He pushed to his feet and put on his jeans, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Holy shit, his eyes. All male wolves knew of the orange haze of an incomplete mating, but few had experienced it, the risk of it turning them into a killer, the risk of it killing them. He shoved his hands to his forehead, into his hair, leaning against the wall. He wasn’t going to take her like this, with the damn rope still tied to her arm and holy hell. She could leave while he was in here, and while the building was locked down, Shi took in a batch of lethal misfits for his pack of mercenaries. He didn’t want to risk Sarah running into one of them.
He pulled the door open and she was standing right in front of him. His fingers curled around the frame, the only thing keeping him from reaching for her.
“Kole?” She wrapped her arms around him.
He moved with her, pushing her against a wall, and shoving his hands to the surface by her head, not touching her. “Don’t touch me right now or I won’t give you a choice about us and I promised you I would.” He pushed off the wall. “The building is locked down. You won’t get out, but you might meet one of Shi’s pack and you don’t want to. A few too many of them make a cobra look like a pussy cat.” He turned and stalked to the door and paused just before opening it. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, Sarah. Don’t make me sorry. Don’t run because I will catch you.”
***
Sarah stared after him, unmoving, stunned at his sudden departure. Kole not only promised her choices, he’d given her one about their mating, at the cost of his own suffering. It was a selfless act that didn’t match the picture of a Guardsman her father had painted, and that she herself had used as a foundation to judge Kole. For almost two years she’d thought of him, considered calling him, but assumed he’d force her back to the Society and completely dominate her. Then later, when Derek still lived, she doubted their mating bond. What else explained why he wouldn’t avenge her family? Now, she didn’t believe he had forgotten her or Derek. She pressed her hand to her stomach. She’d misjudged him. God, how she’d misjudged him.
She pushed away from the wall and began pacing, her mind replaying every second with Kole, now and in the past. Replaying the moment the warehouse had exploded. The moment she’d taken off running and known she had to leave. She’d cleared what cash from her bank she could get to and hit the road. By morning she was at another bank, closing her accounts, and removing the emergency fund her father, always the planner and pessimist, had set up for her as a safety net. A very large safety net that had paid the hefty price to an ancient natural-born witch her friend had taken her to. Her hand went to the sword tattooed behind her ear, where magic was etched into her skin. The one hesitation she’d had was about her conflicted emotions with Kole. She’d known he wouldn’t be able to find her.
She stopped walking, aware of what a mistake that had been. He’d saved her life. He’d deserved more than her shutting him out. She had to find him, to talk to him. Sarah grabbed her skirt and pulled it on and then reached for Kole’s shirt, not even bothering with hers since it wouldn’t button. The spicy, male scent of Kole teased her nostrils and only made her more eager to find him.
Sarah rushed to the door and jerked it open, only to find a guard in the hallway, directly in front of her.
“Hello, Sarah,” Shi said, leaning on the wall directly across from her, his long, dark hair wild around his shoulders, and she realized now that there were blue streaks mixed with the red.
“Surprise,” he murmured softly. “He told you not to-”
“Leave,” she said. “I know. I don’t want to.”
He studied her a long moment, his eyes narrowing. “No. You don’t, do you?”
“No. Where is he?”
“Locked in a room at his own request,” he said. “So he can’t get to you.”
“Take me to him,” she said. “Please.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why? Why can’t you just take me to him? I’m his mate. I don’t want him to fight this. He thinks I do but I don’t.”
His silvery eyes narrowed. “If you go near him now, you could kill him.”
“Kill him?” she asked, shocked at the unexpected words. “I won’t kill him. I’d never hurt him.”
“You don’t understand the orange haze, do you?”
“Orange haze? You mean his eyes. I saw his eyes. What does that mean?”
“The long story made short is he’s got an excess of bonding hormones making him a little crazy right now. If he doesn’t get them under control, they will poison him. He’s strong. He’ll win, but not if he is close to you.”
