His She Wolf Warrior, page 8
They waited a few seconds, then slowly slipped inside. Saskia could hear the three male werewolves as they talked somewhere up ahead. Following the sound, she and her men stealthily made their way farther inside the building.
The stretch of corridor they walked down was gloomy at best. Most of the lights set in the ceiling either had missing light bulbs or they had burned out. Not that any of them really needed the light to see where they went.
As they neared a closed office door, Saskia’s steps slowed. She heard two voices talking on the other side. One voice she found very familiar—Miles’ voice. Her brothers had stopped when she did and now stood around her as they listened to the conversation going on inside the office.
“So is it true?” Miles asked whoever was with him in a demanding tone.
“It’s true. I’ve been following them the last couple of days. Not that they left his apartment much. It seems the mortal has been showing her a good time.”
“I don’t give a shit about that. I just wanted to know if they’re mates.”
“The way they left the place where he works yesterday morning, I’d say that’s a big yes. They practically couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They also stank of sex.”
Miles chuckled. “This is working out better than I’d thought. So the bitch Saskia has finally found a mate, and a mortal one at that.”
Saskia stiffened at the sound of her name. That she and Eli were the topic of conversation made a chill run down her spine.
Miles started to talk once again. “Did you leave a message for the bitch to find before you returned?”
The other man laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “I did better than that. I had one of the other men give the message to her mate for her to find later. Mortals can be so vulnerable, don’t you think? They can die so easily.”
Miles laughed. “I would love to see Saskia’s face when she finds her mortal is no more.”
Saskia felt the blood drain out of her face. She looked at each of her men. Fear for Eli had her almost gasping for air. Her brothers moved into action. Roan pulled the small spray bottle of vinegar he carried in his pocket and started to spray it in the hallway as they slowly made their way to the door. The vinegar would cover the scent trail they left behind better than anything. It would also burn the inside of a werewolf’s sensitive nose if breathed in too deeply. Saskia barely registered the fact that Roan had taken the time to hide that they had been there.
Once they reached the outside, Saskia took off at a run not caring if they ended up being spotted or not. All she could think about was getting to Eli before it became too late.
———
Eli couldn’t take being stuck inside the gym another minute. Saskia had been gone for just over an hour and already he wanted to climb the walls. He wanted to touch her, to have her in his arms so bad he practically ached with the need that coursed through his body. Even though he understood why she hadn’t let him go with her, his still being mortal and all, it didn’t make what he went through any less hard to bear.
Thinking a walk would help clear his head, Eli headed down the sidewalk toward the parking lot at the side of the gym. As he reached it, he heard a cat meow pitifully. He shook his head as he changed course and cut through the parking lot to the alley that ran behind the gym. The gym’s dumpster sat out there and occasionally a stray cat ended up stuck inside it. Either they jumped in and couldn’t get back out again, or the lid of the dumpster shut, which closed them inside. The cat’s meows grew louder the closer he came to the alley.
Sure enough, the dumpster’s lid was closed and the meows seemed to come from inside it. Since this wouldn’t be the first time, Eli decided he would have to talk to his father about doing something to keep the cats away. He grinned to himself as he thought of one solution. Maybe he could get Royce and Finn to do a little territory marking in their wolf forms. Cats didn’t like dogs so it stood to reason they wouldn’t like werewolves either.
Eli lifted the lid to the dumpster and peered inside. A small tabby cat hissed up at him. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to jump into dumpsters?” He reached in to grab the cat, but quickly had to pull away as the cat tried to take a swipe at his hand with its front claws. “Take it easy. I’m only trying to help.” Moving faster, he grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck and pulled it out.
He quickly put it down before it tried to sink its claws into him again. Instead of taking off as Eli expected it to do, the cat started to hiss and spit at something as all the fur along its back stood on end. It then arched its back like a Halloween cat.
Eli turned to see what had the little cat acting as if it had suddenly become possessed.
A man stood a foot away. Now used to being around werewolves so much, he instantly recognized one when he saw one. So it came as no surprise to find one now standing nearby. If not for his height and extreme good looks, the loud menacing growl he made gave him away. The cat hissed one last time before it ran away.
The werewolf moved closer. “How cute. The mortal saved the little kitty cat.”
“What do you want?” Eli shifted on his feet as he took up a better stance. This werewolf looked far from friendly. He didn’t know if he could beat him in a fight, but Eli wouldn’t just stand there and take it.
The werewolf smiled, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “I have a message for your mate.”
“What message?”
“A message from an old friend. I was told to deliver it to you personally.”
The werewolf leapt into the air and went wolf at the same time. Eli didn’t have time to move away as the large wolf slammed into his chest. He went down hard with the wolf on top of him. The wolf snarled and snapped his sharp teeth in his face. Eli grunted with pain as the wolf clawed him across the chest.
The werewolf’s form blurred as he shifted back into human form. Then moving faster than Eli could have blocked him, the werewolf sank a long bladed dagger into his stomach. He stabbed him a second time before he stood. Gasping in pain and shock, Eli clutched at his stomach.
