Feral Instincts (The Feral Series) (33 page)

“Hello?”

Ethan’s
voice came over the unit loud and clear. “Ava?”

“Ethan?”

“Ava!
Where are you? Daniel told us that Salvatore had injected Teagan with the drug
and he had gone feral. We had all feared the worst! Tell me where you are and
we will send a crew to retrieve you.”

Ava
could feel Teagan becoming more agitated and knew she needed to work fast.
“Ethan, Teagan is feral and we need your help. He is with me now but he hasn’t
hurt me. It was Daniel, Daniel injected him with the serum. I saw it with my
own eyes. You have to contact his pack and find out if there is a way to bring
Teagan back.”

“Dam
it! Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Daniel and call Teagan’s pack, maybe they
will know what to do. Now tell me where you are.”

Teagan
rose to his feet with her still clasped tightly in his arms snarling at the
danger he couldn’t see and couldn’t sink his claws into.

“I
can’t do that Ethan. I won’t let you hurt him. I’m staying with my mate.” Ava
looked into his cold black eyes and concentrated on sending waves of
reassurance from her own small body into his.

“Ava,
don’t do this. You may be his mate but he could still kill you. You need to
tell me where you are.”

Sensing
Teagan’s tolerance was nearing an abrupt and violent end she quickly brought
the conversation to an end. “Ethan I have to go. Let me know the second you
hear anything.”

Turning
the volume back down on the comm unit, Ava held the small radio tight against
her chest and prayed that Teagan wouldn’t take it from her. He was angry again.
Her small body shifted in his arms as he took deep breaths, she could feel the
tension in his arms where he held her. She didn’t know if his feral mind still
understood what the radio was or if he understood the conversation but either
way he was pissed.

Ava
tucked her head under his chin and closed her eyes. She tried to make her
muscles relax one at a time and calm her heart rate down. She had noticed that
he would calm down faster if she herself projected calm.

Ava
smiled as she could hear his heart trying to slow to match her own and his
breathing slowed to match. Ava was startled when he seemed to nuzzle his face
against the top of her head before setting her against his chest again.

Ava
tried to relax enough to go back to sleep but her mind was racing. Now that she
could contact Ethan and the guardian’s she was hopeful they would find a way to
save Teagan.

Ava
dozed fitfully until finally the sun began to set. Teagan began to stir beneath
her and she raised her head to look at him. Seeing that she was awake he lifted
her to her feet and carefully stood her in front of him.

Hesitantly
stepping back from him she moved to her cloths to see if they had dried at all
while they had slept. What was left of her shirt was dry but the jeans were
still a little damp.

Teagan
moved to the entrance of the cave and gave her a pointed stare with a low growl
before stepping through the waterfall.
Got it big guy. Stay. Good Ava.
Geesh.
Ava eyed the frigid waterfall with trepidation. She didn’t want to
spend the evening freezing cold in wet cloths again. Seeing that there was a
break in the water on the far right she held off on putting her clothes on.
Rolling her pants, shoes and shirt up tight she waited for Teagan to return.
She was sure he would want to get moving again now that dusk had fallen.

Ava
didn’t have to wait long before he came crashing through the waterfall again.
Ava stared, wide eyed at the sight he made emerging from the waterfall. He was
all dark fur, fangs and claws and he was simply huge. She had to keep herself
from taking a step back from him when he turned to her and held his large hand
to her.
Ava stay. Ava come. Which one of us is the enormous dog here anyway?
Ava eyed the fingers with the massive claws and shook her head no at him.
Before he could go all alpha male on her, she moved towards the waterfall and
tucked her cloths tightly under her arms. Slipping through the break in the
water she picked her way across the rocks and emerged on the bank of the
stream.

Ducking
back under the water, Teagan stood thigh deep in the stream and watched her
warily. Ava analyzed her new dilemma. She was still on the wrong side of the
water. Not wanting to hitch a ride with Teagan since he was sopping wet she
began to put her cloths back on.

