Chapter 46
46
Jude
What. The. Fuck.
My head ached from where I’d slammed it against the side of the window, and I reached up to touch my forehead. Warm blood soaked my fingers, and I groaned.
Head wounds bled like a bitch.
“Shit,” I groaned, and then remembered I wasn’t alone.
Rhett and Hazel were in the car along with the rest of our pack.
“Hazel?” I yelled.
Silence.
“Rhett.” He was next to me, and I nudged him.
It was only then that I realized we were upside down. The window beside me had been blown out in the wreck, and I could make out grass and leaves on the ground.
“Guys?” I called out.
In front of me, Oakley let out a string of mumbled curses.
“Oak, you good?” I demanded, bracing one hand on the roof and working to undo my seatbelt.
“Think I dislocated my shoulder,” Oak rasped. “Si? Fuck. Silas is out. Nasty head wound. Bowen?”
Bowen was quiet, but he’d also been on the side that took the brunt of the hit.
“Jude—”
“Hang on,” I told Oak, finally releasing my belt and almost crashing on the roof of the car in an awkward heap. Glass sliced through my jeans and palm. “Fuck.”
I quickly checked on Bowen. “Bowen and Rhett are out.”
I twisted and tried to crawl to see the backseat.
Crew, Hazel, and Kellan were all trapped upside down. My heart slammed against my ribs as I took a beat to check each pack bond, feeling the faint buzz under my skin that let me know they were at least alive.
Relief crashed through me fast enough to make me dizzy when I felt everyone was still breathing.
Hazel stirred with a soft whimper.
“Baby?” I crouched down on the roof, the angle all wrong to see her.
Her hair was still twisted in that elaborate updo from the gala, but strands had fallen free and hung down.
“Hazel, look at me,” I urged as a new sound filled the air.
“Dammit,” Oak hissed.
I tucked as the popping sound intensified and a shot clipped the car. “Who the fuck is shooting at us?”
“Gee, want me to step out and ask them?” Oakley snarled.
I clenched my jaw. Fucker.
“Jude, I’m pinned in here,” he added, quieter this time.
Hazel whimpered again. “Jude? What’s happening?”
“We were in an accident,” I told her, trying to stay calm.
More bullets, this time closer.
Her eyes went huge. “Gunshots?”
I gave her a grim nod as Crew started to stir. “The fuck?” he slurred, blinking slowly.
A bullet ricocheted off the door by Crew.
“Shit,” Crew hissed, more awake now. “Hazel?”
“I’m here and I’m okay,” she assured him. “But Kellan and Rhett aren’t waking up.”
“Fucking fuckballs,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling panic curl in my chest as I twisted to see out of one of the windows.
I could make out a figure several yards away, but it looked like he was alone. Single muzzle flash of the gun, a 9mm if I had to guess.
“Can you move?” I asked Crew.
He grunted and struggled before giving up. His gaze met mine, wary and determined. “Get Hazel out of here.”
“No,” she started to protest. “I’m not leaving?—”
Another gunshot pierced the night.
And then a voice that chilled my blood.
“Where the fuck is that omega bitch that ruined my life?”
Crew grimaced. “Goddammit.”
“Come out and play, omega!” Martin shouted into the night, followed by another shot. “I want your pack to watch as I take your life. Watch as you bleed out on the ground like the worthless bitch you are.”
Crew’s chest heaved, matching my own ragged breaths.
“Get her out,” Oakley growled. “Get her away from here.”
Hazel was already shaking her head. “We can’t leave our pack, Jude.”
I spun to dig in Rhett’s pants, every desperate second searching for signs of movement from the man I loved.
Finding the phone, I handed it to Crew. “Call for help. Thane’s number is listed.” Then I lunged forward, batting Hazel’s hands away to unclick her seatbelt. She tumbled out, but I managed to catch her in my arms. “We’ve gotta go, baby.”
“Jude, no! We can’t leave everyone?—”
“Yes, you can,” Crew said in a gravelly, full blown alpha voice. “You will leave this car with Jude and let him get you to safety, little omega.”
Tears clung to her lashes as she choked on a sob.
“I love you, Hazel Dutton,” Crew added fiercely. “Your pack loves you, and we need you to be safe. As your alpha, I command you to go .”
Hazel whined, the sound gutted and agonized as her body scrambled to obey her alpha’s order. She shot him a betrayed look as I helped her out of the cab.
“Stay down,” I urged.
“Jude,” Oak called with a wet cough.
I paused and leaned around his seat.
“Take this.” His hand shook as he held out a glock, pressing it into my hand.
I had no clue how or when Oak had managed to get a gun, but I was fucking grateful. “Thank you.”
I started picking my way out of the car as Crew added, “Keep our girl safe.”
Glancing over my shoulder at him, I gave him a terse nod. “I will.” My gaze flicked to Rhett, my heart breaking.
“He knows,” Crew assured me quietly.
Gulping down my own sob, I followed Hazel out into the night.
One hand splayed low on her back and the other clutching the gun, I pressed her forward toward the treeline. If we could get there, we might have a shot at hiding until help arrived.
