Connor didn’t say anything because he knew Hale was right. A partially shifted werewolf could run thirty to thirty-five miles an hour over open ground, but even they couldn’t keep up with a vehicle on a clear stretch of road.
He and Hale were only about twenty feet from catching up when one of the back windows of the SUV on the left opened and a hand came out, pointing in Hale’s direction. There was a cracking sound as loud as a gunshot, then Hale cried out in pain and went down hard, tumbling across the rough ground. Connor ground his jaw. He was pretty sure the bastard had just broken Hale’s legs.
“Go!” Hale shouted. “Don’t let them get away!”
Connor growled in frustration but kept going even as he had to throw himself to the side in a roll to avoid a hand pointed out the window in his direction now. It was bizarre, diving to avoid a threat he couldn’t even see. By the time he was on his feet and back up to full speed, all three vehicles had reached the road and were gaining ground.
He considered continuing the chase on foot but knew it was worthless. So, instead, he turned to the right, heading for his own truck. It would take a few seconds to get it started and then turned around, but if he floored it, he might be able to catch up. He’d improvise from there.
He’d nearly reached his pickup when all four tires blew out at once. A split second later, the same thing happened to the tires on Trevor’s Thunderbird.
“Dammit!” he roared.
The precious seconds he’d wasted racing to his truck would be nearly impossible to get back. But since he didn’t have any other option, Connor turned and began sprinting down the road toward the three sets of taillights already a few hundred feet away. He didn’t like his odds of being able to catch up to them now.
Connor was running faster than he ever had in his life when the unexpected happened and the two SUVs actually slowed down so much that he was forced to swerve in order to avoid running right into the back end of one of them.
Before he could recover, the other SUV swung sideways, slamming into Connor and knocking him off the road. The impact from the vehicle was bad, but tumbling and bouncing across the ground was worse. He curled into a ball to protect himself but still bounced for another hundred feet across the plowed field.
When he finally came to a stop facedown and feeling like he’d broken half the bones in his body, he knew the chase was over. Lifting his head, he watched the taillights of the three vehicles slowly disappear into the distance.
Connor sat up slowly, cataloging the myriad aches and pains spreading through his body. But as much as the physical damage hurt him, it was the mental wreckage that wounded him worse. They’d failed to get Addy, Ben, and Cheyenne back. On top of that, they’d gotten their asses kicked. He and his pack mates had faced so many unbelievable threats, coming out on top every time. It was stupid, but he’d started buying into the idea that there was nothing and no one they couldn’t handle. But after tonight, he was forced to accept the reality that when it came to these witches and warlocks, the Pack was simply overmatched.
Trevor showed up a few seconds later to help him up. Back toward the farmhouse, Connor saw Kat and Rachel kneeling beside Hale. His friend was sitting up but making no attempt to stand. His legs were probably too badly damaged to allow them to work right now. It would take a while for them to heal.
Connor and Trevor slowly made their way over to them. Kat didn’t look like she’d gotten hurt in that tumble they’d taken, and for that, he was immensely grateful. She still seemed tired as hell, though. That knowledge tore a hole in his gut. It was his fault she’d had to fight again in the first place.
“Is there any chance you can do that Find Me charm again on Cheyenne?” Connor asked.
Kat shook her head as she sat beside Hale. “Now that they know that I’m with you, they can obscure all the kids. I won’t be able to find them that way. If it helps, I don’t think they’re planning to kill them, at least not yet, or they already would have done it.”
Trevor glanced at his Thunderbird sitting on the side of the road with four blown-out tires, then looked at them. “I suppose it goes without saying that those were witches and warlocks, right?”
Kat nodded, looking lost and broken. “Yeah. I recognize some of them from when Marko attacked my coven years ago. The big guy who tried to kill me is Tatum Graves. He’s Marko’s right-hand man. He pretty much runs the coven when Marko isn’t around.”
Sighing, Connor dropped on the grass beside Kat, wrapping an arm around her. Well, at least now they knew who—and what—they were up against.
Chapter 11
It was nearly ten in the morning by the time Kat and Connor got back to his apartment. She was so exhausted by then that she thought falling asleep on her feet was a distinct possibility. The moment they walked through the door, she headed straight for the sectional couch and collapsed onto it.
Connor disappeared into his bedroom, then came out a few moments later with sweatpants and a T-shirt. “I figured you might want to clean up.”
She was too tired to do anything more than sit there, but a glance at her clothes confirmed she was a mess. There were rips and scorch marks on her jeans and long-sleeve shirt, along with dirt and mud stains. She shoved herself off the couch and took the clothes he held out.
“Thanks,” she said.
The shower revived her more than she would have thought possible. In fact, she felt almost like the human she now was by the time she stepped onto the fluffy bath mat and dried off. As she ran the soft towel over her damp skin, she replayed the events that had transpired last night and this morning. Finding the kids, then losing them again, had been heartrending. Then watching Connor almost get smashed flat by that SUV had nearly torn her already fragile heart right out. Realizing that Marko was not only behind the kidnapping but also now knew Kat was in Dallas was beyond terrifying. For a moment, she’d frozen up completely, unable to function at the thought, that after all these years, she’d finally been caught.
And yet, feeling Connor’s arm around her as they’d sat there on the ground after everything had almost been enough to make up for all the horrible things that had happened. In one simple gesture, it had seemed like the distance between them had closed drastically. Not completely perhaps, but it was so much better than it had been.
Kat eyed her bra and panties, shuddering at the idea of putting the sweaty things back on after stepping out of the shower. Instead, she pulled on the sweatpants Connor had given her, glad there was a drawstring in them, or they wouldn’t have stayed up. Even then, she had to roll up the waist a few times to keep the wide bottoms from dragging the floor. A smile tugged at her lips as she slipped on the T-shirt and got a good look at the words on the front.Property of SWAT. Nope, she shouldn’t like that, but damn if she did anyway.
Luckily, the T-shirt was loose enough to not give away the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Leaning forward was probably out of the question, though, unless she wanted to give Connor a free show. Which, now that she thought about it, might not necessarily be a bad thing.
She ran Connor’s brush through her hair, put some toothpaste on her finger and ran it over her teeth, then swished with mouthwash and called it a day.
Connor was in the kitchen when she came out and climbed back onto the couch. He walked into the living room a few moments later with two plates piled high with a collection of sandwiches and two glasses of diet soda. There was ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, and if she wasn’t mistaken, peanut butter and cheese. Okay, that was different.
