The Wolf's Surrender

CHAPTER 19



Mia huddled into a ball, making herself as small as she could. If only she could make herself so small they couldn’t see her, she wished. If only they would forget about her. But it wasn’t going to happen.

Her wounds had once again healed with stunning speed. Even the tiny pieces of glass embedded in her skin had been pushed out and fallen harmlessly to the ground as the flesh had knit back together. Though her body had ached terribly at first, the sensation had vanished while they were riding in the SUV, she with her hands bound laying down in the back, and the three men who had abducted her keeping an eye on her from the front and middle row.

She had been warned that to try and escape would mean a long and painful death once they were through with her...as opposed to the quicker version they’d been planning for her, she supposed. She had no reason not to believe them. After all, they had killed Jenner...and laughed about it.

A wave of nausea roiled her stomach at the memory, and Mia tried to block it out. She wished she could block everything out. Especially the sight of Jenner, covered in blood, suspended upside down in his truck. Outwardly, Mia showed no emotion, because she knew to do so was to invite attention from her abductors. Inside, however...inside was another story. She had only begun to mourn, and the pain was beyond anything she had ever imagined. “Maybe we should cut her,” one of the men suggested, sliding Mia a look that chilled her. He thought of her as less than human, somehow. Just a tool. And if it was entertaining and useful to cut her, he’d be happy to do it.

“Not yet. Not until it’s time. It’s just a waste of blood, and besides, she’s being a good girl now, aren’t you, Mia?” Jeff growled, standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Mia could only see his profile, as he was turned to his side, but it was easy to see that his excitement was growing, and that his grip on reality was slipping. His eyes were wild when he glanced at her to give her what was probably meant to be a warm smile.

“But won’t the Shadowkin get here more quickly if we spread some of her blood around? Just a little?”

Jeff bared his teeth at the man, who Mia thought she’d heard called Sy. Both Sy and the others of Jeff’s thugs were big and intimidating, mainly because she could tell their loyalty to this cause, if not to Jeff, was unwavering. They wanted power. And their eyes were cold, dead when they looked at her.

“You idiot. They know we’re here. I’m just waiting for them to tell me where to go. They’re preparing a place...I know it.”

Mia sat on the ground, leaning against the knobby bark of a tree. She watched as Jeff turned his attention to her and started over. Mia wanted to recoil, but managed to simply look passive. She was terrified. They’d left the truck at an abandoned gas station outside of town hours ago, and then trekked into the woods. She would have felt confident that the Blackpaw could sniff them out...but no one was coming. No one knew what had happened. And by the time they figured it out, it would be too late. Jeff had been very clear.

And despite his madness, she knew that when it came to his plans with the Shadowkin, he was telling the truth.

“Mia,” Jeff said, stopping just a foot away from her and looking down at her with what might have passed for friendly interest, if she hadn’t seen the cruel glint in his eye.

“Call the shadows.”

Her breath stilled in her throat.

“I...I don’t know...”

The smile turned into a sneer. “Yes you do. Yes you do, you bitch. They’ll come a lot faster when they feel how powerful you are. Call them with that fae blood of yours. Call them!”

The open-handed slap rocked her head back, slamming it hard into the tree. Mia cried out, both from the pain and the miserable fear. She didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to do this. She wished she were still with Jenner, that he was alive and they were trying to talk things out. She wished everything was going to be all right, but it wasn’t.

It was never going to be all right again.

Jeff’s eyes burned like fire when he looked down at her, glowing in the half-light of the forest.

“Call them, you stupid little feral bitch. I don’t have time for this. The wolf in your blood will pull them as strongly as the magic. You’ll be irresistible.”

His voice was barely human. Mia closed her eyes, partially in self-defense. If she looked at him too much longer, she was afraid she’d just...break. Slowly, she did as Bane had once instructed her. But this time, it was no man she sought.

Almost instantly, she felt herself surrounded by inky darkness. It was hard to hear anything in the sudden cacophonous burble of snarling and wailing and hungry moans, hard to understand a single coherent thought through the murky veil. Still, that vast and shadowy collective seemed to sense her all at once. Cold sweat broke out on her brow, nausea rolling through her stomach. But she had no choice.

“Who calls us?”

“I am Mia.”

