Lance
Two weeks after Cabo, Charlie has her first visit at the Ob/Gyn. She had to reschedule her initial appointment because she was afraid they’d see the bite marks on her ass, which killed me, but she’s healed fast—the wounds are fully closed and faded now.
She had to come during work hours, so I meet her there.
She sits on the examination table in her gown, her face drawn and pale.
“Everything will be fine, right? With the baby? There aren’t weird complications because of the mixed species?”
I move to stand in front of her, my hands resting on her hips. “If anything, it’s the opposite, angel,” I reassure her. “Our baby will be strong. He or she won’t get sick. They won’t be susceptible to diseases or injuries. Even if they never shift, I think most halflings are blessed with strength and good health.
Her brows fly up. “Some don’t shift?”
Damn. I’m trying to get her to relax, not freak out. “It’s okay, angel. Our pups will be perfect, whether their genes manifest as human or shifter.”
Her eyes grow bright. “Pups… plural?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, if you want. I definitely want more than one.”
A smile tugs at her lips.
“You?” I ask.
“Yeah. I want two. A boy and a girl.”
“In that order?”
“Yes. But as Adele keeps telling me: we plan, God laughs. That’s what her grandmother used to tell her, anyway, and it seems to be true in my case.”
A light tap sounds on the door and a smiling, dark-skinned female doctor comes in. She’s friendly, and has a very laid-back demeanor, something I thank Fates for.
“Hi there, I’m Dr. Johnson.” She shakes my hand.
“Lance Lightfoot.”
“Charlie, it’s good to see you again.”
“Thanks,” Charlie says weakly. She’s already peed on a stick and had her weight measured. The nurse told us that the doctor would probably do an ultrasound today, since Charlie was worried about having taken the birth control pills for the first couple of weeks.
The doctor asks her a few questions and then asks if she wants an ultrasound. When Charlie agrees, she squirts jelly onto her belly and presses the wand against her abdomen.
The rapid tap-tap-tap of our baby’s heartbeat comes through and Charlie tears up. “Sounds good to me.” Dr. Johnson smiles at Charlie. “Your baby is just about the size of a grain of rice.”
I squeeze Charlie’s hand and lean my head against hers. “All good, angel.”
“Yes, all good. Any questions for me?” the doctor asks.
Charlie opens her mouth, then looks at me and closes it again. “I don’t think so,” she says weakly.
“Okay, I’d like to see you again in a month. Here’s some information on recommended diet. I’ll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins, or you can buy them yourself. With your insurance, the prescription makes them a little cheaper for you.”
The doctor leaves and Charlie gets dressed. As she yanks on her postal uniform, she blurts, “Oh my God, Lance, halfway through that, I suddenly started worrying that she would see something to clue her in that the baby isn’t human. But you wouldn’t have let me come here if there would be a problem, right?”
“You’re not giving birth to a wolf, Charlie. There’s nothing odd to see. Now if they want to start taking blood for tests, I’d have to stop them, but that shouldn’t happen until the baby’s born.”
Charlie’s eyes are round and wide. “But…”
I hold her shoulders. “There’s nothing at all to worry about.”
“How will you stop them if they want to take blood?”
I shrug. “I’d figure something out.”
“Should I even have this baby with human doctors? I mean, are there shifter doctors somewhere that we should use instead?”
I rub my forehead. “Maybe. I don’t know. Shifters don’t get sick, so we don’t need doctors. I can look into it.” I seriously doubt I’d find anything, but you never know. More and more shifters seem to be mating with humans, something that has a lot of the packs alarmed for the fear that our species will die out. I hadn’t paid much attention to the talk because I was in the service and never planned on mating. But now that Fate paired me with a human, I can only surmise that it’s for our survival, not the other way around. Fate doesn’t make mistakes.
“Maybe I should have a home-birth,” Charlie says when we walk outside.
I stop and look toward the mountains, considering. “I don’t know, angel. If something went wrong—not with the baby, but with you—we’d need human doctors. I want you to be safe.”
“Oh.”
I nudge Charlie toward her car and hold the door while she climbs in. “Everything will be fine. Nothing to worry about. I’ll follow you home, okay?”
