Wolf Hills (23 page)

Fear crept into her thoughts. Might he have already found Jimmy and the explosives? Could he be dead or dying at this very moment? No. She would’ve heard a boom that loud even if it were twenty miles away. Jason had been on his way here. He had to be on course. She just had to wait it out and alert him when he showed up.

But she still didn’t know where the kid, and the bomb, was.

“C-4? You’re going to use military-grade explosives to kill a harmless teenage boy and whoever shows up to try to rescue him? You’re not just high, you’re insane!” she screamed, hoping someone would hear her.

He backhanded her again and her head swam for a moment. Her jeans were giving him trouble and she felt that hunting blade slice through her skin a few times, but they were shallow cuts. Nothing too serious. He was cursing as he concentrated on undressing her uncooperative body. She cursed right back at him, calling him every filthy name she’d ever heard on the streets.

And then a hand reached out from the darkness above him. A huge, hairy, clawed hand that grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him off her.

Samuels flew through the air backwards, sailing into the opposite wall of the barn and making his own private doorway with his body. She heard snarling and realized Jason’s wolf Pack must have him. Thank God.

Sally sat up, confronted by the biggest werewolf she’d ever seen.

“Jason?”

It had to be. And he was in that scary, half-human battle form.

He moved closer, picking up her trembling body in those giant clawed hands and cradling her against his furry chest. Her arms went around his neck and he loped out of the dilapidated barn, taking her away from the scene, back toward the road.

“Wait! Jason, there’s a bomb.” She had to warn him before others died. “Taking Jimmy was to lure you out. Samuels said they had a pound of C-4 wired to blow when you found the boy.” He wasn’t slowing down. She wasn’t even sure if he was listening to her. She tugged at his shoulders. “You have to warn your Pack, Jason. They’re trying to kill your Pack!”

That seemed to get through. Jason halted in the field, near the tree line and raised his head, letting out a short howl that seemed to communicate to the other wolves. She could see some of them in the distance raise their heads and begin to follow Jason.

He moved her into the trees and stopped, thankfully.

Some of his Pack members approached in both human and wolf form. One of the men reached for her, as if to take her from Jason’s arms, but he pulled away almost violently. He refused to let her go.

“Let me take care of her, Alpha,” the man tried to reason with him but Jason was having none of it.

“My mate,” he growled back at the man. A shocked silence greeted those words and though Sally didn’t fully understand werewolf customs, she thought maybe Jason had just drawn some kind of line in the sand.

“There’s a bomb,” she said quickly, to distract the men. It worked. All eyes went to her and she sort of wished she’d had time to tie the loose ends of her shirt together. They couldn’t see much the way Jason was holding her and she supposed werewolves were used to nudity, but she wasn’t. “Jimmy was taken to lure Jason and the rest of you out. Samuels knew you’re werewolves and that Jason’s your leader. He had that tattoo on his wrist. I saw it close up this time. The one Dmitri said marked the
Venifucus
.”

As she spoke, she felt stronger. The trembling in her limbs had stopped and she was ready to rejoin the action. She would’ve been okay before, had Jason not picked her up bodily and taken her away. They’d have to talk about that later. She wasn’t some fainting damsel. Not usually. Of course, Samuels had gotten closer to causing her real harm than anyone had in a long time.

“Warn the Pack,” he ordered in that growly voice that seemed the norm for this form. Some of the men pulled out cell phones. A few of the wolves bounded away, vocalizing in yips. More came in from the fields and gathered under cover of the trees, surrounding them.

She pushed at Jason’s shoulders, liking the feel of him, even in this half-man half-beast state. He had to be one powerful shapeshifter to hold that form for so long without any sign of strain.

“Let me down, Jason. Please,” she whispered.

“You’re hurt,” he growled, arguing.

“No. Only cut a little from the knife he was using to try to get my pants off.” Jason growled at that, and it wasn’t a friendly sound. “Just shallow cuts.”

