The alphas looked at each other.
"She's not here, Cade," Aric said.
Fuck.
Even though it hurt like hell to move, Cade turned his head toward the passenger side. Sure enough, she wasn't there—but the passenger door was wide open.
"Sloan got her," he rasped, already struggling to get out of the truck. "He brought help. Uplanders."
"We know," Aric offered a hand to help Cade. "Our omegas told us everything."
"Don't think we won't be talking about that later," Maddox growled.
Cade looked at Aric's hand and almost ignored it. He was an alpha, goddamn it, not some old lady who needed help crossing the street—and he needed to go. He had to save Emily.
Which is why he let Aric help him. It turned out to be a good thing because the moment his feet hit the ground, Cade was hit with a wave of dizziness It took only seconds to regain his balance, though, and he shook Aric's hand off.
"We have to go after them." Cade ignored the wrenching pain in his muscles, the blood seeping through his shirt. All he could think of was Emily. "How long have I been out?"
"Only a few minutes," Aric said. "We were waiting for you at Evander's—we came the second we heard the crash."
A lot of bad shit could happen in only a few minutes. Especially when someone as vicious as Sloan was involved.
"We need to go now," Cade repeated.
He got no argument. These three alphas were all mated, so they understood how strong the connection between Cade and Emily was—and that Cade would fight until his last breath to get her back.
Three trucks were parked on the road next to the crash. Cade took a step toward the closest one, stumbling over a branch. He never would have guessed that it would be Zeke who slung his arm around him, giving him a shoulder to lean on.
"Come on, brother," he muttered, as Aric and Maddox strode to their own vehicles. "You'll ride with me."
"Why the hell are you helping me?" Cade let Zeke support him until they reached the truck, then managed the last few steps on his own. "I thought you hated me. I mean, even more than the rest of the alphas around here do."
"Hate's a strong word," Zeke said. He got in and gunned the engine, which sounded like it was in a lot better shape than Cade's. Good—it would need to be to catch up to those bastards. "Besides, there's no way I'd pass up a chance to say I told you so. You should have listened when I told you this wouldn't end pretty."
Cade tensed, instinctively ready to respond to an insult with a punch. The last thing he needed right now was to have his face rubbed in how badly he'd fucked everything up.
But then he saw the grin that Zeke was trying to hide and realized the son of a bitch was giving him shit, that was all.
Cade wasn't used to joking around with any of his brothers, least of all Zeke. His whole fucking world seemed to have been turned upside down.
"Just drive," he grumbled.
"Don't worry, brother. I never said it would end badly," Zeke said, a trace of warmth in his deep, rasping voice. "We'll get your omega back. You'll see."
Dear God, they'd better. All thoughts of his brothers left Cade's mind as he thought of Emily, unprotected and terrified, in the hands of the filthy uplanders. Cade's pain from the crash was nothing compared to the agony tearing his soul apart knowing his omega was in danger.
"Can't this thing go any faster?"
Zeke stomped on the gas, and the truck shot ahead, the speedometer spinning as the scenery flew by in a blur. Tense moments passed in silence until Zeke glanced over and took Cade's measure, zeroing in on the still-healing wound from Emily's claiming bite visible through his torn shirt.
"I see she made an honest man out of you." Zeke might as well have been commenting on the weather, even as he pushed his truck up over 100. He was one stone-cold brother, Cade thought with grudging admiration. "That's surprising."
"You think that just because you don't like me, you figure no one else should either?"
"No," Zeke said calmly as an unfamiliar truck came into view ahead of them. "I just thought it would take you a hell of a lot longer to prove yourself worthy of an omega as fine as that one."
"Stop kicking my damn truck," Sloan snarled for the third time since they'd pulled away from the accident. "Or I'll—"
"Or you'll what?" Emily spat. "Hit me? Break my neck? Toss me out on the side of the road?"
Sloan took his eyes off the road briefly to glare at her, his knuckles turning white with rage on the steering wheel. "I always said you were a nasty broken bitch."
"And you're a fucking idiot." Despite the gravity of her circumstances, it felt ridiculously good to say those words. "You don't get it, do you, Sloan? I'm not scared of you anymore."
Sloan's eyes practically bugged out of his skull. "Then you're the idiot. I'm bigger than you. Stronger. I could tear you clean in half without breaking a sweat."
Emily laughed. She couldn't help it. She'd never noticed before how ridiculous Sloan looked when he was angry. Not much to look at on a good day, rage turned his face a patchy red and made the tendons stand out on his neck so he resembled a chicken. A bit of spittle clung to his lip above his wispy gray beard.
But it was true.
Maybe it was only because Emily had nothing left to lose, or her indifference to living after being ripped away from Cade in his final moments, but Sloan no longer terrified her.
Why had she never realized how pathetic he truly was? Yes, he could kill her, but all that would prove was that he was low enough to hurt a woman. Maybe that was considered a badge of honor among his thug friends, but she didn't give a fuck about them either.
Besides, if Sloan ended her life right now, he'd be doing her a favor by helping her meet up with Cade in the world beyond.
"Yeah, you could hurt me," she taunted him. "But that's nothing special. Any alpha could rip me to shreds. But you couldn't make me love you, could you? Hell, you couldn't even manage to be interesting enough to make me like you."
Sloan literally shook with fury. He reached for her collar and yanked hard, tearing the fabric of Cade's shirt. His eyes widened in shock at the outline of teeth marks in her still-healing bite. His roar filled the cab, a sound of devastation and rage.
"You slut!" He shoved Emily hard, and she bounced against the passenger side door, adding another bruise to the dozen she'd suffered in the crash. "You were with that fucker for two goddamn days and already gave him your bite?"
"What do you care?" Emily said, feeling the bump on her head where it struck the glass. "I was never going to give it to you."
"That's it," Sloan growled, mashing down the cigarette lighter below the dash. "You think you can get away from me? I'm going to teach you what a real alpha does when someone tries to steal what's his."
"What are you doing?" Emily demanded, icy fear finally making its way back into her heart.
Sloan laughed, a terrifying sound. "I'm gonna burn that little shit's bite right off you."
Without warning, he jerked the steering wheel hard to the right, and the truck careened over the shoulder onto the side of the road. The other trucks pulled in behind them with a screech of brakes.