Saving a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Six (8 page)

L
uther’s head
spun as the silver air around Maggie produced the familiar wolf with the reddish brown fur and flaring, gold eyes. She crouched and growled, placing her body in front of his.

Two young men ran into the room, one with a gun drawn, and the other scrambling for his.

Luther instinctively reached for his own sidearm, but his hand came back empty. He should’ve remembered to bring the Glock.

The rust-colored wolf in front of him launched across the room, just as the taller guard fired at her. The bullet caught her shoulder with a little yelp, but she kept moving and gripped his arm with her powerful jaws.

Fear tore through him when the bullet landed and he jumped at the second guard. He almost stopped himself, with his fist in mid-air, when he saw the boy’s face.
A boy
. Couldn’t have been more than fifteen, but he nearly had his weapon drawn when Luther’s punch connected with his stomach.

The boy’s gun flew across the floor and he stumbled backward.

Luther advanced for another attack, but the boy’s eyes began to glow a warm golden yellow. The boy crouched and the air around him flashed. Luther heard a rip of clothing and a smaller, black wolf emerged with shreds of the boy’s shirt around his torso. The pants were completely gone.

He spun out of the way when the wolf lurched toward him, but the thing caught his arm. Pain splintered through his bicep and shoulder and he collapsed to the ground. The animal’s jaws were massive.

He glanced around the room, looking for the fallen gun, but he couldn’t find it. The black wolf rounded and a sickening crunch sounded off to Luther’s right side.

Before the boy’s animal could pounce, Maggie jumped at him, her giant fangs bared. Luther scooted backward until his back was against the bed. The guard who had shot her lay dead in a messy pool of his own blood, not a foot from him.

This one wasn’t much older than the other. Maybe nineteen. Wolves or not, these were
boys
. Too young for this.

A sharp, animal cry rose from the other side of the room and Luther jumped up, his arm throbbing.
Maggie
.

But the cry turned into a yowl, and then the room was silent. The familiar brown wolf stood over the smaller one, panting, and staring at Luther. She padded across the room and stuck her nose in his hand. He stroked her head, cradling his other arm, and suddenly, the texture beneath his hand changed.

Maggie stood in human form in front of him, naked and gasping for air. She immediately reached for his injured arm.

“Jeez, Mag.” He winced. “Careful.”

She examined the under-side of the wound. “This is pretty bad.” She ran to the bed and pulled a gold sheet from under the comforter.

The pain seemed to subside as she wrapped his arm in a mummy-like apparatus and tied it into a sling around his neck.

“I’ll dress it when we get home.” Both her hands were on his neck when she said that word, which brought her in to close proximity of his mouth. He wanted to kiss her. Adrenaline was still pushing his impulses, but he held back.

Home
. That was a big word—a heavy word. It could easily have been a slip of the tongue, but it felt like more than that. She hadn’t meant
when we get home
to the apartment in Choaca, or
when we get home
to Colorado. She’d meant,
when we get home
to the boat. To his boat.

For someone who had lived in forced solitude for as long as he could remember—first in undercover, and then in exile—the thought of someone else calling his home
home
jarred his senses.

“How bad is it?” she asked, her dark eyes wide with concern.

“It may or may not need amputation.” He tried to lift the corners of his mouth, but she touched the hand of his injured arm and the throbbing started again.

“I shouldn’t have wrapped it so tight.”

“No.” He sucked air through his teeth. “It’ll be fine. This will help the bleeding.”

“I need to learn field dressing.” Her face was so open, so earnest, and all that care was for
him
. What had he done to deserve this?

“What we need to do is get back to the boat.” Luther grabbed her hand. “Where are your clothes?”

She wrenched away from him. “No. We can’t leave yet.”

“Yes, we can.” He kept searching for the rest of her clothes. It was hard to grab everything with just one hand, but he managed, and presented them to her. “I’m injured, you’re naked. Let’s just call it a day.”

“There are wolves in this house. One of them is chained up and being raped. I’m not going to leave them here.”

Luther recoiled in shock. “Raped?”

Maggie shifted from foot to foot and glanced at the door. “You didn’t see it on the monitors?”

“No.” His insides tightened. “But… I thought Rossi was the villain here.”

“Apparently, he’s not the only one.” She padded across the floor, ignoring her clothes, and peeked out the open door, down the hallway in both directions.

“We can’t, Maggie.” Luther stalked after her, tensing his jaw. “It isn’t safe for us.”

“I’m
not
going to leave them.” She shook her head and gripped the door jamb. “I don’t care how unsafe it is.”

