Part 10

Phase 2

"I guess you were right." Kurt was on the floor with his hands and feet duct taped. Hunter would have answered, but he wasn't feeling particularly chatty. "It wasn't just a trap…" They had found the owner of the ATV rental shop dead and Kurt had burst into tears immediately. Hunter had never been good at comfort in the first place so he simply stood there awkwardly until his wolfish sense kicked in. They were far from alone. There was no getting out after that. The exits were blocked and the Wild Wolf pack was armed and dangerous.

"This human carries a mating mark, but he lack's your son's scent. I'd wager he's mated to one of Pack Dalton. They'll come for him for sure." One of the wolves had said, but it was Hunter's mark Damien was interested in.

"Leave the human alive for now. We can interrogate him later, and if he doesn't talk, we'll kill him." Damien had eyes that practically glowed red though that might have been the flaming tattoo on the right side of his bald head. Hunter wondered how a man like this ever got close to his mother. "You. You carry the mating mark as well." Damien came closer to Hunter who was trying to fight against his bonds. "I never gave your mother my mark. There wasn't time. I knew she was mine from the second I saw her."

"Fuck you!" Hunter's eyes were wolf yellow, "you killed her!"

The man stood and flicked his fingers towards Hunter. "Let him cool off." Hunter's head had been covered with a canvas bag then and he was moved to another location, it hadn't taken long and he was never put into a car, so they couldn't have gone far. The bag over his head had confused his senses so that Hunter had no idea if he was being moved up or down.

Hunter laid on the floor and managed to maneuver the bag from his head. He could see Kurt then and the man didn't smell of blood. At least that was something. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I think I can get my hands in front of me." Kurt was flexing and stretching his body.

"How…"

"Yoga…lots and lots of yoga." He said maneuvering his arms and slipping his legs through the hole there. "See!"

"That's a useful skill…" Hunter was trying to get closer to Kurt, but it was hard.

"My mate likes to try new things. I always have to be ready." Kurt remarked casually as if he were talking about the weather or the state of the roads and brought his tied hands to his mouth so he could nibble at the tape.

"I didn't need to know that." Hunter mumbled and craned his neck around. "Looks like we're in a cellar...basement." He tried reaching out to the minds of their captors, but their thoughts seemed clouded.

"It's a storm shelter." Kurt rolled carefully upright and brought his feet closer together so he could hop to the corner of the room were a piece of scaffolding sat. "The light around the ceiling is a dead giveaway. Your dad is pretty stupid…Blaine will be able to smell me if he comes anywhere near this place. Sebastian too."

"He's not my dad." Hunter grumbled, "at least…not the dad I claim."

"Well he clearly wants…something…from…you… Otherwise we wouldn't be here. Or we'd both be dead." Kurt's expression changed to triumph, "got it!" His hands came around the front of his body and he quickly moved to Hunter, wanting to free the wolf's bonds as well.

"No!" Hunter snapped, "free yourself first. If they come, you'll still be able to get away. Even if Blaine can track your scent, he still needs to be pretty close. You're in too much danger, Kurt. You need to go."

"You wolves are all the same." Kurt rolled his eyes and began unwrapping Hunter's hands anyway. "Protect the mate. A wolf will always seek its mate, blah blah blah. And you, you're five times as annoying as they are. You're pack now, get over it!"

What was that supposed to mean? It looked as though Kurt wasn't going to listen anyway, so Hunter waited until his hands were free and both men began frantically pulling at their ankle bonds. Maybe he should have thought of the pack when he'd decided to run off with Kurt and face Damien. But that act would have put Sebastian in more danger and Hunter couldn't admit much, but he knew that Sebastian had to be protected at all costs. 'Protect the mate.' Maybe he was more wolf than he thought. In his most honest moments, he could admit how much he'd grown attached to Sebastian.

Facing Damien was something he had to do, but Kurt was human and a serious liability here. If only there was a way he could alert the pack to Kurt's location, he could remove that obstacle. "Kurt." Hunter's head snapped upward. "Can you communicate through your mating bond?"

"We can sense each other's emotional state, but the bond isn't a cell phone Hunter. I can't just close my eyes and tell Blaine where I am."

Close his eyes and tell… that was it! Hunter had abilities that most wolves didn't and he could hear Sebastian's thoughts as clearly as anything when Sebastian allowed it. Using the mating bond as lifeline between them, he sent a pulse of energy through it and concentrated on Sebastian's name as loudly as he could.

'Holy shit! Hunter?! I'm looking for you! Why did you leave?!' Sebastian's state was practically frantic and Hunter felt the sting of guilt for having caused his mate such pain. A noise from above made Hunter lose his focus though. "The door..." Rolling to his feet, Hunter let all of his tightly controlled anger go. The effect was immediate. "Kurt go!" His voice was gravely, his eyes already yellow, and his canines grew long. Hunter's body rose up high and morphed into his inner monster, the stuff of fairy tale nightmares, and he could no longer speak properly.

Kurt had to move to the far side of the room to avoid being in the beast's line of sight. Those sights were already set on the entryway above them. A ladder dropped down and Hunter barely touched it with his clawed hands on the way up, ripping through flesh and bone of whomever was on the other side. "I'm really glad he's with us and not against us..." Kurt muttered in awe and ascended the ladder after the coast seemed clear. Popping his head out of the cellar made him wish he hadn't.

It was gruesome. There was blood everywhere, blood and torn flesh. Hunter's beast had ripped some of their captors apart. How many Kurt couldn't tell, but he wasn't going to hang around so he could become that thing's next meal! Picking a careful path, he ran to outcropping and straight into a huge set of tattooed arms.

