Chasing Seth (28 page)

“No!” Seth shouted, shakily pushing himself to stand. He gripped at the bars as best he could, glaring at the stranger. “If you lay one hand on him, I’ll fucking kill you,” he growled ferociously.

The stranger threw his dark head back and laughed. “Temper, temper, my beautiful mate. You are going to be a spirited thing, I can see. I can hardly wait to tame you.”

Seth studied the man, trying to place him. He stood taller than Seth, at least six feet, with dark-brown hair and strangely light-green eyes that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. The crazed look about him suggested he wasn’t entirely sane. Something about him struck a chord in Seth’s mind, but he still couldn’t remember where he had seen the other wolf before. “What do you want?”

“Tsk, tsk, Seth. I would think you’d already understand what it is that I want.” The man stalked toward the cage, smiling smugly. “You didn’t think you could hide forever, did you? If only your parents hadn’t stolen you away from me all those years ago, you would know me as your true mate. Instead you believe that filthy Indian is your life mate.”

It clicked inside his head as Seth heard the man’s words. He searched for the name Nick had mentioned a few days prior. Charles… Charles Drakson. “Drakson,” he breathed out.

“Ah, I see you remember me, then, Seth. You should, as I am your true mate.” Charles drew himself to his full height, once again smiling arrogantly. He stepped closer to the cage and reached out to touch Seth. Seth reared back in horror, his skin crawling at the thought of the bastard touching him.

“You aren’t my true mate,” Seth bit out between clenched teeth, his blue eyes blazing at the deranged wolf in front of him. “Kasey Whitedove is my mate.”

Fury flooded the light eyes gazing at him, and Charles snapped his teeth. “No! You are mine. I will make you forget about that dog once I have rid myself of him.”

Seth feebly threw himself at the bars of the cage in his own desire to protect Kasey. He wrenched at the bars ineffectively. They wouldn’t budge. Tears burned behind his eyes, but he stifled them, refusing to allow his weakness to overcome him when Kasey needed him. “How did you know?” he asked quietly. “About Taggart and the Triad?”

An arrogant smirk curved the corner of Charles’s mouth as he prowled the cave restlessly. “Who do you think set the fire that night, Rho? I tracked him to the warehouse. There had been rumors of a Created one mated to a Rho spreading among the other wolves. Taggart bragged about you to anyone who’d listen. Whenever he came into contact with other wolves, he’d tell them all about you.”

Shock widened Seth’s eyes. They had never been able to figure out why the fire had started, only been grateful it had. Charles gave a bark of laughter. “What? Did you think you managed to escape on your own that night? You and that mutt? As if Nick Cartwright has ever been anything but reckless. Did he tell you Taggart found you because of him?”

“No!” Seth denied vehemently, yanking at the bars ineffectively. “You’re lying!”

Charles chuckled with malice. “You really are blind, Seth. Nick was Taggart’s original mark. He and Nick engaged in a… shall we say… one-night stand before Taggart became a Created.”

Seth’s breath caught in his throat. Had Nick bitten Taggart?

Charles waved a hand at Seth’s look of horror. “Oh, Nick isn’t the one who made Taggart. But he is the reason Taggart became a Created. Taggart wanted more than one night with Nick. He wanted Nick to continue being his fuck buddy, as you young ones call it nowadays. Only it wasn’t what Nick wanted. Taggart stumbled into a den of rogue wolves one night and ended up fodder for them. Except he didn’t die. He managed to survive and became a Created.”

Trembling at what Charles’s words meant, Seth shook his head with sheer disbelief. “It’s all lies,” he whispered.

“Nick led Taggart straight to you, Seth.” Charles cocked his head to the side, a pitying look on his face. “Did you really think Nick cared about you? He only stuck around because he felt responsible for you. The pack decided Nick had watched over you long enough and relieved him of the duty a few years back. They needed him back in the fold.”

