Cherished: True Mates Book 5 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) (5 page)

It connected, smashing straight into his groin, something I didn’t think I could have done again even if I tried.

As though in slow motion the man sucked in a great breath, his eyes rolling back until only the whites showed, his hands cradling the now tender flesh as he crumpled to the ground.

“Ouch! Good aim,” Oliver said from behind me.

I spun around. “You can’t stop me! I won’t go without him!” It came out a wild shriek as I backed away from him, grinding to a stop when I remembered the wolf behind me.

“Sean.” Oliver looked over my shoulder, nodding at the wolf. “I’ll take care of her, if you’ve got him?” He tilted his head to the man I had downed with one kick.

I waved him away when he took a cautious step forward. “Take care of me?”

He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I wasn’t fooled. He was
trying
to look harmless.

“I need to go see how they’re doing and if they need any help. It looks like I can’t trust you to stay put anyway.”

“So, you’re saying—”

He took another step forward and this time I didn’t back away. “You must promise to stay close to me and do
exactly
what I tell you.”

“I promise.”

His lips twisted in a scowl. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Without waiting for an answer he grabbed my hand and jogged toward the dormitory.

As we neared the building, the sounds grew louder, crashing and banging accompanied by snarls and growls.

A wail cut through the noise, quickly silenced.

Not Josh, not this time.

Oliver grabbed me and pulled me to him, staring down at me with piercing blue eyes that flickered with silver at the edges. “You stay behind me, got it? I won’t let anyone touch you, but I have to know where you are.” He paused, his mouth still open, an internal struggle obvious in his eyes. Eventually he continued, “I don’t think I’ll be able to focus if I don’t know you’re safe, okay?”

It seemed like a big admission, and by the look on his face, and the twist of his lips, I guessed it was. It hadn’t escaped my notice that he moved with the smooth grace and precision that spoke of military training, or something similar. My brother was in the military, or at least had been before I had been taken, and I knew that focus and control was
everything
to him.

“I gave you my promise,” I whispered, then unable to resist, stretched up onto my tiptoes and laid a gentle kiss on his cheek, his stubble prickly under my lips. “Thank you.”

He reached up and touched his cheek, the unconscious gesture causing a strange tugging in my chest. “For what?”

“Everything you’ve done and everything you’re going to do.” It was simple. I trusted him to get Josh out, I didn’t know why—I just did.

“Then let’s go.”

Striding up the steps, he shoved open the door, keeping me tucked behind him with his free arm.

I peered around him, then squinted as my mind struggled to take in what my eyes were seeing. Four of Bert’s men were sprawled on the floor, a fifth fighting with a determination that reeked of desperation, a knife slashing out in front of him, slicing through the air in jagged paths.

Before him stood a tall man, exceptionally well-built, with white-blond hair. I narrowed my eyes. The man looked like he belonged on the front of a magazine or gracing a catwalk, not in the middle of a fistfight. He also didn’t look bothered by the knife the man furiously jabbed at him, shifting out of the way in smooth measured movements, his expression bored. I sucked in a breath, recognition slamming into me.
It was Jacob!
Was this all a lie?

Oliver grabbed me, his brow creased in concern. “What’s the matter?”

“That’s Jacob.” It was all I could force out, my hand pointing at the man.

He shook his head sharply. “No. That’s Jason, his twin brother. He’s one of the good guys.”

Twin?
I squinted, trying to get a better look. He looked like exactly Jacob. But did he hold himself a little different, and was his hair was a touch longer? I’d only seen him two or three days ago…

My eyes darted past him to the group of children that were huddled against the far wall. A sea of wide eyes looked back, all watching the scene playing out in front of them. Scanning the group I searched desperately for Josh.

There!
He was sat at the edge of the group, his little face drawn up in a fierce expression, glaring at the large black wolf that prowled back and forth in front of the line.

He hadn’t seen me yet.

Acting on instinct, I lurched forward. I had to reach him, make him see that everything was going to be all right now.

A large arm blocked my path.

“Remember your promise? The children are fine, it’ll all be over in a minute or so.”

I swallowed hard, stomping down my impatience. He was right. Just another minute,
if
this guy hurried up and stopped messing around.

“Quit playing with him, sweetheart,” a woman’s voice drawled from the corner of the room, as if reading my mind.

Glancing over I was startled to see a tall, curvy blonde perched up on the windowsill, her legs swinging back and forth as she watched the fight.

If you could call it that. It looked more like a game of cat and mouse to me.

The woman snapped a piece of gum, cotton candy-pink like her nails, and jumped down off the ledge. Sauntering over to us she eyed me carefully. “Glad you could make it, Oliver,” she said, continuing to look at me, a question in her eyes.

“What’s Jason doing?” Oliver was obviously ignoring the unasked question, so I stuck my hand out.

“I’m Ana. I live here.” I rolled my eyes in Oliver’s direction and the woman laughed, shaking my hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Macey, and that large hunk of a Scandinavian is my mate, Jason. The wolf is Cole.” She looked at Oliver, then at the arm he still held in front of me, her eyes widening a fraction. “You’re a human,” she eventually said, and it was definitely a statement, not a question.

I blinked at her, confused for a second. “And you’re not?”

She shook her head, her long blonde ponytail swishing from side to side. “No, wolf.” She was trying not to stare but I could feel her gaze on my neck. “Who—?”

My hand flew to the mark, suddenly self-conscious. “Bert.”

