Falling Hearts (Hearts of Wolves Book 1) Read online

  “I don’t know, bald, older, salt and pepper goatee,” I tried to remember anything else as I listened to Alex swear and start yelling for Jarren. “What’s wrong Alex?”

  “That’s the man who blew up my truck,” Alex gritted out. “Are you still being followed?” I knew I was, and sure enough when I looked in the mirror the black car was still trailing behind me.

  “Yeah, but I can’t see the driver,” I tried to calm him down, “It could be anyone.”

  “Come to my house,” he demanded. I would have normally bristled at a command like that but at that moment going to Alex seemed like a good idea. Except that the person following me would know where the pack was if I did.

  “I can’t do that,” I replied with more calm than I felt. I turned onto the main road and I could have whooped when I felt my tires gain traction on the gritty sand. The crews had already been on this road. I sent up a silent prayer of thanks and put on some speed. The black car behind me followed suit but still maintained a two-car distance. “I won’t bring someone who wants to hurt you right to your doorstep, Alex.”

  “Listen, Zee, we can take care of ourselves,” he sounded angry. “Head toward my house and if it makes you feel better, we can meet you away from the house. You have no way to defend yourself against him. He’s a Hunter. I know you don’t know what that means completely, but please believe he will stop at nothing to get to my pack. Hurting you, killing you, won’t bother him at all.”

  His pleading finally won out over my need to protect him. I hated the thought of leading this man to someone I loved. I had barely a moment to be shocked at the realization that I did love Alex. I just hoped I would have the chance to tell him, and with that thought I flipped a rather reckless U-turn on the empty road. As I drove past the black car the driver hit the brakes. I tried to get a look in the window to see if it was the man from the bar, but they were all tinted black.

  “I’m on my way,” I told Alex. The black car turned around and started speeding up to catch up with me. “The car is still following me. I can’t drive too fast, though. The main streets seem to be cleaned but I doubt the forest roads have been touched” I put on some speed while I had the chance, trying to watch for ice and keep an eye on the car behind me.

  “Jarren go call in Ryker and Wyatt!” Alex was shouting orders on his end of the phone. I debated briefly between the possible ice-covered side street short cut and the main road. I chose to stick with the ice-free main road for as long as I could. “Zee, we’ll be meeting you as quickly as we can. We’ll be wolves, don’t be scared when you see us, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay,” I felt like I might have a panic attack. My chest hurt and there were spots in my vision. I knew I had to calm down. I took a few deep breaths and tried to concentrate on my hands on the wheel and the road in front of me. I had to make it to Alex before I could break down.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Alex

  Heat flooded my veins and I fought the urge to shift as I listened to Zee’s breathing quicken over the phone. I motioned for Tegan and turned on the speaker phone. Zee’s panting filled the room and I heard her curse quietly as she gasped for air.

  “Zee, talk to Tegan for me, okay?” I waited for her soft reply before I passed the phone to Tegan. “Calm her down Tegan. If she passes out while she’s driving…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. I had to get to Zee before anything happened.

  Tegan nodded and immediately stated blathering something about needing new shoes to Zee. I heard Zee laugh weakly, but she answered and seemed a bit calmer. I turned to the rest of the pack. They stood, bodies tense, waiting for my orders.

  “Aaron, I need you to stay here with Mackenzie, Cody, and Delaney. If by some chance this man gets past us, you get them out of here,” I waited for Aaron to nod his understanding before turning to the rest of the pack. “The rest of us are going to meet Zee.”

  Wyatt’s eyes shot to Tegan and I understood his worry. I pulled him to the side and spoke quietly, “She won’t fight, but I need her there for Zee. Someone has to get her away while we deal with the hunter.” Wyatt’s shoulders eased and he nodded.

  The room suddenly filled with the sound of screams and I snatched the phone from Tegan’s hands in horror. “Alex!” Zee’s voice ripped through me. I could hear the tires squealing and then a loud crash, like the car had collided with something. The sudden silence that followed was deafening.

  I dropped the phone and ran from the house. I shifted as I ran, and my paws slipped a bit on the wood porch. Frustrated, I leapt into the snow and loosed a howl of frustration and warning. I didn’t wait for the rest of the pack as I took off towards where I knew Zee would be. Still, I wasn’t surprised to hear their answering howls as they followed me into the night.