“I don’t want him to fight it.”
“He’s too far gone to understand that right now. He’ll fight the mating and he’ll end up dead. If you care about him, you need to let him get past this on his own.”
A million arguments came to her mind, a million commands that he do as she asked and take her to Kole. But there was steel in the silver of his eyes, unbendable steel, and beneath it, loyalty to Kole. He was Kole’s friend. He really believed he was saving Kole’s life.
She had no choice but to accept his decision. “I’ll be here, waiting on him.” She slipped back into the room and shut the door, inhaling the lingering scent of Kole, and scared to death that she’d lost him when she’d only just found him again.
Chapter Nine
Shi smashed his hand into the concrete wall outside Kole’s locked room, the frustration of being helpless, unable to do anything about his friend’s pained snarls were making him crazy. Only an hour before he’d told Sarah that Kole was fine, but he’d been wrong. Kole was getting worse and Shi knew the pain his friend was in, knew the risks because he’d lived the haze himself years before, and barely survived it. Oh yes, how he’d lived it. And he’d become living proof that just because a female was your biological mate, it didn’t make her love you or want you. It sure didn’t make her incapable of using you for no good. More pained snarls echoed through the walls, radiating down his spine, bringing back the memories of a betrayal he didn’t want to remember. Shi pressed his fists onto the wall and let his head drop forward. Sarah wasn’t the woman of his past, he reminded himself. She wasn’t trying to hurt Kole. He’d smelled her worry for Kole, her sincere need to know he was okay.
He dropped his head between his shoulders staring blankly at the floor, struggling with what he had to do, despite Kole’s wishes. Not only had Kole forbidden Shi from calling Nico, Shi himself had bad blood with the leader of the Guard. But Nico, as leader of Kole’s pack, could use pack magic to save him, just as Nico had pulled Shi back from the orange haze as well.
“Damn it to hell,” he murmured and grabbed his cell from his belt, punching the auto-dial button direct to Nico, tone hat he’d not touched since leaving the pack three years before.
“Hell must have frozen over for you to call me.” Nico didn’t bother with hello.
“It’s pretty damn icy,” Shi agreed. “I hear you have some freaky new mojo above and beyond your pack magic since you mated with that witch of yours. I don’t know what that entails, but I hope it works from a distance, because Kole’s here with me and he’s got the orange haze.”
Nico appeared in front of Shi, tall and dark, dressed in leather. The chin length dark hair he’d had when Shi had last seen him, now fell to his shoulders.
“I guess your witch really did give you more than the lipstick on your cheek,” Shi said dryly, referencing the confirmation of the rumors he’d heard about Nico’s obvious ability to just pop to a location at will. “I’m guessing you’re not paying the higher gas prices the rest of us are.”
“Where is he?”
A loud snarl and a crash came from inside the room. “That would be him,” Shi replied dryly.
“Who’s the woman?”
Shi held up his hands. “That’s for Kole to discuss, if he so chooses, and obviously, he hasn’t at this point.” He walked to the steel containment door and punched in a code
before motioning Nico forward.
Nico didn’t move. “I have a better chance of saving him if you help. “
“I’m not pack.”
“You’re still bonded to us whether you like it or not.” Nico didn’t wait for an answer. He opened the door and walked into the room. Shi followed him and stepped to Nico’s side, a place he’d once been daily. Kole was hunched down in a corner, his hands shifted, claws extended, his head tilted down.
Kole’s gaze jerked up, his glowing orange eyes landing on Nico before shifting to Shi. In a snap, Kole was on his feet, charging at Shi. “You bastard,” he growled, in a voice not completely human.
Shi hit the wall with a blast so hard his bones rattled. “You fucking bastard,” Kole said between extended teeth. “If he ignores the King’s orders, he could be severely punished. Now you’ve put him at risk, too.”
“You’re no good to Sarah dead,” Shi ground out a second before Nico yanked Kole away from him.
