Shifter Magnetism (21 page)

“I never come into the woods. How could you have planned this?”

“When we saw you enter the wood, I went and moved the car while Mary followed you. Thank you, by the way. Your little change in routine is going to give me a couple of hours on anybody looking for you. It was almost as if you wanted to come with us.”

There was no way in the world she was getting in the car.

Mary walked ahead of them. Manuel marched close enough behind Leila that he prodded her with the gun when he felt she wasn’t moving fast enough. There wasn’t any point in being afraid anymore. If she could get the gun away from him, she would have the same chance to fight him that she would when he got her to the new location. Unless he planned on holding the gun on her the entire time. Or making Mary do it.

She’d rather make her stand here in the woods surrounding pack lands. Someone would find her sooner or later, even if it was just her body. She should have told Nic she loved him. She would likely never see Nic again. They’d been so focused on finding the sorcerer who’d tried to kill her they hadn’t noticed the threat in their midst. She’d never even told Nic someone was watching her. She’d been scared he would tell her she was paranoid.

Just because you were paranoid didn’t mean they weren’t out to get you.

It was now or never. She pretended to stagger backward into Manuel, moving to the left as she brought her elbow up and into his stomach. Her wolf rose to the surface, and she watched as her clawed hand covered in fur knocked the gun from his grip.

Manuel lost his balance, cursing, and Leila leaped out of arm’s reach. She hadn’t knocked the gun far enough away. They both looked at it at the same time. She made her decision as he bent to reach for it. One of them wouldn’t be leaving the forest alive. Then she allowed the wolf to fully take her, springing for Manuel’s throat, shifting completely in the air.

* * * *

Nic walked in the front door and realized he was there alone. Wherever Leila had gone, she’d left over an hour ago. He pulled out his cell phone to see if he’d missed a call from her. He had no missed calls. No texts from her either. He’d seen her car on his way in, so maybe she was visiting with his mother.

He left his home and picked up her scent almost immediately. He followed her scent trail. His mother’s home was in the other direction, so she wasn’t visiting Ana and Tara. He continued on. She could have veered off at any point, visiting any member of the pack. But why?

He wasn’t surprised when Jake and Devin fell in beside him.

Jake broke the silence. “Tracking your mate, Nic?”

“It isn’t like her to wander without someone with her.” Leila was still getting used to pack etiquette and was determined not to misstep.

“Any new information on the sorcerer?” Devin asked.

Nic grimaced. “No, and the bastard is going to be killing again soon. It is crazy how the mages don’t keep better surveillance on their people.”

“Coldwell has the Watch now. They’re going to need work, though.” Jake shook his head.

“Their Watch isn’t our business,” Nic warned.

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know, Alpha. Your mate is essentially the Council princess. It seems as if you might want to work on getting along with the in-laws.”

Nic cursed until he ran out of phrases that made any sense.

Devin sidestepped a pup running after a ball. “They can’t be that bad. Leila’s nice.”

“Her mother threatened to use magic to undo our mating.”

The silence following his comment was long and charged.

“Can she do that?” Devin sounded outraged.

“Leila doesn’t think so, but you understand family dinners might be a little strained.”

Jake chuckled. “Damn. You’re going to need body armor and guards just to visit. What if she gets mad at you and goes home to her mother to sulk?”

“Thanks, Jake. What is happening with all our new applicants?”

“The background checks are coming in. No red flags so far,” Devin said.

Jake’s tone was matter-of-fact. “They seem to be getting along well. They follow the rules.”

Nic was glad to hear it. “Keep an eye on them. We want to take on people who will add to the pack, not cause problems.”

They walked in silence. Nic came to a full stop ten minutes later near a cluster of family dwellings. Leila’s trail continued on, but it was crossed with one he didn’t want anywhere near her.

Nic balled his hands into fists. “Manuel.”

Jake said, “It could be a coincidence. People walk this path all day long, and I scent Mary as well. Maybe they were just out for a stroll.”

Nic hoped so as he picked up the trail again, and his pace. They were headed straight into the woods, someplace Leila had never expressed any interest in going. What worried him the most was that the former alpha and his mate’s scents also entered the woods.