"Just where do you think you're going little human?" The shock of fear that ran down Kurt's mating bond could not be helped.

"Kurt!" Blaine was shaking. Both he and Sebastian had been trying to use their mating bonds to find their respective mates. "He's in danger!"

The ATV shop had been empty save for the dead bodies. That had sent the entire pack into red alert. Sebastian tested his own bond and Hunter seemed to be in an animal-like rage. Shifted then. His mate was the monster he'd run with through the forest. Did Hunter have enough control over his beast to keep from killing Kurt too? Or Pack Dalton for that matter? There was no way to know. "I'm going to shift." Sebastian said quickly pulling his shirt over his head. "Hunter's shifted already. We can find each other."

"It's too dangerous." Wes shook his head. "The Wild Wolves will pick you off without a second thought."

"It's a chance I have to take…" Sebastian hated the thought that he'd have to betray his mate, but Wes was his pack leader and pack needed to be ready for what they were about to see. "Hunter's wolf isn't normal. Think, Incredible Hulk in wolf form. If you see him, steer clear, I don't know how much control he has over it. He's probably killing the Wild Wolf pack right now." Wes opened his mouth to speak, the man's eyes filled with concern, "I can calm him! He won't hurt me!"

"And what about the rest of us? What about the pack? Protecting your mate is one thing, but putting the pack in danger is unacceptable Sebastian. I don't like this…" Wes narrowed his eyes, "but we'll back you up. The minute I see a sign that your mate might kill one of us, it's over. You know that."

"I got it." Sebastian didn't need any more permission than that. In the next moment, he was naked and shifted, picking up his mate's scent easily. The smell of blood was heavy in the air as well. Along with something else familiar. Looking over his shoulder, Sebastian saw a wolf with fur like rich chocolate. Blaine. Blaine had shifted and followed without so much as a word. Well that couldn't be helped now. Sebastian let his wolf take over then and lead the chase. A warehouse loomed in front of them, surrounded by a large, rusty fence that had been abandoned to time. Hunter was in there somewhere.

The front gate was guarded by two men whom Sebastian guessed to be human. Nudging Blaine, he walked right out in front of them and for a fraction of a second the three looked at one another, the humans too slow to react. By the time they raised their weapons, Blaine had gotten behind the men and tackled one to the ground. Sebastian pounced on the other and both men scrambled as their weapons went flying in the opposite direction.

"That's enough." It was Wes' voice. "We've got them. Go!" Sebastian and Blaine took off like bullets from a gun in the direction of the scent trail, leaving the human guards to the pack. The first part of the trail led to the cellar. Hunter had definitely been there, but he was gone now and so was Kurt. Blaine whimpered a little as he sniffed all the around the door. The blood there was still wet. Hunter had killed some of his captors. How many more would he kill before Sebastian found him? Would he be able to stop?

In the distance, a man's shout got their attention and Blaine took off much faster than Sebastian. That had to be Kurt. If Kurt was okay, maybe Hunter was too… Sebastian leapt over a railing to an outcropping with a burning garbage barrel at the edge of it. Damien was there, holding Kurt by the neck and Hunter, or Hunter's beast rather, stood facing both of them. His arms out, his claws extended. Sebastian could hear his mate growling.

"That's far enough!" Damien tightened his hold on Kurt, "I'll snap his neck!" Amazingly enough, Hunter stopped moving forward. "Shift." The man ordered, though Hunter made no move to comply at first. "Shift or he dies!"

At his side, Sebastian could hear the tell-tale growl of Blaine's wolf and he moved to nudge his friend lower to the ground. He didn't need words to sense that Blaine wanted to charge in, but Sebastian had to trust Hunter. Slowly, Hunter's claws retracted and his body became smaller until a very naked Hunter Clarington was standing there with the light from the fire reflecting off his body in what otherwise might have been a very nice silhouette.

"Better." It was Damien who spoke first, "I didn't think you'd be able to do it." Sebastian had to agree there, but Hunter's beast seemed to be working with Hunter and not against him. It was a good sign.

"Let him go." Hunter's voice still had an edge to it.

"Join me first. Then we'll kill him together." Damien smirked, but Sebastian could tell the man was lying. He was stalling. Why? Sebastian's wolf senses kicked into high gear then. They weren't alone.

"You're a fool." Hunter shook his head. "You should have let me be, but I'm happy to take revenge for my mother and father. Let him go. This fight is between us."

Damien laughed hard at that, "even I know the path of the lone wolf is doomed. Look at you. Still wet behind the ears trying to play hero."

"No. Just trying to protect my mate. The way you should have."

There was something moving in the dark to Hunter's right. Sebastian could make out a man with a long rifle pointed at his mate's back! Instinct had him up and moving faster than he thought possible, leaping out with everything he had, and howling. A shot pierced the air and Hunter was rolling like an alligator with with its prey over the ground, grappling with Damien. Another shot, and this time, hot blood covered Hunter's side.

"Die!" Hunter's voice was still gravely with his inner wolf, "fucking die!" His hands found Damien's throat and gradually the other man's fight wavered.

"Let him go, Hunter!" A very authoritative Wes was standing there with the entire pack. "We've got him. Let go!"

"He has to answer for his crimes!"

"He has to answer for a lot of crimes." Assured Wes, "if I were you, I'd be more concerned with my mate."

That got Hunter's attention, and he rolled off Damien, who was immediately tackled by three pack members.

"Sebastian?"