He dropped to the ground then, in a move so quick it felt like freefall, but he laid her gently on the loamy earth, his fingers tender as he examined the shallow cuts on her midsection.

“I’m okay, Jason. Really.” She sat up and gathered the ends of her shirt together, tying them in a knot under her breasts. She felt better already. Covered up with a certain bimbonic flair. It would almost have been funny if the situation weren’t so dire.

He shifted to his human form while he examined the bruises on her head from where Samuels had struck her with the gun and his hand. Her lip was split. She knew that much. And from the tenderness of her cheek she’d probably have a black eye tomorrow too. Oh, joy.

“I’m okay,” she repeated, taking his hand in hers. She met his gaze and there was a great deal of emotion in the depths of his eyes that she hadn’t expected. She felt the answering feelings welling up inside her, but this was neither the time nor the place. “Your people are in danger, Jason.”

He blinked, releasing her from his gaze as they both came back to the present moment.

“We’ll talk about this later, sweetheart,” he promised.

His serious tone indicated it might not be an altogether pleasant conversation. She knew he’d have something to say about the fact that she hadn’t waited for him to arrive. She’d put herself in danger, and she knew he didn’t like that. Still, danger had been her job for the past decade. She’d never had a Pack to call on for help and protection. She often didn’t even have a partner, since the budget cuts. And few human policemen were able to keep up with her on the street. She was used to being on her own in dangerous situations. It was a hard habit to break.

“Now, what’s this about a bomb?” Jason’s gaze sharpened. Someone threw him a small knapsack and he began dressing as she made her report, the gathered Pack members listening in.

“Samuels said there was a pound of C-4 wired to explode when you find Jimmy. He’s the bait. The real target is the rest of you—your Pack. These guys want to kill as many of you at one time as they can. They know you’re werewolves and that Jason was
born to it
, whatever that means. They know he’s your leader,” she addressed the gathering.

“If they know that much, what about the women and children back at the Pack house?” one of the men asked.

“Make the call,” Jason said shortly. “Tell them to scatter.” Jason stood as he pulled on black pants that had been in the knapsack. “Who here knows the smell of C-4?”

A few hands shot up, mostly from men decked out in black or camo fatigues that had a well-worn look. Several of them held military grade weapons casually in their hands, aimed at the ground. Former soldiers. Had to be.

“Len, I want you to take point on the main group. Arlo, you’ve got Team 2. Jesse, I want you with me. Teams 1 and 2 will focus on finding bombs and clearing the house. With that much C-4, they probably spread it around a bit. My group will get Jimmy out.”

“You know where he is?” That was news to Sally.

Jason nodded. “He’s under the house. There’s a small basement.”

“It’s more of a storm shelter, actually,” the man called Jesse added, coming up alongside Sally. He handed a small headset to Jason while he spoke. “If the bomb is down there, all those cinder blocks and cement will focus the blast upward toward whoever might be in the house at the time.”

“Good to know.” Sally looked the newcomer up and down.

Yeah, he was definitely a soldier—or had been before rejoining his Pack. He’d seen battle. Everything about him said competence and power. If he’d had a mind to, she thought maybe he could’ve given Jason a run for his money in claiming the Alpha role in the Pack, but he seemed to have his own reasons for staying in the background. He was a ghost in the woods and that seemed to suit him just fine.

“Sally, this is my brother, Jesse,” Jason introduced them.

She saw it then, the family resemblance. The men were very alike, though Jesse seemed to have a lot of sadness hanging around his shoulders. War could do that to a man. She’d seen it in the vets who found their way onto the police force.

“And here I thought you crawled out from under a rock,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. She offered her hand to Jesse and gave him a smile, which he returned.

“Nah, little brother there was the apple of our mama’s eye. She spoiled him when we were pups. Don’t you make the same mistake, Detective Decker.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” She shook his hand, marveling at the similarities and differences in the two men.

