Stolen Mate_A Shifting Destinies Bear Shifter Romance Page 16

“The fuck? You had your lunch. Get back here and do your job.”

  “Everly left. I think she’s going back to her pride. I...” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I can’t let her go without a word.”

  Even over the quiet of the phone, Sawyer thought he could hear Callum’s thoughts churning away. “Fine,” his alpha finally growled. “I’m coming with you. Which way are you heading?”

  “Towards Oxmark. Don’t know where they’re holed up, though. Just know it’s a campsite.”

  “If that’s where she’s heading. Wait for me before you do anything, and let me know where you land. I’m right behind you.”

  Sawyer kept the pale blue truck in the distance around sweeping turns in the mountains and the uptick in human traffic when they reached the long open stretches leading to Oxmark. It took everything in his power to keep from swerving around and herding her to a safe stopping point.

  Unsurprisingly, Everly made a turn toward a campsite advertised by one of the many billboards along the road. She didn’t stop there, though. She bumped along the road about a mile more until she pulled into the empty parking lot of a rundown park. He kept focused on her in his mirror and drove past to keep his watch from a distance.

  Within minutes, Callum pulled up next to him. The man must have sped most of the way and not missed a single update. Nolan and Hudson, sandwiched inside, greeted him with tiny salutes.

  “You bring the whole clan for this?”

  “I won’t have her endanger my people,” Callum said simply.

  “You won’t lay a hand on her,” Sawyer growled. His bear swam large in his head and threatened to push through. Not yet. Not until they knew Everly needed help.

  Callum stared at him with a blank face. “No. But if she chooses them, will you accept it? Or is your bear ripping you apart? Are you going to let her go without a fight?”

  Sawyer didn’t answer.

  “That’s why I’m here. If this goes sideways, I will order you not to shift and haul your ass back to Bearden. I’m not letting you die today.”

  The sound of a cat screaming jerked them all straight.

  Fury pulsed to life inside Sawyer. He didn’t want her hurt. He was too far away.

  He turned gold eyes on his alpha. His gums ached with the press of fangs. Keep him away? Fuck no. He had a mate to save. All the others threw their lives around for their women. He’d do the same for Everly. “That doesn’t sound like she’s choosing them. I’m going after her. Order me otherwise, and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  Chapter 20

  Everly took several deep, calming breaths. She wanted to center herself before she faced Em. She needed to be her sister’s rock. Excess emotion would only set her off when she wanted to get in, grab Emery, and hightail it back to Bearden. Any delays could mean trouble for a banished former member of the pride.

  Emery’s wails over the phone twisted the knife in Everly’s heart. She begged for Everly’s help, to come get her, to stop Wade from taking his anger out on her. Sawyer wanted her to ignore that? He wanted her to leave behind and forget a woman in need? Impossible.

  He tried to act civilized and pretend he didn’t have a strong need for control. He was just like all the males she grew up around. He had put his foot down over helping Emery and showed the side she knew existed. Well, he had made a mistake in telling her she didn’t have to listen to anyone’s orders.

  Emery wanted help, and Everly would give it to her. She prided herself on being a caregiver and her sister deserved a chance at life outside the pride. Hell, she’d scoop her into the truck the same way Sawyer held her hostage until Em saw sense.

  The calming breaths did more than slow her heartbeat and stop her hands from shaking. Her panther was on alert, scenting through Everly’s parted lips. Just because she dropped everything didn’t mean she ignored Sawyer’s warnings entirely. She didn’t want to blindly walk into a trap.

  The park was empty. No other cats, though she could still smell them from the campground down the road. Emery was supposed to slip away and meet her, but the rusted swing set and misshapen slide were empty. The pavilions with holes in the roofs stood clear. Nothing moved in the tree line.

  The nearness of the pride fed her nerves. Her father’s threats replayed in her mind. It was dangerous to be so close, but Em had no way to sneak further away. She was the alpha’s mate. She’d have chaperones anywhere she went, just like the rest of the females.