Fully
dressed Ava eyed the distance to the other side of the stream.
Oh ya. I got
this. I’m a vampire, right? It does have some perks.
Backing up as far as
the cliff would allow her Ava took a couple fast steps and focused on the
opposite side of the bank. With one graceful leap she cleared the water and
made it to the other side of the small stream.

“Ha!
I did it! Go me!” Ava surveyed the distance she jumped with supreme
satisfaction. She was definitely getting the hang of this vampire thing. Her
smile fell though when Teagan climbed out of the water and stood towering over
her. With a huff of his hot breath across her skin he grasped her wrist and
tugged her along in his wake. He was clearly not as impressed with her jump as
she was. 

For
several miles Ava struggled to keep up with Teagan’s long gait. She practically
had to jog to keep from being drug behind him. Finally at her limit she
furiously dug her heels in and pulled her wrist out of his grip with a hard
jerk. Resting her hands on her knees she let her head hang as she caught her
breath.

With
a growl, Teagan reached for her and Ava skillfully dodged his meaty paws.

“No!”

Realizing
what she had done Ava held her breath as she and Teagan faced off in the small
clearing. Glancing at his reaction from under sooty lashes Ava was shocked when
he relaxed his aggressive posture. She had expected him to pounce on her but
instead he even took a step back from her and settled into a watchful crouch.
Oh
my god. My werewolf actually let me have my way. Amazing.
That little
glimmer of hope she had held tightly in her chest got a little bit brighter.

Sitting
on a fallen log, Ava stretched her tired legs out in front of her for a minute.
Closing her eyes she tilted her head to the side and rubbed at her stiff
shoulder muscles. The arrow wounds were mostly healed but there were still
bright red puckers where the arrows had pierced her tender skin.

The
serenity of the dark night was suddenly interrupted by a soft unnatural beep.
Biting back a gasp of surprise Ava reached for the comm unit she had clipped to
the back of her jeans. Glancing at Teagan as she did so, she saw him
immediately tense and rise to his feet. While keeping her eyes on Teagan she
turned up the volume on the radio.

“Hello.”

“Ava.”

“Please
tell me you have good news.”

“We
got ahold of Teagan’s pack. Good news and bad. They said a feral can be brought
back if you can get him to put his medallion back on. The problem is that the
same rules apply as when he took it off. It has to be done willingly and only
by his hand.”

“Daniel!
Daniel had his medallion.”

“We
have Daniel in custody and we were able to retrieve Teagan’s medallion from
him. We tracked your location from the radio signal from the comm unit and we
have a female werewolf in route to intercept you with Teagan’s medallion.”

The
fact that they knew where they were sent fear coursing through Ava’s system.
What if they decided to take Teagan out?

“God,
Ethan. I don’t know. He has been really unstable. I think he might attack
anyone that approaches us. We have to find another way.”

Ethan
didn’t respond for a moment.

“Ethan?”

“Times
up Ava. He is moving closer to a campground that’s only a few miles away. If
this doesn’t work we will be forced to bring Teagan in ourselves.”

“No!
You can’t do that!”

Responding
to Ava’s panic, Teagan had begun pacing, he was glaring at the device in her
hand and growling low. Trying to calm down, Ava took a deep breath.

“I’m
sorry Ava. The female Lykan should be closing in on your location any minute.”

“What
if he tries to hurt her!”

“We
were going to send his brother in with the medallion. We thought he might be
able to help you talk Teagan into putting it on but the female stole it and
snuck out before we realized what she was up to. She was right though. A female
won’t be seen as a threat like his brother would have been.”

“Wait
a minute. I thought his brother had left the pack years ago. How did you get
his brother to help?”

“That’s
a long story. Apparently he was in route to return the female to the pack when
we called. Since he was the closest member of Teagan’s pack to our location
they had him detour to help us out.”