Charlie’s brow furrows. “I… I think I need a little alone time. Just to process everything. Can we skip tonight?”
My heart stutters.
Fuck.
“Angel, what’s bothering you? How can I help?”
“No, nothing. Don’t freak out. I just need some space. This is all really fast, and I have to get used to the idea of having a wolf pup. And being your mate. And everything that goes with it. Is it fair to ask for a night off?” She says it kindly, but her words still pierce my heart.
Of course, I hold my palms out. “Of course, Charlie. Take all the time you need.” I lean in and drop a kiss on her forehead. “Be sure to eat as soon as you get home.”
She smiles up at me. “Cross my heart.”
I wink as I close the door, but I don’t feel light about the way we parted. Not at all.
Charlie’s having doubts, and I don’t like it one bit.
Charlie
I need a walk to clear my head. And I need to pick up the prenatal vitamins, anyway.
I’m walking up the sidewalk near Adele's shop when I notice something strange. I'm at the back of the retail strip, where the shop’s back door opens to an alleyway and a dumpster. The door’s ajar but there are no lights on. Like someone forgot to lock or close it properly.
I head over, frowning. Is Adele inside? And she just forgot to shut the door behind her? Doesn't seem like something my conscientious and responsible friend would do. But her loosey-goosey business partner is another story.
“Hello?” I call, pushing the door open. I wait a beat but there’s no answer. I frown and pull the door shut, making sure it’s secure. It's not locked but that's the best I can do. I shoot off a text to Adele real quick.
Hey, are you at the shop? The back door was open. But no lights are on.
I kick around in the back alley for a minute or so to see if Adele will text back. A cold wind snakes up as I wait. The temperature’s dropped with the sun so I turn up my collar. I should have put on more layers or a scarf before leaving the house. Will the baby be okay in the cold? It's still so little in my belly. There are so many things I don't know about being a mom.
I check my phone and there's still no text from Adele so I keep walking. Hopefully she’ll see the text and come by to lock the shop properly. Weird that it was left unlocked—probably Bing being an idiot.
I'm a few steps down the alley when I sense someone behind me. I half turn but there are only shadows.
“Hello?” I call, but there’s no movement around the dumpsters. I could have sworn someone was there. I rub the back of my neck. I got the same sort of feeling when the wolf was following me. Of course that wolf was really Lance, and look how that turned out.
I’m halfway down the alley when there's a roar of an engine and a large van turns into the alleyway. Its lights are off.
“Hey,” I shout, to make sure the driver knows I’m here, even as I scuttle to the side of the alley, heading to safety near a cluster of dumpsters. I’m facing the dark van, walking backwards, when I bump into something warm and solid.
“Oh!” I whirl and recoil. A shadowy shape looms closer—a man in a ski mask. What the—? I startle away, nearly falling. My cell phone falls out of my hand and spins across the pavement. I would dive for it, but the thug’s still coming at me.
I turn to run, but the van blocks my escape. Its lights are still off, and in the darkness, trapped between the thug and the van, I slowly realize what’s happening. I open my mouth to scream when the thug lunges and strikes me in the head, and the world goes dark.
Lance
I give up knocking on the front door and head to the back, adrenaline pumping. Charlie hasn’t answered texts or calls. I shoot a text to Deke: Has Sadie heard from Charlie? She’s not answering her calls.
I know she wanted space, but when she didn’t text me back, I got worried. I wrack my brain, trying to figure out where else she might have gone.
Deke replies: Sadie hasn’t. Channing’s on it. Channing can track her cell.
I force open the back door and walk briskly through the house. Lights off, place quiet. No sign of Charlie. My wolf is restless.
“Take it easy,” I say aloud. “She’s fine. She’s just taking a walk. Or running an errand—without her car.”
My phone rings. When I answer, Channing says, without waiting for a greeting, “Cell data says she’s in Taos. Pinpointing now.”
I trot out of the house and down the sidewalk, forcing myself not to break into a run. She’s fine. She’s fine.
“She’s near The Chocolatier. Adele’s shop.”
