Without thinking, Chris raised his tranq gun and fired. The wolf went down with a whine. The three others reacted instantly, charging forward. Chris and Daren grabbed Baxter's arms and hauled the nearly unresponsive, panicked man to the truck.
Once inside, doors locked, Daren ordered, "Start the truck."
"I-I ccan't," Baxter stuttered.
"Then give me the keys," Chris said, holding out his hand.
Baxter's eyes grew impossibly wider, and his face paled further as he whispered, "I dropped them."
"Oh shit," Chris hissed.
The wrap of knuckles on glass had all three men jerking around in their seats. A dark-haired man stood at the window. The moonlight gleamed across his naked chest. One hand rested on the roof of the truck as he leaned in to peer at them. The other hand he, he dangled the keys.
"Ye wouldn't be lookin' fer this, now would ya?" he drawled.
Baxter exchanged glances with the other two men in the cab with him, but none of them spoke. The werewolf crouched, disappearing from view for a second. They heard him mutter something, but Chris couldn't make out the words. A black wolf loped out of the field, heading east. The man, creature, clearly comfortable with his nakedness, walked over and checked the pulse of the downed animal that Chris had shot. A brown wolf sat next to the sleeping animal as if guarding it.
It occurred to Chris that they were in serious shit. They'd invaded werewolves' territory, shot one, and now were effectively captured. His thoughts turned to Manon, and a burning wish to see his lover one more time before the reinforcements that Chris was sure the guy had sent for got there and killed them all.
Chapter Ten
Manon sighed and headed out of the hospital. Finally, he mentally grumbled. Looking at his phone, he realized it was almost eleventhirty. Good thing he hadn't tried to make a late date with his mate. Hitting a button, he felt his brows lift when he saw a text message from Declan. He grinned, his inner wolf pleased to have their alpha home safe.
The pleasure faded when he read the words on his phone. We need to talk about your mate. No congratulations. No desire to meet Chris. Just … we need to talk. He couldn't remember any other shifter being given shit about their mate.
Even Nick's mate, Miach had be en welcomed into the pack. Well, after the human had renounced his ties to the scientists and helped them release some injured shifters, anyway.
"Only one way to find out," Manon muttered.
Hitting speed dial, Manon eased behind the wheel of his Camaro and waited. He heard the line pick up on the second ring. "Manon, thank ye for callin' me back," Declan greeted warmly. Okay, so his alpha wasn't angry.
"Of course, Alpha. Welcome back to the states," he replied. "I
hope your vacation was relaxing and enjoyable."
"Thank ye," Declan responded dryly. "Most of it was very
enjoyable."
Manon's brows lifted, and he didn't even know how to respond
to that bit.
Fortunately, Declan continued. "We have a problem," Declan
stated. "It seems Chris is in the mountains with a couple friends.
They're tranqing me wolves. Did he not take ye being a shifter
well?"
"Fils de putain," he snapped. Manon shut his eyes, struggling to
control the pounding in his ears. The instinctual cussing sent him
to wondering if Chris would know what the foreign explicative
meant-son of a bitch. His mate had known the others he'd let slip.
The human was such a mix of sweet and worldly.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to focus. "I ha' no' talked
to Chris abou' dat yet." With his accent so thick, Manon wondered
if his alpha could understand him. "Wha' da hell happened?" "He's in the same area as where ye trapped the
environmentalists," Declan told him. "Shane told me that Roman's
brother got away."
"Oui," Manon replied. A big pair of scared brown eyes flashed
through his memory. Suddenly, he saw those eyes with a different
background. Tan walls. Pictures of animals and humans, happy and
laughing, playing and romping. A reception desk. "Oh. Oh, no.
The boy at the animal rescue center," he whispered.
Declan must have heard him anyway, for he asked, "What are
ye talkin' about?"
