27. Tate

TWENTY-SEVEN

TATE

Things had gone sideways in a bad way. My truck literally couldn't go any faster, no matter how hard I stomped on the gas. My panic was almost enough to make driving dangerous. My heart was jackhammering, and I was sure it would tear free of my chest any second now. I'd never been so worried in my life.

Steff had called me about twenty minutes after Harley and I had our fake break up. He hadn't sounded like I thought he would.

"Tate? Bro, I don't know what happened."

"What do you mean? Is Harley okay?" I asked, already getting anxious.

"I have no idea. Emily took the bait, for sure. She came by and got her into her car, and took off. A van pulled out with them, though. It was following Emily. Tailing them. It was pretty obvious. I'm following them now. Emily is fucking flying. The van is keeping pace. They've got to be going seventy-five or eighty on these little back roads. It's dangerous."

I'd already jumped back into my truck. "Where are they going?"

"Heading north on highway twelve. Hang on, I'm going to try to get around both cars. If I can get in front of them, I may be able to force them to slow down and stop."

Dirt spun under my tires, and I pulled my truck out onto the street, heading toward Steff's directions. "Steff, be careful."

"I'm in front… I'll just… shit, shit, shit?—"

"Steff? Steff? Steffen, are you fucking okay?" It felt like my heart was going to explode.

Steff coughed. "I'm good. They pushed me off the damn road. Car's fine, I'm trying to get back on the highway. I…"

Steff trailed off. At first, I thought the phone had cut out or something, but I could hear him breathing. Finally, he whispered, "Holy shit. This witch is legit."

"What?" It was torture having to listen to all this being relayed through Steff's phone. I just wanted to be there and see what was happening.

"The van ran Emily's car off the road. It flipped into the air, but sh… she caught it with magic and lowered it. Dude, I've never seen anything like that in my life. It's crazy. How far away are you, Tate?"

"I don't know, I'm heading toward where you said. What's wrong?"

"I can't tell for sure. A couple of guys got out of the van. Shit! One of them has Harley!"

My heart was nearly bursting out of my chest. All I wanted was to be there. I pressed my foot harder on the accelerator, willing the truck to go faster. "Steff, what do you mean they have her?"

"Wow, oh Christ. Emily just blasted one of the guys. It's bright as shit. That's crazy, Jesus. Tate, what do I do? Do I stop and try to catch Emily or follow the van? What do you want?"

"Steff, don't you lose her. You hear me? Don't you lose Harley."

"I'm doing my best. I shot Blayne a text right before I called you. He should be right behind you. Maybe you guys can get to the scene before Emily gets away."

I'd hung up with him at that point. Then all I had for company was the screaming sound of my truck roaring down the highway and the buzz of my tires on the road. Five minutes later, when I finally saw the car resting off the side of the road, leaning against a tree, I let out a hiss of anger. Seeing that car was proof Harley had been taken. I punched the steering wheel to keep my mind off the fact that my heart was breaking. Pulling to the soft shoulder, I slammed on the brakes and jammed it into park. I was out of the truck and running before it had fully come to a stop.

Steff had been right, Emily had taken out someone. There was a guy on the ground. He wasn't dead. His left hand was absently pushing at the dirt and grass around him. Like he was trying to get up, but had no idea how. A quick glance into the car showed me Emily wasn't inside. Kneeling, I grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the car.

I had him up and against the car when I heard screeching tires behind me. Thinking I'd see Luis or a pack of hunters jumping me, I was relieved to see Blayne leaping from his car and running toward me. Baring my teeth, I turned back to the man in my grasp.

The guy's head was lolling around, almost like he was dead, but his eyes flicked around. I wasn't sure what type of spell Emily had hit him with, but it had fully thrown him for a loop. Jerking his collar then slapping him in the face seemed to help. He blinked and looked more or less awake.

"Who the fuck are you?" I growled.

The man glanced back and forth between me and Blayne before he said, "Ortiz hired me. He ordered me to follow this Harley chick. Said once she was away from you and secluded, we take her."