  In her head, her cat raised her lips in a silent snarl and twitched her tail. Everly echoed the sentiment. Something was wrong.

  Then the wind shifted and something billowed out from a pillar on the nearest pavilion.

  Everly cracked open her door and slid to the ground. She dragged lungfuls of air through her nose and mouth, scenting and testing with each step. The breeze died down and the cloth settled with it.

  It didn’t clear the air of Em’s scent, though. That only grew stronger with each of Everly’s cautious steps.

  She rounded the pillar, still listening for any noise or odd scent in the distance. Nothing. She remained alone.

  But the cloth, a shirt ripped down the middle, belonged to Emery.

  Everly bunched the fabric in her hands and bit down on her cheeks to keep from screaming.

  A shoe scuffed in the distance, and her cat surged forward to listen.

  Padded feet approached, along with others on human legs. There was blood, but it was old. Mostly, she just smelled the sharp stench of rage.

  Wade pushed Emery in front of him. Tears streamed down her bruised and swollen face.

  “Em!” Everly took a single step forward before she noticed her father and a handful of other dominant males trailing behind their alpha.

  She stopped and tried to judge the distance to the truck. Could she make it in time? Would she be able to keep them locked outside?

  “Not a step, or she dies,” Wade ordered. The metallic scent of blood hit the air. The black tips of claws cut into Emery’s neck and kept her utterly still.

  Everly froze. She couldn’t run from her sister.

  “You would have her leave me like you left us.” Wade’s eyes focused on her. A wild light shined in them. “But the Oracle saw those events and told me to let you go. You’d find us the people we needed. And you did. You took us right to the source of the problems that plague our kind.”

  Everly raised her hands slowly. Fear ran through her. For herself, and for her sister. Wade was a killer. Everly could still smell Aileen’s blood on his hands.

  “Let her go,” she pleaded. She couldn’t think of Aileen. Not when she had to get Emery free. “She didn’t do anything. It was like you said, I told her to leave. I instigated everything.”

  She couldn’t let another person die for her words and actions.

  “Loudmouths,” Wade continued as if she hadn’t said a word. “Sinners. Mixed bloods. They’re weak. That bear clan is made up of the worst traitors, and that entire enclave should be wiped off the map.”

  Everly bristled at the threat. Anger slowly replaced the fear she always felt near Wade. “You tried that already, didn’t you? Didn’t work out as well as you hoped. Some cuts and bruises, but they’re as strong as ever.”

  “Just the first strike. The threat they pose can’t be allowed to continue. We’ll bring them to their knees, and our children will prosper.”

  “Not my children. They won’t be raised to hate anyone different. That enclave is filled with people just trying to live their lives. Just like us. The world changed, and it’s not their fault. All we can do, all of us, is adapt and thrive.”

  Wade was insane. He talked about the pride and bettering themselves and staying pure while the rest of the world turned itself inside out. And all of them bought it because to question otherwise meant death.

  Her eyes roved over the others. Hard, unflinching expressions glared back at her. They looked the same when Wade had Aileen on her knees. No one objected then, either. It rankled then, and i
t infuriated her now. Be it hatred or lust for control, they let themselves remain wrapped up in Wade’s delusions. Where were the fights and challenges and calling each other out on their crap that she saw with the Strathorns every day since Sawyer had taken her?

  “Stand up for yourselves! Can’t you see he’s a fraud? He doesn’t care about any of us. All he wants is to keep what little power he holds.” She spread her hands wide. “He will get you all killed if he stays on this path.”

  None of them blinked.

  Wade thrust Emery toward their father. Without one woman in his arms, he stepped forward with blazing eyes to pursue another. “You belong to me. Every single one of you belongs to me. You will learn your place. The others here will certify your claiming and you will rejoin the pride as my second mate.”

  “You’re not my mate. You will never be my mate,” she hissed.

