A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) (38 page)

After completing the trap, Duncan helped Ken awaken Nami and get her to her feet. They moved her up the slope, behind another outcropping that hadn’t been visible to the humans the night before. It wasn’t as deep, either, but for now, with the other men’s attention on the deception and Duncan, it should be a safe temporary hiding place.

Ken kept the fire stoked after Duncan left. After waiting for a while, he stripped his shirt off as they’d planned and shoved some branches and leaves into it to make it look like he was lying on his side, behind the fire.

Shivering, he walked down the slope, giving the trap a wide berth.

Sure enough, in the dim light, it looked like he was just lying there and sleeping next to the fire.

Returning to stoke the fire one more time, Ken made his way back to where Nami was hiding.

“How long will this take?” she whispered.

“I don’t know. As long as it takes.” He laid the tire iron in his lap. Duncan had given Ken explicit instructions not to reveal himself unless or until Duncan called for him. And that if Duncan called for him, to be ready to use the tire iron.

While Ken wasn’t thrilled with the possibility, he knew he couldn’t let Nami and Beck down.

He damn sure didn’t want to die, either.

Note to self, I need to buckle down and get serious with Dewi’s fighting lessons instead of seducing her halfway through them.

If
he got out of this alive.

He wasn’t one for violence. He didn’t even like watching hockey or football.

However.

Dewi was his life. If nothing else, to protect her, protect himself for her, protect others…

Protect any kids they might have.

Yes, he needed to get serious and learn. He’d done what he’d needed to do to save them from Endquist, and then he’d already had the crap beaten out of him.

This
should be a piece of cake.

Nami stiffened and reached out, touching Ken’s bare shoulder.

He’d heard it, too. Frantic barking, a pause, and more barking.

Timmy’s in the well!

Ken clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

Nami frowned, but he shook his head. He’d have to fill her in later.

The humor dropped out of the situation when he heard shouting, men’s voices speaking Spanish, drawing closer.

Nami’s eyes widened as she reached out and grabbed his arm. He put his hand over hers and locked gazes with her.

He wished he was larger, beefier. Stronger.

More of a comfort.

Well-armed.

All he could do was try to keep her calm and pray that Duncan didn’t need his help with Segura’s men.

It happened quickly. There was shouting, more barking, the sound of the deadfall trap springing, followed by screams.

“Ken.” Duncan’s voice cut through the clear, cold air.

Before he realized it, he was up and running, scrambling down the treacherous slope toward Duncan, the tire iron in his hand.

Two men had been pinned facedown under the deadfall and weren’t moving. A third lay on his back, frozen, a leg trapped by the log, but apparently caught in Duncan’s Prime grasp.

The fourth, Duncan had him pinned against a tree by the throat, his feet dangling a foot off the ground.

“What do we need to know from them?” Duncan asked Ken.

Ken spotted the man’s gun on the ground next to him where he’d dropped it when Duncan had grabbed him by the throat. A nine millimeter.

Ken dropped the tire iron and picked up the gun. It wasn’t the same model he was used to.

But close enough.

He checked to make sure it was loaded, took the safety off, then looked at Duncan. “Can I?”

Duncan nodded.

Ken put the gun to the guy’s forehead.
 

“Who do you work for?” Ken asked.

The man looked terrified.

Good.

Duncan eased the man onto his feet so he could breathe, but kept his hand pinned around the man’s throat.

“Manuel Segura,” the guy gasped after coughing.

“How many others are there? How many cars? Where are the others?”

“Seven more guys. Two more cars. Went to that big-ass property. We’re looking for a guy, and the same company who owned his apartment has an office in town and owns property here.”

Hopefully Dewi and Beck and the others had taken care of them already…if they were still alive and hadn’t been caught by surprise by the rest of the thugs at the compound.

“Who are you all looking for, and why?” Ken asked, just to make sure.

“Joaquin Carlomarles. He murdered Raul Segura, Manuel Segura’s brother. Manuel wants revenge.”