Nico shoved Kole against the wall, but to Shi’s surprise, he felt no pack magic. Kole roared and to Shi’s shock, and he was pretty sure Nico’s, Kole shoved Nico back and kept going until Nico hit the wall.
“I didn’t want you involved,” Kole growled. “You shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have brought you here.”
A spike of magic like nothing Shi had ever felt before blasted through the room, before a blond female appeared behind Kole and pressed her hand to his back. Kole stiffened as if in pain and shock, then dropped to the ground.
***
Kole came awake in a sudden rush of awareness and jerked to a sitting position, his gaze darting around the room to find himself in a bed, with Nico sitting in a chair by his side.
“Welcome back, you bastard,” Nico said. “What the fuck were you thinking not coming to me?”
“What the fuck was Shi thinking bringing you into this?”
“He was thinking that you’re such a pain in the ass no one can fill your shoes but you.”
It was all Kole could do to not fight his way past Nico and go to Sarah. “Where is she?”
“Still in room ten,” Shi said, entering from the hallway.“She says she’s not going anywhere without you and she hasn’t tried to leave.”
Kole’s chest tightened. “You’re sure she’s still there?”
Shi gave a quick nod.
“I kept the pack out of this,” Nico said, drawing Kole’s attention again.
“You brought me back,” Kole said. “You had to-”
“Aylia,” he supplied. “She used her magic.” His lips thinned. “We need to talk about Sarah.”
***
Hours passed and Sarah was climbing the walls with worry over Kole. She couldn’t stay in this room any longer. She cautiously opened the door and found the hallway empty. She had no doubt that there were cameras watching her, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to Kole. With her nose and her senses as her guides, she headed the direction of the gym where she and Kole had been earlier. She found the training area empty and enveloped in darkness. She slipped inside and sized up the two exits on the opposite side of the room. One to the offices where she’d traveled through with Kole, and the other to someplace else. That someplace else felt right, and it was where she wanted to be.
She crossed the gym and eased the door open the tiniest bit, noting another long hallway with many doors. She immediately sensed three wolves – Kole and two others – one of which oozed ancient power. Playing it safe, Sarah didn’t dare go any closer for fear of being noticed. Instead, she waited and listened.
“I won’t arrest her,” Kole said. “I won’t let you arrest her. And Shi, damn it, you can bet I’m not done with you.”
“I saved your life,” Shi said. “Don’t expect me to apologize.”
“He was right to call me, Kole,” another man said. “And considering he hates my guts, I’d say you owe him a thank you for putting his personal feelings aside.”
“I don’t hate you,” Shi said softly. “I hate that you were right and acted like an arrogant ass about being right.”
“You wouldn’t listen,” Nico said. “You wouldn’t listen and you were going to end up dead. I couldn’t let that happen anymore than I intend to let it happen to Kole.”
“I don’t need saving,” Kole grumbled. “And I’m not fucking arresting Sarah. You’re as good as blood, Nico, but if you so much as walk her way, I will fight you.”
“No one is asking you to arrest her,” Nico said, “but we have to deal with this now. You can’t take over the pack on the edge of another hormonal meltdown.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Kole demanded. “I’m dealing with this. I’ll deal with it.”
Sarah’s heart lodged in her throat. Kole was supposed to take over the pack? A rush of mixed emotions and thoughts came over her, followed by bitterness and heartache. She’d thought he was holding back, avoiding their mating, to give her a choice. Maybe it was his own choices he was protecting, his fear of losing his role as leader, by bonding with a fugitive.
“What exactly are you planning to do, Kole?” Nico asked.
“Whatever I have to,” Kole said, “and-” He went suddenly silent.
Crap! Sarah thought instantly. He’d sensed she was there. She felt it. Sarah turned and took off running, cursing her high-heeled boots yet again, but not slowing. She crossed the gym and then rushed through the door of the office only to run smack into a hard chest. A shiver of foreboding ran through her and her gaze jerked up to find Derek smiling down at her.