Relief. I break into a jog anyway, my wolf desperate to see Charlie. When I’m by the shop, I redial Channing. “Where?”
He doesn’t need clarification. “Around the back. In the alley. I’ll ring it.”
I race around the back. Charlie’s scent is back here, a mix of old and new, but no Charlie. The bottom of my stomach drops, and dread crawls over my skin.
Fuck. There’s no phone ringing. I pace down the alleyway, catching Charlie’s sweet scent. I don’t have to shift into the wolf to use my nose. Scents are clearer when I’m in wolf form, but I won’t risk someone spotting a giant wolf near the plaza. Not unless I have to.
Then I spot it—over by a cluster of dumpsters. The phone is cracked, but it’s Charlie’s. It smells like her. There’s another scent nearby—someone with a greasy, diesel-fume scent.
A growl bursts out of me. I can’t hold it back. My wolf is fucking frantic. I clutch the phone and crouch to the pavement where there are traces of her scent, and the faint lingering scents of two strange men. The trail ends in the alleyway where the diesel scent is strongest.
Something's wrong. Charlie’s gone.
Charlie
Slowly, I come to. There's clear air washing over my face, alternating with blasts of diesel fumes. There’s a gag stretching my mouth and I’m tied tight with my hands behind me, lying on my side. Sharp pain radiates through my head from a spot in my skull. When I try to open my eyes, I retch a little into the dank wad of cloth filling my mouth.
Oh God, the baby. I hunch as if I can protect my abdomen. My insides feel fine—as fine as they can feel with me tied up and desperate for water. The ropes tying me bite into my skin and my sides throb with a collection of bruises I didn't have before I woke, but I’m alive. For now.
What happened? My head throbs as I review… the shop, the strange men, a blow to the head. Did I interrupt a robbery? What is going on?
I wonder for what feels like hours. Eventually, the truck rumbles to a stop. In the sudden quiet, I try to scream, but my throat is too dry and the gag muffles all sound.
A sharp sound of a canvas flap being drawn aside, and a bright light falls across my face.
A man swears. “You fucked up taking her. Black Wolf’s going to be on our ass.”
“Who?”
The light cuts off and the canvas falls, swallowing the rest of the conversation. I strain but all I hear are murmurs. I flex my fingers, trying to test my bonds, but they hold tight, chafing my skin.
Black Wolf’s going to be on our ass. Does this have something to do with Black Wolf Security? Hope blazes in my chest like a flare in the dark. Lance and his pack will save me. They have to. The alternative is unthinkable.
But as the truck rumbles on and I shiver with the cold and sick adrenaline, another thought settles in. What if I was kidnapped because of Black Wolf?
Lance and his pack are into very dangerous business. I saw the way his body was riddled with bullet holes. If someone found out he had a mate, or worse, a child, our family would be a target. For leverage. For revenge. For any number of things I don’t even want to think about.
Lance
I tear into pack HQ, chest heaving like I ran from town instead of racing like a maniac and leaving my Ducati lying on its side on our front lawn.
“Update?” I bark, bursting into the operations room.
Channing’s big form is hunched in front of a display of screens. He’s got huge headphones on and doesn’t notice my arrival. Rafe intercepts me, a hollow look to his face.
“We’ve got visual from security cam footage.” Rafe leads me into his office. “Security cameras in the alley picked this up.” He points a remote at a screen mounted on the wall. The blurry footage is a small square in the center, but it clearly shows Charlie’s limp body being loaded into a nondescript van by two hooded men.
I throw back my head and howl. My wolf crawls under my skin, threatening to burst out. But that won’t help Charlie. I need to stay in human form.
“Steady,” Rafe orders, stepping close.
I grit my teeth, every muscle flexing. I want to wreck myself, scream, run a thousand miles. Anything to save Charlie and my pup. Anything to stop the constant litany pounding through my head. My fault. My fault she was taken. My fault they’re in danger.
“It’s not your fault, soldier,” Rafe barks, and I realize I said my litany out loud.
“They took her, I know they took her.” I’m pacing. “We need to find out where.”
“We don’t know who they are.”
