Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: Shadowmaster\Running with Wolves (44 page)

“All right, Malcolm,” she said as she stopped in front of him. “I'll marry you.”

* * *

In a hazy pain-induced blur, Jason watched Shay walk toward Malcolm.
No! Shay.
His words reverberated in his head as frustration grew within him. He saw Malcolm put his hand on her back. Claiming her.

Jason wanted to scream, would have screamed if he could have but the only sound he made was a pathetic whimper. The paste Shay had put on his wound was cooling the burning fire in his leg. But it wasn't enough. Helplessly he watched Shay agree to give herself to Malcolm. To voice his biggest fear.
I'll marry you.

Once she married Malcolm, there would be nothing he could do to protect her from his every whim. To be with her. Fury and despair comingled and surged through him, fueling his adrenaline. Vicious snarls erupted from his throat. Desperately, he tried to get to his feet, but his leg wasn't strong enough to hold him and he collapsed back to the ground, his heart pounding painfully in his chest.

“Jason!” Shay cried, and tried to come back to him, but Malcolm pulled her away, whispering in her ear something he couldn't hear.

The acrid scent of her fear was so thick Jason could taste it in the air. He had to help her. He tried to move again, to crawl to her on his belly. He made it maybe a foot when his leg caught on a root rising out of the ground. He yelped as agony shot through him. The roaring of his blood though his veins and the pounding of his heart drowned out all sounds, even the frantic barking of Buddy still trapped in the pit.

Jason tried to move again, desperate to reach Shay, but the pain was so severe, blackness folded in on him. He fought it with what little strength he had left. He couldn't leave her now. Not like this. He'd promised. He said he'd protect her. He'd said he'd hold her in his arms each night, if only she'd marry him.

Marry
him.

He tried once more to move, before the darkness claimed him and he saw no more.

Chapter 18

A
numbing calm inched over Shay, seeping into her bones until she was so cold she could barely feel Malcolm's hand at her back, nor notice Jaya until she was standing in front of her.

“I do not abide by this, Malcolm. And neither will the council,” Jaya said.

“Who will tell them? All they are going to find out is that you married us. Right here in the forest on her daddy's land. It's what Shay wanted, and we didn't want to wait another moment to be together.”

“And what happens when the council sees what you've done to Jason?”

“What makes you think I did anything to Jason? He fell into a hunter's pit. Who knows how long that pit has been there? Hell, Shay's daddy probably built it. No one has been on these lands since then, no reason for anyone to be.”

Shay glanced back at Jason lying under the tree. He was no longer moving. She had to do something to help him.

Malcolm followed her gaze. “Let's get started, Jaya, before our friend bleeds out all over the place.”

Shay couldn't let Jason die on her. Now that she'd found him, she couldn't lose him. But what could she do?

“Do you, Shay?”

Shay looked blankly at Jaya. What had she been saying? “I'm sorry?”

“Do you take Malcolm as your husband? To respect him always, as your leader, as your master?”

Revulsion stirred thick in her chest.
No!
She wanted to scream her denial. But she couldn't. Her mouth went dry as she tried to say the word Malcolm wanted to hear. But her tongue thickened and her throat closed up. All she managed to do was nod.

“What was that?” Malcolm asked.

“Yes,” she whispered, and stole another quick glance at Jason.

The sooner they got this over with, the sooner Jaya could get back to him and they could get him to a hospital.

Malcolm's hand tightened on her back as he tried to draw her attention back to him. Shay stared straight ahead. She refused to look at him. He was beyond reprehensible. He was a beast.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Jaya said the words but Shay barely heard them. Even as Malcolm tried to pull her to him, she turned, pushing him away. She had to get back to Jason, to get as far away from this animal as she could. But she couldn't. He wouldn't let her go.

She swatted at his hands, twisted and turned, trying to break free. “Let me go!”

She might be married to him, but that didn't mean she had to have anything to do with him. Before she could tell him so, Scott and two men appeared from out of nowhere.

“I'm afraid I can't let you do this.”

Shay recognized him as one of the men from the cave.

Malcolm stepped in front of her. “What are you talking about, Mitch? And what are you doing here with him?” Malcolm gestured toward Scott.

“You have to help Jason,” Shay said to her cousin. “He's hurt really bad.”

“We will. But first, tell me what's happened here.”

“My wife doesn't have to tell you anything,” Malcolm said, stepping forward, chest out, shoulders back, fury glittering in his eyes.

“You're already married?” Scott's mouth hardened as he looked accusingly at her.

