Chapter 19 - Hanson

Barely able to lift his head when he felt the touch of soft fingers under his chin, Hanson gasped. The scent that invaded his nostrils sent such a thrill through him that his eyes grew wide with shock.

He moved toward Elena, surprised not to feel the restriction of chains around him. Shocked, he looked down to find them gone, the wounds across his chest already healing.

"How?" he asked, his eyes meeting Elena's. Damn those eyes, he could get lost in them all too easily.

Elena pressed her index finger to her lips and said, "Shh, someone might hear."

She inclined her head over her shoulder to the barn door. Hanson strained his ears. He heard nothing.

"What time is it?" Hanson whispered.

"Way past time we got you out of here," Elena said, hooking her arm under his to help him up.

As he rose, he realized Elena was just as naked as he was. Had she shifted to get in here?

"You shouldn't be here," he whispered as she helped him turn toward the hayloft ladder. Wait, what? A ladder?

That hadn't been there before. He was certain of it. If it had been, he would have used it rather than causing himself the pain of taking the ten-foot drop down into the barn to rescue her.

"Would you quit your talking and get your ass up that ladder already?"

Hanson glanced toward the back of the barn. Why couldn't they go the same way they had gone last time?

Because they'd boarded it back up, of course. Distantly, Hanson remembered the sound of hammering as he had drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Come on," Elena urged him again, shoving him toward the ladder. "We don't have time for this."

"You go first."

Hanson stepped out of the way, but Elena crossed her arms over her chest, inclined her head to the ladder and barked, "Up. Now."

Damn, she was even hotter when she was ordering people around.

Hanson argued no further. He hurried up the ladder and turned to help her up after him. Just as she was about to put her full weight on one of the last rungs, Hanson heard a gut-churning snap.

Elena cried "fuck!" as she started to fall, but Hanson grabbed hold of her arms and yanked her up and over the side.

Finding himself on his back, her lying atop him, he smirked up at her. "Well, hey there."

"Shh!" Elena snapped, covering his mouth with her hand. She turned her head back to glance over the edge of the hayloft, clearly listening.

The broken rung had made such a clatter on the floor below that if anyone had heard it, he was certain they'd have come by now.

"Nobody is coming," he whispered, stroking her glossy blonde hair back behind her ear.

Elena turned a devil expression on him then, smiling sinfully as she said, "In that case—"

The way she rubbed up against him told him exactly what she was thinking. He pushed her back half-heartedly. "Elena, not here. It's too dangerous."

Elena looked him deep in the eye then and said, "If I die today, I want it to be knowing how it felt to have you inside me one last time."

The next thing Hanson knew she was kissing him. And hot damn, it felt good. The way she straddled him, her breasts rubbing his chest, nipples hard with arousal, was impossible to resist.

Hanson had never had a tumble in a hayloft before, but in that very moment he was more than happy to oblige.

Only the smallest part of his mind wondered, shouldn't we be focusing on getting out of here?

But he couldn't focus on anything other than Elena. The smell of her, the feel of her, the sound of her moan against his lips. She was the finest creature he had ever come into contact with, and there was no way in hell he was about to mess that up.

Quick as a flash, he wrapped his arm around her waist and swung her off him. Coming down on top of her, he wasted no time, using his hand to gently rub the tip of his cock against her slick folds.

"You've been ready for this for a while, haven't you?" he growled in her ear.

"Yes!" she gasped, gripping his buttocks in both her hands and wrapping her legs around him. "Please, don't make me wait any longer!"

Hanson couldn't help but obey her request. Gently, he slipped himself deep inside her. The way her body opened up to him, still tight around his cock, was such pure pleasure that he couldn't hold back a moan.

Neither could she, and worried they might draw attention by making too much noise, Hanson kissed her hard.

He continued to kiss her as he thrust into her, over and over again, feeling her pussy clench tight around him.