Jesse’s words had confirmed that Jason was the younger of the two. She hadn’t been sure if her perception of Jesse as being older was really years or just mileage. She knew now it was both. That he hadn’t wanted the Alpha role in the Pack was interesting and something she’d ask Jason about later, if she had a chance. The Pack dynamics fascinated her, though she really understood very little.

The first two groups were beginning to move out stealthily across the landscape. They were staggering their movements, one or two going at a time. Some were in wolf form, some in human form. Sally had a hard time spotting them, even though she knew where they were supposed to be. Even in human form, werewolves knew how to blend into the scenery. Their stealth was amazing.

Jason caught her elbow and tugged her gently around to face him. “I’d ask you to stay here, but I know you won’t.” He seemed resigned to that fact, which unaccountably warmed her. “I’d rather have you with me, where I can keep an eye on you. All right?” As he talked he placed the super-tiny earpiece Jesse had given him in his ear. It was almost invisible. Definitely high tech gear she had never seen before. Some kind of tactical radio setup.

“That suits me fine.” She really wasn’t as stealthy as these wolves, but she could contribute. And she didn’t want to be left on the sidelines.

“Jesse’s got the lead until the bombs are accounted for.” Jason addressed the small group left in the woods. There were two wolves beside Jesse. A small team of five to retrieve the kid. Only Jason and Jesse were wired for sound. She assumed that the other men dressed as soldiers were keeping them informed of their progress.

They set out a moment later, Jesse in the lead with one of the wolves, then she and Jason in the middle, followed by the final wolf. Jason kept her tucked low next to him as they moved through the empty field. He seemed pleased with the way she moved and after a while he stopped hovering quite so much. She breathed a sigh of relief. She might not be a werewolf, but she did have some skills.

They stopped at irregular intervals along the path toward the house. At one point, Jason whispered to her, giving her an update from his radio connection.

“Team 2 found about a quarter-pound of C-4 on the west side of the house, rigged to a trigger from within. My guess is the perimeter charges are meant to go when the main charge does to cover the broadest surface area. Get the most of us they can with one blow. It was packed with silver shrapnel.”

“It’s disarmed?”

“Already done.”

Sally was appalled by the brutality of the hunters. An explosive wrapped in shrapnel was the purview of terrorists who wanted to harm as many people as possible with one bomb. The little sharp fragments—whether they be nails or other kinds of harmful metal objects—were meant to become projectiles when the charge they were attached to went off. And she already knew silver was poison to the werewolves.

“Team 1 is working their side of the perimeter,” Jason went on. “I’d lay odds they’ll find the same kind of thing.” Silently, Sally agreed.

They moved along at a quicker pace after that, knowing the two teams had already cleared the area they were moving through toward the house. That, and having Jesse up front, leading the way. He knew the scent of C-4. He could lead them safely and quickly to their objective.

The team halted in the shadow of the barn, within visual distance of their objective. The way into the storm cellar was clear. It made sense if the intent was to lure Pack members down into the cellar and then blow them up. They were about ten yards away from the outdoor entrance to the cellar and Jesse moved closer to Jason for a quick consult.

“Taking the main path inside is a little too obvious for me,” Jesse said, motioning toward the double doors that led down into the cellar.

“Agreed.” Jason nodded. “What other options do we have?”

Jesse scratched the back of his neck with one hand. His body language said he really didn’t want to reveal what he was going to say next.

“There is only one other quick way in, but you’re not going to like it.” He pointed to the tiny window just visible above the foundation line of the house. “None of us will fit in that window.”

“I will.” All eyes turned to Sally.

“No,” came Jason’s adamant reply. “No way.”

Sally just looked at him. “Seriously? You know I’m the only option unless you all want to get blown up together. Let me at least reconnoiter. I’ll stick my head in the window, take a look around, and let you know what I find. It could save us all a lot of trouble in the long run.”