"Damn it! Why didn't I recognize him before?" he snapped,
losing his thick accent. He already knew the answer. Manon had
been too busy kissing his mate's neck. Shoving a hand through his
hair, he said, "I met up with Chris at the animal shelter in Colin
City. He was picking up a kitten," he admitted absently. Declan snorted.
Manon grimaced. "Yeah. Anyway, the boy behind the counter
is the same one who was in the truck that peeled away from the
scene," he muttered.
"Oh, aye," the alpha muttered. "Well, it looks like the brother
might have seen more than we thought. I'll have Cliff break into
the truck they're hidin' in and bring them to me house. Meet us
there."
The line disconnected, not offering Manon the opportunity to
object or even ask for more information. "Damn it!" he growled.
He quickly started the car and slammed it into gear, peeling out of
the parking lot.
The entire ride, Manon mentally berated himself. He knew he should have found a way to broach the subject of his ability to shift. He could admit, at least to himself, that his maman's prophesy had him scared. Manon didn't want to spook his mate.
He already loved him too much.
Manon groaned, admitting that, even just in his mind. Yeah.
Less than a week and he already loved the cute, spunky human.
There was something about his mate that he couldn't resist. Damn
Fate and her abilities!
Twenty minutes later, Manon grimaced as he bounced down
Declan's driveway. He tried his best to steer around the pot holes,
all the while cursing how his alpha used them to deter wayward
teenagers searching for a make-out spot. If they just paved the
damn driveway, no teenager in his right mind would turn onto it in
the dead of the night!
He'd barely parked and shut off his car when he leaped from the
vehicle and raced up the porch. Lark pulled open the door before
he reached it and Manon skidded to a stop in the foyer. "Where's
Chris?" he asked without preamble.
To Manon's surprise, Lark nibbled his lip and looked pensive.
He fought the urge to shake the answers out of the small human,
knowing what a mistake it'd be to touch his alpha's mate. "He's gone," Lark finally blurted out.
Manon's mind froze for a couple seconds, and he couldn't
process Lark's words. "What?"
"We put him and his friends in a bedroom upstairs. I guess we
should have watched them more closely because they went out the
window and climbed down the trellis," Lark told him.
"What! Did you no' tell dem dey were safe?" Manon asked, his
voice nearly cracking with suppressed fear, reverting back to his
accent.
"Well, yeah," Lark snapped, "but they obviously didn't believe
us."
Stepping out on the back deck, he inhaled deeply. His eyes
narrowed as he caught Chris's scent. He recognized several others,
his alpha, Cliff-their pack's lead tracker-and Daren. He yanked off his clothes. "If dey come back, have dem howl,"
he said, then shifted. He wouldn't normally order the alpha-mate around, but all he could think about wasfinding his lost mate. He'd
worry about the consequences of his actions later.
"I'm sorry, Manon. We both are," Lark said.
With his body reshaping, Manon didn't bother trying to answer.
As soon as he could get his paws under him, Manon took off after
Chris. He moved swiftly, leaping logs, ducking under branches,
and dodging shrubs and trees. His mate and his friends were being
followed by Declan and Cliff and from the strength of the scents,
he wasn't far behind them.
Manon ran as if the hounds of hell were after him. His goal of
getting to his mate was the only thing able to penetrate his mind.
He needed to track Chris down, catch him, make him understand
that he was still the same man who'd been loving him for the last
week.
A wolf howled up ahead and Manon poured more strength into
his limbs, lengthening his stride. He leaped to clear a log, leaves
parting around him, and he landed in a clearing. On the far side,
backed against a dropoff were the three humans. Cliff's black
wolf sat on his haunches twenty feet away next to a naked, human
Declan.
Declan was trying to talk to them, but from their wide eyes, pale
faces, and the stench of fear filling the clearing, the humans
weren't listening. Manon's alpha sighed with obvious frustration
and ran a hand over his bald pate. He looked over his shoulder and
spotted Manon. "Good. Maybe ye can talk some sense into these
guys, Manon. They aren't listening to a word I say," Declan said