“We don’t know, but it happened when Adam and Eve mated.” I smiled, that meant the curse was broken and my vow to protect her was complete; I could make a life with Meghan, if I could just keep her alive.
“Gabriel says the two are still tied together, they may not detach for an hour or two. Then they have a hard hour of running to get back to the house.”
“What did he say to do?”
“Save them,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“OK, we won’t have a link to coordinate. He’s holding them in front of the house, so you guys sneak around behind.”
“Attack from the sides?” Phanuel looked confused, it was a long house.
“Get on the roof, he won’t expect that. I’ll work him back to where you can jump.” We shifted and ran hard back towards the house. It was going to be close. I pushed forward faster, my body at its limit, knowing I only had one chance to save my love or Adam’s loved ones.
Snake’s POV
I roared into the driveway, skidding to a stop as I killed the engine and put the kickstand down. I turned and helped Mia off; she winced as her leg went over the seat, I’d hurt her but I had no time. I jumped off, running towards the door. “EVE!!”
Meghan came to the door. “She’s not here, Snake. Go get your woman, there’s no crisis here and she’s limping.”
I turned back to Mia, scooping her into my arms and carrying her up onto the porch. I set her on the chair by the door on the wide deck, taking a moment to make sure she was comfortable. “I’m sorry, my Mouse,” I said as I held her hand. “I know that was a hard ride for you.”
“I’ll live, now sit with me,” she said. I picked her up and sat down, placing her gently on my lap. Alan came out with a few glasses of lemonade, Alice right behind him. He handed us the drinks, then the three of them sat in the chairs. I could see Alice was still shaking, and Meghan had an ice pack on her cheek. “I’m Mia Taylor, I’m Snake’s little Mouse,” she said. “I know Doc Meghan already, so you must be Alan and Alice, Adam’s brother and his wife.”
“We are,” Alan said as he pulled his wife into his side. “I’m sorry, we’ve had a rough morning.” He described how Mitchell had shown up this morning after Adam and Eve left together, taking them hostage and threatening them and Meghan. Meghan picked up the rest of the story, ending with the coroner leaving.
“I saw that as I came in, I’ve only been that scared a couple times in my life,” I said. “So Eve is all right?”
“I have no idea,” Alan said. “Last night Adam was having a rough night, he was feverish and the leg was infected. The pull was obviously stronger, Eve couldn’t stay away, she was sleeping outside his window. I brought her inside, and she stayed with him in wolf form. They left together this morning. Whatever problem they had, they must be working through.”
“And the Knights?”
“Went with them. I saw a few of them last night, they were surrounding the house but trying to give them privacy to be together.”
I leaned back in the chair, relieved that she was all right and with her mate. “Gabriel will keep her safe,” I told Mia.
“I’m glad, but what does wolf form mean?” She looked at me like we were teasing her.
Oh shit. In all the excitement, I’d completely forgotten that I hadn’t told her about werewolves yet. I guess this was going to test her commitment to me. “She doesn’t know?” I looked at Alan and shook my head.
“It’s my fault,” I said. “Mia, I love you and I didn’t mean to keep things from you, it’s just that there are secrets we don’t reveal to those not in the Club,” I said.
“And wolf form is a Club thing? What are we talking here, Twilight shit? You have vampires and the Knights are werewolves?”
Alan laughed. “It’s nothing like that, really.”
“He’s right,” I said. “I’ve never seen a vampire, not even a sparkly one. Werewolves are real, though.”
“YOU’RE A WEREWOLF?”
She started to move off my lap, but I held her tight. “No, I’m human, just like you. So is Alice. Alan, he used to be a werewolf, but he killed his wolf when he decided to marry Alice and settle down. Eve… my daughter, my adopted daughter, she is a werewolf, as is Adam.” We had time; it took two more glasses of lemonade each before I finished the story of how we got to where we are now.
“So to summarize, Eve has been the only female werewolf for a decade or so, the males are in decline, and Eve mating Adam breaks the curse that was killing all the women when they were pregnant?” I nodded and kissed her. “Holy shit, that’s some curse.”
“You can’t imagine how it was,” Meghan said. “Vivian tried so hard, she lost so many mothers and their children. Eve was the second baby she saved, and the only one to grow up. Jessica was her best friend, her assistant. She gave everything she had to try and stop this.”
I looked up when I saw movement in the woods, recognizing Abaddon I called out to him. “It’s over, Abaddon,” I said.
Meghan didn’t wait, she ran off the porch and grabbed his clothes out of his saddlebags. She ran into his arms, kissing him as he struggled to get dressed. “Abaddon,” she said in between kisses. “I love you.”
He set her down, his hand moving up to her cheek. I could see his left hand fisting up with his anger, but she pulled him into a hug. His nose buried in her hair, he took a couple deep breaths before he calmed down. “He hurt you?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Come on, I’ll fill you in on what happened.”
He looked at the roof above us before shouting. “PHANIEL! PURIEL! Get dressed and get down here!” I heard footsteps above us, and a few minutes later we were all sitting together. They told us about how the Pack link had disappeared when the two mated, and I couldn’t understand why.