Pursuing Paige (15 page)

What was it about their family? Even the
police were questioning how two sisters could vanish into thin air.
They were turning their attention to family friends and relatives,
contemplating a darker plot.

Part of her worried maybe she would be
next.

During the last twenty four hours a new level
of anxiety had descended over her and this time there was no
rational cause for it. Last night she’d woken from a dream after
hearing Paige call her name over and over again. Paige had been a
small, dark room, alone and afraid.

Since then Caroline hadn’t been able to shake
her fear. Her limbs were cold and she was tired. Was she somehow
picking up on how Paige felt? She didn’t believe in anything
psychic, so maybe it was simply her imagination. Whatever it was,
it left her unable to fight the deep depression that had settled
over her.

Pulling her sleeves down over her hands in
a futile attempt to warm them, she glanced at the phone. The police
hadn’t called all day. They had nothing. Paige had been walking
down the street one evening and then she’d vanished. Just like
that. No leads. No clues. One witness who could hardly be credible
said he’d seen her cowering at the base of a tree and then simply
wink away—
gone
. Clearly,
that man had to have been drinking that night.

Thunder crashed beyond her window and
lightning lit the sky. Startled, she backed away and turned toward
her living room. Lightning flashed again and she screamed. This
time it had seemed to be in the very same room with her. She’d
heard stories of that happening before—lightning coming straight
through a window and hitting someone indoors. Wasn’t that why you
were supposed to stay away from windows during a storm?

Figuring she’d better heed that advice, she
cautiously moved into the interior of her apartment. Maybe a nice
cup of tea would help calm her nerves. She entered the kitchen and
began to warm up water on her stove. Outside the storm picked up a
new level of intensity. Thunder crashed, shaking the walls of her
apartment. Lightning sparked and spit, illuminating the room with
intense brightness.

By the time her water was ready, her hands
were shaking. She poured the water into her cup, spilling a little
over the edges. She’d never been in an electrical storm this bad
before. Picking up her cup, she moved toward her living room to
turn on the TV and make sure there weren’t any tornado warnings.
Just then the power flickered and went out.

“Great,” she muttered.

A gust of wind buffeted her hair. She
stilled, frowning. Wind?
In
her
apartment?

Worried there’d been damage to the side of
the building, she hurried into the living room just as another huge
flash of lightning lit the darkened room. But the wall remained
intact and the window was unbroken and closed. Yet still a wind
blew through the room. It buffeted her hair just as though she was
outside.

And it was growing stronger.

Across from her the wind toppled a lamp from
an end table and buffeted the curtains. She stared stupidly as her
mind tried to process. What was going on?

She drew a sharp breath and dropped her tea
as a sudden thought hit. The cup tumbled to the soft carpet and
spilled. Maybe that man’s drunken eye witness account hadn’t been
so drunken after all.

And that meant, she really
was
next.

She backed away from the living room slowly,
retreating from the unknown threat. After a moment, she turned and
bolted for the door. If only she could get to another human being.
Maybe they could help her. Maybe they could stop her from being
pulled into whatever it was that had sucked her sisters away.

Reaching the door, she grabbed the knob. Her
hand went right through it, as if she was a ghost. Toppling
forward, she fell straight down, but there was no floor to meet
her. She just kept falling. Down. Down. Just like Alice and the
rabbit hole.

She landed with a thump on a bed of soft
green grass and rolled down a small hill. For a moment, she lay
stunned, staring up at an impossibly blue sky. “No,” Caroline
whispered. “This can’t be.”

Pushing up, she stared around her. Trees and
beautiful green everywhere. She would assume she was dreaming, but
she knew this could be nothing of the sort. That landing had given
her bruises for sure and injuries didn’t happen in dreams.

Standing, she gazed around for some clue to
what had happened but she was alone in the clearing. In the
distance she could see a bright, shiny city—sharp buildings slicing
the underside of the sky. That skyline didn’t look like any skyline
she knew. It looked…alien.

