Chapter 32
Lowie
“Lowie,” Juniper rasps, and my heart instantly lodges itself in my throat,
“Juno? What’s wrong?” I demand, tone gruff and filled with horror, flashbacks of answering a very similar call coming back to me with all of the force of a tidal wave. “Where are you, Angel?”
“Low,” she breathes, so quiet that I strain to hear her clearly. “Crash. It was them. Help.”
“It was who, Angel? What happened? Where are you?” I rush, overrun with panic now, terrified that something has happened to my girl again and I’m not there to help her. “Juno, baby, where are you?”
My panic doubles when I don’t get a reply, and I swallow hard before rushing into Leylan’s room, keeping the phone stuck to my ear despite the lack of response.
“Juno is in trouble,” I blurt the moment my brother lifts his head to peer at me over his book.
“What? What do you mean?” he asks, placing the book down after tucking a bookmark between the appropriate pages.
“She called. Said something about a crash, said it was them , and called for help. She isn’t talking and I don’t know where she is, but she sounded hurt, Ley. We need to find her,” I rush to explain, right before I leave his room in search of the others.
I find them all congregated near the front door, each of them wearing matching expressions of dread, agitation and horror, all things I’m feeling very strongly.
Creek is the first to speak, Evron looking sick to his stomach while Geo scowls and wrings his hands awkwardly. “Something’s wrong. There’s something wrong with Juno. We felt her fear, and it only stopped a few seconds ago.”
“Car crash,” I tell them bluntly, bypassing them all to find a pair of shoes and my keys. “She called me and said there was a crash, but she’s gone quiet. If it was bad, she’s likely passed out, so I don’t know how hurt she is. But we need to find her. She said something like it being them . I don’t know who they are, but she was scared and in pain, I could hear it in her voice just like I did when we were kids.”
They all nod before running into action, each of them stuffing their feet into whatever shoes they can find. Just as I find my keys on the coffee table, Leylan comes rushing in and asks for my phone. “Here, she has an app on her phone I made her download after the first time she saw that creep who knew her name. If her phone is still working, then we can track it and find her faster.”
Nodding, I watch as my twin downloads an app to my phone and puts his details into the login section. The app comes to life the moment he’s done, and it takes very little time to find Juniper’s picture on the tiny map that spans the whole screen.
“There. She’s there. Come on, let’s go,” he says, handing my cell over before snatching my keys from my hand.
We’re all following closely after him as Leylan runs to his car, taking the driver’s side while I claim the passenger’s side. The others clamber into the back, a tight squeeze, but they don’t once complain. There’s too much to worry about without adding a cramped space to the equation.
In a very un-Leylan-like move, he puts his foot down and demands, “Give me directions.”
So, I do, telling him where to turn and when, clinging to the ‘oh-shit’ handle when he takes a turn too sharply. It takes less than five minutes before we’re skidding to a stop at a crash between a truck that doesn’t belong to Juniper, and a couple of cars.
Pace stands outside of his truck, nodding to a police officer while he clutches his arm to his stomach, his shoulder looking a little out of place. There’s a bandage on his head, dry blood on his jaw, and there’s a severity to his face that sets my teeth on edge.
Diving out of the car before Leylan has come to a full stop, I sprint over to Pace just as the police officer tucks his notepad away and rushes to his patrol car, yelling, “Where is she?”
Pace looks over, guilt and agony painted over his features. “They fucking hit her, man. They ran her off the road. The truck went tumbling down the banking over there.”
Pace points in the direction where there’s debris and glass shards, a broken rail painted with the horrible color of Juniper’s old truck, and skid marks stained across the concrete road.
“I tried to stop it, man. I really did. But there was another car and it blocked me before I could get between Juno and the fucker that ran her over. The other car sent me into the other lane and I got hit by two oncoming cars. She was gone by the time I managed to get the fucking door unstuck enough to chase after her,” he explains quickly, voice strained like his throat is tight with emotion. His eyes look haunted, eyes filled with despair, and I know he’s kicking himself over the whole fucking thing as it is.
“Are the cops looking for her truck?” I rush out, gaze darting back in the direction she veered off.
Pace nods and winces, his shoulder moving awkwardly, likely a dislocation. “That officer over there is calling for backup. Too much shit happened for just one cop.”
Biting my lip, a sense of urgency boiling me from the inside out, I nod only once before telling him, “I’m going to look for her. Let the police know.”
Pace nods rapidly in understanding, so I leave him the honor of talking to the cops, running to Leylan’s car. All of my packmates have crowded in front of the car, questioning looks on each of their faces, so I quickly explain what happened, pointing in the direction where Juno’s truck disappeared. “She’s down there. Or, her truck will be. If we find her truck, we’ll find Juno.”
