“What’s the problem?”
“There’s someone on the Blackwood Pack land who’s firing a gun. I don’t know who it is yet, but I have a team going out to find three of my pack members who are missing.”
Reeve’s animal was suddenly on high alert which was never a good sign. “Who’s missing?”
“Willow, my mother, and Smokey.”
“Willow Thatcher? The eyewitness?”
“That’s the one. Have you caught Josiah?”
“Not yet,” Reeve growled. “You think that’s who’s responsible?”
“Don’t know, but my gut tells me it is.”
So did Reeve’s. There wasn’t a better place to hide than on the Blackwood Pack land because it would be the last place he’d normally look.Fuck!“I’ll be there asap.”
“Fine,” Jackson said, ending the call abruptly. If Reeve thought he was gonna wait for him to arrive, he was in for a rude awakening. As far as Jackson was concerned, the man should have done his job sooner. Now he was facing the possibility that Josiah might have killed others. This time, though, Jackson was going to make sure his uncle would never be able to harm his family again.
~/~/~/~/~
Falling for the fourth time, Hope refused to get up. The pace Josiah had set was brutal, and considering she hadn’t yet fully recovered, it surprised her that she’d been able to go for as long as she had.
“Get up!”
“I can’t,” Hope insisted. “I need to rest first.”
Looking at her with contempt. Josiah yanked her to her feet. He knew she was trying to delay him, hoping that somehow she might be rescued. But he was having none of that. “Walk…or I’ll blow your brains out!”
Taking a few more steps, Hope’s legs gave out and despite Josiah’s threat, she could walk no further and collapsed ontothe forest floor. Closing her eyes, she began praying to the gods, asking them to keep her family safe from Josiah’s evilness.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Josiah muttered, gazing down at the woman who would be his new mate. Tucking his gun into the back of his jeans, he bent down and grabbed Hope, slinging her over his shoulder. He had half a mind to kill her, but he held back. There’d be plenty of time for that if she spurned the life he’d planned for them.
Hanging upside down over Josiah’s shoulder, the movement of his walking made Hope sick and dizzy. Fighting the urge to throw up, she sought a distraction to keep her mind off her agitated stomach. “Where are we going, Josiah?” she asked.
“I’m taking you where you always wanted to be…my home.”
Frowning, Hope replied, “I don’t understand…I never told you that.”
“Striker did,” Josiah said. “He said he was gonna marry you even though you really wanted me. Now, you can have me.”
“I don’t believe you,” Hope said, faintly, refusing to give Josiah any excuse for his killing of her pups. But in her mind was a niggling thought that her husbandhadsaid it, but only to get the better of his older brother. But with her husband dead, she had no way to explain it to Josiah.And even if I could, what use would it be now? Better to keep quiet.
~/~/~/~/~
Smokey was getting close—he could now get an occasional glimpse of Josiah and Hope. Careful not to alert Josiah, he moved deeper into the forest and made sure he was downwind from him. Stepping carefully over dead branches and twigs on the ground, he reduced his pace. Deciding when to attackdepended on several things, the most important of which was making sure Hope wasn’t near her captor. And since he was carrying her now, Smokey hung back, waiting for the right moment. Of course, everything would change if Smokey saw his prey hurt Hope, or if he saw him heading for a car to make his escape. Then he’d have no option but to attack him head-on, because then Hope would be in more danger than she was now.
~/~/~/~/~
Hope’s stomach couldn’t take anymore and if Josiah didn’t set her on her feet soon, she knew she’d lose her fight to keep down her lunch. Hitting Josiah’s back, she cried, “Put me down now or I’m gonna throw up!” Within seconds, Hope found herself sitting on the ground, her head between her legs to ease her nausea. After a few moments, she was able to lift her head. “I have to rest, Josiah…I haven’t been well.”
Studying his captive, Josiah could see the exhaustion on her face and reluctantly accepted her claim. “Five minutes.” He kept his eyes on her for a few minutes, before turning and walking over to sit down on a felled tree trunk. He took his gun out and glanced around the forest before returning his gaze to Hope. “You’re gonna love your new home…so much nicer than the crappy one my brother gave you…that old rundown house our father built. Striker never valued you…but I will. You’ll see. Too bad my brother isn’t alive to see it…he’d have turned green with envy. He was always a jealous prick…that’s why he convinced our father to kick me out, so he could have the Fox River pack all to himself.”
“You challenged your father and lost. My mate had nothing to do with it.”
Anger flooded Josiah. “You’re lying! My brother was always trying to take away what was mine! But not anymore…I made sure of that.”
“You mean when you killed him,” Hope said, softly.
