30. ~Celine~
Chapter 30
~Celine~
Their voices were muffled at first and then so loud, laughing close by. I was lying on my side on a couch in some place I’d never been.
I didn’t sit up, knowing I was in danger. Though my mind was foggy, I remembered what happened at the bar and realized they’d taken us somewhere else.
They were at a table, two sitting, two standing, doing shots of something.
“Dude, he’s probably crying right now. Freaking the fuck out.”
That was the big one’s voice. Carter.
“Wait till we send him the next video.” That was Baron. “Wish I could see his face for that,” said another I didn’t recognize. They all laughed louder.
Without moving my head so I didn’t draw their attention, I looked around the room .
Lauren. She was on the sofa adjacent to the one I was on. There was a back door in the corner of the room opposite the table where the men were.
“Come on. One more,” said one of them.
They were loud and cheering, “Go, go, go” as someone funneled a beer.
Taking a chance, I slid off my sofa and crawled behind the sofa where Lauren was passed out. I bit my lip to keep from making a sound as a tear slid down my cheek. I’d get help and come back for Lauren. I had to.
My limbs were still heavy and my head fuzzy from the roofie, but I kept my focus on the door and made my way silently across the thin carpet. I counted myself lucky they were obviously drunk, or they would’ve heard me already. Slowly, hand trembling and heart pounding, I reached for the knob, still on all fours, and opened the door, then crept out.
It was dark as I pushed to my feet, swaying. A nearly full moon glowed in the clear night sky, shining on my surroundings. Trucks, a small shack, and beyond that, woods.
Stumbling, I ran, only to realize I had bare feet. My shoes either fell off or were taken off at some point, but I didn’t care. I ran as fast as I could, straight into the line of trees across the gravel road leading to this place.
I whimpered when I stepped on a jagged piece of gravel, but still I ran, quickly disappearing into the shadow of trees.
“Celine!” one of my captors yelled from the direction of their cabin behind me.
Panting, I didn’t even look back, tearing through the brush.
Then I stepped into shallow, murky water .
“Shit,” I muttered, knowing I must be in the wetlands somewhere outside the city.
“Where are youuuuuu?” one of them called in a singsong voice. It echoed creepily around me. Their laughter floated closer. They were chasing after me.
I sloshed through the water, not even stopping when something big splashed in the water to my left. Turning right, I waded into the calf-deep water, stepping on a sharp stick, but didn’t stop. Then the swampy water ended, and I was back on dry land, hoping the water masked my scent.
I could hear them somewhere behind me, laughing and crashing through the underbrush.
“That’s okay, sweetheart!” Baron called. “We like a good chase!”
“You better ruuuuun, Celiiiiine!” one of them hooted.
“Run, fast!” called another.
More laughter, but then it changed to growls. A sharp wave of magic sparked the air, an aggressive energy flowing at my back. They were shifting.
“No, no, no,” I whimpered.
I flew through the woods, keeping to the strip of land that wound through the swamp, but I knew it was hopeless. I couldn’t outrun werewolves. I’d seen the beasts that my father and brothers became. I was going to die out here.
Moonlight beamed down through the trees, guiding my way. I sprinted on, my foot aching, likely bleeding, but I didn’t care as I fled into a clearing. Panting and out of breath, my entire body shaking with adrenaline and terror, I started again toward the other side of the clearing, knowing wherever I ran, I was in danger .
Then a deep growl stopped me in my tracks halfway across the small meadow. Heaving deep breaths, I backed away from the sound as a gray werewolf stepped from the shadows. It was Baron.
He had the same hazy gray aura as he did in human form. Then another leaped from the right, a larger, brawny werewolf. He was that big guy of their group, Carter. The other two surrounded me from behind, their jaws slack, tongues lolling between rows of sharp fangs.
Never in my life would I have imagined a death like this. I’d never feared werewolves. Even as the terrifying killing machines they were, the men I loved most in my life were these same ferocious creatures. And they would never hurt me.
The gray one—Baron—fell to all fours, his head still a foot taller than me, and then he circled closer. He panted in a way that made his wide, sharp-fanged mouth look as if he were smiling maliciously.
“Please, don’t.”
I raised my palms, wishing I could touch his fur long enough to give him a calming spell. But that wouldn’t be enough. There was hatred in his eyes. He planned to make me suffer because of Ronan; that was certain.
Ronan. I sobbed, wishing I could see him one last time, wish- ing I could tell him that I loved him and see the love shine back in his eyes.
Baron’s wolf growled, his eyes narrowing. I didn’t want to feel fear at my death, so I tilted my head back and stared up at the moon. I prayed to the heavens for peace and no pain, for it to be quick. I prayed for my family and friends, that they would have beautiful, blessed lives—even without me .
And I prayed for Ronan hardest of all. I prayed he would not mourn forever, that this would not break him, and he would know I’d always love him, even when I moved on to the afterworld.
As I felt Baron’s hot breath on my throat, his growl vibrating the air, I thought only of peace and—
A sudden crash of noise barreled through the woods—branches breaking, water splashing, and a wolf growling. Then a quick flash of fur as a werewolf leaped into the clearing and pushed me roughly to the side. I fell as he whipped around to face the others.
