Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
ANGEL
My rescuer—the handsome shifter who came so close to becoming another of my victims days ago in the Medicine Bow Mountains—gently pulls me from the crate. His hands are so warm against my cold flesh. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this moment, how this brave shifter returned for me.
Not even a shifter from my own pack. A shifter I would have lured into captivity had my handlers not threatened to shoot him in the head unless I convinced him and his packmates to leave.
“I didn’t want to trap anyone.”
“We’ll talk later.”
“I need you to understand—” I lose my thought when his eyes lock onto me. Teal eyes that make a girl’s insides flutter.
Or maybe that’s the hunger.
Or shock.
I laugh unintentionally. “I think I’m losing it, Garrett.”
“You have reason to, but I’ve got you now, and we’re getting out of here. Both of us.”
“And the others?”
Silence. He can’t help them.
And I shouldn’t put that burden on him, not when this mess is my doing, not his. Saving my victims is on me to figure out.
My eyes find Garrett. His jaw clenches as he takes in my condition. I can’t even save myself.
“I understand.”
When he lets go of me, I stumble, unable to bear weight on my right hip.
“I’ve got you.” He pulls me in against his torso and wraps those muscular arms around me.
I’m not sure if he’s holding me against him to warm me or give me the chance to regain my sense of balance.
I’ve been stuffed in the crate for nearly ten hours, which makes standing painful, but not impossible.
I just need a few minutes to center myself.
“Which one’s Schneider?” Garrett asks as he peers through the glass window.
“The taller of the two.”
“Hard to tell which is which when they’re sitting.”
Admittedly, they both look the same from back here. “The one with the belt buckle that has a dent in the bottom left corner.”
“That’s oddly specific.”
“Spent too much time on my knees in front of his dick not to notice.”
The sharp inhale tells me I’ve said too much.
“They’ll pay for ever touching you,” he whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek, easing me to the floor, then wrapping the tarp around me. “Don’t move. Stay hidden.”
“And think warm thoughts?”
“Precisely.”
I pull my knees up against my chest, watching as this handsome, muscular male—with thick, black hair that I’d love to weave my fingers through—shifts into the most gorgeous silver wolf I’ve ever seen.
Dark silver and black fur covers him everywhere except his belly, legs, and chest which are mostly white.
As for his shift…. damn, he’s wicked fast, as in alpha-fast.
Garrett’s hackles rise the length of his back, down to his tail, turning an already impressive wolf into one that will no doubt send the humans running. He’s fearless and ready to charge into battle.
And what do I do? Hug my legs to my chest and focus on keeping my neck from touching the fucking spikes in the collar. I’m useless, but I can’t let myself drown in self-pity. I have to make it out of here alive, if only to make up for what I’ve done.
The roll door suddenly flies upward. Sun reflecting off snow blinds me for a moment, but there’s no mistaking the sound of bullets spraying the inside of the truck. I flatten myself to the floor as Garrett leaps from the truck.
Seconds later, the forest falls quiet. For a moment, I wonder if I just hallucinated the barrage of bullets, but the very real hole in the crate next to me tells me I didn’t.
It’s a death trap in here, and the quiet… it’s unsettling. I leave my hidey-hole and venture out, praying Garrett’s safe.
Blood-stained snow surrounds the truck, but there are no bodies. Only a silver wolf pacing between the trees, his face and torso matted with blood.
“Garrett?” I call out.
His wolf stops pacing and those teal eyes lock on me as I shuffle toward him.
Standing still makes the burn of the snow against my bare feet intensify for several breaths before the fire fades to tiny pricks.
I don’t understand how my wolf has any energy left to protect my feet.
She’s been trapped for months, unable to run, to connect with the earth.
I drop to my knees in front of Garrett and sink my hand into his blood-matted fur. “It’s okay, Garrett. You can shift back now. Unless… unless you need to leave. I can find my way from here.”
The wolf opens his mouth, and a silver key lands in the snow.
“The key to my collar!” With a shaky hand, I pick it up and insert it into the lock, but it won’t turn. “It’s not working, the key’s not turning.”
That’s when Garrett’s hand covers mine, taking the key from me.
“I wasn’t sure you could shift back. All that blood…”
“Not mine.”
“You killed them?”
“Only the one. Tore his fucking heads off.”
“Heads?”
“The one on his neck… and the one behind the buckle.”
I’m not sure if I should be sickened or shocked by what he did for me. The word grateful comes to mind.
At last, we hear a click. “Hold steady.” Garrett pulls the two halves of the collar open, steps aside with it, and flings it into the woods.
Relief sweeps through me. Then pure heaven surrounds me as his hands caress my neck, massaging the tiny pin pricks left by the spikes.
I turn fully into his embrace, not the least bit self-conscious that we’re both naked. He hugs me and I whimper at the contact, the knowledge that he cares.
“We have to go, Angel. Now, before they realize the truck never made it up that hill.”
“My friends call me Lina.”
“Good for them. To me, you’re Angel.”
“I’m no angel, Garrett. You don’t know what I’ve done.”
“We can compare notes on our worst deeds later, after I get you somewhere safe.”
“Home. I want to go home.”
He hesitates, then nods. “Just tell me where and I’ll get you there.”
That’s an impossible task, even for a shifter like Garrett. He’s smart, courageous, strategic, but home is… gone.
I cock my head as I stare into those bright teal eyes “Why did you risk yourself for me, given all I’ve done?”
“You haven’t done anything.”
“You’re evading my question,” I snap. I need to know where I stand with this male. Why he came for me.
“Did you lure shifters for the WSSO?”
He knows the answer. My victims were in that first truck.
“It’s okay if you did, Angel. I mean, not okay, but I understand.”
I wish I understood. “They didn’t give me a choice, but yes, I lured them.”
“To others, the answer is, ‘No, I didn’t lure shifters for the WSSO. I was used as bait.’ Make it clear they forced you.”
“What others?”
“Other shifters. For when you go home.”
“I… I don’t have a home.”
He lifts a brow. “Home’s a tricky concept, isn’t it?” I don’t know what it is about this male, but he’s not what I expected. It’s like he knows what I’ve been through and yet he doesn’t blame me.
“You and I have a lot in common, Angel. Maybe one day I’ll explain it to you. For now, we have to get out of here. Can you shift?”
“I want to leave, but I’m not sure how far I’ll get.”
“Do you trust me?”
When I don’t answer, he grips my chin and angles my head until I’m looking into his eyes. “Do you trust me,” he repeats.
“Papa told me never to question an alpha, to never say no.”
“I’m no alpha.”
“I guess that means I go with Mama’s advice. She said never say yes—not without first asking questions.”
Garrett chuckles, a heart-warming sound that makes my wolf purr. It’s the first I’ve heard from her in months.
“Tell your wolf I won’t let anyone touch either of you again. We need her. We have to move. Now.”
It’s been so long, but the instinct of how to shift is as engrained in me as breathing. Despite Mama’s advice, I don’t question him. Instead, I have a little chat with my wolf—more like I plead with her and tell her to trust Garrett.
Bones and muscles shift. It’s slow as fuck, but I’m shifting…
the first time in so damn long. I never realized how painful it is to feel every bone break, reshape, reposition itself, pulling muscles, tendons, and skin along.
Only when my fur emerges does the pain cease.
But I can shift, and that’s all that matters.
My wolf and I are finally free…