Call of the Wolf (24 page)

Abby turned as they did, discovering that the wolves that had filled the clearing were rapidly pouring into the surrounding woods and vanishing.

It dawned on her abruptly why Seth had led her to the fringes of the group. She'd thought it was because she was an outsider. She supposed, in a way, it was, but it couldn't be avoided that her inability to shift forms as they did would've put her in danger when the pack charged off.

For a few minutes, she stood listening after the last of them had disappeared. Growing fainter and fainter were the occasional howls as different wolves called out in the night, to each other or from the sheer exuberance of running. She'd felt that, sensed the excitement in them at throwing off the trappings of civilization and running.

She discovered she envied them that. It must be wonderful to escape, to throw off the worries of the world, even for a little while. Her heart beat a dull tattoo of yearning in her chest as the thought entered her mind, and she felt her spirits plummet. Seth had said she could never be what they were. She couldn't even become a Were.

She would always be an outsider, even if they accepted her, even if she managed to have their babies,
she
wouldn't be one of them.

Why did they want her when she was so
ordinary
beside them?

She didn't even think she was an extraordinary
human
.

Was she special to them, she wondered? Had they come to care about her and considered her special because they did? Or was it at all possible that they'd felt the same instant attraction that she had?

She would've loved to have thought so.

Unfortunately, the only thing that she'd really gotten a strong impression of was that they'd gathered to mate and decided she'd do—not very flattering
or
comforting.

She'd gotten the impression, though, that human men tended to be that way, that, as often as not, their decision to settle didn't have a hell of a lot to do with the woman they were with. It was more a matter of a woman being in the right place at the right time. Men simply reached a frame of mind where they were open and looking and they settled on the most desirable female they ran across.

Also
not flattering and she couldn't be certain it was a ‘rule of thumb,’ but she'd definitely gotten that impression.

Shivering slightly, she looked around at the darkened woods surrounding her as it slowly filtered through her thoughts that she was completely alone in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night—something she not only wasn't used to but had never done at all.

She hadn't considered what it was going to be like to be left standing in the dark by herself. The moment her focus shifted, though, she began to feel a prickling of the fine hairs along the back of her neck. She lifted her head, listening intently for any sound that might indicate a threat or a sound that might comfort her—an indication that the wolves were circling around and heading back. She heard the breeze sawing through the trees, an occasional crackle in the underbrush that made chill bumps leap out on her skin, and, far in the distance now, the occasional baying of the wolf pack.

Unable to decide whether she felt more unnerved standing in the open or if it would be equally creepy to move to the shadows of the forest, she remained indecisively where she was, scrubbing at the chill bumps that raced up and down her arms.

As she stood listening, she thought she heard the sound of a car engine.

A late arrival?

Someone leaving?

Or just someone passing by on the road?

She realized she couldn't really tell the direction the sound had originated from.

It seemed unlikely any of the clan would arrive so late. Most of them seemed to have gathered before her party had even gotten there.

The temptation arose in her to go back to the car. She'd agreed to wait for Seth and the others at the gathering place, though. After a few moments, she decided to sit down. She was tired of standing for one thing. For another, she realized she wouldn't be as exposed if she was sitting down.

She'd barely settled when she heard a thrashing sound in the woods. The hair on her neck prickled again. She whipped her head around, trying to decide which direction the sound had come from and how close it was.

It didn't relieve her that it hadn't sounded very close because it occurred to her that it might not have because whatever, or whoever, was making the noise was probably trying to move quietly. The brush that covered the clearing, barely calf high when she'd been standing, was nearly breast high when she sat. She hunkered a little lower, struggling to keep the fear gnawing at the back of her mind from escalating.

It sounded like
someone
creeping through the woods, pausing from time to time, too heavy to be some woodland creature.

Just about the time she'd managed to thoroughly scare the shit out of herself, her searching gaze was snagged by a pair of glowing eyes near the edge of the clearing. A shockwave of sheer terror rolled through her, which was probably the only thing that kept her from leaping to her feet and screaming her head off. As if the owner of the eyes realized she'd spotted him, he leapt from the concealment of the trees and into the clearing.

It was a wolf, and too dark for her to see if it was Seth or Adrian. Its coat was dark, however, eliminating the possibility that it was either Cameron or Jerico. He trotted directly toward her, though. Before she could regain enough mastery of her muscles to surge to her feet, she discovered wolves were bounding, or racing, into the clearing from every direction.

At least a dozen were headed directly toward her. Too weak still with fright to get to her feet, Abby stared at them wide eyed as the wolves circled her, sniffing at her. From seemingly no where, four wolves bounded over those surrounding her. She recognized Cameron and Seth a split second before they tied up and became a snarling, growling tangled mass of fighting wolves.

The fight brought her upright before she even considered whether she could make her wobbly knees lock. In horror, she stared at the wolves fighting all around her. Even as she looked around frantically for a place to escape, though, she discovered the entire clearing was alive with similar battles. In every case, a lone wolf stood at the center of a churning mass of fighters and after a few moments, despite her fear, it dawned on Abby that this was the ‘challenge’ she'd heard them talk about.

They were fighting for the mates they'd chosen!

Stunned, Abby returned her attention to the battle surrounding her. Despite everything, a thrill went through her when she saw that Seth, Cameron, Adrian, and Jerico were among those ‘vying’ for her. She'd thought that they meant that
they
would try to claim her as a mate, but in the back of her mind she'd feared they only meant that the clan members would if she agreed to take part in the gathering.

The fighting didn't unnerve her any less. She still had to fight the urge to run and the fear that they wouldn't win. The wolves the four had first taken on, however, began to disperse with yelps of pain one by one. Around her, she heard the volume and number of furious snarls and growls of the other fighters begin to taper off.

