Bound to the Prime (Bound to the Pack, #3) (12 page)

Plus interest.

Nothing about his demeanor changed, he didn’t even cry out. It was as if he weren’t even aware of what I had just done. I growled heavily, wanting him to look into my eyes and know his death was at hand. For all he had done, all the pain and sorrow that rode in his wake, he would pay the ultimate price.

When he rolled over onto his back I found him not crying, but laughing. He laughed all the harder at the confusion on my face.

“If I can’t have her, at least I’ll die knowing you won’t either.” He smiled his twisted smile as he held up his hand, something gripped tightly within. “Oh, and Kristen? I’ve made sure she’s taken care of.” Something flashed quickly across his face. Sadness? “Thanks for playing. Time to die, freak.” He brought his thumb down on whatever was in his hand.

I had to get back to Kris and Jen... the thought was unfinished as a series of explosions blew the cliff face apart. Time seemed to slow as a wall of force slammed into me like the fist of an angry god and I was thrown aside. My shattered leg screamed in a white hot agony the likes of which I had never felt before.

Dirt, stone, and boulders rained down around me, filling me with dread as the cliff face fell in upon itself and came flowing down to gravity’s call. Drawing heavily upon Jen’s energy, hoping I wasn’t putting her in danger, I darted away.

Not every stone missed and soon I was in pain all over, every hit ignored as I focused on staying ahead of the avalanche. The feel of the ground rumbling was growing closer and I spared a glance behind me.

It was a mistake.

A moment after I had glanced behind me the leading edge of the sliding rubble caught me in its grasp. Tossed around with the rubble I was battered heavily, every inch of my body screamed out in agony. I took even more of Jen’s energy into myself, healing the injuries as quickly as I could manage, but still earning new ones every second.

Finally, amazingly, the destruction slowed and rumbled to a stop. And I was still alive.

I stopped drawing from my mate and dug myself out quickly, the amount of energy I had taken from her had healed my leg fully. It also terrified me at what I may have done to Jen with that much, that quickly. I redoubled my efforts to get out and was soon rewarded with freedom.

I examined the area and was shocked to find the back cliff face was simply gone, a new slope now sat where it had been. The vehicles weren’t visible, buried beneath a mountain of rubble. Dust filled the open mine and drifted lazily into the sky.

Of Troy there was no sign.

The climb from the pit was slow and painful, I refused to draw upon Jen’s energy any further, but I went as quickly as I could to reach her. My worries evaporated when I saw her and Kris hobbling down the ramp towards me, smiling broadly.

We were all the worse for wear, but we were alive.

I
sat outside on a chair from the office and watched the shifter ‘clean up’ crew work as I ate. It bothered me on some level that a group like this existed, though I understood the need. Nearly twenty dead hunters around the mine site would cause an uproar from the nearby town.

So all signs of violence that could be removed were.

When everything was as clean as could be hoped for, a human news crew would be allowed up at the site. The explosion had been felt for miles around and the reporters didn’t enjoy being told to wait, even if it was ‘for their own safety.’

“Do you require anything else ma’am?” My attention was brought back to the officer before me, and the table loaded with piles of barbeque from a restaurant in town.

The man was a wolf shifter and had immediately known, somehow, that I was an alpha’s mate specifically. He had been most accommodating, going to town to fulfill my insane request for food without even batting an eye.

I could get used to this.

“I’m fine, thank you.” I reached down for another rib and sighed when I saw I had already eaten them all. I grabbed a few strips of brisket instead.

“I’ll send the doctor over to look at your shoulder then.” He tipped his hat towards me before walking off to where Kris was being sewn back together.

In all of the excitement I had forgotten about my own injury. How the hell do you forget being shot? It didn’t seem to hurt nearly as much as it had before, now it was more of a good bruise feeling instead of a hole-through-my-arm one.

The doctor stood and grabbed his bag, Kris standing up shakily beside him. He watched her with a critical eye as she began making her way gingerly towards me with him at her side.

I smiled at Kris when they reached me and she beamed back as she plopped gracelessly into the chair beside me. The doctor eyed the feast before me with slight disbelief, he had already watched me eat an impossible amount and I showed no sign of slowing.

