Broken Bonds

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

Luke had me pressed against him. I would wriggle or squirm occasionally but he'd just tighten his grip.

"You know, I really loved you, Jo-Jo but then you turned out to be a phony wolf and well that flipped a switch in my brain." he whispered into my ear.

"What brain?" I said sourly. He laughed a sickening laugh.

"You've developed a sharp tongue." I felt his tongue run down my neck to my shoulder. " Maybe we should cut it out."

I started squirming violently trying to get out of his grip. He just took his knife a cut a deep cut up my thigh. I stopped moving as the burning kicked in.

"You don't touch that girl like that!" Alexis yelled from the porch where she was tied.

"Relax. I'm only having a little fun."

The two guys that were standing on either side of Alexis laughed.

I heard something in the distance. It sounded like a car. A black pick up truck came speeding through the bushes and came to a halt near the cabin. Riley and Matt stepped out of the car.

"Riley!" I found myself scream. Riley and Matt trudged to us. Luke held the knife to my throat.

"Easy there, pretty boy. One more step and I slit her throat." he hissed.

Are you okay? I heard Riley's voice float into my head.

I'm okay. I'm okay. We need to stop him.

We will. He replied.

"Man, don't do this." Matt said slowly coming forward. "Come on, we grew up together, I know you, Luke, this isn't you, man." he said calmly. Luke brought the knife closer to my throat.

"Then you don't know me, Matthew. You're siding with them. With this human!" he said angrily. "You know what they did to my father."

"I know man, just put the knife down." Matt said.

"Or I could do this." Luke took my arm and twisted it in a funny way at the shoulder. He kicked the back of my knee so that I was on the ground with one knee. I heard a crack and screamed as a sharp pain shot through me and my arm went limp.

I heard more bone cracking and I looked up to see that Alexis had shifted into a beautiful chocolate brown wolf. She sneered at Luke. I looked back at Matt and Riley and they also had shifted. Riley lunged for Luke while Alexis and Matt went after the two goons.

Saroya! Let's shift! I yelled in my head. No reply. Saroya?! There was nothing. I touched my neck and realized that my suppression ring was gone. I started panicking. Without the ring I couldn't make a connection with my wolf. My arm was painful and there was no way that I could heal faster. I looked up at the chaos that had unfolded.

Luke had shifted and he and Riley were gnashing and biting at each other. Tumbling all over the place. The two goons hadn't shifted but were using weapons made of silver. I turned back to Luke and Riley. Riley was on top of Luke trying to bite his neck when Luke kicked his hind legs and sent Riley flying into a tree. He slid down the tree and lay still.

My heart started beating faster.

My mate! I heard Saroya's voice boom into my head as I started shifting.

The pain was excruciating. Similar to the first time I shifted. Bones breaking, rearranging and re-sizing themselves.

I was shifting. Without the help of the ring. I was on all fours in no time, but my front left leg was painful so I was on three legs.

Miss me? Saroya asked.

How'd you get passed the magic?

He hurt our mate. That's all the motivation I needed.

I turned to Luke who's eyes told me that he was in awe. Luke charged at me and we tumbled to the floor. I managed to stay on top and was gnashing at his neck trying to sink my teeth into his trachea. He flipped me over and put a paw on my hurt leg. I howled out in pain. He sneered as he brought his head down to my neck.

Luke flew off of me as he was tackled to the ground by Riley. There was dust as the two kept wrestling. Then there was pained howl. I stood up. As the dust settled I saw Luke standing over Riley.

No! Saroya cried. I let out a pained howl.

I was about to charge at Luke when his body relaxed and fell over to the side. There was blood flowing from his neck and his breathing became shallower and shallower. I limped over to Riley as he stood up slowly. The fur around his mouth had spots of blood on it. We put our foreheads together.

You're okay. I said telepathically.

I am. he replied.

Just then Alexis appeared. She looked  from me to Riley and bowed her head slightly. Riley put his head on hers. It was a lovely sight to see. From the corner of my eye I saw one of Luke's goons run up and point a gun loaded with silver bullets that I saw from earlier.

Riley! I yelled at him. The gun went off and everything just went into slow motion.

Alexis heard the gun. She pushed Riley out of the way and the bullet hit her in the side. She fell to the ground with a thud. Matt came running out, back in human form dressed in different clothes. He came up behind the guy and snapped his neck. The guy dropped the gun and fell.

Matt saw what had happened, Luke's dead body still in wolf form as well as Alexis on the floor bleeding and breathing heavily. He ran to his truck and pulled out some clothes that he threw at me and Riley before he knelt next to Alexis. I went behind the truck and shifted back to my human form then got dressed. So did Riley. I grabbed a towel from the truck and went over to kneel next to Alexis.

Riley was on his knees resting her head in his lap.

"Mom." he choked out. Her body slowly starting changing back into human form. Finally she completed her shift. I covered her naked body with the towel. The bullet wound was in her abdomen more on the left side. It was very bloody.

"We need to put pressure on the wound." I said moving closer and putting my hand over the wound with a piece of ripped t-shirt. She put her hand on my wrist.

"No, honey, it's a silver bullet, that won't work." she said softly. I started crying. She turned her head to Riley. "My baby boy. I need you to be strong for your dad okay? Please, don't let him grieve too much." her voice was hoarse.

"Mom, there won't be a reason to grieve." Riley scolded.

"Sweety, you're old enough and you know very well what silver does to us. I need you to be strong for your father. He'll need you, baby." she turned her head to me and took my hand. "And you, I need you to be strong for him." she nodded slightly in Riley's direction. "Please, Jolene. He's the only one I've got. I need you to take care of him, promise me that."

"I promise." I said softly. Her lips curled into a weak smile.

"You're in good hands, baby  boy." she said to Riley. "Be good to her." Riley let a single tear roll down his cheek. "I love you." she said softly. Her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing became nonexistent.

"I love you too, mom." Riley said hugging her body close to him before setting her down gently. Riley stood up and helped me up. I was crying. I couldn't look away from her relaxed face.

She was gone.