  She’d made it to the first road in the forest, right where our boundary used to be. Tegan tried to replay parts of the conversation as we ran. She was trying to slow down some because the roads weren’t cleaned. She said the other car was picking up speed. I heard something hit her and you heard the rest. Yeah, I did, and it didn’t sound good. I put on more speed, pushing myself past any limit I knew I had.

  I could smell blood in the air, along with the smell of gasoline. I broke through the trees and skidded to a stop in the snow. Her car was smashed against a tree. I was vaguely aware of Wyatt telling the guys to fan out and look for signs of the Hunter. Tegan whimpered at my side, and I understood her concern. The car was crushed on the driver’s side, and that was also where the gas tank was. We needed to get Zee out quickly.

  I shifted and started toward the car. I pulled the passenger door open and crouched down to get an idea of how bad she was. I struggled against the instinct to yank her from the car and get her to the house quickly. I knew I had to be sure of her injuries though. If I moved her too fast, then I might make things worse.

  “Alex,” Tegan was beside me looking in at Zee’s crumpled form. “Do we need to call an ambulance? She isn’t a wolf, Alex. We don’t know how to help her.” I shook my head as I took in Zee’s injuries. Most of the blood seemed to be coming from a head wound. It looked like she hit her head on the door when the car hit the tree. Her left arm looked bad from what I could see. Thankfully, her legs looked unhurt.

  Moving around the car, I slid into the passenger seat and carefully unbuckled her. It looked like the steering column had held, so I worked on moving her carefully into my arms. She didn’t wake during the entire process and I worried that her injuries were much worse than what I could see. Once I had her in my arms, I worked to get back out of the car without jostling her too much. Tegan helped me lay her in the snow several hundred feet from the car.

  “I know someone,” Jarren spoke from behind us. “I’ll get him to the house. He lives near here. He was an ER doctor before he was turned.” I nodded, barely registering his words, but I felt his shift before he left. Tegan’s face was pale, and her lips were set in a hard line. I know she didn’t like what I was going to do, but we couldn’t call the police.

  “Ryker get the truck, we have to tow the car,” Wyatt seemed to understand what had to be done, and he started issuing commands. “Have Delaney bring the jeep, pull out the seats first, so we have somewhere to lay Zee.” I glanced up to see Ryker shift and dash into the woods heading towards the house.

  I stood up, leaving Tegan to hold Zee’s uninjured hand to search the car for anything to cover her with. I sorted through her old car, finding nothing of use inside but her cellphone in the driver side floorboard. I pocketed it quickly and snatched the keys to get into the trunk. I lucked out, finding an emergency weather kit that had flares, a first aid kit, a flash light, and several blankets. I yanked out just the blankets and the first aid kit and rushed back over to where Zee lay in the snow.

  “What if she’s bleeding internally Alex?” Tegan had passed afraid and moved on to pissed off. “She hasn’t woken up yet, either. She could have bleeding on her brain or something.” I ignored her an
d sorted through the first aid kit, finally pulling out some gauze. I pressed it gently against the gash in Zee’s head.

  Wyatt knelt beside Tegan and pulled Zee’s shirt up to reveal bruising along her ribs. “She’s breathing ok, so I think her ribs are fine,” Wyatt said. “I don’t know about anything else, but with her broken ribs I think her lungs were the biggest concern.” Tegan smoothed Zee’s shirt back down and she worked one of the blankets gently around her. I pled with her silently to just open her eyes.

  “I wish we could take her to the hospital, too,” I finally looked up at Tegan to explain myself. “We risk her life if we do. You know the Hunter won’t stop. He intended to hurt her. He might have planned to kill her. What will he do if he learns his plan didn’t succeed? You said he was speeding up?”

  Tegan nodded shakily, tears filling her eyes as I continued, “He knows where we live. He proved that by walking along our pack borders. He didn’t need Zee to find us. He didn’t even let her get close. He was using her as a weapon. We already know he’s watching us. He obviously saw Zee with me or with you. He knew she meant something to us, and he attacked her.”

