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

Blinking as if coming out of a trance Troy shook his head slowly and took in the scene as if seeing it for the first time. After a moment he focused on my hand gripping his wrist, then he looked to my face. One side still burned with the fire of his slap and I could only imagine what it looked like.

"Jen?" His voice was confused as he shook his head again, trying to clear it. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I'll tell you, but first I need to make a call, ok?" I asked softly, releasing his hand and nodding towards the phone.

"Something isn't right." He turned, squinting at his phone.

"Can I make the call? Please?" I didn't know how long this would last, I needed to try calling Kristen's phone. I hoped she had signal finally, and that Liam was near her.

"Why?" He turned back to me with his head cocked to the side and I could see the insanity creeping back into his eyes.

I needed to calm him again.

Cursing myself for letting his hand go I reached out slowly and went to touch his hand as I looked into his eyes, trying to keep his attention. "Troy, please. Your phone, it's important."

Something must have given me away because he shrank back from me and looked down at my hand warily. It seemed that tense situations undid my calming quickly, I could see that I had lost him again.

"Don't touch me." He said simply, looking confused at his own words but continuing all the same. "Stay on your side of the truck. If you reach over again I'll tie you up, understand?"

I nodded reluctantly and he turned back to face the road, looking lost. Finally his eyes caught sight of his phone and he smiled.

"We're going on vacation, remember?" His smile faded slightly and he cocked his head to the side again. "Deja Vu, odd."

Putting the truck back into drive he continued on down the road. Before long the muttering began again, punctuated only by the occasional directions barked out by his phone.

"We're still quite a few hours away. You should get some sleep." He spoke absently, face unreadable as he continued to watch the road.

I didn't respond. Whatever the next few hours held, sleep would not be an option. I was now in a race between escape and exhaustion, there would be no way I'd be able to sleep around Troy.

I had to escape.

"H
ow is she doctor?" I barely waited for the door to close before asking the question. The doctor gave me a flat stare before speaking.

"She's fine, and she's getting better." He leaned back against the door as he spoke, crossing his arms in front of him.

"She needs to be better now." I growled softly and began to pace around the room, casting glances at her bundle of clothes. Kris might know where the address lead.

"Liam," the doctor shook his head and spoke over my growls. "It's only been a few hours since you left, what did you expect?"

"His mate has been taken, it's got him just a tad on edge." Ian commented from the same chair he had been occupying earlier and I shot him a glare that rolled right off of him.

"I see." The doctor looked between us for a moment before continuing. "Have you contacted the tribe? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Why would you help us?" I asked cautiously.

"I'm a doctor," a hint of anger coated his words and caught my attention. "I help people. It isn't always just sewing them back together." I stopped my pacing and nodded, then shrugged.

"Thank you. But unless you can tell us where an address leads we're going to have to wait until Kristen wakes."

The weight of the situation began to overwhelm me but ended quickly as the doctor spoke.

"That's it? What's the address?" The doctor made it sound as if this weren't really that difficult an issue. I took out the paper and handed it to him.

Looking over it quickly he nodded then began to walk out of the waiting room, gesturing for us to follow. Ian stood, shrugged, and began to walk after him. I fell into step beside Ian as he reached me and we continued through several rooms before ending in what appeared to be the doctor's main office.

"Lets see," the doctor walked to the computer at his desk and began to type.

By the time I had crossed the room he had apparently already discovered where the address led. He turned the display towards me but I couldn't really make heads nor tails out of it.

The doctor watched me a moment before realizing I had no idea what he was showing me. "It's a cabin in upstate New York. Here, I'll zoom out and switch it to satellite view."

There was movement on the screen and then it showed us a view of a thick forest as if viewed from above. He pointed to the cabin again, barely visible in the dense foliage, and began to show where roads lead to the area.

"The trail," Ian spoke, excited. "I think the Appalachian Trail would take us close, then take some of the shifter runs right up to the area."

"And the trail would be nearly empty of humans this time of year." The doctor nodded as he spoke, leaning back in his chair and looking to Ian and I. "Nobody would take much notice of the two of you running the trail as wolves.

Ian shot me the same quick look as he had earlier, but I didn't need his warning. Anyone that saw me would definitely take notice. A Prime stood out. It was still a great idea however, we'd just have to be careful.

"We'll get close and get an idea of how to get inside." Ian looked at the display, planning our route. "Once we know what the cabin looks like from the ground it'll be easier."

"Hang on." the doctor began moving things around on the screen again and suddenly the cabin filled the display. It looked as if we were standing at the base of the stairs leading to the main entryway.

"What the hell?" Ian was looking at the display warily. "Can you look inside? See if they're there?"

"It doesn't work like that." The doctor was smiling slightly as he looked at Ian while I did my best not to look as awkward as Ian did. "These are just pictures other people have taken when they were there before. The birds eye views are photos from satellites. They're uh, cameras. In space."

Ian and I both glanced up at the ceiling warily, feeling the human inventions staring down at us. The doctor chuckled at our reactions.

"Are they watching us now?" Ian was having trouble keeping his voice level.

"They're always watching," the doctor replied quietly. "They aren't the worst though. Most humans carry cameras now and their cities are full of them."

"It's why we have to shift so far from town, out in the woods," I said quietly. "Or in places like the gym."

The doctor nodded sadly. "It's only a matter of time now before our secret is out."

"Well," I sighed, "that's a worry for another day. I must get to my mate. Thank you doctor." He waved his hand absently as he stood and began to walk us out. As we entered the waiting room I made my way to Kristen's clothes and picked them up slowly. Wishing I could be here for her when she woke I instead turned and presented the items to the doctor.

These are Kris's, obviously. Please let her know where we went, and why." I handed them over to the doctor, who nodded, before I turned and walked towards the exit with Ian.

