Shared for Love (Kagan Wolves) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ethan slammed on the brakes. His car skidded, coming to a stop near the side of Noah’s burning house. His chest constricted on a wave of rage and worry. Not giving in to either, he jumped from his car, ready to face the flames if it meant getting to Hannah. Nothing would stop him.

Scents assaulted him along with the heat from the fire. He ignored them and rushed forward. The hard tug on his psyche from his wolf stopped him. Two smells were twined into the others—Hannah and Greg.

He pivoted on his heel and raced around the back of the home. A screen on the ground several feet from the building caught his eye. He glanced at the open window of Noah’s bedroom to confirm where it had come from. Relief came first. Hannah had gotten out. Worry followed. She was nowhere in sight.

The urge to shift into his wolf beat at him. The animal he housed wanted Greg’s blood. Ethan couldn’t give in to the instinct to kill, not yet. He needed facts. Finding Hannah came first.

The sight of her discarded shirt directed him. He ran forward and spotted her ripped pants several feet away from her top. The evidence told him everything he needed to know. She’d shifted and taken off. A smart decision on her part. In her animal form, she’d be faster than Greg, whether he shifted or not. Had Hannah been on Kagan soil, Ethan would’ve felt confident she’d lose Greg. She wasn’t, though. She was in unfamiliar territory and headed straight for the river.

Ethan yanked at his shirt, popping the buttons. He kicked his shoes off and reached for his pants. The sound of squealing tires stilled his hand. He glanced to the driveway. Noah’s truck came into view. Noah jumped out, leaving the engine running and the door open, and ran toward Ethan.

A growl shook Ethan’s chest. The anger that had gripped him while talking to Hannah seized him again. Noah had left her alone. Vulnerable. Ethan wanted to punish Noah for the foolish act. It’d have to wait until Ethan ensured Hannah’s safety. Afterward, though? Everything would change.

Noah grabbed Ethan’s arm and spun him before he could embrace his animal form. “Hannah! Where is she?”

Ethan knocked Noah backward. A string of curses and accusations hovered on Ethan’s tongue. The urgency of the situation didn’t allow him to give in to them. They’d be spoken, though. He’d make sure Noah never put Hannah in danger again, even if it meant cutting him out of their lives.

“She took off.” Ethan motioned toward the woods. “Greg followed her. I’m going after them.”

Noah yanked at his clothes, tearing them in his haste. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“Save it. I don’t want to hear it. I just want my female back.”

“Yeah. She is yours. I don’t deserve her. Or you.” Noah focused on Ethan. “When we find them, you take care of Hannah. Greg is mine.”

Noah’s shape morphed, hair sprouting and body compacting. Between one heartbeat and the next, a stocky, dark gray wolf replaced Noah’s muscular human frame. He took off toward the woods. Ethan shifted and followed. His leaner white wolf passed Noah’s before they reached the first tree.

Hannah’s scent guided Ethan, along with the broken branches and trampled shrubs. The path she’d taken became clear. Anxiety gripped him, along with regret. All those months they’d dated, and only once had she stepped foot on Tanner soil. It’d been for good reason, but it didn’t change the disaster looming in front of them.

Unknowing of her location, she’d veered from the river and headed straight toward Michael’s house, along the old logging railroad that was quickly being reabsorbed by the forest. Small trees and flowering bushes filled the once cleared area.

Before the thickest thatch of rhododendrons, Greg’s scent faded. Another wave of anxiety tightened Ethan’s chest. The patch of shrubs was long, not wide. Circumventing it would be easy. Faster or not, Hannah would be slowed down by the tight weaving of roots and branches. He debated for a second, then lowered his head and ran harder, following her path. He couldn’t risk losing her trail if she went a different way or circled around.

The snapping of twigs behind him cut off. Noah had no doubt followed Greg’s scent. Working as a team, Noah and Ethan had the best chance of getting Hannah back before it was too late. Only a few minutes at most separated them. He held the knowledge close and pushed forward. The scent of her blood grew heavier the farther into the thatch he traveled. The weaving of branches and trunks didn’t offer much room to navigate, and the direct path Hannah had taken proved she hadn’t looked for an easier way.

His bigger body broke more branches as he scrambled over the route she’d run. The smell of his blood mixed with hers. He lifted his lip on a silent snarl, hating the fact that she’d experienced any pain. She was his to protect and cherish. He’d failed her.

