Chapter Five

Jossie's POV:

"Wake up," Cas whispered in my ear. It was freezing, the only warmth came from his heat as he had me resting against his chest. I raised my head to feel something was off, my hair raised on my arms as if I was being watched. Where am I? I glanced around to find us sitting in the area I fell asleep in earlier. It was a harsh reminder we were still waiting out the storm.

"Something is off," Aimee whispered, she was staring outside the windows of the doors leading outside of the store. It was as if instinct kicked in she grabbed a metal napkin dispenser off of the table and got up. The lady who ran the store was still fast asleep, not far away from us. It was dark outside, long after the promised time frame of our rescue from the storm.

"Stay here," Cas told me as he lifted me off his body to get up and follow Aimee toward the doors. I tried to focus my hearing, wondering what they were listening to out there. All I could hear was the wind braking against the walls. I stood up fast to get ready for action. I glanced toward a back door for a stock room as I realized something they had been forgetting... there is a second entrance to this building.

"Cas," I whined as I moved in his direction a bit creeped out. Cas swung around to look for me. Just as my chair scooted back I heard the back entrance bust open. Cas jumped at me and knocked us down as bullets shot off and shattered the doors making the storm burst into the store. Aimee had dodged just in time. The old lady screamed awake as she ducked under the tables.

"Stay down," Cas told me as he ripped off his shirt to transform into his wolf. He leapt off me as he went toward our attackers. Aimee's wolf leapt over me in one leap as she viciously took off a guy's head. I crawled toward the counter with the register and got behind it for safety. I glanced out from behind the counter to see the room empty as Aimee and Cas had pushed the fight into the back room.

There was a guy gasping for air on the ground bleeding out to death as a gash was torn out of his neck. His eyes met mine as I watched him taking his last breath. I covered my mouth in terror as I heard guns going off in the back until they silenced.

I screamed as the back door slammed open and Aimee's wolf came tumbling in as she ripped off a woman's arm that was holding a gun. Aimee looked at me as she locked eyes with me. I got up quickly as Cas came up behind her and started for me as our eyes locked. I flinched out of instinct and watched him wince as he noticed my movement. I cringed in humiliation as I reached out for him as a sign I didn't mean it.

'Get on, we're leaving,' he instructed.

I wrapped an arm around his neck as I got on his back. Aimee was already halfway out the doors. Cas followed her as she lead us out into a dying blizzard. We were able to make out some shadows of the road. She was leading us back toward the bullet train. Cas stopped following her as if he noticed and growled her way before shifting his stance to take off toward the woods. She sped up and got in front of us before knocking me off him and forcing him to come to a stop. She growled angrily at him. Their growls erupted as if arguing about which direction to go in.

My teeth chattered from the cold and their eyes turned to me instantly. Aimee whined and came over to me quickly as she motioned with her head for me to get on. I flinched slightly as confusion set in. Why was she caring so much about my warmth now? I'm sure she would be glad to be rid of me if we went now.

'Don't do it,' Cas growled at me.

"I'm so cold," I told him. I knew exactly where we needed to go and that was to follow Aimee and wait this storm out somewhere else. Whatever her intentions were had to be pure in this instance if she is going against her own feelings in the matter.

I got on her back and felt her take off as soon as I was wrapped around her neck. She took us back toward the bullet train. Cas was right beside us as he looked worried for me. I shivered as I tucked my head into her fur and begged for some heat.

Who were those people?

What's going on here?

'You're making a huge mistake. We need to go,' Cas growled at me as he nipped at my arm. Aimee snapped her jaws in his direction with a furious growl. I swatted Cas' head to make him go away.

"It's freezing out here," I told him. It was worse than the winters back home. I didn't even think it could be possible. Cas snorted as he trotted along side us.

'I rather be cold than go back to an Alpha who we have no business burdening any longer. Jossie we need to go. I'll keep us warm, I promise.'

"No, it's too cold and dangerous out there. I think I know what I'm doing Cas," I told him harshly.

There was a high pitch whistle in the air that made me us wince. Cas let out a grunt and the scent of fresh blood entered the air.

'RUN!' Cas growled at us. I glanced back at him as Aimee took off running. He was limping as he chased after us. I could see blood trailing behind his movement and a hole leaking blood outside of his back. He had been shot but was still able to move.

