Liam lifted his mate off the floor of the filthy shack. He did not give a thought to the blood and carnage surrounding them as he exited to the shocked stares of the Wolves who’d joined him to hunt down his missing mate.
“McAllister,” Rolf Kelly, from the Greyback addressed him, but he was beyond the ability to speak.
There was a dark red hole on one side of his mate’s chest, and the blood was spreading. His Wolf snarled and snapped, shifting parts of his face, and increasing the size of his body. Not many Shifters could hold a half-Shift, but he was stuck right then between his man and his Wolf. All his worry focused on the one person in the entire universe who called to his very soul.
“McAllister! Put her down, man, let us tend her wounds,” growled the powerful Wolf, but Liam snapped at him.
The others were busy sorting through the destruction he’d inflicted on at least two of the sons of bitches who’d taken his mate. Stolen her in the night like the no good fucking thieves they were.
They deserved to die. All of them. Every single fucking one.
Liam saw red. His blood heated to the point of boiling as he threw his head back and howled into the night sky.
“Put her down, Wolf,” a soft voice told him.
When he looked, he saw the young male Wolf, Leo Kelly, and the teenager was smiling widely at the person beside him.
She was female, tall and powerfully built with long brown hair and one golden streak highlighting the waves of brown. Beside her was a male, redheaded and enormous. He remained unmoving as the female moved to take a step closer to him.
No one else had dared approach him in this shape. He was doubly strong when half-Shifted, and because he was newly mated, Liam was extremely volatile as well.
Maybe she was crazy. After all, Liam was not in his right mind. Even he knew that. His Wolf was adamant about one thing. No one was getting near his mate.
He snarled and snapped, his half-Changed jaws making a sharp sound as they opened and slammed together threateningly. The female just grinned, and her voice filled with power as she somehow compelled him to obey.
“We mean neither of you harm. Now, put your mate down here. Let us help her,” the strange she-Wolf said.
She was fiercely dominant, an Alpha for sure. But stronger than any Wolf he had ever seen, even Rafe. Liam stopped and his whole body shook as his Wolf receded.
He recognized the stranger, but she’d changed. Gotten older, stronger, and somehow surer of herself. It was the teenager he knew once upon a time in Northern, New Jersey.
“Grazi? Grazi Kelly?” he murmured.
“I remember you Wolf Guard,” she replied, her face tight with worry as she looked down at his mate.
Liam’s gaze followed hers, and he looked down at Mabel Ann. His heart squeezed tightly in his chest. He could not lose her, not now, not ever. Hopelessness filled him and a furious panic.
Somewhere in the distance, he heard Freddy Williams asking for his daughter. The old Wolf howled his grief upon seeing them, but Liam was unsure why he grieved so. His mate was not dead. He could feel her heartbeat inside the bonds that tied them.
“Place here. Right here,” Grazi commanded.
Liam obeyed, laying Mabel Ann down on a soft bed of moss.
“I’m going to place my hands on her head, and Leo here will place his over her wound.”
The fact the most awesome Werewolf he’d ever met, the one who’d saved them all from the curse, was bothering to tell him step by step what was happening barely registered. Though it softened the grip he had on his rage, Liam’s Wolf was still too amped up to pay the respect he knew the young she-Wolf deserved.
He was helpless in this. Totally unworthy of a female such as Mabel Ann. How could he be if he could not save her? Regardless of the rush of grief and despair threating to drown him, Liam still could not leave her side.
“Please, pupcake. Hold on, love. Hold on for me,” he whispered, leaning over to kiss her lips.
Soul wrenching pain threatened to end him, and he felt as if he would explode from that sadness alone. The second he discovered her gone, Liam had torn a path through the woods, following her scent even as it had abruptly faded.
The bastards had used some sort of magical scent, masking spray, hiding their location, and hers, from him. But those bastards had underestimated his tenacity and the power of a true mate bond.
It had taken a few tries and, since his head had not been exactly clear, more time than he had to find and track his link to her through the unfamiliar Texas woods. A few of the males who had been in on the meeting he’d had with Alpha Garra volunteered to help, and here they stood now.
Rolf Kelly, Niko Bagrat, and a few others had joined him in his hunt, and none had interfered when his Wolf had taken over severing limbs and demanding justice. Two of the kidnappers were dead.
The fucker who’d shot her and the one who’d been standing nearest. A third was captured by the others when Liam rushed to his mate’s prone form. With a swipe of his claws, he’d freed her from the heavy ropes and chains they’d used to tie her to the chair.
