JAMES POV“We found her, Alpha!” My phone rang and before I could utter a greeting, Emily burst out. “We found her!”I leaped out of my chair before I realized I didn’t have anywhere to run to. “Does she remember?”Emily laughed, giddy with relief. “We don’t know. We haven’t actually got her yet. We found where she works and found out she’s involved in underground fighting. We called the owner of the gym she works at, but he didn’t answer. Snap found information of one of the employees. She didn’t know where Addie is currently living but she knows where she’s going to be at midnight tonight.”I couldn’t stand the suspense. “Where?”“An underground fight. She’s fighting as the Grim Reaper. It’s how she’s making her money.”“And she’s going to be there at midnight? For sure?”Emily laughed again. “According to this girl. She said Addie’s really good.”I felt pride swell. Yes, she was. There would be no human that would defeat her. Toby came into my office. I switched th
ADDIE POV“Hey, Little Pup.” The man spoke those words to me, and I grinned back at him. “Hey, James,” I said, lowering my stance into a fighting pose. The bell dinged. He didn’t move, just kept grinning at me.“I really missed you,” he said, standing still, turning his palms to me, body relaxed. James. Why did I know that his name was James?Mate. I heard Talia say, quietly. I stilled. Talia? I asked. Are you back?We’re back, Little Pup, she said, and I felt a warm feeling flood me. I looked over at James, seeing him again for the first time. His scent washed over me, blueberry pancakes, freshly mowed grass and cloves. Mate, Talia said, again, louder this time. I knew. I could feel him. “James,” I said, quietly but with emotion. He could hear the connection in my voice. His grin got bigger. “Oh, Addie. I’ve missed you so much!” He still stood there, not moving. I was acutely aware of the crowd, silent, watching our exchange. “Throw me in the river so I can take
ADDIE POVIt was hard to cuddle in the back seat with Bruce driving like a maniac to get us back to the airport quickly. James wouldn’t let me go, though, and I held on as best I could as Bruce took another wild corner.James explained what had been going on while I was gone. Bruce tossed in a few edits to the story.“Emily recognized the witch when she was driven away so we figured out pretty quick what had happened to you. It took us longer to figure out who did it and why, but Snap found a video of Danny putting you on the bus.”I nodded. “They ambushed me back at the house. They called the driver and told him to kill Emily if I didn’t cooperate. They had him on speaker and I thought that he had hurt her. I could hear her screaming.”Bruce chuckled from the front seat. “Our little Emily is one smart cookie. She kept screaming to throw Zoe and Danny off. She thought she was keeping you safe. She ended up killing the driver and racing back to the house, but you were gone
ADDIE POVWe landed and hopped from the plane to the helicopter. Light was just peeking over the mountains and James was trying to decide whether to take the helicopter straight to the Packhouse or have it land the next town over and we run in. Bruce pointed out that we were so close to the end that we didn’t want to jeopardize anything, so James decided that we would run in.The helicopter landed about fifty miles away in a remote little town. The pilot borrowed the local hospital’s pad so that it would look even less suspicious. We walked into the hospital and then out the back door and into the wood. I folded up my clothes neatly behind a tree, hoping someone would find them and enjoy them. We shifted and then raced for the pack in the early dawn hours.James mind linked the warriors on Patrol and we were met as soon as we crossed into Packlands. Many of the warriors came up and nuzzled Talia. Scout gave a low bark and we continued on, right to the Packhouse. Most Packhous
JAMES POVMy position was on top of the watch tower. From there, I could see most of the Packlands around me. When the truck drove on to my territory, I saw Addie jump from the tree and talk to Danny. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could see that she was pleased. I knew that she would try to end this whole thing without bloodshed, but when she ran towards Danny, I gave the signal. Bloodshed it was.I was watching Addie run towards Danny, leaping over the hood of the truck that was surging towards her, and engaging him in battle. Because I was watching her so intently, I almost missed a little motion out of my peripheral vision. I focused and realized that Danny had somehow surrounded half of our Pack boundaries with his men, and they were waiting for their signal to surge on to my lands.Warriors! There is at least a hundred more of the enemy right outside our pack boundaries. Be aware and hold fast! I sent out a frantic mind link and started receiving replies im
JAMES POVI thought after Danny’s death that the battle would start winding down. It didn’t. If anything, it fueled the enemy warriors, and they started fighting harder. “Cover me,” I said to Addie. “I’m going to try to see what these guys are thinking.”She nodded, looking as perplexed as I felt. Rules of engagement for werewolves is fairly simple. Fight until there’s a victor. But if you’re fighting on another’s land and your leader, the reason you are here, is killed, most of the time the enemy retreats. Why continue to fight a fight that has no point?I wondered, briefly, if they were fighting for Zoe. I tried using my gift on a few warriors and got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I thought, for a moment, my gift had failed, and so I looked at one of my warriors. His mind was screaming out countermoves a split second before he did them. My gift was fine. Something was wrong with the enemy warriors.I ducked; one of the enemy warriors had made it past Addie and took a s
ADDIE POVI knew when James was successful because the two warriors I was fighting abruptly stopped. They backed off, shaking their head like it was wet, and they were trying to get the water off. I looked around and saw that my people were looking at each other with confusion. We were full in battle and then the enemy just stopped fighting.“Warriors of the Hellraising River Pack. If you do not wish to fight us any longer, shift now. The Firehole River Pack does not wish to kill you. If you choose not to shift, you are choosing to fight. Surrender now!” I shouted this with as much volume as I had, putting as much of my gift into it as I could. Then I collapsed.I felt frantic hands around me, grabbing at me, not allowing me to hit the ground. I could hear Emily’s voice, tinged with worry, taking over as leader. Someone carried me into a building and lay me down on a hard surface.I kept my eyes closed; the headache was excruciating, and I couldn’t move without a huge wave
ADDIE POVJames picked me up bridal style and carried me out of the cafeteria, me trying not to giggle and disturb the patients. A few of the patients watched us warily, but I was past the point of caring. When we passed the guards, James put me back on my feet and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the front door. He took off at a slow jog and I followed him, surprised that he didn’t have a vehicle waiting for us. No big deal. I had been inside for too long and needed the fresh air.I was surprised that it was so dark. The moon was a fingernail sliver in the sky, but it was bright enough to light up the ground, deepening the shadows. James tugged me towards the woods, and I followed him.We walked down a narrow path, hand in hand, enjoying each other’s company. We ended up at the lake that Emily delivered her baby but a little bit further down the beach. The moon left a silvery trail down the center of the lake, and it was beautiful.“This is gorgeous,” I breathed out. “Yes, y