Awakened by the Wolf (24 page)

Chapter 36

A
t 6:55 a.m., Cassie placed the cell phone on the kitchen counter next to the pancakes she'd wrapped in aluminum foil for Brice to eat later.

He'd called last night. First on the landline, asking her to pick up the phone. When she didn't, he called the cell and left a message she replayed all night long.

Stupid, really. He hadn't professed undying love, only said that he would stay with his parents unless she invited him to come home. He also confessed that he missed her.

Her heart latched onto those words because she missed him, too.

Throughout the lonely night, she rewrote her goodbye letter a dozen times before settling on something nonpersonal. Giving Brice an indication of how bad she felt might encourage him to seek her out. To bring her back.

Under no circumstances could that happen. One day her future self would thank her for the sacrifice.

Yeah, right.

Twenty minutes later, Shane hadn't arrived. Cassie wiped down the counters for a third time. She wanted to be gone before Brice came home. Neither of them could afford for her to change her mind. A high probability if he intervened.

An engine hummed outside and then subsided. Cassie ushered Shane inside before he had a chance to knock.

“Sorry, I overslept.” Sleepy-eyed, he wore wrinkled cargo shorts and a shirt turned wrong side out.

“It won't take long to load up.” She led him into the living room, where her meager belongings were stacked.

“Is that it?” Shane scratched his mussed hair.

“Yep, everything I own.”

A strange expression crossed Shane's face, though he said nothing. He grabbed the boxes and headed outside. Cassie followed, toting her suitcases.

Shane piled the items in the truck bed while she went inside to collect her purse and comforter bag. She glanced around the cabin that, in a few short days, had become a real home. Heartsick, she closed the front door and locked it.

She climbed into Shane's truck and buckled her seat belt.

Shane shuffled through his backpack. “Damn. I forgot the library books due today.”

“We can pick them up on the way.” Cassie ignored her sour stomach. “Oh, I almost forgot. Can we make a quick stop at the resort? I need to hand in some paperwork.”

“No problem.” Shane backed out of the driveway. “It's on the way.”

Neither spoke as he drove down the winding mountain road and pulled into a parking spot close to the entrance.

Before Cassie climbed out of the truck, Shane touched her arm. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“I need to do this,” she replied, because she honestly didn't want to do it at all.

Thankfully Hannah and Natalie were busy behind the guest services counter. Cassie hurried to Abigail Walker's dark office and laid her resignation letter and house key on the desk. She felt a twinge of regret as she waved to Hannah instead of personally saying goodbye.

“Let's go.” Cassie hopped into the truck and closed her eyes as Shane pulled out of the parking lot.

She'd expected to leave someday. But now that someday was here, Cassie didn't want to go. Of course, having no future at the Walker's Run Resort, she had made the best choice possible.

Shane parked in front of an old U-shaped brick building that stood three stories high.

“Want to come up?” He shut off the engine. “It might take me a while to find the books.”

Cassie followed him up the concrete stairs to the third floor, fourth door. He looked over his shoulder, grinning.

“Ignore the mess.”

She stepped inside. Clothes littered the couch, and an open cereal box sat on the glass coffee table. Shane moved through the room, shuffled through some books on the floor and moved to the kitchen before he disappeared into the bedroom.

Cassie perched on the arm of a worn recliner. A gaming console and television filled the tabletop entertainment center. A baseball bat and glove were propped in the far corner. Candid pictures of Shane and his friends decorated the walls.

From the look on his face in the photos, Shane was genuinely happy. And he should have been, because he fit in.

“Got 'em.” He emerged from the bedroom waving two books. “Thank God. I didn't want to pay another fine.”

“How many have you lost?” Cassie trailed behind him.

“Four, but Zach borrowed two, so technically he lost those.”

The door banged open. Shane stopped short, and Cassie plowed into his back.

“Two for one.” Vincent Hadler towered in the doorway. “My lucky day.”

Shane dropped the books. “Get out,” he shouted in a vicious tone Cassie had never heard him use.

“You need a lesson in manners.” The older man slid his leering gaze from Shane to Cassie. “So do you.”

