The plan was to keep me alive until someone could break this spell? Freaking great. How long would I be down here?
‘Jack’s got the siren pinned to the side of the pool, putting a second set of cuffs on her to be sure. Reo and Haru are cornered by one witch, Tianna is taking on the other, and I’m fighting the third with Kenzie, who’s already got a broken leg. You’re going to have to deal until we get freed up.’
Fuck.
I needed a spell-breaking incantation, stat! Why hadn’t I done more lessons with Tianna?
When Molly came down for her fourth breath, something tugged on my consciousness. For a moment, I feared I was about to black out despite the oxygen.
‘Where are you? What’s wrong?’ Brock’s voice flooded my mind.
Just what I needed. My freaked-out baby daddy causing me more anxiety. Then again, his concern sent a flutter of warmth racing through my panicked body. I wanted to see him again. I needed to feel his hot hands across my skin one more time.
He’d freak, I knew it, but I didn’t want to start our life together by lying to each other. I was going to have to raise a kid with this guy for the next eighteen years. Hopefully. Assuming I got out of this damn pool before it was too late.
I chose my words carefully—or as carefully as one could when one was in the midst of fucking drowning. ‘Technically, I’m stuck at the bottom of a pool. But it’s all good. Molly is keeping me alive…’
Rage and shock ripped through our bond. ‘We’re coming,’ he growled through our link.
We. He said we. Was Brock going to bring the pack into this? Into my mess? I couldn’t bear for him to lose another wolf on my account.
‘No, we’ve got this! I don’t want anyone else getting hurt,’ I said right away.
‘You’re pack. Pack means family. We’re three minutes away.’
I hadn’t even met the entire pack yet—something I obviously needed to change. If these people were risking their lives for me, I needed to at least know who they were. I’d only been introduced to a handful, but Brock’s pack was large.
And how were they only three minutes away? Had Brock felt something off before reaching out to me? Knowing him, he’d probably followed me here.
Red and gold streaks of magic lit up the air above the pool, firing back and forth in opposite directions. My vantage point was limited and warbled from within the water, but I hoped Tianna was giving those nasty witches hell.
Six more breaths from Molly later … a huge gray wolf crashed into the water.
Wolves hated water, they barely knew how to swim. But that didn’t stop Brock. He swam straight for me, pumping his wolf legs hard, pushing down through the water to my ankles.
‘What’s your plan here? That’s some powerful witch magic,’ I told him.
‘We Alphas have our own magic,’ was all he said before clamping his jaws down on the red rope.
His teeth bit into the crimson cord holding me and he gave a ferocious whip of his head, slowed only slightly by the water. The pool exploded into a kaleidoscope of light … and the binding released. I nearly wept in relief as my body floated up through the lingering rainbow of color while I tried to pump my legs. But my body was spent, and I needed Molly’s help to break the surface. She tugged me above the water, keeping a firm grip on my arm.
The second my head left the water, I sucked in breath, sputtering and coughing as I allowed Molly to half drag, half guide me to the edge of the pool. I pumped my arms and legs even though I realized they were doing little to propel me. When I managed to take in the scene before me, my eyes widened.
Holy fucking hell.
It was like World War Three. Werewolves were leaping into the air, trying to take out the witches, only to be thrown against a far wall with a sickening sound that had my heart leaping into my throat.
Tianna appeared to have killed one witch, who lay crumpled on the deck next to her, but the fae hybrid was holding her shoulder as if she’d been injured.
Calista lay beneath Jack’s strong hold, pinned in place, but when her eyes landed on me she grinned maniacally, as if she’d expected this. She didn’t appear defeated, and that worried the shit out of me.
Brock’s head popped up out of the water as Molly and I reached the edge of the pool. Why wasn’t Calista fighting back? Even though she was cuffed, I’d expected her to resist Jack. But she wasn’t.
After Molly and I heaved Brock out of the pool, the tinkle of breaking glass drew my attention to the far wall. The remaining two witches were fleeing, leaving their dead friend behind on the deck.
One of Brock’s wolves prepared to pounce after them through the broken window, but Tianna waved her uninjured hand. “Let them go. We need to regroup.”
The wolf looked back at Brock, who nodded and shook his coat to rid it of water.
I took a deep breath—so thankful for the ability to breathe!—absorbing the scene before me. The sharp smell of chlorine, intertwined with the pungent smell of blood, assaulted my nostrils. Glass sprinkled across much of the slippery flooring, and spelled scorch marks marred the ground of the once pristine pool decking. Tianna had an apparently badly injured shoulder, Kenzie was limping, and Reo looked a little worse for wear, but other than that we seemed to be all right. The wolves who’d been flung against walls were moving fluidly enough, thank God!
Cass whizzed to my side on his hovering skateboard. “You okay?”
I nodded, trying not to think about what would have happened if Molly hadn’t helped me.
