by Thorne, Elle
Jesus. She had no plan B. No backup at all.
Her phone rang.
Cy! Could it be him? Before picking it up, she realized she had never given him her number. She looked at the screen.
Gavin.
Great timing. Just great. She pressed reject. She rejected his next call, too. On the third call, she figured out he wasn’t going to stop until she answered.
“What?” She was snappy, with no interest in being sweet. “Don’t come near me. Stay away. I’m going into Houston.”
“If Cyric wanted you to find him, he wouldn’t have called and had Vax tell me to watch over you while he went on to look for his sister.”
“You’re lying.” It felt like someone had injected her veins with ice water. As soon as she told Gavin he was lying, she knew he wasn’t. Why else would Cy not be here? How else would Gavin know to even say that? A cold fury burned through her. How dare Cy do this to her? How dare he minimize her?
She stormed off toward her car and got in. Headlights went on across the street in a parallel parking lot. A large, oversized SUV. Gavin. She resisted the urge to flip him off.
She’d find Cy herself. She’d save his sister, and she’d kick his ass. Then she’d go home and get in the hot tub and drink a bottle of wine. Alone.
Men. She huffed.
Bastards.
Lila knew Gavin was following her. She also knew that once she got into the downtown area, she could ditch him easily. So she went alone, making sure they could keep up, allowing them a false sense of security.
She picked a random downtown exit that looked as good as any then exited, headed down the street, took a few lefts and rights, and finally pulled into a parking garage. As soon as she was in, she cut the wheel to the right sharply and pulled into a spot that looked more like a cubbyhole. It wasn’t even a full parking place. She killed her lights, shut off her car and waited, holding her breath and controlling her pulse.
Seconds later, the dark SUV crept by, heading into the bowels of the parking garage, secure in the knowledge she’d gone that way.
She smirked, jumped out, and headed to a stairwell. Taking the stairs, she went to the second floor and shifted. Her sleek tiger form bounded across the parking garage, leaped out of the opening between concrete slabs, and landed on the ground below. In a few more bounds, she was across the dark and isolated alley and shifting back.
She wandered around downtown, pausing to check for shifter scents. How could there be none? How could she be in the middle of downtown Houston and not pick up a single shifter? Her feet hurt, and her patience was wearing thin.
An hour later, just as she was about to pick up her cell phone and look for other options, she caught the scent of a shifter.
No! Two! Eureka. Surely that would lead her somewhere, if only to a place where she could ask questions.
She let her senses lead her as she followed the scents. Wolves. Male. She couldn’t get that lucky, could she?
She took a corner and—
She was that lucky.
Or unlucky, depending.
Will and James. Her face surely showed the distaste she felt toward the two shifters.
“Look who’s trespassing,” one of them said. She wasn’t sure which. Stringy hair in dire need of a shampoo and a cut, lanky builds, and bad teeth characterized their appearance and made them identical.
“Go away, creeps.” She sneered at them. “Or do you want more of what you got last time?”
“Where’s your big boyfriend today?” One of them looked behind her while the other put his hand on her arm.
She shrugged him off. “Not my boyfriend.”
“No? Want one?” He ran his thick tongue over swollen, chapped lips.
Lila’s stomach protested, pitching and tossing bile into her mouth.
“Maybe she likes me better,” the other one said, winking at her.
“Maybe you should both fuck off.”
Chapped Lips raised his hand and backhanded her before she could react. She stumbled backward. The other one grabbed her while Chapped Lips put his hand behind his back.
When he pulled it out, he held a tranq. Kicking at his hand, Lila missed, tripped, and tried to right herself.
A sting in her thigh heralded the bad news. He’d pierced her skin with the tranq’s needle.
“You son of a bitch.” She stumbled forward.
“Catch her, asshole. She’s useless if she’s lame or wounded.”