Still, where there was a city, there were
people. Where there people, there were answers. Maybe that city was
where Paige and Caroline had gone.

She took a shaky step forward.

* * * * *

When they were finally a safe distance from
the city, Paige slid off Kaiden’s back and watched him change back
to human form on a grassy mound.

She sat down heavily beside him and looked
down at herself. Her drab mage clothing was ripped and dirty and
she had more bumps and bruises than she could count. None of that
mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.

Jarek was lost to the mages.

The reality of that fact finally sank in. The
memory of him fighting off so many warriors, knowing he must have
lost that battle…it was too much to bear. She dissolved into grief.
It bubbled up like black lava from the very depths of her, making
her body scissor as racking sobs ripped from her.

Kaiden pulled her against him, tucking her
protectively into the curve of his exhausted and beaten body and
let her cry it out. He murmured unintelligible endearments in her
ear, spoken in a language she didn’t know, and smoothed her tear
dampened hair away from her face.

Finally, she calmed and took a shuddering
breath. “I can’t live without him, Kaiden.” She pushed up and began
to rip off her clothes. “I need to change my clothes, get some
food. I’m going back for him. I can’t do this.
I can’t.
Maybe I can shift again—”

“Shift again? What do you mean?”

She stilled, looking down at him. “I shifted.
When the mages came for me. I was so angry, seeing Jarek like that.
I thought they’d killed him. I shifted into a dire wolf and I
fought them.”

Kaiden grabbed her and pulled her against him
cradling her in his lap. “That’s very rare, Paige. Normally our
mostly human mates can only shift after the joining vow
ceremony.”

“What does it mean that I didn’t need
it?”

He kissed the top of her head tenderly. “It
means you’ve already joined with us in your heart,” he said in a
quiet voice. “The mate bond is complete.”

She let out a quite sob, thinking of
Jarek.

“You can’t go back for him. If you’re killed,
his sacrifice will mean nothing.”

She cupped his face in her hands. “I
understand how you both felt when I was taken. Now I feel that same
way. Don’t you get it, Kaiden? I will die if Jarek doesn’t come
back, just like I would die if you hadn’t come back. Nothing
matters but for him to return to us.”

Kaiden bowed his head. “He may not still be
alive.”

She gave her head a sharp shake. “I refuse to
believe that. Chances are they took him prisoner. They wouldn’t
kill a healthy Lycaon unless they were forced, would they? They
could get valuable information out of him.”

“You don’t know the way Jarek fights.” Kaiden
paused. “It’s likely he forced them.”

She gritted her teeth. No, she couldn’t think
that way or she’d go insane. “We’ve got to go back, Kaiden. There
is no other alternative.”

Kaiden closed his eyes. “Then we’ll go back.
Let’s get a little rest first. I’ll catch us something to eat.
We’ll be no good to him if we’re too exhausted to think
straight.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
She hated having to wait even a minute longer, but what he said
made sense. “A couple hours rest and a meal. Then we go back to
free Jarek
and
Torrent.”

Kaiden touched her cheek. “Or die
trying.”

“Yes.” She pressed her mouth to his.

He drew her against him and she closed her
eyes. Yet, as exhausted as she was, sleep was a long time
coming.

* * * * *

Paige woke with a jerk. Beside her, Kaiden’s
body was rigid and she could immediately tell he wasn’t sleeping.
The sound that had woken them both came again—the soft step of a
person trying not to be heard in the perfect quiet of the deep
forest.

Kaiden squeezed her reassuringly, then rolled
silently away from her. If someone was trying to sneak up on them,
pity that person. Willing to let the big, bad wolf jump their
would-be stalker, she curled up in the remaining tatters of her
dress and waited, totally confident in Kaiden’s abilities.

Sure enough, moments later came a series of
thumps and a muffled shout. Silence. Then Kaiden yelled,
“Paige!”

She jerked upward and shot to her feet.
“Kaiden!” she rushed in his direction. “What’s wrong—” She stopped
short as she plunged through the underbrush. Stopping dead, she
drew in a sharp breath. “Jarek!”

