Page 45 of Kidnapping of a Myth

“Stay with Ewan.” He peeled her fingers off his arm and slipped his hand behind her neck. He drew her to his mouth, kissing her until her body burned electric, and then all too quickly, he ripped himself free of her embrace and dropped off the mountainside.

Bel swallowed the fear clawing its way up her throat and rushed to the edge as he descended into the darkness. Eamon had to do this. He had to save John, but she couldn’t bear that these might be their last moments together. She saw what those bullets did to the helicopters, and she wouldn’t survive a reality where they destroyed the man she’d sold her soul to.

“He’ll be fine,” Ewan said, settling beside her. “I’ve met a lot of powerful men in my time on this earth, but most pale compared to him. He rarely talks about himself, and I don’t know how much he’s told you, but there are few in this world as strong as him. He’s an alpha predator I never want to go up against.”

“But an armor-piercing round between the eyes will kill him the same as any other man,” Bel said as Eamon’s powerful form carried him down the rocks with alarming speed. Ewan said nothing, but after a heavy silence, he slipped a broad palm onto her shoulder in comfort. The two of them wordlessly watched as Eamon reached the cage. The darkness hid much of his movements, but it was the resounding crack of a snapping cable and an aggravated growl that told them something was wrong. Eamon’s voice sounded of pain, and tears flooded Bel’s eyes as her phone rang.

“Are you okay?” she blurted as she answered.

“The cable struck me in the face when it broke,” Eamon grunted. “I’m fine, but we have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Bel tapped the speaker button so Ewan could hear.

“I’m too heavy for the cage,” Eamon said. “I ripped off the top hatch, but that pressure alone caused another cable to break. We’re down to two, and if I put my weight on this, they’ll snap.”

“Can you reach John?” Ewan asked.

“No, the opening is too narrow for me to fit through, and it’s too tall for him to climb out,” he said. “Pann made sure that even if we got this far, we’d struggle to save the kid.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Ewan asked, but Bel was already moving. She knew why Eamon had called her and not the bear shifter. Both men were huge specimens, broad and heavy. But Bel? She was roughly the same size as a teenage boy. She would fit through the hole.

“I’m coming,” she shouted as she strapped on a harness.

“You’ll be fine,” Eamon said. “We’ll lower you along the same path I took. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know.” She grabbed the cable and moved to attach it to the tow hitch when Eamon interrupted.

“Ewan,” his voice was cold as death, as dangerous as venom. “I love that woman. Don’t you dare let her fall.”

“I won’t.” Ewan captured the line from Bel’s grasp and backed up a few paces as he peeled off his shirt. He threw it into the truck bed before repeating the process with his pants and shoes. Standing in only his boxers, he gave her a comforting nod, and then he transformed. Bel stifled a scream as skin and bones broke apart, ripping and snapping and mutilating until flesh became fur and fingers became claws. In a matter of seconds, the man disappeared, and a massive bear stood in his place. She’d faced this creature before, but she hadn’t known it wasEwan at the time, and witnessing a human mutate into a beast was a sickening experience. He was a monster of an animal, the biggest bear she’d ever seen, and as he lowered to all fours, he wound the cable around his torso, making his intentions clear. Eamon trusted him with her life, and this form’s strength would ensure her safety.

The bear’s eerily human eyes met her gaze, and he nodded. He couldn’t speak, but she understood him all the same. He was ready, and feeling surprisingly comforted that the massive bear would guide her descent, Bel climbed over the edge. Ewan lowered her with terrifying speed, and she found herself safely at Eamon’s side in minutes.

“I’ll be here the entire time,” he said as she glanced warily at the two remaining cables. “We’re safe right here.” He gestured to the rocks, where she finally noticed the darkened barrels protruding from their hiding spots. “The motion detectors shouldn’t pick us up as long as we stay directly above the cage, so I need you to drop straight down. Ewan will support you, and I’ll guide your movements. We’ll lower you through the hatch, but don’t touch the floor. I’m worried it won’t hold your weight, and while I might be able to catch it if it falls, that’ll be impossible to explain. I’ll do it if I must, but then I’d have no choice but to disappear, and I have no intentions of leaving you.”

She nodded, and he continued. “The opening isn’t wide enough for two people either, so John needs to use you to climb out.”

Bel looked down at the precariously swinging cage, but Eamon caught her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “You can do this,” he said. “Get him on your shoulders, and I’ll grab him from there. As soon as he’s free, Ewan will pull you up. You’ll be fine.”

“I know.” She lifted her fingers and wiped the blood from his split cheek. The snapping wire had cut a long gash down to the bone, but she already saw signs of regeneration.

“I’m fine.” He pulled her hand away and brushed the hair off her face before capturing her cable with a reassuring grip. “I won’t let you fall, but you need to hurry.”

“Okay, okay.” She nodded, her panicked mind running through all the ways this could kill them. “Lower me.”

“She’s going in!” Eamon shouted, knowing Ewan’s superior senses would hear him. “Lower her until you feel me tug the line and then hold her steady.”

Bel sank toward the cage as Ewan obeyed, and she straightened her body when her feet found the hatch. With one last reassuring glance at Eamon’s handsome face, she shifted until she was trapped inside.

“John, I’m Detective Isobel Emerson,” she said, but the teen screamed at her sudden appearance. The cage pitched wildly, the ceiling knocking into her head, and Bel shot her hands out as a warning.

“Stop moving!” she shouted, her skull throbbing from the impact, and the kid froze like a deer caught in a truck’s oncoming headlights. “I’m here to bring you to Wendy, but we need to go now. I need you to get on my shoulders. Can you do that?”

John continued to stare at her, his fear rooting him to the ground. Bel opened her mouth to repeat the request, but the snap of a wire cut her off. The cage pitched dangerously, the metal slapping her shoulder hard, and she screamed as pain radiated through her bones. John collapsed to the floor, and Eamon roared above her as her line slid through his fist, peeling a layer of skin off his palm with its metallic friction. One more cable. That’s all that stood between them and a swift and painful death.

“We saved Michael!” she blurted, desperate to force the teen to move, and the boy stared up at her with hope. “He’s okay. He’s alive and with Wendy, but if you want to see your family, I need you to climb. I’m not leaving you, and this cage is about to fall. Your choice, John. Are you going to make me die with you, or are you going to get on my shoulders?”

Her words shocked him into motion, and he lunged for her. At sixteen, he was almost as big as her, and she cried out as he captured her waist, the pressure digging the harness into her flesh.

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