Jett's Wild Wolf (Mystic Wolves 3) (13 page)

“What the hell is that?” Dev, one of the wolves asked.

“It’s a collar of sorts that will shift with us when we do.” Emerson opened the drawstring, pulling out the contents. Jett eyed the necklaces and looked at the men standing around him. He didn’t give a fuck what it was. Power exuded from them, and if they helped him save Taryn he’d were a damn crown on his head.

When he reached out to take one, his fingers were pulled toward the stone that was dark purple. His lips kicked up in a smile. Taking the leather cord with the purple crystal, Jett wasted no time tying it around his neck. Energy resonated from it to him.

After each man had one around his neck, Jett felt like bouncing on his toes, ready to hop in his Road Runner and head straight into town. His head instantly turned toward the garage. The destruction to his property was so massive, he wondered if they’d destroyed his vehicles as well. Not that he gave a shit, but it would make getting to Taryn a little harder.

Jett plowed through the crowd, murmuring excuse me in his haste to get to the closed garage door. He took a deep breath, expecting the worst. He sighed as he opened the door and found his vehicle untouched.

Bronx clapped him on the back, making him stumble forward. “Was you gonna cry if your baby was busted up?”

Not looking back at the big bastard, Jett raised his left hand into the air, and gave him the bird. “I’m going. She’s not doing well. I can feel it. Like a knife to my gut, I can feel it. Does that make sense?” He rounded the front of his car.

Zayn walked out behind Bronx. “Yep, I can feel you man. Shotgun,” he said. “Everyone load up and let’s roll.”

The sound of other vehicles out front let Jett know the other wolves had already called reinforcements. He felt pride swell that his pack was with him.

He cleared his throat. “Thanks, bro.”

“If you try to hug me, I’ll punch you. I mean, we can do like the man hug and shit, but none of that bromance shit.” Zayn looked ready to laugh.

Again, Jett raised his middle finger, then opened the driver’s door and slid inside.

Bronx climbed into the back, followed by Dev. “Fuck, it smells like sex in here. Dude, did you have to have sex in your car?”

Jett ignored him and hit the button to open his garage door. “I did not have sex
in
my car, asshole.” He waited till the door was open before starting the engine. The familiar rumble of the big block had him smiling. He sent up a prayer, and then backed out. “What happens on my car, stays on my car.” He winked, the tension easing a little as he drove out of the space.

His friend sniffed the blanket then tossed it to the floorboard, making Jett laugh. “You, are a bad, bad boy, Jett.”

They all knew the joking was a way to dissipate some of the built up rage, but nothing would help Jett until he had Taryn tucked safely beside him.

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T
aryn knew when Jett left it would only be a few minutes before his home would be overrun with Keith and his pack. Although, she didn’t really expect too much of a show of power, she still prepared, emptying her mind of happy thoughts of Jett and her. If Keith decided the wolf meant anything to her, he’d use it against her and the Mystic Pack.

She dressed herself in a pair of thick leather pants and top, that were pliable enough to move in, thankful for her fey powers that allowed her to do such a thing. Her only wish was she could make herself disappear. The last time Keith had beaten her, she’d almost died. She had no doubt when he got his hands on her this time, she probably would, but she wouldn’t allow him to take down Jett and his family.

The sound of vehicles coming up the drive, followed by the telltale lights shining through the large picture window in the front room, let her know her reprieve was up. She stood in front of the glass, making herself an easy target.

No sense in evading the inevitable.

Sounds of growling came from behind her, just outside the home, but she didn’t take her eyes from the large 4X4 pickup with its huge tires. She took a few steps back, nearly falling over the coffee table as it came closer, the engine getting louder, the vehicle picking up speed instead of slowing.

Taryn jumped backward, over the leather sofa just as glass flew and the truck plowed through the front of the house. She rolled, trying to get to her feet and meet the wolves that poured into Jett’s house. She should have run was her last coherent thought as Keith stepped down from the truck, a smirk on his gruesome face.

“Hello, daughter. I hope you had fun fucking the enemy. You led me straight to the wolf’s door.” He lifted a rifle from the interior of the vehicle, aimed and shot.