Nic glanced at Jake. His first’s face was grim. Nic half shifted and began to run. His sense of smell was stronger in his wolf forms. He would need all his senses at optimum level to run and track Leila. If Manuel had harmed her, Nic would dismember him. He’d been so focused on finding the Brain Surgeon he’d completely missed what was happening in his pack.

Something pulled him to a stop. He sniffed the air.
Blood. My mate’s blood.
He circled the area where it was strongest.

Jake pointed. “The tree limb.”

Nic picked it up. The size of a man’s arm, the tree limb was speckled with blood. The bastard had hit her with it. She was a hybrid. Had it incapacitated her? Was she somewhere right now at Manuel’s mercy?

“We’ll find them, Nic.” Jake sounded confident. “She’s strong, and her wolf form is quick. You saw how fast she brought Mary down during the challenge.”

“She wasn’t up against two shifters then, including a man whose wolf form is almost twice her size.” He tossed the tree limb away and ran.

Just hold on, Leila.
Fear drove him, pushed him to move faster. He couldn’t be too late.

Snarling and growling reached his ears. Was she fighting him? His heart nearly stopped at the thought. Manuel was a bruiser and a dirty fighter. He was large in his wolf form, and he used it. Leila was an alpha female, but she was new to fighting as a wolf. Instinct would only take care of so much.

The area was only thinly lined with trees. All at once he took in two black-and-brown wolves fighting, and Mary standing off to the side in front of Manuel’s sedan, staring at the fighting wolves. Both wolves were bloodied. The smaller of the two seemed to be biting into any available surface of the other. Nic didn’t hesitate. He shifted fully and attacked the larger wolf.

He used all his strength to push Manuel away from his mate, except she kept coming at the former alpha until Nic wasted precious seconds warning her off with a growl and a snap. He turned back in time to keep Manuel from tearing a chunk out of his flank. Nic went for the wolf’s extended throat. He clasped his teeth around it, preparing to rip it out.

“Stop. I’ll shoot, Nic, I swear!”

Nic glanced up without releasing a squirming Manuel’s throat. Mary stood with a gun clutched in a tight two-handed grip. The weapon was pointed at him, but as Jake and Devin made a move for her, she swung it in their direction. “Don’t make me do this. Just release him, and we’ll leave.”

Jake stepped forward. “You know that can’t happen, Mary. You all crossed a line here today. There isn’t any way to atone for it.”

Nic concurred. Only death awaited Manuel and Mary. He looked for Leila. She was crouched to his left, muscles bunched as if ready to strike, eyes on Mary.

Tears filled Mary’s eyes. “I can’t let you kill him, Nic. I’m sorry.” Her hands tightened around the gun.

Leila shifted back to human, her beautiful body riddled with bites and blood. She flung her hand out. Blue flame zoomed through the air and slammed into Mary’s chest. Mary screamed once. The gun fell from her grasp as her body dropped to the ground.

Nic’s clamped his jaws tighter, and he quickly ripped through skin, tendon, and bone. He paused and listened for a heartbeat to make certain Manuel was truly dead before loping over to Leila. She’d collapsed, her body returning to wolf form. His wolf whined, and Nic slowly shifted to a man.

If she couldn’t hold her human form, she was badly hurt. The shifter’s body only shifted to wolf when unconscious if it had severe wounds that needed to be healed.

His throat clogged. Pain lanced through his chest, threatening to disable him. “I don’t even know if there is any part of her where I can pick her up without hurting her.”

Jake walked to Nic’s side. “You have to, Nic. She needs a doctor.”

Nic spared a glance for Jake. “I can’t take a wolf to the hospital.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could fall apart when she was safe. “Jake, call in a cleanup crew for the bodies. Devin, run back and drive down to the healer, Mama Tui. Tell her I need one more favor. Don’t leave until she agrees to come here.”

Jake pulled out his phone as Nic picked up his mate. Her blood flowed onto his arms and hands. He shuddered and started walking. Devin ran ahead. Nic kept his pace slow and even. He didn’t want to jar her and wake her before he had some way to help her. The pain had to be excruciating.

