Well, at least the man had shifted back to human form.

Jim winced when he spotted the dried blood on Donovan’s shoulder. It didn’t look like a fatal wound, but it was still a wound. When was his mate going to stop jumping in front of bullets?

“Well, at least you’re alive,” Jim snapped.

Donovan just arched an eyebrow at Jim.

Jim glanced away from Donovan when he heard footsteps. Ethan was walking over with the stranger, a look of relief and happiness in the tears streaming down his face. He was clinging to the stranger’s arm like he had no intention of ever letting him go.

“This is Virgil,” Ethan said.

“Virgil Brown,” the man said as he held his hand out.

Jim went to shake Virgil’s hand but quickly realized that he couldn’t. He had a child in each arm. And much like Ethan, Jim didn’t think they had any intention of letting him go any time soon. They had death grips on his shirt.

Jim nodded instead.

“Jim Nash, from the Wolf Creek Pack.” He gestured with his head to the large wolf standing next to him, still barring his teeth. “This is my mate, Donovan Morgan.”

“Alpha Reece’s enforcer?”

“Yes.”

Virgil instantly took a step back, pulling Ethan with him. His other hand tightened around the butt stock of the rifle. A wary look came over his face as his eyes dropped to the dying man on the ground.

“Virgil.” Ethan smacked his brother on the shoulder. “They are not with Timmins. In fact, they were rescuing me from Timmins, as well as the rest of the pack.”

“Oh?” Virgil still didn’t look convinced.

Jim knew Virgil was concerned about his brother so he tried not to take offense, but it wasn’t easy. “Alpha Reece discovered Timmins’s little plot earlier this evening when that vampire bitch Timmins has been working with tried to kill the alpha’s mate.”

“Is he okay?”

Jim nodded. “He was bitten, but he managed to stab the stupid bitch before she got away. And that kind of led to why we are here.”

Virgil’s head cocked to one side, a curious expression crossing his face. “Just why are you here?”

“Alpha Reece ordered all pack members not involved in the plan to sell blood donors to the vampires to be taken to Wolf Creek Pack for their own safety. Ethan was the last pack member on our list. Unfortunately, when we arrived, Ethan was already knee-deep in shit. They blew up Donovan’s truck before we could escape. Our next best option was the woods.”

Virgil glared down at Timmins. “I see that worked out well for you.”

Jim had the sudden urge to smack the other man. “Hey, look, we did the best we could under the circumstances. If you think—”

“Jim, that’s enough.”

Jim’s jaw clenched as he turned to frown at Donovan. He instantly noted that his mate was standing there stark-ass naked. A tic started in his clenched jaw when he heard Ethan’s small giggle.

“Donovan!” he growled.

Donovan rolled his eyes and started walking across the clearing. He disappeared into the woods before Jim could stop him.

“Donovan, where—”

“I’ll be right back, babe.”

Jim tried to return his attention to Virgil and Ethan, but he kept one eye on the tree line. His worry wouldn’t go away until Donovan was right back at his side, and maybe not even then. His mate seemed to have the innate ability to get himself into a lot of trouble.