“It’s gotta be Vincent Sarcero.” I name the arms dealer we robbed in our last job. “He figured it out, he’s hunting us down for revenge. Fuck!” I explode and punch the wall. The drywall dents under my hand in an explosion of white dust.
“Get it together, soldier,” Rafe orders, and I turn on him with a snarl. He growls back louder, and it steadies my wolf somewhat. My brother’s dominant alpha presence helps. “We don’t know shit right now. And going full wolf won’t help Charlie.”
He’s right. Fuck. I’ve got to hold it together.
“What do we know about ground zero?” Rafe asks. He means the site of the kidnapping.
I straighten and report, “There were scents of two men. The ones from the video. No one else. All the other scents were older.” I scrub a hand over my face. “They could be far out of town by now.”
“I’ve called in every favor. Channing was able to pull plates from the van, and police are on alert. Channing’s monitoring their scanner.”
“What else?”
“I have calls in to the Colonel and the Kings…” His voice dies as Deke steps into the doorway, his arms around Sadie. The petite human woman sees the spot where I punched the wall and her eyes widen.
“Tell us what you know, baby,” Deke murmurs.
Sadie swallows twice and drags her eyes away from the wall. “I called Adele, and it went to voicemail. Tabitha is heading over to her house now.”
“The shop was unlocked,” I said. “They could’ve lured her in, been waiting for her.” I run a hand through my hair, shaking with the urge to shift.
Rafe puts a hand on my shoulder. “Conserve your energy. We’ll have a target soon.”
“I’ve got intel,” Channing calls. “Kylie King’s online.”
We crowd into the operations room, where one of the screens shows Kylie King’s pale face. She doesn’t look like the relaxed mom Charlie and I saw onscreen in Cabo. Her hair’s pulled back and her face is scrunched, her eyes shaded by yellow rimless glasses. There’s a furious clatter of keys as she types.
“I’m trolling the darknet right now,” she reports without looking up. “I’ve got searches flagging any mention of Charlie, Black Wolf Security, and anything in the vicinity of Taos.”
“What about Vincent Sarcero?” I cut in.
Kylie wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. “There’s a rumor that he’s dead.”
“Dead?” Deke and I echo at the same time.
“Nothing confirmed. Not yet,” Kylie says. “I’m working on it. Give me a bit. I’ll get you more.”
“Thanks, Kylie,” Rafe says.
“Of course.” Kylie spares a second to look at the screen. Her face goes soft for a moment when she sees me. “We’ll get her back, Lance.”
I manage a nod before Kylie’s screen goes dark.
Rafe steps in front of the screens, holding up his phone. “Just got off the line with Colonel Johnson. A strike team was successful in taking out Vincent Sarcero early this morning. His organization is in chaos.”
“No shit,” Deke rumbles. “So it can’t be him.”
“Not unless he gave the order before his death. But I doubt it.”
Vincent Sarcero was at the top of my list of suspects. If he didn’t have Charlie kidnapped, who did?
Charlie
After a long drive that lasts forever, the truck slows and stops. A few dogs bark, and a man shouts at them until they shut up.
Fuck. I listen for clues of where I am and who’s taken me, but I’m freaking out.
The bed ramp lowers with a clang. Rough hands drag me out. I writhe, but I can’t really move or fight.
“Easy, sweetheart,” one of the guys mutters, lifting me against him. I pant against the gag, my head growing light as a balloon. I dig my nails into my palms, trying to slow my breath.
While I’m trying to keep from hyperventilating, the guy carries me into a dark warehouse. He weaves around some vehicles and equipment.
“This her?” another guy asks. My captor grunts.
Chills run up and down my spine. Her? They were looking for me? The idea that this is somehow related to Lance’s business takes hold again. But if it is, he’ll find me. He won’t let us—me and his pup—die. Or at least he will do everything in his power to get us back. I feel certain of that.
I just have to survive. Please, please, Lance. Come quick.
“In here.” The second man kicks open a door and the first carries me inside, setting me on the concrete floor. There are some pieces of trash but nothing else—nothing but darkness and the sharp, sour scent of my own sweat.
The door shuts and I’m left, still tied and gagged, to ponder my fate.
