6. Lynx
LYNX
As soon as I hear the gates close, I breathe a huge sigh of relief and will my heart to stop racing. What are the fucking chances?
I walk back outside. Callum’s sat waiting for me on the bottom step, so I join him, stretching out my legs.
“What the fuck was that all about?” He nods in the direction of the gates where we can still hear the faint hum of a motorbike.
I shrug. “Kid wanted to join an MC.”
“Kid?” He scoffs. “He’s twenty-five.”
“How the fuck do you know?”
“I asked Kira. His name’s Morgan Webb.”
“Don’t need to know his name.” I don’t need to know anything about him since I won’t be seeing him again. I can’t, not if I value my own sanity.
Callum scoffs. “Right. And that wasn’t what I meant anyway.”
I turn to face him. “What then?” I deserve every bit of derision he sends my way for that, because I know exactly what he meant. And he knows I do too.
“What was all the sniffing about. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were scenting him.”
“Fuck off.” I bristle. He’s way too close to the truth.
It didn’t register when I saw Morgan the other day, too focussed on Birch to notice anything else. But he had all my attention here and the second I caught his scent I knew .
I knew him .
I’d been drunk on aconite-laced alcohol that night at the White Hart.
Walking back through the trees when I saw him.
I don’t remember much about Morgan’s appearance, but I remember how he smelt so fucking good.
I remember the way it felt to graze my teeth over hot skin, how close I was to biting down and making a mistake I couldn’t come back from.
That neither of us could.
It’s why I ran that night.
Why there is absolutely no fucking way I can have him join my club.
I inhale slowly, willing my body to behave and hoping Callum can’t get a read on me.
It’s a mistake.
I can still smell traces of Morgan in the air, on my skin. Sweet and spicy. My wolf stirs in response, and I immediately shut that shit down. I don’t have time to follow whatever path that would lead me down.
Not today.
Not ever.
“Want to talk about it?” Callum’s dropped his voice to barely a whisper. Those inside could hear if they were paying attention, but they’re not. It doesn’t matter, because I’ve got nothing to say.
“No.” I stand, waiting until he does the same. “I want to go over the plan for tonight one more time, then we all need to eat and sleep.”
We can only take our bikes so far before ditching them just off the road behind the thickest set of trees we could find. Mal’s van is more challenging to hide, but we do the best we can. If anything happens to it, we’ll deal.
Beth pulls the map from her pocket and we all gather round. “We’re closer than we planned for.” She traces her finger on the road we just left. “If your information’s right, they should be a little under two miles north-east.”
“It’s right,” Jet snaps.
Beth shoots him a look but doesn’t snap back. We all know the risks our informant took to get this to us. And what’s waiting for us when we get there.
“We know they’ll have lookouts stationed around the perimeter.” Mal leans over and points to something on the map. “With the night so fucking clear, we have to go with plan B.”
The moon, usually a source of strength and comfort, is a huge fucking hinderance tonight. A waxing gibbous phase means the night is uncharacteristically bright, and there’s not one fucking cloud to temper it. We can’t risk being seen.
Plan A was to shift and get as close as we can before shifting back. But Beth’s wolf is white, beautiful and a rarity among shifters, and she’d stand out like a fucking target on a night like tonight.
“I can keep up.” She shoots her glare at me instead of Mal, which is fair since I’ll have the final say on this. “There’s no point losing the advantage shifting gives us, when we need every bit of it to get through this.”
She’s not wrong.
Everything’s heightened when we shift. Speed, strength, but most important of all, our senses . We stand the best chance of avoiding detection that way.
“And my senses are almost as sharp in my human form.”
She’s not wrong there either.
Instinct tells me to protect her, to keep her safe and not leave her vulnerable in her human form. But that’s on me and the promise I made, it’s got nothing to do with her ability to protect herself, and she’d go for my throat if she knew my thoughts right now. Alpha or not.
My gaze drops to her left hand, to the two missing fingers that are a stark reminder of her fucking strength and bravery. Promise me you’ll keep her safe, Lynx. The memory squeezes my heart, like it does every fucking time.
