Tane's Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Shifter's on the Run Book 1) (12 page)

Mark came to the door. Seeing what was happening, he raised his gun to shoot. Tane took off covering the ground in a fast lope as another wolf came from the other side.

Tane got him in his legs making his shot go awry. A huge roar came from Tane before he took the man’s neck between his teeth, but he didn’t tear him apart. The same with the panther. They held their prey immobile but the men were still alive.

What were they waiting for, she wondered before it hit her? She ran into the clearing and lifted a stunned Amy into her arms. Today she was thankful for the strength of the animal. She turned and carried Amy out of the area and far away from any scream she might hear or any blood she might see.

Sitting her down back where they found the animal trap she began untying her.

Amy looked at her with dull eyes. “I have to go back,” she pleaded. Her expression begged Leza to understand.

“Why do you have to go back?

“They will kill my parents if I ever escape. I know they will do it; I have seen them kill before.”

“I believe you, Amy. If they were still alive they would come after your Mom and Dad. You no longer have to worry about it though. Those animals tore them to shreds.

Leza knew they would never hurt anyone again. She heard the screams as they begged for their lives. She also heard their confessions as well as their dying breaths. Good riddance. Amy wasn’t the first young girl they had terrorized and raped. The one before her hadn’t survived, and they planned to make sure Amy didn’t survive either.

“Come with me back to my camp site. You can tell me how you came to be with them.”

Leza extended her hand waiting to see if Amy would take it.

“They really can’t hurt my parents anymore?”

“No. You don’t seem to be too bothered by seeing the wolves and a panther.”

“In the beginning I used to pray for freedom. Then I prayed that some of the animals would come and kill them or at least maim them so I could get away. After a while I prayed a hungry wolf would come and kill me. Sometimes prayers really do get answered.”

Amy reached up and took Leza’s hand allowing her to pull her to her feet.

They walked back to the camper in silence, both of them lost in their minds. It was the sound of male laughter that stunned Leza as they walked into the camp. They were sitting around a table with a deck of cards between them as Dai gave a good natured laugh and threw his hand down.

“You’re much too good at this.” He picked up two cans of soda and pushed them across the table to Tane.

Leza almost choked on laughter as she saw they were playing for her cans of soda. Dai looked up and smiled while waving at her.

“I’m so glad you’re here. Now you can help me with him.” He pointed a finger at his identical twin. “Hey, who’s your friend?”

Tane and Jay looked up throwing her looks and waving to her and Amy before turning their attention back to the card game.

Amy stopped gasping as she took in the three huge men. A sound of despair left her lips as Leza pulled her close.

“Amy, I want you to meet my friends. We came camping together. The one in the middle looking all tough but in reality he is a softy is my boyfriend. The one on the right that looks just like him is his brother, Dai. The one of the left is Jay.”

They all raised a hand and waved saying hi. They all looked her in the eyes but never even gave a casual glance at her body.

“I wondered where you got off to, Love.” Tane walked over slowly and pulled Leza into his arms.

“I worry about her when I don’t know where she is.” He said it low. It was a whisper for Amy’s ears only, a confession of his feelings. A declaration of her safety. If he worried about Leza, he would worry about anyone Leza adopted.

Amy’s lips gave a small quirk before her body tightened up again.

“Is this the young lady you said needed a ride home?” Tane asked, still not looking at Amy.

“This is her. Amy, where do you live?”

“I live on the outskirts of Omaha.”

Leza inclined her head and looked at Tane.

“We’re not far from there. We can probably have her home tomorrow.”

“Amy?” Leza waited for her to raise her head and look her in the eyes. “Did you hear that you can be home tomorrow. Your parents will be thrilled to have you back.”

“I don’t know,” her voice trembled.

“I’ll tell you what. Let’s get started on our journey, then you can tell me how you ended up out here. Ok?”