  His hand caught her across the face like so many times before. She’d lowered her eyes, then. Ducked her face and muttered her apologies. She’d taken the punishments handed out with hardly a complaint.

  No more.

  She didn’t have to listen to the man. He had no control over her. Her life was her own, and she wouldn’t back down to him or any of the other males waiting for her to fall in line.

  Her panther crouched in her head. They’d been backed into a corner and had no easy way to escape.

  Cornered animals fought hard.

  “You’re not my mate,” she said again.

  A wave of power crashed over her. Wade bared his teeth. She wouldn’t submit willingly, so he’d use the instincts of their animals to control her.

  “Just do what he says, Everly,” Em whispered. The tears had disappeared from her eyes, but there was nothing inside them. She’d gone as dead, just as Sawyer said had happened to his mother.

  Her cat screamed in her head. The beast refused to buckle under the weight of Wade. He wasn’t theirs. They belonged to Sawyer!

  Everly trembled under the force of his power and stayed upright. “Not my mate,” she said between teeth gritted in pain.

  Her stomach soured. He was old enough to be her father and full of evil, too. She would rather die than be tied to Wade, and he seemed intent on making that her only other choice.

  Fuck him. Fuck her father. Fuck the entire, toxic pride that couldn’t just let her go. If she had to die, she’d do it with blood on her claws and tongue. She wanted Wade dead for all the blood he’d spilled and humiliation he forced on her.

  Her cat ripped out of her skin without any consideration for the poor human breaking bones and tearing muscle in the lightning-fast process. The panther spun, swiping claws at the nearest male who tried to tackle her. The others were shifting, too, joining a circle tightening around her like a noose. No matter which way she turned, she gave her back to one that wanted her submission. She had to get clear of them.

  The jaguars pounced at her at once. Pain burned her sides and legs and belly. Claws and fangs slashed at her. She kicked hind legs at the males pinning her down. Teeth tore into any bit of flesh she could reach.

  She would not submit. Wade was not her mate.

  Bellowing roars covered the snarling cries of the big cats. The weight on her disappeared, and she turned in time to see jaguars flying through the air. Two huge paws planted on either side of her head, and her cat found sudden hope in the massive head hanging above her.

  Sawyer roared a challenge to the cats back on their feet and circling her and the four bears.

  When the attack began again, it was five against eight.

  The jaguars were faster, but the bears made up for it in power. Any that leaped for them were flung back or met with long, raking claws. The ones that made the jump and clung to the backs of the bears felt Everly’s fangs as she barreled into them to knock them loose.

  More cats emerged from the trees, summoned by the sounds of their alpha’s war. Mistakes. She wasn’t about to let them hurt her or her clan.

  New noises. More arrivals. Sounds of gunfire burst loud in her ears. One by one, cats and bears dropped to the ground.

  A sharp sting punctured her side, and Everly’s cat disappeared into her head.

  She panted against the ground, feeling the effects of two sudden shifts. She reached for her cat to take away the bite of her wounds, but the beast was dull and muted. A wall had been erected between them, and she couldn’t break through.

  Silver.

  Yelling pierced her skull, and big, black boots marched in front of her eyes.

  “Stay down!” someone shouted.

  Human. Lots of humans. Her sense of smell was dim, but she could at least identify that.

  The who and why were lost on her. The silver holding back her cat kept her cautious and unmoving.

  She turned her face and watched the butt of a rifle smack into an enforcer’s face. “I said stay down!”

  Sawyer. Where was Sawyer?

  Chapter 21

  Everly huddled in one corner of her cage and pressed her hands over her ears to block out the calls from the other jaguars. They wished her violence and death. She could only handle so much of it before she wanted it to end.

  Cage was exactly the right word, too. What she knew of jail cells painted a picture of space and comfort in comparison. When she stretched out on the floor, the top of her head brushed against one side and the balls of her feet rested on the other. She could stand tall, but she thought that was solely because she was shorter than the average male. Silver cuffed her wrists to her ankles to prevent her from running far if she managed to chew her way through the thick bars of the cage.

