11. Tavas
TAVAS
“She bolted. Do you copy? She bolted over the fucking wall.” An agent’s voice came over the headset.
I looked over at Darius, who was with me by the cars as backup.
We’d both decided that it would be better to go in waves.
That way, they couldn’t keep track of how many of us there were.
Once we’d gotten a chance to do some recon, we found that Vadik had only brought a small crew, too cocky to believe that we would attack him on his own land.
In a way, he was right—The Collective had never pulled a stunt like this.
I also guessed that he wanted to keep her a secret until he figured out if she would survive the transition.
Now it was looking like Vivianna might be more than he bargained for.
The walls around the monastery were approximately twelve feet tall, an unthinkable leap for most wolves so shortly after their first shift.
“What direction did she run off in?” Darius asked over the com.
“She jumped a wall and headed southeast. Her only way off the island is to continue south towards the open field and forest where you’re stationed,” the agent responded.
“Stall as long as you can. Everyone gets out on this mission,” Darius directed as he paced in front of the Humvee that we’d driven here in.
“I’ll shift and see if I can find her. If she’s heading in this direction, it shouldn’t be hard,” I said, knowing that Darius, as worked up as he was, wouldn’t be good energy to have around a skittish, newly shifted wolf.
Typically, newly shifted wolves ran on instinct, letting their wolf completely take over.
Which meant they tended to be extremely volatile and aggressive.
Add to that the fact that we’d just sprung her from jail, and she’d be even more distrusting of anyone and anything that approached her.
Darius nodded in agreement, chewing on his thumbnail.
This was Darius’s only tell that he was unsure about a situation, but you had to really know him to notice it.
Or you needed my wolf’s overactive prey drive that sought out weaknesses.
“I’ll follow after you. If she’s shifted back to human, she won’t be in any condition to walk back here,” Darius said, reaching into the Humvee and grabbing a large wool blanket.
I disrobed quickly and slowly brought my wolf forward.
I didn’t shift unless I had to. Being in my wolf form was an uncomfortable experience—I hated the lack of emotion that my wolf had.
He was cold, calculating, and deadly—all the things I wasn’t.
I shook out my silver fur and glanced at Darius to see if he was ready.
He motioned for me to head on, and I took off in the direction the agent said they’d seen her.
If I was a new wolf, what would I be worried about first?
It had been so long since my first shift, it was hard to relate.
I could feel my wolf’s irritation at me for making him wait so long to hunt.
Even though I could control when I shifted, it didn’t stop my wolf from letting me know how displeased he was about it.
I shook him off and tried to think of a way that I could systematically search the field.
I ran up a hill and looked to see where the monastery was in relation to our location.
I lifted my nose to the wind, hoping to pick up on anything that would give me direction.
I closed my eyes and let my wolf sort through the scents.
Then I caught it. It was faint, but it was there.
It was soft and light, but it was definitely female and a wolf.
I charged after the scent, pausing here and there to keep up with the direction.
It seemed that she found a rabbit to chase after, which made it harder to track what direction she was heading.
In a way, this was a good problem, because if I was having trouble finding her, so would any other wolf that tried to track her.
I took my time, weaving back and forth in the area where her scent was strongest. Her scent was intoxicating to my wolf, and I couldn’t deny my enjoyment of it, either.
She smelled like summer and light florals, like jasmine or geranium, but with a bite of citrus, giving it an edge.
The more I let myself get wrapped in the scent, the easier it was to pick up her true trail.
Suddenly, I stumbled upon a spot that I knew she’d been in just moments ago.
I lifted my head and pricked my ears, trying to see if I could locate her.
I had no idea what she even looked like in her wolf form, but my wolf didn’t need that kind of help to recognize her.
He let me know that she was over to the left, afraid and ready to defend herself.
I took my time edging closer to her, giving her ample time to read that I wasn’t a threat.
My wolf alerted me seconds before she pounced. Damn, she’s fast. I felt her teeth dig into the skin on the side of my neck. Holy shit, she’s strong, too. I’d never felt such power from a female wolf before. She just attacked me without hesitation, not caring one bit that I was an alpha.
I could feel my wolf wanting to fight back once she started gnawing, trying to find my throat.
He couldn’t understand why I was just rolling over and letting this female dominate us.
My wolf was growling at the attack, but did as I asked and let me take over once again.
He felt if I was just going to let us get beaten by a female, then I could take responsibility as a human.