Amy nodded but stayed silent. Leza got her into the camper feeling her agitation rise as she was enclosed with two large men.

“Who’s driving?”

“Dai and Jay are going to take over the front for now. We’ll drive when Amy goes to sleep to make it easier for her.”

Jay came in with the with the card table and cards stowing them away. He tried not to look at Amy just like the others but all he could imagine was his sister standing there abused. He wanted to tear those men up again. The death they gave them was too easy. Amy was abused; his animals could sense that every step she took was agony. Her face looked like a road map there were so many bruises and lines on it. No one should go through this especially someone as young as her.

He could feel his vision go red as anger suffused his face. All it took was a casual look at Tane and Dai to know they were feeling the same. They needed to turn away or all three of them may shift again from the rage pouring through them.

Dai climbed into the passenger seat while Jay took the wheel allowing the tension in the back of the camper to bleed out. Leza leaned over and gave Tane a kiss on the cheek before leading Amy to the bedroom in the back. Leza closed the door and motioned for her to sit on the bed.

“Tell me what happened, Amy.” Leza sat on the bed beside her.

Amy looked at the closed door. Leza smiled and nodded. She knew the males would be able to hear, but this way she wouldn’t have to tell them later.

“It was so stupid. There was this new website that was popular in school. Everyone was on it except for me. My mom took one look at it and said no. She said ‘I don’t have a good feeling about it.’ That’s what my mom always says when she doesn’t want me to do anything fun. So I sneaked on. At first it was a lot of fun. I was meeting boys who went to different schools and they were even planning a huge party and were going to invite me.

“I was going to be the envy of my school. Me, the not so popular girl going to a party. Then I met this really cute boy he said he went to a school across the river. Across the river was a keyword for inner city school. He sent me a picture. He was hot. I wanted to meet him but I knew if I asked my mom ‘she would have a bad feeling about this.’ So I put it off stalling him. No matter what I came up with I knew my mom wouldn’t buy it.

“Eventually he told me he didn’t want a girlfriend who couldn’t stand up to her parents. I was old enough to make my own decisions and they should respect that.”

Hysterical laughter came from her. She laughed until she rolled up in a ball crying. Leza soothed her, running her hands up and down her back until the tears finally receded.

“It amazes me that I was ever that young or innocent.” Her voice came out in a tremble as her hand went up to try and mop up her face.

“I agreed with him. What could happen? I snuck out the house one night leaving a message in case my mom came in to find me missing. I didn’t want her to worry. I told her where I was going. That was the first time I ever did anything like that.

“Getting there was scary all on its own. He wanted to meet in the city, there is this section that caught fire years ago and has been demolished. I wasn’t a city girl and the city at night can be frightening. I was so proud of myself that I made it. I got there but no one was around. I called out for Todd letting him know I was there. I remember hearing a noise behind me and I spun around thinking it was him. That’s when I was hit. I fell and the next thing I knew I was in a trunk tied up. I’ve been with those two ever since.”

“Why don’t you think they’ll want you back?”

“I didn’t listen to my mom. Good girls listen. They…they did things to me, dirty things. I don’t even want to be me. Why would they want me back?”

Leza gazed into her dull eyes and looked for something to say that would assure her. She came up blank, nothing but the loving arms of her mother would assure her. Would her mother’s arms be loving?

“Are you hungry?”

She nodded her head vigorously. “They didn’t feed me a lot. Said it was a waste of food when all I needed to do was lie on my back.”

Leza slid her hands behind her so Amy couldn’t see the claws that sprang out of her fingers. She wished she could have been the one to end their worthless lives. She gulped hard and forced her claws to recede.

“Come on. I smell food which means Tane is cooking, I don’t want to miss that.”

Leza plastered a smile on her face and waited for Amy to follow her out the door.

*~*~*~*

Tane was driving while Leza rode shotgun. The roads were close to empty this late at night. No one was out but the few that needed to be there now, which included them.