He took in a deep breath. “No, Mag. When he shot you…” He reached for her shoulder, and she gave a tiny shudder, but shrugged him off.

“I heal fast.” Her fingers scratched absently at her neck. “Trust me.” With a quick flick of her eyes, she looked from her shoulder to his, and her eyes went wide. “Wait… I can heal you.”

“Heal me?” He shook his head. “What the hell?”

“Well, I can’t magickally heal you. But I could bond with you, and you would…” One corner of her mouth turned down. “Never mind.”

“Wait. You
could
heal me, but you
won’t
?” He raised one eyebrow. “Not a very good mate, Mag.”

That finally got a smile out of her, but she traced a somber line down the side of his face. “If we bond right now, you would never be able to work for Adrian Rossi again.”

“I don’t know why you think that would bother me anym—” A gut-shot of realization stopped him when her eyes shuttered down. “Right. It’s not
me
you’re worried about. It’s your plan.”

“Luther…” She reached for him and he backed away. “It’s more complicated than that, and you know it.”

“Whatever, Mag. Just… do what you have to do.”

Had it been a mistake to trust her so much? Was she only interested in him for the mission? He pulled his shoulders tight, straightened his back, and rolled his tongue behind his teeth.

“Don’t be like this.”

“Go on.” He pointed to the hallway. “Go find these women. I’ll follow.”

She glanced through the door again and rolled her injured shoulder. “Don’t think we’re done talking about this.”

The shadows moved and where her naked body had been only a moment before, there was empty air. A dark flash of fur went ahead of him and her head swiveled back. He could’ve sworn that she gestured her head for him to follow.

He should’ve known all this was too good to be true.

They ran through the building, following Maggie’s nose, and pausing at each corner in case there were more guards. None appeared.

Don’t want to kill any more boys today.

Seeing more of the breadth of Adrian Rossi’s organization made him sick to his stomach. He should’ve asked more questions, and asked them earlier. He shouldn’t have put his head down and pretended there was nothing hinky happening on this island.

There had always been a tacit understanding that the mainland staff and the boathouse staff didn’t mix with the island staff. The illegal guns and ammunition had been enough of a tip-off.

Luther stopped in the middle of the giant kitchen and couldn’t move a muscle. Maggie’s wolf stopped and cocked her head to one side, staring at him. She padded around to his side and put her head under his free hand. Watching the sinews of her body, the athletic prowl of the wolf… suddenly, it all made sense.

He gripped the fur at her neck and held on. A cord of energy wrapped around him, anchoring him to her. In that moment, running out ahead of him, his instincts on edge, just for a flash, she’d looked like one thing…

Prey
.

Adrian Rossi is hunting wolves.

Hunting his own children.

Luther tightened his grip on her neck and Maggie nipped at his wrist. She stepped forward, urging him on, and he didn’t let go. He let her direct his steps. She was right. This man needed to be stopped.

She pawed at the door near the end of the kitchen. He tried it, expecting it to be locked, but it gave way, and she was off down the stairs like a shot. He took stairs two at a time, but still couldn’t keep up with her.

When he reached the bottom of the long, winding staircase, he almost bowled Maggie over. In the shadows, with only moonlight there to filter his vision, it took him a moment to adjust to the low light. She’d already shifted back to her human form and was standing in front of long hallway with her arms out-stretched.

“Everyone calm down.” Maggie took a small step. “I’m here to help you.”

The hallway, with its tall ceiling, reached maybe the whole length of the house. With some heads sticking out of rooms, and some standing in hallways, there were about twenty women staring at Maggie. Some held flashlights, and he could just see their outlines as his eyes adjusted.

All of them wore simple white dresses with no form, that glowed in the half-moonlight that filtered in through small, high windows. They almost seemed like hospital patients.

One of the older girls, a beautiful black-haired young woman, stepped into view and held her arms wide. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Maggie looked down and held out her hand to Luther. She had to shake it a couple of times before he realized she wanted her clothing, not his touch. He couldn’t process what he was seeing. Young women, some almost girls… and too many to count, as darkness swallowed the far fathoms of the hall.

Did I really work for this monster
?

“My name is Maggie Gallagher.” She slipped on the sweatpants and the shirt. “I’m part of a team of wolves from America. We’re here to rescue you.”

Several of the older girls exchanged looks. One of them stared up at the ceiling. “Is this a test?”

Luther came to her side. “I work for Adrian Rossi. I’ve got a boat and we turned off the security system. If you want to get off this island, you need to come with us now.”

“But the guards…” said the dark-haired woman.

