Fever (Blood Moon Rising, #1) (13 page)

“
I can’t possibly think
about that now, not after the massacre that happened
yesterday.”

“
The Blood Moon rises in
three nights.”

“
And we have three wolves
to bury day after tomorrow!” Gage roared.

Nik stood, his voice every
bit as steely as his brother’s. “I’m aware of that. But regardless
of what happened in those woods, you are our leader, and to remain
so, you
have
to
mate before the Blood Moon sets. It’s in the law.”

Gage thought he would blow a fuse.
With a roar, he fisted his hands, tempted to throw something but
knowing it wouldn’t solve the problem at hand. “Damn our laws,” he
growled. “Can we not have a few days to grieve?”

Nik looked at him with sympathy,
resting a hand on his shoulder. “The Blood Moon Law is a magical
rite. You can’t risk losing Danica and your pack forever. Take some
time to grieve. I can call the families.”

“
No,” Gage said, grasping
his brother’s hand and squeezing. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m
not helpless. I can call.”

“
Take care of yourself,
brother. And don’t forget there’s nothing wrong with letting others
help you. You can’t carry the weight of the world on your
shoulders.”

Gage smiled slightly. “But I sure as
hell can try.”

Concern weighed down Nik’s sharp
features. “True, but how long will you last before you
break?”

He started to turn to leave when a
thought crossed Gage’s mind. “Do you think it was
planned?”

Nik paused. “What?”

“
The attack in the woods.
What if… what if it was someone in our pack trying to kill
Danica?”

“
Gage-”

“
No, listen. What when Onyx
failed, they lured us out to the woods, knowing it was a
trap.”

Nik shook his head. “The pack might be
a mess emotionally right now, but I don’t believe for a second any
of them would be out to get you like that. You’re not
Malachite.”

Gage shivered at the mention of the
cruel ex-Alpha’s name. “And I never will be,” he murmured, a
promise to himself.

Nik smiled. “No. You’re too kind.
You’re a damn good Alpha. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise,
including yourself.”

He walked off, leaving Gage in the
room by himself. He stared into the fire, then out over the bleak,
overcast sky. Deep down, it was one of his worst fears, that his
pack would betray him. He couldn’t blame them for being wary of a
new king. Seeing them so frightened, so scared… it had reminded him
of when he’d been alone, with no one to defend him. Except for Nik.
Nik had always been there, his guardian, tattooed angel. Gage knew
there was no way he could ever repay Nik for taking care of him
when he needed it most, so he had vowed to pay it forward by
helping out this pack. Truth be told, he didn’t want to be a
leader. But with Nik’s encouragement, he began to believe in
himself more and more. That he truly was capable of being a great
leader, a guide, a shepherd.

The urge to nurture and protect was
still in him. Growing up, Gage’s gentle heart had been a weakness
to the kids who bullied him. But as he grew older - and with Nik’s
guidance and nonjudgmental love - it became a strength.

He could - would - turn this
around.

With renewed hope, he prepared himself
mentally for the difficult task of delivering the news to the
victims’ families. He had almost made it to the door when he heard
Danica scream his name in his mind.

GAGE!

Her terror ripped through him, causing
him to stumble and grit his teeth.

“
No,” he breathed, the
moment he realized what was happening. Bolting through the door, he
raced up the stairs.

Nik saw him and immediately raced
after him. “What’s wrong?”

“
Danica.”

He didn’t stop to talk, only kept
running toward his bedroom. The guards stood at their posts, their
heads facing forward.

Gage slowed. Maybe he had only
imagined his beloved’s voice calling out to him, a reaction from
lack of sleep and stress. Then he saw the purple hue over the
guards’ eyes, and the blank expressions on their faces.

“
Damn,” Nik said, “they’ve
been enchanted.”

Which could only mean…

Gage tried the door, finding it
locked. Not wanting to waste another minute, he kicked the door
down and rushed inside, Nik close behind.

He searched the room, mentally and
physically, unable to find a paranormal signature or any sign of
his Danica.

She was gone.

Chapter 13

Since Onyx had gagged her - and
threatened to shoot her should she not comply - she’d been pretty
quiet. But he didn’t say anything about reaching out to Gage with
her mind.

It was weird, and she had no idea if
she was doing it right, but she focused every brain cell on Gage’s
handsome face. Then she started yelling his name in her
head.

Onyx had also tied her hands behind
her back. As he guided her out the window and to the edge of the
roof, she started having second thoughts about this whole
kidnapping thing. Onyx must have sensed it, because the barrel of
the gun pressed to the back of her skull.

“
Don’t think for one minute
I won’t follow through,” Onyx growled into her ear. “It would give
me great pleasure to kill you, then march back in there and take
out that obnoxious wolf of yours.”

The thought of Gage coming to harm at
her expense was too great a pain to bear. Nodding once so he’d get
she wouldn’t try anything, Onyx pulled her to him and jumped. Her
scream was muffled by the handkerchief, her eyes wide as they
plummeted toward the ground. Like an animal, Onyx landed on his
feet, catching Danica so she wouldn’t injure herself.

Two shadows moved around the side of
the house. Danica recognized them as two of Gage’s packmates.
Spotting her bound and gagged, one of them swore and started to
transform when Onyx aimed and shot him. The bullet went clean
through his head. The man’s body arched backward, and Danica’s eyes
widened further as he hit the ground, dead.

“
Let’s go!” Onyx hissed,
dragging her across the lawn toward the woods.

The second were had Changed, coming up
behind them in a blur of snarls and brown fur. Onyx whirled,
placing Danica in front of him as a shield, and planting the gun
against her temple.

