Blackwing Wolf (Kane's Mountains Book 2) (13 page)

Emma woke with a start when something heavy shoved her. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. For a moment, she was still back in the coven house where it should’ve been daylight hours. But staring at her in the dark were two glowing gold eyes.

She gasped and reached for him, brought her knee up to peg him in the throat, but the sheets kept her trapped.

Two hands held her shoulders pinned to the bed, but then her eyes adjusted slightly to the dark. “Beast?” She could barely hear her own voice.

Shoving the behemoth off her, she reached for her hearing aids in the charger. The light flickered on, nearly blinding her. “Geez,” she howled in pain, closing her eyes tightly against the fluorescent light above.

“We have to go.” Beast had improved at forming his words carefully for her to read his lips. Why did he look panicked?

Emma scanned the room for Dustin, but he wasn’t here. Just Winter, who was on the phone talking too fast for Emma to read her lips, and Logan, leaned against the doorframe with his glowing, nearly-white eyes glued to his mate. Beast pulled her from the bed as she struggled to secure her hearing aids. The air smelled like feeding nights in the coven. The scent of thick iron wafted through the open doorway. What the hell was happening?

She parted her lips to ask, but Beast pulled one of Dustin’s T-shirts over her head, shoved a pair of rain boots onto her feet, and dragged her out the door.

“Kane has ordered us off this,” Winter said in a frantic voice. “He said Dustin has the right to handle it alone.”

“Then fucking stay here,” Beast growled out.

Emma nearly tripped over a body. A dead body that was lying face down, bleeding all over the concrete from his neck. Close by were two dead wolves. “Oh, my gosh,” she uttered, nausea curdling in her gut. “Who killed them?”

“Dustin killed those two. Me the other. Emma, we don’t have time for this.” Beast turned and threw her over his shoulder like a caveman and strode across the parking lot to a blue Ford Raptor.

“Whose truck is this?” she asked as he shoved her into it.

Beast didn’t answer until he’d bolted around the other side and climbed in. “It’s mine.”

“What? Why haven’t you been driving then. We’ve been riding around in Logan’s wrecked truck for weeks. Those were bodies back there. Blood. Where are we going?” she asked over the roar of the engine. Her hands were going numb. Maybe she was in shock. “Where is Dustin?”

“Dammit, Beast!” Winter said, banging on the window. He rolled it down as he backed out of the parking spot.

“Are you coming or not?” he gritted out.

“We can’t! I heard the order. I can’t leave this damn parking lot if I tried. Neither can Logan. Beast, I don’t think you should do this. If Dustin’s hurt, you won’t be able to stop yourself from ending him.”

“I’ll stop myself.”

“You won’t!”

“I will! He’s supposed to be crew, Winter. I was wrong. Kane’s wrong. I’m not officially registered so I give zero fucks about an order from an alpha who isn’t my alpha yet. We’ll bring him back.”

“Alive!” Winter screamed as he peeled out. “Promise me!”

But Beast only gripped the steering wheel and snarled. His phone lit up in the console. He immediately chucked it out the window, but not before Emma caught a glimpse of the name flashing across the caller ID.
Kane.

“What’s going on?” Emma asked.

“Buckle your seatbelt,” Beast demanded. His face was terrifying right now.

Emma clicked it quietly into place and clasped her hands in her lap. She wore the oversized T-shirt Beast had dressed her in, but no pants, and it was cold. Gooseflesh covered her entire body.

Beast cast her a quick glance and turned the heat on full-blast. “I forgot you are human,” he muttered.

“Beast, where is Dustin?” She was really trying not to have a full-blown panic attack, but Beast was going sixty on a winding and wet road.

“Dustin isn’t what you think he is.”

“A werewolf?”

“Exactly that, but he isn’t crew. He isn’t eligible.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s still a member of the Valdoro pack. And I don’t know exactly how this is going to play out, but my gut tells me you need to be here for whatever goes down.” Beast nearly went up on two wheels as he jerked the wheel and skidded across the pavement onto a muddy back road.

“Where are we going?”

“To the place Dustin has been secretly meeting his pack for weeks.”