She catches me looking and shakes her head sharply. “Don’t. Not if you want me to do this without killing the fucking lot of them when we get there.”
It’s a tempting thought. One I have constantly. But we can’t. There’s always too many of them and the risk of capture is too great. We can’t help anyone if that happens.
Beth looks at me, chin lifted, fucking defiant as always. I look to Mal for his input, but he shrugs, his eyes telling me it’s my call. For once I have to push my instincts aside and follow my head. “Fine. We’ll shift as planned.”
She grins, smugness radiating from her.
I narrow my eyes. “The second you start to fall behind, we shift back.”
“I won’t.”
The three of us strip, shoving our clothes into a rucksack that Beth shoulders with ease. I bite my tongue to stop myself asking if it’s too heavy. I value my bollocks too much for that.
“No unnecessary risks.” I pull Mal in close enough to lay my hand at his throat. Needing the connection before we do this. Then Jet. “Get out fast if it all goes to shit.” Then Beth. “We can’t save everyone.”
I hold onto her the longest, willing my words to hit home, because that last one is always the hardest to swallow. Even after all the runs we’ve done, it still tears my fucking soul apart to leave shifters behind.
I step back and meet their eyes once more.
“Be safe.” Then I close my eyes and draw on the power lying dormant inside me.
The magical energy sparks to life. Warmth flares bright and sharp behind my ribs before barrelling throughout my body.
White-hot heat floods my veins, my bones, like I’m engulfed by a raging wildfire, and for one agonising moment as my body breaks and twists, the pain is almost too much.
But then it’s gone so abruptly it used to leave me dizzy and disoriented for my first shifts.
Now I shake it off with barely a raised pulse.
Everything snaps into place as my awareness of our surroundings sharpens. Mal’s tawny wolf stands alongside me, and we both watch as the black jaguar saunters over, all smug feline grace, like we have all the time in the world.
Beth laughs. “Fuck, Jet. I forget what an arsehole you are when you shift.”
He flicks his head, baring his teeth at her. She rolls her eyes but doesn’t complain when he takes position on her other side.
Then we’re off, picking our way through the forest on near silent feet. Animals scatter, sensing danger, but they’re safe tonight. The only things we’re hunting walk on two legs, not four.
True to her word, Beth easily keeps up with the pace we set and it feels like no time at all before we hear the distant sound of shouts and cheers coming from up ahead. A growl bubbles in my chest, lips curling back into a snarl as I can’t help but picture what that means.
Lights appear through the trees, illuminating the surrounding area enough to bring us to a halt. According to the information we have, there’s an area around the back of the camp that’s not as well lit. The floodlights partially blocked out by the vans they use to transport everyone here.
The noise coming from the clearing is loud enough to cover any sound we make, but there are people out in the woods. I can smell them, hear the crack of twigs and branches as they move about.
Beth drops down into a crouch between me and Mal.
She points up ahead through the trees at the lone guard that’s made the mistake of wandering our way.
His gaze sweeps the forest, but even with the moon as bright as a fucking spotlight, we’re well hidden enough that his human eyes won’t pick us out.
But he’s a problem if we want to get closer.
The gun in his hand won’t kill us. Not easily anyway. Even if those bullets are silver, it takes a precision shot to end our life. But any wound will put an end to our night.
Unfortunately, the row of vans are parked to the left of him. He’s too close, and with no trees to cover our approach, we’d easily be spotted.
Beth silently slips the rucksack off her back and sets it on the ground, then whispers, “You shift and change. I’ll take care of him.”
Trust her.
That voice in my head sounds a lot like Bale. He always said Beth was both clever and cunning. Like sister like brother. So I nod, digging my claws into the earth to prevent myself from blocking her path when she crawls about twenty feet away from us before silently getting to her feet.
We watch as she pulls her T-shirt half out of her jeans and tears the neck so it gapes open, revealing the swell of her chest. She then scoops a handful of dirt and leaves from the forest floor.
With quick, practiced movements, she rubs dirt and debris into her hair and along her collarbone, then finally over the knees of her jeans.