Never again.

He burst from the thatch of rhododendrons into a clearing at the base of Michael’s property. Noah, naked and in his human form, crouched near a trampled section of grass. He turned and caught Ethan’s gaze. Noah’s completely green eyes reminded Ethan that he wasn’t the only one who’d suffer if they didn’t get Hannah back.

Losing her would destroy them both.

“They walked away.” Noah pointed toward the house of the top of the hill. “He didn’t rape her.”

Or mate her.

The tightness in Ethan’s shoulders eased at Noah’s unspoken confirmation, but it didn’t eliminate the danger she was in. Until Ethan held her in his arms, he wouldn’t relax. He reached for the mystical tether to his wolf. The animal didn’t fight him as it would’ve before Hannah. It had merged with him, turning him into what the gods had intended all along—a man with the strength and cunning of a wolf at his fingertips.

The shuffling of feet and the low drone of voices yanked his gaze to the crest of the hill. A naked Hannah stood before Greg, who wore a pair of sweats. Cuts marred her body, and her hair hung in a tangled mass, but no other signs of distress were visible. She held her head high, not looking at either him or Noah; a wise move, but not one Ethan was sure mattered any longer. She’d been flushed out of Noah’s house, and both he and Ethan had chased after her through the woods.

Noah glanced over his shoulder at Ethan. “She’s safe.”

“Your eyes, Noah.” Ethan stepped forward, blocking Noah from Greg’s view.

“Yes, Noah, what is with your eyes?”

Michael’s question dragged their gazes to the section of woods he emerged from, followed by the last two Tanner protectors.

Noah cursed and turned away. Ethan locked his knees and focused on his heart rate. Everything hung on his ability to maintain the role he’d cultivated over his lifetime—the loyal dominant who cared about his pack mates but didn’t want to involve himself with a shifter female or the responsibility that came from mating one. The fact that Michael thought Ethan loved Maria made the deception easier.

“You saw the same thing I did, didn’t you?” Michael motioned to Noah but kept his gaze on Ethan. “Noah’s eyes are green. No white showing.”

Ethan sent a silent apology to his lovers. “Yes, I saw it.”

“But do you know what it means?” Michael raised a brow. “Our pack member has been bridged. There’s only one thing that I know of that can bring about such a feat.”

“Don’t worry about my eyes or what it means.” Noah pointed in the direction of his home. “Someone decided to burn my house down. We need to find out who did it.”

Michael kept his gaze on Ethan. “I’m sure it was an accident. I sent a call out to our pack. They’ll watch it. Make sure it doesn’t spread.”

“No. Let’s call the fire department and—”

“Quiet, Noah. I’m waiting on Ethan’s answer.”

The silence that followed Michael’s demand forced Ethan to respond. “Finding one’s true mate.”

“Yes.” Michael nodded. “That’s what I’ve been told. I must admit I’ve never witnessed the effects of a true mate before on a shifter. It’s even more unusual, considering Noah’s unfortunate widowed state.”

Michael studied not Noah, but Hannah. She shifted her attention from the smoke filling the sky over Noah’s burning house to Michael. The cold, hard expression she wore held venom. Ethan tensed, wanting to warn her to back off but knowing to do so would ruin his position as an outsider concerned about the well-being of his pack mates, not his lovers. Their futures depended on it.

After a moment, Michael grinned, displaying the same sick depravity Ethan had glimpsed the day Michael had warned him not to mate a dominant.

All of Ethan’s plans crumbled under Michael’s focused and hungry look. The full moon’s peak was minutes away, but he couldn’t risk challenging Michael. Even having Noah within arm’s reach didn’t counter the danger to Hannah. It would take only seconds for Greg to rip her throat out or snap her neck.

No. I won’t lose her. I can’t.

She was the one female he’d waited his entire life for.

He’d have to regroup and lay out a new strategy for securing his pack and claiming his mate, but it couldn’t happen until he got Hannah off Tanner soil and safely under the watchful eyes of her pack.

Michael curled his finger in a come-hither motion. “Bring Miss Kagan closer. I’m curious to talk to her.”

Noah spun and faced Michael. “Leave Hannah alone. She shouldn’t even be here.”

