Page 22

Chapter

Twenty-One

Brent Foley was furious and aggravated. Not only had his people failed to grab the damn woman mated to the second-in-command of the pack so she could be used for bait to lure the beast to his death, but Paul practically spilled his guts to those beasts on the roadside!

Brent had been watching the scene with a drone, and clearly, Paul remembered he was being watched and clammed up.

If he hadn’t, he would have for sure told them where the headquarters was now and how to find him and the rest of the Northern Ohio branch of Humans Against Shifters.

Brent had alerted the police to a huge accident so they would be forced to intervene and get his people away from the wolves, and then he’d mobilized another group of H.

A. S. members, who’d chased the cops down and killed the members.

He’d lost his number two, but the man was leaking like a sieve, and Brent knew he didn’t have what it took to keep his mouth shut.

“How many did we lose?” he asked as he sat behind his desk, his phone on speaker and lying next to his laptop.

“Seven. The wolves killed two. We took out the remaining five.”

“Good.” He sighed. It wasn’t good, but it was what it was. He stared at the cell phone. Joey was ruthless and didn’t bat an eye at killing any H. A. S. members. He was loyal to a fault.

“What now?” Joey asked.

Brent rolled his neck in frustration. “Come back to headquarters. Make sure you’re not followed. Meet me in my office. I’d like to make you my new number two.”

There was a pause, and Joey said, “Thanks, Brent. We’ll be back shortly.”

The call ended and Brent rubbed his eyes.

He was tired. So damn tired. But he was not going to give up.

He’d come to Northern Ohio for a reason and he was going to finish the job.

The wolves might have used witch magic to protect their borders, but they couldn’t stay there forever.

He’d figure out a way to get to them, starting with the high ranked ones and their women.

He rose to his feet, too on edge to stay seated, and paced the length of the dimly lit office.

He was determined not to let the beasts’ small victories deter him.

Three setbacks were nothing compared to the vision that burned in his mind of a world free of shifters and their supporters.

Humans were supposed to have dominion over beasts, and he was going to ensure that happened.

He was angry at the failure tonight, at losing people, but the war was going to rage on. He would regroup and recalibrate, using Joey’s expertise in warfare, and strike the wolves again. Harder. Smarter.

One way or another, the wolves would perish.

Jade woke to the soft hum of medical equipment and the sterile scent of antiseptic. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a white tile ceiling with dappled sunlight dancing on the surface.

Brick leaned over her. “Jade, you’re awake! You’re in a clinic that’s run by our pack doctor. He’s been taking care of you. Doc!”

She tried to move, but everything ached. Not terribly, but badly enough to make her wince and freeze. Brick noticed her wince and said, “You’re still recovering. Lemme move the bed for you so you can see.”

There was a whir of a motor and the head of the bed slowly lifted. She found herself in a hospital room. Sunlight poked around the edges of blinds that covered a window on one wall. She frowned. How much time had passed? It had been nighttime when they’d been on the way home from their double date.

Cinder!

“Is…is everyone okay? You? Cinder? The baby?”

Brick gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m fine, and Cinder and her baby are too. And Adam, hell, everyone is okay. You were the only one we were worried about.”

A male wearing a polo with the Whalen Family Clinic logo on the pocket and a stethoscope around his neck walked in. “Nice to see you’re awake, Jade. I’m Doc, and I’m not only the pack doctor, but I also run the clinic here. How are you feeling?”

“Confused.”

He smiled. “I’m sure it’s disorienting. Brick can fill you in on everything that happened, but I’ll tell you the medical things.

You came into the clinic unconscious last night.

I ran bloodwork and discovered you’d been injected with a drug called Lupios7.

It’s a synthetic compound created by some very unsavory people in a lab in another country and it’s actually illegal to have it in the States.

It attacks a shifter’s heightened metabolism and nervous system and suppresses the ability to shift.

It induces unconsciousness and lingers in the bloodstream for hours.

You would have eventually regained consciousness without my intervention, but you were dosed with a high concentration of the drug, and my guess is it would have been a half day or longer.

” The treatment had been two-fold: he’d had Brick donate plasma, which he’d used to bolster her natural healing and help her body neutralize the drug, and then he’d used a saline solution with an herbal compound that included milk thistle, which accelerated toxin breakdown.

The IV was still in her arm, the bag nearly empty.

“You’ll need to stick around until the drug is completely gone from your body, probably a few hours from now.” He walked to a counter and returned with a bottle of blue electrolyte drink. “This will help replenish what you’ve lost. I’ll check on you in a little while.”

“Thanks, Doc,” she said.

“Thanks,” Brick said.

Brick opened the drink for her and she took a few sips before putting it back on the small table next to the bed and settling against the pillows with a sigh.

He kissed her hand and breathed out shakily. “I thought I was going to lose you, sweetheart.”

“It’s a blur,” she said. “What happened?”

He told her about rescuing her from the anti-shifter group’s attack, learning that Foley had targeted her to use as bait to lure him to his death, and how Foley had taken out his own people after the police had taken them into custody.

