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In another part of the forest, the battle was over. The human soldiers, mercenaries, were dead. John looked up at the half-moon peeking through the canopy. His Rangers and soldiers scoured the forest, making sure their territory was safe.
Twenty-four humans were dead. He had given the order, and they had spared none. In the war they still fought, taking prisoners meant giving the enemy a second chance at killing you.
On their side, there were a few injuries but nothing life threatening. John sighed. He wanted to be home, embracing his Maria and his girls. He wanted to be sure Sheila was okay after the breakdown she just had. That had him worried as well. Her emotional state was all over the place lately.
“Alpha.”
John swirled his head toward the general location of the compound. A telepathic bond was reaching out. He focused, connecting with the person.
“Who is this?”
“Ryan, sir.”
“What’s the matter, Ryan?” The kid wasn’t one to distract him or his Rangers with nonsense. For him to contact him this way without warning, meant something was up.
“Sheila’s missing. She left the caves to find Eva and Marcus and never came back. Eva and Marcus are missing, too.”
John wanted to curse. He was tired. He didn’t need this! “Is there a possibility they are together and just hanging out for the night?”
“No, sir. Maria is worried. She said to tell you something is wrong. She can feel it.”
The telepathic link cut off. Ryan was a powerful telepath, but he wasn’t at full strength yet.
“Ryan, tell my mate I’m coming home right now. I’ll assess the situation and create a search party if necessary.” John broke the connection. He tried to convey calm to the young man so he wouldn’t frighten Maria further, but he was freaking out on the inside.
Sheila was a vicious fighter, and she was an Alpha’s daughter. Was the intrusion in his territory a distraction to kidnap her? Then why take Eva and Marcus? Bait? Had the humans found out she was still alive? Were they even searching for her? And how in the hell had the humans entered his territory without sounding an alarm or leaving a scent?
The questions shot through John’s head at full speed and he began searching for all possible answers. That alone guided him to some very dark scenarios and outcomes.
*
Sheila drove down a forest road like the hounds of hell chased them. Well, it wasn’t far from the truth. The lights of the vehicle bounced all over the forest, making it difficult to stay on the road. She could hear another car closing in from behind.
“Damnation and curses to their feet. May they hit their small toes on every hard surface they encounter!” Sheila bit back a whimper when the people chasing them started shooting. The first bullet missed, but the second grazed her arm.
Eva was in the back seat trying to protect the young woman who, despite all the jostling, was still unconscious. Sheila didn’t know who she was, but her lack of response to the bouncing car was worrying her. She was also worrying about her own ass. Despite the adrenaline rush, she was feeling the pain of the beating she took earlier. The blood seeping out from the gashes, cuts, scrapes and the bullet wound were draining her energy level fast. Her body was losing too much blood, and the road she should follow turned hazier with every minute.
“Sheila, can you slow down a bit? We’re bouncing like rubber balls back here!” Eva screamed from the back seat.
Holes washed by the rain filled the road. The vehicle bounced wildly. She was driving too fast for that kind of terrain. The ride wasn’t smooth for either of them.
“No, I can’t slow down. If I do, those bastards will catch us. Fuck!” Sheila screamed when a thick branch hit the windshield, cracking it into a million tiny pieces. She didn’t let off the gas pedal, but she had to fight to keep the vehicle on the road. The car swerved from side to side a few times, then steadied.
“Oh, Goddess!”
Eva’s screams were making Sheila’s head feel like it was about to explode. She turned her head and saw a man riding the hood of the vehicle behind them, preparing to jump on the back of their car. This was just too unreal for her liking.
“Shit!” Sheila screamed along with Eva and pulled hard on the steering wheel.
The man had jumped on their vehicle, grabbing on to the back door. Swerving from side to side, she tried to throw him off. The son of a bitch held on for dear life. With all the bouncing around, the glove compartment opened. Sheila saw the barrel of a gun. Thank the Goddess they had a weapon! It was time for some good news.
Sheila took the weapon with her right hand, steering with her left. It wasn’t a simple task, but by the Goddess, they needed to ditch the assholes chasing them.
“Here! I found a weapon,” she screamed, tossing the gun in the back seat to Eva. “Does it have munition?” She barely heard her own words over the roaring motors of the speeding vehicles. Had Eva heard her? A few moments later, the answer came back positive.
“Yes. We have a full clip.”
“Great!”
Well, the shooting lesson her father had made them take during the trainings weren’t in vain. Sheila peeked in the rear-view mirror. Eva looked horrified and was holding the thing like it was a venomous snake.
“Sheila, you know I’m not a great shot.”
