Silent Hunters

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Silent Hunters

ISBN #978-0-85715-633-4

©Copyright Desiree Holt 2011

Cover Art by April Martinez ©Copyright August 2011

Edited by Lisa Cox

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-burning
and a
sexometer
of
2.

The Sentinels

SILENT HUNTERS

Desiree Holt

To Allie Standifer, Cerise Deland and Brenna Zinn, who helped me put this idea together during our Fearsome Foursome Weekend. It was all the wine that did it!

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Google: Google, Inc.

SILENT HUNTERS

Desiree Holt

5

“Come on, bitch.”

The hooded man yanked open the back door to the SUV, grabbed her arm and dragged Lauren Rhodes out into the night. She stumbled as he pulled her from the car, totally disoriented.

One hand ripped the duct tape away from her mouth. “You can scream now. No one and nothing will hear you out here except the wildlife.”

She had no idea where she was. She wasn’t blindfolded but she might as well have been. The windows of the vehicle she’d been transported in were blacked out, as was the privacy panel between the front seat and the rest of the car. She’d had to sit in absolute darkness, hands bound tightly in front of her, tape over her mouth, while they’d rocketed along whatever roads he took, slowing down only when the surface turned rough and bumpy. She stumbled on the uneven surface, trying to get her footing in the flimsy sandals.

An hour or more ago, she’d been standing on the unlit highway leading to her family’s home, wondering how she could have run out of gas when she’d just filled up her tank the day before and hadn’t gone anywhere since then. One minute she was trying to get a signal on her cell phone. The next the big SUV pulled up next to her, three hooded men jumped out, grabbed her and tossed her into the back seat. She’d still been trying to scream when they’d roared off, her cries cut off when a fist had connected with her jaw.

She’d awakened to a hazy state of consciousness when the driver had stopped long enough for the man in the back with her to get out along with the person in the front passenger seat. Then they were off again, tyres screaming on the pavement. She’d tried desperately to gather her scattered wits together and figure out what was happening. Before she could make actual sense out of her thoughts they’d arrived at this desolate place and she had no idea at all where it was.

She managed to look around as the man dragged her roughly along the ground. She saw the dark shape of a cabin emerge from the gloom, surrounded by a thick forest of trees.

Holy shit. They were in the middle of no place. No one would ever find her here. Who were these men and why had they grabbed her?

SILENT HUNTERS

Desiree Holt

6

I never thought it would come to this. And which one of them had reached such a point of
desperation? Shows you how little you know about your own family.

Her jaw still ached from the punch she’d taken and inside she was shaking but at the moment she didn’t have the luxury of fear. If he got her into that cabin, she had a feeling she’d never get out alive.

As he tugged her along the dirt again she dug in her heels and yanked her arm out of his grasp. When he turned towards her she brought her leg up sharply and kneed him in the balls. His cry of agony could have curdled blood, and while it still rang in the air she brought up her foot and kicked him in the crotch again. He dropped to the ground, curled up in the foetal position, and Lauren took off running. She could hardly make out where she was going, wiry undergrowth scratching her skin, her toes stubbing on tree roots that protruded from the ground. But she knew if he caught her she was worse off than dead.

“Bitch. Where you at, bitch?” His voice had a strangled sound to it generously laced with rage. “When I get my hands on you, you’ll pray for me to kill you. I don’t care what my orders are.”

Orders? Someone gave the order for this?

So I was right. Oh God!

She’d been aware things at the house were getting bad but she hadn’t really thought anyone would go to such lengths with her.

Lauren pulled up next to a thick tree, bracing herself against it, trying to even out her breathing as she listened for the man’s progress. She wished she could get rid of the damn rope binding her wrists but the knot was too tight for her to work loose. Cautiously she stepped away from the tree, one foot then another, being as quiet as she could. She’d barely gone ten steps before she heard him behind her and suddenly there he was. He still had the hood on but now he also had a gun in his hand.

