37. Chapter 37
37
“Mrs. Hartlock is her name, and if you value your life, you’ll release her.” My threat was strangled with a rage that tunneled my vision as the human pressed Esta into the sharp rocks on the ground. The relief in her expression quivered through the connection in my chest. I roved a feral gaze over my omega. Her lower lip was marred with a deep, swollen mark, and blood trickled down her chin in a mess. Her dress was torn and askew.
The sight of her tore me apart more than the roaring flames of the Hartlock home behind us.
The man wore pinstriped trousers and a matching waistcoat. The buckle on his leather belt gleamed, as did the silver chain that led to his pocket. His hair was cut stylishly, and his lips maintained an arrogant tilt. A man brewed in the wildlands would know better than to flaunt such wealth. But this was a city bred, haughty human and I knew who he was immediately.
Daniel. The man Esta fled from.
“We’re outnumbered,” Ruck muttered out the side of his mouth. I gave a jerky nod, having already counted Dr. Goodman and the two men who slipped behind him. Two more beefier men strode closer to Bram, and another tied woman, using them like shields. The woman’s spectacles were perched precariously on the end of her nose, and while there was little resemblance, I assumed this was Birdie, Esta’s sister. Their scents wafted over to me. Wooden, leathery, and a touch of vanilla. It was difficult to untangle the scents from the billowing smoke that belched into the sky.
“I’m ok.” Esta croaked, and Daniel clicked his tongue.
“That’s not the introduction I asked for, dearest,” Daniel ran a filthy hand down Esta’s cheek, and I snapped my teeth at him, hefting my gun high.
“This isn’t what it looks like.” Dr. Goodman waved his hands in a placating manner. Did he think words would absolve him of the choices he’d made tonight? One growl from Ruck reminded him how little we cared for his explanation. He blanched, and sweat sprung on his upper lip.
“You’ve got to do better than that,” Ruck bit out.
My tongue was swollen with fury, throat tight with gripping terror.
“I-it’s complicated?” Dr. Goodman’s argument turned high-pitched like a question, and he continued to walk backward. I growled this time, and the noise ruptured the last shred of Dr. Goodman’s confidence. The sniveling man scurried away, tossing a nonsensical apology over his shoulder. The darkness swallowed him in seconds, and the sound of his boots slapping on the ground dwindled. His flight spurred the two cowardly humans, and they fled after him.
Three versus two, much better odds. Even if the two behind Bram and Birdie were alphas.
“That’s disappointing, although not surprising. More money for our wedding, dear.” Unhinged light danced in Daniel’s eyes, the crinkles at the edge taunted. Ferocious growls tore from Ruck and me, and my chest heaved with exertion.
The journey here had wrung us out physically and mentally, but adrenaline roared through my veins and held me in its fiery grip.
“Release her,” Ruck threatened through gritted teeth.
Daniel swung his leg off Esta, and she sucked in a deep inhale. I would see this man dead, I promised myself. Daniel gripped her arm and hauled Esta up. She whimpered and stumbled as Daniel locked his arm around her waist. With her hands and ankles tied, she was unsteady.
Dead man walking. I ground my teeth, eyes locked on the throbbing tendon in the human’s throat. I could tear it out in a second.
“It would be polite to introduce yourself. You can call me Mr. Baron, and fighting me is not worth the lives of everyone here, is it?” The human’s dark hair fell over his arched eyebrow.
My blood churned like fire in my veins. I needed to do something, anything .
“You’re going to unhand Esta and the others,” Ruck warned, swinging his hatchet.
The wind rushed a cloud of smoke over us, and for a moment, my vision was obscured. A series of short howls echoed from the distance. It should have frightened me, but the way Daniel cursed under his breath amused me. There were things with sharper teeth out here than he could imagine.
“Is he the one who?” I jerked my head at Esta’s scarred shoulder. I wanted confirmation.
Ruck’s jaw turned to stone, and the tendons in his neck bulged like hard pillars. Fury burned me from the inside out, like the shell of our home. It took every single cell to hold myself from rampaging the man. The bond between us was a tangled knot of wire.
“I’m so sorry.” The words spilled from Esta’s lips.