“Neither am I, but you’ll manage. Kill the fucker hanging on to our car first,” she screamed back.
Right then, the man smashed open the window of the back door, grabbing a fistful of Eva’s blond hair.
“Ah!”
“Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!” Sheila screamed. The car dropped into a low ditch. The man lost his grip on Eva’s hair. She aimed and fired two shots. The man jerked with each bullet penetrating his chest, then fell.
“I got him! I got him!” Eva was practically bouncing in the back seat.
“Thank the Mother! But from that distance, it would have been a miracle not to.” The feeling of accomplishment didn’t last long. The passenger in the car behind them pulled a gun and started shooting. Sheila’s ears hurt from the explosions.
“Fuck!”
In the back seat, Eva screamed and ducked, covering the young woman for protection. Through the buzzing in her ears, Sheila heard Eva’s muffled cries. The shots came again, and a tire blew. The car swerved. She barely kept it on the road. They were going to die or get caught. Sheila knew it. They had nowhere to go. The road was in the middle of nowhere, and no one was about to come to their rescue.
The beast inside her rose to the surface in anger and disagreement. Sheila felt the female’s determination to live. It was an instinctive thing. With the rise of her animal, her eyesight improved. The way ahead became clearer.
Sheila shook her head to focus, fighting to push back the dizziness cause by blood loss. She tried to keep her foot on the acceleration pedal, but her strength was failing. No matter how determined she and her animal were to survive, her body had limitations. And it seemed it had reached its limit.
The car behind them hit the back of their vehicle. Eva screamed, but Sheila was beyond that. Her eyesight was graying at the edges, and her head felt like she submerged it in water. The fight ended. The enemy was about to get them.
An animalistic, rage-filled roar drowned out the noise of the two speeding cars. Sheila’s animal snapped to life, infusing her with a fresh wave of energy. Had they entered Dark Claw territory? Or was it another clan’s land?
Sheila thought about their neighbors. The only feline clan neighboring their territory was the Stone Fury Pride; a pride of tiger shifters. The tigers weren’t very sociable, so each pride kept to their lands.
Suddenly, the car behind them was gone. Sheila looked in the rear-view mirror. A large white tiger just barreled into the side of the car, causing the vehicle to roll a few times before it crashed into a thick tree. The animalistic snarls, and the human screams of men dying, faded.
Sheila didn’t take the foot from the acceleration pedal. She wanted to gain as much distance as possible from the kidnappers, but also from the unknown tiger. Was he part of a pride? Or was he a loner? Was he sane? Or was he going to keep them for ransom?
“Sheila?”
Eva’s scared voice called from the back seat.
“Yeah?”
“There are two tigers running parallel with the jeep.”
Sheila looked left and right, focusing on the two shapes running through the dark forest.
“Fuck it all!” She grumbled. Well, she received answers to one question. The tiger who killed the humans wasn’t a loner. But was the pride safe? “I’ll try to lose them but...” she screamed back to Eva. They both knew they couldn’t outrun a pride of tigers. That didn’t mean they couldn’t try.
“Do you think they are friendly?”
Eva’s question took Sheila by surprise. “How the heck should I know? Do you want me to stop and give them a bone or something?!”
“Well, we can try to train them.”
Sheila blinked in disbelief. Had her friend gone mad? It was the shock. It must be! She looked back at Eva, seeing the serious expression on her face. Incredulity filled Sheila’s.
“Watch out!”
Eva’s warning came too late. As she turned around to face the road again, Sheila saw the turn she just missed. Gripping the steering wheel in a dead vice, she screamed as the car flew over the edge of the road, going down the slope of the mountain.
In the back of the jeep, Eva screamed. At that moment, Sheila’s life ran through her mind. It was strange to see what had been and knowing what will never be. She was about to die without knowing how it felt to be a woman, a mother. And she will never know the feel of her mate’s touch.
Sheila’s thoughts disappeared in an instant as the jeep hit the ground, slid down the hill a few meters, and stopped into a tree. The impact jerked her body forward. Her chest hit the steering wheel and her breath left her in a whoosh. Her head hit the upper curve of the steering wheel. Green stars appeared in front of her eyes and a grenade detonated inside her brain.
Sheila fought to inhale, but couldn’t. It seemed a boulder sat on her chest. Her body was a mass of hurting flesh. She groaned, fighting to get free of the seatbelt.
“Eva?” The name came in a whisper. She didn’t have the breath or strength to scream anymore. “Eva?” The groan that came from behind her told Sheila her friend was still alive.
