Page 64 of Finding Her Panthers

Now that he said something, I can hear the screams from Ames and Kerian shouting at Blue. Blue is standing over Ames, who is on his back with his arms over his head to protect it. Blue is growling and snarling, his claws inches from his face. Kerian is urging Blue to back off. I can see Kerian is fighting with his wolf, denying the shift.

“James?” Jax hands me over to my naked mate. His murderous gaze finds Ames, and a sinister smile begins on his face as he removes his shirt. I would rather stay and watch the show, eager to see Jax’s panther in action.

“Sweetheart, let’s move to somewhere more comfortable.” James walks out of the barn, holding me close, denying me the view.

I see the mangled remains of Scotty outside the barn. He didn’t make it far. I can’t imagine he tasted very well.

The warmth of James’s skin brings me some much-needed heat. I try to raise my arms, but they won’t cooperate with my commands, lying limply in my lap. “My arms won’t work,” I say dumbly.

“You don’t need them. I got you.” He enters the little house, and I gasp as I see Penny on the couch.

Her face is black and blue, and both eyes are swollen shut. She doesn’t even twitch when the door slams behind us. The only solace I have is the rise and fall of her chest.

“Penny,” I whisper sadly. I fight to get to her but can hardly move.

“You need to recover first. Then you can be next to her. Her heartbeat is steady. Can you hear it?” James asks, sitting down in the chair, holding me close.

“I can.” I close my eyes and lay my head on his chest, hearing the steady beat of his and hers.

“Ryker offered to call the doctor. He’ll come to check her out.” He kisses my head.

“We need to leave here.” I shudder, anxious to be back home.

“Not yet. She needs to be stable. The best place to be is here, where he set up his base. He has to have notes or his vaccines here. That will give the doc a way to counteract whatever he gave Penny. And Tylor. He still hasn't woken up.” He glides his free hand over the bruises on my wrists. “Plus, Ames killed the owners a long time ago. No one will be coming home.”

“That’s really sad.” More people paid the price of Ames’s crazy. “You understood my message,” I state, leaning my head back on his arm so I can look at him.

“You were so brave. I knew right away what you were saying.” He looks at me sternly. “It was insanely stupid to walk into their trap, though.”

“I know. Everything just came at me so fast. I couldn’t process everything at once. But I swore I would never let anything bad happen to Penny. How could I just let her suffer? When I had a way to get to her?”

“I understand your motives, but that won’t stop Jax from taking it out of your ass,” he smirks. “We were so scared we lost you,” he says painfully, dropping his head to my shoulder.

“I was scared too. Well, at first, I was just pissed off. But the things he said and did to bring this all together. He searched for years, followed me. He’s truly evil. He did such horrible things to those kids and what sounds like many others.” I feel a twitch in my fingers, the sensations starting to come back.

“You won’t have to worry about him hurting anyone else. Once Kerian has his answers, Jax will take care of him.” My sweater muffles his voice.

“I would rather sit here with you—it’s really comfy—but I was hanging from those chains for a long time. I really have to use the bathroom,” I say uncomfortably.

“Shit. Sorry. Let’s get you there then,” he stands carefully with me in his arms.

He tries to stay in the room with me when we find it.

“Ugh, no. I can handle this myself.” I try to push him with my palm, but it flops uselessly back to my side. “Shit,” I stare at it, offended.

“How about you just let me help you? Please? I won’t look,” he promises.

“Fine.” This is so embarrassing. I catch a glimpse in the mirror, and I look like crap. My hair is dirty and ratted horribly. I have dried blood under my nose and cheek. I gently touch my black eye and ignore James when he pulls my pants down. He’s seen everything anyway, and the man is still naked and doesn’t seem to care.

As we leave the room, I swear I will forget everything that happened and never bring it up again. We find Ryker perched on the end of the couch, holding a pair of sweatpants out to James.

“I’m sure she doesn’t mind the show, but I would rather not see you in all your glory.” He waves his hand towards James’s naked body.

James sits me down in the chair, grabs the pants, and slips them on. He gives Ryker a dirty look and resumes his seat, holding me close.

“Are they alright out there?” I ask.

“It's a question-and-answer period right now. Jax is prowling back and forth, ready to tear him apart.” He laughs evilly. “The doc is on his way. How are you feeling?” Ryker glances down at my hands.

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