Ken felt fury wash through him. “Doesn’t matter that Raul murdered one of
ours
first, huh?” The man looked confused. “A
fifteen
year-old
girl
. The
daughter
of one of our packmates.
After
he kidnapped her off a street and then
raped
her. Raul
deserved
to die. Her name was Felicia Escobar, by the way, and Joaquin took blood for blood. That’s what our pack does when one of ours is brutally murdered. And we don’t let rapists live.”

The man’s eyes widened even more in fear. “What the fuck
are
you people?”

“People
you
never should have fucked with,” Ken said. “I’ve always wanted to say this. Hasta la vista, asshole.”

He pulled the trigger.

* * * *

Since that guy’s bladder had let loose when Ken shot him, Duncan stripped the pants off the other guy, the one pinned by his Prime power, and put them on before Ken put a bullet in that man’s head. The guy didn’t have any more information to reveal than the first one did. They were hunting Joaquin, and the other men in their group had headed for the pack compound.

And they’d had absolutely no idea they were dealing with wolf shifters.

The other two guys were already unconscious and unresponsive from their injuries when Ken shot each of them in the back of the head.

Ken checked the magazine and saw he only had three rounds left in that gun.

Which was okay, because Segura’s men had been armed, including extra magazines. While Ken thought he might feel something over killing the thugs—remorse, guilt, nausea—no, not so much.

Maybe he’d feel different if Felicia Escobar hadn’t been raped and murdered.

Maybe he’d feel different if it’d just been him on the run. He would have kept running as long as possible, until Dewi caught up with him.

But he’d promised Beck. He’d promised to protect Nami.

As the mate of the pack’s Head Enforcer, and the brother-in-law of the pack’s Alpha, and part of the expanded pack council, there was no way he wouldn’t answer a blood crime against the pack with blood.

And he’d be damned if he’d let any drug cartel scum make him break a promise to a man he considered closer than a brother. Not to mention he didn’t know how many were injured or dead back at the compound due to these fucks’ cohorts.

That was something he didn’t want to contemplate right now, either.

Duncan held a hand out for one of the guns. “You know how to handle these?” Ken asked.

Duncan smirked. “I’m old, lad, not an idiot. Do
you
know how to handle one?”

Ken handed him one, butt first. “Yeah. Unfortunately.”

“I’d say fortunately.” He slipped it into the waistband of the pants.

Ken and Duncan took the men’s wallets, money, jewelry—anything that might possibly identify them.

And, belatedly useful, two lighters. He also took their cigarettes, because while he didn’t smoke, they’d make good tinder if they had to start another fire.

Ken confiscated the men’s cell phones and removed the batteries from them, too. He’d keep them and go through them back at the compound.

If there still was a compound when they returned. That wasn’t a possibility he wanted to contemplate right at that moment.

They needed to get out of the wilderness first.

When Ken headed back to the hiding spot, he found Nami tightly clutching her purse in front of her and looking terrified.

“Are y’all all right?” she whispered.

He knelt in front of her. “We’re fine. Let me see your purse.”

She let him take it. “Are they dead?”

“They are. It’s safe now. You can relax.” Ken stuck one of the guns in the waistband of his jeans, put the rest of the stuff in Nami’s purse, and headed back to the trap to help Duncan conceal the bodies.

They stripped the men and dumped their naked bodies into the ravine, covering them with rocks and branches.

“Why did we strip them?” Ken asked.

“We’ll throw their clothes into the river.” Duncan bundled the clothes together, tying them with the men’s belts.

“Do you, eh, need to go hunt or something?”

Duncan frowned. “No. Why?”

“After Dewi makes a kill, she has to feed. I thought that’s what Prime Alphas have to do.”

“You made the kills, not me. And I’ve spent the last…long while hunting. For survival.” He let out a weary sigh. “I hope I remember how to live among people.”

Ken reached out and touched his shoulder. “We’re not just people. We’re your pack.”

* * * *

Dewi, Beck, and the others tracked throughout the night, a brief rain shower blowing through and chilling them but not deterring them. Around two a.m. they located where Ken and Nami had climbed through a ravine and lingered there.

The longer they tracked, the more Dewi struggled not to get her hopes up. It was looking better all the time. Ken had followed her instructions, apparently, to stay safe.