“I was told I had to make sure the wounds would leave you alive long enough for your mate to find you. Let’s hope she doesn’t take too long to come looking for you.”
The werewolf reached inside his pants’ pocket and threw a piece of paper on Eli’s chest.
“I suggest you hold onto that, mortal, just in case you croak here all alone.” With a cruel laugh, he walked out of the alley.
Eli struggled to breathe around the pain as he tried to sit up. Blood gushed from his wounds, spilling over his hand. With his other, he grabbed the piece of paper. Even though help was just a short distance away, he knew he would never make it back inside the gym. He was losing too much blood too quickly. Already he could see spots forming before his eyes.
His only hope was for someone to come looking for him, soon. Eli managed to drag himself across the alley to sit propped up against the wall. He leaned his head back against the wall and concentrated on not passing out.
Chapter Nine
Roaring up in front of the gym, Saskia parked her motorcycle on the street. The SUV squealed to a stop behind her bike a second later. She didn’t wait for her brothers as she raced inside the building. With her heart in her throat, Saskia searched the main gym floor for Eli, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She raced to Eli’s desk, praying he would be there. Her heart fell when she saw he wasn’t there either.
By this time her brothers had caught up to her. They drew more than one stare from the people around them, but Saskia barely noticed. She frantically searched for one of Eli’s siblings. Surely they would know where he had gone.
Billie came out of her father’s office and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Saskia and her brothers. “Saskia? You look white as a ghost. Are you okay?”
Saskia rushed over to her “Where’s Eli?”
“I think he went out for a walk. The separation was getting to be too much for him.”
“How long ago did he leave?”
Billie’s brows drew together as she studied her face. “A few minutes ago I think. You’re really starting to scare me here.”
Spinning on her heel, Saskia took off at a run. She heard her brothers as they ran behind her. Before she made it to the front entrance, Billie yelled for Royce. Saskia pushed open the door and burst outside. Kye just about ran into her as she drew to a sudden stop when she reached the sidewalk and started to sniff the air for Eli’s scent.
It took some doing to filter his scent from the many the wind carried, but Saskia soon latched onto his and started to jog toward the parking lot at the side of the building. She put on another burst of speed as the metallic scent of fresh spilled blood filled her nose.
Praying it wasn’t Eli’s blood she smelled, Saskia followed the scent to the back alley behind the gym. She cried out when she spotted Eli slumped against the alley’s wall.
Saskia knelt down beside him. “Eli!” His head had fallen forward on his chest. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw all the blood over his hands and stomach. She pushed his head back. “Eli! Open your eyes.”
He slowly lifted his eyelids. “Saskia?” Eli asked weakly.
“Yes, it’s me. You have to tell me what happened.”
Saskia jumped when Skylar moved to kneel beside her. She blinked up to find the rest of her brothers standing around them. Billie cried out in anguish as she and Royce caught up with them.
“Saskia, let me look at his wounds,” Skylar said gently.
Moving to sit next to Eli, Saskia wrapped her arm around his shoulders and shifted him so he leaned against her with his head supported on her shoulder. Eli gasped with pain when Skylar moved his arm away and lifted his shirt to expose his wounds. Saskia held him tighter. “Hang in there.”
Eli swallowed audibly. “He left a message for you.”
Saskia stiffened. “The one who did this to you?”
“Yes.” Eli placed a crumpled, blood-stained piece of paper on her lap.
Feeling anger unlike anything she had felt before, Saskia grabbed it and shoved it into her jeans’ pocket. “Don’t worry about the message. Okay? Right now we have to concentrate on you.”
Eli grimaced as Skylar probed his wounds. “Sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“If I had been a werewolf, this wouldn’t have happened. I would have been on equal footing then,” Eli said in a weak voice.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I should have gotten Roxie to try the spell earlier. None of this would have happened then. Now it’s too late.”
“Stop it, Eli. There will be plenty of time to try the spell once you heal. We’ll call an ambulance.” Saskia looked up at her brothers. They all wore the same grim expression on their faces. “Would one of you get on the goddamn phone and call an ambulance?”
Skylar shook his head. “It’s too late for that, Saskia. He’s lost too much blood.”
Saskia growled deep in her throat. “I won’t accept that. I won’t just sit here and do nothing while my mate dies. Do something. Now!”
“They won’t be able to save him even if we manage to get him to the hospital. The knife hit some major organs.”
“There is another way,” Royce said. He held Billie close as she sobbed in his arms.
“The spell.”
Skylar sighed. “Maybe, but we don’t even know if it will work on Eli. Plus Roxie would have to get here within the next minute or two.”
“I’ll call her. We have to try.”
When Royce pulled his cell phone out of his pants’ pocket, Saskia focused inward as a vision played inside her head. “You don’t have to call Roxie, Royce. She’ll be here in less than a minute. Finn and Jocelyn are with her. Finn saw what happened to Eli in a vision.” She shook her head as her vision receded. She then noticed how limp Eli had become as he leaned against her. “Eli? Wake up. Do you hear me? Wake up.” He groaned as she gave him a shake, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“Eli!” Finn shouted as he, Jocelyn and Roxie ran into the alley. He squatted down next to his twin as he took in Eli’s wounds. “We have to do the spell now.”