They all nod, Creek muttering, “Let’s go find our girl.”
So, as a unit, we all rush toward the banking that slopes steeply, taking cautious, but quick, steps until we’re almost sliding down the whole thing when the mud bests us.
It doesn’t take long to find Juno’s truck, the metal monstrosity wrapped around a thick, tall tree. The windows are all busted, the doors all dented to fuck, and smoke billows from beneath the hood.
“Juno?” Evron shouts, slipping and sliding toward the truck in his haste to reach the truck. “Sweetheart?”
We all follow suit, scrambling around until we’re surrounding the truck. The driver’s side door is already wrenched open, so I peer inside the cabin and curse. “She’s not here. Fuck. Where the hell could she be?”
Just as I pose the question, a hair-raising scream echoes through the forest, bouncing off the trees and sinks beneath my flesh and to my bones. Worse is just as the scream sounds out, it’s cut off abruptly, setting off my anxiety and terror until it’s all I can think of, because there isn’t a single doubt in my mind that the scream belongs to my omega.
“Fuck!” I spit, right before my feet start moving, my mind catching up straight after I find myself bolting through the forest in search of my omega.
A stampede of footsteps follow after me, shouts of Juno’s name reverberating all around us, but I don’t slow down. There’s one thing on my mind, and one thing only, and that’s getting to Juniper as fast as I can possibly carry myself.
Just as panic begins to override every rational thought in my mind, when I begin to wonder if I’m even running in the right fucking direction, we break through an opening of trees, skidding to a stop when we almost stumble right into the lake that runs the length of the road Juniper drove off.
And there, right on the bank of the lake, sunken to her knees in the wet mud, is my omega. Her hair is clutched in the hands of a dead man as he yanks her head from the water, her pained gasps for air and chokes on water breaking my heart and fueling an atom-deep fury within me.
I pay little attention to anything else, my blinding anger focused solely on the man that mutters something in the ear of my woman, right before he dunks her fucking head right into the water again, chuckling as though he’s having the time of his life torturing my omega.
I’m like a bull running after a red flag, my feet charging towards the cunt before I can even comprehend the movement. I don’t focus on the way Juno’s body turns sickeningly limp, how her fingers stop clawing at the hand holding her head under water, or how the sick bastard laughs even harder when bubbles float to the surface where Juno’s head has disappeared beneath the surface. I only focus on getting him away from her. Of getting to my girl before I lose her again, maybe for good this time.
Lowering my body, I dip low before charging the bastard, tackling him with all the force of a fucking elephant. The sound of his pained grunt offers very little satisfaction, even less so when I take him to the ground and he starts laughing again, muttering between wheezes, “Fuck yeah. I was feeling disappointed this wasn’t going to be much of a challenge.”
I’m suckered with a punch the next second, my head snapping to the right before I can think to block the attack. I’m dazed for too long, blinking rapidly, before another fist comes swinging at me, connecting brutally with my jaw. My head jerks in the opposite direction, and I only catch a brief flicker of Geo and Evron charging toward another figure I hadn’t noticed before.
It’s not enough to distract me from another punch, and I only just managed to dodge the next swing, launching my own right hook into the ugly cunt’s face hard enough that blood spurts from his already crooked nose. I follow it with another swing, splitting his lip. I go in for another, cutting his eyebrow. Adrenaline and fear fuels me as I beat my fists over and over into the asshole’s face, the pain muted while I tear into the man who thought he could hurt Juniper.
As soon as he turns limp, his dirt-colored eyes rolling to the back of his head after one particularly brutal punch to the temple, I scramble off the piece of shit and hurry toward the bank where I last saw Juniper.
The space where she’d been mere moments before is empty, the divots where her knees had been buried in the mud void of her presence. I frantically search the water, seeing no sign of my girl anywhere, and my heart starts to drown at the thought that I could have been too late. That she’s been swept away in the water, that I fucked it all up when I tackled the asshole.
“Lowie, watch out!” my brother shouts, just as someone kicks my legs from under me, my landing hard enough that I grunt and groan as a rock breaks my fall.
I peer up from the ground just in time to catch the foot soaring at me, the muddied boot aiming for my fucking face, and I twist the ankle attached to it with enough force that I hear a nasty snap that rings in my ears with an accompanying scream so shrill that I wince.
The body attached to the foot, that of the same bastard I thought I’d knocked out, falls with a wail, and before I can scramble on top of him to beat the piss out of him and make sure he doesn’t wake up ever again, my brother hurries over with Creek right behind him. “We’ve got it. I don’t know where Juno went, though. Find her, Low.”
