Chapter Six #2
Toby opened his mouth to say something when the crack of breaking twigs and the rustle of leaves made them all spin around in unison.
A moment later, four large wolves burst out of the foliage around some nearby trees, their faces twisted into snarls of aggression.
Without a moment’s hesitation, they charged.
Harper couldn’t help the shriek of alarm that tore from her throat at the sight of the large beasts heading their way.
Toby and Mateo reacted instantly, shifting into their respective animal forms. Toby took up a protective stance in front of Harper.
A growl rumbled from his throat as he met the first attacker head-on.
Mateo, larger and imposing in his jaguar form, tackled another.
The clearing erupted into chaos, filled with the sounds of growls, snaps, and the harsh grunts of struggle.
Harper backed away, searching desperately for anything she could use as a weapon to protect herself, but the only things around them were a few fallen branches, none of which were big enough to be of any use.
Her mind raced, every instinct screaming at her to find a way to help without getting in the way.
“Toby, behind you!” she shouted, trying to warn him as one of the shifters flanked him.
The fight was brutal and frenzied. Harper’s stomach twisted into knots as she watched it.
She didn’t know what she would do if something terrible happened to her mate.
Her mate. The thought had come to her unbidden.
Just a few days ago the phrase wouldn’t have meant anything to her, but now it meant everything.
Toby meant everything. How had that happened?
Despite Toby and Mateo’s best efforts, the numbers were against them.
One of the shifters broke through their defense, his eyes locking onto Harper with a menacing glare.
Before she could run, he lunged, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her away from the skirmish.
The wolf’s teeth sank painfully into her tender flesh, making her cry out in pain.
Harper struggled, trying to break free, but the shifter’s grip was iron-clad.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, panic rising as she was pulled further away from Toby and Mateo. Her heart raced not just for her own safety, but for Toby’s as well, and even for Mateo, who was risking his life because of their mission to find her brother and the Cryptex he had stolen.
As she was dragged through the underbrush, the sounds of the fight fading behind her, Harper’s mind raced with fear and guilt.
She could hear Toby’s growls and his distress, mixed with the sounds of Mateo’s snarls.
The reality of her situation settled in.
She was being taken and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
She knew what they wanted, of course. To find her brother, but they were out of luck.
She wanted to find him just as much as they did.
Jack has got a lot to answer for, she thought sourly as the forest swallowed her and her captor, taking her further away from the clearing and the battle that still raged.
As the distance grew, despair began to set in.
Harper had no idea what awaited her, but she clung to the hope that Toby would somehow make it unscathed from the fight in which he had been outnumbered and outmatched, and find her.
The uncertainty of her predicament, and the fear for those she had come to care about, weighed heavily on her as the jungle enveloped her into its dark, unforgiving embrace.
As the wolf shifter’s grip tightened around Harper’s arm, his sharp teeth sinking into her flesh, a sharp pain shot through her, drawing a stifled cry from her lips.
The metallic scent of her own blood filled her nostrils as she struggled to keep pace with the wolf’s brisk march through the dense underbrush of the Peruvian rainforest. Every jolt intensified the throbbing in her arm, but she forced herself to focus, her eyes scanning the ground for anything she could use as a weapon.
But the forest floor was barren of anything but fallen leaves and the occasional twisted root.
As she was dragged further away from the ancient ruins where the ambush had occurred, Harper’s mind raced with thoughts of Toby.
The absence of the other wolves now trailing behind her had to be a good sign, right?
Perhaps Toby was holding them off, or even better, they had managed to overcome the attackers.
But then, if Toby had won, why hadn’t he caught up with her yet?
The possibility that he might be hurt—or worse—sent a chill through her despite the humid air clinging to her skin.
The pain in her arm and the fear for Toby merged into a sharp pang of despair.
The night before, they had cemented their bond as mates, a connection that had seemed to promise a future she was just beginning to imagine.
Now, as the forest seemed to swallow her further with every step, her hope waned, replaced by a cold dread.
The thought of being separated from him made her feel bereft.
Recalling the brutal encounter in Fort Worth, where the wolves had attacked her without a second thought, Harper’s fear intensified.
They had shown no remorse then, their faces masks of cruel intent as they had nearly strangled her.
Only Toby’s arrival had saved her. She might not be so lucky this time.
Her thoughts spiraled into darker places.
Toby’s face, usually so calm and reassuring, now seemed like a distant memory, possibly the last vestige of warmth she might cling to.
His strength and the gentle way he had reassured her earlier that day in the ruins now played over in her mind like a cruel reminder of what she stood to lose.
The wolf shifter dragged Harper roughly through the dense underbrush, zigzagging through the trees in a manner that she couldn’t understand, at first. She decided it must have been designed to disorient her.
Each time she tried to catch a glimpse of her surroundings, hoping for a landmark or a sign of Toby, the shifter jerked her forward, ensuring she couldn’t get her bearings.
The pain in her arm where he had bitten her throbbed incessantly, a constant reminder of her situation.
Finally, after what felt like hours, they veered back onto a barely visible path that twisted through the jungle.
Harper’s heart pounded as they approached a clearing, her mind racing with possibilities of what might await her there.
As they stepped into the open space, her eyes immediately fell on a figure tied to a tree across the clearing.
Jack.
Her brother was bruised, his face swollen and his clothes torn, but he was unmistakably alive. His eyes widened in shock and fear as he caught sight of her, struggling against his bonds in a futile attempt to free himself.
Harper’s relief at seeing him alive was overwhelming, washing over her like a wave. But the relief quickly gave way to confusion and a growing sense of dread.
She scanned the clearing, noting that it was strategically chosen with no easy exits.
The perfect place for an ambush or to keep prisoners contained.
The wolf that had dragged her here finally let go of her arm then shifted seamlessly into his human form.
She recognized him as one of the men who had dragged her into the alleyway in Fort Worth.
Standing before her naked, his face an unnerving mix of anger and contempt, he pushed her to the ground not far from where Jack was tied up.
As she struggled to sit up, she looked at her brother whose gaze was filled with questions and silent apologies for the danger he had undoubtedly drawn her into.
She felt the weight of her situation settle around her like a cloak, heavy and suffocating.
As she sat there on the damp earth, staring at her brother who was clearly relieved yet terrified to see her, Harper’s thoughts circled back to Toby and Mateo.
Were they still fighting? Had they been captured as well…
or worse, killed? The uncertainty tormented her, and as she watched the shifter moving around the clearing, preparing for whatever came next.
But there was one thing she couldn’t understand.
If the wolf shifters already had Jack, what did they want with her?