67. Anna

67

Anna

Eight wolves descended on Kenzi. I recognized Emerson as he pulled her off me and threw her across the clearing. When he stared down at me, there was nothing but disgust in his eyes. No worry. No compassion.

When he growled, I whimpered and tried to drag myself away. Finally, he shifted back to human. "Leave her," he commanded his other wolves. "Kill her, and we'll start a war that we're not prepared for yet."

Turning my head, I watched numbly as Kenzi fought off her attackers. Her eyes on me, she snarled. "Leave my territory," he said dismissively. "I can't have you killing my mate, now can I?"

She shot one more look at me and then bounded away. Nobody followed her. Their eyes were on Emerson, waiting for instructions, but his attention was fully on me. "Shift before you die," he said mildly.

Painfully, I tried to sit up but pain exploded in my hip. Kenzi had, no doubt, broken several bones. "Can't," I whimpered. "She's too scared."

Emerson cursed loudly and turned to his wolves. "Get a stretcher and make sure the infirmary is staffed. She'll need the healer."

They bounded off, and he leaned in close. "Painful lesson for you to learn, Anna. For your sake, I hope it sticks with you. That is the wolf Jax chose to be his mate. She felt she had the freedom to kill you. Maybe she did. I suspect killing that mating bond completely would make Jax very happy. He's not the hero you envisioned. This is your home now. I've given you everything you need to be happy. Accept me, and I will protect you."

Tears spilled out onto my cheeks as I closed my eyes. "Heal, and we'll start your training. I cannot have a weak alpha mate. What will my pack think?"

With that, I lost consciousness.

When I came to, there were three shifters surrounding me. They spoke soothingly. It seemed as if my whole body screamed in pain. Shuddering, I tried to scramble away.

"Wait, Anna, stay with us." Hands grabbed me and pulled me back. "We're almost done."

Darkness took over again.

When I woke up again, I was woozy. There was an IV drip in my arm. Groggy, I tried to reach for it, but I couldn't quite make it. Swallowing, I tried to wet my dry throat. It was quiet.

"Hello?" I rasped. "Is anyone there?"

No one answered. The windows were still dark, so I couldn't have been here more than a few hours. Turning my head, I glanced around the room and saw the blinking red light above the door. A camera. So someone was watching me. "Hello? I could use some water."

The air shimmered just below the door, and the red light went dark.

I shifted.

It was, bar none, the most painful shift I'd ever done. Broken bones knitted together incredibly fast causing me to whimper, but I tried to keep it down. When I could move all my limbs, I jumped down from the bed and nearly collapsed.

Okay, so there was a major flaw in this plan.

"I hope you were not expecting me to have the magic to heal you," Janelle said quietly as she lifted her glamour. "All I could do was wake you up. The staff has gone home. There are two guards in the back. I dropped sleeping pills in their drinks, so they're unconscious. We have to go now."

Shaking it off, I pulled myself up and crept to the door. I was banking on a lot to make this plan work, the most important assumption being that Emerson didn't care enough about me to stay vigilant by my bedside.

He was nowhere to be found.

Janelle opened doors for me, and we made our way out to the back of the infirmary. Two miles before we were safely out of the territory. Another three miles before we were in town. At first, I thought having Janelle with me would slow me down. Instead, I was struggling to keep up with her.

My breath hitched with every step, and fear grew with every sound I heard. Janelle glided along in absolute silence, and I desperately wished her magic was a little stronger. We made it right to the edge of the boundary when a human stepped forward. Janelle gasped, and I froze.

Elonso looked at her with surprise and then stared down at me. His radio swung at his hip.

Slowly, he pulled it up and brought it up to his mouth. "Section fifty-seven is clear," he rumbled before he turned and walked away.

What the fuck?

"Come on," Janelle said in a shaky voice. "Emerson can still get to us in the neutral territory. We need to keep going."

Just the barest hint of light was starting to peak over the horizon. At best, we only had a few hours before someone saw that I was gone. At worst, someone had been monitoring the camera and was already searching for us. Is that what Elonso had been doing?

Why the hell would he let me go?

I pushed myself forward, ignoring the desperate need to just lie down and sleep. We reached a familiar stream when Janelle gasped again. A familiar figure leapt down from the rock.

"I could have killed you," Kenzi said in a hard voice.

Gritting my teeth, I forced my wolf back and let my still broken body come forward. "I'm glad you didn't."

"What the hell were you thinking?" She tossed me a small duffel bag, and I knelt down painfully and opened it to pull out some clothes. "Shifting in the middle of an attack?"

"You were part of the plan?" Janelle asked warily. "How? How could you possibly have pulled it off?"

"I didn't make the plan. I just knew that Kenzi arriving was too good to be true, and I knew that there was no way in hell she would mate with anyone in front of the infirmary. That building was in every damn picture she shoved in my face. Not to mention, she's brimming with power she didn't have before, and it's not Jax's power. If Emerson took two seconds to use his thick head, he would have realized that Kenzi isn't Jax's mate. She's his new third."

"It almost didn't work," Kenzi snarled. "I nearly killed you."

"I've tried to get to the infirmary before." Wincing, I dressed in the jeans and overused sweatshirt. "Emerson just brought the healers to me. I had to be on the cusp of death to get there."

When I was dressed, I flung the duffel back to Kenzi. "Is on-foot our best option? I was already slow enough as a wolf."

"I wasn't even sure you'd make it as that. I had to call in reinforcements. They should be here any minute. Did anyone see you leave?"

"Elonso."

Kenzi's eyes widened, but I shook my head. "He let us go. Apparently, he hates me enough to betray Emerson."

"All right. We'll worry about that later. What's the witch doing here?"

"She made a deal with me. Help her escape, and she'd give up Emerson's secrets."

"Sounds iffy, but we'll also deal with that later. We didn't count on anyone else during the transport. Speaking of…"

I heard the engines in the distance. To my astonishment, three figures rode up in motorcycles. Kenzi grinned. "I figured speed over subtlety was a good idea."

Finn. Amelia. Saul. I tried not to cry.

"Just in case I don't actually make it, Kenzi, let me say now, thank you. I know this couldn't have been easy."

"Easier than you might think," she said with a shrug. "And I fully intend to rub this rescue in your face for a long ass time. Witch, you're with Finn. Anna, you're with Amelia. And Saul, you're gonna have to enjoy my warm arms around you."

"It'll be a pleasure," Saul said dryly.

We didn't make time for small talk. As much as I wanted to hug each and every one of them, a strange feeling for me, I slowly mounted behind Amelia and whimpered in relief that we weren't going to have to walk anymore.

Then we were off. The path wasn't exactly clear, but we got enough speed that I had to hold tight. Closing my eyes, I prayed that we would make it.

Ten minutes later, we were out of the woods and on a small dirt road. Ahead, I could see the beginnings of large buildings. The human settlement.

Amelia rode up first with Saul and Finn trailing behind her in a triangle. We didn't pass another vehicle in sight. The noise of the motorcycles cut through the silence of the town, and I didn't open my eyes again until we stopped in front of a motel.

Sleep. I desperately needed sleep.

Hands gripped around my waist, and I gasped and turned to fight before familiar eyes bore into mine as I was lifted and cradled gently.

Jax.