Page 25

D usk had fallen, wrapping the world in a shroud of muted gray. The air had turned bitterly cold as I sat tied to the trunk of a gnarly old tree, its twisted branches reaching out like fingers against the encroaching darkness.

The woods felt alive with malice. The unsettling stillness made me shiver. Each rustle of leaves echoed ominously in the growing chill.

I could see my breath misting in front of me. Like clouds streaming from my nostrils. I felt vulnerable out here, all alone with a madman somewhere between the ranch and the drive-in.

The sky darkened as the last remnants of daylight slipped away like a distant memory. I missed it. The rodeo. The film festival.

My heart squeezed, and I wanted so desperately to cry out loud. But I didn’t dare.

Even though my surroundings were familiar, the mood around me was dark, sinister.

I glanced up, wondering if we were going to get snow before the holiday—an uninvited thought that both thrilled and terrified me.

The prospect of a white Thanksgiving when so many were just wet or too warm felt like a promise I so desperately wanted to cling to.

As I sat there, the cold seeped through my clothes, biting at my skin. The knot around my wrists was rough and unforgiving, chafing away at my skin.

My mind raced, grappling with the uncertainty of my situation. Kidnapped in broad daylight. Rendered unconscious. Brought here. But why and for what?

I mean, I knew it wasn’t for anything good. I also knew I didn’t want to end like this. I just had to make it out alive.

I strained my ears, hoping to catch the distant sounds of people or cars driving down the road.

Instead, I was met with an unsettling silence, punctuated only by the occasional snap of a twig or the rustling of unseen creatures in the underbrush.

I shivered, pulling my knees closer, desperate for warmth. As the first flurries of snow began to fall, I felt a mix of dread and longing. I could not give in to whimsy or despair, so I thought of Emmet and took stock of myself.

He deserved a mate who fought to come back to him. And I was going to do my best to be worthy of him.

First, I was alive, that was one good thing.

Second, I was tied up— okay, not so good .

Third, my head ached on both sides. On the right, where that sonovabitch had struck me with his fist, and on the left side where I hit the door and cut my eyebrow.

Head wounds always bled so much, and mine had gushed for a long while before it slowed. I could feel the dried sticky mess on the side of my face.

Fuck. This didn’t look good at all.

I felt dirty and bruised. I couldn’t even imagine what I looked like cut open, bloody, with nervous sweat and tears tracking through the dirt and muck on my skin.

Emmet.

My thoughts were on my mate, and I had never felt so scared and full of regret.

He would blame himself. I knew he would, and that just broke my heart. I tried to move, but the ropes were so tight. I winced at the soreness in my muscles and the pain in my head.

The man in charge—he said his name was Flint—had laughed when he saw my wound. He seemed to get off on hurting me and seeing me suffer, so I tried my best not to let my pain show. Not even when he dug his finger into the cut.

“That would leave a scar if you were gonna live long enough, but you ain’t, so I wouldn’t worry your fat ass over it,” he taunted, sucking air between his teeth and making my stomach sick.

The other three men with him snickered and chortled. They were thin, gritty looking, and they had a sour green aura surrounding them.

“Can we have her, Boss?”

“Yeah. Let us play with Emmet’s whore,” another said.

Fear trickled down my spine, making me gasp.

“No. That will ruin the fun. I want him to watch as we ruin his precious mate,” Flint growled.

Revulsion filled me as he shoved my face away, banging my head against the tree trunk, and I grunted at the pain throbbing behind my eyes.

“What are you waiting for? If you want to kill me, why not get to it?” I asked, so damn angry at this whole situation.

No, I didn’t want to die. But while I tried to figure out a way out of there, I thought it best to keep him talking.

“You in a hurry to meet Death, bitch?” the third guy asked, sneering at me.

Flint spat on the floor, a grotesque ball of phlegm and what looked like blood, and I frowned.

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty head about me. You see, I’m gonna get my place back. Your mate started shit and left. Thought he was fucking cool riling the Enforcers, making them think they could kick ME OUT! ME?! HA!”

His three minions cheered, clinking together bottles of what looked like beer, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Easy with that brew. The Witch said no more till next moon,” Flint said, smacking one of the three dickheads upside the head.

“Ouch!”

“What the hell?”

“Enough! I am the leader here. I am the prince of the Winter Falls Pack!” Flint yelled.

Oh great. This big asshole was monologuing now. Going on and on about Pack law and how wronged he was.

While I did not know a lot about Wolf Packs, I knew from Emmet that he’d been banished from his old Pack. That action alone told me all I needed to know about those Wolves.

For anyone to throw away a man, a Wolf, like my mate? Well, they had to be jealous of his power or just plain stupid because he was the best man I knew.

But I was not about to correct this fuckwit while he went on and on about how he was going to take the Pack back and it all started with showing them he was stronger than Emmet.

Yadda fucking yadda, motherfucker.

I focused my attention just behind the raging Wolf Shifter, reaching out with my third eye. One thing I had recently learned from Sherry about being a psychic medium was that shades were everywhere.

It wasn’t just the ones who’d noticed me that I could communicate with. I did not have to wait for them to initiate contact.

I saw a young figure of a shade in historic garb floating about between two bare-branched beeches. Inhaling, I focused and tried to catch her attention. Without words, of course.

The shade flickered closer. Her pale blue aura pulsed with shades of purple and pink, and I realized she was curious.

“Hello. Can you see me?”

Her voice crept into my brain, invasive, yes, but I needed her, so I allowed it.

“I can see you. Please, I need you to get a message to my mate. He’s a Wolf. Emmet Quinn.”

“You are one who helps the lost, aren’t you? Yes, I can find him to repay you for your service.”

“Please. Thank you. There isn’t much time.”

The shade looked at Flint who was pulling his hair and snarling. She nodded once, then shimmered out of sight. All I could do now was wait. And hope.

Emmet. Please find me.

“Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!” Flint screamed, slapping himself.

He was muttering nonsense. Spittle flew from his lips as he continued to rage.

“I know what to do now. I need to kill you to hurt him, see? Once I sever the matebond, Emmet really will be broken?—”

“It won’t work. Emmet doesn’t even love me,” I said, my voice shaking, betraying my emotions even as I tried to put belief behind those words.

“Do not lie to me!”

Flint rushed behind me, using his claws to cut through the rope. He pulled on my hair, hauling me to my feet, and for the first time I felt real fear.

“You are going to suffer for his trespasses,” he growled, squeezing my throat with one hand.

Then, as darkness danced around the edges of my vision and I was so close to passing out, I heard an inhuman roar rip through the night.

“JEZEBELLLL!”