Savage Revenge (23 page)

Her stomach knotted and her throat went dry.

He wouldn’t leave her. He was her mate now, and it would be his instinct to fight for her. To bring her back.

But you willingly left him
, her conscience whispered.
He owes you nothing.

He wouldn’t leave her. He was her mate, she told herself. He was part of her now—
he would not leave her
.

She waited for his car to slow, to turn onto the road. Relief flared in her as it slowed down near the turn.

But then the glare of headlights turned to taillights as he sped by the turn off and then into the night.

He’d actually left her.

Numbness swept over her, freezing her muscles and making it feel as if only her mind worked. She stared straight ahead, at the darkness, which was only broken by the car’s headlights. Trees—usually a thing of comfort too her—lined the road like ominous soldiers standing guard.

The car slowed to a stop, and then Frank turned off the engine and then the lights. Plunging the night around them into darkness.

Fear rose swiftly, gathering around her throat and making it difficult to breathe.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way to Fresno.” She was amazed she got the light words out with the panic being so intense.

In the darkness it was hard to see him, but not impossible with her heightened shifter senses.

He didn’t answer, but the atmosphere grew thick with what she could only describe as a sense of evil. Danger.

What she’d thought initially was just a bad decision, might just turn out to be a deadly one.

Who was this guy? How had she not picked up on this vibe of evil radiating off him?

Every part of her coiled with tension. Her heart fluttered like a trapped bird in her chest.

Get ahold of yourself, Sage, she thought.
Whatever reason he’s brought you out here for, you’re going to have to face it.

Too stupid to live. She’d used the term in her books, and that’s what she was labeling herself right now.

That’s what she was for making the choice—she’d made a
conscious choice
—to get in this damn car with him.

“I usually choose humans, you realize.” His hazel eyes darkened. They seemed greener now, and the whites reflected especially bright in the darkness.

“Choose humans for?”

“Why don’t you get out of the car and find out, my dear.”

Oh yeah, she was fucked. “I’d, um, prefer not to.”

There was a blur of movement, before he grabbed her hair and jerked her head back. His face hovered over hers now—and there was no mistaking the violence that radiated from him.

“I’m going to enjoy the challenge, Sage. Humans can’t outrun me. They don’t even have a chance to fight. But you…you’ll be a fun bit of sport in your wolf form.” He rubbed his thumb over her lips. “And your death will bring Jocelyn so much happiness. Especially when Agent Larson takes the blame. Just as he has with each human I’ve killed before you.”

No. Oh God, no
.

She’d been wrong. So wrong that she was now as good as dead.

Frank pulled the handle on her door open and she fell backward out onto the dirt road. Rocks bit into her palm and she struggled to her feet.

This wasn’t going to end well. Gut instinct told her she didn’t have a chance. She wasn’t a smart government agent. For goodness sake, she hadn’t even made the track team in high school. Her wolf form was about as equally athletic.

And now apparently some sick freak who’d been killing women for fun intended to make her his next victim. Nate was innocent. He’d always been innocent, and unless she survived this, no one would ever know. Her death would be on his hands, just as each death before hers had been.

Frank climbed out of the car after her and she watched as his body began to distort. Twist into wolf.

“Fuck I love being able to shift.” He laughed. “That drug was an answer to my prayers.”

Shit, shit, shit.

“Better start running, Sage,” he taunted, his words almost maniacal with glee. “I promise it won’t be quick.”

His words ended on a howl as he nearly completed transition.

Scrambling to her feet, Sage turned and sprinted away, shifting within seconds.

She was running, literally, for her life and to save Nate’s.

Chapter Twenty-One

She’d left him. The numbness that had begun to sink in for Nathan slowly replaced the disbelief and anger.

He stared at the red taillights of the car ahead of him, knowing Sage was in that car. He was half tempted to accelerate and slam into the vehicle—get her back, fuck all the risks.

Sage was his mate. Whether she had accepted the position willingly or not, she should’ve trusted him. It should’ve been instinctual.

And yet she’d chosen the sanctuary of another man instead of trusting him to keep her safe. Trusting him to prove his innocence.

