Page 29 of Fire Bound

That’s what drives him and what drives me is the idea that one day I’ll slaughter him for the horrors he’s done. I’m not going to let anything, or anyone stop me or distract me from what I need to accomplish.

Grabbing the folder I’d left on the cracked countertop of my small kitchen, I flip through the contents next. I can almost recite the documents word for word I’ve read them over so many times. It’s all the same information I already know. Aliases Kaius has used over the many years he’s been alive. God knows how old that fucker is. When you have the ability to steal souls—life—from others, you can probably live forever. Which is a problem, because that also means Sterling can live forever.

My phone buzzes in the back pocket of my jeans as I scan the addresses of the places we know Sterling has used in the past. Many of them are burned down or empty now. “What?” I answer the phone distractedly, my focus still primarily on the information in front of me.

“Jax, something’s happened with Remi.” Pru’s panicked voice comes through the line, making my heart seize in my chest. My hand drops the folder, the paper skids across the floor while I freeze in place as worst-case scenarios immediately start playing in my head. “Ransom said it was a car accident or something.”

I took the night off from watching her stare at information I already know forward and backward. After fucking her in the alley, I needed to put space back between us or I was going to forget why it’s a bad idea for me to get too close. She wasn’t supposed to be at the club, I thought she would be fine for a night.

Fuck!

“Where?” My voice is unrecognizable to me as I bite out the word. It’s the only thing I can manage to say as images of her broken body in her wrecked car fill my head.

“Five miles away from pack territory on the back road.” The sound of a car slamming shut echoes behind her voice. “We’re on our way there now.”

“Is she alive?” I manage, my free hand fisting in the strands of my dark hair. Pruitt doesn’t answer straight away, making my stomach bottom out. “Pruitt! Is she alive?”

“We don’t know,” she finally confesses, her voice cracking. “She called Isabeau, but the line went dead after she heard the car crash. We don’t know what happened yet.”

I take a steadying breath before releasing it slowly. “I’ll meet you there.” I hang up before she can respond.

Never in my life have I called up on my power as fast as I do now.

I materialize on the dark winding road fifty yards from where Isabeau stands with her back to me on the road. She’s alone. From where I stand, there isn’t any sign of Remington or her car. It’s not until I focus my eyes do I catch the flickering light coming from the shallow ditch in front of her.

Taking off in a sprint, I run toward the vampire.Why is she just standing there?

I skid to a stop at the edge of the road next to her and follow her gaze below. The car is upside down, far beyond any repair. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if Remington is still inside the vehicle and if she’s alive, but movement beside the car silences me. Remington sits on her hands and knees as she attempts to fish something out of her car. Her back is to me, I doubt she knows I’m here yet.

“What is she doing?” I ask Isabeau once I’m able to breathe again.

“I don’t thinkshecan even answer that question,” Isabeau answers, cutting me a bland look.

The tightness in my chest eases once I see that she’s alive, but the lingering scent of Remington’s blood in the air keeps my beast on edge. She’s alive, but she’s still hurt. A low growl escapes my lips as my wolf pushes forward.

Understanding my displeasure, Beau assures me, “It’s superficial wounds. She’s lucky considering she could have died.”

“What the fuck happened?”

“She says someone was trying to run her off the road.” Isabeau frowns, her voice turning angry. “Ransom is trying to track the car now.”

Like a rabid animal, my wolf loses his mind. He throws himself against his cage with such force my whole body jerks, and the tips of my fingers burn as my claws extend. It’s been many years since I’ve shifted even this much in front of another person. The last time was when I was poked and jabbed relentlessly with a cattle prod by Nicolai when he decided to put on a show in front of some of the other bigwigs in Sterling’s organization. I was sixteen at the time, my wolf still a juvenile and not yet at his full size. In the span of ninety seconds, he had killed thirteen people. The number of tranquilizers it took to stop him actually ended up stopping my heart for a minute.

That was the last and only time Nicolai showed off that side of me.

Cold fingers wrap tightly around my wrist in a grip that makes my bones hurt. “Jax,” Beau’s voice cuts through the angry fog. “Not here.”

Isabeau is the only one who knows the truth about my beast. It just so happened she was there that day, having been on an—excursion—with her mother, Nessa. She saw the damage my wolf can inflict. It’s not very often that Isabeau allows herself to appear unnerved, but when I awoke covered in the blood of my wolf’s victims, she was visibly rattled.

“Was it Sterling?” I bite out my question between clenched teeth once I have myself under better control.

“Who else would do this?” Beau responds. “Unless she’s pissed someone else off recently, he’s the only viable answer.” I wouldn’t put it past Remington if she did piss someone else off. She has a knack for that.

“He’s going after anyone he can.” We already knew he was getting desperate. He wouldn’t be burning down or destroying the properties that have such high value to him if he wasn’t starting to worry. “Remington can’t stay alone at that hotel anymore. It’s not safe.”

“We both know she’s seldom alone there.” The vampire cuts me a knowing look and when I return it with a confused one of my own, she scoffs, “What? You think you were the only one keeping an eye out for her? I bet I knew where she was staying before you did.” Not surprising. Ransom and Isabeau are the best trackers in the pack. “Pruitt told everyone to give her space, but Ransom and I agreed we weren’t going to let her disappear completely. We kept tabs, though we learned fairly quick we weren’t the only ones watching over her.”

My arms cross in front of me as I return my attention to where Remington is now shimmying her body through the open window of her car. Her long legs shift back and forth as she slowly works herselfbackinto the destroyed vehicle. “I know if I get too close, I’ll end up hurting her, but I couldn’t sit back and watch her be so careless with her life. I broke her to save her. If she went and did something stupid or got hurt, all that pain would have been for nothing.”

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