The creature was huge . With silvery-white fur, he reared up onto two legs and roared at Baron’s beast. He was the biggest wolf I had ever seen, towering over me at least sixteen feet above the ground. He was bigger than my brothers, even my dad.
I only had a few seconds to take him in before he attacked the burly werewolf, Carter, his entire jaw engulfing his shoulder with a sharp snap and a crack of bones.
Carter yipped and clawed. The white werewolf tossed him into a tree where he fell and lay still. The white wolf looked at the two smaller were- wolves and snarled, baring finger-long fangs. Quickly, the two smaller ones turned and fled back into the woods.
Without warning, the white wolf leaped for Baron, who dodged to the left, but not fast enough. The giant werewolf swiped out with one arm and clawed deep gashes across Baron’s chest. He yelped and snapped back, his jaws clacking on air.
My defender—up on hind legs planted wide, his arms with claw-tipped hands opened, poised to attack—bared his teeth and growled. It was a spine-tingling sound that brushed gooseflesh along my skin. He moved to put his body between me and Baron.
I gasped. How could I not know him at once? “Ronan!”
He swiveled his enormous head to look at me, his snarl dying. His eyes were glacial blue—piercing, burning. I’d seen that shade before. He stared at me, blinked once, then huffed a breath. With a swift jerk, he turned and pounced on Baron in one leap. Baron screeched a high-pitched yelp as Ronan tore into him with his teeth.
They rolled in a tangle of guttural snarls and gruesome biting sounds. I scrambled onto my feet and pushed back to the trunk of a tree.
Suddenly, one, then two, then three, four, five werewolves lunged into the clearing. I recognized my brothers before they shot off with Diego in the lead after the other two captors who’d fled into the swamp. Joaquin stopped at the edge of the clearing, his russet-haired wolf form almost regal.
I nodded to him to assure him that I was okay, then he raced into the shadows. There were snarls and gnashing of teeth when three wolves I didn’t recognize attacked Ronan.
“Stop!”
They kept on, shoving and clawing at him. Ronan turned on them with a ferocious growl. Then I realized why they were trying to stop him. His muzzle was stained red with blood. He was killing Baron, if he hadn’t already. Baron lay unmoving beneath him.
Kidnapping wouldn’t justify murder. And while Baron and his friends may have planned worse for me and Lauren, they hadn’t been able to go through with it. I didn’t want this burden on Ronan, nor did I want his life—or our life together—to be tarnished or sidetracked with him suffering in the supernatural court system.
Even though my aunt Jules was the Enforcer of our laws here, she couldn’t simply look the other way. Not even for me.
“Ronan!” I shouted.
The white werewolf instantly looked at me.
“No, Ronan.” I pushed off the tree, wincing at the pain in my foot as I limped toward him.
He lowered to all fours and strode between them, snapping his teeth at a big black werewolf who I suspected was Bowie. He backed away as Ronan made his way to me, a constant growl rumbling deep and low.
“Oh, Ronan.” His aura was flame-red, vibrating with rage. “I’m okay,” I assured him.
Stepping closer, I buried my face in his fur and wrapped my arms around his neck as far as they would go. “I’m okay. Shhhh.”
I managed to summon my serenity spell and poured it into him. His growl transformed slowly into that soothing purr.
“I’m so glad you came,” I said, wanting to laugh at such an understatement, but I was too exhausted by both fear and relief.
He eased back and lowered until his belly was on the ground, then he nudged me to his side. It took me a second to realize what he wanted.
Slowly, I stepped to his side and climbed onto his back, digging my fingers into his fur to hold on. When he stood, he stared at the three other wolves in the circle of moonlight. They were his teammates. I recognized their auras, which were all the same hue as when they were in human form. Only Ronan’s was currently darker and angrier than normal.
His muscles tensed beneath me, and then he arched his neck toward the moon and howled. It was a long, sonorous, lovely sound, a well of emotion I’d never quite felt in such a powerful rush. The howl lingered until it faded to a sad, hoarse cry.
When it ended, there was a brief moment of silence before the other three—Bowie, Zack, and Ty—lifted their heads to the starry night sky and let their voices be heard too. All three howled in return, an answer to their friend who’d become more and who needed to feel their kinship in this moment of reckoning.
For this was a reckoning for Ronan—the moment where he and his wolf were one, where his past loss and pain and shame of regret were washed away when he became all that he could be . . . to save me.
He snuffed the air and walked across the clearing. As we passed the others, I told them, “Please go get my friend in the cabin. They left her there.”
Bowie growled and left first, the other two disappearing after him.
Ronan looked back over his shoulder at me. Those pale-blue eyes held nothing but warmth, and I marveled that for someone who’d never truly known his wolf this way, he had full control of both man and beast. How could I expect anything less of him?
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “I can hold on.” When I smiled, he blinked and snuffed the air, and then he ran.
Curling my fingers into his fur and digging my heels into his flank, I held on tight. I couldn’t see hardly anything at all as the woods whizzed by, snatches of moonlight illuminating between the trees. Occasionally, I’d hear a werewolf howl in the far distance. I hoped that meant they found Lauren and the other two who’d fled.