"Liam, wait!" The doctor's voice halted me and I waited as he approached. "Is this phone your sister's?" He held up her phone, it had been in the bundle I had given to him.

"It is hers, yes." I looked at him, confused, as he held it out for me to take.

"Take it. She can call you when she is better, and having a phone is a must if you're going to be in the human world." He gestured at me with the phone. I spared Ian a glance, he was looking at the device thoughtfully.

"Neither of us know how to use it," I replied finally.

"Well, no time like the present to learn." And with that the doctor began showing us the basics. When we left the office we brought the phone with us. The first human device we knew how to use.

We made our way into the woods surrounding the cabin and prepared to shift. Since I would be out of place no matter who saw us it was decided that I would shift first and Ian would tie our bundled possessions to me. A wolf with a backpack might stand out, but a wolf the size of a moose already drew enough attention.

To put it mildly.

Ian took point and lead the way to the Appalachian Trail. Once there he ran ahead to alert me to any witnesses as I followed.

Afternoon wore on, and we ran. Evening descended upon us, the sun dipping to touch the horizon, and we ran. Finally night fell fully, the moon heavy in the sky.

And we ran.

There were no hikers, human or shifter, on the trail and we made good time. Miles disappeared behind us at a rapid pace but I still had a building sense of worry. Ian was my guide but he was slowing me down.

Where he ran I trotted, where he cautiously stepped across stones on a small river I walked through it easily, where he climbed down a steep slope I simply leapt to the bottom.

The pace was an easy one for me to maintain. Unfortunately that meant I had plenty of time to think. And worry.

Jen had only been a part of my life for an amazingly brief time, but already she consumed me. She had shattered my views of the world and, in doing so, had made me a better shifter, a better person.

She had simply made me better.

And now she had been taken by a person who would cause serious injury to someone he had supposedly loved. Whatever he was putting Jen through, I had to see her safe. And if she wasn't safe, well... I would see that Troy suffered for each hurt he had done to the woman I loved.

Lost in my thoughts I was surprised to find Ian in the trail before me, seated on his haunches and panting heavily. He looked to me as I approached, then shifted back to his human form.

"Lad, I need to rest." He sat on the trail, chest heaving as he worked at catching his breath and stretched around to get rid of cramps.

We had been running for the better part of a day and I didn't feel as if I had done anything more intense than walking across a small field. Ian obviously needed rest, he had pushed himself hard, and though he would hate to hear it he certainly wasn't as young as he used to be.

But we couldn't afford to waste any time, Jen couldn't afford it. Crouching down I indicated that Ian should climb on and rest while I continued to run. He sighed, nodded, and climbed up onto my back. Soon we were off again.

For the first time since my transformation to Prime I had a wide trail before me and I began to run, truly run. The darkness surrounding us hid nothing from my sight though it would hide us from any prying eyes. And, possibly the most fortunate of all, my dexterity had increased with my size.

Every step was sure, firm.

How fast I ran was impossible for me to tell. The trees had long since stopped blurring together and had simply become solid unchanging walls to my left and right. The air was a constant scream in my ears, so I flattened them down to cut the distraction. Ian clung to my back desperately, clearly concerned about falling off.

I drew on a well of strength deep within and continued well past the point where I should have been as exhausted as Ian had been. I had to get to Jen, needed to ensure her safety if she hadn't already freed herself. She had an amazing strength.

And Troy, well, he would be dealt with.

T
he ride had continued for what felt like forever. The only small reprieve had come when Troy had taken us out onto a highway to find a truck stop to stretch out our legs.

All the stores inside had been closed save for a single burger joint that we ordered from. I had thought briefly about trying to get the employees help, but I felt certain that Troy would have simply killed them and ran off with me again.

That had been hours ago, though the food still sat like a stone in my stomach. Mental note: when I get out of this I'm never eating at a truck stop again.

Troy's incessant muttering had become white noise and threatened to lull me to sleep as we continued further off the beaten path and deeper into the hills. He hadn't spoken to me since the explosion when I had first awoken and any attempts to get information were met with the same impenetrable muttering.

He was either ignoring me or was just too crazy to reply.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when his phone announced that we had arrived at our destination. Looking around all I could see were trees as Troy pulled to the side of the road, frowning at the map on his phone.

Turning to look behind us he put the truck into reverse and a short distance later I saw a small gap in the trees. A narrow dirt road lead off into the deep woods. It was only completely nightmarish in the pitch black of night.

Troy smiled to himself as he looked out my window at the road before turning us onto it and driving slowly onward. I suppressed a shiver, when he had been looking out my window it had felt like he was looking through me. As if I wasn't even there.

The bare branches scraping the sides of the truck did little to ease my mood. It didn't help that the 'road' seemed to go on forever either, though it may have just been the need to drive slowly.

Worst of all though was the exhaustion beginning to creep over me. With as on edge as I was I'd think the adrenaline would have kept me awake. It was a frustrating though as a yawn cracked my jaw.

I thought I might pass out yet again, like I had when Liam had carried me down out of the mountains. Thinking of him lifted my spirits considerably. I knew, without the hint of a doubt, that he was doing any and everything possible to get to me.

I was determined to free myself so that when we saw each other next it would be a reunion and not a rescue.

But to do that I would need to focus and stay awake.

Time dragged on, the view ahead an unchanging dirt road with too close trees for what felt like forever. And then, suddenly and without warning, the trees opened up as we drove out onto the top of a hill I hadn't realized we were on.

A light coating of snow covered the scene. We were in a large clearing that encompassed the whole hilltop, a beautiful cabin resting in it's center at the highest point. The trees must have been cleared to give an uninterrupted view of the surrounding area.