“You're the one who needs to learn manners,” Cassie said, forcing her voice to remain steady.

“You won't keep that sass for long, babe.” Hadler's sneer scraped her nerves.

Cassie rubbed her arms to soothe the sting.

“You won't lay a paw on her.” Shane stepped ahead to shield Cassie.

Hadler flicked his open hand toward Shane's face, causing him to wince. Hadler laughed. A cold, spiteful laugh that slithered down Cassie's spine and coiled into the pit of her stomach.

Shane's head snapped up, his face twisted in an ugly snarl. Thrusting his shoulder into Hadler's chest, he slammed the bulkier man into the door frame.

“Run,” Shane yelled at Cassie, but the two men blocked her exit.

Hadler rammed his fist into Shane's side. Shane doubled over, gasping. Hands clasped, Hadler hammered Shane's back until he dropped on one knee.

Cassie snatched the library books off the floor. The first one skimmed Hadler's shoulder as he lunged for Shane. The second landed with a solid smack against Hadler's ear.

Bellowing, he turned and stalked toward Cassie.

Now she understood why Vincent Hadler gave her the creeps. He was crazy dangerous and mad-dog mean.

“Cassie!” Shane grabbed Hadler's waist. “Run!”

Heart thundering, she raced toward the open door. As she reached the threshold, her head jerked violently.

“You aren't going anywhere.” Hadler's fingers corkscrewed through Cassie's hair. He hauled her back inside the apartment and kicked the door closed. “Yet.”

Shane pushed to his feet. Blood oozed from a jagged cut at the edge of his mouth. “Let her go.”

“She owes me a dance and my balls an apology.” Hadler pulled her close and yanked her hair so that her head tilted backward to touch his chest. He leaned down, running his nose along the curve of her jaw, then licked her ear. “I intend to collect.”

Disgusted, Cassie refrained from kicking her heel into his shin, afraid he'd snap her neck.

“Leave her the fuck alone before I snatch that cocky smile off your face and shove it up your ass.” Shane stepped forward, his hands clenched. Gone was the carefree young man Cassie had known. If someone could drop dead from a look, this Shane McQuarrie would definitely be a killer.

“Don't be stupid,
boy
. This fight ain't about you.” Hadler released Cassie's hair, snaking his hand up her stomach to squeeze her breast. “Walker took something from me. Now I'm going to take something from him.”

“You're insane.” Cassie slammed her sneakered foot down on Hadler's ankle.

He cried out, loosening his grip. Cassie wrenched free. Shane charged, and the two men crashed to the floor.

Cassie bolted into the bedroom and locked the door to the sound of shattering glass. She rushed to the window. There was no ledge or balcony to climb. Just a straight drop from the third floor to the graveled ground. Her heart pounded, ready to make the jump with or without the rest of her.

The door splintered open.

“Come along nice and quiet,” Vincent Hadler panted, sweat-streaked and bloody from the nasty cuts on his face and arms. “Or Shane dies.”

* * *

Brice froze in the kitchen. He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't speak.

Not that Cassie would hear him if he did.

Shane's scent lingered in the cabin, so they couldn't have been gone long.

The handwritten note slipped from Brice's cold, stiff fingers. A snarl, so deep, so vicious, so ridiculously primal erupted from his chest and thawed his nerves.

Heading out the door, he shouted into his cell phone. “Where is Shane's den?”

“Chatuge View apartments, number twenty,” Gavin answered. “What's wrong?”

“He took Cassie.” Brice climbed into his Maserati and spun out of the driveway.

Cassie had left him. Packed her things and left.

The raging fire in his heart flared to such an intensity that he feared his chest might spontaneously combust. He had to make this right. Make Cassie understand how much he needed her. Walker's Run coursed through his blood, but Cassidy Albright inhabited his soul.

Turning sharply into the apartment complex parking lot, the wheels squealed on the dusty asphalt. Tristan paused at the outdoor stairs.

Brice slammed to a stop beside Shane's vehicle. Cassie's suitcases were visible in the truck bed.