A few years back? Seth’s heart leapt as he realized if Nick hadn’t truly cared about him, he never would have stayed after rescuing him from Taggart. Nick had been there every step of the way as Seth pushed through the pain and fear. If it hadn’t been for Nick, he never would’ve met Kasey. It wasn’t Nick’s fault Taggart had fixated on him. Seth gritted his teeth as he stared at the bastard who had tormented him over the last week. “You were the one who destroyed my clinic and killed Ginger and Bullet!”

Charles lifted a shoulder in a slight shrug. “I needed you to run again. I figured the only way you would is if you believed Taggart was alive. Oh, he died in the fire that night along with the rest of them, but you couldn’t know that for sure. I used the fear you still have of him to coax you into leaving town. You almost did too. If it hadn’t been for your stupid mutt, you’d have run, and no one would have been hurt.”

A growl built in Seth’s chest, rumbling deep and harsh. He had to get out of this cage. It was the only way to help Kasey. Closing his eyes, Seth took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Charles stood at the opening of the cave, sniffing at the air. A malicious smile curled his lips as he swung around to look at Seth. “It seems the sheriff is almost here.”

Charles disappeared through the mouth of the cave, and Seth wrenched at the bars again, almost ready to scream from the fear and frustration. A long loud howl sent a shiver of awareness down Seth’s back, and he quivered in terror for his mate.

Chapter Fourteen

“
Kasey
!” Seth shouted the moment his mate appeared in the entrance. “Be careful!”

Kasey shifted on the run, racing to the cage that held his lover. “Seth, are you all right?” he demanded, grabbing at the bars.

“I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me, but he injected me with something. My strength is gone. It’s not Taggart, Kasey.” Seth reached out and touched his mate’s jaw.

Nick materialized next to Kasey. “It’s not?”

Seth shook his head quickly. “No. It’s Drakson.”

Before Seth could explain further, the wolf in question, now in lupine form, snarled from behind them. Kasey and Nick whirled around to face their adversary. In seconds, the two men shifted, but the cave was too small for them to circle around Charles. Seth held his breath as he watched his mate and his best friend waiting for the crazy son of a bitch to attack. His fingers tightened on the bars until they turned white. He felt so damn helpless locked in the cage and unable to help.

When Kasey had seen Seth behind the bars of the cage, his heart had nearly stopped, but the sheer joy on his mate’s face when he’d seen Kasey jump-started it again. He gnashed his teeth together that someone had locked his lover in a cage again. The bastard would pay. When Seth told them it wasn’t Taggart, he’d been surprised, but a regular wolf would be easier to face off against than a Created, especially with two on one. He snarled at the dark wolf before him.

Nick crouched slightly, waiting for Drakson to make a move first. Drakson’s eyes flashed for a moment before he turned and darted back out of the cave.

Fat raindrops began to fall as Kasey and Nick gave chase. Mud snatched at their feet as they raced after the other wolf, reminding Kasey of just how dangerous the area really was. The rain over the last few weeks had really increased the flow of the river. It rushed past them at a menacing pace. Drakson stopped several yards ahead of them, turning abruptly. Kasey also halted, but Nick leapt straight for Drakson.

Drakson snapped at Nick’s throat, missing it by centimeters as Nick danced around him, but his paw lashed out, catching Nick in the side. Nick let out a whine of pain, although he didn’t stop moving. The rain became so thick it was hard to see. Nick’s paws sank into the mud and water gathering around him. Kasey watched at the way Drakson kept to certain areas of the ground, places his feet wouldn’t sink. He lowered his head and growled as he realized Drakson had an unfair advantage. Something hidden beneath the mud kept him from floundering the same as Nick.

Kasey launched himself onto Drakson’s back, earning a loud yelp as his teeth sank into the other wolf’s shoulder. Drakson struggled to dislodge him, stumbling around until his paws slipped from the object he stood on. He immediately sank several inches into the mud. Kasey bit deeper, wrenching his jaws to dig into the hard muscle to the bone. Drakson shrieked loudly and tossed around wildly. Memories of Seth’s face upon entering the cave strengthened Kasey’s desire to bring down the bastard who’d almost cost him his mate. But he didn’t anticipate the dam ten miles upriver giving way and releasing a deluge of water that reached them in a matter of minutes, sweeping the three of them up in the rush.

