Alpha Pack 4 - Hunters Heart (34 page)

Sure thing.

He wasn’t sure at all, but he kept moving. “Nick

contacted me,” he said hoarsely. “They’re coming.

They’ve got some serum for Ben.”

“Best news I’ve heard all week!”

Daria attempted to speak to him again, but he didn’t

really hear her. Couldn’t. He just walked until a weird

buzzing noise made him stop, cock his head, and listen.

Daria said something else. He couldn’t understand her

over the noise, like thousands of bees in his head.

The forest began to dim. His head tilted back and he

saw blue sky as his knees buckled. Sky?

Then nothing but darkness.

• • •

“Ryon, look!” Daria exclaimed, pointing. Just ahead, the

forest ended and a flat river delta widened before them for

at least a mile. Plenty of room for a helicopter to land!

“Better contact Nick and tell him about this place. Ryon?”

He’d stopped and was looking up, his head cocked—

then he folded and slumped to the ground.

“Shit!” She knelt at his side, slapped his face. “Come

on, don’t do this! We’re almost home free, so you can’t

quit.”

Ryon’s breathing was harsh and labored, his color gray

beneath his tan. Rolling him to his side, she worked the

pack off his shoulders and laid aside the rifle. After

settling him on his back, she fished through the pack and

retrieved a bottle of water.

Cradling his head in her lap, she placed the opening

between his lips and poured a tiny bit of the liquid into his

mouth. He sputtered and coughed, but opened his eyes to

slits and raised his head, seeking more. The next swallow

went down without difficulty now that he’d regained

consciousness.

“That’s it, easy now,” she crooned. “Hang in there,

okay? We’re at the edge of a clearing. Perfect place for

them to land. Couple of hours, maybe, and we’re home

free.”

He tried to smile. “That’s good. Nick will send a small

team in to find Ben. They’ll help him.”

She was beyond touched that he’d think of Ben at a time

like this—especially when it was Ben’s creature that had

put him in this condition. “I’m grateful they’re willing to

give it a shot.”

For a while, Daria sat running her fingers through his

hair. His skin was hot and dry as a desert, a sign of

dehydration. The infection had spread through his body

and was running its course. If he didn’t get medical

attention soon, shifter or not, he would die. Fear

threatened to overwhelm her.

“Drink more water.” She helped him, and he didn’t

resist. Still, his beautiful blue eyes were dull, his sensual

lips unsmiling.

“Daria, if August gets here before my team and I can’t

stop him, don’t let him take me alive.”

“God, Ryon, don’t even say that,” she gasped.

“I won’t fall into his hands and become one of his

experiments, not if I can prevent it. I saw what they did to

Aric, Micah, and Phoenix. Ben, too. I won’t let him do that

to me.”

She was spared from responding to his awful request

when he fell asleep. If August caught them, she knew she

wouldn’t take Ryon’s life, or her own. Not because she

was a coward, but because she wouldn’t give up hope that

they would get out of this mess. His team would come.

They always did. If he wasn’t so sick and was thinking

straight, he’d know it, too.

Daria combated the boredom by dozing lightly, keeping

an ear open for Ryon’s breathing, as well as any sounds

that didn’t belong. A friggin’ helicopter would be nice. A

big one or two loaded with wolves—and one panther—

and armed to the teeth.

One hour came and went. Two. Cramped, Daria had to

shift Ryon off her lap, stand and stretch. She made a tour

around the immediate vicinity to work out the kinks, not

straying far from him. Strolling to the edge of the tree line,

she admired the pretty green delta, the river snaking away

in the distance. An odd oasis smack in the middle of the

rain forest.

She started to turn, then froze.
That sound
. Could it be?

Whump-whump-whump.

The distinctive pumping of rotor blades, and just there,

a tiny speck in the distance. Then two specks that grew

progressively larger.

“Yes! Ryon!” she squealed. Pushing through the tangle

of vines, she ran back to him and dropped to her knees.

She shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth. “Wake up.

They’re here!”

Ryon sat up and blinked at her. “What?”

“The Pack is here! Hurry, get up.”

Blinking, he struggled upright. “Thank Christ. Where’s

our stuff?”

“Right here.”

A sharp crack split the air, followed by more. Bullets

were suddenly pelting the trees around them, men shouting.

Ryon staggered to his feet and shoved her pack into her

hands. “Run to one of the copters and don’t look back!”

The
whump-whump
from the big Hueys filled the air as

he pushed her forward and dove for his rifle. Daria ran

into the clearing, across the flat ground. Her heart

slammed in tempo with her feet as shouts drifted after her.

Bullets kicked the dirt beside her, plucked at her pack.

The helicopters loomed over the horizon, coming in fast

and low. The first pilot slowed, hovered, and set down

about fifty yards away. She saw that it was Aric, and he

left the blades whirling and ready to take off. Jax was

sitting in the open side door, holding an M16 like Ryon’s,

yelling and waving her on. The second Huey landed not

far from the first, Pack guys spilling out and sprinting to

back up their endangered comrade.

Almost there. Twenty feet, ten, five. And then she was

in, Jax yanking her clean off her feet. She landed inside

hard, but didn’t spare him a glance. She spun about to see

Ryon making a magnificent stand halfway between the tree

line and the helicopter. His muscles bunched as he

sprayed the forest with a steady onslaught of bullets,

pinning down the goons to cover her flight. His team was

coming up fast behind him.

One of the men coming to his aid, Micah, grabbed Ryon

and pushed him in the direction of the helicopters. Ryon

whirled, half-running, mostly limping, toward her. Strain

etched his face, but he kept coming. Aric held their

position as Jax fired past Ryon and the others into the

trees. The fight heated up as the two forces continued the

gun battle—and then something horrifying happened.

