Aiden's Charity

Chapter Twenty-Six

The sound was coming closer. The hard, pulsing beat of a jet-powered helicopter seemed to echo through the frame of the house.

“Do they attack?” She could feel her heart throbbing in her chest, fear racing through her blood stream.

“Sometimes. Get back from the window. If there are sharp shooters watching for you, you’ll make too easy a target.” Charity jumped back before the words were out of his mouth.

She stared at Nikki across the room, seeing the other woman’s concern.

“They rarely attack in the daylight,” she said carefully. “They’re getting desperate.”

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than the cabin trembled as a hard, shocking explosion sounded outside.

“They hit Wolfe’s cabin!” the guard yelled furiously. “Sons of bitches. They hit Wolfe’s cabin.”

“Hope,” Charity breathed out desperately as she turned to the guard. “Give me your fucking weapon. Get out there and see if they need any help. I don’t need a damned babysitter.”

“Charity, stop.” Nikki moved quickly to her, then stumbled as another blast rocked the building. “We have to get to the Labs. The underground shelter there will protect us.”

“What are they doing?” Charity was enraged, furious. She could hear the screams outside, the sounds of returning fire. “We have to get to Hope, Nikki.”

“They are trying to draw you out,” Nikki yelled furiously. “Don’t worry about Wolfe and Hope. Wolfe knows how to protect his mate. I promise you, our best men, as well as Wolfe, are guarding her now.”

“They’re turning. Get the hell out of here, they’re heading in our direction,” the guard at the window called out as he turned and jerked the front door open quickly.

“The Labs,” Nikki called out. “We’ll only be safe in the Labs.”

“Come on.” He grabbed Charity’s arm, rushing her for the door. “They took out Wolfe and Jacob’s cabin and are heading back.”

Charity moved between the guards, making no move to question them or to delay their plans. She was aware of Nikki behind her and the sound of the helicopter as it moved in once again.

“Sons of bitches have to have a plant,” one of the guards cursed as he rushed her from the porch and under the cover of the trees that grew alongside the gravel path. “Let’s move.”

The helicopter was moving in faster now. Charity could hear it, the motor throbbing, rotors beating in time to the desperate throb of her own heart. The guards were running beside her, checking behind them often, as curses sizzled from between their lips.

One minute she was running with him, the next she felt as though some unseen hand had picked her up, throwing her through the air as another explosion sounded behind them.

She heard herself scream a second before she hit the ground, the air expelling from her body with the force of her landing. She lay still, fighting to breathe, blinking against the blinding pain that attacked her body.

“Move.” She was picked up unceremoniously and hauled backward at the exact instant that a spray of bullets littered the gravel where she had lain.

All hell was erupting around her as she fought to breathe, to make sense of the screams echoing through the air. She looked around then, gasping, as her heart thumped in fear.

The guards were unconscious or dead—she wasn’t certain which—and moving in carefully were three large males, their scent unfamiliar, their faces hard, intent.

“Nikki!” she yelled as she backed away from them, glancing behind her desperately then coming to a stop once again.

Nikki was dazed but standing, held upright by two other men, their shadowed faces determined.

“Come with us, and you won’t be harmed.” She turned quickly as the obvious leader spoke up. “No, Ms. Dunmore. Don’t make me force you.”

She would have fought, but there were five and Charity knew there wasn’t a chance she would escape unharmed.

“You’ll kill us anyway,” she screamed as another explosion rocked the ground. Then she gasped in horror as he smiled. The canines were curved, gleaming, proof that the Coyotes had finally found her.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I must,” he snarled. “Believe what you will for now, but you will come with us.”

Gloved fingers gripped her arm, pulling her to the hole that had been blasted into the compound wall. Fear snaked through her belly as her body protested the touch, sending flares of pain radiating through her. Thankfully, as he pushed her forward, he released the grip he had on her.

Charity prayed that somewhere, somehow Aiden was close by. Prayed he was safe. She could feel her cheeks, damp with tears, with desperation, as she glanced back at Nikki, hearing the other woman’s vicious curses. She was frightened. Nikki rarely cursed unless the fear overcame her natural restraint. That fear increased her own.

They were rushed through the break in the wall before being pushed quickly into a waiting jeep. Within seconds the vehicle was tearing away from the compound beneath the cover of the thickly growing pines as the helicopter swooped in for another pass at the compound.

“I hope you all fry in hell,” Nikki cursed them as they bounced over a particularly rough piece of ground. “I hope Wolfe and Aiden castrate you all.”

No answer was forthcoming. The sound of battle receded as Charity fought the rage crawling through her system. Coyotes. They were no more than the Council’s lapdogs. How would Aiden find her now, even if he had managed to survive the attack? He wouldn’t know what had happened to her. Would he believe she had been in the cabin when it exploded? Of course he would.

She crossed her arms over her chest, fighting the desperation she could feel weakening her. She had to find a way free of this.

“Wolfe will pay you more than the Council ever can,” she bit out, knowing the mercenary hearts of the mongrels who had taken them. The Coyotes were known to betray their masters often. If the price was right. “You’re making a mistake taking us back.”

The driver glanced back, his surprisingly light blue eyes gleaming with disgust. “The Council doesn’t own us, Ms. Dunmore, and we have no intention of taking you to them. You’ll be returned to your mate as soon as you have accomplished something for us. Now sit back and relax. You’ll understand in due time.”

Shock left her gasping for breath. He was Coyote. She could see in the curved canines as he snarled, but she couldn’t smell the rancid scent that normally emanated from the soulless Breed.

She glanced at Nikki, seeing her eyes narrow, her expression harden as she turned her gaze back to the men in front of the jeep.

“The Council has puppets in many places,” she said.

Charity held her breath. The words were simple, but the meaning behind them she well knew.

The passenger turned back to her slowly, his gaze narrowed, intent.

“Puppets have masters. Men play the fools. Breed Law will still yet survive.”

And the answer was given. An answer only a handful of men and women could know. An answer that shocked Charity to the core of her being. Breed Law was barely formed. A code of honor so strict, so tightly enforced, that if a member broke it, be he Wolf, Feline or human, then instant death resulted.

“Your Pack?” Nikki questioned. “You aren’t Wolf. You’re Coyote. Who controls you?”

The smile she received in return was hard, mocking in its savagery. “No one or nothing controls us, doctor, save the code we follow.”

“That attack broke the code,” she informed him furiously. “You know the price to be paid.”

“The attack was not ours,” he growled. “Settle back and be patient. Your questions will be answered soon. And hopefully, ours will as well.”

“It doesn’t matter who attacked, Aiden will kill you before you get a chance to explain,” Charity informed him furiously. “You’ve made a mistake, Coyote.”

Broad shoulders shrugged negligently as he turned back to face forward. Nothing else was said. The jeep increased speed as it broke the tree line and bumped onto the main road. The engine whined as gears shifted and the distance between herself and Aiden increased.

Charity rubbed her arms and turned to Nikki, questioning their options silently. The other woman sighed and shook her head. Like Charity, she knew they could only wait and see what the end of the journey brought.