She'd seen no real order to the battles, but there seemed to be an order of sorts. Two wolves would pair off and fight until one yielded and then the victor would turn upon another wolf.

Suddenly, Seth broke off his fight, lifted his head and then whirled and looked straight at her. Abby's heart leapt into her throat as he abruptly launched himself straight at her. Almost simultaneously, she heard a crack of thunder.

Time seemed to slow. The sound froze all of the wolves—except Seth, who sprang at her as if he fully intended to attack her.

The breath left her as he slammed into her and then she felt herself falling backwards, felt darkness envelop her.

Seth grunted as the bullet slammed into him like a sledge hammer, knocking the breath from him. He felt the burn as it tore through him, and then horror as he felt the bullet exit through his chest and slam into Abby. He knew, even before he rolled off of her that he'd failed to protect her. Blood covered her upper torso—both his and hers.

Rage filled, blinded him, scattered his wits as he stared down at her in disbelief.

Chaos erupted around them as the others realized what had happened.

Torn between the urge to protect and the burning desire for revenge, Seth wavered a moment, but as soon as he saw Cameron and the others race off toward the trees, he turned his attention to Abby, sniffing at her.

Relief flooded him when he realized she was still breathing—unconscious, barely breathing, her heart pumping sluggishly—but she was still alive. Grasping her blouse in his teeth, he shredded it, lapping at the wound he found until the blood ceased to well. The bullet had missed any major arteries, he saw with relief, but she'd lost too much, regardless. He felt the heat leaving her as she went into shock.

Gritting his teeth, he struggled to shift despite the danger of trying it when he was wounded himself. It was the most agonizing transformation he'd ever experienced, and he nearly blacked out with the pain, but he managed a half-shift. Grabbing the remains of her shirt, he pressed it to the wound and held it, trying to gather the strength to pick her up and carry her back to his SUV.

Cameron, in his human again and bloody all over, dropped to his knees on the other side of Abby. “How bad is it?"

"About as fucking bad as it can get,” Seth growled. “Did you get the son-of-a-bitch?"

"We got him,” Cameron said grimly, leaning over to scoop Abby gently into his arms.

Seth glared at him, resenting Cameron for taking her. At same time, he knew he was still too weak to get her back to the truck without risking the possibility of passing out and dropping her. Shoving to his feet, he wavered slightly but doggedly followed Cameron as he hurried across the clearing toward the path.

Adrian and Jerico joined them after a few minutes. After glancing at him a couple of times, Jerico moved closer, dragged one of Seth's arms across his shoulders, and pushed his shoulder beneath Seth's arm to help hold him up. Seth leaned on him gratefully, mostly because Cameron was rapidly outstripping him and he was determined not to be left behind ... or to slow Cameron up.

"The god's damned bullet went right through me,” he growled angrily.

"You tried,” Jerico said. “At least you realized the gunman was targeting her. I thought it was a hunter."

"That isn't going to make me feel a hell of a fuckin’ lot better if she doesn't make it."

Adrian joined the two of them, bolstering Seth on the other side since he didn't look to be regaining any strength. “It was that fucking Fed,” he snarled.

"Milner?” Seth growled in outrage.

"Guess you were right ... at least partly. Except he was obviously deeper in this than you thought."

They managed to reach the SUV just as Cameron was trying to settle Abby along the backseat. Ignoring the glare Cameron sent him, he climbed into the back with her and gathered her into his arms.

"You'll reopen her wound!” Cameron snarled.

"She's in shock, god's damn it!” Seth growled back at him. “We need to keep her warm! There's a spare set of keys under the dash."

Abby came around with a groan when Cameron backed the SUV in a sharp turn and gunned the engine so that the truck was bouncing over the ruts created by so many vehicles. As relieved as he was that she'd regained consciousness, Seth roared at Cameron to take it easy until they'd cleared the field.

The jouncing was making his own wound hurt like hell and he knew it had already begun to close and heal. He could only imagine how much pain the bouncing was causing Abby.

"C—cold,” she whispered.

"I know, Baby,” Seth murmured soothingly. “Adrian, see if you can find something to wrap her in in the back!"

Turning in the seat, Adrian looked in the back and found a lightweight jacket Seth had discarded. Taking it, Seth wrapped it around her and then gathered her tightly against his chest again. He nuzzled her face, trying to beat back the fear that was threatening to take over his mind and turn him to a blubbering maniac. “You're going to be alright, Baby. Not much longer now. Hang in there for me."

"Hurts, Seth."

Seth swallowed the golf ball in his throat. “I know, Baby. I'm so sorry. I tried, Baby. I tried to stop it."

"We should've gone after that fucking asshole right away,” Adrian growled angrily.

"It isn't doing Abby any good to think that now,” Cameron said tightly.

"The sooner we take care of that fucker behind this,” Jerico snarled, “the better."

"At least we can agree on that,” Adrian muttered. “Christ! Can't you move any faster, Cam?"

"Not without wrecking the god's damned truck!” Cameron snapped.

The urgency in their voices distressed Abby. She snuggled closer to Seth, seeking his warmth to chase the chill that was making her hurt worse—or seemed to—drifting in a twilight world between full consciousness and darkness.

Relief flooded her when the movements of the vehicle finally stopped, not because she had any idea of where they were or what it might mean but because the bounce and sway of the vehicle made her hurt worse. The pain eased slightly but intensified again when the someone—Cameron she realized—took from Seth and pulled her out of the truck. Blackness threatened to completely engulf her for a little while, but the realization sank in that she was in a medical facility.