A whimper escaped her despite her best efforts not to show fear. “Go fuck yourself you porchdick.” When the bullet hit her, she flew backward, hitting the wall leading to the hallway.

An unholy growl accompanied Keith’s barked orders, but she couldn’t understand his words from the ringing in her ears. She’d felt pain before, but fire raced through her veins, and she was unable to stand, her body had gone numb and she fell to the side, cracking her head on the wood floor.

“Wipe her blood up. I don’t want the wolves to have any more of her scent to follow than necessary. Make them work for it.” Keith yelled out orders.

“Alpha, should we get her belongings from his bedroom?” one of the wolves asked.

Keith swiped out an arm as he crouched over Taryn. “Yes, and be sure to leave his bed untouched, a constant reminder of what he had, but will never get again.” He ran his clawed fingers down the side of her face, cutting a thin line along her jaw.

Taryn could only lay there and take the pain as whatever he’d shot her with had completely paralyzed her, yet she felt everything ten times worse.

Keith leaned back on his haunches. “You are wondering what I’ve done to you, yes?” He shook his head. “I shot you up with a paralytic agent that completely takes over your metabolism, rendering any species helpless from healing, shifting, anything, yet magnifies any pain by a hundred times. It’s truly a work of genius.”

The wolves around them had gone quiet, knowing he could turn on them at any time.

“Garth, pick this trash up and put her in the bed of the pickup.” He stood up, kicking Taryn in the side as he did so.

She felt a rib crack under the hard blow.

The wolf he’d instructed to do his bidding lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder, jogging back to the truck, he tossed her into the back like a sack of potatoes. When she landed onto the hard metal bottom, air whooshed out of her lungs, but she felt her body trying to fight the drug Keith had shot her with.

If he got her back to the compound in Deadwood, still completely incapacitated, her life would be over. She closed her eyes and flowed inside her own body, knowing the wolves who clambered inside the truck bed could do anything they wanted to her as they sped down the winding road, and she could do nothing to stop them. However, the alternative was much worse, waiting to see what Keith had planned when they arrived at their final destination. For it would be her final destination, of that she had no doubt.

The bullet she’d thought came from an actual shotgun, was just as he’d described, some sort of chemical toxin he’d clearly created. She saw it was still leaking its poison from where it had entered her body, and the only way to stop it was to push it out. The thick leather clothing had prevented it from embedding itself inside her completely, so she used her healing light and surrounded the sickly green and forced it out the entry wound, hoping the wolves didn’t notice.

By the time she was able to work it out, she was sure they were close to town, sweat was covering her from head to toe, but the thugs guarding her hadn’t been paying any attention. Their eyes were on the road in front of them. Anticipation for what was to come rolled off of their bodies in a stench that made her want to gag. Taryn memorized each of their scents, and planned to kill each of them if they so much as showed their faces in her vicinity again.

She worked to keep her heartrate steady, and her breathing the same, while figuring out the best way to escape. Once they got her inside the enclosed walls there would be no escape, ever.

“Do you think he’s gonna let us bang her, before he messes her up beyond all recognition again?” One of the wolves asked.

One of the men next to her cleared his throat. “Shut the fuck up, dickweed. He can hear you.”

The sound of clothing moving, like the lifting of shoulders filtered to her ears. “Hey, I’m just saying, it would be cool to allow us to gangbang her in front of the pack, then kill the whore.”

“I can hear you, and I will think on this,” Keith said with a hard edge to his voice.

Over her dead fucking body. As every fiber of her body came back on line, she readied herself to take action, feeling the vehicle slow for a curve around the bend. It was now or never, and now was a much better time than never in her mind.

With the agility of her cat, she shifted, much slower than she liked, yet faster than they’d expected and leaped over the side, just as they made another turn. The jagged rocks bit into her feet as she fell head over tail in her bid for escape. Growls and screeching tires could be heard, but she ignored it all as she raced down the steep embankment.

She couldn’t take the time to orient herself to her surroundings, knowing every second she wasted was one Keith would use to his advantage.