She glances our way, frowning when she sees we’re all still shifted. “Change,” she hisses, then faces forwards and proceeds to make as much noise as possible while staggering out of the protection of the trees.
I shift back, gritting my teeth to keep silent through the change, human eyes now focused on Beth’s every move.
The guard snaps his gun up, training it at Beth as she stumbles out of the treeline.
“Hello?” She manages to sound drunk with one word. Then flashes a huge smile. Like she’s not seconds away from getting shot.
I fight the urge to run out there and get in between them, the alpha in me screaming to protect.
Protect. Protect. This close after a shift, the animal nature of my wolf is dangerously close to the surface.
Common sense is buried by base instinct and it’s a struggle to sort that mess out in my head.
Mal’s fingers close around my bicep, grip unforgiving as he yanks me back from where I’d started to rise. “Wait.”
I want to shake him off and pin him to the forest floor. How dare he tell me what to fucking do. I fight that urge too.
Because he’s right.
It takes me a second, but I finally bury my wolf enough to gain control. Shrugging out of Mal’s grip, I reach for the rucksack and pull out our clothes, never taking my eyes off Beth.
We dress quickly, because if, no, when she handles the guard, we need to be ready to move.
“ Stop .” The guard aims his gun at her fucking face, and she just carries on smiling at him.
“Oh, thank god. I thought I’d never find my way out.” She wobbles a little, slowly getting closer to him and into the light.
His gun lowers when he gets a good look at her. Beth is a beautiful woman. White-blonde hair and big blue eyes. She’s tall and slim, and to the human eye I imagine she looks weak and vulnerable, especially in her current state. I see the exact moment he decides she’s not a threat.
I almost laugh at how very wrong he is.
He grins at her, tongue wetting his bottom lip as he holsters his gun. He’s got about three inches on her and is twice as wide, and his intentions are obvious even from here.
No one would hear her scream, and even if they did, they wouldn’t fucking help. I have no sympathy for what’s about to happen.
She lets him get closer, then stumbles forward, and it happens so fast, blink and you’d miss it. As he reaches out to catch her, she lets her claws slide out and darts her hand upward, slicing across his throat in one smooth move.
He’s dead before he hits the ground.
“Go,” I hiss, pushing to my feet and running through the trees to join Beth. There’s a radio on the guard’s belt and we have no idea when or if he’s due to check in.
We reach Beth and she already has her head lifted, scenting the air. “I can smell it.” A storm of emotions fills her blue eyes. Pain and heartbreak with an undertone of anger. I recognise it because I feel exactly the fucking same.
Blood, sweat, and misery coat the air, clinging to it like a warning of what we’re walking into. A reminder of why we do this.
As if any of us need one.
An anguished roar breaks through the cheers and chants, a guttural scream hot on its heels, and the whole fucking thing tears at my heart. I want to help them, want to let my wolf loose, barrel into that ring and kill them all.
“We can’t help them,” Mal snaps, his hand on my throat this time.
Turning away never gets any easier.
I hope it never will.
With a nod, I force myself to block out the cries and the sounds of fighting. Goddess, forgive me and let them live.
Voices sound up ahead: human. As one we take cover behind the nearest van. It’s a black Transporter, and it reeks of blood and death, but I can’t hear any noise coming from inside.
This one’s for the bodies.
As harsh as it sounds, that’s good for us, because if they’ve come to collect another fighter for the ring, then they won’t come this far back.
Another roar fills the air, raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Shock him!”
The air crackles with the faint sound of electricity and the pained cry that follows cuts through me like a knife.
My fangs drop, jaw cracking as it expands to accommodate them, and claws slide out of my fingertips in response to the agony of another shifter.
Doesn’t matter that he’s not my pack, the primal connection is still there.
I grab onto that pain like a motherfucker, needing it to keep my wolf from surging forward.
We can’t help him either.
He’ll have sensed us nearby, know that help was seconds away and realise that he’s missed out by minutes.
If that fight had lasted longer, we might have got him out too.
The thought of that almost takes me out at the knees, but I shove it to the back of my mind, repeating the words in my head that I’d told Beth earlier.
We can’t save everyone.
I’ve never hated them more.