Dark Wolf Unbound (Heart of the Shifter #2)(10)

Fuck. This wasn't how it was supposed to go down. He didn't give a shit  if he died, but if he died, it meant Abby had no protection against this  bastard. He crouched low, protecting his belly, teeth bared as he  prepared for the attack. His only chance would be to come from  underneath and latch onto a soft, unprotected part. It was risky, but he  had no choice. One more hit to his leg, and he'd be unable to continue.  As it was, his muscles were shaking violently, barely able to contain  the pain.

The black wolf tensed to spring and-

Sirens suddenly screamed in the distance. Both wolves froze, listening.  The black wolf snarled, then spun away. He scooped up his clothes in his  teeth, then bolted out the door, disappearing from sight as his  toenails clicked on the asphalt as he deserted the scene.

Jace immediately collapsed on the hard floor, unable to hold himself up for a moment longer.

"Jace!" Abby leapt to her feet. "We need to get out of here."

Her urgency pierced his veil of pain. She was right. They had to leave.  Now. Swearing, he tried to stand, but his body gave out on him.  Desperation raged through him as Abby hurried over, blood oozed from the  bite marks in her neck. Son of a bitch. He had to get her out of there.  With his history, the cops would lock him up, and there was no way he  was going to leave her unprotected while he rotted behind bars. With a  surge of energy, he forced himself to shift back to his human form. He  bellowed with agony as the bones, muscles, and tendons in his crushed  leg shifted, collapsing again as his body fought to hold itself  together. Holy fuck.

Abby crouched beside him, her face stark with pain and fear. "Are you okay?"

The sirens were getting louder. "Fantastic." His voice raw, he grabbed  the railing and hauled himself to his feet. He was naked, covered in  blood, with a woman who had wolf bites on her neck...and the police were  coming. They had to bail, but if she was in danger of dying, he was  going to make her stay so the paramedics could save her. "Let me see."

She didn't hesitate. She just pulled her hand from her neck. "I'm okay."

His gut went cold when he saw the wounds. They were deep and raw, the  marks of a dominant wolf trying to punish. Her fragile skin had been  marked and torn...but it hadn't been a killing bite. She was marked, but  barely bleeding. Satisfied she wasn't in danger at the moment, he  nodded. "Okay, let's go."

She slung his arm over her shoulder, supporting his injured side. "Hurry."

He used her only for balance, refusing to burden her with his weight as  he hopped across the floor, every movement sending shards of pain  through him. Sweat trickled down his back in rivulets, the pain so great  he could barely stay conscious. He knew it shouldn't hurt that badly,  but he didn't have time to assess it. They had to get away first.

"Lean on me, Jace." She ordered as they slipped outside to the alley where he'd left his SUV.

"No." If he leaned on her, he'd impede both of their movements. She  needed to be able to run, and he needed to be able to fight. But son of a  bitch, he'd never felt pain like this before. It wasn't only in his  ankle. It was everywhere in his body, as if his blood was literally  burning him up from the inside.

He stumbled and she caught him. He fought for balance, but soon she was  half-dragging him across the alley toward his truck. The sirens were  screaming now, almost upon them.

"Get in!" She pulled open the passenger door, and he fell onto the seat, barely able to drag his injured leg into the car.

"My keys," he gasped. "They're in my pants. In the alley. Near the fire escape."

"Got it!" She flung the door shut and raced away.

Jace leaned back against the seat, fighting for breath, focusing on the  pain and willing it out of his body. It wasn't only about the pain,  however. He could tell that his ankle was absolutely pulverized. The  bones had turned to dust, the tendons and muscles shredded. It was so  far beyond what he could heal, even as a shifter. He knew it would never  heal. There was no way he could be an alpha, or survive in his world on  three legs. Weakness would be exploited, and he would be targeted.  "Fuck!"