“But that’s what I’m wondering about. Why is she here?” Michael tilted his head. “I was under the impression no outside shifters would be participating in our mating run tonight. Surely she knows the danger of being on Tanner soil during the night of the full moon. We, as a pack, embrace the old ways. An unmated female who finds herself outside without a male guardian is inviting trouble.”

“Trouble?” Noah took a step forward. “She was simply visiting me. The trouble she found was because somebody set my house on fire while I was playing guardian for your daughter so
she
didn’t end up corralled into joining the mating run.”

“Maria knows the rules and decided to risk running to you for help escaping her fate.” Michael chuckled. “But the spirit wolf made sure she couldn’t. It’s not the outcome I had wanted for her, but I’m glad things worked out the way they did. No shifter, male or female, should think themselves above the influence of our pack spirit. My daughter has been acting selfishly by ignoring her true mate and trying to avoid the role she was born to fill.”

“What a load of crap.” Noah glared at Michael. “Maria is an individual who has the right to choose who she loves. Nobody should dictate to her, certainly not you.”

“Maria is an unmated female.” Michael snorted. “As such, my daughter has a responsibility to produce worthy shifters who will carry on the integrity and strength of our species. Who fathers her babes is up to the spirit wolf to decide. Whether he’s the same male she loves isn’t my concern.”

Ethan frowned. He’d cut Hannah off earlier and missed the reason for Noah’s disappearance. “What true mate?”

Michael leveled a sympathetic look on Ethan. “I’m sorry, Ethan. I know how much you care for my daughter, but it appears as if Quinn from the Kagan pack is Maria’s true mate. Or at least he claims to be.”

“Where is she?”

“With Quinn. I have approved for my daughter to spend the next month under his parents’ roof so he and Maria can engage in a safe, controlled setting while they figure out if their connection is real or not.”

Michael’s response would’ve sounded politically correct, at least from a dated shifter perspective, if Ethan didn’t know Michael or how little he valued personal happiness. It was all about strength and leverage. Or how to stop those he viewed as threats from gaining any.

Maria mated to Quinn put her at the top of the list, which made Michael’s decision out of character for him. There was no guarantee Maria wouldn’t urge Quinn to go after Michael’s role. No, there was more to the story. Ethan would bet money that allowing Maria to go with Quinn had been Michael’s only option. It’d also be one he’d correct at his earliest opportunity.

“I am glad you think so strongly about respecting the spirit wolf’s wants.” Hannah approached with Greg’s clawed hand wrapped around her wrist. They stepped between the pack protectors, cutting off any chance of grabbing her from Greg.

“It’s my duty as an alpha to see that its needs are met,” Michael answered.

She grinned. “Good. Then you’ll be pleased with its decision for me.”

“Is that so?” Michael lifted one corner of his mouth on a half smile. “Then please share what it supposedly has decided for you.”

Ethan tensed. He couldn’t be certain of her plan, but he could guess. He had to stop her. “I would think this is a conversation she should be having with her alpha.”

“Do you see Nic?” Michael raised a brow. “Because I don’t. Miss Kagan has decided to join our pack for the night. Therefore, she is subject to our rules, and since I am alpha, I make them.”

Michael turned his attention to Hannah. “So, answer me. What has the spirit wolf decided for you?”

“I’ve found my true mate.”

“Really?” Michael cocked a brow. “Who? Noah?”

“Yes. Noah is mine.”

Michael swept his gaze over Hannah, making a point of visually judging her. Lust didn’t show on his face. Sympathy did.

“I understand your self-esteem must be low since no shifter from your pack has shown any interest in mating you. I can’t really say I blame you, but you need to remember that it’s not your fault. Genetics isn’t something we can change. It doesn’t mean all your children will be affected by yours.” He pointed to his house. “My mate is not nearly as strong as I would have liked, so not all my offspring are dominants, but enough are that it made mating her worthwhile.”

A growl escaped Noah. “Do not talk to Hannah as if she’s somehow deficient. She is as strong as she is beautiful.”

Michael inclined his head. “Exactly, which is why thinking the spirit wolf would waste a fertile female with the rare genes she carries on a male who can’t impregnate her is foolish.”

She stepped forward, but Greg’s hold on her arm didn’t give her much freedom. “Your opinion doesn’t concern me. Your acceptance does. Noah has asked me to marry him. I’ve agreed. The only thing left to consider is if we will live on Tanner soil or on Kagan pack lands.”