Page 75 of Broken Moon

I would have beat him untilthere was nothing left of him, I think. I had no intention of stopping. Eachblow I landed seemed to grow the rage until there was nothing but death, notinside my mind. I would kill him.

But someone grabbed me frombehind, and his alpha scent slipped into my brain and kept me from turning tokill him, too, and he whispered, “Kaity. I’ve got you.”

Still, I could not calm. I wassobbing, but hadn’t been aware of it, and my face was broken. I should shiftand heal, give the pain to the wolf, I should do something…

Only I couldn’t seem to movepast the agony.

Then I became aware that thenoise had stopped. The flashing lights had stopped. There was one light bulbhanging from the ceiling, and it spotlighted the torture chamber Martin and hisfriend had rigged up.

And I heard crying.

The helplessness in thatdroning cry was what brought me all the way back. Jared held my arms, his facea mask of emptiness so huge that I knew he was feeling everything. Horror lithis eyes as he looked from me to the girl in the cage, and then abruptly, thebasement was flooded with men. Cops.

They grabbed Jared and yelledat him as they forced him to the floor, and it was only when I screamed at Rickto stop them, that my alpha had helped me—though I had no idea how he’d gotteninto the house without being stopped—that he told them Jared was with us. Iwould thank him for that lie later. I would also consider what it had meantthat I’d told him and everyone else in the room that Jared was “my alpha,” butright now, there was only the girl.

Rick rushed to me. “Kait,” hemurmured. “My God, Kait. Let me help you.”

I frowned at him, unsure whathe meant, but it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t the one who needed help. Thegirl in the cage was.

She shrank back against thewall of her cell, her arms over her head, curled into a tight ball. I yankedoff my coat and hit the switch on the wall beside the cell door, and when thedoor unlocked I didn’t hesitate.

I knew the cops were thinkingof stopping me, but Rick made sure they left me alone. I had to get the girlout. She didn’t even fight me. She’d been down there too long to have any fightleft, and she would have learned early on that struggling would only make itworse.

I draped my coat over her barebody and said the same thing to her that had been said to me by those who meantto help me. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Marcy.”

She shoved herself against meand buried her face against my chest, then wrapped her arms around my neck sotightly it hurt, but I didn’t care at all. She was tiny. Five feet, at themost, maybe a hundred pounds. I lifted her into my strong wolf arms and carriedher from her prison.

When they tried to take her fromme she screamed and fought so violently that they finally backed off,surrounded us, and helped me up the stairs—and when we emerged from the house,I was shocked at the number of people waiting.

“Fuck,” Rick muttered. “TV ishere already.”

I turned my face away and hehurried to get in front of me, along with a couple of the other cops. I didn’tknow if they were successful at hiding us from the cameras, but I knew I’d findout tomorrow.

Before we got into the back ofthe ambulance, Rick ran his concerned stare over my face. “I’ll have herparents meet her at the hospital.” Then he looked at the paramedics. “See toboth of them.”

Jared had melted away afterwe’d climbed the stairs out of hell, but still, I felt him. And I wouldn’tforget that he’d come to take care of me, just as an alpha should.

I sat beside Marcy as theparamedics swarmed over her, getting an IV in, giving her oxygen, tending toher most obvious wounds, and she never once took her stare away from me. Rightthen, and for God only knew how long, I was the only thing that didn’t scareher.

“I’m going to go now,” I said,then quickly, when she tensed, “Your parents are on the way, and they’ll takecare of you. If you ever need me, you call me. Yes?”

She nodded, but never once hadshe spoken a single word. I wasn’t sure she could.

I kissed her forehead, andthen, when they pulled her from the ambulance, I jogged away. I ignored theparamedic who tried to call me back. I’d be fine, but he didn’t know that.

I’d catch an Uber back to mycar, and then I was going to go home and see my dog and check on Lucy. Afterthat, I was going to eat way too much and sleep for a month.

I needed some time, but I wouldbe okay.

I would be okay.

ChapterThirty-Four

I’d been floating for about anhour, not quite asleep but not yet willing to completely awaken. I smelled foodcooking and knew that despite my orders to the contrary, Lucy was in thekitchen cooking.

My stomach growled. I sighedand opened my eyes, staring up at the ceiling in my pleasantly dark bedroom.Someone had drawn the blackout curtains after I’d fallen into bed. Maybe Ihad—I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t even sure how long I’d slept, but it feltlike a long time.

I rolled over and grabbed myphone off the nightstand, frowning when I saw it had been turned off. I knew Ihadn’t done that—I never turned my phone off. Ten seconds after I turned it on,my ringtone sounded.