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?”
“Uh, not too much,” he admitted. “I’ve gone shooting once or twice…”
“Yeah, then you’re staying here,” Emma said, picking up a rifle. “I’ll go in and make sure he comes out alive.”
“I can’t let you do that!” Talon said.
“Yeah? You gonna stop me?”
With a sigh, Talon realized he was defeated. At least Emma hadn’t punched him to get her point across, and Talon had to admit that he really wasn’t well suited to a rescue mission. He’d probably have gone in shooting everything in sight until he got to Melanie. He hated the thought that he was useless to help his mate. He’d have to find a way to make up for that later.
As Emma was about to take off, Talon remembered the radios. He grabbed them, switching them on and chased after Emma. Fortunately, she hadn’t gotten too far. He handed her one of the radios. “Just in case you need to contact me. I’ll get a little closer to the compound with you just to make sure we stay in range.”
Together, they made their way through the woods and Talon stopped at the edge of the forest where he had some cover. He then watched as Emma made the rest of the journey on her own and then disappeared into the building. He didn’t like her going in by herself and only hoped that she would find Lukas quickly.
He felt like he’d been waiting forever, and then, he heard the sounds of guns firing from inside the compound. He started to grow agitated and he found it difficult to resist the urge to call Emma over the radio and find out what was going on, but even he knew that could put her in terrible danger. Finally, he saw two wolves running out of the compound and he felt his heart drop. He knew the wolves were Dakota and Sam since Melanie couldn’t shift. Where was she? He was about to go running in on his own when a human figure came running out.
Talon started running towards her, passing Dakota and Sam on the way. When he got to her, he took her in his arms and started running back into the woods where the others were waiting for him. Dakota had shifted back to human form, but Sam remained in his wolf form, and Talon could see he was injured.
“He needs help,” Talon said. “I can’t leave yet. I got two people still in there.”
“Talon!” Dakota screamed at him. “He’s hurt! We’ve got to help him now!”
“I know!” Talon shouted back. “But my cousin and his mate are still in there and they might need me!”
“But – ”
“Your family should be close by,” Talon interrupted her before she could argue. They certainly weren’t getting him to drive away without Lukas and Emma. He handed Dakota his phone. “Call them and find out where they are.”
Dakota did as she was told and one of her uncle’s had a car not too far from the compound. Talon took his phone back from Dakota. “They’re not far,” he said. “I’ll make sure you get there okay.”
Dakota picked up Sam and carried him in her arms. Talon offered to help, but the young wolf was more than strong enough to carry her mate and refused. He was okay with that because it meant he got to continue holding Melanie’s hand.
It didn’t take them long to come across the vehicle that Dakota’s uncle had parked out there. Dakota quickly got Sam into the backseat and sat with him, but Melanie was hesitant to go with them.
“Go on Melanie,” Talon urged, squeezing her hand gently.
“Just leave her!” Dakota urged her uncle.
“Talon…” Melanie glanced over to Dakota, and Talon knew she didn’t want to be around her.
“Please, Melanie,” he said. “I need to know you’re all right. I have to go make sure that my cousin and his mate are okay, but I can’t do that if I’m worrying about you too. Please just go with them. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
Melanie nodded, but before she could make her way to the car, Talon gave her a hug and kissed her on the forehead. She didn’t return either gesture, but he hadn’t really expected her too. He released her and just as she got into the car, he heard Emma’s voice over the radio.
“Talon, I got Lukas. He’s hurt.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Talon swore, deciding it had been a very bad idea to go with Melanie to the car. At least he could make the trip back a lot quicker. He dropped the radio on the ground and began to shift. Once he was in his wolf form, he picked up the radio in his mouth and took off back towards the compound.
He had just made it back and was about to go barreling out of the cover of the trees when he detected his cousin’s scent, although he mostly smelled blood. He saw Lukas heading towards the forest, being helped by Emma and one other person. He had no idea who that other person was, and he started growling at him. He had to be a hunter. Talon was sure of that. He could hardly even register the fact that he was helping Lukas. All he saw was a hunter with his hands on his wounded cousin, and Talon wanted to attack him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that while he was supporting Lukas, so instead, he shifted back to his human form.
“What the hell are you doing with him?”
“He’s helping us, Talon,” Emma replied. “We got to get out of here. Lukas is hurt.”
Talon really couldn’t argue. If the hunter wasn’t a threat at the moment, Talon wasn’t going to waste time fighting him. He took the hunter’s place supporting Lukas, pushing the human away roughly as he did so and started walking with Lukas back to the SUV.
“Wait!” the hunter called, but Talon didn’t stop. Nothing he had to say was more important than getting Lukas to safety. He heard Emma having an exchange with him, but Talon wasn’t listening. He just kept carrying Lukas, hoping they’d get to help in time.