Arms wrapped around her as she pitched forward. The gray concrete was an out-of-focus blur.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cy looked around the carport, studying the back door. Should he go around to the front? Or was it better to knock here? He closed his car door quietly.
Before he could make a decision a number of wolf shifters exited through the back door. He counted seven. Then two more brought up the rear. These were larger, blond shifters, also wolves.
The two blond shifters were identical twins, in fact. They looked him up and down, their expressions stoic, and their scent held no fear or no animosity. They looked at each other, then nodded.
“Cyric Villa?”
They knew his name? How the hell did that work? Mae must have told them, but would that make them friendly or enemies? He nodded. “And you?”
One of the wolf shifters pointed to the other one. “He’s Rory.” He pointed to his own chest. “I’m Reese Nielsen. You’re in our territory.”
Oh shit. The whole trespassing thing was going to get ugly now. “Yeah, about that. I’m—”
“Both Lézare and Mae called. We know,” Rory said. “Thing is, it doesn’t sound right. Who are these shifters who attacked your girl?”
“Skinny. Ratty looking. Lanky, stringy hair.”
Reese grimaced. “You just described half of the Rafferty cousins. We’d disown them if we had one good reason. They’re our father’s cousins, distant.”
Rory shook his head. His short blond hair was spiked; his eyes were a piercing blue.
“I need to find them. I’m not here to insult your family, but they have my sister.”
“You? One shifter? Alone?” Reese made a tsk-ing sound. “That’s not good odds. There’s probably ten of them out there.”
Cy narrowed his eyes. Now he was getting somewhere. “Out where?”
“Oh, they’re squatting on some land east of our territory. Between Lake Charles and Beaumont.” Rory looked at Reese. “I don’t think they have the facilities to house something like what you told Mae you heard.”
“I’m pretty sure we’d have heard if they were building something like that,” Reese agreed.
“I’ll give them a call.” Rory took out a cell phone and tapped the screen. Several taps later, he put the phone back in his pocket. “No answer.”
“They know better,” Reese said.
“I need to find my sister.” Cy’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He was tempted to ignore it, but it could be important. He looked at the screen.
Mae.
“Excuse me,” he said to the wolf shifters and gestured to his phone, turning slightly from the shifter twins. “Hey,” he said into the phone.
“Lila’s missing.” Mae’s voice was laced with concern.
“What do you mean, missing? Gavin’s got his eyes on her, right?”
“He lost her.”
Cy’s world crumbled. Now Lila was gone, too. “Got to go, Mae. I’ll call you later.” He turned to the brothers. “Now Lila Tiero is missing, too. Do you still want to talk about this, or can I go find them?” He felt grim. “Can I get directions now?”
“I don’t think that’s wise,” Rory said.
Cy bit back a sigh of exasperation, controlled his pulse, and fought his temper. “I don’t have time to debate this. Last night they said the fight would be in three days. By my estimation, now it’s two. That means it’s the day after tomorrow. I don’t know what time, and I can’t take a chance.” He unclenched his jaw. “Do you have anything mo
re specific for me?”
“Look at this one,” Rory said to Reese, pointing to Cy. “He’s brave, but we can’t let him go out there. Those jackal Raffertys will kill him.”
“Too many of them, too little of him.”
Cy turned his back on them, done with conversation, uncaring if he was rude. He reached for the Rover’s door handle.
“We’ll drive,” one of them said. It sounded like Rory.
Cy turned back toward them.
“We owe Lézare,” Reese said. “So let’s take care of him. Lézare said Mae Forester would be appreciative.”
“She’s a good one to have on your side,” Rory added.
What the hell. Was there any shifter who didn’t think so? Cy didn’t bother with small talk. “I’m ready to go.”
“Pull your Rover into the barn. We’re taking ours.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The first thing Lila noticed was her head felt like someone had emptied her brain out and filled her skull with cotton candy. She couldn’t concentrate; it was as if she was flying in clouds. At first, she thought she was dreaming. The last thing she remembered was those assholes Will and James, and they’d been holding a tranq. How long had she been out? Was she alone?
