Her Wanted Wolf (17 page)

As if her thoughts willed her fears into being, threatening shadows
separated from the cover of the trees and lay in wait at the bottom of the
pass. The Redmavens had come to call.

Drew and a few of his pack brothers bolted forward. He moved in a lithe
display of graceful power. His werekin spread out beside him in battle
formation. He issued a snarling challenge.

The lead wolf responded with a rumbled growl.

Without breaking his stride, Drew leapt at the were, and they rolled over
in a writhing mass of muscles, bared fangs, and lethally extended claws. The
scent of blood filtered over to Sabine’s flaring nostrils. Harsh howls,
pain-filled yelps, and the snapping of bones resounded through the air.

Breath caught in her throat, Sabine froze, transfixed by the raw savagery
of the encounter. A nudge to her shoulder from the were beside her pulled
Sabine’s attention back to the job at hand. She veered to the left to avoid the
fight, instinctively dampening the additional odors emanated by the werekin
with her, apprehension from her pack sisters and frustration from the males who
couldn’t join the fight. They slipped past soundlessly, undetected by their
pursuers engaged in the vicious battle.

It went against everything in her not to help fight for their freedom,
but Drew had impressed upon her the importance of sticking to his plan.

Still filled with uncertainty, she moved, urged on by a throaty insistent
growl. Time slowed to a sluggish, mind-numbing pace as she bounded for the open
grassy field. All Sabine was aware of were the howls, yelps, and grunts shattering
the quietness of the night.

The sounds of the clash between the battling packs subsided, giving way
to a rhythmic whap-whap announcing the arrival of a trio of aircraft. Sabine
crouched low to the ground, her fur whipped by the wind created by the descending
helicopters.

The trepidation she’d suppressed thus far surfaced full force, her terror
weakening her knees.

Herded forward by Drew’s men, the hesitant she-wolves weren’t given a
choice. The male weres transformed into men, and they bundled the women into
the cavernous cabin of the unfamiliar vessels. The doors slammed shut on two of
the three vessels which swiftly took to the air.

Sabine shifted; she crawled into the craft and took a seat. She perched
gingerly on the hard uncomfortable bench, eyes shut tight. Her father was
right. The old ways were better. Wolves were not meant to fly. Four paws firmly
on the ground was the way any sensible wolf should travel.

On the verge of panicking in this unknown environment and fearing the
outcome of the battle, Sabine’s insides quaked in great heaves. Where the hell
was Drew? He should be here by now. Her mouth was desert dry, and the synapses
in her brain were frozen by fear. She could barely put a coherent thought
together, much less try to find his scent trail.

At the unexpected tap of her chin, her eyes flew open to see the subject
of her grim reverie grinning down at her. Drew’s face was illuminated by the
faint glow shed by the pinpoint lights in the floor, highlighting the sickly
yellow ring around his eye. She looked him over, hiding her anxiety as best as
she could. He had a few half-healed cuts, which she knew had originally been
much deeper by the width of the gashes.

“I hate you,” she informed him through numb lips.

He laughed. The whiteness of his teeth flashed in the dimness, the first
genuine smile she’d seen on his usually austere visage. If she weren’t so
terrified, she’d find the indentation in his left cheek charming.

“You look a little scared there, princess. You’re shivering.” He slid in
beside her, shut them in and fastened a belt around her hips. He flicked open a
blanket and wrapped it around her.

“I’m about to be launched into the sky. I have a lot to be scared of and
you’re to blame.” Her accusation added to his amusement. A soft laugh slipped through
his lips.

“What the heck do you have to be so happy about?”

“The rush from kicking some ass and I’m going home.” He let out a
satisfied sigh. “It’s a small pleasure in the middle of all this much crap. We
need to grab them when we can.” A hard glint flitted though his eyes.

Regretting that she’d shattered his mood, she changed the subject. “How
much damage did…?” Sabine clamped her lips shut when the deep growl of the
engine powering the machine increased. It was a threat as good as any issued by
an irate wolf. She wanted to cower against Drew’s body, to hang on to something
tangible. Instead, she pressed her spine to the solid piece of metal behind her
to hold herself up.

“Let’s go collect your father and sisters.”

