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Roman had wanted to go with him. But Roman was going to wait along with Jameson, as backup. If Tristan sent out a signal from his smartwatch, they would join him. As it was, they were tracking his location.
How had it come to this? He wasn't going to question Violet, not right now. But had she tried to run again? Arabella should've already been dropped off at camp. How had she hidden it from him? All of that would be a problem for later, after she was safe though. After she and Arabella both were.
Right now, he just needed to get to her. She’d sent him messages, so he drove in that direction.
He tried to calm his mind and send her another message. “Violet. I'm on my way. Are you okay? Is Arabella?”
“Yes. We're still in the car. I have told them where I sold the artifact.”
“Okay. I'm going to intercept the SUV. Whatever you see me do, don't worry. Just hold on to Arabella.”
At that point he was grateful for his training from the pack. He wasn't one of the soldiers, but he had practiced with them enough. He was grateful for his smoke jumper training. It meant that he could block out distractions. And it meant that he could move quickly and efficiently when he needed to.
His hand-to-hand skills were decent too. If they had harmed Violet, then he probably would've tried to eliminate them from a distance. But so far all they had done was threaten her. Plus, attacking them could just send them into a bigger panic, and they might actually hurt her.
He followed them from a distance. It would be best if he could be out of the car when it was time to attack. Action movies might make it look easy but trying to get out of a moving vehicle and into another one was quite difficult.
He would prefer to be on solid ground when he went after them.
Finally, they parked. They were close to a small village, and they were walking toward a cave that was tucked away near one of the cliffs. This must be where the coven was where she'd sold the artifact. How would she have gotten out here? Her pack had a car now, but it was just one for all twelve adults. The bus didn't run out here. Maybe she’d taken a ride share. But none of that mattered right then.
The SUV parked, and when they got out, he could tell that the three humans were dressed like hikers. They even had on backpacks and hiking boots. To any tourists passing by or any residents in the area, they would look like visitors ready for a day of fun.
Finally, he got a glimpse of Violet and Arabella. So far they looked unharmed. He breathed a sigh of relief.
He moved in quickly. He climbed a tree and waited until they passed by him. When the man who was now walking behind all of them passed by, Tristan dropped from out of the tree. He did not want them to make it into the cave with Violet and Arabella.
Tristan was so quiet that the human didn't even hear him. He landed just inches behind him, and Tristan had his hands around the man's throat in less than a second. Tristan got his hand over the man's mouth, keeping him quiet.
The man thrashed, bucking backwards, trying to headbutt Tristan. He clearly had extensive training. His elbow came back, aiming toward Tristan’s ribs, but Tristan was just stronger. The man was no competition for his wolf shifter’s muscles. The witch had given him a cloth with a potion that would knock the humans out, and he held that against the man’s face.
Their scuffling alerted the two women. They spun around, alert.
In an instant, Tristan leapt forward and grabbed the closest woman, pressing the same cloth against her face. She went down quickly too.
The remaining woman had grabbed Violet and tugged her close. “Stop!” the human screamed.
“Mommy!” Arabella wailed.
Now he just had to get that silver knife away from the woman before she hurt Violet and they would be home free.
He was just going to have to go for it. Luckily, she was not holding the knife to Violet's throat. “I've seen what these knives can do to shifter skin,” the human said, panting. Sweat ran down her face. “Why don't you see how long your girlfriend can last?” The woman pressed the silver knife against Violet’s arm.
Violet squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together, clearly trying not to scream. The woman was so busy torturing Violet that it gave Tristan the perfect opportunity to jump forward and shove Violet away.
The woman came at him, slashing him, cutting across his face.
But nothing happened to him, thanks to the spell.
“You're a wolf!” she screeched. “This is supposed to hurt you!”
He ignored her taunts and just grabbed the silver handle from her hand and tossed it away. Then he pushed her to the ground and handcuffed her hands behind her back. He went ahead and held the cloth to her face so she passed out as well. Someone else could question them. Maybe he’d leave that to Roman or Jameson. He’d be too tempted to kill them.
The last woman calmed, but she was still awake, ranting about silver.
He raced over to Violet. Arabella was crouched beside her. “How bad is your arm? Let me see,” he said.
She held it up. The skin was broken in about a six-inch line. It wasn't bleeding profusely; it looked more burned.
“It will be fine,” she said, wincing as she moved it.
“I have some medicine,” he said. “Just hang on a second.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out the cream he carried when he worked with fires. He carefully applied it to her arm. It was a human burn cream that the witches had enchanted, and it was the best remedy he’d ever had. “Just don't get it wet yet.”
Suddenly her arms were around him. He held her tight. With his free arm, he scooped Arabella into his arms. They were his family. It might not look like a normal family, but they were his.
