Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

MIKAEL

W e spent the afternoon in a sort of casual anxiety, clinging to each other, not moving much, but not daring to take more. Having Danyal close was enough for me though, especially knowing that could change in an instant.

It almost felt like a dream, lounging on a comfortable sofa, in a stream of sunlight, my fingers in his hair. The rest of our plan—the chaos of it—was sitting outside the door. And I was happy to let it wait.

"Tell me about Galen," Danyal said as the sun started dipping low along the horizon.

I stiffened, not expecting the question, and I looked down at his eyes to try and read them. He didn't seem uncomfortable, or even worried, and I realized that if I was going to let Danyal in, he'd have to know all of me.

"What do you want to know?"

He shrugged, a smile playing at his lips. "How did you meet?"

"The usual way," I said, laughing a bit at the memory. "He and I were in the same place at the same time. He was shy for an Omega and smaller than most of them. He had these huge, ugly glasses, which I thought was hilarious because he clearly didn't need them. He called them his fashion statement."

Danyal grinned. "I remember feeling like that when I was younger. Wanting to embrace that whole nerd aesthetic. I got a pair once, but Zane made so much fun of me, I threw them out."

I felt a growl in the back of my throat, and I held him tighter. "That's fuckin' mean."

Danyal gently slapped my side, then shifted farther into my arms. "That's having siblings."

And well, I wouldn't know. My parents were lucky to have me, and they were both gone before I met Galen. But it didn't really hurt the way it used to. The loneliness was still there, but it wasn't as profound as it once was. "I remember looking at him and wanting him because he was different. Soft," I added. "He was an academic."

"Sounds like you have a type," Danyal pointed out.

I grazed a curled knuckle over his jaw, then leaned down to steal a kiss. "Seems so. Being with him didn't feel like this, though."

Danyal licked his lips, then met my gaze. "Like what?"

I smiled, because he knew the answer, but I gave it to him anyway. "Like we were made for each other. We fought all the time—and not in the way mates fight. We were so fundamentally different. He believed if we just stayed quiet and did whatever the humans told us to do, things would get better. I used to hate him for that."

"I'm sorry," Danyal muttered.

Shaking my head, I brushed my fingers through his hair again. "For years after he died, I wouldn't let myself think of his flaws. I thought, if I could just keep him up on a pedestal, it wouldn't hurt. Because admitting that things weren't great meant facing all these things that were left unsaid—things I'd never be able to say." I bit the inside of my cheek, then let out a breath. "He would have liked you, though."

Danyal's eyebrows rose. "Yeah?"

I shrugged. "Yes, and you probably would have liked him a lot more than you like me."

Pushing up a little, Danyal turned to me and grinned. "Who says I like you, General? You're a strict, uncompromising, Alpha asshole."

"And yet," I said, then leapt, pinning him to the sofa and grinding my hips down until I felt him start to harden, "you also have a type. Doctor."

"Fuck, that should not sound hot. That's my job."

"Mm." I thrust against him again, then took his mouth in a hot kiss before reaching between us and curling my hand around his dick. "I'm going to suck you. We can't afford to lose time washing clothes and showering again."

"Oh, gods," Danyal gasped as I slid to the floor. He was pliant as I spread his legs, tucking the elastic waist of the sweats under his balls. They were heavy with need, his cock leaking—poking out of the foreskin, waiting to be tasted.

And I didn't waste time. I hovered over him just long enough to torment him with a warm breath, then I swallowed him down and felt him thicken all the way against the back of my throat. Spurred on by the chest-deep moan, I sucked on the taste of him, savoring it before I dragged back, then sank down again.

Danyal's hands flew to my hair, gripping tight and guiding me in the rhythm he wanted, and I was surprised at how easy it was to just give in. I was hard, but I wasn't interested in my orgasm. I wanted to be used by him. I wanted him to look at me and see nothing but a thing created for his pleasure.

It sent tendrils of a new desire shooting through my limbs, and it was something I'd have to examine later, when we were safe again. For now though, we had this. I moaned as he fucked deeper into my mouth, and I heard when his breathing hitched, tasted when he was getting closer.

I reached up, taking him by the hips, urging him to fuck harder. He did, choking me with his cock, and when I looked up to meet his gaze, he came.

I swallowed deeply, licking around him to tidy up any mess, then I kissed my way up his stomach and crawled into his lap. I was bigger than him, but he made me feel strangely safe and small as his hands gripped my waste and his mouth devoured mine.

"Do you want me to…?"

"No," I said, pressing a final peck to his lips. I flopped to the side, then gently reached over and tucked him back into the sweats. "I wanted you just like that."

He looked at me like he was almost afraid to trust what I was saying, but after a moment, he relaxed and leaned back into my arms. We had a scant few hours left before we had to start preparing for our journey, and I wasn't going to waste a single moment caught up in the details.

Night came quicker than I wanted it to, and I could feel the nervous energy humming from Danyal creeping under my skin almost like we were bonded. It was disconcerting, but oddly comforting, to know that I could sense him.

