I didn’t know how far to run. Like all Shifters, I was blessed with endurance beyond what humans can fathom. And like all sherpas, I had a great sense of direction, so I knew I wasn’t going to get lost. I just wanted to get beyond the scent of the dogs. I scrambled over rough terrain, fell, scraped my knee, and cursed myself for leaving a blood trail. I hit a stream and waded through it for a while, the cold water numbing my cuts. Then I crossed over to the other side and backtracked. With any luck, if the dogs did come after me, they would become confused and lose track of my scent.
Or they’d chase Rafe instead. The scent of a wolf would probably attract them much more readily than my scent. Dropping to the ground, trembling from exhaustion, fear, and fury, I leaned against a tree and fought not to cry as the truth hit me hard.
Rafe hadn’t shifted so he could get into a better position to observe. He’d shifted because he was planning to draw the dogs away from me. I knew it as surely as I knew my name.
How could I have doubted his loyalty? Oh, God—I hope he was too busy to tap into my thoughts. Of course, they were so confused lately that I wasn’t sure anyone could make sense of them anyway. One minute I was worried about Connor; the next, my concern was for Rafe.
But my anxiety for Connor was about his safety alone. Whenever I thought about Rafe, the thoughts were more intense, filled with more dread—as though if something bad happened to him, it would happen to a part of me as well.
During the late afternoon, it occurred to me that when I’d wiped out my scent for the dogs, I might have prevented Rafe from finding me, too.
Great! I muttered inwardly. Now what? Should I try to return to the park entrance and alert the park rangers? Should I go back home and tell my dad, who had influence with the governor? These options meant opening up this struggle to the entire community of Shifters. And if we went into full-scale attack mode, there was a good chance that all our secrets would be revealed to the community at large—to the world. But if I did nothing or tried to do something by myself…If I failed…
I heard a twig snap and froze.
How long had I been sitting here, not paying attention to my surroundings, not listening for the sound of frenzied barking or the tread of heavy boots? Luckily, I could tell it was just a single being—dog or man, I didn’t know. But at least the odds weren’t totally against me.
I searched around until I found a good, solid branch that I could use as a weapon. I circled the large trunk of the tree and took up a position for attack in the opposite direction from where I’d heard the noise. If the person or whatever was coming this way, he—or it—would have to walk past me, and then bam! I’d knock him out and take my own prisoner. Not that I thought Mason would do any negotiating, but I’d take whatever small victory I could.
My mouth grew dry and my palms sweaty. My chest ached with a tightness as I tried not to breathe, not to make any movements that could be detected. I heard a soft footfall and tightened my grip around the branch.
Someone came into my line of vision. I swung blindly and suddenly found myself tackled to the ground by a heavy body. I’d lost my hold on the club, but I still had fists and started pounding—
“What the hell? Lindsey!”
Rafe grabbed my wrists and held them over my head. I could feel my rapid pulse beating against his thumb. His face was directly above mine, his chocolate-brown gaze homing in on mine.
“Oh my God, Rafe! I thought—” I couldn’t say aloud what I thought. That he was dead, or that he would never find me. That the enemy was near. And that the Shifters’ world as we knew it was totally destroyed.
“It’s okay,” he murmured over and over, leaning down to kiss my temple, my forehead, my nose, my chin. “It’s okay.”
With the comforting weight of his body on top of mine, I could almost believe him. I could almost believe that everything we’d seen happen earlier had been nothing more than a nightmare. He was real and warm and solid. He was with me, and I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. He released his hold on my wrists, and I reached up to touch the face that had been haunting my dreams. I combed my fingers through his thick hair. Caressing him, being caressed by him—it calmed me, brought order to my world.
All the terror that I’d been feeling was suddenly manageable. And I knew—knew—he would figure out a way for us to save our friends.
“So what did you find out?” I asked.
“That their dogs are fast and ferocious.”
I laid my palm against his cheek, my heart swelling. “You shifted so you could better draw them away from me.”
He dipped his head down and brushed his lips over mine as lightly as a butterfly would land on a petal. We both knew that now wasn’t the time for anything more—that whatever feelings we’d been trying to sort out would have to wait. At that moment, I didn’t think I could have adored him any more than I already did. No matter what I decided about my future, this moment between us would always be precious, simply because he was putting the welfare of others before our own pleasure.
“What those dogs would have done to me if they caught me—it was nothing compared with what Connor would have done to me if something had happened to you,” he said.
He was trying to make light of it, but I knew what he’d risked.
“Has Mason hurt them?”
With a sigh he rolled off me. “Not yet. They’re marching them somewhere, hands bound behind their backs.”
“So we can rescue them tonight?”
He squinted at the late afternoon sun and rubbed his nose. “We probably could, but I don’t think we should. I think we should follow, see where they’re going.”
“Are you crazy?” I shoved myself to a sitting position. “We can’t rescue them soon enough, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Just calm down for a minute and think about it, Lindsey. They’re going to take them to the lab. This way, we’ll know its location because they’ll lead us right to it.”
I didn’t like this plan. I didn’t like delaying things. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t see the wisdom in letting the Bio-Chrome scientists lead us right to the lab.
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“I think we go back to the lair tonight, see what we can salvage. They trashed the place.”
“Don’t you think they’re still watching it?”