She backed up, wondering if she could drop-kick the gun away before he shot her.

Then she heard a fierce growling sound—an animalistic roar—and like blurs in the darkness three furred bodies hurtled past her to land on the man. She stared at them, immobilised, her breath trapped in her throat.

Wolves!

She knew there were wolves in Maine. She’d spent every summer of her life near these woods. But she’d never seen them this close before. Fear slid through her like an icy finger as SILENT HUNTERS

Desiree Holt

7

she watched them knock the man to the ground. One of them sank his fangs into the gun hand and the man let out a scream. But the sound was short-lived, as in the next minute one of the other wolves ripped out his throat.

Ohmigod!

She was frozen to the spot, knowing she should run or they might turn on her next but her muscles didn’t seem to get the message from her brain. The wolves were huge—bigger than any wolves she’d ever seen—one a shimmery silver, the second a white so bright even in the darkness it almost hurt her eyes to look at it, and the third blacker than the night and larger than the other two. When they turned to look at her she pressed herself as hard as she could against the trunk of the tree, sure that if she moved they’d be on her.

But they simply stared at her with their amber eyes and unbelievably she had a sudden feeling of safety. Safety? Here in the middle of the woods with three vicious animals? She waited, helpless, for them to attack, but they simply moved slowly away from the body and headed back into the woods, padding softly on their paws as if they were just out for a stroll.

They’d gone about twenty yards from her when they stopped and turned to look back at her.

One of them gave a soft growl, the sound unbelievably nonthreatening.

Do they want me to follow them?

As if in answer they stood there, waiting patiently.

Well, it couldn’t be any stranger than the rest of this night. And I can’t hang around here. If
someone tries to contact that man and they don’t get him they’ll be out here like a shot.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she ordered her feet to move. One step at a time she left the security of the tree. She’d only covered a couple of feet when the wolves moved again, slowly, as if waiting for her to catch up with them. They progressed like that, she and the wolves, haltingly, until she finally figured out they were trying to lead her out of the woods. How totally weird. Wolves rescuing her? But it had to be better than what waited for her if she spent too much time like this, time when the man’s friends could check on him and come looking for her.

“She’s coming now,”
Luke Spencer, the silver wolf, sent a silent message to his companions.

“I wasn’t sure she’d follow us,”
Mack Renfield, the magnificent white wolf, answered him.

“
Especially after we tore into that guy.”

SILENT HUNTERS

Desiree Holt

8

“Well, it was that or let him shoot her,”
Damien Moreno commented.

“What do you suppose that was all about?”
Mack asked.

“I have no idea,”
Luke answered
. “But when I see a woman whose wrists are bound and a man
after her with a hood over his face and a gun in his hand, I know whose side I’m on.”

“We need to lead her to your place, Luke. I think what she needs right now is The Sentinels.

That’s one woman in a huge pile of trouble.”

“If we can get her close to the house,”
Damien told them,
“we can take off and let her go the
rest of the way herself. The house will be lit up and easy for her to find.”

“Good idea,”
Mack agreed
. “We need to slip in ahead of her and give Sierra and Kelsey a heads
up.”

Luke made a sound in his throat that would have been a laugh if he’d been in human form.

“They’re probably still guzzling that wine and talking. About us. Even at this hour. We left
them so we could take a short run. Remember? Who the fuck knew we’d run into this?”

“Short run.”
Mack snorted. “
That certainly worked out well.”

“Okay.”
This from Damien.
“Let’s just get her out of these woods and go check in with the
ladies. Give them a little advance notice. Then find out what the hell this is all about.”

Lauren was exhausted. The wolves had raced in front of her, stopping and starting, and she had the weirdest feeling that each time they stopped they were waiting for her. Saying,

“
Come on. We’ll get you out of here.”
For a brief moment she remembered stories she’d heard about a certain kind of wolf. A hybrid. A wolf that was…