To Protect His Mate (11 page)

“What the hell do you expect to do with those?” Angela openly admired the arranged weapons.

“Practice on a moving target,” Sarah replied as if it should be obvious. “This beats a paper target hands down.” Her amber eyes glowed with excitement as she hastily tied her honey-blonde hair back.

“Oh, dear, but that sounds like a fine idea.” Angela murmured as she glanced around the room. “Do you have any other goodies stashed around?”

“Um, nothing other than what Abraham has in his closet safe,” Stephanie answered. Something about the situation didn’t seem right.

She took a moment to step back and think. The fact that only one man was there suddenly struck her as odd. The only man to approach her alone was now dead, and Abraham and his brothers had told her there were three men in the vehicle that had been chasing her.

If they intended to see her dead this time, then…

“He’s not alone,” she mumbled to herself.

“What do you mean he’s not alone?” Angela asked, casting another glance down the hall. “I didn’t see anyone else. I didn’t get any other scent, either.”

“Then maybe we’re wrong, and he’s just a regular delivery guy,” Stephanie offered, though she still felt uneasy.

“I don’t know.” Angela clearly didn’t think that was the case either, judging from the look on her face.

“Well, I don’t trust it. I’m going to duck out the back door and check outside,” Sarah explained as she slid on her knife holster and crossed the room.

“Ma’am, I really do need to get moving,” the deliveryman called. “If she’s not here, I can try to make it back out tomorrow morning.”

“See?” Stephanie gestured toward the door with her outstretched arm before moving past a frowning Angela. “I need to have those rings, or the whole gift will be ruined.”

“I’m still going around the house. I’ve got a bad feeling, and after relying on my gut to keep me alive for so long, I’m not about to ignore it now.” Sarah headed to the back of the house as Stephanie went to the front.

In the living room, Stephanie noticed that the front door was closed, but no one was inside. “Oh, no, he left!”

Racing outside, she made it just in time to see a tall man dressed all in brown, grumbling as he rounded the front of his truck.

“Wait!” she shouted, running to his side.

The man turned just as the sound of a gunshot rang out from the side of the house.

“Come here!” he yelled, tossing the package to the ground and pulling her against him with her back to his chest. He wrapped his thick arm around her throat, nearly cutting off her airway. “Be still, bitch. You have no idea how hard it was to tranquilize those two wolves that hang around here. I plan to be long gone before they wake up.”

“There are going to be several more of those wolves in just a few moments, you prick!” Sarah shouted. “Oh, and Stephanie? Seriously cool gift.”

Stephanie just rolled her eyes. Leave it to Sarah to make jokes while she was in a chokehold, struggling to breathe.

“We’re going to back up, nice and slow, then get in the truck. You got that?” He spoke into her ear, so it wasn’t as if she could miss it.

He took the first step back, tightening his hold and causing her to clutch his arm and wheeze, not that there was any sympathy to be found.

“Damn it, let’s go!”

“Let her go, boy, if you know what’s good for you.”

Stephanie looked on in horror as Angela stepped out the front door with nothing but a kitchen knife in her hands.

“No!” she croaked.

Taking in the scene around her, she noted that Sarah was leaning against the corner of the house, studying her brass knuckles, while a man lay still on the ground behind her. Angela, on the other hand, had her nose in the air and appeared to be sniffing.

“Just let me go,” Stephanie begged. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Shut up. You don’t know anything. Damn it, Todd, get over here. We gotta split!” her captor bellowed. She felt the tremors coursing through his body and knew that he was scared.

“Um, is Todd the one with piss-poor aim?” Sarah asked, gesturing to the body behind her.

“What the hell did you do to him?” he demanded.

Sarah smiled sweetly before replying, “I showed him my Christmas present.”

“What is she talking about? Is that a knife in her hand?”

“Stephanie bought me these cool throwing knives. By the way, your friend can’t catch for shit either.”

“You crazy bitch!”

“Aw, thanks for noticing,” Sarah fanned her face, “You’ll make a girl blush with that kind of sweet talk.”

“You might want to have you’re other friend come out of the trees, dear. He won’t be safe there for much longer.” Angela had her eyes trained on a spot in the darkening tree line that was slowly taking shape.

