Chapter 13

Jax’s phone buzzed at the same time as Holden’s, just as they were heading out of the house to go to work. He took it from his shirt pocket and glanced at the screen, seeing Daniel’s name.

“Yeah?” he asked as he answered, sliding behind the wheel and turning on the engine.

“I need you to get to Oak Road, a half mile past the coffee shop, just before the Adlers’ farm. Females abducted Honor and Hope at the coffee shop. We’ve got them surrounded, but they won’t come out of the van.”

“What?” he bellowed.

Holden cursed.

“They’re alive in the van?”

“Yes, we can see them in the back.”

“Did someone call Eli?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll be right there.” He tossed his phone on the dash and backed out of the drive.

“Who called you?” Holden asked.

“Daniel. You?”

“Griffin. How the hell did this happen?”

“I don’t know, but if they give me a few minutes with the females I’ll fucking find out.”

“You and me both.”

He pushed the speed limit, racing toward the coffee shop. Honor’s words buzzed in his mind; she’d said she didn’t think Victoria would leave her alone.

“We told her to not go anywhere alone, and she didn’t. She had Hope with her,” Jax said.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t have thought the females would care about Hope either.”

“I think we underestimated them.”

“I feel like our people do that all the time.”

Jax ground his teeth together, his gums tingling as his cat urged him to protect his female.

Holden clapped him on the shoulder. “The police were able to stop the van, though. That’s something. If they’d taken them out of town, who knows what we might have found.”

He nodded, pulling over to the side of the road just behind three police cruisers. Vehicles had surrounded a Tippett’s Remodeling company van, and Jax could see a female sitting in the driver’s seat.

“What’s going on?” Jax asked as he and Holden met with Daniel at the cruisers.

“The females are refusing to open the doors or let Honor and Hope out. The female in the front is named Rose, and she’s the only one talking. There are two other females in the back with your mate and daughter.”

Jax looked at the van, his mind clicking. “That’s Frank and Ryan’s business. How did the females get their van?”

“That’s the fucked-up thing,” Frank said as he walked between the cruisers and joined them. “When I went to work this morning, the garage door was open and the damn work van was gone. I found Ryan beaten all to hell and tied up in the office.”

“He’s been spying on the pride for Victoria,” Daniel said.

“What?” Holden asked.

“I didn’t know,” Frank said. “But he’s obsessed with his daughter, Carolee, who’s apparently living with Victoria up in Canada. She promised to let him see her if he spied, and then she made him help with the abduction. He followed your mate and reported on her activities. I’m so damn sorry. I should have known he was up to something; he hasn’t acted right since the pride meeting.”

“Fuck,” Jax said.

“She double-crossed him, though,” Frank said. “Carolee wasn’t with them. When he demanded to know where she was, they attacked him and tied him up.”

“He shouldn’t have trusted them in the first damn place,” Daniel said.

“I called the police as soon as I found him and heard they were going to snatch Honor and Hope at the coffee shop. I just wish I’d been fast enough to stop it from happening.”

“What’s the plan?” Jax asked.

Just then Honor screamed, and his blood went cold. She sounded in pain and frightened. He pushed past Daniel, racing toward the van.

“Honor!”

Holden was on his heels. The two of them reached the van together and pounded on the windows. “Let them out! You’ll never get out of here with our mate and daughter,” Holden shouted.

“Fuck you!” Rose yelled, giving them the finger.

“Honor! Hope!” Jax shouted.

Honor screamed again, and then the van rocked violently as a mountain lion roar rent the air.

“What the hell?” Jax said.

A paw came up behind the driver’s seat, and Rose shrieked as it raked across her throat, blood spurting from the wound as the female struggled to press her hands to it.

There were more screams, followed by another roar.

And then silence.

 

* * *

 

Hope’s whole world narrowed down to the lioness bitch on top of her mother, and the metallic scent of blood heavy in the air. Under her skin, she could feel her cat rolling and stretching in a way she’d never felt before. Her fingertips burned, and her gums tingled as the lioness within roared in dismay. These females were trying to turn them? To go back to a time when Hope’s own mother didn’t even recognize her?

Fuck. That.

The female holding her was distracted, staring worriedly out the windshield at the police vehicles and flashing lights. Hope was too young to shift, but her cat didn’t care that it was early, because it was the only way.

“Hope!” her mother yelled. “Hope, I’m sorry!”

“Mom! Mom!”

Everything within her went white-hot, her nerve endings sparking and her lioness roaring in her mind. Her body felt like it was splitting apart, her skin flaying and her bones cracking. The female holding Hope shouted for her to stop, but it was too late. The lioness was coming, and there was no stopping her.

She heard Holden and Jax outside of the van, pounding on the door and window. The females were distracted, and she took that moment to push through her shift. With a scream of fury, Hope lunged at the female attacking her mother. She hit her, knocking her into the back of the driver’s seat. Snaking a paw up, she clawed the driver’s throat before turning her attention back to the ringleader.

Something burned her shoulder, and she screeched and rolled away, seeing a screwdriver embedded in her flesh. Locking eyes with her mom, she watched as Honor shifted swiftly and attacked. The two females didn’t stand a chance against her rage.

After putting down the other female, her mother threw the ringleader against the back of the van, making it rock on its tires. She leaped into the air and landed on her, jaws wide and around her throat in a heartbeat. There was a loud crack, and the female went still.

Hope sat on her haunches and stared at her mother.

Bad. Ass.

The pounding outside the door had ceased. She canted her head and listened, wishing she could speak in her shift. She let out a tentative yowl, hoping that the males would know she was really trying to say that everything was okay now. Because it sure as heck was.