She opened her eyes. The room was dark. Thank God for tiger vision. She was in a cage, not unlike the cage Cy had been held in, except this one was smaller, and the bottom half was solid metal. Moving slowly, unsure who could see her and not wanting to alarm anyone, she stretched her legs. At least the cage was long enough for her to stretch out.
She turned her head slowly, looking around. There were several cages in the large room, all with the same solid metal sheath surrounding the bottom half.
The room was tall and large, close to the size of a basketball court. Bleachers lined the walls.
The smell of blood, old and new, filled her lungs. Her stomach pitched in protest to the vileness. The scent of shifters was pervasive, merging with the smell of blood. There’d been others in here. Maybe they still were. Concentrate, she told herself, and think calmly. That wasn’t easy when part of her wanted to panic and scream in horror. She’d pay attention to her tiger senses.
Lila felt out of her element. Relying on her tiger senses for security had not been the way she’d grown up. She’d always had her father’s security team around. Then when she’d moved to America with Vax, she’d had his team to take care of her. Now she had to do it on her own. Her tigress emitted a low growl of assurance. Lila wished she felt as secure.
She was used to dealing with drunks in After Dark and city thugs. This ordeal of killing shifters for sport and using her tiger senses to survive was new to her.
Time to tiger up and take care of herself.
And Petra!
Jeez, she’d almost forgotten in her panic she was here to save Petra.
She listened for heartbeats and found several. Some beat weakly, and a couple were strong. Where were these others? Were they captives like her? In cages? Or were they guards to keep her from escaping?
How would she escape from a metal cage, anyway? She had way too many questions and needed answers. First things first—were the other cages empty?
Lila rose to her knees to get a better view into the other cages, but couldn’t see over the solid metal sheets covering the lower halves. She tiptoed near the back of her cage, stood at her full height, and tried to glimpse into the other cages.
She still couldn’t see. She coughed low, hoping whoever heard her wasn’t an enemy.
“Hello?” a soft female voice said. “Are you awake? You were unconscious when they brought you in.”
Was that foe or friend? “Who are you?” Lila looked to her left, where the voice had come from.
“Petra Villa.”
Lila’s heart almost jumped out of her chest with excitement. She fought to hold in the squeal wanting to come out. Keeping her voice low, she said, “Cy is looking for you. I’m helping him.”
“Cy doesn’t like shifters.” Petra’s voice was suspicious. “He doesn’t work with them.”
“I guess you can tell him that yourself, since he’s working with me.” Or is he? Lila wondered, since he was not only working with Gavin, he’d stood her up at the pavilion.
“So where is he, then?” Petra still sounded suspicious, but not as much.
“He’s…” Now what was Lila going to say? “We got separated.” That wasn’t a lie. They had gotten separated, and it would seem they were separated in more than one way.
“I hope he gets here before tonight. I’m scheduled to fight.”
A shiver passed over Lila, one that came with panic. “Tonight? I thought it was tomorrow night?”
“It was moved up.”
“Where are we?”
“Some underground facility. That’s all I know. Every few days they have fights.” Petra sniffled. “The shifters are killed. Totally. Dead.”
“Wait. How can that be? We can’t be—”
“Their heads are cut off. Their shifter animal dies with them.”
Shit. That was the way to kill a shifter. “Humans do this?”
“No. It’s run by shifters, but the spectators are humans and shifters.”
“And these humans know about us?” Lila couldn’t wrap her head around it.
Soft sobs came from Petra. “I made a friend. He’s gone. He was a lion shifter. He… I don’t think he had a tribe. Three days ago he was taken to fight.”
Rustling noises and some shuffling came from Petra’s direction. Then she stood. Dark hair framed Petra’s dark, tear-filled eyes.
Lila studied the other woman. Her face was drawn, and her eyes had dark circle half-moons beneath them.
