Page 56 of Bosse
Swallowing hard, Bosse said to Titan,I must ask you to do something terrible.
What do you want?
Was he really going to do this to his wolf, who had been with him step by step over two horrific years? He and Titan had always discussed everything. He could not do what he wished for without Titan’s help.
No matter what he did, he would let someone down.
I can’t leave this country with no way to return for Alifair and live with myself, Bosse admitted.I know you will not like what I feel I need to do, maybe even hate me, but she risked everything to free us. I believe we can free her.
Titan didn’t answer right away. When he weighed in, he said,If you must do this, we will do it together.
Bosse’s skin tingled with the relief that rushed through him.Thank you for being the best part of me. I promise to make it up to you and find us a good place to live in America once we are all free.
They had just passed a business that smelled of beer and fried food. Titan had captured a rabbit today. Not enough for a wolf who had been going nonstop, but something to eat.
If only Bosse had money. He walked around the back of the restaurant to dig through the dumpster.
Titan shouted in his head.Shifters!
Bosse dropped what he had in his hand and swung around. It can’t be.
Three men, all dressed in dark blue jumpsuits and smelling of wolves, stepped out from behind the metal garbage container. “Don’t fight us, and you won’t be hurt.”
Titan said,We might outrun them.
Bosse allowed his shift to start, giving him claws and reshaping his head for sharp fangs. He dove at the group to take them to the ground in a surprise attack.
Two went sliding, but the third was bigger and grabbed Bosse by the throat. The two others jumped up and yanked Bosse off the big guy. He fought hard, knocking the two away, and prepared to rip the third one to pieces, but that one held a gun on him. Even with a bullet, Bosse could get away if he took that down and the shooter didn’t strike Bosse in the head.
One shifter from the ground jumped up and attacked, forcing Bosse to fight more than one. The minute his attention was divided, a needle stabbed his neck.
That’s what the gun had. Not bullets.
Bosse kept blasting his fists, now fighting the two again. They were trying to beat him down. His legs were thick as trees, but they turned to rubber.
Titan moaned in his head.Drugs.
Bosse’s vision blurred. His arms flopped.
“Not so badass, are you?” one of the shifters said right before he blasted Bosse with an uppercut, sending him to the ground. He could hear a smear of voices as he blinked in and out of consciousness. They carried him for a short distance and threw him into a van, slamming the side door.
How could he get caught again?
He fought to stay conscious, but the drugs were too strong. He passed out, then woke up later, sitting somewhere other than the van. This place vibrated quietly. His mouth was dry as a desert. His wrists had titanium handcuffs, which were chained to the ankle cuffs on his outstretched legs. He looked around. There were four more shifters handcuffed the same way.
He whispered, “Water.”
“You gonna act right if I give you water?”
Bosse looked up into the face of his captor and lifted his wrists the few inches the chain allowed as an answer.
“Give him water, Kinter,” the big shifter he’d fought said.
Kinter stuck a water bottle to Bosse’s lips.
He drank greedily. When he could talk, he asked, “Who are you? Why did you capture me?”
“Our names don’t matter. There’s a bounty for lone wolf shifters. This is our contracted area. We catch a nice number of you each month. You’re not the first shifter that tried to stow away on a ship to America. We’re just delivering you to get paid. Nothing personal.”