“Holy crap,” she said. “He’s really crazy, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, and dangerous.” His eyes got bright and his brow furrowed. “Jade, I’m so sorry.”

“For what?”

“You could have been taken from me. You could have died. I said I’d keep you safe and I failed.” His voice got low and rough at the end and she could see him struggle with emotion.

“You didn’t fail.”

“But—”

“No buts,” she said. “Yes, they came after us again, but you saved my life! You stopped them from taking me. You defended me, not to mention the alphas. There’s no telling what might have happened if they’d gotten me away from you, but I wouldn’t be here, in the clinic, on the mend if it weren’t for you. You. Saved. Me.”

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against her hand. “I only want you to be safe.”

“I’m safest with you.”

And that was the damn truth. She’d been yanked out of the SUV and injected with a drug that made her helpless almost instantly.

If it wasn’t for Brick being stronger and faster than the humans who attacked them, she might be dead.

She wanted to cry and scream at the unfairness of it all, but the truth was she was supremely lucky that she had a mate who was a badass and could keep her safe.

He’d come to her rescue like some comic book superhero.

She was the luckiest female in the world.

Sitting up enough to lean against him, she kissed his neck and whispered, “I fucking love you, Brick. Thank you for saving me.”

“I love you too, Jade. With my whole heart.”

By the time dinner rolled around, Jade was back to full health and feeling like herself again. Cinder and Adam stayed at the clinic until Jade was discharged, and she appreciated them being so kind and supportive.

Over the course of the afternoon, Brick and Adam had talked about the changes to the pack and town and that they were all on lockdown for the foreseeable future.

They all hoped that Foley would think twice before coming after the pack again, but she was very sure that he wasn’t done, and the others agreed.

He was a maniac and fanatical in his belief that shifters should be eradicated and humans the dominant species on the planet.

Adam and Cinder drove them to the garage apartment, promising to check in on them the following day.

Brick set her on the couch. “I’ll get you some water. Or another sports drink? Doc said you should keep drinking stuff with electrolytes in it.”

“Water’s fine for now. You’re hovering, by the way.”

“Damn right, I am. Get used to it.”

She smiled at him.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and Brick called that it was open. His parents walked in, carrying covered dishes.

“We heard what happened and thought you two could use some dinner,” his dad said.

“And maybe some company, too, if that’s okay,” his mom said.

“Of course, come on in,” Jade said.

They set the covered dishes on the coffee table and Sophie gave Jade a hug.

“Are you okay? You had us worried,” Ryan said.

“I’m great, thank you so much.”

Sophie walked into the kitchen area and returned with plates and silverware, then filled a plate with mac and cheese and half a ham sandwich. “Here you go, honey. I’ve got other types of deli meat if you’d like something else.”

Jade hadn’t been hungry until she smelled the mac and cheese. Then her stomach growled. “This is perfect, thank you.”

Sophie filled plates for the rest of them, and the four of them sat together and shared quiet conversation about the situation with the anti-shifter people and how the pack continued to come together to protect their people.

The warmth of his family and the security she felt in that small apartment, was a stark contrast to the terror of last night.

As they were leaving, Sophie said, “If you need anything at all, just holler out the door. We mean it, anything.”

“Thank you,” Jade said.

“Take care of her,” Ryan said to Brick, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “And yourself too.”

“I will,” Brick said. “Always.”

They left and when the door closed behind them, Jade’s eyes stung with tears.

Her whole life, she hadn’t had anyone really care about her, not like she had experienced in Thorn Hollow with Brick and his family and pack.

Not only had they fought for her with that dangerous male who’d come for her, but they’d stood up to an entire anti-shifter organization to protect her.

She was humbled to the core by what she’d witnessed since she’d come to town, and how very blessed she was to be so cared for by so many people.

Brick sat next to her and held her close.

“I’m just…,” she said through the soft sobs that made her voice catch, “I’m just so happy to be part of your family and pack.

You’ve made Thorn Hollow a home for me. I just realized that I never really felt at home anywhere before.

I never felt like I was part of anything.

But you make me feel like I belong, like I’m part of a real family now. And I feel so safe with you.”

Safe. Protected. Wanted.

All the things she’d ever craved in her life she finally had, because she’d escaped her old pack and taken a chance on a new life.

“You are safe, Jade. I swear on my life that I’ll keep you and our future pups safe. You’re the most important thing in my life. I don’t want to ever get that close to losing you again.”

“You’re the most important thing in my life too.”

She turned into him and closed her eyes.

Pushing everything that had happened to the back recesses of her mind, she focused on the present and her mate, and the future and the hope that it brought.

The weight of the past lingered, but here, in Brick’s arms, it didn’t feel so oppressive. He traced lazy patterns on her arm and she felt the tension slowly seep away.

“We’re in this together,” he said. “You and me, hell or high water.”

She tipped her head up to smile at him. “Together.”

And for the first time in her life, she knew she wasn’t alone and she never would be again, thanks to her wolfy mate.