Tristan loped over, concern shadowing his smile. “You here to see me?”

“Shane,” Brice answered through gritted teeth.

“Me, too. I'm responding to a 911 call from a neighbor who reported a disturbance in his apartment.”

“Dammit! He has Cassie.” Brice darted up the stairs three at a time.

On the third floor landing, Tristan shoved past Brice and planted himself in front of Shane's door. “I'm here on official business. Wait outside until I say it's okay for you to come in.”

“I'm not leaving without Cassie.”

“I know.” Tristan rang the doorbell. “I'll make sure Shane doesn't do anything stupid.”

Nothing moved inside the apartment. “Shane, open up. It's Tristan.”

“For chrissakes.” Brice shoved open the door. The stench of sour milk nearly curdled his stomach.

“Cassie?” Brice yelled, weaving around the overturned recliner. Glass littered the carpet. Something or someone had smashed the coffee table.

“Brice.” Tristan yanked him by the collar. “Go outside or I'll drag you out and handcuff you to the rail.”

“Tristan,” Brice growled.

“Until I know different, this is a sheriff's office matter. Now go.” Tristan's hand landed squarely on Brice's chest. “The longer you stand there and glare at me, the longer it will take for me to clear the scene. Do you understand?”

Though it nearly killed him to do so, Brice backed out of the apartment. He had no idea how long he stood outside, because his thoughts ran rampant with the images of what he'd seen in Shane's living room and the fact that Cassie hadn't answered when he called. She would have if she were there and in any condition to respond.

Brice's heart drilled his chest. The high-velocity vibration nearly drowned out Tristan's all clear.

Brice sprinted inside. Cassie wasn't in the bedroom, bathroom or closet. He dashed into the kitchen where Shane, sprawled on the floor, moaned. Tristan helped him sit up. The pup's right eye had swollen shut. He bled from his nose, mouth, a large gash at his temple and various minor cuts on his body. He'd taken a beating but had no apparent life-threatening injuries.

“Where is Cassie?” Squatting, Brice grabbed the young man by the shirt.

Shane's glassy eyes were vacant, and he had trouble focusing.

“Give him a second.” Tristan gripped Brice's shoulder. “Someone knocked him cold.”

“Cassie?” Shane's bloodied mouth twisted. He pushed against Tristan in a discombobulated effort to stand.

“Dammit! Where is she?” Brice clutched Shane's arm, helping to steady him.

“Hadler,” Shane said, thick and slow.

A tremor rocked Brice's soul. Vincent Hadler had a reputation for cruelty, among other unmentionable things.

“Where did he take her?” Tristan asked calmly, when Brice wanted to shake the answer out of Shane. Every second they lost waiting for his response was another second Cassie faced mortal danger. Alone.

“An abandoned house on the northwest side of the territory.” Shane's tongue flicked the jagged cut on his bottom lip, and his mouth crumpled in a painful grimace. “Hadler said you'd remember it from five years ago.”

“The old MacGregor place?” Brice clawed at the tension tightening around his neck. Only a handful of people knew the location of the rogue attack. Hadler shouldn't have been one of them.

“I tried to stop him.” Shane spat blood on the kitchen's stone-patterned linoleum floor. “He's baiting you for a challenge, Brice.”

“He's got one.” Brice spun on his feet to leave.

“Whoa.” Tristan blocked his path. “I can't let you go off half-cocked. You have a duty to this pack.”

“My duty is to Cassie.” Brice shook off Tristan's restraining hand. “She's my mate.”

“It's not just you he wants.” Shane's glacial eyes suddenly looked decades older than the pup's actual years. “Hadler wants the pack.”

“That's never going to happen.” Brice gave Tristan a commanding look. “Call my dad, then get Shane checked out at the clinic.”

“You can't go after Hadler alone.” Tristan refused to step aside.

“I'm not.” Brice bouldered him out of the way, pulled the cell phone from his hip pocket and headed to the car.

“I need you,” Brice said when the call was answered. “Be ready.”

Chapter 37

C
assie's fingers ached from clutching the passenger door armrest. Her heart's hard, steady beat kept her from a dead faint.

