Chapter 196

[ 1,406 words ]

Ransom

A shot rings out from the woods, and I know in my bones that it is Sage.

“Sigrid, Phillip, with me,” I yell, running towards the woods. “The rest of you secure the grounds.”

“I’m coming with you,” IIya says.

I look behind him at the wounded juveniles. “No, I need you with them. They’re afraid, and they trust you. I need you to keep them safe.”

His jaw clenches. I know this is unfair, but I say it anyway. “Make sure Dante is okay. You know Sage would want you to keep her son safe.”

It’s a tactic that has a 50/50 chance of working, but when it does, I can’t say I’m not surprised.

He stiffly nods, and Sigrid, Phillip, and I move into the woods, moving stealthily as the sounds become clearer.

People talking.

Children crying.

“Put down that gun before you hurt yourself, sweetheart,” a male says.

“Sexism, how refreshing. Honestly, I can’t say I expected much from a child stealing piece of shit,” Sage retorts in a bored voice.

“Come on. No one’s here. There’s no need to play tough. You know there is no way you’re getting out of this unless we let you go.”

Someone laughs.

We close in, Sigrid and Phillip spanning out in separate directions.

“Let’s just rush her. The animals will hear the brats crying.”

“If you take one step away from me with that baby, I’ll gun you down,” Sage says.

There is a pause.

“Logan,” the same male pleads to another.

I get a clear view of the standoff.

Violet, one of our pups, is standing behind Sage’s leg, crying.

Sage has two guns out and aims as three men surround her, one of them holding the infant Kiara delivered for one of our mated pairs just nine months ago.

Those fucking bastards were stealing our children.

Which means the explosion was just a cover.

A walkie-talkie chirps.

“Where the fuck are you? We’re not sticking around forever.”

The asshole has the nerve to pick up the call and say, “Just a small hiccup. We’ll be there soon.”

“You got five minutes,” the man on the line says.

Sage smirks at him. “Looks like time is running out.”

“I’m gonna make you eat your teeth, you bitch,” the other human spits.

“Aww, is someone not able to control his big emotions? What a pity,” she taunts.

I’ve got to admit, she’s good at egging them on.

I catch Sigrid’s eye across the standoff.

The idiot makes a move towards Sage.

She doesn’t hesitate to shoot.

The man dives. The other shoots his own gun as we all jump into the fray.

Philp tackles the man with the infant trying to get away.

The man tries to get up from the ground, blood wetting his side, but I sweep his leg from beneath him. He goes down with a cry, and I take control, getting on top of him.

There is a sharp pain on my side.

“Fuck!” I shout, grabbing his wrist and twisting the knife out of his hand.

Elliot’s anger reaches me through our bond, and I feel him on his way.

That is still something I have to get used to.

The man struggles underneath me. I give him a hard elbow to the temple, and he goes down.

I look back and see Sigrid has the other man down, and Phillip has the infant securely in his hands.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay, honey, you’re safe, Sage says as she hushes Violet.

Sage is bleeding from her shoulder.

“You’re hurt,” I say worriedly.

“So are you,” she gives me a pointed look.

The walkie-talkie chirps.

We all still.

“Whereabouts now?” The male on the other side calls out.

“Don’t answer,” Sage says. “You should send someone out to see if they can get to them.”

I smirk at her take-charge attitude. “Sigrid, you heard the woman. We might be able to catch them before they take off.”

Sigrid nods and shifts, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Elliot enters almost as soon as he leaves the fierce look on his face softens a fraction.

“What the fuck happened?” He asks as he lifts me off the unconscious male and narrows his eyes at the small stab wound on my side.

He growls in frustration, and I can already see the overreaction.

“Hey,” I grab his face. “I’m fine. But they aren’t.” I look at the children.

Elliot turns to them, his fury taking on new depths. “They tried to take our pups.”

“Sage caught them. Held them off until we got here.”

Elliot goes to her. “And here I thought humans would be a nice, calm addition to my pack.”

“Get used to being wrong,” she smirks.

Elliot holds out his hand and takes Violet, using his Alpha pheromones to settle the pup. “Did the bullet go through?”

She nods. “It was a clean hit.”

Phillip helps her stand. She is holding her right hand into her body. “That’s good. It will be easier to heal.”

“Thanks, Phil,” she says as she rights herself. “Ransom, can you grab my toys?” she says.

“With pleasure.”

I grab her firearms, and we walk back towards the pack. The air is still thick with smoke. The surrounding area is quiet save for the enforcers patrolling the area.

“Go with Sage to the healing building; I’ll meet you there after we bring the pups back to their parents,” Elliot says.

“Were there any serious injuries?” I ask, needing to know the state of my pack.

“No one died. But there were a few severe injuries,” Elliot says.

My heart feels like it’s being squeezed in a juicer.

This is my pack.

My family.

“Come on,” I call as I put an arm around Sage.

“Do you know if any of the kids were injured?”

“There were a few with burns; some looked a little banged up, most likely from being caught in the blast.”

“What buildings were hit?”

“The storage house and the community cabin,” I say, my anger rising again.

We get inside the healing building, and apart from a few healers moving back and forth, most of the injured seem to be tucked away into their rooms, resting.

A young healer spots us and runs right over. “Goddess, you’re shot. Come in here and sit down. I’ll call Kiara.”

She rushes us into an intake room, giving us a quick assessment before Kiara rushes in. The young healer has already staunched Sage’s and my bleeding, so Kiara just has to do the deeper healing when she comes.

“Sorry, I can’t heal you completely,” She says to Sage. “My abilities work differently in humans. I can do most of the work, but more extensive injuries usually need rest, and you’re going to be sore.”

“Don’t apologize. The fact that you can do as much as you did is amazing. I can deal with a little soreness for a while,” Sage says.

“Hey, you didn’t apologize to me,” I complain.

Kiara gives me a mock scowl, “That’s because you are a big ass baby.”

“I won’t argue.”

Once she’s done patching me up I get ready to make my rounds and check on those who have been hurt.

So many things are running in my head. How did they get in? What did they want the children for? Why target us?

Why those pups?

“Will you be okay heading back home by yourself? I can take you there if you need me to,” I say.

“Do not worry about that, Dante and IIya are in the waiting room, much to their chagrin,” Kiara says.

“Good. Text me when you get home yeah?”

Sage nods as we leave the room.

IIya and Dante rush towards her as soon as they see her and I know she’ll be alright.

Maybe a little smothered, but fine.

After coming out of the third room, I sense Elliot coming towards me with a singular purpose.

His signature scowl is in full force as he eats up the distance with us in the broad frame.

“What are you doing? You should be resting.”

“I’m checking on our pack.”

“Well, now you’re going home,” he says, making it clear there is no room for argument.

“What about the attack?”

“The enforcers are on it. We’ll talk about everything else tomorrow.”

He puts a hand on my lower back and starts to lead me to our cabin.

“Did you speak with Ronan?” I ask.

He growls frustrated that I’m not letting it go. “I sent him the alert.”

“What did he say?”

He growls again, this one harder.

“Alright, alright. I’ll wait,” I say, rubbing his chest.

The overwhelming need to secure me away in our home, where his wolf feels I’ll be safest rings through the bond.

So as much as I want to push the issue. I pull back. I let him take me home. Give me a bath and take me into bed and fuck me until I can’t keep my eyes open.

Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the issues.

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