Abby opened the driver's door, and flung his clothes at him. She jammed  the keys into the ignition and the engine roared to life. She hit the  gas and the SUV leapt forward, the tires spinning on the dirty alley  floor. Jace gritted his teeth as he slid across the seat, his ankle  bumping against the side of the car.

The car flew out of the alley, skidding as she turned right on the main  road. Jace twisted around in his seat, watching the street behind them.  Just as she turned the car around the next corner, the police cars came  into view, screaming to a stop in front of the apartment building.                       
       
           



       

As Abby drove, he kept watching behind them, waiting for the cops to  come after them...but they didn't. After five minutes, he realized they  were safe.

With a low groan, he finally turned around and sank into the seat. He  was still naked, bloody, and broken, but he didn't give a shit. His  clothes were in a pile on his lap, and that was all the modesty she was  going to get. "We're good." His adrenaline began to fade, leaving him  with no protection against the pain. He closed his eyes, gritting his  teeth. His mind was spinning now, fragmenting as it tried to defend  against the utter destruction of his leg.

"You need a hospital," she said. "They'll have to operate."

"No. They'll put in steel plates and pins. I'll never be able to shift again."

"But-"

He opened his eyes to look at her. "No."

She pressed her lips together. "You think being a crippled shifter is better than being a healed man?"

"Yeah, I do." He watched her drive through half-lidded eyes. "If I  hadn't been able to shift today, that black wolf would have you right  now. So, yeah, it's better. My world is the shifter world, not the human  one." He closed his eyes again, needing to focus all his energy on his  leg. "I need time to try to heal it as best I can. We'll go to my place.  It's safe." He gave her his address, gritting his teeth when the car  hit a bump. "Can you get us there?"

"Of course." She looked over at him. "You should wrap your ankle. It's..." She grimaced. "God, Jace, it looks horrible."

"It's fine." She was right, though. He needed to stabilize it. With a  groan he couldn't suppress, he grabbed his tee shirt and tore it into  strips. He leaned over to wrap his ankle, but the moment his fingers  touched it, he almost doubled over from the pain. "Son of a bitch." He'd  been bitten dozens of times in his life. He'd had wounds that should  have killed him, but nothing had hurt like his leg. It was as if all the  broken fragments kept shifting position, igniting new shards of pain.

Or maybe it hurt so much because he knew he wasn't going to be able to  heal it properly. The loss of his leg was as agonizing as the pain  itself. It wasn't like getting his gut ripped open. He could heal that.  But his ankle? He'd seen shifters with injuries like his, and they never  healed sufficiently. He'd never be able to do what he needed to do  again. But he was going to try. He was damned good at healing, and he  wasn't going to give up easily. If he could regain even partial use of  it, that would help. But he knew he'd never have the agility he once  had. It was over, forever.

"Do you want me to splint it?" she asked.

"No." Shit, no. He wasn't that weak. With a growl of determination, he  jerked the strip of his tee shirt around his ankle, wrapping it tightly.  White spots swam before his eyes, but he didn't stop. He just wrapped  the fucking thing like a mummy, until his ankle was swathed in a  bloodstained tourniquet that would do nothing to actually heal it, but  might support it enough for him to walk if he needed to.

He leaned back against the seat, sweat beading from every pore in his  body. He closed his eyes, knowing he needed to sleep, but unwilling to  leave Abby unprotected. "Who was he?" he asked. "The black wolf. He knew  you. It was personal." When she didn't answer, he looked over at her.  Her face was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

Protectiveness surged through him, propelled by a dark sense of  foreboding. Instinctively, he scanned their surroundings, making sure no  one was following him...but he'd done that at the apartment, and he  hadn't sensed the black wolf. "Talk to me, Abby. What don't I know?"

"I thought he was dead," she whispered. She glanced over at him, her  eyes wide with the kind of fear that made outrage pour through him. "He  was supposed to be dead."

"Who?"

"He...." She swallowed. "He's my sister's husband. Seth's father."

Son of a bitch. His father?