At the edge of the trees, August’s men began to pour

from their cover, straight into the Pack’s sights. A few

took hits and went down before the guys realized

something wasn’t right and ceased fire. Looks of confusion

at their enemy’s actions were replaced by shock as a body

came flying out of the brush, mangled and torn. Then

another.

“Aw, fuck me!” Aric shouted.

A huge section of the trees shook from side to side.

Split apart and was hurtled away. Then the unmistakable

translucent outline of the creature became visible, and it

paused just inside the clearing. Ryon looked back at that

moment and stumbled to a halt, mouth dropping open.

And as the creature advanced on them all, throwing its

head back to roar, Ryon turned and began to limp right

back toward danger.

“Nooo!” Daria launched herself toward the door, but a

strong arm wrapped around her waist.

“Stay here! I’ll get the serum and help them!” Pushing

past her, Jax leapt from the copter and ran, presumably to

the other aircraft to fetch the medicine.

August’s men were panicked, the survivors fleeing the

scene as fast as possible. The Pack let them go and

concentrated on the beast, firing on its massive bulk. That

accomplished nothing but turning its attention on them, and

pissing it off.

More than half of the men shifted, including Kalen into

his panther form. They ran circles around the beast,

keeping it occupied by taking turns running at it, snapping

and barking, staying just out of reach of its deadly claws.

She couldn’t help them. Ben wouldn’t recognize her in

this state, so she could do nothing but watch, hand over her

mouth, heart in her throat.

Ryon stripped and shifted, joining his friends in battle.

Then Jax ran toward the fray, legs pumping, a large

cylinder clutched in his hand.

When Ryon made a flying leap and attached himself to

the creature’s back, the thing went nuts. Grabbed and

swiped, trying to reach him, and when that failed, spinning

his body in an attempt to shake him loose.

Ryon was going to get himself killed. And there wasn’t

a damned thing she could do to stop it.

Fifteen

Ryon jumped onto the creature’s back, sinking his fangs

into the tough, leathery hide. It roared and tried to claw

him off. Twisted and turned.

“Shift and catch!” Jax yelled.

Ryon saw his friend run up, holding a large tube. The

spike on the end was long and silver, and if it was a

needle, it was the thickest, most wicked one he’d ever

seen. Then again, it would have to be to penetrate the

creature’s hide.

The shift was difficult, especially while riding an

enraged mutant lizard. In human form, he wrapped an arm

around the thing’s neck and held out the other. “Throw it!”

The first try missed, and he cursed when the tube sailed

past them and landed on the ground. It narrowly missed

being crushed by the creature’s webbed feet as it stomped

around, oblivious to the fact that they were trying to save

its life. Or rather, Ben’s life.

“We’re trying to save your ass, you fucker!” he yelled.

Jax threw the tube again, but it bounced off Ryon’s

fingers. The next second, he was thrown to the ground,

rolling to avoid being stomped or eaten. As he scrambled,

he saw the cylinder lying just a few feet away. He went

for it. Just as his fingers closed around it, he was yanked

backward.

The creature’s claws dug into his shoulder as it dragged

him to its hungry, gaping maw. Fetid breath wafted in his

face and he had an up-close and personal view of those

rows of deadly teeth that were ready to tear out his throat.

Flipping the tube in his grasp, spiked end toward the

creature, he drove the business end into the vulnerable

skin of its belly. The beast let out a roar as Ryon quickly

pushed the handle all the way in. He didn’t know if that

was the best spot, or even if it would work, but he’d done

his job.

It would have to be enough. He was finished.

The beast flung him away and he landed in the dirt hard.

Unable to move, he took in the monster standing in place,

shrieking in agony, no longer aware of anyone else in his

vicinity. Ryon felt a pang of sadness, knowing the creature

was not really evil. It didn’t possess that sort of thought

process. All along, it had simply been ravenously hungry.

Angry. Confused.

But never evil. Because the man underneath was good.

Incredulous, he saw the creature begin to shrink. Scales

became flesh, webbed feet and hands human ones. The

knobby skull returned to its regular shape, and a full head

of chestnut hair appeared. The distended torso became

taut, the stomach flat. In less than a minute, a man stood

swaying where the beast had been, blinking as though he’d

never seen them before. And indeed he hadn’t.

Ben Cantrell was tired, shell-shocked, worse for the

wear, but a man all the same. He crumpled to the ground.

Some of the team ran to Ben, and the others toward

Ryon. Nick and Jax appeared, looking down at him,

smiling.

“You did it, buddy,” Jax said, laying a hand on his

chest. “Great job.”

He tried to grin. “That’s why I get paid the big bucks.

August is getting away, though.”

Nick spoke up. “This time. Next time he won’t be so

lucky.”

Suddenly he remembered August’s terrible claims, his

story of betrayal that ran all the way to the presidency. He

wanted to ask if it was true, if Nick had known. But he

was too exhausted to talk anymore. Then Daria came into

his line of vision, and he’d never seen anything more

beautiful.

“Ryon?” Her face was wet with tears.

No sound would move past his throat.

“Always gotta be a hero, huh?” she said, stroking his

face. He tried again to reply, but she shushed him. “Rest.

You’re going to be all right now.”

He wasn’t so sure; everything hurt so bad. But he’d trust

her. With a deep sigh, he let the darkness close in, and

everything faded away.

• • •

Daria jumped from the helicopter the second the creature

began to change back into Ben. As her former lover

crumpled in the dirt, unmoving, she ran to her mate and

dropped to her knees. Ryon lay on his back, staring up at

the people around him. She could’ve sworn she’d seen

him talk, but he didn’t have the ability now.

“Ryon?” She put a shaking hand over her mouth. Hot

tears slid down her cheeks. His lips moved, but he didn’t