N. Walters - Finding Chrissten

That’s why it was doubly important for her to find Brian first. If she could get him alone she might have a chance at killing him. She didn’t want Hank or her brother involved in the fight. Wishful thinking maybe, but she was determined. She had to protect her family at all costs.

She ignored the niggling detail that she now included Hank with her family. She wanted to protect all of the Haven pack. Yes, she wanted to protect the others, but Hank was special to her.

She needed to talk to Craig, but first she had to deal with Bethany. Hopefully she could prevail on the other woman to keep quiet about her and Hank, at least until after tonight’s confrontation. If Damek was right about Brian’s location, and she suspected he was, if she was still alive after tonight she could deal with the fallout from her and Hank making love.

She grabbed the door handle, took a deep breath and pulled it open. “Hey, Bethany—” Whatever she’d meant to say was lost as she stared at her friend. Horror filled her chest, making it hard to breathe. It was a scene from her worst nightmare.

Brian stood just inside the door, his thickly muscled forearm around Bethany’s neck. It would take no effort at all for him to snap her spinal cord and kill her. He smiled at her, showing a lot of very sharp teeth. “Hello, mate.”

As quickly as the terror filled Chrissten, it drained away. She’d survived Brian before, and she would do it again. She just had to be smarter than him. There had to be a way to save Bethany and she would find it. She couldn’t allow Quinn’s mate to die. He’d already suffered enough.

“Hello, Brian.” Her calm greeting caught him off-guard. He tilted his head to one side, silently studying her. He looked the same as always—big and strong. Clinically speaking, he was actually good looking with his brown hair, rugged features and thickly muscled body. But it was his eyes that showed his true character. They were cunning and arrogant and mean. He took what he wanted because he could and cared nothing for others. He was cold and dangerous.

He jerked Bethany up until she was standing on her toes. Her fingers gouged into Brian’s arm, but he ignored it as though it were nothing. And, Chrissten knew, to him it was nothing.

“Why don’t you let her go so we can talk?” The rest of the pack was three floors down, surrounded by the smell of humans, food and booze. None of them would scent him until it was too late. She had to save Bethany and herself.

He laughed and it made her shiver. She knew the sound well. Brian always enjoyed making her suffer. He liked her pain. “Now why would I do that? We can talk and I can keep her to ensure your good behavior. You do anything I don’t like and I’ll kill her.”

Chrissten nodded. She couldn’t look at Bethany, couldn’t bear to see the fear and desperation in her eyes, couldn’t afford to reassure her. Brian would see any attempt to communicate as a threat and he might kill Bethany out of spite.

“How did you find me?” Brian had a huge ego. She needed to get him talking about himself.

He shrugged. “Took a while, but someone’s been searching for us, tracking our property on various online databases. We simply started following the trail back. We hit some dead ends and came up with some possibilities. We checked the newspapers and found an interesting story about an incident last year. Didn’t take much effort to have a look and put it all together.”

His eyes darkened and the expression on his face was feral. “Just because we’re wolves doesn’t mean we’re idiots. My second in command is quite the computer wizard. William’s been alive over a hundred years and has been studying computers since their inception.”

Craig hadn’t covered his tracks well enough, even though he was an experienced hacker. Most purebloods didn’t like modern technology, but learned what they needed in order to get by. Their skills weren’t much different from the average human. It should have occurred to them that Brian and his pack might have a computer wiz too.

“I knew another pack had helped you escape from Doctor Morton. They’ll all pay for that. I’m going to take both of you back to the pack. You’re mine, but the rest of my wolves can share this one.” He jerked on Bethany’s throat again.

Chrissten couldn’t help but see Bethany’s pale, frightened face. She couldn’t let Brian take both of them.

“How are you going to get both of us out of here? Someone will be up to check on us any minute.”

“I don’t think so.” She could see the cunning in his face and an icy finger of fear scraped down her spine.

“What have you done?”

He laughed again. “Just a small diversion.”

As if on cue, Chrissten heard the distant sound of breaking glass followed by a scream. Something was happening in the bar. Brian’s attention was momentarily diverted to the noise below and not on the two women.

Chrissten didn’t hesitate. She partially shifted—claws forming on her hands and large fangs dropping from her jaw—and launched herself at her mate. Bethany saw what she was doing and picked up her feet, letting her full weight fall on Brian’s arm. He wasn’t expecting it and his arm jerked downward.

It all happened at once. Bethany clawed at his forearm and managed to slip away. Chrissten jumped and hit Brian straight in the chest, knocking him back. She’d seen the instant of surprise in his face. She hadn’t been able to shift for the last months she’d been in captivity, and he obviously hadn’t been expecting a partial shift.

He tossed her aside as though she weighed next to nothing. She shifted back in midair and yelled at Bethany. “Run!”

Her friend didn’t hesitate, but bolted for the door. Brian was caught between the two of them. If he went after Bethany, he’d lose her. Bethany’s shoes pounded against the stairs as she raced down them. Time had run out.

“Me or her,” she taunted. “You can’t have us both.” She rolled back to her feet, hands in front of her, ready to fight.

“I’ll come back for the bitch.” He stalked toward her. She backed up until the wall stopped her. She had no gun, no knife. No weapons other than her brain and her body. She’d meant to get one but there was no time now. She was facing Brian alone.

He struck out, his big fist connecting to the side of her face. She tried to avoid him but there was nowhere for her to go. She managed to turn her head and took a glancing blow rather than a full-on one. It was still a powerful hit and she saw stars. She brought her knee up fast and hard, hitting him where it would hurt the most. He doubled over and roared with pain. His next punch hit her with the force of a sledgehammer. Everything went dark.

Hank noticed the two punks who came into the bar. He knew their type—young and cocky and looking for a fight. They were also packing weapons. He’d turned away from the door for a second, distracted by woman yelling at her boyfriend and the two had snuck in. He headed after them. He’d show them the door. They didn’t have trouble at Haven, which was one of the reasons the bar was so popular.

He almost reached them. As if sensing him, the one on the right whirled around and smiled at him. Something was off, but Hank didn’t have time to figure out what it was. The second guy grabbed an empty chair and heaved it through the bar’s large glass window. The crash silenced everyone for a split second. Then the club erupted with life. Several women screamed and people began to hustle for the door. Michael sailed over the bar, coming to help him.

Hank grabbed one of the guys just as he reached beneath his shirt and grabbed a gun. He didn’t get a chance to fire it. This guy was human and Hank wasn’t. He moved with preternatural speed, yanking the guy’s arm up and back. The bone snapped. The punk yelled and Hank grabbed the weapon.