“We can’t do it out here in the alley,” Billie said.
“You move him too far and he will die,” Skylar said as he stood up. “I wouldn’t even recommend trying to get him inside the gym. For one thing there are too many mortals in there that would ask too many questions.”
Roan started to back away. “The SUV. I can bring it into the alley. It has enough room inside. The tinted windows should stop anyone from seeing what we’re doing if they happen to come back here.” At Saskia’s nod, he turned and took off at a run.
In a matter of seconds, Roan had the SUV backed inside the alley. Jager and Kye carefully lifted Eli in their arms as Saskia clambered into the back of it. She helped them get Eli into the very back seat so he lay stretched out with his head in her lap.
Roxie climbed in next. She knelt on the floor of the SUV as she pulled a syringe out of her purse. “Usually I’m a little more hygienic than this when I use the spell, but I think time is of the essence right now.”
As she spoke, Roxie pulled the plastic end off the needle of the syringe and stuck it in her arm. Once the syringe was full, she took Eli’s arm and jabbed the needle into it.
Just as the last of her blood left the syringe, she spoke the words of the spell.
The magic of the wolf’s blood is now in thee.
A wolf you become to run wild and free.
Where once there were two, now only one we see.
Roxie sat back on her legs. “It’s done.”
“How will we know if it worked,” Saskia asked.
“If it worked, right about now he should start to feel as if his insides have caught on fire.”
Saskia looked down at Eli. He had slipped into unconsciousness even before they had managed to get him inside the SUV. Would he even feel it? She soon had her answer as his eyes started to move rapidly beneath his closed eyelids. He stiffened as he groaned.
“I think it’s working,” Roxie said with a smile.
Saskia bent and kissed Eli’s forehead. As her lips touched his skin, his body suddenly relaxed. “Eli?”
When he didn’t stir, she pressed her fingers to the major vein in the side of his neck.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a strong pulse. Taking hold of the collar of his t-shirt, she ripped it down the center. The deep claw mark across his chest started to heal before her eyes. The two stab wounds had stopped bleeding, but given the severity of them, Saskia knew it would take a couple days for them to heal over completely.
Skylar pushed his way into the SUV and put his hand over Eli’s heart. “Nice and strong. He seems to be out of danger. Let him sleep. Right now it’s the best thing for him.”
With the crisis over, and while the others were distracted, Saskia took out the message Eli had given her. Short and to the point, it made her snarl with anger. In Miles’
handwriting a single sentence had been scrawled across the paper. She will be mine.
“We should take Eli back to his place,” Finn said where he stood crowded near the SUV’s open door.
Saskia shook her head. “No. They know where he lives. Eli and I were followed. It won’t be safe for him there.”
“Then where? And who are they?”
“He’ll be safer at my brothers and my place.”
She decided not to answer Finn’s last question. It was more important that they get Eli some place safe where he could recover. She would also feel better about leaving him there when she went after the bastard that had done this to him.
“We’ll follow you then,” Billie said.
“No. Just in case they’re still watching us, we don’t want to draw their attention to a big group of us leaving at the same time. I’ll give you our address in Marin County. Give us a half hour head start.”
It didn’t take them long to get Eli settled comfortably into one of the seats with the seat belt around him. Skylar sat beside him to make sure Eli didn’t get bounced around too much during the trip while the rest of her brothers piled into the SUV. Saskia gave Eli’s family their home address before she raced out to the street to collect her motorcycle. As the SUV drove by she fell in behind it. She searched the nearby area. If the bastards were watching and decided to follow them, Saskia would take great joy in making them wish they had never been born.
———
Eli came awake slowly. His eyelids felt heavy, but he forced them open a crack. He would have liked nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep, but something tugged at his memory. Something bad had happened. To him. Stretching, his brows drew together as he felt an unfamiliar pain in his stomach. It then all came back to him in a rush—the alley, the werewolf and being stabbed not once, but twice. Eli came fully awake as he pushed down the sheets that covered him and looked at his stomach. He found two pads of gauze taped to his skin. As his hand went to take off one of the gauze pads, a voice stopped him.
“Leave it alone.”
He turned his head to find his twin sitting in a chair next to the bed. Eli also noticed two things—he was in a strange bedroom, and that all his senses seemed to be three times stronger than before. He heard the sound of voices from a level below the bedroom he lay in as if they were in the same room. Scents that he had no idea even existed washed over him, giving him more information with one inhalation of air than he thought possible.
Eli sat up. He felt as if he had been bombarded with too much information. “What happened?”
Finn smiled. “You gave us quite a scare there. What do you remember?”
“Other than being stabbed by a sadistic werewolf, not too much. The last thing I remember was Saskia and her brothers finding me in the alley.” Eli put a hand on his stomach. “I don’t understand. I thought for sure I’d be a goner.”
“You probably would have been if I hadn’t happened to be with Roxie when I had a vision. I saw you lying bloody in the alley. We arrived just in time for Roxie to save you. If we had been a few minutes later…” Finn let his words trail off.
