Flawless Evans, Gabrielle (ebook smartphone .txt) 📖

He was almost there. The lights that illuminated the main entrance bathed the road just a quarter mile in front of him. At the same time, he was too far away. His connection with Lynk hadn’t been severed, but it was like getting static over a telephone line when he knew the other person was still there but only caught snatches of the conversation.

Barely tapping on the brake, he jerked the wheel hard, turning the truck onto the long drive and barreling right through the open gates.

No one tried to stop him. “Why are the gates open?”

“I phoned ahead,” Tuesday answered distractedly. His eyes were locked on the main house, and he reached up to point through the windshield. “That’s Zasha’s vehicle.” Tires screeching, the back of the pickup slid sideways as Kieran stomped on the brake and threw the transmission into park. He didn’t even bother turning off the engine before flying out the driver’s door and sprinting to the side of big brick house.

He had no idea where the well was located or where he was going, but he could still feel Lynk, so he followed that thin rope of recognition, allowed it to guide him, reel him in. His feet pounded over the uneven earth, crunching the dying grass beneath his boots.

Charging into the tree line, he never slowed his pace even as he was forced to dodge low-hanging branches and leap over fallen logs.

When he burst out on the other side of the small forest, he finally stopped and waited for his comrades to catch up to him. “There.” It wasn’t a question as he pointed to the three enormous windmills 134 Gabrielle

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rising up from the ground. His link to his mate was growing stronger, clearer. He could feel Lynk’s panic as if it was his own, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, needing to concentrate if he hoped to rescue his lover.

“Just at the bottom of the middle one,” Tuesday confirmed.

Kieran took off again, sprinting up the small incline and stripping out of his clothes as he went. Stopping once more when he’d reached the top of the slope, he kicked his boots off, shoved his jeans down his legs, and let the fury within him fuel his change. Once completely transformed, he tossed his head back and howled to the moon.

His enemy would know he was coming.

Zasha had taken his mate, the sunshine to his darkness and the very air that he breathed. Death was too lenient a punishment, but letting the bloodsucker live was out of the question.

More howls ripped through the night, followed by vicious growling as his brothers moved in to flank him on either side. It wasn’t until that moment that Kieran realized there were four enormous beasts, two on each side of him.

So Leader Tuesday was a hybrid.

While the information was surprising and produced a whole slew of questions, it wasn’t exactly pertinent at that very moment. Besides, it didn’t affect him in any way. If anything, Kieran was happy to have extra muscle on his side. As he prowled toward his destination, Kieran’s lupine eyes cut through the darkness, easily spotting the three slumped figures on the ground. All were much too large to be Lynk, however. So, where was he?

His advanced hearing picked up the crash of footsteps over branches in the trees behind him, but he ignored it. That would be Torren with reinforcements, but once Kieran got his hands on Zasha, he wouldn’t be needing them.

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A soft groan puffed through his lips when Lynk finally came awake. He wished he could have kept right on sleeping. His head pounded, feeling much too large for the rest of his body. When he pried open his eyes, he was struck with the momentary sense of panic when he couldn’t immediately see anything.

“Easy,” a raspy voice answered his silent fear.

“Thane?” Oh, gods, even the sound of his own voice was going to split his skull in two. Trying to get his wits about him, Lynk only then realized that he was leaning against another body with a large arm wrapped around his chest to keep him from sliding under the frigid water that reached up to his navel.

“I’m here.” Thane’s voice was weak and hoarse, coming out as barely more than a frail whisper. “Are you okay?” Getting his feet under him, Lynk eased out of his brother’s hold, shivering when the icy water surged up to his shoulders by the time his feet found the bottom of the well. “I’m fine.” His teeth clacked together and his muscles vibrated continuously, trying to warm his core body temperature. How had Thane survived for so long down here?

“Help will come.”

Lynk had no reservations about that. Kieran had already been on his way before Lynk had blacked out, and he’d sounded furious. It was keeping him and Thane alive until his mate could reach them that worried him. How much time had passed since he’d fallen into the depths of the well? It couldn’t have been long, but every second that passed, their hopes of survival dwindled with it.

“You said they feed on you. How do they get in?” Thane took his hand in the darkness and pulled him to the other side of the well. The fingers wrapped around his palm were much too cold, too thin, and it made Lynk’s heart hurt. He didn’t have long to dwell on the injustice of what his brother had suffered, though. His arm was lifted, and his hand pressed flat against a plank of wood.

“What is this?”

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“Door,” Thane answered then fell into a coughing fit that wracked his entire body.

“Okay, shh.” Lynk rubbed at Thane’s back. “Just rest. I’m going to get us out of here.”

The loud howling of one very pissed off werewolf erupted into the