By the grace of God, he hit the ground feetfirst. Even so, it felt like every bone in his body broke at once as he tumbled and rolled, doing everything he could to protect Jes.
Jake had a fraction of a second to realize they were both alive when he caught a flash of movement above them. Cursing, he scrambled to the side just as the remains of the helicopter smashed into the ground where they’d been mere moments ago. Even though it hurt like four guys were beating him with baseball bats, he kept moving to avoid being crushed by the falling metal and burning fuel.
He finally stopped when he felt water lapping at his crushed knees. He’d be damned. Somehow, he and Jes had come down on the beach. Fire, smoke, and wreckage from the helicopter was everywhere, just like the crash he’d survived in Afghanistan. Somewhere in the distance, the rocket was back on the ground and burning like a frigging small sun.
The pain in his body was everywhere and so overwhelming that all Jake wanted to do was pass out and make it go away. But he fought against the curtain of blackness trying to sweep over him. He needed to check on Jes first.
Jake turned his head to find her leaning over him, bruised and battered but blessedly alive. Giving him a smile, she bent down to kiss him gently on the mouth. She murmured words he couldn’t make out, but that was okay. Her arms were around him and that was good enough. The worst of the pain slowly faded, and before he realized it, Caleb, Harley, and Misty were there. Caleb and Harley helped him to his feet, supporting him between them as they slowly headed toward the boat sliding up on the beach.
It wasn’t until they were all safely in the boat and on their way back to the hotel and he was once more cradled in Jes’s arms that Jake realized one of their teammates were missing.
“Where’s Forrest?” he murmured.
On the other side of the boat, Misty began to sob softly. A tearful Harley put her arm around the girl, while Caleb turned his head and looked off at the horizon, blinking rapidly.
“Still in London,” Jes said softly, her eyes glistening with tears as she gazed down at him. “We need to go bring him home.”
Tears stung his own eyes then.
Damn.
Jake wanted to tell Misty how sorry he was, but right then, talking took more energy than he had. So instead, he let the darkness wash over him as he melted into his mate’s embrace.
Chapter 19
London
Jes hung back with Misty and Harley as Jake and Caleb led the way down into the basement of the Lanesborough Hotel. McKay had pulled a buttload of strings to get them a direct military airlift out of South America and back to London, a Metro Police escort from Heathrow, and full access to every part of the hotel.
“I want to be up there with Jake and Caleb,” Misty said brokenly, barely holding back tears as they walked down the steps, maintenance staff, Metro Police, and paramedics trailing behind. “I need to be there for him.”
As they walked through the basement, Jes put her arm around Misty’s shoulders, partly to lend support and partly to keep her from charging ahead and seeing something she should never have to see. “Let’s stay back here until they find Forrest, okay?”
Misty looked at Jes, the tears she’d been holding back rolling down her face. No one had said it in front of Misty, but they didn’t have to. It had been over four days since the natum had attacked Forrest. Even if he’d somehow made it through whatever the creature had done to him, four days was a long time to keep himself alive. Since none of the hotel workers had found him, it almost certainly meant the natum had moved him. Or disposed of his body.
The flight from Kourou to London had been excruciating for all of them. Jake had slept until his inner wolf healed itself, which ended up being most of the journey. He’d broken nearly every bone in his body when they’d hit the ground, while she’d barely gotten bruised. Jes still didn’t know how he was alive. She was just glad he was.
When he finally did wake up, Jake spent the time beating himself up about not figuring out the reason Forrest smelled like a natum had nothing to do with the blood that had gotten on him but because he was one of the creatures. Harley and Caleb shared his pain on that front. Misty cried for hours, wanting to know how she hadn’t realized the thing that had been with them for days wasn’t the real Forrest, the man she loved.
“He wouldn’t even kiss me,” she said over and over. “I should have known there was something wrong.”
Jes prayed for Misty’s sake they were all wrong and that, somehow, Forrest was alive.
“I have his scent,” Jake said from up ahead.
The trail took them on a meandering path through a basement that looked like it was the disjointed amalgamation of a hundred years’ worth of additions and renovations. Several times, locked doors got in their way. When the maintenance people said they’d have to go find the key, either Jake or Caleb kicked them in, much to the hotel workers’ obvious dismay.
Jake and Caleb stopped in front of a heavy metal door with a sign that readHVAC. No Entry Allowed.They exchanged looks and surged forward, slamming into the door together.
Misty tried to follow them into the room, but Jes held her back.
“He’s here!” Jake called. “And he’s alive!”
Misty was through the door in a flash.
Jes hurried after her into the dimly lit and cluttered room. Loud air-conditioning and heating units as big as Jes’s apartment filled the space, and for a moment, she couldn’t figure out where Jake had gone. Then she caught sight of him motioning at them from behind a big metal unit. Jes quickly followed Misty down the narrow passageway between the unit and the wall.
It was pitch-black in the tight space, but with the help of a flashlight, they soon found Forrest shoved into the very back corner, naked except for socks and his underwear. Down on one knee beside him, Jake looked up at her and Misty in disbelief.