“You are faewolf. You are the key. The fool has finally done his job.” The voice was deep, sonorous, and full of darkest pleasure. It was seductive, in its way. It would be easy to lose yourself to such a voice...but she had so much more to live for than whatever this thing could promise.

So she begged, though she knew it would be exactly what this creature would wish her to do.

“I don’t want to die.”

“Nor shall you. We will take your essence, give you ours. You will be perfect, changed. Our dark faewolf, free of your disgusting humanity.”

“No, please...”

“Fret not. We will let you kill him. The fool. He may be your first. Useless, weak thing he is. Come to us. I will lead you.”

After long and tortuous minutes, Mia opened her eyes. She felt as though she’d just gazed into an abyss. But she had done as she was told, because every second of her life had now become precious. What would Jeff do, she wondered, when the shadows turned on him? What would she do, when she could already feel how easily the Shadowkin could taint her, draining all the good away? Goddess above, what was she about to become?

She had a terrible feeling that death would be the better option...and not one she would be allowed to take after all. Not, at least, for long.

“Well?” snapped Jeff. “Did you speak to him? And don’t lie to me, Mia. I’ll know.”

“He said he’s preparing for the ritual,” Mia said softly. “But he told me where to lead you from here. And he said...” She hesitated, and Jeff pulled back his arm as though he were thinking of striking her again. Mia looked up dully, knowing there were likely to be more blows regardless.

“He said he’s ready for you to join them.”

Jeff lowered his arm, but his eyes were warning enough. “Damn right he is,” he said. “Lead us, Mia. And if you try anything, there are plenty of ways I—and we—can hurt you that won’t shed a drop of that precious blood.”

He turned from her, heading back to discuss something with the others in hushed voices. Mia didn’t care. In all her life, she had never felt despair like this.

Jenner, she thought, clinging to his memory like a talisman. And then, incredibly, she heard a faint echo of a reply. Probably it was imagined, Mia knew. But even so, hearing Jenner’s voice, even so far away, gave her back the tiniest shred of something she thought was gone for good: hope.

Hang on, Mia. I’m coming. We’re coming.

* * *

They ran in a mass, every member of the Blackpaw who could be spared. The wolves dashed through the trees in the fading light of day, the gold of the setting sun glinting intermittently off of fur that ranged from rich red to darkest black as it filtered through the forest’s canopy.

Jenner ran in front with Bane, his heart pumping hard from the adrenaline. His head still ached, but he’d been given something for the pain. And it hardly mattered, whether he hurt or not. All that mattered was Mia.

It had taken too much time to find the damned SUV. Jenner knew they were all deep in the woods by now, though why he couldn’t imagine. Fortunately, once they’d picked up the scent, following had become easy. Catching up, however...

He’d spent years fighting the Shadowkin that haunted the woods like malevolent ghosts, waiting to pick off the young, the sick, the weak who ventured too far alone. He’d seen what they could do to the minds of the vulnerable. And if he wasn’t quick enough, he would finally have to fight them in a form no Shadowkin should be allowed to take in this world. A form he had no idea whether he and the others could defeat.

Jenner pushed it from his mind, focusing instead on what was ahead. He tried not to think about the pale wolf running on Bane’s other side, nor the heavyset russet wolf beside him, leading their small contingent of Silverback. Kenyon Chase had been determined to come, truly worried about Mia’s fate. Nor had Tomas hesitated, despite the look in his eyes when Mia’s fae blood had been mentioned. He doubted Tomas would still be quite so eager to mate her with his second-in-command now, though Jenner knew that if Mia gave him any hope of reciprocation, Chase would fight to have her.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Because even if he had to get on his damned knees and beg, he was going to win Mia back. He wasn’t going to go through losing her once just to lose her again.

He could smell Mia now, the sweet scent of her growing stronger by the second. But the light was fading. And from what little he knew of such things, Jenner had gleaned that twilight was when it was best to call out to the Shadowkin and expect an answer. Not that he had ever tried, except to curse them on the rare occasion they’d managed to cause harm.

There were other scents in the air tonight. Madness and fire, sweat and anticipation. And now, faint but growing stronger, the unmistakable tang of blood.

Dread formed a knot deep in his belly. Please let it not be Mia, he thought. That’s all I ask. Please.