Nodding rapidly, I scramble back to my feet and hurry to the bank, searching for my girl. I feel like I’m going to suffocate on my agony when I see no sign of her, a blood-boiling rage filling me from my head to my toes, my eyes scanning and scanning while my hands tighten into fists .
I wade into the water, hissing at the cold bite that seeps into my shoes, and shout, “Juno?”
I strain to hear a reply, begging for one, but there’s nothing. So, I try again. “Juniper? Come on, Angel. Where are you?”
Again, I stop and listen, jaw clenched tightly while I try to tune out the rushing of water and the guys restraining the two fucks that tried to take my girl from me. The two fucks that very well might have succeeded in taking her from me.
“Juno?” I try again, heart galloping painfully in my chest, stomach tightening with dread. “Juniper, where—?”
“Lowie?”
My entire body almost turns to fucking liquid when I hear the sweetest rasp I’ll ever hear, my name crawling out as a croak from nearby.
“Juno? Where are you, Angel?” I shout, stepping a little further into the water, eyes flying over every inch of water and land I can see from where I stand.
“Here,” Juno calls, slightly garbled by water, but strong enough that I suss out the direction.
I’m running to the left not a split second later, a flash of grey and purple leading me along the bank as I hurry to Juno. Sure enough, I find her clinging to a thick tree log that hangs over the lake, her teeth chattering and one arm hanging limply while she uses the other to cling to safety.
“Juno, hold on, baby,” I shout, just as I vault over a felled tree and rush toward her, the petrified look on her face fueling my movements like oil to a flame. I waste no time going into the water, trudging in quickly until I’m waist deep while I latch onto a high branch and reach for Juno. Holding my hand out for her, I roughly command, “Grab on, Angel. I’ve got you.”
Terrified, icy-blue eyes fill with both relief and panic, and Juno shakes her head as she fights against the current of the water. Spitting water from her mouth and doing her best to stay above the surface, she cries, “I can’t. My arm is broken. If I let go, I’m gone. ”
Gritting my teeth, I push myself further into the water, before I strain to tell her, “You’re going to have to give me your broken arm, Angel. It’ll hurt, but it’s the only way I’m going to get you out safely. Can you do that for me, baby?”
Juno whimpers, and it breaks my heart in two, but she nods firmly as she sends me a pleading look. “Don’t let me go, okay?”
“I won’t ever let you go, Angel. Trust me,” I plead, gritting my teeth against the freezing water as I push my hand out a little further toward her.
It feels like an eternity passes as I wait for Juno to gather the courage to sling her broken arm toward my outstretched hand, those pale-blue eyes holding so much trust and fear that I almost feel my chest caving in before she finally reaches for me.
As soon as her hand is in mine, I latch on tight, pulling her toward me slowly but surely. Juno cries out and curses, likely feeling no short amount of pain, but she grits her teeth and releases the log, putting every ounce of faith in me that I’ll save her.
Holding my breath, I pull her through the water, stepping back further and further until I’m stepping up the bank. My feet slip and slide, but my hold on Juno remains steady as I pull her with me, pulling her out of the worst of the current and onto the bank beside me.
As soon as we’re free of the water, I scoop Juno into my arms and hold her so tight that she grunts and moans in pain. I almost let her go again, guilt gnawing at me for causing her more pain, but then her slender arm bands around my shoulders and she hugs me just as tight, her broken arm hanging limply at her side.
“I’ve got you, Angel. I’ve got you,” I choke out in a near whisper, pressing a kiss to her head and keeping it there while I breathe her in, her sugary scent slightly dampened by water and mud. “You did so good, Juno. I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I mistake the first shake of her body for the cold burrowing beneath her skin, her trembling body shaking so hard that I hear her teeth rattle. It’s from the bone-jarring shake the second time that I realize she’s crying, and I bundle her that much closer as I run my hand up and down her back, tucking her so close to my body that I don’t know where she starts and I end. I don’t even care that she’s soaked to the bone, the water seeping through to my clothes. I don’t care that I’m still standing in mud, my face aching something fierce as the adrenaline shifts enough that my pain receptors flare back to life.
All I care about is holding the woman I love in my arms, assuring myself that she’s here, safe and sound, and making sure she knows that I’ll always have her no matter what.
“Come on, Angel. Let’s get you seen by the ambulance and out of those wet clothes,” I command, carrying her from the bank and back toward where the others have pinned both of the thundercunts who took my girl and tried to fucking kill her, to the ground.
Juniper shivers in my arms, and I look at her, only to find her staring at the two guys like she’s seen a ghost. The fear in her eyes bleeds into her expression, and I hold her tighter, pressing a kiss to her temple but careful to avoid the nasty gash that spills blood down her face. “It’s okay, Juno. They won’t hurt you again.”
