It was supposed to be an easy job. Get the phone and run like hell. Make a few hundred bucks for food, a nice hot shower, and a warm bed to sleep in for a night or two if I'm feeling greedy. I was fast on my feet, could blend with any crowd, and kne...
I growled at the sound of that howl. "Luke," I said, not thinking that Markus could hear me in my wolf form.
"Why do I get the feeling you don't like this... Luke?" Markus laughed as we leaned against the wall to try peeking outside.
"He was leading a team of trackers to follow Sam, but when Sam got attacked by a Wolf Spider, they were nowhere to be found. I removed him from the leader spot and gave it to someone I could trust. If he has the spot back, it just confirms he was working for my father this whole time. They much have known Sam was my mate and tried to get him killed back then or just wanted him out of the way so I didn't find out they were working with Hunters at the time," I told him. It all pointed back to my father. Everything that had happened was because of him. Sam just happened to get in the way and got the hunter's attention. It all made sense now.
"My father wanted me dead this whole time. He was even willing to bring down the whole fucken city and pack to do it. One way or another, he planned to overthrow me and got Hunters involved. This would have happened with or without Sam stumbling into my life. That snake. The whole pack will fall under his leadership. How the hell did we make it this far with him as a leader before?"
"I know you're having a crisis right now, but maybe we should think about how we are going out of here first. I can smell a lot of wolves out there," Markus cut me off. "So are we killing them or trying to get out without blood shade? It's your former pack, so it's your call, Alpha."
I looked over and scuffed at him. I wasn't used to this vampire bond. It was different from the bond we shifters had. We could choose to link, but with him, he could hear my thoughts whether I wanted him to or not.
"Come on out, Emmett!" I heard Luke yell. "I can smell you're still alive in there with that demon!"
I shifted back, taking cover by Markus to see them outside. "What happened to Zack?" I asked, trying to buy us a little time to think of a plan.
"Well, I wanted to kill the little mutt, but your father thought it would be better to break him into submission." He and some of the others laughed.
"Not all of them worked for my father," I whispered to Mackus. "Some of them are probably just following orders so they wouldn't get beaten too."
"Could you trust them right now, though? I mean, at the moment, you're not their lead alpha."
"I wish I could say yes, but I don't know. My link with them is broken," I told Markus. Relieving this made Viv come to mind. I left her there alone with no one. Mason left with Sam and Lily, and I banished Brian for a while. She must be in so much pain with the link shifting and chaos throughout the whole pack, especially if my father was beating others into submission like Luke claimed. "I'm not in the right condition to fight them off either."
"Yeah, I couldn't heal your strength, just your body. We'll have to make a run for it. You think you can do that?"
I nodded, but before we found another way out, I could hear a van pull to a stop.
"Oh, good! Looks like I might get my wish after all," Luke said, making me turn back to what was happening outside. "Since you won't come back of there willingly, how about we try this?" He opened the back door and dragged a bloody body out of the back. The black hair gave me an idea of who it was, and I growled. "I'll count to five, and if you don't come out, I'll kill Zack right here and now." He dropped Zack's limp body in front of the group. "He is still alive, but barely."
"His telling the truth," Markus whispered over me. "I can hear his heartbeat. It's weak. If you try to save him, they'll kill you as soon as you step out. Sam needs you, so I'm not letting you do that."
"One!"
"I can't just let him die. He's a good and loyal kid. If I trusted anyone out there, he's it. I am not going to let them kill him," I growled.
"Two!"
"Can you heal him like you healed me?" I asked, feeling myself start to panic.
"You're not sacrificing yourself for him!" he hissed back.
"Three!"
"I can't let him die like this," I said, looking straight into his eyes.
Markus growled as he stood up. "Fine. I'm faster than all of you here. So you better do as I say, or I swear I'll leave him there to die and carry you to Sam myself. Bite and claw me all you want."
Markus told me the plan as fast as he could. I didn't want to do it, but to save Zack, I didn't have a choice.
"Fine!" I yelled out the door before Luke should say five. "I'm coming out."
I shifted and looked over at Markus before stepping out. Luke stood with an ear-to-ear smile, holding a knife against Zack's throat. With their attention on me, I scanned the area. I knew where I was, and once I had a route in mind, I turned and ran away from them as fast as I could.
Before turning the corner, I looked back to ensure Markus was holding up his end of the plan. Sam might trust him, but I didn't. He was only here to make sure I got back to Sam, not help me save someone else, but to my surprise, he was there.
Luke and the others, standing the closest to Zack, were thrown into the others behind them, and he was just picking up Zack before I took off again.
I told Marus where I was going, and he was in front of me before I could finish. I wanted him to go ahead of me with Zack, but he refused to go too far ahead. Zack looked in bad shape. His body in Markus's arms was so still, but I couldn't stop.
We weaved through a few old factories, but I knew it wouldn't get them off our trail. I needed to come up with a different plan. It was still two miles to the border, and they were slowly gaining on us since I wasn't at my full speed yet, thanks to the Wolf's Bane.
Without warning, Markus slips off ahead of me. When I caught up he was gently putting Zack down on the ground.
"Watch him. I've grown a little fond of him," he said before running off.
I shifted back, panting to catch my breath as I looked Zack over. He has cuts and bruises all over him. Why weren't they healing yet? It hadn't been that long since the challenge. How could they do that much damage?
I started thinking about when the last time I saw him was. Three or four days ago? Had they been beating him all that time behind my back? Was his body too weak to heal because of that?
"I'm so sorry, Zack," I said, resting my forehead against his as guilt ran through me. "This was all my fault."
"God, stop feeling sorry for yourself. I'll be there in a few minutes. I need you to start running again now. I'll get the boy and catch up once I finish buying us some time," Markus's voice ran through my head.
I looked down at Zack. I couldn't leave him here alone like this.
"You either run, or I drag you out instead, Alpha. It'll make this a lot easier."
I growled loud through our bond. "Don't forget him here!" I yelled and took off running again in my wolf form, forcing my paws to keep going and not look back.
****
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