Petra shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I know he’s dead.”
“I’m sorry.” Lila put her hand through the bars, reaching for Petra’s, hoping they could span the distance. Petra’s cold fingertip touched hers. “Let’s get out of here.”
“There’s no way. Today is the day I die.” She looked down.
“You can’t die today. You’re too young.” That came from another voice. A woman raised her head.
Lila studied the leopard shifter. “How long have you been here?”
“Four weeks. They’re waiting for me to heal so I can go into the arena.” The leopard shifter raised an arm wrapped in bandages. “I wouldn’t make much of an opponent with my injury. The patrons wouldn’t get their money’s worth.” She smiled something that looked more like a grimace. “I’m Maia.”
A loud crash came from the distance. It sounded like it was on the other side of the door.
“They’re coming,” Petra said. “Get down. They don’t like it when we talk.” She and the leopard vanished.
Lila dropped down in her cage and huddled, her legs tucked close to her body, her chin on her knees. A heavy-sounding door creaked open. Lila heard loud footsteps, and, a moment later, Will and James were in front of her cage.
She didn’t even pretend to be asleep.
“Our newest guest is awake,” one of them said. She still didn’t know which one was which.
“Where am I?” she demanded.
“Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter, does it, James?” His laughter sounded more like a cackle. Clearly, this one was Will.
“Why doesn’t it matter? Let me go. I can get you some money. A lot of it.”
“I doubt that.” James licked his chapped lips, his saliva making them shiny and purplish.
Lila couldn’t handle looking at his face. She glanced down, studying his boots. “I’m a Tiero. My brother would pay a lot to see me freed, and her, too.”
“Ooooh, a Tiero,” Will mocked her. “Too bad the little orange tiger is spoken for. We promised a tiger tonight, and we’re delivering one.”
“Anyway,” James added, “we make good money doing this. Way more than your brother can pay. Who wants to deal with a bunch of pissed-off Tieros when they find out we have you? Nah, you’re bett
er off here, where no one will know who you are. You’ll just be another contestant in our games.”
“Then let me fight in her place. She’s not a fighter.” Lila pointed to Petra’s cage.
“No, we’ve already printed up the schedules. A tiger fighting a bear. That’s final.” James crossed his arms, his face resolute.
“What’s it to you, anyway?” Will said.
“I’m a tiger. What’s the problem? I’m a white tiger. That should create a buzz for you. Wouldn’t your guests rather see a white tiger?”
“Shut up.” Will’s voice was whiny. “You don’t tell us how to run our business.”
James put his hand on Will’s arm. “Wait. Let me see. What do you think, Will? Could we get a higher premium?”
Will scratched his head, the greasy hair moving in entire sections. “Do it. Call the boss.”
Lila wanted to cheer. She stepped closer to the cage’s door. Now they were getting somewhere, and maybe she could get some information. “Who’s your boss?”
“Nunya. You know what that means?” Will said while James walked away, tapping on a cell phone.
James returned a moment later, a smile on his face. “I think we might make the boss happy.” He took a set of keys out of his pocket. “Let’s go, white tigress. The boss wants to see you. We’re taking you there.” He looked at Will. “Leave the orange tiger here. Bring the white.”
Lila moved farther back in the cage, away from the two wolf shifters. “No. Bring the orange, too. I won’t go without her.”
“You don’t call the shots, you bossy bitch.”
Petra screamed and lunged for the wolf. He pulled something out of his pocket and reached for Petra. Lila lunged forward, her hands between the bars, and just managed to knock the tranq out of his hands, but not before he’d stuck Petra briefly. Had he gotten the tranq into her?
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Will snapped at Lila.
Bright lights went on overhead.
“What the hell?” James turned around, looking for the intruder.
A crowd of shifters walked in behind two identical blond, powerfully built wolf shifters. Amongst them were Gavin and his men, an assortment of other species, and Cy.
