Chapter 26 Sending a Message
Sending a Message
I may have fallen asleep with three huge wolves snuggled up against me, but I woke with three very naked, very hot men sprawled across the mattress.
My head was on Thorne’s bicep, and I turned to see heated navy eyes watching me.
“Did you sleep okay, Vixen?” He brushed my hair back, his fingers trailing over my jaw.
“Snug as a bug,” I said hoarsely.
Cole turned, grunting as he woke up. Without any warning, he wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me off of Thorne and against his stomach.
A second muscular arm draped over his ribcage, Sawyer’s freckled hand cupping my breast.
“Guys,” I said slowly, trying to keep myself under control. We’d just spent the last twenty-four hours screwing each other, and now we needed to make a plan. “As much fun as this is, we need to strategize today, remember?”
Thorne scowled, his head dropping back against the blanket. “You’re right.”
“We need to get our messages and see what the update is from the pack,” Cole said, releasing me. As he sat up, Sawyer moved his arm to loop around Cole’s waist.
“Let’s get something to eat and then we can deal with everything,” Sawyer said. His curls stuck out in every direction.
As he rose to his knees and then his feet, I spied bite marks over his biceps and shoulders, but none of them looked like the claim marks the boys had placed on me.
Cole and Thorne went inside to heat up more canned soup. When they returned, Sawer wrinkled his nose.
“I wish I had something else here. Usually I bring takeout for dinner and then go into town for breakfast.”
“Would you have preferred if we saved a cream cheese-and-cum cinnamon roll for you?” Cole said, grinning.
“Shut up,” Sawyer said, shoving him. His cheeks tinged pink, and I hid my smile behind my cup of instant coffee.
The men gathered up the bowls, and we all dressed. Thorne kissed me soundly on the mouth, and then he and Cole climbed into the car to drive down to the road where they could get some service and retrieve their messages.
“We should move this mattress back inside,” I said, looking up at Sawyer where he stood on the steps, staring at where the SUV had disappeared.
“Yeah, in a bit,” he said. His mouth curved into a frown as he pivoted and dropped onto the mattress beside me.
It was the first time the two of us had been alone since we left our little apartment. Now, I couldn’t imagine our lives without Thorne and Cole, but it was still strange.
“So, you and Cole,” I said quietly.
“Yeah,” he said, throwing his arm over his eyes. “Who fucking saw that coming?”
I couldn’t help my laugh. “Cole probably did. He went white as a sheet when he first met you. I remembered thinking it was weird, but now I wonder if he recognized you.”
“He’s…” Sawyer trailed off, his hand moving to clasp mine and twine our fingers together. “Different. Strange, but I’m afraid I like it. A lot.”
“I figured you did, considering all the sex,” I said. It felt good to grin. “So, we’re going with them, yes?”
His exhale was loud. “If I get my way, they’re coming with us.”
“I like that plan.”
Sawyer smiled back at me, and my pulse picked up. I really didn’t want to ask him my next question, but I had to.
“And what about us?” I asked, my stomach clenching. “Are you focused on him and I’m a side piece?”
The air between us shifted in an instant. His voice was strained. “What do you mean?”
“No pressure, but if you didn’t want to be together anymore, I’d understand.”
The tension snapped. Sawyer shoved up onto his hands and knees, looming over me. Startled, I fell flat on my back. His green eyes blazed with his wolf, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes that fell somewhere between fury and betrayal.
“Autumn, you are mine. My best friend, the love of my life, everything. So please don’t ever put me in a position where I have to pick between you and Cole, because I can’t do that.
You’re everything to me. You always have been.
” His words tumbled out, growing more frantic and choked as his facade of anger crumbled into fear.
“If you made me pick, I’m afraid I would choose you and it would kill me to be apart from him. ”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We are together and we always will be. All four of us,” I said, grabbing him at the nape of the neck and dragging him down. His face pressed into my breasts, his heart beating rapidly under my hands as I drew soothing circles over his back.
“Just don’t make me fuck Thorne. He doesn’t do it for me,” Sawyer mumbled.
Wiping at my eyes, I laughed awkwardly. “Good. He can be all mine. And then you have Cole and me. And Cole has you and sometimes me, I guess.”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” he said, relaxing against me. “But he is hot, isn’t he?”
“Ridiculously so,” I said, laughing again, this time out of relief. “And the piercings. That was a surprise.”
“Should I get some?” he said, rolling off of me and propping his head on his hand.
“You want to let someone stick a needle through your dick?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sawyer shuddered. “Not really. And what if they somehow got caught on each other?”
My eyes squeezed shut, ready to laugh again, when a sudden bolt of alarm shot through me. Gasping, I sat up. It had to be from Thorne through our fated mate bond.
Sawyer mirrored me, sitting up, his chest heaving. The sense of alarm burst into anger and then fear, and I scrambled to my feet, gripping the porch railing. Beside me, Sawyer doubled over, wretching. Sweat broke out over his skin despite the chilly morning.
“Are you okay?”
“Something’s wrong,” he said. “Cole is in pain. A lot.”
“Fuck!” I said. “What do we do?”
“I have to get to him,” Sawyer cried, his eyes distant. Clumsily, he threw himself at the door.