She nods, wrapping her good arm more snuggly around my shoulders, her hand gripping my neck tight enough that I’d complain if I didn’t want to feel every inch of her. She could strangle me for all I care, so long as she was right here with me.
Just as Evron opens his mouth, likely to ask who the two pieces on the ground are, if his glare in their direction is anything to go by, I hear a stranger shout, “Lowie? Juno?”
We all freeze where we stand, all of us sharing wary glances, before the stranger calls out again, right before a man wearing a police uniform steps into view. Like a dark comedy show, the cop looks us all over, eyes the two men on the ground, and drops his concerned gaze to Juno before they land on me. “Lowie Ledger?”
“Yes, sir,” I answer honestly, never once relaxing my hold on Juno .
“Is that Juniper Baines you’re holding?” he asks, and I nod. He jerks his head in the direction of the guys pinning the dickheads down. “And those?”
“Juniper’s pack, and the guys who tried to kill her,” I answer, steel in my voice and a renewed explosion of anger spreading through my body.
The officer frowns but nods, right before asking, “And they are?”
“My foster brothers,” Juno breathes shakily, body still trembling, eyes still on the two men face down in the mud.
My whole body, however, turns to stone as understanding dawns on me. The two fuckers are the assholes she ran away from all those years ago, the ones that belong to the family that abused her before she got out. These are the sick fucks that kept trying to force her into bonding with them, forming a pack she didn’t want with them.
“I should have killed him,” I seethe out loud, eyeing the bigger of the two with disdain and relishing in the way he winces in pain as Creek twists his arm a little harder, the blood coating his face doing very little to soften the fury I feel towards him, his brother, and his shitty, good-for-nothing parents.
“Alright, folks. Let’s get you out of here and we can work all of this out, okay?” the officer instructs politely but sternly, and my pack simply nods before eyeing Juno. They’re likely feeling the same need to lock her away in her nest and keep her there until the end of fucking time, just like I am.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to that portion of this shitshow until long into the night, after the police have taken all of our statements, arrested Peter and Josh Burton, and they send Juno to the hospital in an ambulance with me still clutching her hand.
By the time we manage to find ourselves in the confines of our home, Juno is dead on her feet, still shivering as though the cold in the water has seeped into her bones, and she looks as ready to drop as the rest of us .
She’s stubborn, though, because just as Leylan and I begin to herd her toward the stairs, intending on taking her to her nest, she pauses and asks, “Did you find out if Pace was okay?”
Creek nods, smiling softly at her, haunted eyes scanning every inch like he’s done all night. “He’s fine, beautiful. Dislocated shoulder, a few scrapes and bruises, but he’s fine. Feels shit about what happened, but we all assured him he wasn’t at fault. Pretty sure he and his pack will be stopping by sometime tomorrow to check on you. And Silver. Took some convincing to get her to stand down and visit tomorrow instead of going to the hospital.”
She sighs and nods. “Okay, sure.”
Pressing a kiss to her head, her hand still linked with mine, I say, “Let’s get you to bed, Angel. We’ll figure out the rest in the morning.”
Squeezing my hand but not attempting to remove it from mine, she nods and allows my brother and me to finally take her to her nest. Since she showered in the hospital and found herself wearing a kind nurse’s spare t-shirt and leggings, we don’t bother fucking around with anything but getting Juniper bundled up in the nest, all of us piling in with her.
Each of us finds a spot close enough to touch her, no one complaining about me hogging her hand as they all settle around Juno. Wild horses couldn’t get me to release her hand right now, the comfort of her touch the only thing keeping me calm enough that I don’t try to do something stupid, like kill her foster brothers for trying to kill her. For Juno, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
It takes very little time before Juno’s soft snores begin, her face nuzzled in my neck, my brother spanning her entire back as he acts like the big spoon to her small. Creek is lying behind me, his arm stretched over my waist so he can tuck his hand beneath Juno’s borrowed shirt at her neck and brush his thumb over their bond mark. Evron is hugging one of her legs, his face pressed against where I know his own mark lies beneath Juno’s leggings, and Geo curls around our heads with his hand in Juno’s hair, softly rubbing at the spot where Peter had gripped her earlier.
Together, we lay in silence as we listen to Juno’s breathing, watching her chest rise and fall as she sleeps, thanking every deity in existence that she’s still here with us.
And, while I lie awake long after everyone else has fallen asleep, I renew the vow I made all of those years ago, promising Juno that no one or nothing will ever take her away from us again. Wherever she goes, we go, until we’re nothing but dust.