Emma’s heart sank down to the pristine floorboard of Beast’s truck. “No,” she said on a heartbroken breath. “He wouldn’t.”

“And yet…”

“You followed him?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Because like I told you, stalking is fun, and that wily wolf made the game interesting. His pack is the one who hunted Lexi of the Bloodrunners.”

“Air Ryder’s mate?”

“That’s the one. They hunted her, and the Bloodrunner Dragon burned their asses. Ate most of them, but a few of them got away. Far as I could tell, Dustin didn’t join the hunt, and he’s being punished by his alpha.”

“Axton. His brother.”

“Who he still gives fealty to. We would’ve offed his dumbass earlier, but Rowan demanded we let you try to save him. Kane and I have been prepared to pull the trigger on the weremutt as soon as he picked a side.”

“Choose a side? Valdoro Pack or Blackwings?”

“Exactly.”

“And has he? Picked a side?”

“Those bodies back there? They were coming after you, Emma.” Beast cast her a significant look. “They’re dead because he picked you. He chose the Blackwings, too, but he should’ve asked for backup. He doesn’t understand how a crew works.” Beast swerved this way and that, avoiding tree stumps and mud holes in the road. “Or fuck, maybe I don’t understand. I’m used to a pride, and you breathe, bleed, and die for each other no matter what. Winter and Logan should be in the backseat. The fucking dragons should be in the air headed our way. They’re not, so it’s you and me. And Dustin if we reach him before those wolves tear him apart.”

Beast slammed on the brakes and cut the lights and engine. He reached in the back floorboard and pulled a rifle out of the darkness. “Please, woman, tell me you know how to use one of these. You lived in a coven. Tell me they gave you some form of self-defense training.”

Emma realized she knew almost nothing about Beast. This was the most words he’d ever strung together in front of her, and now he had a Raptor, knew everything about Dustin, he’d been Kane’s secret right hand in the crew, and had a really nice weapon that he was currently shoving bullets into.

“It’s a two-seventy. Yes, I can use it fine, but we’re kind of fucked if the rainclouds open up right now. Also it’s really low light, so if there isn’t an artificial source, this is useless.”

Beast handed her the weapon, careful to keep the barrel pointed out the door she’d just kicked open. “Pray for headlights. Let’s go. And for God’s sake, be quiet. Fucking humans are loud as elephants in the woods.”

Emma looked down at the billowing T-shirt and pink galoshes Beast had shoved onto her feet. This right here was a man with impossible expectations. Shaking her head, she slid out of the truck and shouldered the strap of the gun, then closed the door as softly as possible.

She followed Beast quietly, but not two steps into the woods, a long, low howl lifted into the air, then was joined by another, and another, and another, and another…

“Shhhit,” Beast muttered. “Valdoro pack should only be two wolves. Axton must’ve brought in reinforcements. Screw making noise, Human, move those legs.”

“What are they doing?” she whispered as she sprinted behind him on a trail he’d obviously used before.

“Hunting. Or killing.”

No. No, no, no. Dustin was out here, and she got the awful feeling something bad was happening to him. He’d chosen the side that was going to get him hurt, or worse. Bile crept up her throat as Emma pushed her legs harder. Beast was too fast, his strides twice the length of hers. He was graceful like the big cat that dwelled inside of him and apparently had fantastic night vision.

Up ahead, she could make out light through the trees. Her legs and lungs burned, but still she pushed herself faster, squishing through the mud, slipping and sliding and scrabbling for purchase as Beast lengthened the distance between them. Beast disappeared into the night, and Emma had a horrifying moment of panic. Up until the point he grabbed her ankle and dragged her down beside him. He’d flattened down behind some brush, so she settled the rifle on a strip of grass in front of them and did the same. Through the branches, she could see them.

In the high beams of several cars, there was a loose circle of wolves, ducking in and out, dodging, some lowering to their bellies before standing again, ears erect, lips curled back. Their teeth weren’t white, though. They were red. The howling and yipping was constant.

The circle thinned in front of Emma and Beast, and she gasped at what she saw. A massive black wolf was tangled in a vicious fight with two gray wolves.