  Tegan searched my face for a moment and then looked down at Zee’s still form. She nodded her head and reached out to hold Zee’s uninjured hand again. I could hear Jarren’s howls off in the distance, letting me know he was on his way to the house. I also heard vehicles coming from the direction of the pack house.

  I looked up to watch the jeep drive slowly up, stopping a few feet from where we knelt with Zee’s body. The truck pulled around to park by the wrecked car. Delaney jumped from the jeep and came to a halt. Her gaze flicked from Zee on the ground to the car for a moment and then she ran around to open the back of the jeep.

  “Tegan, I need you to help me,” I told her. “I can lift her, but I need you to steady her arm. I don’t want to do any more damage to it.” Tegan nodded and with her help I had Zee cradled in my arms. Wyatt picked up the blankets and followed us to the rear of the jeep.

  Delaney had filled the back of the jeep with blankets. She was up inside and with her help we managed to get Zee settled into the nest of blankets. We covered her with the blankets from her car and I climbed in to tuck them in tightly around her. Her lips were an unnatural shade of blue and I worried that hypothermia had set in.

  I glanced up at Delaney and found her watching me, “Can you drive?” She nodded and climbed through to the front seat and started the jeep. “Wyatt, help Ryker get the car out of here. Clean everything up. We’ll meet you back at the house.” Wyatt shut the back end of the jeep and Delaney turned the car around. She drove as fast as she could on the slick roads, but it took longer than I liked to get back to the house.

  A dark panel van sat in the driveway as we pulled up. I could see Jarren waiting on the porch, and I knew the van belonged to his friend. He came down the stairs and opened the back of the jeep. I scented the air and didn’t pick up the smell from the hunter. I did pick up the smell of an unknown wolf, and I fought the territorial growl that wanted to work up into my chest.

  “Eli’s setting up one of the rooms on the first floor,” Jarren said. “There’s a backboard in his van. He said to use it in case she has any spinal injuries, so they won’t be worsened.” With that Jarren turned and jogged to the van. When he came back, he had what looked like a backboard from an ambulance. He slid in beside Zee and with Tegan stabilizing her left arm we lifted Zee while Delaney moved the board under her. Once she was buckled in place Jarren and I took her into the house.

  Mackenzie was running into the kitchen as we walked in. I heard her running water. Aaron silently led us to the room Jarren’s friend had set up. An IV was already set up on a pole, ready for Zee, and a heart monitor beside it. The bed had been stripped down to the plain white sheets and a table had been set up in the room. It was covered in instruments; many I didn’t recognize.

  A male stood by the bed, body tense, but full of an air of authority. He was the source of the new wolf smell. A growl rumbled in my chest as I halted just inside the room. The male didn’t defer to me but held my gaze. It wasn’t defiance, but more like mutual respect. He rubbed the alpha in me the wrong way, much like Jarren had the first time we met.

  “Leave her buckled to the board and put it on the bed,” the male, who Jarren had called Eli, motioned to the bed as he snapped on a pair of rubber gloves. We did as he said, and the others backed away. I couldn’t force myself to move away from Zee.

  I watched the male move quickly and efficiently around the bed. He deftly inserted the needle in her good arm and hooked up the IV. With shears he cut away her shirt and attached the heart monitor pads in several places on her body. A quick flick on the machine and it started beeping with her heartbeat. He used a penlight to look into each of her eyes, and then tested the feeling in her toes and fingers.

  I watched him, waiting for some sign that things were going good or bad. On occasion he would frown, but her heart rate seemed to please him and her reactions when he tested for feeling made his lips turn up in a tight smile. He unbuckled her and motioned for my help. We rolled her to her right side, and he ran his hand gently along her spine.

  Finally, he nodded, “Okay keep her stable right there and I’ll move this board.” He eased the board out and then helped me lay her back on the bed. “Her spine and neck seem fine. She still has feeling in her limbs. Do you know how long she’s been unconscious?”

  “At least an hour,” Tegan answered him quietly from behind me. I nodded my agreement.

  “Was she in the cold the same amount of time?” Eli questioned.