The wolf drew up short, lips pulled
back over its fangs, ears pinned low against its head.

“
Tell your master not to
pursue us, or I’ll kill her,” Onyx demanded.

Danica trembled against him, not sure
if she should be more afraid of her captor or the ferocious, giant
wolf pawing at the dirt like a bull about to charge.

After a stare down, the wolf at last
turned and ran back toward the house, howling. Danica’s eyes
flashed up to her bedroom window to see Gage.

Though he was too far away for her to
tell for certain, she swore their eyes met. It was a feeling she
had inside, a rush of hope that was quickly extinguished when Onyx
took her into the woods.

This part of Harper’s Forest wasn’t
nearly as ominous as that which surrounded the witch’s cabin, but
it still made her skin crawl to be handled so roughly by
Onyx.

Her heart pounded in her chest as
panic set in, making it harder to think.

You have to stay calm. You
can’t afford to lose focus in case an opportunity to escape or tell
landmarks shows up.
If she could give Gage
directions and clues, maybe she could guide him to where Onyx was
taking her.

A black SUV was parked along a dirt
path. Onyx shoved her in the backseat, then walked around toward
the driver’s side.

Danica immediately tried going for the
door handle while his back was turned, but he grabbed her hair and
yanked her away.

She glared at him as he started the
engine, her scalp burning. She had a hundred questions and couldn’t
ask any of them.

Closing her eyes, Danica
focused on sending info to Gage.
Black SUV.
License Plate 067HGNM.
At least, she hoped
that’s what it was.

“
Oh, no you
don’t.”

Danica had just enough time to open her
eyes and see the butt of the gun flying toward her skull. There was
a cracking sound, followed by a flash of pain, and then darkness
pulled her under.

Chapter 14

As Gage climbed through the window and
leapt from the roof, he couldn’t get the image of his mate staring
back at him, green eyes wide with fear. If Onyx hurt
her….

He would kill him, either way. No one
broke into his house, kidnapped his mate, without paying the
price.

With fury running through his veins,
he started to shift when Nik yelled, “Wait!”

Gage Changed as fast as he could,
ignoring his brother. If Nik weren’t as fast a shifter, he might
have actually made it all the way to the woods before the great
brown wolf pounced on him, and the two went rolling through the
grass. Desperate and panicked, Gage snapped his teeth at Nik,
growling as he tried bucking him off.

Stop it!
Nik yelled telepathically.

What the hell are you
doing?
Gage yelled back.
They’re getting away!

We’re in no shape to chase
them down. There are too few of us.

Then let me go after them
alone.

No
,
Nik said firmly, growling low in his throat.

Gage paused.
Are
you
working with Onyx?

Nik barked a laugh.
Don’t be stupid. You couldn’t pay me to cooperate
with thug-ilk like Onyx. I thought you knew me better than
that.

I don’t know what to
believe.

We need a plan. We need to
regroup the others.

Gage strained to turn his neck enough
to be able to see the SUV he could hear driving away in the woods.
That’s when Danica shouted something at him through their bond - a
license plate.

Gage’s tail wagged.
Perfect
.

What?

She gave us a lead.
He started to sit up, and this time Nik let him.
Shifting back to human form, Gage stalked toward the house, not
caring in the least he was naked. The only thing that mattered was
getting Danica back as soon as possible, before anyone could hurt
her.

If Onyx hadn’t already.

Gage’s throat tightened with
worry.

Nik had shifted back as
well, and followed him into the house. Gage reached out to his
packmates. One of the perks of being the Alpha was the ability to
reach out to his fellow wolves whenever and wherever they
were.
Board room - now.

Soon as Mary spied him, she just
sighed. “I’ll get you both some pants.” Muttering something about
“indecent, knucklehead wolves,” she scurried off to one of the
guest rooms. She’d seen so many naked men wandering around the
mansion it was commonplace for her now. Mary got it - she was were
after all.

Mary returned with pants for both Gage
and Nik about the time the first wolf rolled in, a youngster named
Jason.

“
What’s happened?” he
asked, toweling off his still-damp hair. His face was flushed and
the scent of pine body wash clung to his pores.

“
My mate’s been kidnapped,”
Gage said, pacing. If he didn’t move about, he’d go mad.

Jason’s face turned serious. “What do
we need to do?”

Gage had to admit, he was impressed
with the kid’s maturity. He had almost not let him join the pack,
with him being only nineteen, but not once had he felt like he was
babysitting. The kid had pulled his own, more so than some of the
adult members.

“
I have a license plate
we’ll need to get one of our friends in the D.P.I. to do a quick
trace on,” Gage said.

Nik whipped out his cell phone. “On
it.”

“
After that,” Gage went on,
“We’ll need to track it down, which is why we can’t waste too much
time. For all we know, the vehicle could be stolen.”

“
Got it,” Nik announced.
“Thank God for witchery. It seriously scares the shit out of me
sometimes, but times like this, I have to admit tracing spells are
pretty handy. Verika said she’d even put a Trail on the
vehicle.”

Gage’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and
he made a mental note to take her out to dinner for all the help
she’d been. It was a good thing Nik was on such good terms with his
ex. He was actually on remarkably good terms with most of his exes,
a quality that astounded Gage.

“
Well, then, let’s waste no
time.” Gage paused. “Where are the others?”

Jason and Nik looked around, then at
the floor.

Gage didn’t have to ask to
see what had happened.
They’re abandoning
me.
They must still be upset with him over
what had happened in the woods.