She was close, growing closer with every thrust. He wouldn't hold back. He couldn't. It simply felt too damn good.

And so, he thrust on, kissing and writhing on top of her. The way she pressed back against him as if she simply couldn't get close enough made it even more intimate, sensual, intoxicating.

When her entire body quivered, her thighs squeezing around him at just the same moment as her insides, Hanson knew she was climaxing.

And, he realized, he couldn't hold back his own any longer.

He climaxed deep inside her, reveling in the way she thrust her pelvis toward him as if she wanted every last drop of him inside her.

It was at that very moment, just as the intoxication of pleasure coursed through every inch of him, that the sound of howling broke out.

Hanson's head whipped up and reality came back to him like a kick in the gut. He wasn't in the hayloft with Elena. He hadn't so much as budged an inch.

In fact, he was sat in near darkness, his back still resting against the barn pillar, silver biting into his flesh.

"Fuck!" he growled out through gritted teeth. He struggled again, but it was useless. The pain was agonizing. He was too weakened to have any hope of escaping. But the horrendous sounds coming from beyond the barn were enough to give him a grim sense of hope.

The alarmed howling that followed made him even more hopeful. Barely able to lift his head with exhaustion and pain, he sniffed the air. Though the barn door was closed, there was enough of an air current through the cracks in the old building that he could smell them. He smelled his pack. And the scents were fresh!

Not just Jack, and the guys but others, too. He got a whiff of Bonnie, Layla, Miley, and even, he was sure, Carly.

No wolf gets left behind, he reminded himself. But as the barn door was pulled open, Hanson felt dread wash over him just as much as elation.

There, standing in the doorway, her hair golden in the last rays of the sun, was Elena.

"Elena!" he croaked, too weak even to be able to raise his voice. "It's not safe. Get out of here!"

Naked, clearly having shifted recently, she charged forward as if she didn't much care who saw her. And behind her came Eddie, just as naked. Neither of them paid any attention to his protests as they grabbed some tools from outside the barn and joined him.

"You shouldn't have brought her here!" he growled at Eddie, glaring at him. He didn't much care anymore if Eddie was above him in the pack. He was through with his shit, through with his putting his sister in danger like this. If he wasn't so damn weak from the silver, he would have punched him.

"Don't look at me," Eddie snapped back, wielding an axe towards him. Hanson barely had his wits about him enough to duck. The axe hit the pillar and it creaked. "You try keeping her away. She almost bit my head off for suggesting you might already be gone."

Eddie swung again. Again, the pillar creaked.

Elena dropped down beside Hanson, and even though the silver burned her flesh as she did so, she hooked him up under the arm and hissed into his ear, "Get ready to get up. This whole place might come down the second that pillar breaks."

Hanson nodded his acknowledgement. Eddie looked down at them both. "I think one last swing should do it."

He looked at Elena as if to be certain she was ready, then when she gave the nod, he acknowledged it with one final swing.

The pillar splintered in two. No sooner had cracked than Eddie dropped the axe and dropped down on Hanson's other side, hooking his arm under him and helping Elena haul him to his feet. As they did, the chains fell loose around him, unravelling from his chest and his wrists as if the pillar had been the only thing keeping them taut.

"Come on, quick," Eddie warned when the barn above their heads began to creak.

The three of them hobbled toward the door, but before they had gone more than five steps, Hanson's legs went out from under him. Even between them, Eddie and Elena couldn't hold his huge hulking dead weight, and he fell to the floor.

"Shit, get up Hanson," Eddie snapped at him, grabbing him again, but Hanson didn't have the strength.

"Leave him," Elena snapped, dragging her brother away. "He needs a few minutes to recover his strength."

She crouched over Hanson, blocking her brother from trying again.

"This whole roof might come down any minute," Eddie protested.

Elena gestured above their heads without looking and demanded, "Does it look like it's coming down?"