I spent the afternoon mapping out the coordinates, and if we ran at full Wolf speed, we'd make it in less than two hours. It was near the edge of the southern coast, a few miles outside of Montpellier. It would be a stretch to get there without stopping, but every time I brought it up to Danyal, he insisted we push ourselves.

"What's the point of stopping when it could mean them catching up with us?" he demanded, and he was right.

But the Alpha in me—the Alpha that had been addicted to him for all these years and was now coming to love him over these long, long hours I had him to myself—wasn't able to just let it go.

"I don't want you hurt," I told him.

His eyes narrowed, and I knew I sounded like some Alpha-posturing dickhead, but I couldn't turn off my nature. "If I promise to stop you before I over-work myself…?"

It wasn't enough, but I had to take it. "Fine."

When he didn't argue with me about me taking the weight of the supplies, it made things a bit easier. After midnight, we put the flat together as best we could—doing everything in our power to make sure it looked exactly the way it was before we'd come—and then I shifted and allowed him to strap the bag of supplies along my back.

I watched him, my eyes glowing hot as he began to peel away his clothes, and I took a deep breath of his scent before the crackle of the shift began. Even in wolf form, watching him shift was a holy experience. He bowed, he bent, he broke. He twisted in what was once agony of the first shift and was now a seamless change from one form to the other.

When he was on four paws, I allowed myself a moment to drink him in. He was soft whites and grays, sleek everywhere apart from his ears where he never lost his pup fluff. I wanted to nip there, to lick him, to clench my jaw down on his neck knowing he wouldn't flinch away from me.

I wanted to pin him to the ground and watch him submit willingly—lovingly.

But we had no time.

He snapped his jaws at me, and I nosed the front doors open, stepping out onto the street. He waited behind as I breathed in deep, trying to sense Wolves or humans around us—but the village continued to sleep.

I gave a single, sharp nod of my head, and as I took off at a run, he was directly behind me. The landscape flew by, and I followed the path I'd mapped out in my head. Instinct drove me forward, and instinct kept me aware of my mate's pace.

Danger kept my ears tuned in to everything around us, and it slowed me a little, but not enough that we were losing any real time.

For a little while—for impossible moments—I felt free. There was no war, no threat. There was nothing but the moon in the sky and the wilderness around us. There was my mate at my heels and our future in front.

It didn't last.

We were only a few miles from our destination when I felt them. Their scent was first—caustic and chemical, like they'd bathed in the shit that could bring down a Wolf. And then I heard their voices. They were in cars, just a few hundred feet from the path we were running. They were gaining speed as our exhaustion had us losing it, and though I couldn't process what they were saying, it didn't matter.

I knew.

The sounds of metal—of guns being loaded with the only things that could properly take us down.

I roared, then slowed my speed, throwing my body into Danyal's. He yelped loudly and began to spin out, and suddenly there was distance between us and the humans.

I shifted back without a thought, and Danyal followed my lead. We were shielded by trees as we shifted back, but they weren't thick enough to hide us for long. I could hear the humans, and when I met Danyal's wide, frantic eyes, it was clear he'd sensed the danger.

"How did they find us?" he hissed.

That was the question. That was a serious fucking question, considering there hadn't been a whisper of a tail on the road. We'd been running two full hours—we'd escaped the village without being detected. At least, I had to assume.

And now…

I didn't have time to work it out. I could hear them getting closer. "Give me a second," I murmured. I just needed one to think, to work our way out of this.

"We can outrun them," he said so low I had to read his lips.

I shook my head. My limbs were growing weaker now that we'd stopped. Without help, we wouldn't be able to outpace them, and it was clear we were no match for their weapons.

Closing my eyes, I breathed through my panic. Not for my own safety—I had never been afraid to face anything, including my own death. But I couldn't let anything happen to my mate. And I wasn't ready to give us up yet—not before I could have him properly.

"We fight," I said.

Danyal's jaw ticked, but he nodded. "We fight."

Glancing around at the short hills, I took a breath, then turned back to Danyal. "Head over to that copse of trees," I pointed a few hundred feet from where I was standing. "I need you to throw your howl. I'll make them think there's more of us, and if they're all humans, they won't know what direction it's coming from."

Danyal nodded again. "All right. And then?"

And then… "We take them out. Half-shift, go for the throat."

It was cruel. It was war again, but I wasn't about to let this go. When Danyal took a step back, I realized I couldn't let him go like that. So, I reached for him without thinking, crowding him back against the tree, and took his mouth in a furious kiss.

"I'm falling in love with you, and I am not done with us," I said with a growl, right against his lips. "Do you understand?"

His claws pricked against my side, and he nipped at me. "Yes. Now, let me go. Let's finish this."

I felt a rush of anger and frustration as he dragged himself from my arms, but I let him go. Crouching at the base of the tree, I put myself into a defensive position, letting the half-shift ripple through me. I would be faster this way and stronger. If I was hit by the bullets or if the humans unleashed the gas, they'd take me down.

But if they came out into the open before they fired, I'd be able to get the jump on them. And after all this time, after decades of war, what were a few more deaths at my hands.