“Do you think we should have called her parents? Let them know we found their daughter.”

“No. They would have told someone, probably the police. Then we would have had to try to explain what happened to the monsters that took her. There would most likely also be reporters and the last thing we want is our faces in the paper or on television.”

“You’re right but I keep asking myself what happens if they don’t want her back. Has their life moved on and they are content with the memory? What if they can’t deal with the trauma she’s been through? It’s not like she could go back home and assimilate like nothing’s happened to her. And then I think what if it were my parents. My parents would be ballistic everyday even when they learned to hide it deep inside of them. That’s how I think her parents will be. Crazy with hope and desperate to get her back. What do you think?”

“We’ll know soon enough what will happen, but we won’t leave her with people who no longer want her.”

Leza felt the acid eating at her stomach calm down. There was no way she could leave Amy if her parents didn’t want her or looked at her like she was a bad girl. Everyone makes a mistake at some point in their lives and sometimes those mistakes are lethal. She shook her head needing the action. She doubted her parents wouldn’t want her back; she’d simply spent too long in the hands of a corrupt government but knowing Tane wouldn’t let anyone hurt Amy went a long way to calming her down.

“Where are we going?”

“To Omaha,” he answered with a puzzled frown.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. What’s our final destination.”

He looked over at her. “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

“You don’t trust me?” She kept her voice neutral as she asked.

“I trust you. Do you know the easiest way not to spill a secret?”

“Not to know it in the first place.”

“Yes. We have a long way to go, and I don’t know what we will encounter, but I do know that if you don’t know there’s no reason to try and torture it out of you.”

She thought he was being a bit optimistic knowing who the men where who held them previously, but she allowed him to cling to that hope for now. The truth was it wouldn’t matter if she knew where they were going or not, if she was recaptured she would be tortured. Keeping the new location away from her would save the others and that sat well with her. There was no way she wanted to be their downfall.

Placing her hand on her belly, her mind went back to Amy. She could hear her tossing and turning on the bed. They fed her four times before Leza finally insisted she get some sleep. Tane had cooked her a hamburger and threw together a small salad for her when they came out of the bedroom.

Amy’s stomach was so small she hadn’t been able to finish the burger or touch the salad. Leza had smiled and thanked Amy for sharing with her like they did it every day. It garnered the first real unprotected smile from Amy.

After that the others took a turn cooking having just enough left over that they needed someone to help them eat it. Amy knew what they were doing but the tears she blinked back let them know she appreciated it.

Leza rubbed her flat belly. What if she had a child that someone abused? We would kill them, her animal answered swiftly. Yes, she acknowledged they would kill them, if Tane didn’t get to them first.

“Are you sleepy?” he asked her softly.

“No, I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“I was thinking about Amy and then I started thinking what if I had a child and someone abused them.”

“I would kill them.”

“Yeah, that’s actually what I was thinking. Of course you would have to go around me to get to them.”

“Uh huh keep thinking that.” He teased her.

“Tell me how you ended up in the program?”

“Such an innocent word for what was done to us. Dai and I didn’t live on the military base with the rest of our team, but we each had a bunk there for emergencies. One night we came in late, needed to give a report and decided to simply bunk down there. Early the next morning, one of the generals came in himself to wake us up. That should have sent red flags flying. My only excuse was the two hours of sleep we managed in the previous forty-eight hours combined with the fact that a lot of our missions were so classified that sometimes no one lower than a general knew what we were doing.

“He told us about a new terrorist threat. We had just finished infiltrating one. We took it apart from the inside. He assured me that I was needed. I tried to leave Dai behind, but he wouldn’t be left. He refused to let me go in alone.

“We collected our orders and left. It was a simple mission. We were to watch and see if there was anything suspicious. It took us outside of the city which was unusual because we excel in urban warfare. The drive was long; it took us several hours to get there. We talked nonstop and took several stops for coffee to keep ourselves awake.