I growled at him, deep and throaty—and unmistakably inhuman. The man pressed himself against the car, his eyes growing wide and fearful. "I… I wasn't going to hurt her. We ran them off the road, but that was a last-minute order. Once Luis knew the other guy had followed us, he told us to."

"That makes it better?" I screamed in his face, "Someone ordered you to purposely wreck a car with a pregnant woman in it?"

"I'm sorry." The guy sobbed. "I wasn't even driving. I don't even remember what happened. I got out and ran to the car, I busted out the window, and…" He trailed off, eyes going distant. "The lady in the driver's seat screamed and threw her hands up. There was a flash of light, and then…" he paused, shaking his head, "…I woke up on the ground with you jerking me up."

Before I could say anything else, a sizzle ran up my back. A feeling of perceived power, almost like I was standing next to a high-voltage power line.

I glanced at Blayne. "Do you feel that?"

Frowning, Blayne asked, "What?"

Then I heard the snapping twigs. Spinning around, I dropped the man and looked toward the surrounding forest. From behind a massive oak tree, Emily strolled out. She smiled without humor and raised an eyebrow at me. Blayne stiffened beside me. She wasn't the same as the last time I'd been near her in Harley's house. The power pulsing out of her was almost beyond description. Siobhan was nothing compared to Emily. This was a witch on a totally different level. The scent of magic was almost so overpowering that I couldn't smell it anymore. I felt it in my pores, and in my hair follicles. It was terrifying. It may have been affecting me more than Blayne since I was a dragon shifter. My species had a closer kinship to magic than bears or wolves or other earthly realm creatures.

"You're a piece of shit boyfriend, Tate. Why couldn't you protect Harley?" Emily spat. She looked furious. "Damned shifter garbage. You didn't deserve Harley. She needs something better than one of you filthy animals. If I could undo the spell, I would."

I pointed at her. "Explain that! What did you do?"

Emily smirked at me, like a teacher who knew the answer, and the student was too stupid to figure it out. I wanted to lash out at her, to attack her. Blayne's body was humming next to me, wound tight and ready to spring. He felt the same way. Both of us knew we had to get information. We had to control ourselves to hear what she had to say.

"I tracked you things to this town. I created a spell, a very special one. I cast it across the entire town of Lilly Valley. It was supposed to force any shifter into a mating bond. Create fated mates that you couldn't pull yourselves away from." She smiled and winked. "You see the beauty, right? Pull you and another shifter together? Two birds with one stone? Well, two dead birds and one stone."

"Bitch," Blayne whispered.

"See, I can see all the connections. I can see what my spell is doing even though you can't. Faint golden threads surrounding the shifters, leading to other gold threads of your mates. But I knew I'd fucked up when your gold thread was wrapped around Harley. Human threads are white, and that should not have been possible. I followed your thread and found you. Disgusting thing that you are, I could almost follow my nose. Dragon shifter, aren't you? Very rare. You'll make a good trophy."

"When I saw that gold thread tied to Harley, it was all I could do to keep my composure. I didn't think it was even remotely possible. I had to inspect my spell again. On second look? There are some interesting things I've done, very interesting."

I growled. "Will the spell kill Harley? Will it?"

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "I like Harley, I care for her. I don't attack humans. I don't murder, pillage, and feast on humans. Not like you filth. No, humans have to be protected from things like you." She raised an eyebrow, and a psychotic grin lit on her face. "Now, as for that abomination growing in her belly? That will need to be taken care of."

It was so fast. I didn't know I could move that fast. In a blink, I was on her, covering the twenty feet between us in less than a second. I slammed into her, wrapping my hands around her throat, throttling her. She was so caught off guard, she couldn't even summon her powers. My fingers dug into the soft flesh at the back of her neck, my thumbs pressing into the weak skin of her throat. My dragon's rage spilled out of me as I choked her.

Emily beat at my arms with her hands, then choked out, "I have more to tell you."