The sound of breaking bones rang throughout the space as Brock and a few of his other wolves started to shift. I recognized Sabine’s markings on one of those wolves.
Molly blushed. “Sorry about having to get all up in your face down there.”
I waved her off. “Are you kidding me? You saved my life. Thank you.”
She nodded.
Brock was standing at his full height now, towering over my short frame. He pressed me against his side though his gaze was locked on Jack, who stood about ten feet away, clutching the siren in a lock hold. Brock radiated power, not caring one bit that he was naked and dripping water.
“And where the fuck were you when Evie was drowning?” Brock’s voice could cut steel. The apparent danger of it sent a shiver running through me.
Jack’s nostrils flared. “Keeping the perp from fleeing. Bounty hunter rule number three.”
Brock stalked toward Jack with five deadly strides, giving zero shits that his dick was hanging out in front of another dude. “Fuck your rules. What I want to know is, did you see her go in the pool?”
Oh shit.
I hurried to the alpha’s side. “Brock, he’s right. Rule number three states that if a hunter is indisposed, you secure the perp before sending help to the other hunter.”
Even though it did sting a bit that Jack hadn’t concerned himself more with my fate.
Jack’s chest was rising and falling as if he were fighting his own shift, but Calista was grinning wickedly between the two men.
“Answer me!” Brock roared, and the remaining unbroken windows shook in their frames with his alpha command.
I wasn’t aware of all the werewolf rules, but I did know that if a wolf from another pack was in the presence of an alpha, he was obligated to answer direct questions.
Jack grit his teeth. “Yes, but I—”
Brock didn’t let him finish his sentence before hooking him in the jaw with an uppercut.
“Fuck!” I shouted as Jack flew backwards and Brock launched himself on top of him.
I lunged forward to grab Calista, Molly hovering next to me. Police sirens cut through the silence. Shit, the human cops had been called. Soaking wet, I tugged on Calista’s cuffs and looked at Cass.
“Call Mack. Tell him we got her and the human cops are on their way. Ask him how he wants us to transport her.”
Cass nodded, watching the two big men grapple. Jack didn’t seem to give two shits that a naked man was straddling him. He was doing all he could to throw Brock.
“I’m really enjoying this,” Calista purred in a slithering voice, eyes glued to Jack and Brock.
If I tried to break them up, I’d likely get socked in the face. Instead I looked at Molly. “Bring me that vial.” I pointed to the pink vial on the floor next to my katana that had rolled away when I’d been knocked in the water.
Molly nodded, scurrying to retrieve it. When she returned, she handed it to me.
“You do the honors. Just throw it against the ground,” I said.
Swallowing hard, and looking a bit nervous, she chucked it at their feet. The glass smashed and hot pink snow exploded from the ground where Molly had broken the vial, sinking the boys into two feet of frigid cold in under thirty seconds.
Both men growled, rolling off each other. Brock glared at me, while Jack avoided my eyes.
“You done?” I asked my man.
His lip was split, but he otherwise looked okay. Jack, however, had gotten his ass whooped.
“Go put some clothes on before the human cops show up and think you’re a creeper,” Molly told Brock, though I doubted anyone would ever take in all of Brock and come to that conclusion. It was far more likely that they’d think him a high-end male stripper.
Brock glared at Molly, who gave him a quirk of an eyebrow and a smirk instead of looking cowed, and then moved to a pile of clothes.
“Jack, wait for me in my Jeep,” I said, pinning my gaze on my ex, who was busy rubbing a sore jaw and shooting daggers at Brock’s back. His nose appeared broken and he was already sporting the beginnings of a wicked black eye.
Kenzie limped over to him and smacked his arm to get him moving. Both bounty hunters visually confirmed Calista was still secure in my grip before leaving the pool room. Once they did, I asked Reo and Haru to wait in the car as well. I didn’t need the humans inquiring about my warriors. They picked up my katana from where it had fallen on the deck before my dunk and filed out without a word of complaint.
Cass made his way over to me, holding out his phone. “Mack says it’s okay to have Eugene PD process and transport her.”
Good. That made things easier.
Detective Swanson and a group of cops filed into the room then, guns raised.
“Evie Black.” Detective Swanson nodded, appearing relieved.
I nodded. “Sorry about the mess, but we’ve got the siren.”
He snapped his fingers and two of the cops came forward to retrieve Calista. She turned her head to me with a malicious grin that cut right through her pleasant-looking face, leaving the vicious sea creature on full display. “See you soon, love.”
“Have fun on the island, bitch,” I replied with a frown.
Detective Swanson shook his head. “We’ve classified her as a serial killer. She’ll be transported to Los Angeles and given the death penalty.”
That wiped the grin right off Calista’s face and placed one on mine.
Karma was a bitch.
13 Meet the Pack