The vehicle lifted vertically. Sabine’s heart heaved into her throat. She
shut her eyes and grabbed onto Drew’s bare thigh, her nails sinking into his
sinew. One thing she didn’t really need was to see how high off the ground they
were. Drew gently lifted her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. With
gratitude, she gripped his hand and held on for all she was worth.

Her stomach lurched when they banked at a sharp angle and soared out of
the valley like an angry bee.

When they didn’t plummet to their deaths as she’d expected, Sabine opened
her eyes and took a tentative peek through the window. She marveled at what she
saw. The trees below had shrunk to miniature shrubs, and the receding town
looked toy-like in its smallness. The star-riddled sky above them was a blanket
of blackness broken by puffy night-darkened clouds.

Suspended in the air, they seemed to be the only living things in the
vast expanse of the sky. Gradually, her fear gave way to wonder as they flew
amongst the stars. It was exhilarating in the most fearsome way.

She didn’t recognize anything from where she sat. How would they locate
her family? If they were on foot, she’d have used familiar landmarks to find
her way home.

“We’ll never find them,” she shouted over the din, her anxiety seeping
though in her voice.

Drew sat back and smirked. “Yes, we will. I left a GPS locater to guide
us in.”

“Modern gadgets,” she scoffed. She refused to reveal that she was
impressed by his astuteness. His knowing grin revealed she hadn’t fooled him
one bit. “It’s quite all right to appreciate my resourcefulness, you know,
Sabine. I’m your mate.” His soft taunt against her ear dissipated some of her
worry.

She turned to face Drew. “It could also be construed as deviousness.
That’s not a trait to be proud of.” Amber-ringed brown eyes met hers.

His gaze heated. “Oh I don’t know about that. I’m going to have to be
pretty slick to get you where I want you.”

There was no misinterpreting what he meant. She felt an answering heat
rush through her body.

Sabine jumped when the door slid open revealing a man dressed in a drab
one-piece garment. He seemed to walk on air and she let out a yelp. Sabine
braved it and poked her head out to see that he stood on a bar attached to the
underbelly of the beast hovering in the air. Madness.

“Where did he come from?” she squeaked.

“The cockpit.” Drew tried to keep his lips from twitching, but he lost
the battle and grinned teasingly at her. “Luke, Sabine. Sabine, meet Luke
Ambervane.”

He flashed Sabine a grin and a friendly nod in greeting. “Hey there.
Ready, Drew?” the man asked as he handed him clothes similar to his own.

Drew grunted. “Not in a million years, but I’ve committed to doing this.”
He pulled on the clothes and buckled on the oddest contraption. Sabine tried to
make sense of it. She winced in sympathy for Drew when he grunted as the straps
tightened between his thighs. The men then attached ropes to a device by the
door and to themselves.

“Since I’m risking life and limb here, how about a kiss for luck?” Drew
stared at her with a devilish glint in eyes, his hair billowing out behind him
in the choppy breeze. Sabine shook her head. She wasn’t moving from where she
was.

“See you soon, if I survive,” Drew said and stepped off into thin air.

Letting out a strangled shriek, Sabine instinctively reached out to stop
him from falling. Peering over the edge, she caught Drew’s belly-churning slide
down the ropes. They landed on the barely recognizable rocky formation above
her little hideaway.

Sabine watched Drew slip into the cave and quickly reappear with her
father in his arms. He strapped the lax lupine to himself, reattached the
tether, and gave a signal. The whine of the automated winch signaled their
climb.

Sabine whimpered, feeling useless as Drew and her father swung wildly in
midair. To Sabine’s relief, Drew finally steadied himself by bracing his feet
on the bar he’d leapt from moments before. Sabine scrambled back to give them
room. After unhooking Balthazar, he passed him to her. Gratefully, she gathered
her unconscious father into her arms and settled him across her lap to make him
as comfortable as possible in the limited space available. Her father was safe.
Unshed tears of relief burned her eyes, as she swaddled him in a blanket.

In short order, Ala popped into view, clinging to Luke like a limpet.
Sabine grinned at her waxy face. Helped in by Luke, Ala crawled across the
floor on shaky knees.