Footsteps. Sheila heard branches breaking under running feet. Head pounding, she blinked. There was something in her eyes. Was it sweat? She wiped it away. No. The dark liquid on her fingers was blood.
“Sheila.”
Eva’s broken voice barely registered. Her friend was crying.
“Eva.” She fought to move, but she was too groggy. “The girl...” She tried to form sentences, but was too hard to think. Why couldn’t she think?
“She’s alive,” Eva responded through her sobs. “What are we going to do?”
Sheila’s answer never came. Someone ripped open the driver’s door. It ripped it off the car completely and threw it into the woods! Eva screamed. Sheila stiffened in fear, preparing for a blow. If the man was so strong, she had no chance of fighting him off.
Responding to the fear Sheila felt, her cat rose to the surface. The cat’s night vision kicked in. But even with that advantage, she still couldn’t see the man’s face. His large shadow came closer. Sheila tried to crawl away, but the seatbelt still tied her to the driver’s seat and her body was just too battered to move. She tried to make sense of what she saw, but the pain in her head scrambled her brains. The adrenaline rush and the blood loss weren’t helping matters.
Voices. Someone was talking. Why did they speak so softly? The words she caught made little sense. It was the buzzing in her ears at fault for that? Sheila’s eyes closed. She was losing consciousness.
The man released the seatbelt and for a moment Sheila could breathe easier. But with the next inhale, the pain in her chest intensified. She couldn’t take in a deep breath. Did she break a rib or something? Big hands cupped her face, turning her head to the left. Pain exploded inside her skull. Sheila groaned, protesting the movement the only way she could.
Then the man came closer and her beast roared to life inside her, pushing for supremacy. Sheila wanted her to be free, but her body was too weak to half-shift. Instead, she sat there, waiting for the blackness to take her over.
“Hey, wake up. Don’t faint now. Come on. Open your eyes.”
Goddess, that voice was captivating. It was hard, but warm. She felt the man’s hands on her face. His large palms were gentle, stroking her skin with care. She fought to open her eyes because she wanted to see the man. Hair the color of the finest golden sand fell over his face and cold blue eyes focused on her.
As their eyes met, Sheila saw him recoiled in shock. For a second, the world stopped. She inhaled the best she could. The scent of fresh grass and rich spices invaded her nostrils. Sheila swore her cat just purred in pleasure.
Another man’s voice registered in her foggy mind. The reality of her situation came crushing down. She was hurt and weak, and he was a stranger.
“Come on, let’s get you out of this metal can.”
“What?” Her question was a whisper. She wanted to ask him who he was and what he was going to do with them, but she didn’t have the strength to keep up a conversation.
“Don’t talk. Preserve your energy. You’re going to need it to heal. Careful now.”
Sheila whimpered when he slowly lifted her out of the car.
“I can’t tell if you have anything broken or internal injuries, but you are bleeding from a lot of wounds as it is. I need to take you to our healer.”
Sheila cried out in pain when the man poked at the bullet wound.
“Sorry, darling. I just need to see how bad it is.”
Sheila wanted to tell him it was bad, but she gritted her teeth through the next wave of pain. He was poking at every injury like a damned sadist.
“Don’t feel any broken bones. But you need a healer fast.”
Suddenly, he picked her up, cradling her in his arms. Sheila groaned through the aches and pains. Her head lulled to one side, resting on his warm, naked shoulder. His scent invaded her senses, and she relaxed in his arms. The cat inside her purred. The shifting of his body as he walked made her feel like he was rocking her to sleep.
She looked up, and their eyes met again. Sheila saw his lips move, but couldn’t hear anything. Her head was heavy and her hearing was completely gone. Closing her eyes, she felt her life drain away. She was going to die.
Inside her, the cat struggled against the wave of death. She hissed and clawed, fighting to stay alive. The animal wasn’t ready to relinquish life so easily. Then again, the animal hadn’t known freedom yet. Of course she wanted to live! But even her power wasn’t enough to keep a battered body alive.
Then she did something that shocked Sheila’s soul and changed their lives forever. With her last strength, the panther took control of Sheila’s limp body.
She launched herself forward, sinking her fangs into her rescuer’s neck. The bite was deep and placed at the base of the neck, just above the collarbone. Time stood still as the mating mark was done. Beneath Sheila’s hands, the man stiffened.
Minutes later, the cat pulled back. Sheila felt a thin thread connecting her to the powerful man holding her. His energy fed hers, keeping her alive. The tiger, Sheila’s mate, looked down at her with incredulity.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. The man’s furious glare should have scared her, but it was the last thing she saw before the blackness finally took her.