  “Yes, in her car probably 10 minutes, on the ground covered in blankets for around 20, and then in the jeep covered until we got here,” I answered this time. Eli didn’t say anything else as he continued his examination of Zee. He felt along her left arm and her ribs on her left side. His face showed true concern for the first time. After he used sheers to slice her pants down the left leg, I could see the discoloration on her left hip.

  “I brought my portable x-ray with me, but I can’t do MRIs,” he met my gaze finally as he talked. “I can’t tell you if her brain is injured. I know she needs surgery to fix this arm. Her hip doesn’t seem broken, but I’ll look anyway. She has several broken ribs. She is just on the edges of hypothermia. It’s a good thing you kept her covered.” With that the male walked out of the room.

  “Who is he?” I turned to Jarren and asked. He didn’t cower under the anger I knew was showing through. The doctor pushed at my instincts and only Zee’s well-being kept me from doing something about it.

  “He’s a lone wolf,” Jarren’s reply was calm. “I know him from his time as a medic in Iraq. He was bitten here in the states while working in an ER. He found me afterwards, but before you found me. He’s been living in Michigan for a couple years now.” I glared at him for a moment, but he didn’t seem willing to give me any more information.

  I turned my back on him to pull a chair beside Zee. I needed to think about everything Jarren had said. He’d known a wolf was nearby our territory, but he failed to mention it. He kept Eli a secret and I wondered why. As I watched Zee’s chest rise and fall with each shallow breath, I decided it wasn’t important right then. If Eli could fix Zee, then I would wait to confront them both.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Zee

  Beeping pulled me from my sleep. Annoying beeping that just didn’t seem to want to stop. Wondering what time it was, I cracked my eyes open, but shut them quickly at the bright sunlight coming in through the window. Wait…window? I opened my eyes again to take in the unfamiliar room. A large window with navy curtains pulled open was the first thing I saw. The view was of trees. Not the few well-placed trees that always seem to be planted around towns, but an entire forest of trees.

  My eyes drifted along the log walls up above my head to the source of the beeping, a heart monitor. I looked down at my body, taking in the cast on my arm, the IV in my other hand. That’s wh
en I realized how much my body was aching. I closed my eyes and searched my memory for how I’d ended up like this. I remembered working at the bar, talking to a man who asked about wolves… Alex! My eyes flew open and I tried to sit up. Sharp pain shot through my side and I fell back on the pillow with a harsh cry. The door to the room flew open and a man I didn’t recognize walked in.

  “I suggest you stay still,” the man said as he walked over to my bed. He shined a light into each of my eyes for a moment while he talked, “My name is Eli. I’ve been taking care of you since Alex brought you here. Do you know your name?”

  “Zipporah,” my voice was scratchy, and I cleared my throat. “Everyone calls me Zee. Where is here?”

  “Alex’s house,” he responded as he glanced over a readout from the heart monitor. “Do you know what year it is?”

  “2014,” I replied, and he nodded. He continued his work, pulling the sheet down to just above my hips. I was wearing a long white t-shirt that had to belong to one of the guys in the house. He pulled the shirt up and I stared down at my bandaged abdomen. He pulled my shirt down and then moved the sheet to reveal my naked left hip. I could see an ugly bruise covering my exposed skin.

  “Do you remember what happened to you?” He seemed to approve of what he saw on my hip because his lips turned up a tiny amount before he pulled the sheet back up. Then he moved up to look at my head, and for the first time I noticed the tight feeling of a bandage around my head.

  “I remember being at the bar, it had been snowing so the roads were bad,” I searched my memories, trying to find what happened next. Eli removed the bandage from around my head while I talked. “There was a man, he made me nervous…I can’t remember anything else.”

  “It’s not uncommon for a person to forget things after a traumatic event,” Eli said as he looked at whatever injury I had on my head. “You were in a car wreck. The best we can tell, you were hit by a car that was pursuing you. The impact and the icy roads caused your car to spin off the road. You hit a tree on the driver’s side. The impact totaled your car and caused you numerous injuries. You have three broken rips on your left side. Your left arm was shattered and had to be repaired with surgery. You have a small fracture to your scull, along with a deep laceration that had to have stiches, and deep bruising on your left hip.”