The explosion of anger was fast and furious, shaking the roots of the trees and making the rocks beneath her tumble down in a cascade like an avalanche. Not that she hadn’t expected him to react swiftly, but his powers were even more immense than she’d thought.

Taryn raced faster, putting on a burst of speed that even Keith had no hope of catching. Her injuries throbbed, and she felt an incessant buzz in her mind, familiar yet not like what Keith would try to do if he was trying to invade her thoughts. She allowed a small fissure to open, ready to blast whatever came at her mind with her own form of punishment.

Where are you? Are you hurt?
Jett’s voice sounded concerned and close.

Oh, god. She couldn’t let him get wrapped up in the mess of her world. Keith and his wolves would destroy all that he was, and loved.

Listen, it was fun, but I sorta had a fight with my...

Jett growled and projected himself snapping his wolven jaws at her.
Don’t fucking lie to me, or I will seriously put you over my damn knee, and you won’t be able to sit on that perfectly rounded ass for a day without feeling the heat. Now, tell me where you are, or better yet show me. I know you can.

Her body reacted like a hussy and wanted to roll over and submit. Of course, the human part of her wanted to do the same. Worry for his safety almost had her lying, but exhaustion was weighing her down. She wasn’t sure how much ground she had covered, but knew the wolves tracking her wouldn’t stop until they dropped, and then another set would take up where they left off. She’d never be free, and Keith would stand tall and keep directing until he was stopped, one way or another.

She opened her senses and realized she was racing back toward Sturgis, still on neutral territory, and out of the protection of the Mystic Pack. If Keith caught her before she could get to Jett, he’d rip her throat out, no more paralytic drugs.

Ah, baby, I will never allow that to happen. Besides, I’m closer than you think
.

The thought he was telling the truth terrified, and made her hopeful.
Hurry, Jett. I’m getting tired.
It killed her to admit that reality.

Keep this path open to me, but focus on staying alive. I’ll be there shortly. Can’t have my mate out there running wild.

His words lent her the extra strength to keep going. Although she didn’t hear the wolves pursuing her, she was aware Keith had the ability to conceal them.

By the time she saw the lights of Sturgis, her sides ached, her mouth was dryer than the Sahara desert, and her paws felt shredded. All she wanted to do was fall down and rest for the next year.

She skirted the edge of the woods, staying out of the sight of human eyes. Her first instinct was to shift to human form, but her nose smelled the unmistakable scent of wolf. Unknown female wolf.

Why was there an unknown wolf in town?

Keith used anyone at his disposal, and she wouldn’t put it past him to have had one waiting in the wings for the sole purpose to draw her out, when she least expected it.

The dark haired woman looked vaguely familiar, almost as if she was staring at a long lost cousin, or a slightly older sister. Taryn’s stomach sank. Had Keith been keeping another woman and child a prisoner, doing goddess knew what to them and finally decided to bring them out in order to lure Taryn into a trap.

A growl escaped before she could call it back. The dark haired woman with the face that matched Taryn’s looked toward the woods. Taryn met her blue eyes, so very similar to her own she sat back on her feline ass. Only there was no mixed beasts in the woman. Wolf. She was a wolf. Before she could stop herself from leaving the relative safety of the tree line, she stalked her prey, watching as the woman’s shoulders stiffened.

Fear came off the stranger as she stood by her car next to the gas pumps.

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T
aya swallowed her first instinct to run, and stared at the large cat while it prowled closer to her, its blue eyes reminding her of family. She inhaled, and swore. “Who the hell are you?”

She placed the gas pump back into the holder and twisted the cap back into place. The fine hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end, looking around Taya was surprised when she didn’t see a group of thugs coming out of nowhere. She’d been jumpy ever since she’d been taken hostage and held...she banished the memories.

The cat got closer, stalking her. Surprisingly, she didn’t actually fear for her life from the large predator. She waited until the beast was within arm’s length, knowing she was in the presence of another shifter. A female one at that. “My name is Taya. I mean no disrespect to your pride. I’ve come to speak with the alpha of the Mystic Pack.” See, she could totally speak to other species, even though most wolves said cat shifters made them sneeze.