“Sounds like a plan.” The guy chuckled and let go of the girl. “I guess we shouldn’t hurt them too bad. That’s what tonight is for.”
“Enjoy your last little bit of freedom. Tonight, we’ll own you soul and all.” The alpha laughed as he turned and walked away. “Oh, and if you run, we’ll find you.”
Hell, no. That wouldn’t happen. Those girls were leaving with us.
Chapter Nineteen
We have to talk to them. Our scent was already too close for comfort. I couldn’t waltz over there and broadcast our presence.
Emma … Aidan’s warning was clear in my head.
I watched the two retreating figures. They swaggered away from the girls, proud of what they’d done. They expected the girls to bend to their will. The one girl was too hurt to make a run for it without help from our witches.
I needed to find something … anything to get their attention. My eyes located a small branch. It wouldn’t make a ton of noise to alert the whole damn pack, but I thought it should be enough to get the girls’ attention.
We had to get them out of here, I didn’t figure it should be an issue since they were both desperate to leave.
Our group had loaded our luggage into the car in case of a situation like this. We never knew what we were walking into and needed to be prepared to leave at a second’s notice.
I grabbed the branch and turned to the rest of our group. I motioned to the stick and toward them, trying to communicate without words.
Thankfully, we were on the same page. I placed my finger to my lips, making sure the witches knew to stay quiet. I knew the wolves did. They understood how wolf hearing worked, but the witches didn’t.
Coral nodded, letting me know at least she understood. She was the loudmouth of the three with Samuel as a close second.
I’m going to throw this at them, so be ready in case the two men come back. With the ten of us, we could take down the alpha and beta as long as they didn’t call for pack help.
I took a deep breath to calm my heart and clear my thoughts. I had to get the branch close enough to them so they could find me. I stood and lopped it toward them. It landed three feet away from them.
Honor tensed and turned in my direction. Her eyes widened when they found me. She opened her mouth to say something, but I put my finger to my lips. I hadn’t even considered they’d be too shocked or scared to stay quiet.
“What the hell was that?” Ada clutched her side, her face lined with pain as she tried to turn.
“Nothing.” Honor’s eyes stayed on me as she nodded in my direction.
Ada looked at me, and her mouth dropped.
Well, at least they weren’t hollering for help. I waved them over. I hated to make Ada walk, but we had no choice.
“Here.” Honor kneeled and grabbed her best friend’s shoulders. “On the count of three. One … two … three.” She helped Ada to her feet.
“Dear God.” Ada groaned through clenched teeth. Tears sprang in her eyes, and she blinked them away. “Damn, that hurt.” She glanced down at the blood pooling at the site.
“We’ll need to clean it and cover it up.” Honor’s voice was even, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
“That sounds painful.” Ada frowned as they made their way toward me with slow, steady steps. Within seconds, they’d walked all the way into the thicker trees and right to me.
“Who are you?” Honor’s voice was so low that the witches probably hadn’t heard her. “Are you here to hurt us? There are so many of you.”
For her not to be alarmed proved our connection was working on her too. A sane wolf wouldn’t have come over like she had. To prevent having to explain too much, I turned around and moved my hair to the side, showing my mark.
Ada’s breath caught as she looked. “Holy shit. That’s similar to yours.”
So Honor was the one we were here for. I pointed at Gabby and Ivory and motioned for them to stand. I wanted Honor to see that there were three people like her.
They followed my lead without question and rose. They showed their marks that were more like hers.
“It’s like your marks go in order,” Ada said a little too loud for comfort.
“We’re here to take you with us.” I met Honor’s eyes. “I can explain what it all means once we’re out of here.” My voice was so low the breeze could have blown the words away.
Honor’s eyes filled with hope. “I’m not going without her.”
Aidan, I think …
Of course, we’re taking her. Aidan nuzzled my hand with his snout. We can’t leave her behind to be mated with that asshole.
I loved that man so much. “There was no question.”
“Really?” Ada sounded like her breath had been knocked out of her.
I nodded. “But we need to get going.” I gestured for the others to get up.
“We need to move fast, but she’s injured.” Hysteria infiltrated Honor’s voice.
Amethyst stepped toward us and said, keeping her voice low, “I can help.” She held out her hands. “May I?’
Ada stepped toward her. “Please.” Her eyes were desperate.
Amethyst touched the girl’s injury and closed her eyes. The surrounding air became charged as she pulled magic from nature. The thrumming in my skin that used to be foreign now felt natural. It didn’t make my blood crawl anymore because I was more attuned to it. I could even feel the magic coming from the ground and coursing through my feet and legs.
I watched in awe as the blood stopped, and Ada took smoother breaths.
“The injury isn’t completely healed, but you’ll be able to move easier.” Amethyst bent down and rubbed the excess blood from her hand on the ground.
“I think I can handle the pain now.” Ada’s light brown eyes sparkled.
“Then, we need to go. Even if she’s not as injured, we can’t move as fast,” Beth whispered. “Right now, they are celebrating beating the shit out of Ada and forcing Honor and her hand into being mated. We need to get as much distance between us as possible while we have the advantage.”
“Okay. Let’s get up and moving,” Ivory said, not needing any additional encouragement.
We all moved back into the trees to stay out of sight, and Remus took the lead with Ivory, the witches, Ada, and Honor following behind. Then, Gabby and Logan were in the middle with Beth, me, and Aidan right behind.
Our group hurried back around the pack’s home. The faster we got out of this area, the less risk involved. At some point, they would notice the girls were gone.
We have thirty minutes tops. Aidan linked with me as he scanned the area, waiting for something to pop out.
I was hoping for an hour or so. Granted, I wasn’t sure what the girls’ responsibilities were in the pack.
Either another woman will notice their absence, or Dumb and Dumber will come back to taunt them some more. Contempt rang in Aidan’s mind. And for us to be near humans won’t deter those jackasses from attacking. So we need to be gone before they realize we were ever here.
But that’s against the law. We couldn’t alert the humans to us.
Jackasses like them can’t be rationalized with. They think of the girls as their property and will do whatever it takes to get them back.