Lance
I stare at the screens in the operations room, wishing I could help. My wolf has settled. The sick feeling in my stomach is gone, replaced by the cool numbness I feel right before battle. It’s quiet now, the only sound coming from Channing’s thick fingers dancing over the keyboard. For a big fucker who resembles a bulldozer more than a nerd, he’s pretty good on computers.
I jump as Kylie flickers back on screen. “I’m getting some movement in Taos. Does anybody know a Christopher Ford?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Rafe says. “That's Adele's business partner. He’s fifty percent owner of her chocolate shop.”
“You mean Bing?” Sadie asks.
“Right,” Rafe confirms. “He’s a pothead and a small-time dealer, but he’s harmless. I ran a thorough check on him a while back.” Of course he did. Rafe wouldn't be my big brother if he wasn't a super paranoid control freak. Although why he was trying to control Adele’s life is unclear. It doesn’t matter— right now, I love him for it.
“Well, it looks like he graduated from pot to meth, at least in the past few months,” Kylie reports. “He’s gotten involved with some bad guys. Like, really bad guys. There’s a bounty on his head.”
Sadie gasps and Deke pulls her back against him, steadying her with an arm around her waist.
“I’ll alert the cops,” Rafe rasps, stepping out of the room with his cell to his ear.
Fuck, is it possible this wasn’t anything to do with our mission? That some punk got mixed up in some shit and Charlie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Minutes crawl past.
“Fuck,” Channing says, pulling his headphones down. “Police scanner’s on fire. They’re outside Christopher Ford’s place. There’s a body.”
I surge to my feet with a roar.
Charlie
The longer I lie on the concrete floor, the colder I get. Not much I can do about it. Please, please, little baby. Please be okay. Mommy’s gonna figure this out.
I squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t cry. I need the moisture. I remember what Lance said. Shifter babies are strong, right? I can be strong for my baby.
But I jerk when the door creaks open and a little light pours in. My heart strangles itself in my chest.
“She’s awake,” the guy says to someone. He crouches next to me. He’s left the ski mask off this time. He’s a white guy with a dirty beard and bland features. He reaches for me and I flinch. Not like I can get up and run away. But he cuffs one wrist to a ring set in the cement floor and then slices off the ropes. I scuttle back as fast as I can—not very fast—and lean against the wall. I claw the gag out myself. I wish I could spit out the awful taste but my mouth’s too dry.
“Here.” He holds out a bottle of water. He waits until I’m watching and twists off the top. But when he holds it out, I don’t move. With a small sigh, he sets it down on the floor and scoots back so I can grab it for myself. I force myself to move slowly, holding the bottle with both hands. The first taste is heaven and I let it wet my mouth before drinking deeply.
“That’s better,” he murmurs. “We got off on the wrong foot.”
No shit, Sherlock. I squint at him and he shrugs. “Things didn’t go down how we wanted. It’s nothing personal. But you've got something that we want.”
“What?” My voice is still scratchy.
“The account numbers. Your business partner owes us a lot of money.”
My business partner? My head throbs as I try to think. What business? I’m a postal worker.
My captor is still talking. “He was supposed to meet us and give us what he owed. But he didn't show, and you did.”
Then I remember: The Chocolatier’s door had been open. These guys grabbed me just outside of it. Do they think I’m Adele?
“You mean Bing?” I rasp.
He cocks his head. “Yeah, him.”
“But I don't know him,” I say.
The man’s face hardens, and I press my back to the wall.
“Listen, sweetheart, if you cooperate, it's going to go a lot easier for you. We already took out your partner.”
What? “Bing is dead?”
“That’s what happens when you fuck with us. But if you cooperate with us, we’ll let you go.”
I stare at him, panting through my open mouth, trying to hold my shit together. This guy is lying. I’ve seen his face. If I hand over the information he wants, I’m fucked.
But I’m fucked either way. What are they going to do when they find out I’m not Adele?
Lance
The street outside Christopher Ford’s condo is full of cop cars. We’re in the Humvee and we can’t even get close. I sit frozen in the front seat, the blue and red lights washing over my face, waiting for Rafe to return. My brother decided to drive to the crime scene, and he wanted me close by. Better than sitting and twiddling my thumbs, waiting for intel. Channing will call as soon as we know what’s going down.