“There she is!”
A shot whizzed by us, slamming into a tree inches from my head and sending bark splinters shattering as we made it to the woods.
“Jude!” Hazel yelped.
“Keep going,” I gritted out. My brain was too chaotic. Fear for the people I’d left in the car. Terror at seeing Rhett unconscious. Adrenaline pumping to keep Hazel safe, plus the pounding in my head and the ache in my side that probably meant a bruised rib or two.
We crashed through the underbrush as the moon was blotted out by the canopy of leaves above. Shafts of silvery light guided the way until Hazel grabbed a tree and stopped.
“Break,” she begged around greedy pants.
I looked around for any sign of Martin. I didn’t see him, but that didn’t mean anything. I’d barely been able to make out his silhouette as he stalked down the embankment to shoot at us.
“Jude,” Hazel gasped, “the others?—”
“Are fine,” I told her, hoping like hell it wasn’t a lie.
A branch cracked in the distance, and I made a motion with my hands for Hazel to be silent.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, shooting me a terrified look that had my pulse skyrocketing.
“I smell an omega,” Martin taunted from somewhere too close for comfort. “A scared, helpless little omega.”
I looked at Hazel and inhaled.
Shit.
Adrenaline and fear had all but eliminated the scent blockers she’d worn earlier. Her usual rich chocolate cake scent was charred and bitter, and if I could smell it, then an alpha definitely could.
It didn’t matter where we hid.
Martin would track us like a bloodhound until he found us.
The gun in my hand was a heavy weight, and while I knew I was a good shot, I couldn’t risk bullets flying in the dark near Hazel.
The risk was simply too great.
A plan formed in my head, and I wasn’t sure it would work, but it might be our only option.
“Okay, baby, I need you to trust me.” I cupped her face with my free hand and stared into her eyes.
“You know I do,” she whispered back, so much certainty in those green and gold depths that it almost brought me to my knees.
I glanced behind her at a large oak. Jerking my chin at it, I murmured, “Hide behind there.”
“What about you?” She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth.
I smirked. “I’m a beta, remember? Martin’s obsessed with your scent—not mine. I’ll get behind him before he ever touches you.”
She sucked in a deep, fortifying breath. “Okay. Do it.”
I kissed her hard, pouring all the love I had for her and our pack into it. “I love you.”
“Not as much as I love you,” she replied.
“We’ll argue about that later,” I assured her.
Her expression sobered. “I’m gonna hold you to that.”
“Stay down,” I urged her, waiting until she’d ducked behind the tree before turning on my heel and silently moving to the left.
Walking away from her was like walking away from my beating heart. Like my soul being cleaved in half.
But if Martin was able to take us both out, I had no doubt he would go back for the others.
For Rhett.
I pushed all of the raging emotions down and went into that place I’d used while working for the FBI.
It was the same way I’d had to compartmentalize my feelings when I’d first met Hazel in that fucking cult. How I’d been able to keep doing my damn job when all I’d wanted to do was grab her in my arms and shield her from the world.
“Do you have any idea of the chaos you’ve caused?” Martin called, even closer now and directly to my left. “Maybe I won’t kill you. My pack lost our omega years ago. Perhaps I’ll kill your pack and make you mine.”
I quickened my pace, silently moving as fast as possible while circling around behind Martin.
“How does that sound, omega?” Martin was moving faster now, closer to where Hazel was hiding. “I saw you run in here with that beta. Fucking worthless piece of shit. I should’ve fired him years ago. Maybe then he wouldn’t have fucked up all my plans by saving you .”
Rage simmered in my blood, a degree away from boiling over and consuming me.
But I had to be smart. Patient.
Martin moved and stepped into a small patch of light. He was on the other side of the tree where Hazel was hiding.
I watched him smile, watched him lick his lips in anticipation of catching his prey.
“Not tonight, asshole,” I muttered as I lifted the gun and lined up my shot.
He lifted his foot to close the distance between himself and Hazel just as I pulled the trigger.
I felt the kickback ripple through my wrist and into my shoulder, but I’d shot enough guns to know how to absorb the sensation.
Martin dropped to his knees, clutching his chest as I raced forward. I kicked his gun away and trained my own weapon on his head.
The surprise in his eyes gave me more satisfaction than it probably should’ve.
I arched a brow. “Looks like this beta just took you down for good, Martin.”
Blood bubbled up from his lips as he made a choking sound and fell face-forward on the dirt and leaves. I watched his back rise and fall with one last gasping wheeze, and then he was silent.
“Jude?” Hazel whispered, creeping out around the tree.
I blocked her vision of Martin. “Come here, baby. We’re safe now.”
She ran to me, burrowing against my chest. “Can we go get the others now? I think they’re okay.”
I nodded, paying attention to the pack bonds. Crew, Kellan, and Rhett were tugging at the bonds, wondering if we were all right.
Hazel pushed a wave of relief through the connection, and I wrapped an arm around her to lead us out of the woods and back to our pack.