When he stepped from the woods, his pack stood silently in two columns along the path. He tightened his jaw and breathed through the burning at the back of his eyes. He couldn’t look at them as they bore witness to one of the most gut-wrenching moments of his life.

His mother awaited him at the top of his steps. She silently opened the door for him to enter his home, then followed him inside. She was silent all the way to his bedroom, where he laid Leila on the bed. He took the pants his mother handed him and slipped them on before falling to the floor on his knees by his mate’s side.

He could not lose her. She was everything to him. Her laugh, her smile, the way she melted into him at the slightest touch. Everything about her delighted him. He hadn’t known he was looking for a mate or that he even wanted one when he’d first seen her and she’d taken his breath away in the female gladiator costume.

He leaned into his mother’s hand as she smoothed it through his hair.

“Oh, Nic.” Her words were soft and mournful.

“I can’t lose her, Mamá.”

She stood guard with him, smoothing his hair until he heard the front door open and close. There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs before Nic felt the presence of Mama Tui.

“Oh, wolf. You two attract danger like no one I’ve ever seen before.”

He moved so she could reach the bed. “Can you help?”

“I’ll do my best. The rest is up to your little witch.”

Chapter Thirteen

Leila awoke covered in bandages and not much else. She was alone in bed, and the midday light streaming through the windows hurt her eyes. Sitting up, she groaned. Her entire body ached. She cleared her throat. She needed a glass of water ASAP.

Moving from the bed to the bathroom was an event. An incredibly slow event. She drank straight from the faucet before brushing her teeth. She started on the bandages next. The skin underneath was tender and red, but the scars were faint. She could still feel Manuel’s teeth sinking into her body and her desire to end him once and for all. She almost cried in the shower, the spray felt so good.

By the time she was dressed and her hair had been dried and curled, she felt much better. She’d thought briefly about wearing clothes to cover the scars, but decided against it almost immediately. She was alive. The wounds could have killed her and hadn’t, so shorts and a spaghetti-strap tee would show off her battle scars perfectly. She didn’t even cover the scars on her chin and cheek with makeup. Eyeshadow and lipstick, and she was ready to face the day. Except she needed a slight breather before she could tackle the stairs.

Eventually, her growling stomach forced her downstairs. The front door opened as she reached the bottom. Her heart fluttered as Nic stepped inside. The sun’s rays lit his body from behind, making it appear as if he glowed around the edges. He looked so tired. He closed the door but didn’t move toward her. They stared at each other. As he inspected each of her scars, his mouth tightened until it was no more than a slash on his face.

“I should dig the bastard up and kill him again.”

She moved back up one step, food forgotten. She had expected Nic to rail against Manuel, but only after he’d held her tight and kissed each one of her scars. She hadn’t thought he might not comfort her or stare at her like she was defective. “You think I’m ugly.”

He was on her before she could move farther away. The hold he had on her upper arms was unbreakable. “No. You’re beautiful. I just hate that he got to you. That he hurt you.”

She could hear the pain in his voice. Tension she hadn’t known she was holding eased from her body. She cupped the backs of his arms.

He pulled her closer. “Don’t worry. The scars will fade in a couple of days. Even if they don’t, you will still be the most beautiful woman in the world.”

There was her shifter, the one who seemed to adore everything about her. She realized how much she counted on Nic’s seeming blindness to what other people had pointed out as her imperfections. “I’m not worried about scars, but I am concerned that I haven’t been kissed yet.”

Amber flashed in his eyes, and his mouth softened into the cocky grin she was used to. His lips captured hers a moment after. Delight raced across her skin. He poured his pleasure into her, demanding she respond with bliss. Her entire body caught fire, and she transferred her hands to his shirt and started to inch it up a bit at a time. He was offering her a promise of fulfillment and rapture, and she was getting ready to collect.

There was a low rumbling sound, and Nic ended the kiss. He looked startled. Her stomach had decided food was more important than sex.

“Obviously I’m not taking care of my mate properly if her stomach is protesting.”

She might be able to squeeze some pancakes out of this situation. “I am hungry.”

He turned them toward the kitchen. “You were asleep for two days.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You’ve lost weight as well.” He didn’t seem pleased with the observation.