“Hello,” the doctor said good-naturedly as he stepped in front of me. “Jen, right?” At my nod he gestured towards my shoulder. “May I?”

“Sure.” I removed my jacket gingerly, then allowed him to remove our improvised bandages. I noticed he was a bear and thought it a bit odd he would have chosen to be a doctor, he seemed a bit too good natured really. Who ever heard of a cheerful bear? It felt unnatural.

“You’ll be fine Jen, no need to worry.” He smiled reassuringly, though it was unnecessary.

“I know,” I answered simply. Reaching down I absently grabbed a bit more of the brisket. The food was surprisingly good.

“Your emotions say otherwise,” the doctor said flatly. “They’re all over the place and hyper powered, likely from the shock of the day’s events.”

“Actually doc, this is normal for her.” Kris grinned at the doctor’s shocked look.

“Truly?” He turned back to me for confirmation and I shrugged and nodded. My shoulder reminded me that shrugging wasn’t the smartest idea. Seeing my wince the doctor frowned and began to examine my wound.

“Well, if that’s the case, it certainly explains part of how you attracted an alpha, and a good thing too.” He gestured absently at the crew moving around behind him. “Emotions like this, knowing about our world already, and being beautiful? Most of the men here would kill each other trying to catch your attention.”

I snorted a laugh as I chewed down another bite of the beef, Kristen laughing softly at my side. Beautiful was something I’d never consider myself, particularly when I’ve been shot and am pigging out on a whole buffet. Liam tells me I’m beautiful though, and that’s enough for me.

“Odd...” The doctor was examining my injury closely.

“What’s odd?” There had never been good news when a doctor said that an injury was ‘odd.’

“Your wound looks like its been healing well for over a week, better than Kristen’s even.” He looked up into my eyes and inhaled deeply, my scent confirming I was human. His eyes darted to the unreal amount of food, to my shoulder, and back to my eyes.

“Sooooo....” I gestured at my shoulder, keeping him focused. “What do I need to do with it?”

Unable to understand the situation, he took the easy out of pretending it was normal. “Just keep it clean and bandaged, you should be fully healed in a day or two if this healing rate keeps up.”

Several minutes later the doctor was walking away, my shoulder cleaned and bound in proper bandages. Kris picked at the food silently beside me, lost in thought and looking out over the hills towards the sunset. It had been an insane day, hell, an insane month, and the sunset looked especially beautiful in the cold winter air.

Movement across from us resolved into a group leaving the forest led by Liam. He had gone with them to point out exactly where the rest of the hunters had fallen. Soon the news crews would be everywhere up here and we wanted to be gone well before then.

After speaking with the crew for a moment Liam began to make his way to us. He was limping with a crutch as he moved, keeping his weight off of his ‘broken’ leg. The doctor had seen to him first, but when the food had arrived I told Liam to heal himself through our bond.

He had done so and we discovered that as long as I was well fed I didn’t pass out from exhaustion. Being able to eat all I wanted without gaining weight was a happy little bonus to this whole bonded-to-a-Prime situation.

“It is done,” Liam spoke as he approached. “We are able to leave when you are ready.” He looked Kris and I over, making sure we had both been seen by the doctor.

Seemingly satisfied with what he saw he picked up something from the table to eat and I growled at him playfully. He looked concerned for a moment before he took a large bite and smiled back at me.

“I should be good to go soon,” I said. I was feeling content with what I had already eaten.” I just want to...” I trailed off as the officer led a well dressed shifter our way.

The man was tall and painfully thin for his height, dressed in an expensive suit and carrying a briefcase. Looking him over I got the distinct impression of a weasel.

“Kristen,” the officer spoke, “this man requested to see you. He has some matters to finalize before you leave.” The officer nodded to Liam and I before walking away, leaving the stranger with us.

“Kristen?” The man waited for her nod before continuing. “I’m Troy’s attorney.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it, a weasel attorney. He shut his eyes and took a moment to collect himself, he clearly got this reaction often.