Macey winced, her hand brushing my arm. “Sorry.”

I didn’t think I could take anymore small talk, every cell in my body was screaming at me to get to Josh. At least she had confirmed that the blond man was Jason, and not Jacob. “My son is over there. Is there any chance your mate could…”
Do what?
What was I asking? It was obvious what they were going to do, but did I really want that? Could I condone it?

“Sweetheart!” the female-wolf called out, squeezing my arm. “Finish it. We’ve got things to do.”

I opened my mouth to object. I hadn’t asked them to do this, but it was too late. In a matter of seconds Jason had the knife off the other man and had tossed it onto the floor where it skidded to a stop against the wall.

But instead of scrambling for it, Bert’s guard slumped, his legs buckling beneath him as he slid to the floor. I soon saw why, as crimson red blood seeped out from between the fingers he had clasped around his throat, his mouth gaping in a strangled gargle for air.

“You don’t need to watch that.”

Oliver’s voice snapped me out of the trance I had fallen into, and I let him pull me around, away from the scene.

I hadn’t seen him move!
I screamed inside my head, unable to wrap my mind around what had just happened. You couldn’t defend against something you couldn’t see coming!

I backed away from him, from all of them. They weren’t human—I had to remember that. I couldn’t forget. Mustn’t forget. My head whipped from side to side, my hands waving them away.
Don’t come close!
I pleaded silently. They were all watching me, the way a predator watches a frightened animal, dispassionately assessing what its next move was going to be. Bert had watched me like that, a cruel smile playing on his lips. Tutting at me when I tried to run, when I tried to fight. Then reminding me just why I shouldn’t bother, why I could never win…

I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at
him
. His eyes were the worst. They tugged at me, lulling me into trusting him and making me forget he wasn’t human. That he was an animal.

He took a step forward and it was like a force I couldn’t resist. Our eyes locked.

Unspoken pleas, confusion, denial—it was all there, swimming in the piercing blue, pulling at me. Overwhelming me.

I couldn’t...I had to...

A small shape darted toward me, weaving between the adults with single-minded determination. “Mom!”

The smothering weight lifted as my son threw himself into my arms, his small, chunky frame shaking as I smothered him in kisses. Smoothing back his dark hair, I drank in the sight of him, his image blurred and watery.

He wriggled in my arms, turning to face the adults. “Stay away from my mom,” he snarled, baring his teeth and placing himself squarely in front of me.

Shielding me.

CHAPTER SIX

Oliver

The kid was crouched in front of his mother, his fists up held high, his lips curled back in a snarl as his eyes flashed from dark brown to gold, then back again.

So, this was Josh then. It was the kid I had spied through the window, the one comforting the younger girl. For six years old he was tall, his frame solid with the kind of muscle I wouldn’t normally expect to see on a child his age. Unless they were training every day, following the kind of routine found in a gym—or a military camp.

I could see his wolf raging beneath the surface, barely restrained, volatile and liable to erupt at any moment. I had to give it to the kid, he was hanging in there, barely.

I shifted my weight, drawing the kid’s gaze. “I’m not going to hurt your mom,” I said, keeping my voice low and even, maintaining eye contact.

“Then why is she so upset? What did you do to her?”

He had a point. Before he had dashed over, Ana had looked like she was losing it, her face drained of all color, her hands trembling as she waved them erratically. She had looked scared stiff—of me.

Something was obviously going on in that gorgeous head of hers, and I wasn’t about to let her put up a wall between us, not when we’d only just found each other.

But now was not the time or the place to try and figure everything out.
Shit,
I hadn’t worked everything out yet.

“I didn’t do anything, kid. Listen, your mom has had a hard time,” I said.
And that was putting it mildly
. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, a prisoner in that house, forcibly mated and bred like an animal. Visuals tried to force their way into my head, images of Bert hurting her, abusing her—

“Oliver?” A hand gripped my shoulder.

I shook my head, realizing with a start that the low, feral growl echoing around the room was coming from my own lips.

I shook off Macey’s hand, furious with myself.
Focus!
Why was it so hard? Like running through mud, flailing for steady footing while my feet slid out from under me.

It was time to take back control.

I pulled myself up, stretching up to my full height and leveled my gaze on the kid, pouring power and strength into my eyes. “Josh, your mom isn’t in any danger—not from us. We need to get you and the other kids out to the forest, and safely away from this place. Round them all up for me, I’ve got your six.” I threw the military-style command in, wanting to see his reaction.

It was like a light had been switched on, the boy straightening up and looking around the room, assessing the situation. “Steve, Cory, you two bring the babies. Everyone else line up!” His high-pitched voice carried across the room, ringing with authority.

Fuck,
it was worse than I had thought. Bert
had
been running a military boot camp—with kids.

“Ana,” I continued, “you need to come with me. Whatever it is that got you scared, we can work it out later, and I
will
work it out, I promise. Just not now.” I reached out a hand to the woman who had turned my life upside down, mentally begging her to take it, forcing myself to wait.

She blinked, her lashes spiked with tears.

Pain stabbed me square in the chest, so real it felt like a physical blow. I wanted to kiss away her tears, wipe away her confusion, and most of all, heal the hurt I could see hidden just beneath the surface. I wanted to
care
for her, something that was so new and foreign to me I didn’t know where to start.

Everyone else in the room ceased to exist as I eased toward her, careful not to startle her lest she try to run again. “I vow to you I will
never
hurt you. I couldn’t.”