Diego and Joaquin would know what to do. They’d immediately contact my aunt and get them to healers. I hoped they weren’t dead. Not because I cared so much about their lives, but because I cared too much about Ronan’s. He didn’t need another trial to suffer through.
While he was loud before when he crashed through the trees to my rescue, now he was silent as he slipped through the swampy woods. Ten minutes later, he came out onto a road. He turned left and trotted along the blacktop, his claws clicking on the cement as the moon guided our way.
When I saw the outline of trucks and SUVs up ahead, I instantly recognized Bowie’s and my brother’s. I sat up straight when Ronan slowed to a stop, then I slid off his side. He turned and snuffed again, then nuzzled me with his snout, nudging me toward Bowie’s vehicle. I backed up to the hood.
Werewolves weren’t entirely wolves or men, somewhere in between, but there was a beauty about Ronan as he stood on all fours, staring at me with those clear, blue eyes.
He looked at me so intently, and I stared right back. “You’re quite beautiful, Ronan. As a man and a wolf.”
I swear he arched a brow at me. Then he rose up onto his hind legs, showing his magnificence fully to me. I almost thought he was showing off until I heard the splintering of bones. He shifted back quickly and immediately gripped my upper arms, leaning into me and sniffing like he was still in wolf form .
“I smell blood.” His eyes were still the color of ice.
“You’re covered in it,” I told him, noting his jaw, neck, and chest bore the signs of the violence with Baron.
He huffed a breath, his mannerisms still more like the wolf than himself. “He’s lucky to be alive.”
“And is he?” I asked gently. “Still alive?”
“For now.”
I didn’t question any more because then he was sniffing me again along my shoulder and down to my ribs.
“It’s my foot.” I lifted the injured one. “I stepped on a rock when I ran away.”
That menacing growl vibrated again in his chest as he swept me into his arms and carried me to Bowie’s SUV. Once he belted me into the passenger’s seat and ran around to the driver’s seat, still completely naked, he cranked it up with the key fob sitting in the console and tore it around to head the other direction.
“What about Bowie and them?” My voice was shaking now. The shock of what I’d escaped and witnessed had just caught up to me.
“They’ll find a way. Don’t worry.”
I nodded, a tear sliding down my cheek at the memory of waking in that haze and finding Lauren unconscious and both of us in dire danger.
Ronan swerved over to the side of the road, jerked it into park, and hauled me sideways into his lap. He hugged me close, tucking my head beneath his chin.
“You’re all right. You’re okay.”
I sank my fingers into his shoulder and let the tears come, knowing it was the release that would set me straight .
Then his voice quivered. “Aren’t you? Okay?”
I realized what he must’ve thought, what they might’ve done before he arrived.
Looking up at him, I nodded. “Yes, Ronan. I’m all right, thanks to you. How did you find us?”
“Your phone.”
“What?”
“They threw your phone out the window. But the fucking idiots didn’t do it far enough away.”
“Oh.” I smiled, thanking the Goddess that I’d taken that step to connect on Life360 with him. “That was lucky.” But not really. It was more than luck.
He held me close while I let the tears go and took solace in his arms. His labored breathing finally slowed until we were both simply quiet and content, basking in the safety of being in each other’s arms.
Then he spoke softly. “My mom had corrected me in the car. She told me to put something away. I lashed out at her with claws. I didn’t mean to, but my wolf was aggressive and defensive then.”
It took me only a few seconds to realize he was confessing his most tragic moment, that he needed to tell me this.
“In the accident, you mean? When she died?”
“Yes.”
He continued to soothe a hand up and down my spine, petting me, but it was he who needed the soothing now.
“Right at the moment I swiped at her, a deer ran into the road. She swerved, and we hit a tree.” He swallowed audibly. “I thought I’d killed her. So my wolf went away, or I sent him away. Or both.”
“You didn’t kill her.” I lifted my head to look at him. “You know that, don’t you? ”
His smile was sad. “I do now, after quite a few sessions in therapy.”
He cupped my cheek, and I leaned into it.
“But he finally came back to you tonight,” I noted softly. “That’s remarkable, isn’t it?”
He stroked his thumb along my cheek, his eyes now a deeper shade, a somber expression engulfing his face.
“He had to. His mate needed him.”
“I’ll always need you, Ronan. I promise.”
He nuzzled into my hair, which was a horrid mess, but he didn’t seem to care, taking gulping breaths of me.
“And I’ll always be here.” He hugged me tighter against him, his hand cradling the back of my head. “I promise.” He heaved out a shaky sigh. “I was scared too.”
“I know. But I’m okay. We’re both okay.”
We remained there for some time, holding one another while I spread my aura magic, wrapping it around us both in a blanket of safety and serenity. It was more apparent than ever in that moment that this was how our life would go. One might fall or be afraid or sad, and the other would pick them up and reassure them with love and tenderness.
In a million years, I’d have never thought that the sexy, bruised-up werewolf I met in the body shop garage that morning would be my perfect equal and partner.
My magic hummed as it swirled around us, a golden-orange glow filling the small cab of the car. And warming both of us with the promises of love made between us.