He could hardly breathe looking at her broken and injured. The borrowed clothes she wore were stained with dirt and blood, mostly hers. Rage filled him, but more than that was worry and love. So much love. If anything happened to her, Liam would break beyond repair. Inside his mind’s eye, his Wolf howled long and slow, calling to his mate.
The strange she-Wolf was still holding her palm to Mabel Ann’s head even as the young male pressed down on her wound.
Liam growled, and the giant redhead wrapped his arms around him, holding him tight when Mabel Ann’s mouth opened, and she loosed a pain filled howl that tore at his soul.
“Lemme go!” he screamed.
The male stranger held tighter until an eternity later, when finally, the young she-Wolf asked for him. Only then did the redhead release him.
“Bite your wrist and give her some of your blood,” she told him.
“Your matebond will help heal her, but the blood will make it work faster,” she explained.
Liam complied immediately. He would give her everything he had if Mabel Ann would just be okay.
Please gods. Please.
Heat spread through Liam as he gave his mate some of his blood, and the young male who was placing his hand over the bullet wound pinned him with his stare. It was scary and strange, but when he reached out for Liam, he caught the Wolf’s hand in his own.
A burning sensation traveled from Liam through the Wolf, Leo Kelly, and into Mabel Ann. A bright gold light flashed and the sounds of shock and awe from the watching crowd barely registered as searing heat poured from him into his mate, through the young Wolf. After the light died down, Leo released his hold on Liam and Mabel Ann. Then the young male slumped against the female, who caught him.
“Easy there, brother,” she whispered, and looked at Liam with her golden eyes glowing with her Wolf.
“Mabel Ann?” Liam asked, rushing to his mate’s side.
Her dark eyes were opened. She was breathing heavily, and her cheeks flushed pink. Mabel Ann gasped and smiled, eyes brimming with tears as he came into view. Liam did not hesitate, he let his own tears flow freely from his eyes.
“Mate,” she whispered, and reached up to touch him.
Liam had never been so happy to hear that word in his life. He pressed his lips to hers, drinking in her kiss, as they hugged and sobbed against one another.
“Are you okay?”
“I am. I mean, I think so,” she said, sitting up and tugging on the neckline of her shirt.
“It’s gone! My wound is gone! How?” she asked, eyes darting to the strange young Wolves.
“They healed you. It was like magic,” he whispered.
“We couldn’t have done it without your mate’s help,” Leo replied.
Liam turned to the three young Wolves all looking down at them just as Freddy Williams rushed to his daughter’s side.
“Mabel Ann? You alright?”
“Daddy,” she said and hugged her father. “I’m okay. Thanks to my mate.”
Liam’s heart soared at her public claiming and affirmation of their bond. His Wolf howled as joy filled him and he stood, lifting her into his arms.
“I can walk,” she whispered.
“I need to hold you, pupcake,” he replied with a wink.
“Do not worry, McAllister. We will question the prisoner,” Rolf Kelly said and joined them.
“Indeed, we will find out who was behind all this. These assholes are not capable of planning their way out of a cereal box,” Freddy added.
The older Wolf’s face was grim, but his promise was solid, and Liam knew he was almost as angry as he was.
“Just take care of my baby girl,” her father said.
“Mine,” Liam growled, unable to help himself.
“Wait,” she said, turning to stare at the woman who’d helped her return to him.
“Who are you?” Mabel Ann asked.
The tall female grinned, and the male beside her smiled too as he looked down at her with so much love in his green eyes it was positively tactile. Liam understood that feeling more than anyone.
“I’m Grazi Kelly,” the she-Wolf said, and a hush seemed to fall over the Wolves in the area.
Liam exhaled, in awe of this legendary female. He bowed his head, allowing Mabel Ann to slide to her feet at her insistence. His sweet mate rushed over and threw her arms around the she-Wolf.
“Thank you,” she whispered fervently.
“For everything.”
Liam was in total agreement with that sentiment, but his Wolf was feeling antsy. He needed to reaffirm their matebond, like now. Almost losing her had cost him way too much.
“You’re welcome, but might I suggest taking your mate home before he totally loses his shit?” Grazi suggested with a smirk.
“Oh! Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Mabel Ann replied with a grin.
Without any hint of shyness, Liam’s fierce little pupcake jumped right on him. And he caught her, just like he was meant to and always would.
Mine.