Please let Shane be okay
, Cassie prayed, even though her prayers often went unanswered.

“You aren't allowed to hurt me.” She feigned bravado.

“Who's gonna stop me?” Vincent Hadler's coarse laughter caused the bile in Cassie's stomach to spew into her throat. Apparently, Wahyan laws against harming humans didn't matter if no one was around to enforce them.

She needed to figure a way out of this mess on her own. Shane might not wake up in time to tell someone what happened, if he woke up at all. And after yesterday's argument and the note she'd left, Brice wouldn't waste his time on her ever again.

Until she'd met him, Cassie had absolute confidence in her ability to take care of herself. His arrival had sucked her into a dangerous new world where her survival skills were sorely lacking.

“What are you going to do me?” The scenery whirred past the car window in nondescript shapes and colors. Drab. Boring. Nothing worth notice. Same as her life.

“Whatever I want.” The filthy grime in his voice slicked her skin. His gaze drifted from the road to the rise and fall of Cassie's chest from her quickened breaths. His tongue darted between his lips to gloss his lecherous smile. “Maybe I'll make that Walker boy watch us before I kill him.”

Cassie's spine stiffened, tightening her stomach and increasing her urge to hurl. “Brice won't come. He doesn't care about me.”

If he actually wanted Cassie to be part of his life, he wouldn't have walked away from her. Brice Walker was the type of man who fought for what he wanted. Yesterday, he hadn't even tried.

She couldn't blame him, though. She'd caused him nothing but trouble since he'd shown up naked in her bedroom. Correction,
his
bedroom.

“Oh, he'll come.” Hadler eased off the gas pedal, and every muscle in Cassie's body clenched. “You see, humans act based on their emotions—” he turned off the highway “—which makes your kind unpredictable. Wahyas act on instinct. He'll come because I took something that belongs to him.”

“I'm not some
thing
. I'm some
one.
” Cassie readied herself. “And I don't belong to anyone.”

“I'm about to change that,
Sunshine
. Walker owes me. You and his pack are his retribution.”

The car jostled over deep potholes in the washed-out road. Through the thick nest of trees, Cassie glimpsed a farmhouse. While Hadler's attention focused on not driving them into a ravine, she shoved open the car door and jumped.

She slammed into a ditch, pain searing her shoulder. Seconds later, the car careened to a stop.

Cassie rolled to her feet and ran for her life. The soft soil beneath her sneakers grabbed at her feet, and the muscles in her legs strained to propel her forward.

In one week, Cassie had ended up right where she started. Being chased by a wolfman.

“I'm coming, Cas. Do whatever you can to stay safe. I will find you. I promise.”

Cassie shook Brice's imagined voice from her mind. This wasn't the time to succumb to delusions. She wove through a thicket of trees. Sapling limbs snagged bits of her hair, yanking strands from her scalp. Unforgiving branches and leaves scratched her arms as she protected her face. Sweat and blood trickled down her skin. She had a hard time catching her breath.

Up ahead she saw the farmhouse, run-down and abandoned. The place she ran to for safety didn't look safe at all.

Stopping, she swallowed the bitter frustration that in the dead of nowhere, no one but Vincent Hadler would hear her scream.

Cassie smashed face-first into the dirt. Air gushed from her lungs in a sharp, agonizing
oomph
. The heavy paws digging into her shoulders turned into thickset hands.

“I don't do foreplay.” Hadler flipped Cassie onto her back. He forced open her mouth with a bruising kiss and rubbed his sweaty, naked body against her.

Repulsed, Cassie bit his tongue.

“Bitch!” He slapped her face.

She tasted the vileness of his blood.

“Do that again and I'll—”

Cassie rammed her palm up his nose. Hadler howled, bloodcurdling and fierce. The moment he fell off her, Cassie sprang to her feet in an all-out run. If she could make it back to the car—

She slammed to the ground again. This time, her hands braced the fall.

“Before this day is through, I'll see that wild streak tamed.” Hadler the man tugged at her snug jeans.

