Chapter 24: Landon
We reached the river but our enemies were nowhere to be found. The fur along my spine was on edge as my hatred became almost uncontrollable. If these monsters thought they could kidnap my mate and get away with it then they had another think coming.
“Where are they?” I demanded, knowing that Roman was better at following a scent. “They have got to be somewhere.”
“I can’t smell a damned thing. It is like they were never here.”
“That’s because, they weren’t. They never intended to be here. That note was just another diversion to get us away from their tracks — to get us further away from Jane.” I kicked myself for being made a fool. I had never been this careless before. “This was another one of their tricks.”
“Fuck.”
“Looking for us?” All of a sudden, a couple of men wearing matching leather jackets came strutting forward like they were the owners of the entire universe. Outraged, I lunged forward, ready to shred those smirks right off their faces.
I was within a hair’s breadth of delivering the fatal blow when I was hit with the most excruciating pain of my life. I don’t even know how I should explain it.
“Landon!” Roman rushed to my rescue but in a moment’s notice, he was by my side, spasming with the same pain.
“Hasn’t anyone taught you to think before you act?” The bigger of the two placed his boot on my chest, threatening to crush it under his heel.
My human form betrayed me. I was unable to so much as lift a pinky. “What have you done to us?” I managed to say the words through gritted teeth. They weren’t very understandable but I was hoping it was enough to get the message across. “And where is Jane?”
“She’s fine,” answered the other. “Just fine. If you ask me, she’s much better off than she would have been staying with you two. A girl like that needs a pair of real wolves and our leaders are going to satisfy her in all the right ways.”
My strength returned in a burst of energy that had me off the ground. Without a second thought, I rammed myself into the Alpha, leaving Roman to deal with the lesser wolf but he was still on the ground, helpless after our paralyzing attack. That moment of distraction was a mistake.
Wham!
A fist knocked into my jaw. It came unhinged. I had just enough time to pop it back into place before another punch was thrown in my direction. I dodged at the last minute and managed to clip his legs. He fell back, hitting his head on the hard ground. Taking the window of opportunity as it presented itself to me, I was at his neck, teeth bared and ready to sink into his jugular. “Tell us where she is,” Roman spoke on my behalf, standing victorious over the other wolf. “Or your partner here is about to choke on his own blood.”
“You don’t have it in you, pretty boy. You aren’t a killer.”
“Do you really want to try me when your partner’s life hangs in the balance?” Roman pulled out his dagger and held it against the man’s neck. “Now, I suggest you start talking and you tell us exactly where our mate is being held.”
“Who says she’s still alive?”
Roman drew blood. His eyes had darkened to an almost blackness. I had never seen him act this way. Rage was close to consuming every fiber of his being.
With a growl, I curled my upper lip, revealing the sharp and deadly canines hiding underneath. I meant it as an act of intimidation but my killer instincts got the better of me.
Snap!
My jaw locked around his throat and with a jerk of my head, it was no longer a part of his body.
He gurgled, trying desperately to breathe but there was nothing he could do when he lacked a windpipe. The dying man grasped at the empty air above his head as if that might save him. In the end, the light faded from his eyes and he slumped into lifelessness.
“You didn’t have to kill him,” said Roman. “We can’t extract information from a dead man.”
“They weren’t going to tell us anything anyway,” I responded as I shifted into my human form and wiped the blood from my mouth. “They want to make us suffer. And they can only succeed in doing so if they keep Jane away from us but I’m not going to let that happen. We’re going to find her even if it is the last thing we do.”
Roman dropped the beta who was slowly regaining consciousness. To make sure he wouldn’t give us any grief, I knocked him out with a swift kick to the head.
“What has gotten into you?”
“This pack has messed with me one too many times,” I answered. “And I’m not going to stand for it. They are going to feel my wrath.”
“Remind me never to piss you off.”
“Come on, enough chit chat. We have a girl to find.”