“We neutralized them.” He gripped Maggie’s hand. “The security system is off. You have to come with us, right now.”

“How many did you
neutralize
?” said a redhead from the back. She was taller and had a fuller face. She must’ve been older, and she was wearing a fitted blue dress with a white apron, standing in the swath of a flashlight.

Luther raised his voice, “The two on patrol. I know how Rossi runs his rotations. There are two here and then there will be two on patrol. And two on backup. We need to get you out of here before the two on patrol get to the house.”

The redhead called out, over the crows, “Faye. Someone get Faye.” She made her way through the crowd, touching each girl on the shoulder and calming them.

“Who are you?” Maggie asked as the woman came forward.

“Clara.” She clipped the end of the word like she didn’t have a last name.

“Why are you dressed differently from the other girls?” Maggie asked.

Clara waved at the question like it was unimportant. “My father chose me to care for these girls. All the staff are in blue.”

Staff?
Luther had so many more questions, but when he looked up at the scuffle in the hallway, he almost lost the half-empty contents of his stomach.

A young woman had been ushered out of one of the rooms. When she turned a side profile, Luther knew why they had chosen her.

Her belly was round, and she held a hand over it, clutching like only an expectant mother did.
Jesus, God. Maggie was right. Adrian was a monster
.

Luther waded through the girls and took Faye by the hand. “You’re coming with us,” he said. “We have a boat. We can get you off the island.”

“All of you,” Maggie said with a wide sweep of her arm. “All of you need to come with us.”

But instead of a mad rush for the door, they all stood staring at her, blinking eyes and closed mouths.

Clara took Maggie and Luther by the arms and dragged them toward the stairs. “They’re not going to leave,” she said, her tone low. “If you want to get someone out, you need to take Faye.”

“No.” Maggie shook her hand off. “I turned off the security system. He can’t see you. No one can. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

She shook her head, sadness tightening the corners of her mouth. “They’re not afraid.”

“Then why won’t they come with us?” Maggie turned back to the hallway of young women. “I can get you to safety.”

Clara’s hand tightened on Luther’s shoulder. He could barely feel the pressure through all the pain in his arm, but something about the gesture made the pit in his stomach drop to the earth’s core.

“If they leave,” she whispered, “he’ll kill their children.”

H
eavy footsteps pounded
on the ceiling over Maggie’s head. The stairwell wasn’t a viable option now. She turned to Clara and squinted against the beaming light of a half dozen flashlight bulbs.

“We need another way out.”

Clara nodded. “Follow this hallway straight. When it dead-ends, go to the left. There’s another stairwell that leads to an outdoor patio.” She pushed past both Maggie and Luther, disappearing into the shadows of the staircase behind them. “Go. Now,” Clara shouted. “I can only divert them for a few moments.”

Luther hustled Faye along with his good arm and shoved Maggie into a run. “We need to go now.”

“But we can’t leave them.” She hesitated and then stared at Faye huddled against Luther’s chest. Even the shadowed light, she could tell the girl was probably only fourteen or fifteen.
Fucking hell.

“We’re coming back.”

He nodded. “With help. But we have to go. Now.”

Maggie snatched a flashlight from one of the women standing silently against the wall and leaped into a run.

Luther followed only a few steps behind. Her chest tightened at the sound of screaming echoing in the hallway behind her. They reached the end and ran to the right, narrowly escaping a volley of bullets aimed to take them out and anyone else foolish enough to stand in their way.

Her mate pushed her up the stairs faster and faster. They burst out the top into a patio covered by a vine-covered pergola. Moonlight filtered through the spaces between the beams.

“The road, Mag.” Luther pointed, shifting direction and cutting across the perfectly manicured lawn.

The cameras were down. The lights were dark. It wasn’t a full moon,
thank the gods,
but it was enough to light their way back to the docks. She ran hard, keeping pace with Luther and Faye.

The lawn had been gentle, but the hard packed gravel of the road tore at her bare feet. There wasn’t an alternative. They couldn’t run through the densely forested areas without risking one or both of them twisting an ankle or breaking bones.

A revving engine behind them doubled her heart rate.
Fuck.
Luther’s breathing was already labored. He’d carried her to the mansion, but that trek had been slow and methodical. Now he was in a full sprint, trying not to jostle the very pregnant teenager in his arms.

Pain tore through her leg and she crumpled to the ground. Her momentum carried her down the road several yards before she stopped. Spitting gravel, she jumped to her feet and whimpered, unable to put pressure on left foot. Her ankle was twisted badly. The responsible pothole was barely visible in the soft moonlight.