“I had no choice,” she insisted. “And it doesn't matter. Jason is what matters. You have to help him,” Shay pleaded when Scott still didn't move. She took a step back toward Jason. She had to get to him. Jaya was leaning over his body, her eyes closed, her lips moving.

“You're too late, Scott. It's over.” Malcolm reached back and grabbed her hand before she could get away, then started pulling her toward the path to her father's house. She tried to resist, but he yanked harder.

Before she could protest, Mitch and his friend stepped forward, blocking the path. “We can't let you leave.”

Thank God.
She tried once more to pull free from Malcolm's grasp.

“How do you plan on stopping us?” Malcolm sneered as his grip tightened, his mouth an ugly misshapen hole in his face.

Scott stilled, a calculating smile lifting the corners of his thin lips. And then they attacked, all three jumping on Malcolm at once. Finally free, Shay turned and ran back to Jason and Jaya. The shouts of more men arriving surprised her. Malcolm's or Scott's, she couldn't be sure.

“You need to go,” Jaya whispered to her when she crouched next to them. “It's not safe. I've never seen so much bad energy in one place.”

“Seen? Can you see the auras, too?”

Wonder widened Jaya's eyes. “You are a surprise, Miss Shay. Remember you have good instincts. Just like your daddy did. You can trust them. They come from down here.” Jaya pointed at her stomach. “Never will they lead you wrong.”

Shay put her hand on Jason's cheek, stroking the soft fur. “He looks worse.”

“You can't help him here. Transform and run like the wind. Go get help. Tell them what happened,” Jaya insisted. “I'll stay with him.”

“I can't leave him,” she insisted.

“Girl, you're married to Malcolm now. You have no choice. If you want to save this wolf then get out of here and get help. I can't do what I need to to save him here. I need him back at my house with my herbs and my crystals and, as sure as the moon rises, I can't get him there on my own.”

Jaya's words dropped like a lead weight to the bottom of her stomach.
You're married to Malcolm now.
“All right. Tell me how to get to my grandparent's house.”

“Follow the sun.”

Shay stared at her, swallowing a groan. “Okay, when I get to the cliffs, right or left?”

“Left.”

Suddenly a shot sounded. Surprised, Shay looked up and saw even more men than before fighting one another. Mitch fell to the ground bleeding.

“Go. Now,” Jaya demanded. “They would rather see you dead than give the evil one more power.”

Shay leaned down and pressed her lips against Jason's head. “Don't forget your promise. Don't die on me. I love you, dammit!”

She'd finally said it. She only hoped it wasn't too late. Choking back her tears, she started to stand. A shot cracked the air. Something whizzed by her. Hot pain seared her arm. She looked down. Blood seeped from a wound where the bullet had grazed her. She spun round. Jaya was lying on her back, blood spreading across her chest.

“No!” Shay dropped, crouching over her, pressing her hands against the wound in Jaya's chest, trying to stop the bleeding. The woman didn't move. “Jaya! Please, don't die. You can't die.”

Tears flooded her eyes, blurring her vision, while she pressed as hard as she dared.

“Shay. Come on.” She looked behind her and saw Malcolm reaching for her. His face pale as he stared at Jaya lying in the dirt.

She pulled back. “No!”

“That bullet was meant for you. You have to go. Now.”

“I won't leave them.” Tears poured down her cheeks. “I have to stop the bleeding.” She pressed harder against the wound, blood seeping through her fingers.

“You have to, Shay.”

“Help her,” she demanded. “Jaya!” She shook the woman, but still she didn't move.

“She's dead, Shay. And you will be, too, if you don't move.”

Dead.

“No.” She started to sob, gulping big lungfuls of air.

Just then another man stepped out of the bushes, seemingly coming from nowhere. “Get him to Manny's,” Malcolm said to him, then stepped forward, grabbed Shay by the middle, picked her up and carried her into the trees as his men and Scott's continued to fight behind them.

“Let me go!” She pounded him as he slung her over his shoulder, fists flailing against his back until she was crying so hard she no longer had the strength to fight him.

“I can't,” he said. “They'll kill you.”

“Why?”

“Because of me.”

His words barely reached her. She closed her eyes and tried to block the images from her mind, of Jaya, her face turning pale as blood pooled on her chest. Jason lying next to her, barely moving, almost dead himself. The sickening thuds of men hitting and kicking one another. She couldn't think of it any longer. Instead she tried to think of the color of Jason's eyes when they were heavy and hooded with desire.

But even that hurt.

