Shifters of grey ridge b.., p.17
Shifters of Grey Ridge Box Set, page 17
part #1 of Box Set: Books 1 - 3 Series
Cooper takes off across the lawn in front of the lodge, before shifting into his enormous black wolf mid-leap and running into the trees with Ethan’s dark brown wolf hot on his heels. I head for my car, which always has my medical bag in it, and tear out of the driveway. I pray Hayley is alright and nobody gets hurt.
Except for James. Cooper will make him pay.
CHAPTER 37
COOPER
As Marcus told us about the report he received, I felt the blood in my veins turning to ice. Grey Ridge is a small town and given half of the residents are wolves under my father’s control, there is very little crime. What crimes there are, is petty stuff, like bar fights and the odd stolen bike. People leave their keys in their trucks and their front doors unlocked here. A break-in or shooting is completely unheard of. Nobody is dumb enough to mess with the Alpha, or the Sheriff. Especially when the man wearing the badge is a giant, grumpy grizzly bear, like Marcus.
When Leila told me what she knew about Hayley’s ex, I knew it was him. This is no coincidence. The fact she’d been dealing with this on her own is like a knife to my heart. Knowing he had scared Hayley badly enough the first time that she fled gave me a good idea of how bad things had been. She must have been terrified, and yet, she still hadn’t felt able to share this with me. My recent behaviour probably hasn’t helped with building her trust.
Physically, without the ability to shift to defend herself, she is too fragile to be in a situation like this. My wolf is freaking out at the thought of her being in danger. If she hadn’t left the party because of me, she wouldn’t be home alone and vulnerable.
Ethan and I race through the woods at top speed, taking the quickest route that leads from the packhouse along the river and right down to the back of Hayley’s house. My feet barely touch the ground as I push myself harder and faster. I need to get to her like I need to breathe, and every second might make all the difference.
Rex: Cooper, I’m here, there are three male scents. One is the guy from the other day. Dark sedan parked at the side of the house. Bonnet is cold, it’s been here a while. Hayley’s tires are slashed.
He relays information to me as succinctly as possible as he assesses the situation and clears the property calmly, using the military training all senior ranking wolves receive as teenagers.
Cooper: We’re coming from the rear, two minutes out. Keep talking, tell me what you see.
Rex: Shit, Coop, there’s a lot of blood, mostly someone else’s though.
He keeps the mindlink open as he searches and the wait to find out what is going on is torture. He said most of the blood isn’t hers, meaning some of it is. I try to force myself to stay calm and focused on what he is telling us.
Rex: Okay, one male in the hall, unconscious, stab wound to the side and thigh. He’s bleeding pretty heavily.
Good girl. My wolf is so proud of our little fighter. She just needs to keep fighting till we can find her.
Cooper: Just find Hayley. Leila is on the way. She’ll help him if she can.
Rex: Her blood is on the porch and in the sitting room, but she’s not inside the house. Looks as if she jumped out an upstairs window. I can smell gunpowder in her room, but there isn’t anything to suggest she’s been shot.
She jumped out a window. And someone shot at her. How fucking dare they shoot at my mate?
A vision of her fleeing through the trees with her wavy hair flowing behind her and tears in her beautiful brown eyes pops into my head and it’s so real, it makes me falter for a second. Was that a vision or just my imagination running wild?
Rex: They followed her into the woods out back. They’ve split up but are headed in your general direction. I’ll track them from this side and keep you posted. They can’t have gotten too far, they won’t be able to see shit out here.
Ethan: Cooper, she’s alright, she’s probably found a hiding place. We haven’t heard any more shots at least.
I can’t answer him. He is trying to reassure me, to get me to focus on the positives. I concentrate on sensing her emotions, to get a fix on where she is. We’re coming from the opposite direction and the wind is at our backs, so we have no scent trail to follow. I catch a glimmer of her dread hovering in the back of my brain. It’s like a spark or a memory that I can’t quite grasp, and I growl in frustration as it slips out of reach again.