Mia, he thought, reaching out with his mind, wishing she could hear him, feel him. Wishing he could know for certain she was all right.

He was stunned when he heard her, soft but unmistakably there. She sounded uncertain, frightened...but alive. In an instant, he was surrounded by her essence, so close and real she might have been beside him. He felt her warmth, her love...and her crushing sadness.

Jenner? Is...is that really you, or am I imagining it?

I’m coming for you. Soon. I’m coming for you. Can you hear me? Mia, I’m so sorry, baby. I was wrong. I love you. I love you...

But like a bad telephone connection, her voice was gone again, as was all sense of her, blocked off by the oozing blackness that seemed to blanket this entire area, thickening the farther into the woods they got.

All around them, the light faded to silvery purple, and things began to slip from behind and beneath trees, nothing but abstract figures created of darkness itself. Bane gave the signal to stop, and the pack stood in silence as the insubstantial wisps of pure black were drawn toward whatever lay in the distance. For the first time Jenner could remember, the shadows ignored the presence of the wolves in the forest. They had more important matters to attend to tonight.

Bane, a massive black wolf with gleaming yellow eyes, turned to look at Jenner.

We need someone to go on ahead, scope it out.

Jenner knew he was the one to go. He was the Lunari, the moon hunter, the shadow slayer. And despite the uncertainty ahead, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Get them surrounded. I’ll let you know when.

Kenyon seemed to know what was going on even though, as a Silverback, he wasn’t privy to their conversation. In an instant, he was a man again, though his stance was very much that of an aggressive animal.

“You’re not going in there without me,” he growled.

Jenner had no intention of bringing a tagalong who had designs on his woman. He let his form shift, drawing himself up into his human shape, and glared at Kenyon.

“No way. One is enough. More, and they’ll know we’re there right away. They may anyway. No reason to sacrifice another wolf.”

Kenyon bared his teeth. “Spare me the altruism. I have just as much invested in this as you do, Jenner. She’s not going to forget you rejected her.”

Bane shifted form, standing between them. “We don’t have time for this, you two. Jenner, take him with you. In this case, two is better than one. And it’s his right as much as yours.”

“That’s right,” Tomas said, looking more bullish than wolfish as he materialized beside Bane. “I can’t say what the woman wants, and she seemed determined to flout Pack Law anyway, but you two need to go in. Kenyon is the best we have. She’d be lucky to have him...especially considering what she is.”

Jenner growled. “I’m sure she’d be grateful you’d overlook her mongrel status, Tomas. But Mia’s mine. I’m not giving her up.”

He couldn’t miss the flicker of relief over Tomas’s features, though Kenyon bristled. “That’s not your decision.”

It was, for once, surprisingly painless to say exactly how he felt.

“Yes it is. I’m in love with her. I feel the bond with her. She’s going to be my mate.”

“Bullshit!” In an instant, Kenyon was a wolf again, lunging at Jenner. Jenner made the shift just in time to take the blow, and the two of them rolled together, biting, snapping, heedless of the noise they were making. A claw raked Jenner’s face, drawing blood. He winced, then sank his teeth into Kenyon’s scruff and shook his head, eliciting a yelp from his adversary.

The two of them went flying as Bane barreled into them in wolf form, knocking the two of them apart. His hackles were raised almost straight up, and the fury in his eyes was unmistakable as he shifted back into a man. He held out an arm to warn Jenner back, while Tomas had to physically restrain a furious Kenyon.

“Get up, both of you,” Bane snapped. “This is about more than who gets the damned girl! Jenner, you should know better than anyone. The Shadowkin barely exist on this plain. I don’t know where they come from, and I don’t care—they’re dangerous enough as they are—but give them bodies, shape and form, and we’re in some serious trouble. We need to make it stop. Now. So get your asses in gear and grow the hell up. If we get through this and get her out, fight over her then. I’m sure she’ll be really impressed with the both of you.” He curled his lip.

Jenner, still a wolf, glanced warily at Kenyon. He knew Bane was right. This would have to wait. But he wouldn’t pretend he was going to step back. He got to his feet, and gave Bane a nod. Kenyon followed suit, prodded, Jenner noticed, by Tomas’s foot in his backside.

“Then hurry,” Tomas said. “We’ll close in, and wait for your signal. Go.”

Without another word, the two wolves raced into the night.