Hope
flared brightly again in Ava’s chest. This had to work. She knew how much
Teagan missed his brother. Surely he wouldn’t reject a female carrying his
brother’s scent. It just had to work, the alternative was just too horrible to
even consider.

“Okay
Ethan.”

“Good
luck Ava.”

Ava
turned the radio down again and stood up, trying to see through the trees
around them for any sign of someone approaching them. Seeing that Teagan was
still agitated she walked over to stand in front of him.

Hesitantly
she laid one delicate hand on his furred chest, over his heart. God, how she
missed the man that lay hidden beneath this terrifying werewolf. She knew he
was still in there. Her bond with him was so strong even in this feral beast
form. Without a doubt she knew that she would die before she let anyone harm
him. Either they both came out of this together or neither of them would. She
didn’t want to live in a world that he wasn’t a part of.

The
beast looked down at his mate in confusion. He could feel her sadness. Stepping
closer to him she leaned into his broad chest and nuzzled her face into the
dark fur.

Standing
so close to him Ava could feel him suddenly tense and turn his head towards the
edge of the woods. Lifting his head the beast scented the air. Oh, no! Did he
scent the female werewolf? Ava carefully scanned the woods in the direction he
had turned. Teagan snarled and shoved her behind him, crouching low, preparing
to defend her.

No,
no! Not like this! He was going to attack her!
Ava
peered around his massive shoulders. She blinked her eyes and suddenly the
female was standing at the edge of the clearing. Her super natural speed coming
to a sudden halt as she froze at the edge of the trees.

Ava
focused on the small female’s face but her poor brain couldn’t process what she
was seeing.

“Kat!?”
It couldn’t be. The stress must have finally caused her to snap.

Before
Ava could process what was happening, Kat was slowly lowering herself to her
knees. Ava had a death grip on the back of Teagan but she didn’t kid herself
that she would actually be able to hold him back if he decided to charge Kat.
Ava could feel the rage radiating from the beast in front of her.

The
female’s scent was strangely familiar. She smelled of Lykan, she smelled of…
his brother. It was a trap. There was no way this female could be bonded to his
brother. The raging beast roared to life from within Teagan’s chest. He wanted
her to leave. He wanted her to run.

He
threw his clawed hands out to his sides and roared his rage at the female
werewolf. Ava longed to cover her ears but didn’t dare let go of him for even a
second.

Poor
Kat, had lowered herself to her knees and bowed her head. She looked so small
and defenseless, Ava was terrified for her friend. Kat obviously knew her way
around male Lykan as she had placed herself in a nonthreatening position. Ava
could see her brave friend’s hands shaking in her lap.

It
wasn’t working, Ava realized as terror shot through her system. Teagan wasn’t
backing down and instead was becoming more enraged that his roar didn’t send
the little female running. To her horror, suddenly Ava could feel him snap.

 Time
seemed to freeze and then move forward in slow motion. With a roar he broke
free of Ava’s grip and charged Kat.

“No!”

Ava
didn’t think she just reacted. Just as the massive feral werewolf reached his
prey a small body collided with his, trying to come between him and his target.
He reacted instinctively and swatted the obstacle out of his way with a slash
of razor sharp claws. Reaching his prey, he drew back his claws, ready to
attack and froze. The warm vanilla scent of his mate’s blood flooded his
senses.

Immediately
he turned his cold black eyes towards the scent and roared with pain. His
mate’s tiny form lay broken on the hard forest floor. Blood poured from four
large gashes across her ribcage. Her small body had been carelessly thrown next
to a large rock and blood ran freely from a cut on her head.

Abandoning
his quivering prey he raced to his mate. Gathering her limp body into his arms
he threw his dark head back and howled at the waning moon.
He
had done
this to her. It was his mate’s blood that stained his black claws. Blinded by
the rage that constantly threatened to consume him he hadn’t realized it was
his mate that had come between him and his target.