The words bounced off me, almost completely unheard. All I wanted was to watch the life spill out of her eyes, and then my dragon would incinerate her body so her ashes could scatter in the wind. Emily's face grew red as I squeezed tighter.

"You'll… you'll all die if you deny your mates… souls… ripped apart."

Blayne was at my side, pulling on my arm. "Tate. Tate, let her go, man. You aren't a killer, come on."

Blayne was one of my best friends, but in this, he didn't know what he was talking about. At this moment, I most definitely was a killer. I would kill her, and I was sure that I wouldn't regret it. She'd threatened my unborn baby. Neither I, nor my dragon could let that go unpunished.

Emily was slipping away, barely able to keep her eyes open, then she hissed, "Human… mates… if they're… claimed… they'll become shifters, too."

My fingers jerked open on a spasm, the words hitting me like a shotgun blast. Emily dropped to the ground, retching and gasping for breath. She sat on her knees, dry heaving and trying to get air into her body. Blayne's eyes looked just as wide as mine must have been. Had we heard that right?

"If you claim Harley, she'll become a shifter?" Blayne asked.

"But if I don't claim her, I'll die. That's what she said."

Emily, now partially recovered, chuckled maniacally. "How about you do us and the world a favor and don't claim Harley. I'll sit outside your house and listen to your screams as you die the most painful death you can imagine. Besides, if you claim her and make her into a shifter, then she's as unclean as you. She'll be a target for the hunters."

My blood ran cold. She stood, wiping the dirt off her jeans, and took a few steps away to put distance between us. My hands were still clenched into claws. I could still imagine her neck between my fingers.

"Tate, this is not what I'd planned. We'll call it a happy accident. One way or another, my spell will be the end of your kind."

Before I could say anything, my cell rang. I pulled it from my pocket and answered when I saw it was Steff.

"Where's Harley?" I barked.

"I'm still following the van. I haven't lost sight of them."

Emily was walking back into the woods. She called back to us, "I'm going to save Harley, Tate. Do us a favor and go die. Alone."

The seething hatred in my heart for Emily was screaming for me to go after her. To sprint into the woods, shift into my dragon, and tear the flesh from her bones, but Harley was my first priority. I watched her disappear into the shadows and reluctantly turned back to Luis's hired man.

I knelt next to him. He looked beyond confused by everything he'd just heard.

I held the phone to his ear and said, "Details. Where did Luis instruct for Harley to be taken? Now."

The guy spoke into the phone, giving Steff the details and location––somewhere deep in the mountains. When he was done, I let out some of my frustration by slugging him in the jaw and knocking his ass out again. Blayne started tying the guy up, and I went back to the phone.

"Did you get all that, Steff?"

"Yeah, I know the place. Real ritzy joint. Been up for sale for years. Want to meet me there?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We'll leave this piece of shit tied up here. I'll make an anonymous call to the cops and give them the location. Go ahead and call Miles. We'll have the whole crew there to fuck up Luis's plan."

"Don't you want to tell the cops about this?" Steff asked.

It would have been the smart thing to do, but I wanted these assholes for myself, so did my dragon. "No. This is personal. No cops."

"If you're cool, I'm cool," Steff said and hung up.

After the guy was tied up and secured to a nearby tree, I pulled the guy's cell phone out and dialed 911. I dropped it a few feet away and let it ring. They'd trace the call and find him here. Blayne and I went to our cars.

Before we got in, Blayne asked, "Do you think she was telling the truth? Emily, I mean."

My gut instinct told me she was. Something about how powerful my connection was to Harley and how much discomfort I was in when I was far away from her made too much sense. I nodded.

"Shit," Blayne said and got into his car.

I climbed into my truck, mentally cursing Emily for this. All of it. As though I didn't have enough to worry about. First hunters, then a mate, a baby, Luis, and a witch. Now this double-edged sword. If I denied the bond, I would die. Harley, the baby, and the girls would be left behind, alone and broken. If I claimed her? She would become like me, a shifter, and her life would be at risk.