Savage Desires (1st in Savage Series)

Chapter Twenty-Two

For the third time in the last hour the feeling that something was not right came over Hawke. It was early afternoon and just after two and he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong at home. Wolf was just as restless and uneasy as he was and Hawke had learned to listen to his instincts.

Nathan was not coming. He did not know why but he knew that he could sit here all night and he would not see the man. Maybe someone had stopped Nathan in town and told him about he and Lily or maybe Nathan had decided to stop and visit with him before coming home.

Hawke jumped to his feet with a curse and ran from the house. He did not have Trigger with him and so he took off at a fast sprint through the woods with Wolf running beside him. He hoped he was wrong and that Nathan had simply not arrived today…

Hawke never made mistakes and to think that he may have made one today by leaving Lily at the house with only Jack for protection made him sick. If he lost Lily…

He forced those thoughts from his mind and simply ran as fast as he could, ignoring the burning in his lungs and the pain deep in his chest.

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Jack moaned and brought his hand to his head wincing when he felt pain and blood. He forced himself into a sitting position and looked down at the bullet hole in his shoulder. This was his first time getting shot and he was surprised that it did not hurt worse.

What hurt the most was his damn head. He tried to remember how he had ended up shot on the cabin floor.

"Allie?…..Lily?…. Hawke?…. Wolf?" Jack called out for everyone becoming more worried with the sound of each name going unanswered. He closed his eyes and thought back and suddenly the image of Allie with Nathan's knife pressed against her cheek flashed through his mind and he jumped to his feet.

He grabbed the edge of the table as his head spun. He tried to move his left arm and pain shot through him causing sweat to cover his upper lip and he wondered if maybe the bullet had broken his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bullet had come out the back as well. He knew he had been out for a long time because the blood was already clotting.

He walked over to the window and ripped down the bright yellow curtain. Using his good arm and his teeth he tied up his left arm into a sling and then had to lean against the wall until his ragged breathing calmed and his head stopped spinning.

He had to get to town. He didn't know how to get to Nathan's house to go to Hawke for help and Jack knew that he had to save Allie and Lily. Hawke had trusted him to keep them safe and now Nathan had them. Jack had always been a screw up but dammit he had wanted to get this right! He could still see the way Allie's eyes had pleaded with him to save her as he had looked on helplessly.

Jack put his gun back together as quickly as he could with his bloody hands slipping on the cold metal and stuck it in the holster on his belt. He walked out to the barn and found that the palomino was gone. He hoped Nathan had taken the ladies to town and that they would still be there.

If something happened to Allie…. Jack did not want to think about losing the family that he had just found. Life would be cold without Lily's warm, almost motherly, gestures and Allie's shy smiles. He would NOT let this son of a bitch Nathan take his new family away from him.

Jack couldn't saddle his buckskin with one arm so he climbed up on the stall gate and threw his leg across the geldings bare back. He bent over the horses neck and clung tight to his mane as he headed into the woods.

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Wolf could smell the bad smelling mans scent in the air as he and the alpha approached the alpha's cabin. Wolf growled low in his throat. The man's scent was fading and the man was no longer here. Wherever he had gone he had taken the female and the small female with him.