What was she apologizing for? Her gaze flickered to the fire, and my breath squeezed out in a plaintive gasp. She thought we would care about a house? Didn’t she know she was more priceless than anything?
My place in her chest, her heart, was the only home I’d never give up.
Ruck’s anger softened, and while the flames reflected in his eyes, it was a basking warmth he directed at Esta. “Darlin’ don’t. We love you, and we can rebuild anything except for you.”
“Ah, you must be the owner of one of these,” Daniel bit his short nails into Ruck’s mark on Esta’s shoulder. “There is a fat stack of bills for the first one of you to tell me who it belongs to—” another wolf howl cut off Daniel’s poisonous offer, and his grip on Esta spasmed.
The human could play at being frightening, but he was weak beneath his arrogance.
“The only thing we’re going to do is tear off your head,” I promised, my barrel pointed grimly at Daniel’s forehead. But I couldn’t pull the trigger, not while Esta was his shield.
Daniel hissed in Esta’s ear as he moved backward. “Do something.” He shouted at the alphas when she flattened her lips in defiance.
Ruck’s jaw clenched and he turned his focus on them instead. “You can’t trust this human. Whatever he’s promised, he won’t carry through on. Do you want to die a traitor to your kind? Because I will kill you if you get between my omega and me.”
“I need the money. My mother is sick, and the medicine is too expensive.” One of them kicked the ground, his jaw ticking.
Hope surged fiercely in me. “We have gold. I’ll give you what we have right now, and you can both go free, gather your family, and take your chances in the wildlands. That is your only chance at escaping death. Your choice.”
Daniel stamped his foot, but Ruck and I paid him no attention. The alphas conferred in silence, exchanging a long and intense look before one alpha dipped his head and dropped to untie Bram’s limbs. Ruck and I shared a look before he skirted the edge of our group and ran to the barn, his long legs eating up the distance. Bram wasn’t content with the alpha guard’s promises, bringing his heel down on his toe. The alpha toppled with a grunt, and Bram kicked him in his family jewels.
“That’s for shovin’ your filthy rag in my mouth.”
Birdie rubbed at her wrists, murmuring a polite thank you. She eyed me with a furrowed brow, showing no other emotion.
“I’m a human, one of note. The law won’t touch me. One word from me, and your entire beastly family will be in chains.” Daniel’s tone was haughty. As if he didn’t realize the danger mounting against him.
Ruck returned with a hessian sack, tipping the contents into his hand.
“Lucky we didn’t store the nuggets in the house,” I said, flicking a look at the inferno.
The alphas snatched the gold, and one of them took a careful bite on the edge of a nugget, rubbing his grubby fingers over the surface with a grim look. “It’s real.”
Daniel stared gape mouthed as the alphas swept past him before they untied the reins of two horses on the corral. There was only one horse remaining, covered in sweat, with trembling muscles. Ruck and I left our horses in the darkness, so we didn't give away our presence.
“You can’t take those. They belong to me.” Daniel’s imperious voice shook. He fumbled, lifting a small pistol to press against Esta’s head. But though their shoulders rose up to their ears, the alphas didn’t reply. It was only a moment before the dark swallowed them as well. Stones crunched under my feet as we inched closer.
“Where’s Hale?” Esta asked, gulping as Daniel ground the barrel into the side of her head.
“He’s coming, and he’s bringing the whole town with him,” Ruck promised with a twist of his lips.
Daniel waved the barrel of the gun to Birdie.
“He’s too late to save his omega. Make sure you tell him I said hello. Birdie, come closer. You can tell your sister to behave herself.” Daniel’s free hand locked around Esta’s middle, and the hungry hold forced a cry out of her lungs. Birdie hurried over, sliding close to Daniel as he asked.
“No, Birdie—don’t.” Esta whimpered, and I staggered a step, my grip on the rifle loosening.
The throb of emotion inside me was so strong I lost control for a brief, terrifying moment. Nothing and no one would take Esta from me.
She was mine .
I’d sacrifice my life to keep her free of this human. But as I stepped closer, the human’s gaze snapped to mine, and he pulled the gun back with a curl of his lip.