“Get off me.” Cassie grabbed a broken tree branch and whacked him upside the head. The blow stunned him long enough for her to wiggle out from beneath his weight.

On her feet and running, Cassie heard Hadler the wolf gaining ground. Fear should've powered her momentum. Instead, her body lumbered in slow motion, except for her heart, which beat so fast that the thumps blended into a continuous thrum.

The third time Hadler tackled her, Cassie's strength failed. Even though her brain screamed for her to get up, she simply couldn't move. Cruel laughter slithered along her skin, its venom poisoning her last bit of hope.

Suddenly a black blur streaked over her head and knocked Vincent Hadler from her back.

Before she could breathe easy, piercing crystal-blue eyes peered at her down the snout of a russet-colored wolf.

“Rafe?” Cassie's voice trembled.

He sat on his haunches and shifted into his human form. “Let's go, Red.” He helped her stand.

“We can't leave Brice.” Cassie clutched Rafe's arm until her legs stopped wobbling.

“I promised to get you out of here. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

Cassie glanced at the gray and black wolves circling each other. Spittle glistened on their bared teeth. Their growls crescendoed.

Panic squeezed her heart. “Please, Rafe. You have to help him.”

“I am.” Rafe's steely eyes narrowed. His pupils tightened into vertical slivers. “By doing exactly what he asked. So, unless you want me to knock you out and carry you to the Jeep,
run
!”

* * *

Brice wouldn't say that he relaxed the moment Cassie bolted out of the woods with Rafe snapping at her heels, but he definitely found it easier to concentrate. Instead of sidestepping the gray wolf's latest advance, Brice returned the charge.

Surprised, Hadler retreated.

“Scared?”
Brice taunted the older male.

“I ain't afraid of you.”
Hadler pointed his grizzled muzzle at Brice.

“You should be. You stole my mate.”

“She ain't yours no more.”
Hadler's laughter clanged in Brice's mind as he fled deep into the forest.

White-hot and blistering, pure fury pulsed through Brice's veins. Instinct demanded that he charge blindly after the gray wolf. Reasoning cautioned against the impulse.

Hadler hadn't accomplished what he implied. Once Brice had connected with Cassie through the mate-bond, he sensed everything she experienced. If Hadler had made good on his boast, the ethereal link between Brice and Cassie would've been broken.

His mind unfettered by the taunt, Brice focused on where his paws landed during the nearly two-mile chase through the thicket. The old, nagging ache in his leg became a constant reminder that if he hadn't stepped into that trap years ago, Mason wouldn't have died. Cassie would've been safe. And so would the pack.

Following Hadler over a fallen tree, Brice's front paws absorbed the impact of the jump before his hind feet touched down.

Hadler whipped around.
“Remember this place?”

Digging his nails into the muck, Brice slammed to a stop.
“I'm not likely to forget it.”
His life had gone awry in this cove.

“We have that, and the taste of Sunshine, in common,”
Hadler sneered.

Brice's tendons pulled and stretched at the restraint it took to keep from lunging prematurely.
“You and I have nothing in common.”

“Maybe you need your memory rattled.”
The gray wolf hunkered down.

Braced for the full-body slam, Brice felt the impact reverberate along every nerve. Toppling, their vicious snarls followed them down.

Brice's teeth sank into Hadler's furry flesh. Blood pooled in Brice's mouth, bitter and rancid.

Yelping, Hadler thrashed until he jarred hard enough to break free. Brice scraped his tongue against his teeth. God, he wanted to throw up.

Thick ribbons of drool dangled from the corners of Hadler's twisted mouth. His obsidian eyes gleamed with maniacal arrogance as he slammed Brice's right side.

The ache in Brice's leg turned into a fiery throb; the flames scalded all the way up his hip. Silencing the scream of pain searing his throat, Brice chomped Hadler's exposed ear, even as Hadler's teeth slashed across Brice's shoulder.

Locked in a deadly waltz, they snapped and bit any vulnerable spot to gain dominance. Soon the air became saturated with the coppery smell of blood and the pungency of wolfan male sweat.

