Chapter 12
Without any sense of direction, she ran.
Branches whipped against her face and she struggled to stay on her feet in this unfamiliar territory.
Here, at least, she was grateful for the moonlight.
In total darkness, she would have been utterly lost and could hurt herself tripping over roots or falling into ravines.
She made out enough of the terrain to remain upright.
Where she headed, she didn’t know. All that mattered was getting away from Mowbray’s estate.
Night animals went silent as she sped between trees and around fallen logs.
To her ears, she sounded like a heavy dray being dragged through the woods, graceless and deafening.
Though her lack of shoes kept her somewhat quieter, it also meant that every rock and thorn pierced through her stockings and into the soles of her feet. She gritted her teeth against the pain.
There were no sounds of pursuit, no crashing of boots through the forest, but she wouldn’t permit herself any sense of relief. Not until she’d placed miles between her and the baronet and Guardians.
Finding Ezra, Tej, and Rhys was paramount.
She had to warn them. Keep them away from Mowbray’s estate.
They’d never be able to defeat the Guardians, whose ranks vastly outnumbered theirs.
But how to locate them, when she’d been taken miles from where she’d last seen them, that seemed an impossible task.
She slammed into something hard and unyielding, knocking the breath from her. Then a pair of arms wrapped around her. She found herself pinned to a solid surface.
A hand covered her mouth.
She thrashed. The Guardians wouldn’t recapture her, not without a hell of a fight.
Jessica kicked and did her best to wrench her arms free from their prison, but whoever held her dodged her blows and only held her tighter with a strength that seemed inhuman.
She wouldn’t let them take her again.
“Be at ease, Lady Vixen,” a familiar voice murmured in her ear.
She sagged, letting her head drop against what she realized was Ezra’s chest. The hand eased away from her mouth, and another voice behind her said in soft admiration, “There’s our jewel.”
Tej. It had been his hand covering her mouth while Ezra had held her. But then Tej was beside her, tipping her chin up, brushing her lips with his own.
He angled her head, and then Ezra’s mouth found hers, kissing her with searching intent. And then someone else was there, on her other side, and she was kissed again by a pair of full lips. Rhys.
“Are you alright?” Rhys demanded.
Ezra’s hands were firm on her arms as he held her away from his torso. His eyes gave a hard glint. “Are you well, Jess?” His rigid mouth barely got the words out. “Did they hurt you?”
“Didn’t get the chance,” she answered. “But they had plans.”
Rough curses erupted from the three men. She hissed when Ezra’s hand clasped her wrist. He looked down, rage twisting across his face.
“They tied me,” she explained. “I got away.”
“Of course you did, Lady Vixen,” he said, admiration in his words. He looked at her closely, and his expression darkened even further. “They did hurt you.”
“Mowbray gave me a slap for my unladylike language.”
“I will gut that fucking bastard and feed him his entrails,” Ezra vowed.
He gathered her close, and his warmth surrounded her, chasing away the chill that congealed on her sweaty skin. With Ezra in front of her, and Rhys and Tej on either side, she was encircled by their heat and solidity.
“Not until I stuff a burning poker down his throat,” Tej added.
“After that, I rip his throat out,” Rhys said. “And set him on fire.”
How could she warm with pleasure at hearing them swear unspeakable violence against the baronet? Yet she did.
“Mowbray’s waiting for you at his estate,” she said. “He’s got at least a dozen armed Guardians with him. Perhaps more, I didn’t see them all.”
“Then,” Ezra said, his voice vibrating through her, “we give those bastards a fight.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “Four of us—”
“Three,” Tej corrected.
“Four,” Jessica insisted. “I got myself free, and I have some skill with fighting. I’m not a liability.”
“We can’t risk you,” Rhys insisted.
“That’s not your decision to make,” she answered. “Mowbray and Page threatened me and they threatened you, and sitting back while the three of you are imperiled isn’t something I’m willing to do.”
The men started to speak, but she held up a hand.
“There’s no discussion on this matter. Whatever action is taken against the baronet and the Guardians, I’m part of it.”
There was a long silence, and then Ezra grudgingly rumbled, “As you please, Lady Vixen.”
Sounds of reluctant agreement came from Tej and Rhys.
“We need to be strategic,” she said. “At the least, they outnumber us three to one.”
“We’re armed.” Rhys held up two pistols, and Tej and Ezra did the same.
“Sir Harold has a gun room,” she countered. “I saw it when they were taking me through the house. Even if the Guardians hadn’t supplied themselves with an abundance of firearms, Mowbray can furnish them with scores of pistols and long guns. They’ll mow us down.”