He hadn’t seen the video, but he had to believe it was damning. If Sage had been persuaded to trap him, and now had run from him again, she must have been convinced he was guilty.

The cell in his pocket began to ring, and he jerked it free to answer the call.

“Larson, it’s Donovan. Are you okay?”

“Fine. I’m in the car you left me. Sage is gone.”

For now he would continue to just tail them, until he figured out what the hell to do.

“How?” Donovan asked. “We got you guys out of there, left you a car. She should’ve—”

“She left on her own accord.”

“Shit really? God, I’m sorry.” Donovan’s words were clearly sincere. “Where are you going to go?”

“The hell if I know. South? Maybe seek temporary protection from the packs over the border.”

“You may not need to. We’re about to board a flight back to Seattle in the next twenty minutes or so and we’re going to find that child you think witnessed everything.”

Some of what Sage had told him floated back. “There’s a video of that night. Sage’s brother—the alpha of her pack—has it.”

“Finally another piece of good fucking news. I’ll see about getting a copy to try and identify the child,” Donovan said without hesitation. “Look, I wanted to give you the scoop on that number that was disguised as yours on Alicia’s phone.”

“Give it to me.”

“The number belongs to Frank Collins. He’s a half-shifter who wasn’t seen in several days, but was spotted in the company of one Jocelyn Feloray.”

“He’s working with Jocelyn?” A direct link to the woman he suspected had set him up. It hit him then. “Wait. You said Frank? Shit. I think I just met him. Sage is with him right now.”

“I sure as hell hope you’re kidding. Because I haven’t told you the bad part.”

“There’s a bad part? So the Jocelyn bit was the happy news?”

“In comparison? Yeah. It just may have been.”

Hell. This couldn’t be good.

“This Frank guy sounds pretty off balance, Nate. The P.I.A. thinks he’s behind the deaths of the human women along the West Coast.”

It wasn’t me
. Relief slammed through him as the words sank in, pushed back the demons that had been eating at him. But with the relief came a blinding fear as what the meaning of the news entailed.

Sage had walked right into the hands of a fucking murdering masochist.

“His DNA was found at the site of four human women who were found dead along the West Coast and at the site of the homicide we were investigating back in Seattle,” Donovan continued. “There’s a memo on the P.I.A. site, right below yours. You’re both considered top priority right now.”

“He’s got Sage.”

“
Christ
.”

“They’re in the car right in front of me.”

“Maybe you could hit them with your car?” Donovan offered grimly.

“I’m tempted, but Frank has a gun. Sage doesn’t realize the extent of the danger she’s in.”

“You think he’ll shoot her?”

“No. If he’d wanted to use that gun on either of us, he would’ve done it already,” Nathan said tersely. “I don’t think he knows the P.I.A. is on to him, and my instinct says he’ll kill her thinking I’ll take the blame again.”

“Holy hell. Why did Sage go with him?”

“Because he and Jocelyn must’ve passed themselves off as P.I.A. agents. He gained her trust earlier. The video must be pretty bad—”

“Dammit, you were set up.”

“I know that. You know that, but Sage is being driven by fear right now. I’m sure Frank looked like the better choice five minutes ago.”

Especially when he’d had a gun trained on them. He knew Sage was scared and full of doubt, but he also suspected she loved him. Whether she could admit it to herself or not.

“Hopefully you can get her out of this, Larson. The poor girl is innocent and got caught up in some crazy shit, and I know you guys got close—”

“I claimed her.”

There was a heavy silence.

“All right. Apparently close is an understatement.” Donovan’s words were laced with dismay. “Tell me. How the fuck are you so calm right now when a sociopath has your mate?”

“Because I have no choice.” And because it was bred into him after years of being an alpha and commander of his unit.

Keeping his cool was part of his genetics. Yet there was no denying the river of rage that rode beneath the surface.

If Frank so much as drew blood on Sage, he’d be dead before the first drop could hit the ground.

Chances were Frank was a dead man walking anyway. When he’d taken Sage, he’d signed his own death warrant.