  There was no escape. No phone call, either. Lawyers? She was an animal; why would she need legal counsel? At least they’d given her clothes and allowed her to heal before locking her away.

  The guards armed with guns and impassive faces on either side of the room wouldn’t even tell her what happened to Sawyer. She’d caught a short glimpse of him being hauled into one of the SEA vehicles, and that was it. No other word, despite all her questions.

  She’d been caged for maybe eight hours and already wondered if she’d ever see the light of day again. The promises of pain and punishment from the others did nothing to calm her.

  Supernatural Enforcement Agency. Since their inception, she’d been taught to fear them. They were the boogeyman created after the revelation of her kind to the world. They enforced laws benefiting humans. For every story spun to make them look like they protected fragile humans, she bet there were a hundred that ended with someone like her locked in a too-small cell with no way out.

  They were animals, after all.

  She thought she could handle the situation better if she just knew what had happened to Sawyer.

  The door they’d all been pressed through—one by one and with guns pointed at their heads—swung open. Two men in the same protective gear as the guards strode forward without any acknowledgment of the hisses and snarls directed at them. Everly recognized that walk. Wade had it. Callum, too. These men were head honchos and expected to be obeyed.

  That idea proved right when they stopped in front of her cell. One jerked his chin at the entourage that followed them. “This one.”

  Everly’s eyes widened and she held still while the armed men unlocked the cage and tugged her to her feet by the chain running between her hands and feet. She stumbled forward and corrected herself against the bars. No one reached to help her.

  Silently, the two leaders turned and walked back the way they came. The prodding at her back meant she was to follow.

  She searched the faces in each cage as she passed. She knew from the voices that Sawyer and the others weren’t locked away with the cats, but she had to see for herself. Mike was there, and it felt good to see him caged up after her mistreatment at his hands. Most of the strongest males occupied cages of their own.

  She felt a little sorry not to see her father or Wade. But they, like the bears, could have been taken elsewhere.

  E
verly clung to the hope that they would get their justice as she was ushered to a room and secured to the table.

  No time was wasted. As soon as the guards at her back finished lashing her down, the two men in charge took their seats across from her.

  One was tall and the other short. Blue eyes, grey eyes. Fresh scars discolored the cheeks of one man, but the other was as smooth as a baby. Not even the scruff of a beard marred that one’s cheeks.

  Scar placed a folder on the table and folded his hands over it. “Everly Mather. Twenty-four. Jaguar with solid black markings. Rare, I’m told. Birthplace, unknown. Profession, pride doctor. Permanent address, none. Recently married to Sawyer Strickland.”

  “Is Sawyer okay?” She bit down on her lip to hold back more pleas for information.

  Scar and Baby glanced at each other. “We can give you information if you cooperate,” Baby said.

  Everly nodded. What else could she do? They had her locked up. They held all the power. And she wanted to quiet the distant and constant growling of her cat. The beast was not handling containment well, and she didn’t like feeling the animal so muted.

  “Wade Corbray claims it was you and the bears who started the brawl in human territory. A serious offense, and one that could see you serving time in the SEA shifter facility,” Scar said.

  She shook her head. “Not true. I went because my sister said she wanted to leave. I think he forced her to make the call to lure me back. Wade would have claimed me against my will if the bears hadn’t shown up. Wade did this. He started it.”

  She clenched her fists, and the chains rattled. Red hot anger flowed through her. Liars. They couldn’t just let her go.

  Neither man paid any heed to her outburst. Baby continued, “Wade claims he wasn’t even part of the fight. He was protecting his... mate, you call them? She backs up his story.”

  Oh, Em. Everly shook her head to clear the sadness that threatened to temper her anger. “That’s a lie,” she snapped. “You should get some of our kind in your ranks to sniff out the truth.”