Yelping, I rushed to support him, and together we tumbled into the house. My hip hit the floor, but I barely registered my own pain over the hollow feeling of pain flooding my bond with Thorne.
More pain echoed through my bond with Sawyer from Cole, overloading my brain.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I held my breath for a few seconds before slowly letting it out.
Thorne was upset, but Cole was clearly seriously hurt.
Even the wisps of pain filtering through seized my muscles and turned my stomach.
“Autumn, you should stay here,” Sawyer said, yanking his tennis shoes on without socks.
“No!”
“We should have gotten some fucking guns. Fuck Thorne and his rules. I’m getting a damn Glock the second we’re back in town.”
The blood drained from my face. This was the second time I’d seen Sawyer in a murderous rage, but this was even worse than him wielding a kitchen knife back at our apartment.
Standing, he faced me. “I’m serious, it’s obviously dangerous. I can’t let you go. Thorne wouldn’t either. Just stay safe. Please.”
“Absolutely the fuck not!”
Sawyer’s face tightened, wrinkles forming over his cheeks. “Can you at least find our phones? We might need to call an ambulance.”
Clenching my hands into fists, I stomped to the bedside table, reaching for my phone. The door snapped shut, and I straightened, my mouth falling open.
That bastard left me behind!
Racing to the door, I turned the handle and gave it a shove. It didn’t move.
What the fuck?!
Regret flowed through our bond, mingled with a cold, sick terror. My own rage melted the feeling, flowing hot through my veins. Snarling, I shoved at the door, throwing my shoulder against it. On the other side, the heavy mattress scooted across the rough planking of the porch.
“Mother fucker!” I gasped, my feet scraping over the floor as I shoved, using my thighs to push harder.
Slowly, achingly, the mattress slid aside.
“Try to lock me in the fucking cabin, you piece of shit,” I growled, finally muscling my way out of the small space. The clearing was empty, but I could sense two of my men down the road, like the faintest beacons.
Pine needles and dirt churned under the soles of my shoes. My chest ached as I sucked in cold breath after cold breath.
Terror ricocheted through my bonds, and I couldn’t even tell who it was coming from. Clenching my hands into fists, I fought to keep running.
My mates needed me.
Trees blurred past, and several times I stumbled and righted myself, continuing to race forward.
The bonds in my chest pulled taut, and I knew I was going in the right direction. Suddenly, my connection to Thorne went dull, not gone but muted. My throat tightened, but there was no time to stop and cry.
The dirt path sloped down. I had to be almost back to the highway. But what if they were further, or even miles away?
My jaw ached, and a metallic taste coated the back of my tongue. Stitches near my ribs stabbed into my organs until my vision blurred.
How could Sawyer leave me behind? His fated mate relationship with Cole made him irrational and endangered all of us, I realized, the thought like an ice pick in my chest.
A garbled yell reached me, and I turned the bend to the main road. My feet lost their rhythm, and I pitched forward, catching myself on a nearby tree. The jagged bark cut into my palms, but it barely registered.
The SUV was idling on the side of the road, the doors open and one window broken. Thorne lay in the dirt, blood smeared over his forehead and a bruise blooming over his jaw and throat.
Rushing to my fated mate’s side, I dropped, pine needles stabbing into my knees. Gently, I brushed his hair back, wincing at the way it stuck to the blood coating his skin.
“Hey, it would be really great if you could wake up,” I said, my voice shaking. “I’m not a medical-type person. I’m not great with blood, and you’re scaring me. So I really need you to be okay. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
My thoughts turned to mush, and I doubled over, resting my face on his chest, right over the gash torn in his shirt.
His breathing hitched, and I shot up to see his eyes blink open. Flinching, he closed them again.
“You’re okay. How can I help?” I babbled, wiping away wetness on my cheeks.
Sawyer’s shadow fell across him. His voice was raw. “They took Cole. He’s gone. I can’t feel him. What if he’s dead?” Tears streaked down his face from wild eyes.
“They didn’t kill him. He’s valuable. They’ll keep him safe and healthy, I’m sure of it. It’s going to be okay!” I wasn’t sure if my words were the truth, but it was what Sawyer needed so he didn’t completely break.
Thorne let out a low noise, a cross between a groan and a growl.
“You’re right, they want him alive. But I’ll get him out.” Lines formed around his eyes as he grimaced. “I did it once already.”
“Let’s get you cleaned up, and we can figure things out,” I said.
“I’ve got a first aid kit in the cabin, but we shouldn’t wait that long. We have to go after them now!” Sawyer waved his hand at Thorne’s SUV.
“Rushing won’t help,” Thorne managed to say. “We know where they’re taking him. It’s better to be prepared.”
Gripping his arm, I helped Thorne sit up. After a moment, he pushed to his feet and stumbled to the truck.
The front passenger’s seat was covered in broken glass, so both men climbed into the back, and I took the driver’s seat.
No one spoke on our short trip back to the cabin, but pain lanced down our bond with each jostle of the truck.
Thorne gritted his teeth, and I forced myself to stop staring at the rearview mirror when it only hurt worse to see his expression.
Finally we reached the cabin and somehow made it inside. Sawyer dragged out the first aid kit, and we got to work.