no going back now, and every day after would be a fight to keep those she cared for alive.
Chapter 17
Adam and Grey stood cloaked by the cover of darkness. Eight silent, deadly wolves hidden like shadows within the trees beside them. They watched as a lone truck drove down through the forest and pulled over. A man climbed out and walked around to the back of the vehicle. Waiting, they watched him pry the lid off a crate and scoop a young woman into his arms. Cradling her against his chest, he walked into the trees.
Adam rushed forward the second her scent reached him. Taking Sahara from the man’s arms, surprised at how gently the hunter held her.
“She was given a sedative. She’ll wake within the hour.”
“Thank you,” Adam whispered to the hunter, before vanishing into the trees with the mate he’d thought he’d never see again.
Grey stepped forward from the shadows and watched as the hunter walked backward away from them. “You do not trust us, hunter?” He laughed.
“No,” the hunter answered.
“Then why come at all?” Grey asked, intrigued by this man.
“Because I trust Lexia,” he replied, opening the door.
“You call her Lexia?” Grey asked. The girl who called herself one thing when she clearly was the other. What secrets do you hide, Lexia?
“Do not cross her, shifter,” he replied instead of answering his question.
“Yes, we already know we’ll die if we cross her,” Grey replied, bored of the threats.
“Yes, she’d kill you, but that is not why I warned you. Lexia has had enough people betray her. She deserves better.” With his final words hanging in the air, the hunter hopped into his truck and drove away.
Grey disappeared into the night. His fellow alpha wolves beside him and he contemplated what he’d just witnessed. Was it possible that the hunters were not what they’d presumed them to be? Did they feel? Was Maura just a front? Should he get word to Lincoln Turner? There might be hope yet for his mate.
Miles away from the Black Hill Ranges of South Dakota, Lincoln dragged himself out of bed in California, deciding he best answer the phone. It had been ringing nonstop for the last thirty minutes. He’d ignored it, hoping Caden would answer, but Caden was clearly out.
“Hello?” His voice felt like gravel as it left his throat. How long has it been since I’ve talked to anyone?
“Lincoln Turner?”
“Speaking.”
“My name is Alison, mother to Grey Kurt.”
“Yes?” Lincoln’s brain tried to place the name but failed.
“You don’t know me, but word has got about…about your situation, your mate, the hunter,” she continued.
His heart lurched painfully, his panther brushed against his skin for the first time in weeks. “Yes. Lexia.”
“Look, my son, Grey, he lost his mate to the hunters. He’s part of an alpha pack.”
“An alpha pack? What has this got to do with me?” Lincoln wasn’t interested in helping wolves. All he wanted was to be left alone in his misery.
“Grey told me he’s met Lexia. He wanted you to know there is still hope.”
“Where is she?” he growled, feeling suddenly awake. He gripped the cell tighter in his hand, waiting for the reply.
“South Dakota, the Black Hill Ranges. I’m not sure the exact whereabouts.”
The Black Hills. You’ve been there all this time.
“Thank you.” Lincoln hung up and had his first shower in days.
With the hot water washing over his skin, he felt alive for the first time in weeks. Yet there was also anger inside of him, directed at himself and others. He’d been laying around, drinking himself into oblivion, numbing his pain when Lexia had been in South Dakota all this time. He’d been so close before his grandfather’s death. I was so close, Lex, and then everything went wrong.
Shutting off the water, Lincoln stepped out and looked at his reflection. The panther in his eyes refused to calm. Forcing his claws to retract, Lincoln balled his hands into fists. “I’m coming for you, Wildcat,” he whispered. “I’m coming.”
By the time Caden walked through his apartment door, he’d packed and was pacing the living room looking out of the wall of windows that over looked the beach.
He turned the deadly gleam of his panther in his eyes. “We’re going back to Deadwood.”
Caden said nothing. He grabbed his bag; it had been packed ready and waiting for the day his best friend came back to him, and together they left California.
Chapter 18
Lexia wanted nothing more than to go hide in her room, maybe try and catch up on some