29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

B old

I crouch in the shadow of an abandoned car, my muscles coiled and ready to strike, fangs bared in a silent snarl. The decrepit warehouse looms before me, my every instinct screams that Jasmine is inside, in danger.

Stealth and Fury flank me, with Dare, Fang, and Claw behind us. We're all scenting the air, ears swiveling to catch the slightest sound. We move as one, a synchronized unit. An unstoppable force.

Three guards patrol the perimeter, their postures lazy, unaware of the danger stalking them in the darkness. I gesture silently and my pack disperses, blurring into motion almost too fast for human eyes to track in the darkness.

Fury drops the biggest one with a tranq dart to his tatted neck. Stealth chokes the second into unconsciousness with brutal efficiency. Dare takes out the third with a lightning-fast sweep of the legs and a precise jab to a pressure point. The men crumple without a sound.

We zip-tie their limp forms, tear off parts of their clothes to gag them, and stash them out of sight, then regroup at the rusted metal side door. Fury makes quick work of the lock and we slip inside, senses on high alert, weapons at the ready.

I pause, head cocked, listening intently over the thundering of my pulse. There—Jasmine's frantic heartbeat, a counterpoint to the cruel bark of a male voice. Rage sears through my veins, white-hot and blinding. No one threatens my mate.

I text Blaze, giving him our location and asking him to send the police. Then I silently signal the others. Stealth peels off to find a vantage point in the rafters. The rest of us fan out. I prowl through the maze of crates and rusted machinery, zeroing in on Jasmine's scent with single-minded focus.

Finally, I reach the wide expanse of the main floor. Crouching behind the rusted hulk of an old forklift, I assess the scene with a predatory focus.

As I draw near, what I assume is Wright's voice grows clearer, taunting and vicious. "You should have kept your mouth shut, you stupid cunt! Now you'll pay for trying to bring me down. When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left to identify."

I see red, an animalistic growl building in my throat. But I tamp it down, holding myself in check with a massive effort of will. I can't give away my position, not yet. I need to ease closer.

"Fuck you, Wright. You don't scare me. Not anymore." Jasmine's sneering response makes my lips twitch despite the situation. That's my brave, defiant mate.

Easing closer, I finally lay eyes on her. Jasmine is tied to a chair in the center of the room, three armed goons hovering at her sides. Her face is pale but fiercely determined. I don't know how I manage to control my urge to spring on Wright as he paces before her, dramatically waving a knife.

"Untie me and I'll show you who should be scared," Jasmine spits, chin jutting defiantly.

"Still got that smart mouth." Wright backhands her viciously. I barely choke down my growl of fury. "I always did like breaking the feisty ones."

That's all I can stand! Signaling the others, I explode from my hiding spot with a snarl that makes Wright's henchmen whirl in shock.

My fist crunches into the first one's face before he can blink, sending him crashing into a stack of pallets. Fury and Dare swarm the second, precise strikes and perfectly coordinated attacks taking him to the ground… hard. Fang and Claw make short work of the third.

Wright screams for backup that doesn't come. He lunges at Jasmine with the knife, spittle flying from his lips. But my mate is ready. She lifts onto her feet, still tied to the chair. She steps close to him, whirls, and clips him with the chair legs.

As he staggers back, bent at the waist, Jasmine lunges, head butting him in the face so hard I hear his nose break even over his girlish shrieking. I can't see his expression because blood is gushing between his fingers. In a blink, I'm on him, wrenching the knife from his grip and crushing his wrist until he howls.

"Bold! Behind you!" Jasmine's cry makes me snap my head around. Three more guards barrel into the room, semi-automatics raised. Was I so focused on rescuing Jasmine that I didn't scent three more of Wright's men?

Stealth drops from the ceiling like an avenging angel, his feet plowing into two of them and launching them into the nearest wall. The third gets off a single wild shot before Dare and Fury descend on him in a tranq-darting, bone-cracking flurry.

Panting, I pin Wright to the floor, my claws gouging through his jacket into beefy shoulder muscles. This is the sadistic fuck who tortured my mate. Who tried to break her. Every instinct demands his suffering. I'm filled with the need to paint the walls red with his blood.

"Do it," Wright hisses, somehow still smug through his terror. "Show her what an animal you are."

I flex my claws, a hair's breadth from his throat. It would be so easy. So right. My inner beast bellows for vengeance.

"Bold." Jasmine's voice quavers, but cuts through the red haze like a beacon. "Don't. You're not a killer. It's not who you are, love. Besides, we need him alive to testify."

I snarl, every muscle quivering with the effort to resist sinking fang and claw into his flesh.

"Please, love," she whispers. "Come back to me."

With a monumental force of will, I master my urges; my predator instincts howling to do what this body was built to do. I yank Wright up by the lapels until we're nose to nose.

"Listen to me, you worthless sack of shit," I rasp, my words more growl than speech. "The only reason I haven't ripped your spine out through your nose is because my mate wants you breathing so you can pay for your crimes."

I give him a brutal shake, taking grim satisfaction when his bowels and bladder let go. "But if you so much as breathe in her direction again, if you even think her name, I'll feed you your own entrails and make you say thank you. We clear?"

He mewls, nodding frantically. I drop him in a sniveling, reeking heap just as a swarm of cops bursts in, a grim-faced Martinez at the lead.

Then I'm across the space in two bounds, my longer claws shearing through the ropes binding Jasmine as if they were cobwebs. After sweeping her up, I cradle her against my chest as I bury my nose in her hair and just breathe her in.

"I've got you," I rasp, my voice cracking. "I've always got you."

She winds her arms around my neck, pressing her face to the frantic drum of my heart. "I knew you'd come for me," she murmurs, soft wonder threading her words. "My Bold."

Then she puts her hands on my shoulder pelt and pushes back with a look of shocked wonder on her face. "Bold. Are you…bigger? And your fangs… are they longer?"

A raspy chuckle escapes me at the look of awe on her face, her hands stroking my bulging biceps and chest muscles.

"Yup. Our elders told us this could happen with strong emotion. We can shift. Bigger, stronger muscles, longer claws and fangs, sharper senses, faster, more stamina. Never happened before. You brought out the beast in all of us. Don't worry, it's not supposed to last."

"You're not beasts," she says fiercely. "You're the best. My superheroes!" She says this loudly for the rest of the pack to hear her.

With her safe in my arms and as the adrenalin rush subsides, I feel and see the shift reverse. Thank the Goddess. I can hear the sirens getting closer. I wouldn't want anyone else to see us in our shifted forms.

As the police swarm the room, as my pack secures the prisoners, as Wright, in cuffs, is dragged away still soaked in his own piss and shit, I just hold my mate.

Later, there will be statements to give and plans to make. Wounds to tend and fears to soothe. But for now, all that matters is the steady drum of Jasmine's heart against my own. The warmth of her breath on my neck. The knowledge that whatever else comes, we'll face it as we've faced every challenge so far.

Together.

As a pack.