Page 30 of Stolen

Chapter 15

The call came at dawn.

Hawk came awake in a spike of adrenalin and picked up his phone. It was Gunn, with Switch patched in. He put it on speaker so Ariana could hear.

She wrapped herself in the blankets and sat up, leaning against the headboard.

“We’ve got them,” Switch said. “Coming up Route 81 from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I’m refueling now, and my buddy is flying over from patrolling the eastern route to tag team with me. That way they won’t get suspicious about seeing the same chopper over and over. I’m just going to grab a power nap and head up to the next transfer point.”

Ariana whispered, “Isn’t it illegal for them to fly so many hours without more rest?”

Switch obviously had shifter hearing. “Only if someone finds out, sweetheart.”

Gunn said, “Do you have an updated ETA for when they’ll get to Outlaw Ridge?”

“Six to eight hours, I’d say,” Switch said. “Convoys travel slow, and heavy trucks suck a lot of fuel, so there’ll be at least one refueling stop. We can give you better estimates later on.”

Ariana went cold. Today. A few short hours and her brother would be here, bringing death and destruction with him.

Switch said, “There’s one more thing, and you’re not going to like it.”

“We don’t like any of this,” Gunn said. “Spit it out.”

“There’s more of them than we thought. My pilot friend figured twenty to twenty-five guys, but De León must have really crammed them into the troop transport plane, because judging by the number of trucks it’s more like fifty. And possibly some heavy artillery.”

Fifty men. It was a small army, not an extraction team. Her brother was truly planning to raze the town.

She saw the same realization in Hawk’s face. “Can you bring your team?” he asked Gunn.

“On our way. There’s only three of us, but we’ll do what we can. We won’t get there much before the cartel does, though.”

“Whatever you can do. Thanks, brother.”

“Any time.”

Hawk finished the call and turned to Ariana. “This is it,” he said simply.

She nodded. “So many men, Hawk. I’m afraid of what my brother plans to do.”

“It doesn’t matter what he plans,” Hawk said fiercely. “We’ll stop him.” He touched her gently, over her heart. “Can you still feel him?”

She startled. “No,” she said. “No, I can’t.” That fact brought both relief, and unexpected terror. Rico had been a shadow on her life—on her wolf—for so long, having him gone was like leaving a sewer and taking a deep, cleansing breath of fresh air.

But it also frightened her, because now she had no early warning system to tell her he was close, no contact to tell her what he might be up to. She hadn’t realized how she’d relied on that.

Hawk’s fingers drifted up to the claiming bite on her shoulder, already healed to a faint scar. “Then it worked. He has no hold on you anymore.”

Hope lifted in her, tinged with sadness. They’d done it. They’d broken the bond between her and Ricardo, by binding her to Hawk.

But he was now bound to her as well. She hoped desperately she didn’t destroy him.

Hawk and Thanatos had already spoken to the town officials the day before, alerting them to the danger approaching and setting evacuation plans in motion.

Now Hawk called the mayor, letting him know it was time. The townspeople would evacuate to the northeast, away from Outlaw Ridge and out of the path of the cartel. There was an old, abandoned inn, shut down several years ago, that would do for a temporary shelter. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to spend the night there, but they were taking supplies just in case.

Hawk and Ariana went into town to help them pack the trucks with community supplies. Food and paper goods from the grocery, gear from the camping store. Families loaded up their cars with their own belongings and started on their way.

Ariana filled boxes and helped load them. She’d insisted. This was all happening because of her; the least she could do was put her hands to work.