And when they were on the ground, bleeding out, I would handle it. I would…I would find out how they found us, and I would make them pay.

Danyal's first howl sent shivers up my spine. The sound bounced around us, and I tilted my head toward the sky and joined mine with his. The echoes crashed into one another, like a cacophony. Like a pack, which made my chest ache in desperation for my own.

But my mate was here with me, and protecting him was enough to give me the strength I needed.

Danyal howled again, and on the edge of mine, I heard a shot fire. It went wide, hundreds of feet to his left, but the fact that they'd aimed for him was enough to turn my vision red. I crouched low and waited for the sound of footsteps.

There were a few—with heartbeats to match. At least five of them, which would be enough to take down, but I could smell the scent of their gas, and I knew I had to reach them before they could fire.

I took a breath, then my heart squeezed painfully tight when Danyal moved before me. He was glorious—half-human, naked, claws long, teeth bared. He was nothing more than a blur after a moment, and then I smelled blood.

There was a cry, and a shot went off, and I jumped into action.

Following the scent of my mate, I pushed through the brush and saw them. There was a sleek black car parked by the side of the road, one dead human and four crouched low with weapons at the ready.

Another one fired, and the bullet grazed my arm. With a loud snarl, I charged toward him and just as my claws sank into his neck, there was another heartbeat—a fast one—and a familiar scent of not quite human, not quite Wolf.

"Go," Arturo snarled through his fangs, his eyes now glowing Alpha yellow. He was wearing jeans and a jacket that was slightly shredded, and he had blood on his hands.

His single, barking command snapped me into action, and I realized the two surviving humans had reached their car. The claws on my feet dug into the ground as I crossed the distance between us, and as I grabbed and twisted the metal of the driver's door, I heard the click before the gas went off.

I stumbled back, coughing, but they weren't fast enough. Arturo and Danyal were on them, and as my vision darkened from the chemicals, I smelled their blood as it hit the ground—a mockery of petrichor, their heart beats began to slow.

And then stop.

I felt hands on me after that, dragging me away, and eventually the fresh air began to replace the gas that had flooded my lungs. I was weak, and my wolf had retreated far back away from the pain, but I was alive.

"Mikael." That was Danyal, gently laying me against the side of a tree. His gentle fingers poked and prodded at me—at the bullet wound that was bleeding sluggish without my ability to heal and then at my eyes, which were blurry and burned.

"I'm fine," I gasped, then went into a coughing fit. New hands tilted my face up, water pouring into my mouth, then spilling over my face.

It wasn't enough to counteract the chemicals entirely, but my vision began to clear a little and I could see Arturo's frown and his now-brown eyes.

"You did this," I said through clenched teeth. "You brought them here."

"I realized I was being tracked about five minutes before I caught your scent," he said. His hand pushed through his hair as he stood up and started to pace a little. "I had just enough time to get ahold of Mari and make sure they weren't after her."

I heard what he wasn't saying. He would have abandoned us to this if she was in danger. But she wasn't. Which meant the baby was also safe.

"Where are they?" I grunted with the effort it took to sit up fully, and Danyal put a careful arm around me. For a moment, I hated the show of weakness, but it didn't last long. It was easier to lean into him and take the small comfort.

"I can't tell you. Under your Alpha's orders," Arturo added as I opened my mouth to argue with him.

I swallowed thickly, but Danyal beat me to the question. "Does he know about the baby?"

Arturo said nothing, and I wasn't sure what sort of answer it was this time. "I have a plane waiting, and you have my keys."

I almost laughed. "We thought it was a boat."

"There's an airstrip beside the dock," he told me, his tone impatient. "Canada has already locked down the borders in anticipation of the conflict. I was told that one of your missing Alphas has already made it back to Corland."

I felt Danyal sag in relief. "Zane," he murmured.

I nodded and pulled him close. "Do you have a plan, then? Back to Mexico?"

"I'd gladly put you in Nadya's hands, but she's already gone," he told me.

Of course she was. She had to, especially if they… "Yasin?"

Arturo gave me a hard look, then nodded once. "He's alive. He's not…" He trailed off, then let out a sigh. "There were two feral wolves we brought back with us. The other one with Yasin had been used as training. He was injured though—not healing. He's in a secure facility to make sure he recovers, and if his mind…" Arturo stopped, and I understood. If his mind could be saved, they'd get information from him.

If not…well, that wasn't up to Wolves like me, though I knew Kor would do everything in his power to make sure they lived as happily as they could. And free.

"So what is the plan?" Danyal asked.

"A safehouse," Arturo said. "There's a landing strip about twenty miles outside of Colorado Springs. Entirely human. I have permission under an alias to land. There's a house about fifty miles north of that. Your Alpha said to head there, and he'll send a team to retrieve you in seventy-two hours."

More hiding, though this time it was an actual house—I hoped. And the flight would give me a chance to tap into my wolf and bring him forward to heal me. The chemicals were already leaving my body, and I knew it wouldn't take long.

Turning my head, I reached out and cupped Danyal's cheek. "One more run?"

He nodded, looking fierce and determined and also like the best thing I had ever laid my eyes on. "One more run."