The moment my fur turned to flesh, I felt her halt in her attack. I lifted my hand slowly and reached up to pet her face. She was a beautiful golden color the likes I’d never seen before, and her blue-green eyes shone with fear and determination.
“Vivianna, I’m here to help. There’s no need to be afraid,” I said, gently stroking her cheek, encouraging her to release her hold.
Her bite hurt significantly more in my human skin, not having the layer of fur to buffer her razor-sharp teeth.
Once I spoke, she opened her mouth and backed away from me.
I could sense the panic coming from her as she started shaking.
Slowly, her wolf melted away from her, and I could hear the small whimper she gave at the transition.
My wolf and I were both shocked at this occurrence—most first shifters spent days in wolf form, unable to regain their humanity enough to shift back.
My wolf snarled at seeing the bruises and cuts all over her body, the red welts on the side of her neck from the bite that had triggered her transformation. That bastard! He didn’t need to be that rough! A simple scratch would have done the trick. My wolf growled his agreement.
A fierce protectiveness, originating from my wolf, overwhelmed me. He seemed to have flipped his thinking about this woman. She was precious and something we needed to keep safe at all costs.
Once her shift was finished, she opened her eyes and looked at me—well, more so at my neck and the blood that I could feel seeping out of the wound.
It wasn’t the worst I’d suffered in my life; my brothers took great joy in pushing the limits of our family fights.
I’d knocked on death’s door more than once when I’d refused to fight back against them.
I’m sure this bite looked awful, and it stung like a bitch, but I would be just fine with a few hours of sleep.
Vivianna crawled over to me, tears streaming down her face as she looked at the mess she’d made of my neck. My heart broke for her. She was a doctor, and even though I could tell she would do what it took to stay alive, her true nature was to heal, not to hurt.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, reaching out to me, unsure of where to touch.
Instinctively, I reached out and cupped her cheek.
I wanted to reassure her, wash away the tears that were running freely down her beautiful face and onto my chest. Through my touch and the gentle smile I gave her, I pushed my alpha powers, embracing her in my protection.
“It’s okay. I’ll heal. There's no need to cry, Vivianna. You’re safe now, the others are right behind me. ”
She clutched my hand like it was a lifeline keeping her from being swept away.
My wolf reached out as well, nudging his power against hers.
Shocking me once again, her own wolf nudged back, and that’s when I realized it—she was an alpha female!
All I wanted at that moment was to shift back and curl up in her lap to offer all the comfort that I could.
It was the first time in my life that my wolf and I agreed on something.
For this female, we would do anything to ease her pain.
Hearing a twig snap, I flicked my gaze from Vivianna’s face to find Darius walking up to us.
I relaxed a little, knowing that he would take care of Vivianna while I was wounded.
He carefully placed the blanket over her naked body and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, noticing her battered state and my savaged neck.
I shook my head slightly, telling him not to push the matter now.
We needed to get her out of here first, then we could figure out the whole story.
He crouched next to her, but just like when he placed the blanket on her, she just sat there, softly crying. The events of the past few days must have caught up to her. Truthfully, we had no idea what had really happened in the three days between Rik coming back and us getting here.
“Vivianna, it’s going to be okay. I need you to let go of Tavas so I can get you both out of here,” Darius said gently as he pulled my hand out of her grasp. “That a girl. Now I’m going to pick you up—you’re in no condition to go running through the woods barefoot.”
Darius gingerly picked her up, pulling her close to his chest. I watched him as she snuggled in close to him, breathing his scent deeply.
I could feel her wolf reaching out to test Darius’s, much like she had done to me.
Apparently approving, she gave a contented grunt and let her head rest against Darius’s pulse on his neck.
I wonder if she had any idea how intimate of a movement that was, or how trusting Darius was by letting her do that.
Was it because she was his equal? Did her being an alpha female change my wolf’s attitude about her?
This was going to be interesting for us all to figure out.
“You going to be okay?” Darius asked, looking down at me where I still sat in the dirt, watching them.
I shrugged my uninjured shoulder. “I’ve had worse. I’ll just shift back and meet you at the Humvee.”
Darius looked at me in surprise; this would be the second time in one day that I’d chosen to shift.
He decided not to comment and turned and walked away with the most precious package any one of us had ever been responsible for.
Now we just needed to know if Rik and Koit had made it back, and we could get her home and safe.