Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)(53)

“Do you see that?” Charlotte asked Chloe as they patrolled the Redwood and Talon border. There was a clearing of neutral ground that each Pack guarded as one. It had once been part of the Central Pack territory, she knew, and she tried not to think too hard about that.

Chloe, a Talon member who was right out of juvenile status, frowned. “It looks like a fallen log, but not really.”

On alert, Charlotte texted the coordinates to the Redwood Enforcer as Chloe did the same to the Talon’s.

“Something is off about this,” she whispered. “I’d wait to see what it is, but it’s near the human path that hikers take daily now. If they get too close, and it’s not just a log…”

“Let’s check it out,” Chloe put in when Charlotte trailed off. “We can’t just leave it there.”

Charlotte nodded and moved forward. She took four steps and her wolf howled, warning her of what was to come.

The log that wasn’t a log exploded, sending thousands of pieces of shrapnel toward them. She held back a scream as wood and metal pierced her body, cutting her deeply in places. She reached out for Chloe, but knew it was too late. The other woman turned as she fell to the ground, her eyes wide, her neck cut from side to side from a large piece of metal.

Charlotte hit the ground moments after the fallen woman, trying to get her bearings. She growled, her wolf ready to fight, but something smashed her on the back of the head. She only had a moment to wonder what it was, what had come from the wrong direction to hit her, before everything went black.

And she was gone.

****

Bram almost fell to his knees as the shock rocked along the bond. Bile filled his throat, and a metallic taste coated his tongue. His ears rang, and his wolf howled, scraping along his skin, begging to be let out. The wolf needed blood, needed flesh beneath its claws.

It needed revenge for whatever the hell had made the bond twist and bend the way it had just then. It hadn’t broken, no, but it had been damn close to doing so.

Shane, not yet at full strength, sagged against him. He lifted his mate up slightly, and the other man shook him off, standing straight once again.

“What the hell was that?” Shane asked, his eyes wide.

“Charlotte,” Bram bit out, his breath ragged. “Something happened to Charlotte.”

His phone buzzed then, and he pulled it out, his hands shaking like crazy. He usually had way more control than this, but he could barely breathe when it came to Charlotte.

He read the screen and cursed. “It’s Kade. I need to go to the neutral territory. Apparently, Charlotte sent out coordinates of something suspicious right before we felt that pain along the bond.”

“I’m going with you.” Shane was almost fully healed from the shift, but he didn’t have a lot of training at being wolf.

It didn’t matter, though. Not when their mate was in danger.

“Let’s go.”




In the end, it took longer than merely running at full speed toward the coordinates Charlotte had left. Gideon and the others had stopped them on their way out, alerted that their wolf, Chloe, was out of contact, as well.

Fear edged along Bram’s spine, and he did his best to ignore it. He couldn’t function if he were lead by fear alone. Anger and determination he could work with, but not mind-numbing fear. Shane hadn’t said another word after they’d told the Talon Alpha what they knew. Instead, the other man shifted from foot to foot while they waited, and then, in the car ride over, had fisted his hands on his tense thighs, his gaze focused as he went through whatever he needed to in his head.

Bram had seen the man work before, but this was a new kind of intensity. Shane was a soldier, through and through, and now he was wolf besides. Meaning everything he did from now on would have a new power behind it.

They would need that, Bram feared. That and so much more in the time to come.

As soon as they reached the neutral territory, Bram and Shane hopped out of the vehicle. Kameron and Brandon had been in the front of the SUV and were right by their sides.

Another SUV pulled up almost at the same time, and Maddox, Ellie, and a couple of Redwood enforcers, including Quinn, hopped out.

“Where is she?” Maddox asked, his voice low. He was looking right at Bram. “Use the bond if you have to, but find my baby girl.”

“Maddox,” Ellie admonished. “Let’s get to the site before you growl and go crazy.”

Maddox’s nostrils flared, but he nodded once at Bram, then Shane, before turning and following his mate.

Shane met Bram’s eyes, his brows raised. “I guess those are her parents?” Though Charlotte had told Shane of her childhood and mentioned Maddox and Ellie, Shane hadn’t left the Talon den before this to actually meet the Redwoods.

Bram nodded. “Let’s find our girl.”

They ran to the place where Charlotte had last been, and he almost tripped when he saw the body lying in the rubble.

She was the wrong shape, her hair the wrong color, but he’d had a moment when he’d thought it was Charlotte.

Brandon let out a curse and fell to his knees beside the fallen wolf. Chloe. “Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.”

Kameron bent down, as well, his jaw tense. He helped Brandon turn the woman over, and Bram sent a prayer to the goddess for her soul.

“Walker is on his way, got waylaid by a sick pup, but he’d have been too late,” the Talon Enforcer growled. “Damn it. He’d have been too late.” The other man closed his eyes and put his hand on Chloe’s cheek. “Too damn young.”