Emma bolted upward, but Beast dragged her down and slammed a hand over her mouth, then shook his head and gave her the deadliest look she’d ever seen.

Read my lips
, he mouthed.
There is no honor among wolves. He’s giving them hell, but they will eventually kill him. Which one is Axton?

She shook her head.
Dustin never told me what he looked like.

Fuck. I’m going in. If you figure out which one the alpha is
… Beast gripped the barrel of her rifle and shook it gently, then raised his eyebrows.
End it.

Okay. Beast!
She grabbed his arm.
They’ll kill you.

Beast shrugged and smiled sadly.
All I have to live for is the D-Team
. He hesitated a moment more, stood and pulled off his shirt, and then strode into the clearing.

His battle cry tapered into a roar, and the massive, broken lion he kept tucked inside of him ripped out of his skin. Some of the wolves scattered for a second, but as Beast charged, the pack rallied.

Emma couldn’t take her eyes from Dustin. He was brutal, and already three lay dead around him. He was holding his own with two, and with Beast taking heat off him, he was moving more freely, snapping and snarling and connecting with flesh so fast he blurred from one position to the next. A submissive animal shouldn’t be able to do what he was doing, but perhaps the pack had finally broken him. Perhaps they’d finally pushed him too far.

She had to figure out which one was Axton. He couldn’t be one of the dead ones, or the wolves would’ve pulled off the attack. Unless the alpha of the other pack here was calling all the shots now. God, she wished she understood pack dynamics better, but Dustin had always seemed to want to live in the here-and-now and forget about pack stuff when he was with her. Now she realized he had been protecting them in a way. She hated their hold on him.

Dustin and Beast were fighting side by side, mauling the wolves as they lunged. More were trotting in from the woods to the east, though. Axton had called in multiple packs, and all for what? To kidnap her? To kill her? No. The psychopath had pulled in packs to kill his own flesh and blood brother. She fucking hated them.

Emma pulled the hammer back and shoved a bullet into the chamber, took off the safety, and carefully aimed the rifle through the branches. She couldn’t hit a single one or the ricochet could be catastrophic. The scope was picking up some light, but she was limited on where she could aim. Several parked cars had their headlights on, but even if she could get a clear shot, Dustin and Beast were everywhere. Two killing machines with empty eyes and blood-soaked muzzles. Dustin’s fur was matted, but if he was hurt, he wasn’t acting like it. He fought without a limp, fought without any impairment—just lethal precision.

He’d joked about being submissive, even told her about hating that part of himself, but he wasn’t giving his neck to anyone tonight.

Dustin was war in motion.

The brush rustled behind her, and with a gasp, Emma rolled over onto her back, dragging the gun with her. The wolf that ran from the ferns was hideous. He was a mottled black and gray wolf with white eyes and burn scars down one side of his body. He looked like he had mange since his hair only grew in patches. His lips were curled back, exposing razor sharp teeth. He was lanky, but bigger than Dustin’s wolf by several inches. His face was the stuff of nightmares. Axton, she would venture to guess.

No time to look in the scope, she lifted the barrel and pulled the trigger. The butt of the rifle slammed against her shoulder because she hadn’t the time to position it right, but that was nothing compared to the pain of the weight of the snarling wolf. Axton slipped on his back leg where her shot had landed, and that injury was buying her time. Emma fought like some wild thing, using the gun to keep his jaws off her neck. “Dustin!” she screamed.

Desperate to live, Emma’s system filled with adrenaline as she kicked against Axton, and pushed against the gun. Just as her strength failed and Axton lunged forward, something dark sailed over the brush behind her and barreled into her attacker. Axton flew sideways and spun into a tree, but Dustin wasn’t done with him. He attacked viciously. Beast roared behind her, and the air filled with the howling and barking of wolves. Emma should’ve been cheering Dustin on, happy for him that he was ending this, that he wasn’t on his belly begging to be a part of a pack that didn’t deserve him. She should’ve been fully immersed in the moment, but all she could do was stare at the seeping bite mark on her hand.