"What's going on?" I begged as I tugged on Aimee's fur for answers. I wanted to be in Cas' arms as my desire to hide against him was maddening. I missed his scent and needed his warmth now more than ever. What was happening here? I hopped off her back as I ran for Cas and locked my arms around his chest. My hands slipped into the thick matted blood crystals forming in his coat. Another shot was heard as a bullet stuck the snow beside us, inches from my head. Cas snarled as he threw me into the snow. 

Aimee's growl thundered as I was snatched away from Cas by her sharp k-9s she drugged me away. Her teeth sunk deep into my shoulder as she began to drag me toward a building's entrance for protection.

I yipped in pain. My ears rung as another gun went off and I watched as Cas turned in the direction the sound was coming from. A bullet struck him right in the chest which forced his transformation to reverse as he turned human before my eyes.

"CAS?" I called out in worry as I struggled to be freed. He tumbled over in the snow clutching his chest. I screamed as my senses heightened. Was my mate in pain? My nose flared with fear and anger. A rip of pain sparked across my spine as the sense of the change became me. Emotions overwhelmed me. The wound in my shoulder from Aimee swelled and itched like crazy before the feeling spread across my body like wild fire. I whimpered as everything slowed around me my time was running slow now. "H-help me," I begged as the trembles erupted. Why now? Why does it have to be now?

Cas' eyes locked with mine as our feelings circled in our silent comunication. He was shot and I was changing.

'Jossie,' I heard a familiar voice calling my name. 'Take a rest, I will take it from here,' he told me. This wasn't Cas who I expected to hear from.

I felt my eyes growing heavy as his scent entered my lungs. He was here, it was Marcus... It was not Jude. This was supposed to be her time. But she was gone now, it was only him. My airway tightened as I found myself unable to breath from his connection overtaking me. Warmth filled my body as the clothes began to fill suffocating.

'Save him! Save him Marcus!' I begged.

He could take over as long as Cas lives.

"Jossie," Aimee's words brought me back to the surface of my suffocation. "You're about to transform you must hold back," she warned me. "I cannot deal with you right now and them."

"I can't!" I whined. As if I knew how!

I watched as men in black stepped into the clearing. There was a dozen of them with no triggering scents to alert where their allegince stood at. Red beams shot up and lit the streets as they landed on Cas' body all at once. I shook with a thunderous pain as my body beckoned to untense and let loose. I was bitting my tongue to keep it together. Aimee blocked my path as she stood to protect me. She transformed easily as she held out her arms to try to stop them.

"DON'T SHOOT! LET'S BARGIN!" She yelled at them. I felt my jaw drop in disbelief.

"The girl," one of them shouted as a laser pointed at me. "Bring her to us."

"Who are you with?" Aimee asked as she blocked the laser's path.

"Bring us the girl."

A gun went off and the snow near us seemed to explode as it blasted onto us.

"I'll go. Don't hurt them anymore," I told them.

"Absolutely not," Aimee said as she raised a hand my way. "Jossie you're not going anywhere with these strangers until I know who is beind their paygrade." She waved toward them. "Maybe I can offer a higher salaery? What do you make?"

Why does she care? She was so eager earlier to get rid of me. Is this the pack honor to her alpha that is holding herself back?

"We're not here to negotiate."

"Shit," Aimee whispered.

"Kill them," their leader commanded.

I screamed as the lasers halfed and aimed down Aimee. They began to fire and Aimee stumbled a few feet forward before falling into the snow. My eyes glanced past her at Cas slumped into the snow and blood pooling around his body.

"CAS!" I screamed as I rushed to his side and bit through the bitter pain my body was under. My head spun circles as I reached his side. The guns had long ceased fire. They came over the same moment I reached him and pulled me away from Cas. I flailed as hands exposed my neck and a sharp siringe struck me.

"NO!"

"What are you doing?"

"Let go!"

"What have you done?"

I could feel myself slipping as a drug like state was forcing my muscles to go limp and my trasformation paused. They began to carry me. My whole body numbed as the world rocked harder than the ships on the sea. I was sick. My jaw tightened as my mind mooshed. Where are we going? The world wasn't making any sense.