Dark, terrifying memories invaded Brice's vision, followed by a disoriented sense of eerie familiarity. His gut wrenched.

“Kill them all,”
Mason demanded. So clear and lifelike that Brice jerked his head to look behind him, allowing Hadler to escape.

Angered by the figment of his imagination, Brice stalked a semicircle around the aged pine Hadler used for cover. Brice's shoulder burned. Blood stung his left eye from the gash above his brow, and his right hind leg trembled from the sharp, shooting pain.

An arid breeze ruffled his fur. Brice's muzzle tingled and twitched, and the sensation of hot pokers singeing his nostrils caused his nose to run. He snorted several times to clear his nasal passages.

The pervasive wind continued to tease and torment his olfactory sense until, just as quickly as it had started, the stinging in his nose stopped. His next full breath drew in a repugnant musk. The fuzzy part of his memory erupted in singular clarity. Next came a primal fury.

After the attack, when asked how many rogues he'd seen, Brice answered four because that's how many bodies were found. In truth, he couldn't remember. Not as a man, anyway.

His wolf knew, though. The wolf had always known. The rogues numbered five.

From the pit of his stomach rose a heart-stopping, nerve-numbing howl.

“Took you long enough to remember.”
Hadler's cruel, telepathic laughter shredded Brice's conscience.

“You murdered my brother.”
Brice's body shook from the surge of primitive hormones and the fight to keep the primal rush from pushing him to the feral edge.
“Stole my mate. And dare to take my pack?”

“That about sums it up.”
The gray wolf eased from behind the tree, a toothy grin plastered on his snout.

“Was that your plan from the beginning? To seize control of Walker's Run?”
Brice crouched, ready to spring.

“I didn't give a shit about your pathetic pack. I had a job to do.”
Hadler snorted.
“But you went and made it personal.”

“I made it personal? You son of a bitch. You killed my brother!”

“Mason was the job, nothing more. But you got involved and slaughtered my packmates. So I'm goin' to do the same to yours. Starting with that tasty little redhead.”

“You'll have to go through me.”

“I intend to.”
The gray wolf barreled into Brice's hindquarter. Excruciating pain speared down his right hip and leg and strangled his breath.

Hadler plowed into him again. Brice tried to block the pain from his thoughts. He needed air. Lots of air. No matter how much he gulped, he couldn't find enough air to fill his lungs.

Sharp teeth pierced the soft spot close to his jugular. Not a kill bite, but a taunting one. Brice buckled from the pressure.

“I'm disappointed,”
Hadler sneered, locking his jaw.
“I expected more of a fight.”

Brice's struggle to dislodge Hadler was fruitless. Lightheaded and losing strength, Brice focused his thoughts on the spot where his brother had died.

I'm sorry, Mace.
Brice's heart tightened.
I've failed you, and everyone else, again.

The warmth of a hand grazed Brice's shoulder. Mason's voice whispered the same words he'd said when Brice had stepped in the steel trap.

Hold on, little brother. Today isn't your day to die.

A howl sounded on the ridge and a lone, golden wolf charged down the slope.

Mason?

It wasn't possible.

“I'll see you dead if it's the last thing I do.”
The golden wolf plowed into the gray and knocked Brice free.

By the time Brice caught his breath and scrambled to his paws, the young wolf had engaged the older in a death quarrel. Brice hesitated to join. Two against one wasn't a fair fight. He wouldn't succumb to the despicable tactic Hadler used against Mason.

“Oh, I'll be the last thing you see, but I'll be far from dead.”
The gray latched onto to the golden's shoulder and drove him into a tree. Unconscious, the injured wolf crumpled into a heap in his human form.

Hadler rounded on Brice. Bloody spittle dribbled from his sneering muzzle.
“The same goes for you.”

Five years ago, Brice swore he'd never kill again. Today he would break that promise. He launched into Hadler, ripping through fur and flesh.

Hadler's yelps fell on unsympathetic ears. This wolfan had killed Mason, kidnapped Cassie and threatened Brice's family and friends. No matter what happened to Brice, Vincent Hadler would not leave this cove alive.