Rafe jogs back, weaving between cop cars to hop in the Humvee’s driver’s seat. “I couldn’t get near the body. But it’s definitely a hit.”
I growl and grab the door handle. Let the cops try and stop a three hundred pound wolf from getting close.
“Don’t,” Rafe orders. “It won’t do any good to get closer. Cops will just arrest you. Now that we know Charlie was taken in relation to this, Channing and Kylie can track these fuckers. As soon as we have intel, we move out.” His phone buzzes and he has it to his ear in less than a second. “Lightfoot.”
“Sadie got a call,” Deke growls into the phone.
“Tabitha just left me a message,” Sadie says. “She needs help. The police just picked up Adele for questioning about the murder of her business partner.”
“Fuck,” Rafe shouts, sending a blast of alpha energy through all of us.
So he does have an interest in Adele. Or some kind of stake in this. He slams the car into gear.
Charlie
A calm settles over me.
“I’m not Adele,” I say. “And I can prove it to you.” I raise my hand slowly and point to my jacket pocket. “I’m going to pull out my wallet.”
He nods and I pull it out, tossing it to the floor by his feet.
“I’m Charlie Archman. I work for the US Postal system,” I say quickly.
“Fuck,” the man says. His grubby fingers claw at my ID. He rises and slams the door behind him. I sag back in the dark.
Kidnapping a postal worker is pretty bad. But if the guy tries to mess with me, I’ll tell him I’m dating Lance Lightfoot of Black Wolf Security, and he’ll realize how well and truly fucked he is.
This situation wasn’t Lance’s fault. I’m not sure if that’s a relief or more worrisome, because I don’t even know if Lance knows I’m missing. I’d told him I wanted some space tonight. He might be giving it to me. Hell, it could be until tomorrow when I don’t show up for work before anyone knows I’m missing.
Lance
When we arrive back at HQ, Deke is piling gear on the lawn. He’s in tactical gear, with black greasepaint smeared over his face. Sadie stands a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself. As soon as we park, Rafe jumps out and opens the door for Adele. She steps out, head held high, followed by Tabitha. Sadie sees them and races over for a group hug.
“Inside,” Rafe barks. I help him herd the ladies into HQ. Rafe called in more favors and got Adele released while I nearly clawed the inside of the vehicle apart.
Channing rises to greet us, pulling off his headphones.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Have you found her?”
“Got a lead on where they might be holding her. Carson National Forest. Teddy’s on his way,” Channing reports.
Thank fuck.
“Gear up,” Rafe orders, and Channing and I race from the room. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I’m coming, Charlie. Hang on.
The human women are gathered on the porch when I trot out. Far in the distance, I hear the sounds of a chopper coming closer.
“This is my fault,” Adele is saying. “This has something to do with Bing.” Her friends are on either side of her, hugging her.
But Rafe stops in front of her. “There's nothing you could have done. Don't take responsibility for what the enemy does. This is all on their heads.”
Adele nods but doesn’t look convinced. “So what's the plan?”
“We’ve got an idea of where she's being held. We're going to go, and we're going to bring her back.” And Rafe does something I've never thought I'd see him do. He catches Adele’s chin and raises her face to meet his gaze. “I promise you, we're going to bring her back.”
Teddy’s got the bird hovering right overhead now, the wind from the clacking blades shaking the trees around our lawn.
“But how—” Adele shouts and Rafe puts a finger to her lips.
“We’re going to do what we do. Stay here. Stay safe.” He backs away, waving to us. “Move out!”
Charlie
A small noise wakes me, and I twitch. My muscles are sore and stiff from sitting. Not that I can do much with my wrist handcuffed to the floor. At least I'm not still tied up.
There’s no light sneaking under the door. Is it morning yet? After I finished my water, I curled up best I could and shut my eyes. I must be seriously dehydrated because I haven’t had to pee. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
I sense rather than hear a presence outside the door. There’s a whisper of sound, and I stiffen. Is the guy returning?