“Maggie!” Luther stopped a dozen yards away, put down Faye, and pointed to the dock. “You get to the boat parked at the dock. We’re right behind you.”

The teen nodded and took off at a pace that surprised Maggie.

Headlights rounded the corner and Maggie hobbled toward the edge of the road, but they were coming too fast. Impact was inevitable and was going to hurt like a bitch. Time slowed. Each nanosecond stretched like a piece of string that refused to snap. Her mind calculated how far she could hurl herself. It wasn’t far enough. But, if she could jump and hit the windshield instead of the heavy grill of the truck, the trauma to her body might be a bit less.

Even then, survival wasn’t likely. She crouched to jump just as a huge body slammed into her from the side, knocking her all the way to the edge of the road.

The sickening
thump
thump
brought a scream to her throat.

No. No. No.

She crawled across the road toward Luther’s motionless body. His heart beat, but it was slowing. Blood seeped from his mouth with each exhalation.

“Luther!” Tears burned her eyes, blurring her vision. “No. You can’t have him. He’s mine. You brought him to me for a reason.” Her magick swirled in the air around her and she gingerly caressed his scraped cheek.

If she bonded with him, it wouldn’t help. Not fast enough to matter. The healing would take more than twenty-four hours and would incapacitate her in the meantime. Only one other alternative surfaced in her mind, but it would change Luther forever and he might hate her in the end.

The guards in the jeep had continued down the road, following Faye, as if they knew Maggie was helpless. And Luther was as good as dead.

It couldn’t all be for nothing. Her team didn’t even know she was here. Would they ever know?

Without the information and access she had, no one would be able to get onto this island with half a chance of taking down Adrian and his operation.

Luther’s eyes fluttered open and he coughed. “Run.” The word was hardly more than a gurgle, but it still sounded like an order. Even dying, he was telling her what to do.

“I love you. Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.” She leaned closer, whispering the old Irish words of the ancient spell that would save his life and curse him at the same time.
“Cinniúint mé glaoch ar do ainm. Banna de mheon mac tíre ar a anam. Nacht an fear seo le draíocht agus a dhéanamh air do laoch. Ón lá seo go dtí a bhás beidh sé a bheith ar cheann de do roghnaithe. Ceangailte leis an ghealach. Ceangailte leis an draíocht.”

The Moonbound curse had been passed from mother to daughter for centuries. It was a choice only a female werewolf had to face, if she fell in love with a human. It was also the only way to heal him fast enough to get them both off this island alive.

“Live for me, Luther. Come back to me.” She kissed his lips, praying the magick would take hold in time.

Maggie stood, putting gentle pressure on her already healing ankle. She had to get to Faye before the guards did. Stripping out of her clothes, she shifted and ran.

L
uther rolled
to one side and coughed.
What had just happened?

His whole body hurt, and hummed with energy at the same time. His left arm, which had been numb with pain, suddenly felt almost usable. He swiveled his head around, but nausea burbled up inside him.

So much pain. He turned onto his stomach and breathed into the dirt.
Get a grip, man. It’s temporary. Get up.

He tried to remember what had happened. A
thud
when the Jeep had hit him, and he’d been in the air, then on the ground. But what? How could he be functional after that? He should be dead.

A scream tore through the air and echoed toward him.

Maggie.

Faye
.

Raw energy surged through him and he was on his feet, limping along the road, doing his best to run. Every step he took, it seemed to get easier. Before he knew what he was doing, he was running.

What the hell was going on?

He stumbled across the crest of the hill and then down toward the dock. Just at the base, where the packed earth turned into sand, he saw the jeep parked, its headlights shining down toward the boathouse. The lights flickered as bodies moved right in front of them.

Luther couldn’t make out what was happening, but as he got closer, he heard the snarl of Maggie’s wolf.

One of the men yelled—if they were really men at all. After what he’d seen on the island, he wouldn’t have been surprised to find another couple of teenagers fighting Maggie and Faye.

A gunshot made a loud
crack
sound and his pulse surged. He could feel something pressing against his skin. From the
inside
.

What the damn hell?

Another
crack
, and Faye yelped. Luther could just make out Maggie’s wolf jumping on the man with the gun with a vicious snarl.

She was still alive
.

His muscles screamed to life and he ran at top speed, ignoring the thrumming pain. He unwrapped the sheet from around his arm that hampered its range of motion. He just needed to get to Maggie.

When he reached the jeep, he saw one of the guards on the ground near the front wheel. His throat was a dark mess and he wasn’t moving.