A man stepped from the shadows. He glared at Sarah and pretty much dismissed Angela with a glance. A mistake he was likely to regret. As he walked toward the truck, his arrogant strides showing his lack of worry over the two women, Stephanie made an effort to reach her gun.

The fact that it was at the small of her back—which was currently pressed against the man behind her—made any attempts at subtlety almost impossible. Sure enough, her hand was gripped by his free hand, while his buddy pried the piece from her fingers.

“Very nice,” he drawled. “Todd over there had our only gun, since the fool behind you seems to have lost his.” This man was smaller than the one holding her, yet his build was impressive. He clearly kept himself in shape, judging by the muscles she saw beneath his T-shirt.

“I’m telling you, that gun was stolen! I’ve never lost a weapon.”

“Well, you may not have lost one, but you
missed
this one.” His angry tone told Stephanie there was some animosity between the pair. “Get her into the truck. We’ll deal with her in a little while.”

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Sarah called.

“Oh, really, and how do you plan to stop me, honey? Are you going to throw your little knife at me?” He raised his hands and pretended to shake with fear, clearly taunting Sarah.

“Actually, I figured it would be pretty damn difficult for the two of you to go anywhere without the keys to the truck.” Swinging the set from her index finger, Sarah treated the cocky man to a little grin before turning and pitching them into the woods. “Now, what do you plan to do? Todd here won’t be helping you out since he’s dead. I could arrange for you to be, as well, if you don’t release my friend right now.”

“He can’t do that.” The voice that spoke sent a spike of fear straight through Stephanie’s heart. When her captor turned them toward the truck, she saw a sight she could have sworn was impossible. The tall, lean man stepping from the back of the delivery truck was none other than Dr. Greene. “Surprised to see me, my dear? I would imagine so since you put me in prison for the rest of my damned life.”

His calm speaking wasn’t fooling her. “How did you get here? You should still be in that prison.”

“If you have connections to the kinds of people I do, it’s only a matter of time before you can accomplish your goals. And, Stephanie, killing you is my number one goal right now. I already have my travel arranged, so I will be nowhere near this country in just a few hours. You, on the other hand, will become a permanent part of the landscaping.” He extracted a syringe from his pocket and presented it for her to see.

“Why hello, Abraham,” Angela said as the men emerged from the surrounding woods. “I’m so glad you boys could join us. It seems these gentlemen are quite lost.”

“They’ll be hard pressed to find their way anywhere once I’m finished with them,” Abraham growled. His eyes flashed in the dimming light, the reflection that of a canine more than a human.

Stephanie felt his anger and barely leashed beast, but mostly she felt relief. Abraham would be able to save her.

Sarah laughed as Adam walked from the trees with a clearly pissed off pair of wolves at his side. Storm and Lightning had apparently come out of their drugged sleep in a foul temper. “So how do you boys want to handle these goons?” Sarah yelled.

“We let our wolves have them,” Abraham replied.

Dr. Greene just laughed. “Do you honestly think those two wolves would be able to injure me before I shot them?”

“How would you fare against an entire pack of wolves, doc? Say about eight?”

Stephanie did the math in her head quickly. Abraham, his three brothers, Sarah, Angela, and Adam’s two wolves made eight. Surely, they weren’t considering exposing what they were!

“It will be all right, Stephanie,” Abraham soothed. “They won’t be living to tell anyone about us anyway.”

With that, Abraham pulled his shirt over his head and shifted. His massive black wolf simply stepped out of the pants that had fallen to the ground. The others transformed, as well, leaving only Sarah and Angela standing in their human forms.

“Damn it!” Sarah shouted before quickly pulling off her top and flinging her bra mid-shift, Angela following suit.

The man holding Stephanie had gone rigid with Abraham’s shift, but now trembled behind her. “What the fuck are they?” he whimpered.

“The black one is my mate,” she replied. “I doubt you’ll escape a few painful attacks from him since your arm’s around my neck.” Amazingly, his arm relaxed, and he slowly released her.

“Tell him I’m sorry. I was only doing what I was told. The doctor was going to have me killed if I didn’t kill you,” he blabbed.

