SIXTEEN

Ethan

MY HANDS ARE firmly splayed over my knees, and the nylon of my WMU warm-up pants sticks to my sweaty palms, but I refuse to lift them. The feeling of my hands pressing down on my legs gives me something to anchor myself to while I search for clues. My head twists around, eyes scanning each block of pavement, slab of sidewalk, and edge of curb we pass for any indication of an accident. Tire tracks. The shine of shards of metal or mirrors. The overcast weather and light drizzle making the search harder.

Like an emergency brake getting yanked, my body jolts forward, and my search gets obliterated by the feeling of utter terror and true life-threatening fear slashing through our bond. It rips open my chest and takes over my heart, escalating my pulse to match the rapid pace of hers. Hers.

This is all coming from my love.

"Hurry up, she's dying." I push the words out, the truth of them feeling heavy like lead on my tongue. Then my head drops down, and my fingers grip the flesh around my knees, my body succumbing to the assault of her pain and dread.

"Fuck, E, you feel that?" Jax wails from the front passenger seat. Pressing my lips into a tight line, I will myself to lift my head and meet my pack-mate's wide, glowing eyes full of frightening despair.

All three of us are doing the best we can to manage our wolves, to keep them at bay and not shift. Our eyes seem to be the limit of all our control. Jax's entire body is being taken over by convulsive shakes. It's as if I can see his wolf moving below his skin. Every muscle is taut with veins popping out from his clenched fists all the way up his neck. He grinds his teeth and sucks down large gulps of air, quelling his shakes to shivers. A dip of my chin is all I can manage as a response without risking my canines coming out, hopefully communicating, Yeah, I felt her, Jax . I feel her right now. I feel her coming to terms with death in an intimate way I never wanted her to experience.

Something between a cry and growl emanates from the back of Jax's throat, and then he turns around and starts tearing his clothes off.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Marcus blurts out from the driver's seat, his light-blue eyes bulging out of their sockets, flitting between a mostly naked Jax and the road ahead.

"Pull up somewhere discrete," Xander commands, ignoring Marcus's question.

Jimmy stares at Xander, taking in the determined set of his jaw, the posture of relaxed authority, and the bright, glowing, unblinking eyes that are meeting Jimmy's glaring ones. With a slight shake of his head, Jimmy flicks his gaze to Marcus and groans. "Shit, Marcus just do whatever they say." Returning his attention to Xander, he waves his finger in front of Xander's eyes. "This has to do with my opponent from last night, doesn't it?"

Xander's jaw tics, and he jerks a nod. In a steady, calm voice, he orders, "Listen to us. Take our lead. You question us, you hold us up, and our chances of saving her diminish."

Marcus pulls alongside a walkway that leads up to one of the bastions of the fort. Reaching his arm over the middle console, he points at an area outside the passenger window. "There's an alcove over there that's hidden from the street." His lips purse, and he groans an exhale. "Not so much from the ocean, but that's the best I can offer you. This is a pretty open area."

Realizing that we're heading into a national park, I mutter, "Hell's bells." There's going to be security, cameras, and tourists—just so much to consider as far as potential witnesses and evidence of our existence. Slipping my hand into the pocket of my pants, I pull out my phone and start dialing the number of the only shifter I know who cares enough about my mate to cross oceans, to move to a different continent. The only shifter I know who has royal bodyguards, access to a freakin' treasury, and resources that far exceed ours.

ALESSANDRO, yawning: "Ethan?"

ETHAN, commanding: "Alessandro, cameras at Castle Island and Fort Independence Boston, they need to be taken care of. The shifters from last night, they've gone after Billie. I feel" I pause, and breathe. Stay calm. Stay FUCKING calm. "Through the bond I feel her. She's been attacked and is losing a lot of blood."

I hear Xander in front of me, "Jax, you need to act like a dog until you get to her. You hear me?"

Jax nods, his hand braced on the open door. "Clifford the Big Blond Dog, coming right up," he affirms, jumping out of the SUV and shutting the door before sprinting naked toward the ocean side of the Bastion.

ALESSANDRO, rushing with scuffling in the background: "Get to la mia stella! I'll see what I can do. Those shifters, they've all been reported missing over several years. The two younger ones were both orphaned as children. They were on the list provided by Councilman Swanson for me to research. They went missing about fifteen years ago. We'll head down this morning."

"Right there, fella!" Jake yells out, leaning over me and pointing at a motorcycle lying on its side on a patch of grass about thirty feet from the curb.

Without saying more, I hang up. I refuse to think about the information Alessandro just shared, beyond what I needed from him in this moment. I can't think about them being orphans. I can't allow myself to see similarities between them and me. Right now, they are my enemy and nothing more.

"Shit, that's Enzo's refurbed Scout, for sure." Jimmy groans, raking his fingers through his messy faux-hawk, then wincing from the pull on his ribs. Marcus does a quick glance around before taking a left with enough speed that we all sway and bounce as the tires on my side drive over the edge of a curb into a parking lot. He pulls near a Mustang that's parked like the driver didn't want anyone to park next them.

Within seconds all of us have scrambled out of the vehicle. Both Xander and I have our eyes closed and noses lifted into the air, sniffing the wind, fully linking up to our bond with her, trying to get a sense of where she is. This also allows us to absorb everything she's feeling on a much more acute level. Her pain. Her sorrow. Her acceptance. Just then she sends us a message:

Little Fox here. I love you. I love you all so much. Love doesn't seem to be enough to express what you've meant to me. Please watch out for Micky and Jimmy, and The Den.

Little Fox, over and . . .

I feel an emotional warmth through the bond.

. . . PEACE TO YOUR BUTT CREASE, MOFOS.

Coming out of the link, Xander roars out a battle cry from the depths of his soul. The promise of blood and death sends ripples through the chilly air around us and has Jake dropping to the ground, taking cover with arms over his head. Xander and I don't wait or try to explain. We just take off, following the strengthening of our bond with her.

"Where the feck are we goin'?" Jake yells out as he stumbles into a run after all of us. Jimmy is running, too, like he doesn't have several broken ribs. Neither Xander nor I answer. We just keep upping our pace, sprinting to our mate, who's dying. Who's close enough to death that she's said her final goodbyes, as unique as they may be. As unique as she is. I hear the ringing of a phone going off, and someone else is yelling. But none of it matters. Hell, nothing matters if we don't get to her. Feeling my emotions rise, I begin to systematically shut them down. With each stride, another emotional door closes, leaving nothing but cold emptiness.

Bursting through a set of double steel doors and a passageway, we come to a staggering stop inside the bailey of a fort. Both Xander and I are panting heavily while whipping our heads around, trying to figure out where to next. The sounds of growls and yelling draw my attention to the right.

"There!" I shout with my arm raised out in front, my feet already moving in that direction. "The trees!"

I can make out Enzo under the trees, his arms flailing and legs kicking out while the beta and alpha from the match last night drag him away from a small, unmoving body on the ground. My love is motionless on the ground. With each panting breath I take, all I can smell and taste is her blood. Enough of her, her essence, her lifeblood, has drained out of her, been exposed to the atmosphere, that it's like I can see her life in the damp air around us. I don't dare swallow, afraid the next step I take will be with a paw and not a foot. Snapping my jaw shut, I stay calm, indifferent, and assessing.

Motion behind her draws my eye up. Jax's wolf has another wolf pinned to the ground, teeth in its neck. My upper lip snarls in satisfaction.

"Jimmy, Marcus, Jake—help Enzo!" Xander commands over his shoulder when we're no more than ten strides from our enemies. His eyes swing to me. "Ethan, cover my back."

I nod, eager to have a task, a job, a duty to focus on.