It was an unbelievable sight—Jarek standing
there in the early morning sunshine. She launched herself into his
arms and he grabbed her tight, staggering backward. Immediately she
released him and began running her hands over his naked body. “Are
you hurt?”

He stilled her hands and embraced her again.
“Nothing serious. Just bruised, a little bloody and very
dirty.”

She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation
of his strong, warm—intact and alive—body against her. “How did you
get of there?”

“I fought like I’ve never fought before. They
hit me over and over with their damn magick sticks and knocked me
out cold, but I wasn’t out for long. They were surprised when I
regained consciousness so quickly. It gave me a lucky break. I
found a way out and I took it. Then I ran through the city faster
than any mage could catch me. Once beyond the scents of the city,
it was easy to pick up your trail.”

She took a step back and stared into his
face. “And Torrent?”

He shook his head. “Captured.”

She gritted her teeth for a moment. “We need
to go back for him.”

“We can’t,” answered Jarek. “I want to,
Paige, but it’s impossible. They’ve locked down the city with a
magickal perimeter by now. If we go within a few kilometers of it,
they’ll know it.”

She set her jaw. “We were going to go back
for you.”

Jarek looked at Kaiden. “That would have been
suicide.”

“We’re a family,” answered Kaiden. “We would
have taken the chance.”

“Torrent would forbid his rescue. We’re not
going back for him.”

“We’re just going to let him die?” asked
Paige.

“We’re going to let him have his destiny.
Remember, the prophecy. This was supposed to happen.”

“
Screw the damn prophecy,” Paige answered.
“Anything that happens could be part of the prophecy. Maybe our
rescuing him is part of the
prophecy
, Jarek.” She turned away, so angry her body
shook.

Jarek sighed heavily. “There’s something I
need to tell you, something Torrent told me right before we left
for the city.” He paused. “Something not even Kaiden knows.”

Paige turned slowly to face him. “What is
it?”

“He suspected this trip would lead to his
capture and he doesn’t expect to survive it. He told me that his
capture will eventually lead to a huge conflict between the Magica
and the Lycaon.” Jarek paused. “He told us to not attempt his
rescue.”

“So he’s just going to sacrifice
himself.”

“For his people, yes.” Jarek paused. “Our
hearts are heavy and we all need medical attention. Let’s go
home.”

“But—” started Paige.

“Don’t make this harder than it already is,
Paige.” Kaiden sighed heavily. “Do you think you can shift?”

“
Did you just ask
Paige
if she could shift?” Jarek frowned. “How could she
possibly be able—”

By the time Jarek had reached the end of his
sentence, she’d already shifted to dire wolf form.

Jarek stood staring, mouth wide. “You’re
beautiful.”

She shook her silky white mane as if to
say,
I
know
, and trotted down
the path.

* * * * *

It had begun to rain on their way home, a
cold, driving rain that was nearer to sleet. It soaked into their
fur and straight to the center of their bones as they traveled. It
was miserable, but it barely put a dent in Paige’s guilty joy of
running free as a dire wolf beside her two men. It was wrong to
even feel a glimmer of happiness when Torrent had been taken
prisoner.

That rain continued on into the next day,
long after they’d made it home. Kaiden lit fires in all the hearths
of the house and Paige had snuggled in with her men, all of them
bathed, fed and rested. They did their best to shake off the cold
and misery, although much darkness still weighed on their
minds.

“I think about Alisa and her family every
day. I wonder what happened to them,” said Paige as she stood near
the fireplace in the living room, pulling the sleeves of her
sweater down over her hands. She gritted her jaw and her tone grew
dark. “I wish I didn’t feel sorry for them.”

“You’re a good person,” answered Jarek from
the kitchen. “Of course you think of them. We all know that Alisa
was acting out of love for her family—”

“—but she caused harm to ours,” growled
Kaiden from his place on the couch. “I can’t forgive her for
that.”