Chapter 20

They’d been out on the hunt for a couple hours when shots rang out suddenly. He and Thyme skidded to a halt and listened. There weren’t supposed to be hunters in the woods. There were signs all over the border of the territory that belonged to the pride now, and the mayor had sent notice out to the few townspeople to remind them that hunting was off-limits.

But he’d definitely heard gunfire.

He and Thyme shared a look. Her ears were flat, her nostrils flared and her whiskers twitching.

She was so freaking adorable.

The woods went absolutely silent like someone had pulled the plug on the wildlife around them.

And then he heard the sound of pounding hooves.

What the hell?

The sound seemed to be coming from multiple directions and was accompanied by calls of alarm that he recognized as deer.

As the sound grew alarmingly loud, he barked at Thyme and they raced away, wheeling to the left. He was planning to head back to the house and out of harm’s way, but the deer caught up to them, their terrified calls echoing in the night with their pounding hooves.

A deer knocked into Remy and he went rolling to the side, narrowly avoiding being trampled. He ducked and wove through the mass of deer and lost sight of Thyme.

He leaped around the deer, dodging their hooves, and howled in worry. Where was Thyme?

As the last deer leaped by him he heard another gunshot.

Pain ripped through his heart and he stumbled.

Thyme!

Thyme had never seen so many deer at once as the ones that barreled down on her and Remy. They were clearly terrified of the gunshots and running for their lives. She and Remy cut to the left but the deer were on them within moments, their hooves pounding the ground, dust and debris flying up as they raced away from whatever danger was stalking them.

She heard Remy yelp as he was knocked down by a deer. She tried to get to him but the deer were panicked, leaping and running everywhere. The more she tried to make her way to him, the farther she seemed to get. She hung a right and ran away from the deer so she could circle back around them and find Remy.

She couldn’t see him and didn’t know where he was, she just hoped he was okay. She let out a yowl but didn’t hear an answer from him.

Her whiskers twitched as she skidded to a halt as two hunters appeared from behind trees, both with shotguns pointed at her. Behind them she could just make out several wildcats and judging by the white forelegs of the one in the middle, she knew it was Brilla. She was almost certain that another one was Leif, and perhaps the others were more of his cronies.

Her claws dug into the ground and she leaped to the side as both shotguns went off and pain exploded in her side as she tumbled to the ground. She flexed her claws and tried to crawl away from the hunters, but she could barely move, her energy draining as her heart beat wildly.

The hunters stared down at her dispassionately. She thought they were going to shoot her again, but instead they turned and walked away with the wildcats.

She tried to cry out for Remy, but she couldn’t make a sound.

She could smell her own blood.

And then there was nothing.

Remy caught the scent of Thyme’s blood and raced to her, finding her covered in blood. He let out a howl of alarm, even though he realized that the wildcats might not know what he meant. He hoped they understood he needed help.

Shifting back to human as fast as possible, Remy lifted his precious mate into his arms and said, “Hold on, sweetheart. Don’t you dare leave me!”

He got his bearings and took off, racing to the house as fast as he could.

He shouted for the pride members he knew would come when he needed them, including the two healers, and he prayed they would get to the house in time.

Out of breath and scared out of his mind, he laid his mate on the patio and shouted for help again. His mind spun. What the hell should he do?

Then something clicked in his mind, and he lurched for the table, grabbing his phone and nearly dropping it several times. His hands were shaking as he scrolled through his contacts and found someone who could help.

If she could get here in time.

As the call connected on the third ring, he said, “Promise! My mate’s dying, I need you!”

Promise Elliott, apex wolf and healer of all shifters, but mainly wolves at this point in her life, stood in line at the movie theater’s concession stand with her mom, Reika. They were seeing the midnight showing of their favorite movie. Even though it was late as hell, she was so excited.

“I’m going to get those cookie dough things,” Reika said.

“Sour gummies for me,” Promise said. “And popcorn.”

“We can share.”

“Uh, no way, I want a giant one just for myself, because you get free refills on the giant one and I promised Rio I’d bring a full one back for us to eat tomorrow.”

Her younger sister Rio shared the same love of theater popcorn as Promise did, but hadn’t wanted to see the movie to get it.

“That’s cold, making your mom buy her own popcorn.”

She grinned.

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it from the pocket of her hoodie and hummed at the name on the screen. “Hey, Remy.”

“Promise! My mate’s dying, I need you!”

She knew her mom overheard what Remy said.

“Tell me where you are.”

“Copper Creek.” Her phone pinged and she saw a map with a pin in it. “Promise, please! I can’t lose Thyme, she’s been shot, I don’t know how bad it is. Fuck!” Her friend broke down and Promise’s heart wrenched.

“We’re on the way, put pressure on the wounds and keep talking to her.”

“We can be there in twenty-two minutes,” Reika said.

“We’ll get there faster than that,” Promise said as she and her mom ran out of the theater, popcorn forgotten.

“Remy, is there a healer around? Someone who can help?” Reika asked.

“They’re telling me they can’t help, that she’s too far gone for what they can do, but they’re not apexes, and I know you can save her.”

“Mom and I are on the way, we’ll be there as soon as we can. Don’t give up hope.”

“Thanks.”

She slid behind the wheel and started the engine, not waiting for her mom to put on her seatbelt.

As her mom gripped the oh-shit handle and fixed the seatbelt with the other hand, she said, “Okay, let’s get there alive, we can’t help if we’re dead.”

“Right, sorry, I’m just freaked out.”

“It’ll be okay.”

“How do you know?”

She saw her mom lift her phone to her ear. “Because it has to be, honey. I have to believe it will be okay, because the alternative is too hard to bear. Hey, Karly? It’s Reika. Sorry for the late call, but Remy’s mate’s in trouble, and I thought you and Linus would want to meet me and Promise at his location, maybe grab Logan and Jenna too, if you can. I’ll send you the map from Promise’s phone. You bet. See you soon.”

She took Promise’s phone from the holder and sent the map to Karly, and then she plugged it into the car so the map showed up on the screen. Promise had a general idea of where she was going, but once the directions were on the screen, she felt better about getting there without any detours.

“If she’s really bad, we can both shift and double up on the venom,” Reika said.

“Is that safe?”

“It may be necessary, but yeah it would be safe. Just painful as hell.”

“Yeah, I bet.” The venom in their claws and fangs healed quickly, but it hurt like a bitch. Some of the strongest people she knew had wanted to tap out once the venom was working, but it was important to let it do what it needed to do or the healing wouldn’t be complete.

Promise drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as the dark scenery raced by. “Mom, I’m a little freaked out.”

“Me too. There’s nothing quite so real as having to heal someone on the brink of death. We just have to trust that we can help and get there in time.”

Promise put her foot down a little more, the engine revving as she accelerated toward a town she’d never heard of, to help her friend and his mate, who she’d never met.

But none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that they got there in time, because she didn’t want to consider the alternative.