“Are you able to pick up on Sage’s thoughts yet? Emotions?” Donovan broke the silence.

“Yeah. That ability came pretty quickly.” He paused, trying to pick up any emotions from her. “She’s getting nervous with Frank. She’s figuring out something isn’t right.”

“Do you think she knows about him then?”

“No. Not everything. I have a wall up to block my thoughts. If she knew what I knew, chances are she’d freak the hell out. I don’t know what she’d try, but I don’t want her setting Frank off before I can get to them.”

“Be careful, Larson.”

“That’s my plan. Find that video, and find that child. Those are my best chances to clear my name.”

The Escort slowed and made a right turn off the small highway, onto what appeared to be an old dirt road.

“I’ll call you when this over.” Nathan turned off his phone and tossed it into the seat beside him.

Instinct had him slowing, ready to follow the other vehicle. He just barely restrained himself from making the same turn. He couldn’t tip his hand to Frank and give him any indication that he knew he was a murdering sociopath.

Nathan had to make it appear that he was bent on his own escape—that Sage meant absolutely nothing to him. Frank couldn’t realize the truth. That Sage belonged to him. That the quirky little novelist had claimed his heart as thoroughly as the characters in her books no doubt did to each other.

With tension entwining every muscle in his body, he hit the gas and sped right past the small dirt road.

After another fifty feet he turned off the headlights, pulled to the side of the road, and then killed the engine.

After tucking the keys under the front seat, he opened the door, slammed it shut, and then sprinted back toward the small road they’d disappeared down.

He’d shifted into his wolf side before reaching the turn off. Once on the road he quickly spotted the abandoned Escort.

Rage and calm determination eliminated the potential fear for Sage’s safety.

She was alive. For the moment. He would’ve felt her death if Frank had already killed her.

He quieted his mind and stroked his thoughts out to her.

Keep running, Sage. Just stay alive, sweetheart. I’m coming for you. Trust me.

There was no response except mental snapshots of her emotions. Terror. Determination—just as strong as his—to stay alive. But there was exhaustion. Frank was running her ragged.

The viscous snarl reached his ears just as they came into view up ahead.

Nathan was too far behind to stop Frank from leaping onto Sage’s back and sending her sprawling to the ground with a yelp of terror.

It was déjà vu to the day Sage had escaped the house and run from him. But instead of fighting a mountain lion for her life, this time she was fighting her own kind.

Rage at the situation—at himself and at Frank—had him quickening his run to an almost impossible pace, even for a wolf shifter.

The two rolled on the ground, Sage clearly frenzied in her fight to stay alive. A sharp yelp of pain sounded, one he suspected came from Sage.

And then he was in the fray, leaping onto Frank and knocking him off of Sage.

From the corner of his eye, he watched her stumble on all fours out of the danger zone.

Safe. She was safe.

With that knowledge firm in his mind, he turned his focus to killing the son of a bitch who’d tried to hurt her.

Green eyes glared up at him with rage and violence as the two rolled on the dirt ground, each fighting for dominance.

Fur flew. Teeth flashed, even grazed flesh, but neither managed to sink a death bite.

They rolled again, and this time Frank managed to slip away.

Nathan got back on all fours. Instead of lunging back to fight, Frank turned tail and ran back toward the road.

Your ass is about to be meat, wolf,
Nathan thought savagely, before he turned to run after Frank.

The smell of blood and the flash of pain in Sage’s head made him freeze.

Turning, he padded back to where she lay curled up in human form under a tree.

He shifted back to human and knelt beside her. Son of a bitch, had she been hurt?

“Sage? Sweetheart, where did he get you?”

She slowly turned her head from where her cheek had been resting on the ground.

Blood gushed from the bite in the artery in her neck.

“Go after him.” Her words were heavy with pain. “Don’t worry about me, he needs to be stopped. He killed them—”

“I know who he is.” He cradled her head in his palm and gently adjusted her neck. “Shit, sweetheart, don’t talk, you’re losing more blood with each word.”

Again there was the feeling of déjà vu, but only this time the rolls were reversed. She was the one about to bleed to death and he, God willing, was going to save her life.