We must be close if I can pick up anything at all with us not being marked yet. In the pitch dark, it would be hard for a human to pick their way through these trees. However, the sky is clear, and the moon is full and high, which would have allowed them some light to move by, albeit slowly. Hayley knows these woods well. She runs out here almost every day rather than on the roads, although usually, she sticks to the well-trodden forest trails.
Then it hits me. I know where she is going. She is running to my cabin. She’s coming to me.
Cooper: She’s heading for my place.
Rex: She’s still bleeding, and she’s barefoot. She won’t be able to make it that far.
Cooper: She’ll try. She won’t hide and wait for them to find her.
I veer off to intercept her route and have only travelled a few hundred yards when I pick up her delicate scent on a breeze. Then a man’s, reeking of sweat and anger. My wolf’s keen hearing picks up the sounds of footsteps on the forest floor, heaving breathing, and pounding heartbeats. Slowing down, I approach quietly, careful not to give myself away, crouching low as I stalk closer to my prey. I spot them through the branches, standing in a small clearing amidst the tall trees.
“You broke my nose, you bitch!” Blood and spittle fly as the bastard screams. I seethe with the urge to rip his head off for speaking to my mate with such disrespect. Staying as low to the ground, I creep closer and stalk towards them, using the cover of the trees to hide me for as long as possible.
Hayley is squatting down, with her back pressed up against the bark of a tree. She’s barefoot, her hair wild and tangled, and her face and blue dress covered in dirt and blood. So this is her ex... the infamous James. A tall, black-haired man, he looks quite worse for wear as he lifts a hand to wipe the blood trickling from his swollen, broken nose. His arm hangs loosely at his side, the revolver in his hand.
“Go fuck yourself, James,” Hayley spits out at him, and I flinch. While I admire her spirit, it’s not the smartest thing to say to someone standing over you with a gun.
Cooper: I found Hayley, and her ex. He has a gun.
Ethan: I have the third guy in my sights. I’ll take care of him.
Rex, go help Coop.
“Jesus, what a fucking mess. Nothing is ever easy with you. How am I going to explain this?”
“Oh, I’m sorry... did I ruin your plans to kill me discreetly?!” she shouts at him sarcastically. She thinks nobody is coming and I can sense she’s resigned to her fate now, but I will always come for her. She pushes her wavy hair back from her face with her tied hands and glares at him defiantly.
James is pacing now, undoubtedly frustrated and confused about what to do next as she has laid waste to his plans. His injuries will make him the prime suspect in any investigation if anything happens to her. I can see him getting more and more agitated as he struggles to come up with a way out of this that will leave him in the clear.
I edge closer still, trying not to make a sound, but I see Hayley pick up on the movement as I get within a few yards of them. She stares at me wide-eyed and gulps as she spots me in wolf form, stepping out from behind a tree trunk.. James spins quickly on the spot and raises the gun, but I lunge, sinking my teeth into his forearm. I snarl and give a vicious yank, snapping the bones in his arm with my powerful jaws, but not before he gets a shot off. I feel a blast to my shoulder as the bullet hits me and knocks me backward.
James drops the gun and clutches his arm, screaming as he falls and attempts to scramble away from me on the forest floor. I lunge for him again, grabbing him by the lower leg this time, and clamp down until I hear a loud crack. Satisfied that he is incapacitated for the moment, I release him. I want to kill him... to tear him to shreds and give in to my wolf’s rage, but I hear Hayley’s terrified sobs, and making sure she is okay is more important than giving in to my bloodlust.
Hayley is still pressed against the tree as I turn, but now she has the gun in her trembling hands and is pointing it shakily at me; eyes wild with fear. She puts her finger on the trigger and pushes herself to her feet.
“Stay back.”
CHAPTER 38
COOPER
All Hayley sees right now is an enormous black wolf who has viciously attacked someone in front of her. She’s confused and scared. Her hands tremble as her eyes dart around wildly as she tries to make sense of what just happened. I can’t think of any other way to make her understand I am not a threat to her, so I back up a few steps and let the transformation happen. Within a couple of seconds, I’m standing in front of her as a man again.
