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Then, a wolf battalion bounded forth from all directions on the desolate woodland trail. The newcomers raced, jumped, and smashed into the remaining kidnappers.
A brawl. That was what it was. A pure two-pack fight where blood flew in all directions and wolves’ bodies careened hard into the ground.
Sara cowered in the trunk, lying in a tight fetal position to protect her baby inside. Every so often, wet drops like warm rain hit her cheek. She felt them, looked at them. Red. Blood, and thankfully not hers. She kept her eyes shut and prayed for the attack to end.
The cries and screams and yelps soon ebbed.
Silence at last.
Sara dared a peek. Darkness fell over the trunk opening. Over her stood the shadow of a massive shifter. The huge wolf breathed hot air. She shut her eyes tight and screamed.
“No! No, Sara. It’s me. Xavier. I’m here. You’re safe.”
Sara shot open her eyelids to see he had resumed his human form. The man before her was, most certainly, a naked Xavier.
“Xavier! You’re alive!”
In sobbing wails, all from sheer relief, Sara reached her hands upward so her mate could free her from the ghastly confines. Her mate carried her away and set her in one of the pack’s SUVs. The car was warm, its heater humming.
Xavier put a blanket over her shoulders and offered her a bottle of water. Then he hugged her so gently as if he were handling fragile glass.
“Sara, my beauty. Are you okay? Is everything…”
“Yes. I’m …weare fine. Shaken, shocked, but okay. But are you?”
“I am now, Sara, after seeing that you’re all right.”
Sara looked up at his forehead. There was a deep gash, and his skin was caked in spots with dried blood. But he seemed unharmed in any more permanent, more devastating way.
“Xavier …” Sara nuzzled against his chest, “I was so scared.”
“You must have been. I’m so relieved you’re okay. The pack and I would’ve hunted your captors until we found you.”
“I thought you were dead. How did you find me?” she asked.
“For once, I’m glad for my paranoia. I’ve had one of our enforcers discreetly tailing us whenever we leave the pack lands. He was a short distance back when he saw us forced off the road and called in reinforcements. He followed them, and we were able to catch up and were ready when they stopped.”
Sara nodded, quiet tears flowing. All she could do was hug Xavier and quell her own fears with the sound of the solid beating of his heart.
She gazed up at her mate. And although Xavier said he was okay physically, she feared his mental state. His eyes looked like a hunter’s, dilated and dark. His body was rigid, sensing all. She was no expert with wolves on the attack, but she sensed this battle, whatever it was, was not over. Not by a long shot.
There were so many questions she wanted answers to. But those would have to be dealt with another time. All she wanted was to bask in her mate’s warmth, feel his strong limbs holding her, and know her little family was safe and sound.
Yet even with her eyes closed, her mind wandered. And it veered back to Veronica, Xavier’s sister, and the questions mounted in her mind once again.
A rival pack. Veronica’s need to flee. Forcing the car crash, taking me, and hurting Xavier … has it got something to do with her?
Sara remembered what Veronica and Xavier both had said. It’s a rarity for a mate to reject an alpha. To do so most certainly invited revenge.
But why attack them? And if that alpha wanted revenge and to take a mate hostage, why her? Why not Veronica?
None of it made sense to Sara.
She was dazed and traumatized, and maybe that was why nothing lined up. But the questions remained. They floated around in her mind as she replayed the scene over and over.
Had we been tailed from the ultrasound clinic, and we didn’t even realize it? Had our pursuers thought the female was Veronica and not me? Or am I losing my mind, and this attack has nothing to do with that rival pack or Xavier’s sister? But who would want to harm us or drag me away?
As Sara stayed close to Xavier’s chest, a newfound fear welled up inside. The dangers of being the mate of an alpha. Sara had never considered the idea before. She had come from common stock. She never had any reason to be considered so valuable as to be someone’s stolen treasure.
