The Wolf's Surrender - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,77
side. The windows were tinted so black that Mia couldn’t make out who was inside, but remembering what Aislynn had said, she concentrated and tried to pick up what information she could simply from scent.
Four men. One of them Jeff Gaines.
“Call for Bane!” Mia cried, watching helplessly as the SUV pulled alongside them. Jenner’s old truck was simply no match for a newer vehicle with so much horsepower. “How far away is he? Call for anyone!”
His eyes went to her just for a moment, and the fear she saw in them chilled her to the bone. Jenner didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. But if he was afraid of this, then she figured she should be absolutely terrified.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Shit, they’re getting close, Mia. Just hang on! Hang on, baby, hang on—”
The SUV swerved, slamming into the driver’s side. Everything seemed to go into slow motion. Jenner grunted at the impact, his whole body jerking over to one side. The truck skidded a little, then with excruciating slowness, rolled. Mia heard the groan of metal, saw the world outside turning upside down. There was a terrible crunch as the windshield broke, fracturing into intricate spiderwebs in some places and shattering in others. Glass sprayed into the cab, and she instinctively shut her eyes against it.
For a moment, there was dead silence, so strange in the aftermath of such terrible sounds that Mia knew she would never forget it. But almost as soon as she took note of it, the silence was broken by the sounds of car doors slamming, running feet...and voices.
“Get her out. Now. We don’t have time for this.”
Still stunned, Mia dangled from her seat belt and turned her head to the side. Immediately, she saw that the impact and roll-over had been a great deal more traumatic for Jenner, whose side had taken the hit. And he was also, Mia realized with sick horror, a much bigger person than she. He hadn’t had much space between the roof and his head when the whole thing had gone over and compressed.
“Jenner,” she said in a shaking whisper. Her hands didn’t seem to want to work right, fluttering helplessly as she reached for him. “J-Jenner? Oh, God, please...please no, Jenner, say something...”
There was blood on his head, on his face. His eyes were half open, but saw nothing, and his head rested on the crushed roof beneath them, cocked at an odd angle. She grabbed for his hand, limp and unmoving, and squeezed. Panic and terror flooded her system.
“Jenner,” she tried again, her voice a sob. “Wake up! Nick! Please!”
Someone wrenched her door open, and she felt unfamiliar hands on her, dragging her out. Mia panicked, struggling wildly. Her eyes never left Jenner’s, which looked lifeless and empty. His beautiful golden eyes.
“No!” she shrieked. “No, what did you do? Call an ambulance—let me go—he’s hurt! What did you do?”
But there was no one on his side, and whoever had her seemed to take her thrashing in stride. She was dragged from the wrecked truck, over shattered glass that she didn’t feel slicing into her skin even though a glance at her arms told Mia that she had plenty of shards that would need to be removed.
“Get her arms and tie her,” said a voice she recognized. Her arms were yanked behind her back roughly by whoever had pulled her out, and Mia began to thrash wildly, kicking her legs. It didn’t seem to do any good, though, only annoying her rescuer.
“Damn it, stop moving or I’ll make you stop.”
When the hands encircling her arms squeezed so hard that it hurt, Mia stilled, looking up and seeing Jeff standing in front of her. He didn’t look ruffled at all by what he had just caused, and his eyes, as they met hers, were flat and cold. He looked far worse off than the last time she’d seen him. His clothing was dirty, disheveled. His hair was standing up in strange places, and there was a wild flush high on his pale cheeks. This wasn’t the man she remembered.
The old Jeff had been consumed by something much darker.
“Why?” she asked, pleading. “At least get him out of the truck. You’ve got me. You don’t need to hurt him!” She knew that for whatever was left of her life, which was likely now to be short, she would be haunted by the sight of Jenner crumpled in that truck. By his eyes, devoid of light.