An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)(53)

“I know, Finn. I trust you.”

“Back at you, love.”

Her body ached, and she was rapidly losing blood, but with Finn by her side, she knew they would win this. There wasn’t another option.

****

Finn opened the door with Brynn on his back. He could feel her slipping into unconsciousness, even with the knife in her hand, and he held back a curse.

“Give me the knife,” he whispered.

She handed it to him, her movements slow, measured. She was fading fast, and he knew he needed to get them out of there. Under normal circumstances, both of them would have been able to walk way from this easily. Only she’d been knocked out twice, forced to remember her father’s own brand of torture, and sliced up even more than Finn had. With whatever coated the blade, they’d been hit hard. He’d get his mate out of this and get her healed because there was no way he’d lose her because of some random elitist human shits.

Finn inhaled, the coppery scent of her blood hitting his nose. He shuddered. Damn it. Those cuts were deep.

“You okay, princess?”

“Let’s just get the f*ck out of here, prince.”

It didn’t escape his notice that she hadn’t answered his question.

Beneath the scent of her blood, he only scented two humans. The dead one behind them, and the one that had been part of all of the other alterations. It was interesting that he could only scent two, but that didn’t mean they weren’t working with others outside the building they were in. From the look of the walls, it looked like an old, abandoned warehouse, but Finn didn’t know much more than that.

He had no idea where they were, or how far from help they’d been taken. Brynn needed a Healer. Now.

Footsteps echoed, and Finn held back a growl. The stench of the other human came closer, and Finn gripped the knife in his hand.

“Hold on,” he whispered to Brynn sub-vocally. Only a wolf would have been able to hear him. The human wouldn’t know he was there.

The human came closer. The bastard’s eyes widened and he fired a shot toward Finn and Brynn. Finn ducked out of the way, Brynn still on his back, and then went closer to the human who’d taken too many breaths.

He sliced the f*cker’s throat before the guy could shoot again. The human dropped the gun, and thankfully, it didn’t go off. He gasped then fell to the floor, clutching his throat.

“You should have let him live, we would have gotten something out of him.”

Finn cursed. “They hurt you,” he growled.

“I know. They hurt you, too. Damn it. Okay. We will find another way. Now, let’s get home.” Her words slurred at the end, and he pulled her closer to his back before running as fast as he could to the door the human had come through.

Finn found himself outside in a forested area he couldn’t recognize. “I don’t know what land we’re on.” If the humans had been stupid and brought them to the wrong Pack’s land, it would be another pain in the ass to deal with.

“Brynn?”

She didn’t answer.

“Fuck.” He kept going and blessed the moon goddess when he found an old Jeep that reeked of the dead humans. He quickly put Brynn in the front seat and checked her pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. He kissed her forehead then slammed the door and ran to the other side. It was an older model vehicle, so he could at least hotwire the thing. Any newer and he’d have been f*cked.

He slammed on the gas and sped his way down the road, praying he could recognize a major highway or landmark. They’d taken his phone when they’d kidnapped him and Brynn, but the car had a communication system so he could make a call as soon as he knew where he was. He reached over for Brynn’s hand and gave it a squeeze. She didn’t squeeze back, but he could feel her pulse. She was alive. For now.

As soon as the road ended, he saw the major highway and let out a breath. They were close to the Redwoods. Thank f*ck. He dialed his father’s number using the on-call system as it was the first number that came to mind.

“Yes?” His father’s voice was a growl, the wolf so close to the surface that Finn could practically scent it.

“Dad.”

“Finn? Thank the goddess. Where are you? Are you safe? We’re coming to get you.”

And just like that, Finn almost relaxed. He couldn’t, not with Brynn unconscious and bleeding by his side, but his father’s voice and strength meant everything.

“I’m on my way to you. I’m about twenty minutes out. I’ll talk about everything when we get there.” His voice broke. “Brynn’s hurt, Dad. Bad. Can you call the Talons and have them send Walker to you? I’m closer to you than them. I’m afraid if I keep going to their den I’ll lose her.” He let out a breath. “Maybe Hannah and the others can at least help with some of the wounds while we wait for Walker to Heal her.”

Kade paused. “Your mother is calling now. We’ll take care of your mate. Get her here. Get yourself here. We’ll help you and then we’ll find whoever did this and make them pay.”

“The two who did it are already dead.”

Kade growled. “Good. But we don’t know if it was just the two of them.”

“No, no we don’t.” Finn frowned. “Have Reed and the others come, too. And some of the Talons, if they can. I have a knife that we need to look at. There’s something on it that’s not quite right. It’s not magic. I don’t know what it is, Dad. And they used tranqs on us that actually worked.”