Perfect Mate (A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance #2)(12)

"Granny Dee!" she cried. "They might go back to get her. She was just going to get groceries."

"I'll wait for her," Damien said. She heard him giving Jordan directions to turn left. "We'll meet up afterward."

"Okay," Julia said, pressing the phone to her ear as she went around a curve. She could not see far ahead, and she hoped that she would not hit any of the deer that often came out during dusk to graze. There was a car behind her, the headlights glaring. "Damn."

"What is it?" Damien asked.

"Nothing, just some guy tailgating me." The SUV's lights shone directly into her rear view mirror, coming closer and closer. "There's really nowhere to pass on this road. Hold on, let me—"

The SUV crashed into her bumper. The phone went flying. Julia slammed into the steering wheel as the impact pushed her back, then forward. She clutched the wheel, trying desperately to stay on the road. Kyle. How could they have found another car so quickly?

"Julia? Julia!" Damien's voice sounded tinny coming from the phone's speaker. Julia did not want to reach for it. She had to keep a hold of the wheel.

"Damien, he's here! He's in a car! It's ramming into me!"

Another jolt shocked her body and the car swerved into the other lane. An oncoming truck blared its horn as Julia just barely yanked the car back into the right lane. She pressed on the gas. If only she could outrun him.

"Julia!"

The shock of the impact came at the same moment as the sound: metal on metal, grating harshly. The wheel ripped out of her hands as the car skidded sideways under the momentum of the crash. She raised her hands. The car flew over the side of the road. Trees loomed in front, illuminated by headlights. There was no stopping it. Time stopped as the front of the car made contact with the branches in front. The airbag exploded in her face. Glass shattered and Julia realized that the screams she heard were her own.

Then everything was still.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Julia!"

Damien listened helplessly to the violent crash, his hand gripping the phone.

"What's going on?" Jordan asked. Damien held up one hand to silence him.

"Julia?" he asked. There was a sound of a car door being opened, and a moan. Julia's voice.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Damien said.

"I can hear you just fine."

Damien's heart stopped beating at the sound of the deep male voice on the other end of the line. Not Kyle.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Don't try to find the girl," the man said. "She's ours."

"Who are you? Why are you after her?"

"That's none of your business, wolf. You need to keep your nose out of the fight. Else you'll lose something more valuable than your eyes."

"Where are you taking her?" Damien asked. "What are you—"

The line was dead. He called again, but the call went straight to voicemail.

Jordan pulled into the driveway of Julia's house, clicking the headlights off.

"What was that?" he asked.

"We have to find her," Damien said. "Someone... they've taken her."

"Who? Kyle?"

"It wasn't Kyle, at least not on the phone. I don't know. Somebody else." Damien was panicked. If he couldn't find Julia...

"We have company," Jordan said.

"Who?" Damien sniffed the air. There were no wolves around.

Jordan rolled down the window. The cool night air blew through the window.

"Where's my granddaughter?" The old woman leaned into the car, her voice strident and accusatory. "Where have you taken her?"

"Someone else has her," Damien said. "We're going to go get her now."

The grandmother sniffed.

"You're not telling the truth," she said. Before Damien could reply, he heard the car door open. The old woman slid into the back seat behind Jordan and buckled her seatbelt.

"You can't... you can't come with us, Mrs... ah, Mrs..." Jordan stammered. Damien hesitated. It would be bad to leave the old woman on her own, without any protection. Especially if Kyle and Katherine came back.

"Call me Dee," Julia's grandmother said. Her voice was frightened but firm. "And you'll need my help to get her back from the other pack."

Both Jordan and Damien turned back to Dee.

"The other pack?" Jordan said.

Damien frowned.

"Did Julia tell you—"

"Of course not, you pups! They've been searching for us for some time. Now let's go. There's no time to waste, and my granddaughter is in danger. They'll be taking the northbound highway around the town. We can take the main street up that direction as a shortcut."

Damien's mouth dropped open.

"Damien?" Jordan asked him. He snapped out of his brief shock.

"Do what she says," he agreed.

Jordan turned the headlights back on and pulled out of the driveway, driving in the direction Dee had indicated. She sat quietly in the back seat.

"Are you... is Julia... what's going on here?" Jordan asked. "If you don't mind me asking, that is, ma'am."

"You're a shifter?" Damien asked, still reeling in disbelief.