Hanson just managed to lift his head to look. Elena was right. For now, the other pillars in the barn were doing their job. For how long that would continue, though, wasn't certain.

Hanson, feeling his strength already beginning to return now that the silver had been removed, looked to Eddie over Elena's head and asked, "Why the fuck are you even here? Why bother?"

He was still angry with him for putting Elena in this kind of trouble. He wasn't worth it. If he had been, he never would have let her get caught in the first place.

"We may not get on much of the time, but you're a member of this pack, and no packmate ever gets left behind," Eddie said, glowering back at him in return. With that, he swooped past Elena, nudged her out of the way, and hauled Hanson back up onto his feet. "That said, stay the fuck away from my sister, or I won't be so kind."

Hanson didn't doubt it, though he couldn't stop from looking at Elena. The second he did, he wished he hadn't. There was an uneasy look in her eye that made his stomach ache.

"We should hurry this along," Elena said, slipping to the barn door to peer out into the yard. The sounds of fighting were growing louder. "It looks like Jack and the others aren't doing so hot. I just hope reinforcements get here in time."

A lump formed in Hanson's throat. "Reinforcements?" he barely managed to say the word, his throat too constricted. He leaned on Eddie, still far too weak. There was no way he could fight yet.

Elena dipped her head and said, "The Pine Valley wolves are on their way."

Great, Hanson groaned. As if it wasn't bad enough that his pack were risking their lives for him, the Pine Valley wolves were on their way as well. "You shouldn't have put so many lives at risk just for my sake."

Eddie scoffed at that. "You didn't think this was all just for you, did you?"

"As much as I hate to admit it," Elena said, slipping under Hanson's free arm, "Eddie is right. This isn't just about you. Everyone agreed that Christopher's pack has caused more than enough trouble. Your being here just gave them the just cause they needed with the higher councils."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hanson asked, furrowing his brow. If it meant what he thought he meant, then hell, he needed to recover fast.

Eddie stiffened beside Hanson. His voice was little more than a grumble as he said, "The major gave the go-ahead for elimination."

A sudden rush raced through Hanson. Every muscle in his body tensed and he pulled himself free of the siblings' grip. "Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's get out there!"

If his pack was busy exterminating the cockroaches that had been plaguing Nightstar and Pine Valley for so long, then he wanted in.

He had taken only half a step before Elena swept in front of him and blocked his path. "There is no way in hell I am letting you out there in this condition."

"Elena, I am not—" Hanson started to protest, but Eddie laid a hand on his shoulder. For once it wasn't violent or even aggressive. Instead, it was almost encouraging.

"Elena is right," Eddie said, pulling him back a little from his sister. "She'll take you out the back way again. I'll cover you."

"That didn't work so well the last time," Hanson pointed out. He cringed remembering the pain of having his tail bitten to pieces, held down while those damn wolves knocked the stuffing out of him. "Besides, it's been patched up."

"In this old barn, there's bound to be more than a few loose panels," Elena pointed out, and before either of the men could speak, she hurried off to the back of the barn and started to check.

"I won't have you watching my back," Hanson shook his head. "I should be out there fighting with the rest of the men."

Eddie shoved his shoulder hard, so hard that in his weakened state he almost stumbled backwards. "I'm stronger than you, swifter, and a better fighter," Eddie said proudly, puffing out his chest. "Besides, the rest of the pack is right outside. I highly doubt anyone will be getting in here any time soon."

"I've found a spot!" Elena called from the back of the barn, and before Hanson could make another protest, Eddie shoved him toward her.

"Go on. Get out of here and get her gone with you," Eddie hissed, inclining his head in the direction of his sister.

Hanson couldn't really argue with that. There was nothing he wanted more than to see Elena safe.

Perhaps it was his injuries, or maybe it was something else, but Hanson couldn't stop himself from pulling Eddie into a huge bear hug.

"Get the hell off me, you big lug!" Eddie protested, shoving Hanson away. "Get out of here before I change my mind!"