“Cooper?” she whispers, and I nod, holding my breath, unsure of how she will react. I expect her to faint or scream, but instead, she drops the gun and launches herself into my arms. Powerful sobs wrack her tiny body as she wraps her legs around my waist, buries her head in my neck, and clings to me.
“I’ve got you, princess.”
Rex’s giant, dark grey wolf emerges from the trees behind us, and her entire body tenses in my arms.
“It’s okay, it’s just Rex,” I explain to her. She watches silently as he pads over and sits down a few feet away, head down and ears flat in submission, trying his best not to look intimidating.
Cooper: Rex, stay with this guy till Marcus gets here. I’m bringing Hayley back to Leila to get checked out.
Rex’s wolf nods and trots over to where this James guy is lying, groaning, and drifting in and out of consciousness, and growls at him. I know he would also love to rip the guy to pieces rather than hand him over to the police, but is restraining himself for Hayley’s sake.
I adjust Hayley’s position in my arms so I can carry her more easily back to her house, and her grip tightens. I thought she’d be terrified of me, horrified by what I can become, and what I just did to James. His blood is still on my skin. That she is allowing me to comfort her gives me some hope for our future.
“Shh, it’s alright Hayley, I’m not going anywhere. Leila is back at your house. She’s going to look you over, okay?” I ask, and she nods into my shoulder.
Just having her in my arms and breathing in her familiar scent is calming me, but I need to make sure she isn’t badly injured. Leila meets me at the tree line with a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, which I pull on quickly after setting Hayley down gently. She winces as she looks down at her bleeding feet, torn up from running through the forest over rocks, sharp sticks, and tree roots.
“I won’t leave you. I’m right here,” I tell her as I pick her up again carefully and carry her around to the porch steps, stepping back to let Leila do her thing. Leila snaps on some gloves and cuts the cable ties that are still wrapped around Hayley’s wrists, placing them into an evidence bag for Marcus.
Hayley rubs her wrists and flexes her fingers, letting out a low hiss when she opens her left hand fully. Angry red welts circle her arms where the ties have chaffed her skin and were put on too tight. Leila has a quick look at her hand, turning it over and pressing it on the back gently with her fingers before moving on to look at the wound on her head. She treats her so delicately, and I’m so grateful that my sister is here to help. There is nobody else I would trust to take better care of Hayley.
There are spots of blood on the porch and a trampled bunch of flowers. I stiffen when the familiar scent hits my nose. It’s Hayley’s blood. I poke my head through the front door of the house and see a guy laid out on the floor. I can still hear a faint heartbeat. There’s a tourniquet tied around his leg to stop the bleeding, and Ethan has a towel pressed to the wound on his side. I don’t care one way or the other whether he dies, but for Hayley’s sake, it’ll be better if he survives. I’m not sure how she would deal with taking someone’s life, even in self-defence. Looking at the amount of blood on the floor, though, it’s probably touch and go for him.
The hall table is shoved out of place. A dining table chair is tipped over on the floor, a vase is broken, scattered bits of ceramic and flowers all over the floor. Pictures have been knocked off the walls, and the rug is all bunched up and pushed to one side. Bloody smears and handprints trail along the wall up the stairs and to the main bedroom. The door to Hayley’s room is damaged and hangs on one hinge at an odd angle. The frame is cracked and splintered where it was rammed open. A faint metallic smell of gunshot powder lingers in the air.
They came very close to killing my mate, but she fought like hell. We may have gotten to her just in time, but whatever she had done here to fight them off is what saved her life.
I pull the door closed partially to block her view of the inside. She doesn’t need to see all the blood. I had visions of us living here together once we’re mates, but she might never want to set foot in this house ever again after tonight.
My wolf doesn’t like being apart from her, and the smell of her blood makes both of us anxious, so I take a seat on the top step and lift Hayley into my lap, holding her tight to my chest. Leila frowns at me but says nothing, forced to finish her work with me in the way. She knows better than to comment. I’m still annoyed at her for keeping secrets from me.