Trent pulled out his cell phone and activated the flashlight feature, playing the beam over the ground and up the southern wall of the ravine. “Looks like one of them, probably Nami, from the scent, fell trying to get out.”

“And the wolf’s gone,” Beck said. “Second time he left them.”

Peyton threw back his head and let out a long howl.

They listened, finally hearing Joaquin’s reply soon after, to their west and downhill.

“I think they’re down by the river,” Trent said.

“Let’s keep moving,” Dewi said. “We’re wasting time.”

It wasn’t long before they smelled the wolf following Ken and Nami’s trail again.

Dewi and Beck shifted back.

Badger shook his head. “It’s impossible.”

That’s all he’d say.

“Look, whoever it is,” Peyton said, “he could have hurt them at any time and didn’t. Let’s stay focused on
that
.”

It was nearing dawn when they heard a total of four gunshots in the distance, ahead of them and to the south.

Dewi and Beck shifted back, staring at Peyton for a judgment call.

He looked grim and finally let out a howl.

After a moment, Joaquin howled back.

Peyton frowned. “That’s weird.”

“Who the bloody hell did the shootin’, then?” Badger asked.

“I don’t know,” Peyton said. “Ken and Nami were unarmed, weren’t they?”

“I didn’t give him a gun.” Dewi looked to Beck.

He snorted. “Are you fucking
kidding
me? The way she wanted to neuter Joaquin, do you
honestly
think I’d give her a paring knife, much less a handgun?”

Dewi and Beck exchanged worried glances, shifted, and took off at a run after the scent trail.

* * * *

Heading downhill—obviously—would be easier.

“The river crosses a road down aways,” Duncan said. “I don’t know exactly how far. Less than an hour for me at full run.” He realized what he’d said. “Shifted.” His voice sounded less creaky, less strained, more sure.

After putting out the fire, they got Nami to her feet, then Duncan squatted so she could climb on his back. Ken watched as the man effortlessly stood, carrying her piggy-back, and started walking, heading downhill.

Ken followed, carrying the bundle of clothes, and still carrying the tire iron even though he had the guns now. “It wouldn’t be better for you to go try to get help?” he asked Duncan, even though he really didn’t want the wolf to leave them again.

“No. I won’t leave you two now. The main danger is past. We’ll take a break at the river so you can drink. Dehydration won’t be an issue. While I’m sure you’re both hungry, you won’t die from that in the next twelve hours or so.”

“You think we’ll be back home in twelve hours?” Nami asked.

“I hope so. Once we reach the road, depending on what time it is, I’ll decide what to do then. We don’t know where the rest of their men are.” He glanced back at Ken. “Yet another reason I don’t want to leave you alone. We have no idea where the rest of them are, or if they’re still alive.”

Ken checked his phone. No signal, of course. It was a little after seven in the morning. With the sun rising over the mountains, the day was warming despite the cool breeze. The clear sky promised more sun, no precipitation, and hopefully a far easier journey than the day before.

They didn’t talk as they walked. Ken listened to the trees, the birds, the noises that were different than in the woods surrounding their Florida house.

He also had an idea he couldn’t wait to float past Dewi once he was reunited with her.

If
he was reunited with her.

Chapter Thirty-Four

When they hit the ravine, it was Dewi who suddenly stopped and made Beck trip and go rolling as he ran into her. When he stood up, he’d shifted.

“Dewi, what the
hell
?”

She chuffed at him and jumped into the ravine, finally shifting back to two legs.

Beck followed her down into the ravine, pulling up short when he realized what had her interest. “Oh…shit.”

Dewi and Beck frantically started pulling rocks and debris off the bodies, relief surging through them as they realized they were not Ken and Nami, despite Ken’s scent and the other strange scent all over them.

“What the…what the
hell
?” Beck said.

Behind them, Peyton, Trent, and Badger finally caught up. “What is it?” Peyton asked.

“They’ve been shot,” Dewi said. “Executed.”

“And they’re still warm,” Beck said. “They haven’t been dead more than a couple of hours, if that.”

Noises approaching caught their attention. They all stood, Peyton, Trent, and Badger drawing their guns as Joaquin and the other group of shifters emerged from the woods.