Something stirred inside him, and Ward gasped, the strange feeling oddly reminiscent of the way his mind connected to Mathias when they made love. He didn’t have much time, so he didn’t rationalize it.
Instead, he instinctively reached out to Mathias and hoped for the best. “It’s my sister’s best friend, Vera. She’s lost her mind. She has Teresa too. She knows about you being a werewolf, and I think she’s working with someone else. Be careful.”
Somehow, he knew the message reached Mathias, but when he drifted back into his own consciousness, Ward was exhausted. He also realized something entirely different—the fact that he had more things to worry about than his own well-being and Mathias’s. Teresa wasn’t the only one who was in a delicate condition. He was pregnant. Fuck.
Mate bonds between shape-shifters didn’t provide a telepathic link. Emotions came through, but not thoughts or clear messages. It was only during sex, during a claiming, that mates could temporarily share a consciousness.
Mathias understood why things had to be that way. People were not meant to live in each other’s heads. Even mates needed privacy, and not having it would mean forcing an individual to police his or her every thought. In the long run, that would be disastrous.
Still, this time around, he couldn’t help but be frustrated. He could experience his mate’s panic and shock, but he couldn’t figure out any other useful piece of information. He felt helpless and angry, his magic and his wolf lashing out inside him, desperate to hurt, protect, and find.
In his wolf form, his instincts were even stronger, and he pursued them, pursued the scent of his distressed mate. The kidnappers had come and gone in a car, but Mathias had no trouble tracking it down. For the most part, the road was empty, and while the scents of the wild could have conspired to distract Mathias, he was far too experienced at tracking to be fooled.
His destination turned out to be an abandoned house on the other side of Willow Cove. Mathias wasn’t familiar with the property, but he didn’t have to be. He saw the car parked next to it and sensed Ward’s scent. That was enough.
He wanted nothing more than to burst inside and free his mate, but something held him back. It was too quiet. There was no one within view, no sign of an opponent. Mathias was too old to deem that a good thing.
His werewolf senses might have had a hard time finding anything, but he sensed the energy of more presences than he’d expected within the house. More people, then? Why? Scowling, he approached the building carefully, sticking to the shadows, doing his best to be as inconspicuous as possible. He reached an open window, and the scent of blood struck him instantly, making his muscles seize for a brief moment.
It wasn’t Ward’s blood. Judging from the emotions coming through their bond, Ward was, for the most part, physically unharmed. Ward’s kidnappers clearly weren’t fooling around. Mathias needed to be careful, or this whole situation would blow up in his face.
Even as he thought this, a wave of shock settled over him, the panic and confusion so intense they nearly floored him. They didn’t belong to him, but Mathias still felt them with a clarity that made his fangs ache for blood. And then, he heard it, heard Ward’s voice in his mind.“It’s my sister’s best friend, Vera. She’s lost her mind. She has Teresa too. She knows about you being a werewolf, and I think she’s working with someone else. Be careful.”
Mathias had already identified the kidnappers by scent, so that didn’t surprise him. The rest of it, however, struck him like a ton of bricks.
Ward shouldn’t have been able to speak to him telepathically. And from what Mathias knew, Vera was just a regular human. Mathias had thought Ward’s sister Teresa had been behind the whole thing—he’d sensed her scent as well—but if she’d been kidnapped as well, things were obviously more complicated than that.
Clearly, Vera had some sort of reason for wanting to hurt Ward—Mathias had yet to figure out what it was—but she was human nonetheless, and someone who shouldn’t have known about the paranormal world, just like Ward hadn’t.
However, Mathias was also aware of recent suspicious events that had involved Will’s Lone Wolf Pack. It was obvious that he’d been too optimistic in his assessment of the reasons behind the failure of his protective spells. Vera had exploited the similarities between Teresa’s energy signature and Ward’s, but a random human shouldn’t have been able to do that. After all, Mathias had a lot of experience, and cracking his spells wasn’t easy. He suspected Vera might have gotten involved with something far bigger than her, and that made the situation even more serious.
Mathias needed a plan, something that would not endanger Ward. He mentally cursed himself for leaving without providing any explanations, because backup would have been very useful right about now.
It was much too late for that. Before he could even consider temporarily reassessing his approach, a very distinctive whoosh reached his ears. Mathias leaped back, just in time to avoid the bullet that had been headed his way.
The projectile embedded itself in the wall, but Mathias wasn’t out of the woods yet. A few more bullets followed the path of his retreat. Even as he dodged, Mathias frowned. The shooter wasn’t trying to kill him. The angle of the bullets suggested he or she was aiming for Mathias’s hindquarter. However, they were also not trying too hard—which could only mean one thing. They knew exactly who they were dealing with.
Considering everything that had happened, it didn’t come as a huge surprise. Mathias had made quite a splash in the werewolf world since he’d lost to Dean Simmons at the Gathering. There was only so much anonymity he could expect after that. The fact that his opponents had disarmed his wards meant they were probably ready for Mathias’s hybrid skills. More alarmingly, it meant they had a very good reason to be here. Otherwise they’d have never risked messing with the Folk.
Well, whatever the case, Mathias knew better than to negotiate with them. Using his enhanced senses, he attempted to find his opponent. The sniper targeting him was staying downwind, but no method was foolproof. Now that Mathias knew what he was looking for, he zeroed in on the energy signature.
The sniper was hiding in a tree a good distance away from the house, and the path between the two points left Mathias exposed. His anger gave him speed, and he lunged forward, so quickly he seemed to take aback even the sniper who’d been after him.
Several bullets grazed him, the silver burn barely registering in Mathias’s consciousness. He hit the tree at full speed, so hard that if not for his paranormal abilities, he’d have cracked several ribs. The trunk splintered and the sniper leaped out from the branches just before his haven could collapse from under him.
The human landed in a crouch, with a preternatural grace that spoke of long-term training. Still, Mathias heard the sound of protesting bone, and he knew that his prey was at least partially immobilized. Perfect. He appreciated a good hunt, but now was not the time for it. His mate was waiting.
He intended to pounce on the sniper and take out the threat with the liberal application of claws and fangs, but the sound of clapping interrupted him. He looked up, just in time to see several masked men emerge from the building. One of them—the same person who’d expressed his appreciation of Mathias’s abilities—stepped forward and chuckled. “Very impressive, Mr. Girard. Congratulations. It looks like we have the right man.”
Mathias would have been confused or even outraged, but he couldn’t spare the attention for that. It took him a single second to realize the full extent of his failure and his predicament. In truth, he hated himself for even that delay, because he should have felt it. He should have sensed his mate’s approach the moment another of the masked men had dragged him out.
The strangers didn’t bother pointing their weapons at Mathias. They just held Ward at gunpoint. The message was clear, and Mathias stepped away from his prey, unable to suppress a growl.
Seeing his mate gagged and bruised, while he was a few feet away and unable to do anything to help—it was probably the most torturous experience Mathias had ever endured in his long existence. Still, he knew better than to try anything. Despite his speed, he wasn’t faster than a bullet, and not even Sidhe magic could bring back the dead.
The first man smirked, as if guessing his thoughts. “Now, now. We’re all reasonable men here. Come. We just want to have a conversation.”
The barrel of a gun pressed into Ward’s jaw, and Mathias knew he had no choice but to play along. He shifted into his human form and clenched his hands into fists. “What do you want?”