The door creaks open and a large shadow slips inside. Glittering eyes in a paint-mottled face loom in front of me, and a gentle hand settles over my mouth, stifling my cry.
“Charlie.” His arms are strong around me. My breath rattles in my throat as I press my face against his chest, breathing him in. Is this a dream?
“Angel, I'm here,” Lance’s voice is a bare whisper. “We're going to get you out now. It’s gonna be okay.” He pats me down lightly, sniffing along my neck. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” I croak. I try to put my arms around him, and the handcuffs clank. A growl rumbles deep in his chest under my ear.
“Hang on.” There's a sound like a crumpling tin can and then my arm can move freely. The cuff is still around my wrist but the chain is gone.
Lance scoops me into his arms like a groom carrying a bride. “Hang on to me, angel. We’re sneaking out.”
The door moves slightly and two glowing green eyes flash up at us. I startle and Lance breathes in my ear, “Easy. It’s just Rafe.”
I can just make out the giant black wolf just outside the door. It dips its head and slinks away.
“He’ll go first,” Lance whispers.
I nod and press my face against his neck, sucking in lungfuls of his scent to keep me grounded. Lance has camo paint mottling his face and coating his light hair. He’s a demon in the night. But not as scary as that big black wolf.
“You ready?”
I squeeze him tighter, not trusting myself to speak. His muscles flex under me and then we're on the run. The wind on my face tells me we're moving faster than any human could run. In a few moments, we're outside the warehouse. A dog barks in the distance, but otherwise the night is still.
A ten foot tall fence topped with razor wire surrounds the compound, the metal glittering silver in the moonlight. Ahead of us, a black wolf leaps over it in a graceful, impossible ballet that takes my breath away.
“Catch her,” Lance mutters. The wolf suddenly shifts and takes human form. Rafe is clothed in some kind of stretchy material that serves as boxers, so he’s not naked.
“Ready, Charlie?”
“Um…”
Lance swings me into the air like he’s tossing a sack of potatoes. I squeeze my eyes shut and brace for the catch. Rafe catches me so easily, there’s barely an impact, and then Lance vaults over the fence, easily clearing the razor wire. I gape, transfixed by his prowess. Is this what it’s like, being a shifter? Will our baby be like this?
Behind us, the dogs have started to make a racket. Rafe shifts back to wolf form.
“Shit.” Lance scoops me up and weaves through the forest. I peek for a second, growing dizzy at the sight of trees blurring past us. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he says.
“What's going to happen?”
“I wanted to light that place up,” he tells me. “Turn it into scorched earth. But Rafe vetoed a strike. In a few hours, that place will be crawling with cops.”
“I meant how do we get out of here?”
“Oh. That’s the fun part.” His grin is as big as ever. I’m the most scared I’ve been in my life and Lance is smiling. This is another day on the job for him. He lives in this world—his entire adult life has been spent in danger.
Fun part?
Lance stops and crouches behind a boulder, with me still in his arms.
Someone crouches next to us. “There she is.” White flashes between the dark camo paint—Channing giving me a grin. He hands me a bottle of water. Lance helps me hold it as I suck the liquid down as slowly as I can.
“Easy, angel.” Lance pats my back when I gasp and sputter. “I’ve got you.”
I hug him tight, squeezing my eyes to keep the tears in. I’m safe now. Lance got me out. It’s going to be okay.
“All right, get ready to run,” Channing mutters. He stashes the empty bottle in a pack and pulls out a walkie-talkie. “Echo-1, this is Alpha-10 requesting pickup.”
Lance shifts me in his arms so Channing can hand him the device. “Echo 1, we’ve got the package. Time to FedEx the hell out,” Lance repeats. Behind us, back at the compound, lights have flooded on. The sounds of dogs are getting louder.
“Roger that.” The walkie-talkie buzzes with the static-filled reply. “Echo-1 on its way. Alpha-10 stand by.”
When I look back down, there’s a big wolf with white patches where Channing was standing. The wolf gives me a grin, picks up the pack in his mouth, and bounds away.
