Poison

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

                Talon knew where to find his cousin, though he did have concerns that Lukas would help him. Ever since his mate rejected him, Lukas had been spending far too much time waiting around a Starbucks in hopes she would meet him there. It hadn’t worked so far, and while Talon had thought he’d been wasting his time, he knew he’d go to extremes for Melanie. Of course, he wouldn’t be nearly so passive about it.

                Fortunately, the one thing Lukas loved to do was kill hunters and even as depressed as he was over his mate, he would always be willing to take them on. Talon had some slight worries that Lukas might be suicidal, but he could question that after Melanie was safe.

                They spoke very little on the way back into the mountains. Lukas asked simple questions and Talon gave him all the information he knew about the situation. Once that was out of the way, they had nothing left to discuss and silence reigned for the rest of the trip, except for when Talon made a phone call to the Carters to let them know he was on his way with Lukas.

                Even driving as fast as he could on the winding roads of the mountains, it was still more than three hours since Talon left before he returned. He drove off road and got as close as he could to the compound without being in view of it.

                “They’re about a quarter of a mile that way,” Talon said, pointing straight ahead. “They’ve got three prisoners. Don’t know much else.”

                “Stay here. I’ll take care of this.” Lukas got out of the vehicle and walked around to open the back. Talon knew he was getting the guns he’d need. Fortunately, the Carters had a good supply of firearms and it didn’t take them long to load up the vehicle before he left.

                Talon got out as well and walked around to join Lukas at the back. “You can’t – ”

                He had barely even begun to argue when Lukas’ fist hit him in the face and sent him staggering backwards. Talon growled lightly, thinking to fight back. He didn’t have to take that from Lukas! But he quickly remembered that Lukas was going to be saving his mate. He could avenge himself later if he needed to. Still, he didn’t want to look at Lukas any longer and he walked off.

                He heard Lukas departing and he was about to head back to the car and arm himself so he could follow. His cousin might have wanted to be alone, but Talon wanted to be there to help Melanie. Just when he got there, he heard another vehicle driving up. Quickly grabbing a gun, he turned to face the newcomer, but he quickly relaxed when he recognized the light blue pick-up truck as belonging to Emma, Lukas’ mate. The mate that had rejected him. Talon had no idea what she was doing there, but he could worry about that later.

                “You drive completely insane!” Emma said as she got out of her truck and started walking over. “Seriously. Ninety miles an… what’s going on? Where’s Lukas?”

                “Hunters,” Talon said. “Lukas went in to go rescue some wolves that were captured.”

                “Alone?” Emma asked.

                “Yeah,” Talon said.

                “What the fuck, Talon?” Emma shouted at him, and Talon thought she was getting ready to hit him, but she didn’t. “You let him go into a dangerous situation alone?”

                “He insisted!” Talon defended himself. “With his fist! And I’m going in after him anyway.”

                “Really? You?” Emma gave him a skeptical look and then looked at her choices of weapon. “How much experience do you have with guns?”