Her mother padded over to her, stepping carefully over the bodies until she could sit down next to her. Hope leaned against her and sighed deeply. Talk about a bonding experience. If she hadn’t been certain before that she was ready to call Honor “Mom,” she sure was now.

 

* * *

 

Holden looked at Jax. “Did I just hear a yowl that sounded like ‘everything’s okay?’”

“I think so.” Jax looked at Daniel. “Do you have some way to open the van?”

“I’ve got the spare keys,” Frank said. He jogged to them, unlocked the side door, and pulled it open.

The female behind the wheel was dead; so were the two in the van. And sitting right in the middle of the carnage were two beautiful shifted females, one slightly smaller than the other.

Holden was furious at the abduction, but crazy proud of his girls. He saw a flash of something on Hope’s shoulder. “Damn it, she’s injured. Hey, Hope needs help,” he said to Daniel.

Daniel spoke into a walkie and called out, “EMTs are on the way. Three minutes.”

“Good. Just stay there, honey,” Holden said. He ruffled the top of her head and she let out a stuttering purr.

“How you doing, sweetheart?” Jax asked Honor.

She yowled loudly.

“Damn straight,” Holden said with a smile. Sobering quickly as he heard the siren approaching, he looked at his mate and her daughter. His daughter. “I’m so fucking proud of both of you. Things could have gone so differently. I don’t know what Jax and I would do if something happened to either of you.”

Hope reached out with her paw and caught the cuff of his sleeve with her claw, giving a tug. Tears stung his eyes as he leaned into the van and hugged her, careful to avoid her injury. Jax and Honor joined in the embrace.

“You’re both okay and we’re all together,” Jax said thickly. “That’s what matters.”

“Definitely,” Holden said.

Police vehicles led an ambulance into the area. Two EMTs who were pride males hopped out, one carrying a bag and one pulling a gurney. Holden lifted Hope from the van and settled her on the gurney. Inside the ambulance, Holden watched as they inspected the injury and used a portable imaging device to get a better look.

“We can take her to the hospital,” one of the EMTs said, “but the nearest one is twenty minutes from here. She’s in her shift, so pulling the screwdriver out and letting her heal naturally is probably better than a ride to the hospital and a huge bill. They would just do the same thing we’d do.”

“Whatever’s best for Hope,” Jax said.

After giving her a shot to numb the area, the EMTs swiftly pulled the screwdriver from her. Holden watched the wound immediately begin to heal, and was very thankful for shifters’ advanced healing abilities. After the wound was cleaned, the EMTs recommended her staying in her shift as long as possible.

“It’s her first time shifting,” Holden said, rubbing Hope’s paw.

“Oh?” Joey asked.

“Yeah. She’s only fifteen.”

Daniel came to the open doors and said, “My little brother shifted before he was sixteen. Our grandpa was driving and had a heart attack. They were out in the middle of nowhere and he was scared. He panicked and shifted, and then went for help. He was in his shift for maybe six or seven hours before he really calmed down enough to let his human form come back. He didn’t shift again until he was sixteen, though.”

“Thanks,” Holden said.

The EMTs got another emergency call, so Holden lifted Hope from the ambulance and carried her to their truck. When she was settled – Honor watching over her, whiskers twitching in concern – he and Jax filled Daniel and the rest of the officers in on what they knew about the three females in the van.

“We already spoke to the other witnesses,” Daniel said. “Bring Honor and Hope by the station tomorrow and I’ll get their statements.”

Holden looked at the truck where two lionesses waited. “They’ll be okay?”

“From Ryan’s statement and what we witnessed, they acted in self-defense, so don’t worry,” Daniel said. “We have a counselor if they want to talk to someone about it. It’s not easy to deal with the aftermath of something like this.”

“Thanks,” Jax said. “What about Ryan?”

Daniel nodded. “Frank said he’d ensure he comes by with an apology when he’s out of the hospital, but that’s not going to change the fact he was complicit in an abduction. We’re going to bring charges against him, so we’ll keep you informed.”

Holden backed the truck up and swung through the coffee shop parking lot, where he dropped Jax off to drive Honor’s car home. When they reached the house, Eli was standing on the front porch.

“Hey,” Holden said as he got out of the truck and opened the back door. “I was going to call you when we got the girls settled.”

“Daniel called and kept me updated on what was happening. They’re okay?”

Jax parked behind Holden and got out, joining him at the truck. Holden lifted a now sleeping Hope into his arms, smiling as Honor hopped down and followed him to the house with a concerned yowl.

“Yeah,” Jax said. “Sorry we didn’t call you when things were going down, it all happened so fast.”

“It’s okay, I understand how easy it is to be focused on the matter at hand and not think about anything else. Daniel thought I might have heard something and didn’t want me to worry. I drove right over.”

Jax held the door open, and Holden carried Hope into the house and laid her on the couch. She made a snorting, snoring sort of sound and snuggled into the cushions. Honor hopped up next to her and curled up, her gaze on her daughter.

Jax and Holden recapped everything they knew from Daniel and Frank. Holden was certain that Honor and Hope would have more information to add once they were able to speak.

Eli sat down and looked at the two females. “I can’t believe that Hope shifted. I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Us either,” Jax said.

“She must have been really scared,” Holden said. “Whatever the reason for her shift, though, I’m thankful for it. She saved Honor, and herself.”

Honor yowled softly in agreement, stretching her paw out to rest on Hope’s.

“If you boys don’t mind, I’m going to stick around until they’re out of their shifts,” Eli said.

“Of course,” Holden said. “We understand completely.”

“We’re not going anywhere, either,” Jax said.