“Do you honestly think he’d have allowed you to live, even if you had succeeded? Surely, you realize that you were a dead man regardless. He wouldn’t leave anyone behind who knew he was involved in another murder.”

“Shut up, you uppity bitch!” Dr. Greene snarled. “You may have aligned yourself with these freaks, but I’ll still get at least one bullet in you before they can get to me.”

Stephanie watched in horror as the scene seemed to play out in slow motion. Dr. Greene raised his gun just as Sarah’s wolf plowed into Stephanie’s side, knocking her to the ground. Abraham’s wolf sprinted toward the doctor, even as Greene tried to adjust his aim.

Lightning hit the doctor from behind, causing the shot to go wild. A startled cry escaped the man who’d been holding her. He was now clutching a gaping wound in his chest, his blood spilling through his fingers as he fought to stave its flow. Within seconds, he crumpled to the ground, his life fading from his wide eyes.

Stephanie was in shock. She knew she should be moving, trying to get to cover, but her body simply would not cooperate. After a few agonizing seconds, Sarah must have realized the problem because she and Angela began to pull Stephanie by her shirt into the trees.

From there, she could see the ensuing battle…if you could call it that. Abraham had dragged a now unarmed doctor to the other side of the truck, where the man’s screams could be heard clearly, but Stephanie was unable to see anything. She was certain Abraham meant to kill the doctor, but she wished he would just get it over with. The screams and the scent of death weren’t helping her current state.

The final man standing did so inside a ring of five snarling wolves. He held Stephanie’s tiny gun in his hand and swung it back and forth in warning any time one of the canines stepped a bit closer. Almost as if choreographed, Lightning stepped closer, drawing the man’s attention, as Storm leapt for his arm, bit down on his wrist and disarmed him. As the remaining wolves converged on the man, Stephanie had to turn away.

She felt cold, no doubt from the snow she sat in as much as from the shock, but she still wasn’t able to get herself to move, so she saw no immediate relief coming.

Chapter Fourteen

Abraham stood over the man quickly dying before him and felt no remorse for his actions. He knew that this monster would have killed Stephanie without losing a moment’s sleep over the ordeal.

When his wolf had reacted to the threat to its mate, Abraham had let it have free rein. He’d toyed with the man a little, making sure to inflict the maximum amount of pain before he ripped his throat out.

Now he made his way over to where his mother and Sarah were huddled next to Stephanie. He tried to get a sense of her emotions but was met with a strange numbness. Concerned she’d been injured in some way, he shifted to better assess her condition.

The blood that had been hidden by his black fur now covered his skin as he knelt, nude, before her. There appeared to be no wounds, yet it was as if she’d retreated into herself…as if she hid from something.

His mother took off toward the house while Sarah remained, looking as concerned as he felt. Why was Stephanie not responding?

“Stephanie? Sweetheart, look at me. It’s Abraham.” He spoke softly, hoping to coax her back to the here and now.

“Abe?”

He and Sarah anxiously watched as Stephanie’s eyes focused then widened before they rolled back into her head and she slumped to the cold ground.

“Shit!” Abraham scooped her into his arms and crossed the driveway, heading to the house and bypassing his mother as she came out with a blanket. “She passed out. I need to find out why.”

“Probably because she got a good look at you,” Angela snapped. The tone of her voice startled Abraham, and he lifted his eyes from Stephanie’s peaceful face to his mother’s furious one. “You look like a deranged killer. You’re covered in blood, you’re scowling, and you’re naked!”

Actually, he’d been so worried about Stephanie he hadn’t given his current state any thought.

Now, he quickly settled Stephanie on the sofa and pulled a throw pillow over his crotch. “Sorry,” his voice was low and full of embarrassment.

“Just go grab a quick shower and some clothes. She needs to see you looking normal whenever she comes to.”

“I want to be here when she wakes up,” he argued. “Something’s wrong. It’s like she’s not even there, all I could sense was a strange sort of numbness.”

“And what’s there now?”

“Nothing.”

“Not even the numbness?”

“No.” He watched Stephanie closely as she lay there, hoping to see any sign, feel any spark that would tell him she was okay. His mother was right, though. He needed to clean up, so he didn’t frighten Stephanie again. “Give me five minutes.”