“Yes. As I was saying. I represent Troy’s estate and, with his passing, am now acting on his last wishes.” He paused for a moment, opening his briefcase and removing a few sheets of paper. Per his request you, Kristen, are to receive the entirety of his rather substantial fortune and property.” Silence fell upon the group at his words, Kris staring at him in disbelief.

“What?” She spoke weakly, confused. “Why?”

“He called the other day to make sure all was in order. He knew he wouldn’t be alive for much longer.” His gaze flickered out to the devastated mine. “He called again several hours ago, requesting I come here to find you. He said that he wanted to make sure you were taken care of.”

Kris took the papers from him and looked them over quickly, her eyes widening with every line. “This is insane. I didn’t know about a
tenth
of this! He had houses all over the world!” Her voice choked off as she read the last page. “Is that his
bank account
?!”

“It represents the total sum of his savings and investments, yes,” the attorney said somewhat smugly. He was clearly impressed with himself at having managed whatever the number was on that page.

“I don’t want it.” Kris held the papers out towards him. “I can’t take this.”

The attorney just smiled and replied, “He said you might feel that way. I was told that if you did, to ask you to do some good with it all since he had always been too selfish to do so.”

“Better you take it than let it all just go to the state.” Kris looked to me at my words and I just shrugged, wincing slightly. I needed to pay more attention to my injuries.

Kris stood staring at the papers for several minutes, torn between accepting Troy’s ‘charity’ and giving up some ridiculous sum of money. Eventually she sighed and reluctantly nodded towards the attorney. “Fine. It’s mine. Are you still going to be managing it all?”

“I can,” he smiled, “for the usual fee of course.”

“Of course,” Kris grinned.

It took some time for her to fill out all of the required paperwork but, before long, we were making our way towards her car. It was well past time for us to leave.

“You know,” Kris mused, “none of us really have jobs anymore.” She turned to me and grinned, a hint of the old Kris lurking behind her eyes. “Let’s open a club!”

I groaned.

Two Weeks Later

I
looked around at the construction that was surprisingly well under way. Kristen had, sadly, been completely serious about opening a club. I shook my head as I watched the workmen scurrying around, it was my job as the senior manager since Kris was off recruiting more employees. Which really just meant she was out having a good time at every shifter club she came across.

Liam strode into the shell of the building, his face lit up when he spotted me across the room and made his way over. Pulling me into his embrace he leaned in and kissed my breath away. I hadn’t seen him for a few days.

As we separated I felt myself smiling so hard that it hurt. The past two weeks had been glorious. For the first time since we had met each other we were free, truly free, to be together.

We had moved in with Kris at Troy’s sprawling house and have been ‘breaking it in’ while she was away. I hadn’t walked right in over a week, though I was beginning to heal during his absence. Liam winked down at me and smiled as if he had been reading my thoughts.

“So,” I smiled up at him. “How are things on the reservation? All well in your animal kingdom?”

“Well enough,” he chuckled. “I brought visitors, they wanted to meet you and see us together.”

“Visitors?” Looking past him I noticed a man and woman, I’d been so focused on Liam that I hadn’t seen them enter behind me.

Their strides were confident, predatory, and I knew at once that they were tiger shifters. Well, the woman was. The man was human, though he moved in the same way as his companion and he was marked so strongly as her mate I had thought he was a shifter as well.

As they approached I felt a sense of regal power radiating from them. The way they moved, the way they held themselves, the way everyone made room for them, all spoke of an massive inner strength.

They were Primes.

“Hello Jen.” The woman spoke calmly, a smile blossoming on her face as she regarded me. “I am Helen. This is my bond mate, Philip.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Philip's eyes shone with genuine mirth as he shook my hand. “Liam has told us all about you of course.”

“Only good things I hope.” I smiled at them both. Their presence was instantly disarming, not at all what I’d expect from a tiger and her mate.

“Yes, we do break the mold a bit.” Helen’s chuckle turned into a laugh at my shocked look. “No, I can’t read your mind, though I year
you
can. That’s new, and unexpected. No, when you’ve lived as long as I have you can pick apart scents with a surprising precision.”