“This is it, baby. Almost outta here.” Lance rises and sets off. We’re on a mountain, and he’s taking us to higher ground. There’s the dull thunder of chopper blades up ahead. A helicopter hovers over a rocky outcropping. And we're rushing straight toward it.
“Hang on.” Lance kicks into real speed, and trees fly by. We crash through the brush and up towards the waiting helicopter. Teddy's come through. But there’s no sign of the black, or brown and white wolf. No Rafe, no Channing.
“What about the others?” I cry over the roar of the engine and wind from the rotors.
“They can take care of themselves,” Lance shouts. He leaps into the chopper and settles into a seat, holding me tight. He straps his own body to the seat one arm at a time, still holding me. I don't think he'll ever let me go.
“I'm so sorry, angel,” he says. I don't know how I hear him over the roar of the blades, but I do. “It’s almost over.”
My teeth are chattering with cold and adrenaline, but I’m alive. We're airborne, flying away into the night.
But before I can sigh in relief, there's a long, low whistling sound that grows into a horrible whine. Then impact. The chopper shudders and lurches to the side.
“Fuck.” Lance grips me tighter.
“Abort mission,” Teddy yells. Everything moves in slow motion. I can barely see in the shadows, but I feel Lance reach behind us and grab something. Before I know it, we’re out of the seat and Lance is strapping me to him.
“What are you doing?” I scream.
“We're going down,” Lance shouts.
No. We can’t be going down. I’m not ready to die. Not when I have so much to live for—this tiny life growing inside me means everything to me.
The helicopter tips, and we lurch against the seat. I scream, and my stomach swoops. The helicopter plummets toward the ground.
“Hang on!” Lance’s grip on me is brutal. Wind slaps my face; I can barely see. Lance heaves us to the open side of the chopper and leaps out. My screams are lost in the rush of air.
I can’t die. Please don’t let me die. Please, God, let me and this baby live. I’ll do anything to protect it.
The world is suddenly silent. We float in the night, the stars twinkling above. It's almost peaceful in this rush of wind. And then somehow Lance turns us and I'm facing down over the valley. We are fucking falling. Free falling. We’re gonna fucking die.
I scream his name as another whine pierces the quiet.
Far above us, the helicopter explodes. A sharp blast, a piercing boom. Light splintering the night. Lance hunches over me. I’m strapped to him somehow but I clutch him tight.
“Hold on to me, Charlie.” The words drift slowly through the ringing in my ears. My face is numb. The night wind is cold, sharp as a blade, and then a huge jerk makes my heart stop. The parachute unfurls above us. We hang in the air, high above the valley. Below us, the roads and houses are twinkling lights mirroring the stars.
“I’ve got you, angel.” Lance's eyes are a beacon in the night. “I’ve got you.” He holds me tight as we float to earth.
Charlie
Day dawns bright and cold. Lance and I ride in the back of a big black Yukon. After we landed, Lance got us free of the parachute, picked me up, and walked us to the road. It wasn’t long before Deke drove up with Teddy already in the front seat.
“Rafe and Channing got out safe,” Deke reported immediately. “The cops have already stormed the compound. Found a fucking grenade launcher.”
“Yeah, we figured that out.” Teddy chuckles. For a guy who got his chopper shot out from under him, he’s pretty chill. His huge body is stuffed into the passenger side and every time he moves, the seat creaks, but he’s relaxed and grinning like he’s on vacation.
Me? I can’t stop shaking. I’m in Lance’s arms, tucked against his side. My teeth keep chattering, too.
“Are you cold, angel?” Lance asks.
I shrug. My skin is numb. Lance meets Deke’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Deke nods and punches a bunch of buttons. A second later, hot air comes blasting out and Lance points the blowers at me.
But I can’t feel anything.
“We’ll go to the hospital. Get you checked out. And the baby.”
“Right.” My voice sounds far away. My ears keep popping—probably from the blast. The blast from a freaking helicopter exploding right above me.
“I'm so sorry, angel,” he says, even though none of this was his fault. Even though he’s the one who saved me. He kisses my temple for the millionth time.
I want to let him take care of me, the way he just did. The way he has since the moment we met. But I can’t seem to let him in. It’s like the fear seeped into my bones, and won’t leave.