“I don’t know whether to be struck dumb with sheer horror or be amazed by
what’s happened,” Ala gasped. She gave Sabine a tremulous grin, plopped herself
down and wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

“I know exactly how you feel.” More than a little jittery herself, Sabine
took comfort from the warm presence of Ala’s body. She gratefully took the
blanket Sabine offered her.

Ishbel appeared next, her eyes shell-shocked, lips pinched and colorless.
She scrambled in beside them. “I’m never, ever doing that again.”

“Where is the girl?” Sabine shifted as best she could to make room for
Ishbel.

“She’s coming up next. She’s the lucky one being sedated, so she’ll be
oblivious. We swung in the air like a pendulum. I might need something to
settle my nerves myself.” Ishbel covered her pale face with her hands.

“Still think this was a good idea?” Sabine inquired, with a lack of
sisterly sympathy.

“I’m not sure right now with my stomach doing somersaults. At the time it
seemed like a great adventure,” Ishbel moaned, as Ala wrapped one end of the
blanket around her.

All conversation ceased when Drew inched up in front of them, the
unconscious girl bound to him. The men untied her and laid her on Ishbel’s lap.
They covered her and retook their seats. Drew dropped a cloth bundle by her
feet. Seeing the faded familiar print of her mother’s shawl, she looked askance
at Drew.

“I figured you’d want your treasures.” He slammed the door shut and
secured it.

In the distance, a howl resounded through the air. Goose bumps rose up on
Sabine’s skin. She’d never heard a wolf-call so full of rage and promised
reprisals bayed so vociferously.

Drew’s face lost its playfulness and a grim twist of his lips replaced
his cocky grin. Sabine ached for Drew and could only imagine how difficult it
was to stomach the thought of his sister in the hands of a wolf filled with
such anger and hate.

Sabine looked at her own siblings, and love for them welled up inside
her. The short time she’d been separated from Ishbel and Ala she’d felt
disconnected. Drew had not had contact with his sister for several weeks.

Sabine reached up and squeezed his thigh in a gesture of comfort. “We’ll
get her back, Drew. Anything you need from any of us you only have to ask.” Her
sisters nodded in agreement.

His eyes glittered as he considered, then they cleared. “They’ve had her
too long. Now I’ve raised the stakes. I’ll take your help and pray we won’t
live to regret it.” He looked away, but not before Sabine caught a glimpse of
the burden he carried.

A heavy silence fell over the enclosure. Sabine didn’t know what to say
to lighten the mood. She sat there with the weight of her father on her lap,
the steadfast presence of her sisters beside her, and remembered what she was,
what she sprang from.

She was a Silverwolf, warriors who were always on the front line of the
battles in times past, when they fought to secure the right to exist.

The remnants of their once large pack may not be battle-hardened, but the
instinct to fight was ingrained. In them he gained skill that couldn’t be
manufactured. He had the stealth and the means to hide himself from those he
hunted at his disposal. The Silverwolves’ word was gold, and they would see
this through.

Chapter Fourteen

Sabine let out a shaky relieved sigh when the aircraft finally set down
in a lit clearing. They’d been in the air for far too long and her stomach was
raw from the anxiety she’d experienced after she’d come down from the adrenaline
high of her family’s rescue.

Bright beacons atop tall poles created a wide circle of artificial light
around them with an eye-searing brilliance. Sabine blinked and squinted against
the glare. The tension coming off her sisters was palpable. She rubbed her
cheek against their shoulders and the small gesture seemed to comfort them.
Ishbel and Ala smiled back at her, lips quivering with the same uncertainty she
felt.

The door of the craft slid open and a gust of wind fluttered the tendrils
of hair surrounding her face. Sabine drew in the sharp tang of pine. The scent
wafting by her had a foreignness to it. The thinness of the air told her they’d
landed at a much higher elevation than her former home.

Drew jumped out, shedding the garment he wore. He lifted his head and
breathed in deeply before he let out a long emotion-filled howl.

It resounded with the joy of his homecoming, grief for his missing
sister, and a summons to his pack. Answering howls preceded the flood of spoor
filling her nostrils. The familial Lunedare scent was prevalent in the air.