The current tore Drakson away from Kasey, and Kasey flung his body at an outcropping of rocks to stop his momentum, scrabbling with his paws to hold on. He watched Drakson being swept further away until a huge log slammed into Drakson, knocking him unconscious and dragging him beneath the water. Nick had managed to shift and clung to a boulder in the center of the ravine. “Kasey!” Nick shouted. “Seth’s still in the cage!”

Horror flooded Kasey as he realized how helpless his mate was and how the cave must be almost entirely under water. Seth would drown! Kasey shifted, knowing he had more control as a human than as a wolf, and struggled toward the cave entrance. They had been swept a couple hundred yards down from it.

His muscles were screaming by the time he reached it. He could just make out Seth’s face pressed against the bars at the top of the cage as he tried to keep his head above water. “Seth!”

The water completely covered the cage, and Kasey let out a shout of denial as he dove beneath the swirling liquid. Seth yanked in vain against the bars, his strength still sapped from whatever Drakson had used on him.

Kasey grabbed at the door of the cage and pulled as hard as he could, but the door wouldn’t budge. He swam to the bottom of the cave, searching for something to use on the overly large metal padlock. His hand grazed over a large, sharp rock, and he grasped it gratefully, pushing back to the surface of the water to breathe in. He dove beneath the water again.

Seth was beginning to run out of air; his eyes were almost wild with the knowledge. Kasey beckoned Seth to the front of the cage, where he pulled his mate’s face to the bars, pressing his lips to Seth. He blew into Seth’s mouth for a moment before kicking back to the surface for more.

Gasping, he broke the surface and dove under, gripping the rock tighter. He smashed at the padlock again and again, pulling on it at the same time, his arms straining to break the thick metal.

He saw Seth pointing at the surface, urging him to go back up, but Kasey shook his head. He would never leave his mate to die. His chest burned from the lack of oxygen, and he could only imagine how Seth felt. Seth’s eyes were starting to close, and panic set in. Kasey couldn’t lose Seth, not now. Just as Seth started to lose consciousness, Kasey felt the lock give way. He jerked the door open frantically and reached in, grabbing Seth by the wrist.

Kasey swam to the surface, hefting Seth above the water. Dread swamped Kasey when Seth didn’t start breathing immediately. He pulled him toward the entrance and out into the ravine.

Nick helped wrestle Seth to an outcropping of rocks.

Kasey brushed the wet hair back from his mate’s face. A tinge of blue colored Seth’s lips. “Oh God,” he said hoarsely.

Nick forced him out of the way, tilted Seth’s head back, and began trying to resuscitate Seth. He breathed into Seth’s mouth while counting mentally. Kasey initiated chest compressions. “One… two… three.”

Sealing his lips to Seth’s, Nick breathed into him again several more times before Seth started choking up water. They immediately rolled him to his side to help him dispel the water from his lungs. Kasey almost crushed Seth to him the moment he was able to breathe normally, his arms tight around his mate and his face buried in the strings of dark, wet hair clinging to Seth’s nape. “I thought I lost you,” he cried frantically.

Seth weakly linked his arms around Kasey’s waist, trying to pull air into his abused lungs. Nick’s hand rested on his shoulder as they all attempted to gather their strength for the swim to the other side of the ravine. “Where’s Drakson?” Seth finally managed to ask.

“Gone,” Nick replied. “Swept away in the water.”

“Is he dead?”

When neither of them answered, Seth almost sobbed. Nick squeezed his shoulder. “We saw him go under, but he was unconscious. We figure he drowned, babe.”

Seth clung to Kasey in remembered fear of the water rushing in while he remained locked in the cage with no way to escape. “I was so scared.”

“I know, pup,” Kasey murmured, nuzzling at Seth’s throat. “I was terrified I wasn’t going to be able to get you out of there.”

Nick looked around them at the water rushing past. “Do you think you can swim across, Seth?”

Seth nodded, but Kasey stopped him. “No. I’ll carry you across. Get on my back, Seth.”