“Please, don’t kill me!” a male voice shouted. Luther’s eyes traveled to its source and another young guard was on the ground about ten feet away, his hands up. Maggie’s wolf advanced on him, growling, with slow steps.

The young man had one wound across his shoulder already, but his weapon was gone. Faye cowered near one of the headlights and Luther scrambled toward her.

“Are you okay?” He checked all her limbs, but didn’t find a wound. “Did he shoot you?”

“N-no…” She pointed to the wolf. “He shot her.”

But Maggie was moving. She was walking. She was fine. She would be fine.

“Please. I promise. I won’t hurt her,” the young guard wailed. “Just let me go.”

In a flash, Maggie’s tattooed arms and white flesh appeared. She stood like a proud warrior in the headlights. Naked and shaking.

Luther jumped up and ran to her. He slid his arms around her and she jumped.

Her eyes flashed wide, and she held his face in her hands. “Luther.” Her arms stole around his body and pain lanced through him. “Shit, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’ll live,” he whispered, and crashed his lips against hers in a violent kiss. He’d thought he was dead, or she was dead… he couldn’t survive without this woman.

A
swish
sounded in front of them, and a scramble of feet. Luther turned to follow the sound, but there were only puddles of blood in the sand where the young guard had been. He looked down the beach, but in the dark, with all the lights out, he couldn’t see much.

The beach continued to slope down, toward the dark water, and a hundred yards ahead, the dark finger of the dock to the boathouse began, seeming to float in the air as the ground continued to slant to the tide. He couldn’t see the guard anywhere.

Maggie grabbed his forearm. “Don’t go after him. We need to get Faye off the island before more guards come.”

Luther glanced up and down her body. “You’re naked.”

“I had to take off my clothes so I could shift.” She yanked at him and loosed a painful groan. “Dammit. I can’t carry her.”

“We don’t have to carry her. She’s not wounded.”

“But…” She glanced back at the girl, who still cowered against the front of the jeep. “I thought he shot her.”

“She said he shot you.” He held her at arm’s length and looked over her whole body again.”

“He did. Once.” She gestured to her shoulder, and among the tattoos, he could just make out an ooze of dark blood. “I’ll live, too.”

Luther released a breath and touched her cheek. “When that Jeep came, and I didn’t know what happened…”

She tensed and turned away from his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?”

“I had to save you. You would’ve died.” Her breath caught and she glanced over his shoulder. “Wait. Do you hear that?”

A crackling sound came from inside the Jeep. They both walked toward it and Maggie sank to the ground beside the shivering teenager.

“It’s okay, honey. We’re going to get you to safety.”

Luther stepped over the body of the dead guard and stuck his head inside the Jeep. There was a radio staticking somewhere, but he couldn’t see it. He fumbled around on the ground on the driver’s side, but it wasn’t there. On the passenger’s side, his hand hit something plastic, and he picked it up.

As soon as it was off the ground, the noise became louder. “Drake, do you copy?” the voice said, with a burst of static at the end.

Luther rushed to Maggie’s side and dropped to the ground beside her. “Their radio.”

“Let’s take it with us.” She struggled to her feet and pulled the girl along with her. “We need to go.”

He followed, and they all stumbled down the beach together until they reached the long dock that stretched toward the beach house. Everything was dark in the house.
Was Brooks still unconscious? Or was he trying to restore power?

The radio burst to life again. “Drake, do you read me?”

Their feet made loud
clops
on the wood, and almost drowned out a repeat from the radio. In front of him, Maggie had one arm around Faye and held the rail with the other. Neither of them could make fast progress.

Not that he was winning any races himself. But they needed to hurry. Divide and conquer.

“You take Faye onto the boat,” Luther called ahead. “Grab some clothes from my room and get settled down there.”

Maggie turned her head and called back to him, “What are you going to do?”

“I need to check on Brooks. Make sure he isn’t dead. Tell him what happened.”

Faye continued to walk ahead, but Maggie stopped and faced him. “You have to leave him here.”

He shook his head. “They’ll think he helped us.”

“I knocked him out. He has a giant lump on his head. He’ll be fine.”

“He’s my friend, Mag.” A tight feeling pressed at his chest and he ignored it. “I’m not losing anyone else today.”

“We’re going to need to get back on this island.” She put one hand on her hip and her eyebrows knit together. “We may need him later.”

“We’re not going to leave him behind.”

“Luther, listen to me—”

A lurch of static from the radio made them both jump. Luther dropped the radio instinctively and a loud thud sounded near the boathouse. He turned to the source of the noise.