I knew Hayley was hiding something. I should have pushed her more to tell me. If I had known about James, I could have found him and made sure he never came near her again. He would have been in no doubt who she belonged to.
As my anger builds again, I try to change my train of thought. I need to remain in control for Hayley’s sake and be her rock, not pass my anger down the mate bond towards her. I’ll let my wolf out again later to work out his rage and frustration at not getting to exact vengeance on that scumbag.
“Hayley, honey, you’re going to need some stitches on the cut on your head, though I might be able to glue it. But you need an x-ray on that hand. We’ll go to the hospital in the ambulance and get you fixed up there,” Leila says to her, but Hayley just clings to the front of my shirt.
“Hayley... if you want Cooper there, he can come too. Do you want that?”
I growl and pull Hayley closer to me. Leila frowns at me, exasperated. I’m not making her life easy. I know I can’t just assume that Hayley wants me to go, especially after her seeing me shift, and the fact that she didn’t want to talk to me just a few hours ago. She could still freak out at any time. Hayley nods again, but then she stiffens suddenly, and I think for a second that she is going to change her mind before she looks down at my arm and the gash running along the outside of my bicep.
“Cooper, you’ve been shot!” she exclaims, putting her hand to her mouth. “Leila, you need to look at this.” She points at the wound and tries to make room for Leila to get closer, but I stop her from getting up.
“He’s fine,” Leila says bluntly, not the least bit concerned. She knows I’m not badly injured. The wound on my upper arm from the bullet is already closed over.
“Hayley, it’s okay, I promise. It’s already healed, see?” I lift my arm so she can see that there is no more blood, and the edges are knitting together. Her brows furrow in a cute little frown as she strokes her fingers over the wound and tries to work it out.
“I’ll explain later. I’ll explain all of it,” I vow, kissing her forehead gently. She nods slowly, looking up at me with those big, brown doe eyes of hers like I’m her knight in shining armor.
CHAPTER 39
HAYLEY
When we get to the hospital, Leila hurries us through to a private area, away from the noise and chaos of the main emergency department.
“Hayley, do you have any other injuries? Did they... touch you anywhere else?” she asks softly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cooper clamp his jaw shut and swallow hard. He’s struggling to remain calm, but I catch the pain and fear in his eyes that they might have taken advantage of me while they had me tied up. He rubs his thumb across my knuckles, and I know it’s okay, that no matter what, he’s here for me.
“No, no, nothing like that,” I deny adamantly. Cooper lets out the breath that he had been holding and I can see his relief, even though every muscle in his body is still rigid and his jaw is clenched tight.
“Cooper, you need to wait outside for a minute.”
He growls, and Leila scowls at him.
“Stop that. You’re not Alpha in here. Hayley, I’ll do a quick X-ray and take some pictures, then you can get into some clean clothes and Cooper can bring you home, alright?”
“I’ll be right here. As soon as I can come back in, Leila is going to come and get me, right?” He crouches down in front of me and looks me in the eye, rubbing his thumb lightly over my tender cheek
and jaw. He kisses me on the forehead, so gently it brings tears to my eyes, and backs out of the room.
I don’t want Cooper to leave. I just want to cling to him and stay in his arms, but I also want to get this over and done with so I can go home as quickly as possible. Home. I’m not sure that I’ll ever call that house home again. Not for a long time, anyway.
“Can you hop up and sit on the edge of the bed?” Leila holds out her hand and lets me put my arm around her to keep the weight off my torn-up feet, before helping me up onto the examination table up. She stands over me, pulling on gloves, and looks at the gash on my head.
“I think I can get away with some glue on this cut, Hayley. No stitches. You won’t be able to get it wet for twenty-four hours, so what I’m going to do is get pictures of your injuries for Marcus and then let you clean up as best you can before I fix this up. We’ll X-ray that hand then, and I’ll get you out of here.” She leans over and hugs me, and I grip her tightly. “Okay, let’s get this bit over and done with.”