She didn't know how much time had passed before she resigned herself to the fact that they weren't going back. She couldn't get back to Jason. There was nothing she could do to fix this. Jaya was dead and Jason would probably die, too. Maybe even Buddy. Hot tears soaked the back of Malcolm's shirt as she bounced on his shoulder.

“You can set me down now,” she said. “You're bruising my ribs.”

He stopped. “Can I trust you not to run back there?”

She closed her eyes. “There's nothing I can do for them back there. Jaya died because of me. Because they were trying to kill me. I won't go back. But we have to find someone to help Jason. Please.”

“One of my men is helping him.” He set her on her feet, one hand steadying her. “Can you stand?”

She nodded. She could, but she didn't want to. She wanted to collapse right there under a tree, close her eyes and forget everything that had just happened. “How are they helping him? What will they do?” she whispered. “Will he be okay?” She couldn't think.

“I honestly don't know. I never expected...”

She looked up at him and was surprised to find his eyes swimming with sorrow and regret. But could she trust his emotions were real after everything he'd just done? Was he capable of true regret?

“We need to transform. Your arm is still bleeding. You need to heal and we have to get to my compound as soon as possible. It's the only place where you'll be safe. I'll make some calls and find out what happened to Jason. And to Jaya. Someone has to pay for her death.”

“How did this happen? Why would anyone want to kill me?”

“Because you're my wife. You solidify my position. With you dead, they would have a better chance of taking over.”

“You people are crazy.”

“We weren't always.” Regret once more crossed his face. “Jaya. Her daughter. They were very important to me. Now Jaya's gone and I don't know what we're going to do. I don't know how I'm going to tell Celia.” He began unbuttoning his shirt.

Shay's eyes widened and she took a step back. “Wait,” she muttered. She couldn't get naked in front of him. She wouldn't.

“Right,” he said with what could have been a small smile, but wasn't. “I keep forgetting this is all new to you. I'll give you some privacy.” He stepped through the bushes and behind a large tree.

She considered running, hightailing it back to Jason or trying to find help. But then she thought of Jaya lying on the ground, a bullet wound in her chest, and sadness, thick and heavy, fell over her, stealing her strength. There was nowhere she could go and she wouldn't get anyone else killed. All she could hope for was that Jason would get help. That Jason was still alive, and that Malcolm would take her to him. With reluctance she slipped out of her clothes and transformed.

A large black wolf stepped out from behind the tree and started running. She followed, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Free of her clothes, of her human skin, she realized she was also free from her emotions. The fear for Jason, the horror of Jaya's death was still there, but it was buried deep and no longer immobilizing.

She ran deeper into the forest, away from the scent of blood, from the sounds of anger and the footsteps of her pursuers. As they ran, she lost herself in the freedom and the sensations. She used her speed, her power to carry her away from the heady smell of death. Away from the fear. Except...she couldn't
feel
Jason.

The knowledge hit her fast and furious, blindsiding her. They'd been too late. The pain slicing through her was sharp and deep. She let out a long aching howl. She was alone now. Like she'd always been, like she was meant to always be.

They crossed a river, jumping over large boulders, moving silently through a grove of thick pines when the black wolf finally stopped before a large wooden gate. With his teeth, he pulled on a rope and the gate swung open. She followed him into a stone courtyard lined with trees and blooming flowers that surrounded a large pool and showcased a dark wood house framed by a towering wall of windows.

Shay glanced around the high-fenced compound as Malcolm changed, transforming back into a man. He stood before her naked. She dropped her head and looked away.

“I'll bring you a robe,” he said, walking over to the gate. He locked it then disappeared into a small pool house.

Her gaze followed the perimeter of the fence, searching for another gate, another way out, but she saw nothing. Malcolm reappeared with a fluffy black robe in his hand. One that matched the one he was wearing. “Change back and put this on. We have a lot to talk about.”

* * *

Jason woke to pain shooting through him. Someone was lifting him, carrying him, sending an excruciating throb reverberating through his body with each jarring step. He forced open his eyes, looking for Shay. Where was she? And then he remembered.

Malcolm.

His gaze fell on Jaya lying in the dirt, blood covering her chest. She had no heat signature. Not even the faintest sound of a beating heart or struggling breath reached him. Fear ripped through him. The Keeper of the Crystals, their healer, the one woman who kept the
Gauliacho
at bay, was dead. Without her to invigorate the crystals the demons would be able to breach the gates. Then all would be lost.

Despairing, a low keening howl erupted from his throat. Buddy started barking again. Pain arched through his leg. He cringed, whimpering as someone hefted him into the backseat of a truck. Before he could see who it was, or discover what they were going to do with him, darkness encroached and everything went black.