“I made a special trip just for you,“ he said. “I guess you were as eager to see me again as I was you.”
“She walked right into our hands,” Jacob, the wolf Sarah had met in the gym, commented with a laugh.
“My hands,” Derek corrected, “and I’m inclined to have some fun with her.”
Sarah started to fight, but suddenly some sort of net was thrown over her. She struggled wildly, but real panic set in when she smelled explosives. Oh God. No. No. Not again.
“Kole! A bomb! A bomb! It’s Derek! Kole!” she shouted, fighting even as Jacob threw her over his shoulder. Sarah kicked and screamed, and felt a small bit of relief in the sound of some kind of warning siren screaming from the building. Jacob exited the building and she could see Derek’s feet. They were moving away from the warehouse and she had to do something to save the free herself and save everyone inside.
Her purse was strapped across her chest and resting on her hip, but she couldn’t get to it or the knife inside. Thankfully she managed to pull her leg to her chest, and reach the top of her boot. Relief washed over her as she got a grip on the silver blade she’d hidden inside one of them. With an inhaled breath, preparing herself for whatever might come next, she slammed the blade into Jacob’s back. He roared with the pain of the poison and dropped like a rock. Sarah dropped with him, tumbling to the ground, still wrapped up in the damn net
She managed to reach her purse and pull out the knife, and desperately started cutting. She had to get out of here, she had to get to Kole. That was when the warehouse went up in flames and Derek knelt beside her.
“Just like old times. Everyone is dead but you and me. And as a special thanks for being such a thorn in my side, I’m taking you back to the rebels’ headquarters where I can play with you a little while. Pain and pleasure is a heady mix, don’t you agree?”
Chapter Ten
The blast threw Kole across the parking lot, but he didn’t feel the pain. He was on his feet and running toward Derek, who carried Sarah swiftly toward a truck. His teeth still rattled from the impact, and he was bare chested, without shoes or weapons, but he wasn’t about to let any of that stop him. He was ready to fight, beyond ready for Derek to be dead and gone already.
Derek sensed his approach, dropping Sarah and whirling around, but he wasn’t fast enough. Kole launched himself into the air, shifting to wolf and coming down on top of Derek as Sarah tumbled to the ground. Derek tried to
shift, rolling with Kole and sinking his teeth into Kole’s shoulder. Kole felt the muscle and bone cracking but he didn’t care. He’d fought through near death injuries many a time. Pain didn’t matter. Sarah mattered and Derek was no match for Kole, a Guardsman who’d outlived and outfought him. Kole sank his fangs into the back of Derek’s neck and shredded flesh and bone. Derek howled in pain and released Kole’s shoulder. Kole shoved the other wolf to his back and ripped his throat out. Derek was dead.
Kole rolled off of the dead wolf and landed on his haunches, ready to fight, but found no other enemy. Just Sarah shoving aside the net with a knife in her hand, tears streaming down her face.
Nico and Shi appeared beside her, and knowing she was safe, Kole dropped to his back. The magnitude of the injury to his shoulder struck him and he could feel his lifeblood gushing from the wound. Derek’s bite had gone deep, much too deep.
“Kole,” Sarah cried, dropping to her knees beside him. “Oh God. Help him. Someone help him.”
Kole wanted to tell her he was okay; he wanted to hold her and reassure himself that she was okay, but he couldn’t shift with a wound that would be lethal in human form.
“I’m here,” Alyia said, kneeling beside him, across from Sarah.
She reached for Kole and Sarah grabbed her hand. “Who are you and what are you doing?”
Kole watched Alyia smile.
“Protective mate,” Nico said, dropping to a knee beside Alyia. “I like that in a woman. She’s my mate and she’s a witch that can heal.”
“If you’ll let me,” Aylia said, “I’ll help him.”
Sarah released her. “Yes. Please. I’m sorry. I just-”