“Fuck.” Ezra swung away from her, frustration and fury vibrating through him. “Letting that bastard live isn’t an option. Him and Page have to pay.”
She took a step toward him, laying her hand on the cuff of his coat. “Mowbray boasted to me about what he did to your pack.”
His nostrils flared, and pain and rage flared in his eyes. “He and Page have to die.”
“I understand. But—”
The men stiffened, and Ezra shoved Jessica behind him. He pushed a pistol into her hand.
Four masked Guardians on foot slammed from the forest. Three of them held flintlocks, while the fourth brandished a saber.
As one aimed his pistol, Tej launched himself at the armed man. He wrenched the Guardian’s arm up just as the man fired his weapon. The bullet went wide, sending a cascade of leaves tumbling to the ground.
Tej drew his own pistol from his baldric. He shot it point blank into the Guardian’s chest. The man crumpled.
Rhys kicked the hand of one of the Guardians so that the assailant’s blade spun away.
With his weapon gone, the Guardian’s eyes widened.
He struggled when Rhys gripped his throat to hold the attacker in place.
Rhys pulled a knife from his belt and rammed it into the Guardian’s neck.
There was a spray of blood, and the Guardian fell.
Ezra didn’t give the third assailant the chance to discharge his pistols. He drew his own and shot the Guardian between the eyes. A thud sounded as the Guardian collapsed.
The fourth Guardian lined Ezra up in his pistol’s sights.
Jessica gripped her gun in both hands, aimed, and fired.
Red bloomed across the Guardian’s chest before he stumbled, went to his knees, and then fell forward. His body made almost no sound on the dense, leaf-covered earth.
Four bodies lay on the ground, cooling in the chilly night, but Ezra, Tej, and Rhys didn’t make up the numbers of the dead. For that, she was grateful.
Their heaving breaths sounded loud in the quiet that followed the attack. Jessica, too, drew in ragged breaths. The assault had been quick, wordless.
“Have you ever killed anyone before?” Ezra asked her.
“Wounded many.” She exhaled. “If they perished from their wounds, I’ve no idea. But not…not this.”
As she stared at the man she’d shot, Tej and Rhys dragged the Guardians’ bodies away, hiding them in the darkness.
Ezra went to her, his arms wrapping around her. “You had no choice.”
“I’m not sorry,” she said, and exhaled. “All the same…I need a moment.”
“Unfortunately,” Tej said, returning with Rhys, “we don’t have a moment.”
“There’ll be more,” Rhys said.
She closed her eyes, willing herself to have the strength for a more protracted battle.
“Then, we bring the fight to them,” Ezra answered.
“These were only four out of at least a dozen,” Jessica noted, opening her eyes. “We won’t be able to take them all on.”
“We can’t keep running,” Tej protested.
She drew in all her courage, giving herself the mettle she’d worked so hard to cultivate over the course of her life.
She’d lost her parents, her brother had gone away, leaving her alone to fend for herself in a brutal world.
And then, she’d forged a path for herself, taking on work that few women were permitted, facing threats and peril without flinching.
“We won’t run,” she said. “There’s something that we can do to even the odds.”
“What do you suggest?” Ezra demanded.
She stared at him levelly. “Transform. Turn yourselves into wolves.”
“Impossible.” Tej stalked to her. “The full moon was last night. Until it’s full again, this—” he spread his hands, indicating his human shape, “—is all we are.”
“It’s within you.” She glanced between Tej, Ezra, and Rhys. “That power, that wildness. You can reach it, harness it.”
“We can’t.” Rhys’s words were flat. “There were times when I was cornered, and I wanted so badly to be able to fight back in my wolf form. But no matter how hard I tried to will it into happening, I stayed just as I was, only a man, not a wolf.”
“The same with me,” Tej said. “I could never compel myself into a wolf. Only with the moon could I change.”
She moved away from Ezra and placed herself between him, Rhys, and Tej. They looked at her, intent and focused.
She said, voice firm, “You and your wolves, you’re united. They’re always within you.”
Hesitancy and doubt hung heavy in the air.
“Just now,” she said, “when I was running through the forest, how did you find me?”
Ezra’s brow furrowed. “We…I…” His forehead smoothed. “I scented you.”
“I did the same,” Tej said.
“As did I,” Rhys added.
“As men,” she said, “not as wolves. And yet you did catch my scent. You knew me by following it. Your wolves are forever inside of you, no matter what form you take. It’s part of you.”
Their faces grew thoughtful. Then, they nodded, and Jessica exhaled.
Slowly, they disrobed, laying their clothing aside until they stood naked.