I feel teeth sink into my arm, the rip of flesh and smell my blood, but I don’t react as I should. Instead of ripping myself up more by trying to free myself from the pain, I lean up, bare my own teeth and sink them into his neck, pulling back only when I have a good, deep grip.
Blood flies when my head comes back, the Alpha jumping away with a growl and strangely hurt whimper, leaving me open to roll to my feet and dive at another male, this one scentless and big as a fucking house.
The bastard doesn’t go down easily when I dive at him, but he does stumble, and it’s when that happens that I see Blain’s wolf coming, his teeth bared, his eyes alight with bloodlust when he jumps at us.
“B—”
The male’s yell ends in a gurgle of blood and air, and I drop him once his legs give in, looking over at Blain who is smiling, even in wolf form. Creepy bastard.
“No!”
That cry spins me around, a luxury I have because it seems the pack is taking care of business more effectively than I anticipated. When I see my father, it’s shocking. The male is ashen, not having turned—I suspect from some misplaced assumption that a male won’t kill an unshifted male—facing Logan who is also unshifted and smiling darkly.
“You almost killed my mate!”
“I can…I can explain! I was crazy with shame and fear for my position. I didn’t mean to—”
“You’ll die now. I promised myself months ago I would kill you, and I will. For Hannah. For creating this fucked up organization.”
“But I didn’t—”
Logan doesn’t wait for an explanation or excuse; hell, I think the male has been more than patient thus far anyways. He just swipes out and separates my father’s throat from his neck,, the smell of blood reaching me even from this distance, as my father’s eyes widen, knees buckle and he drops to the floor with a dead stare and silent scream.
I want to say this lasts forever. That the fight is epic. I can’t. Simply put, my Alpha sent the whole shebang in and came through for us. The males have cut through this bunch in mere minutes without breaking a sweat.
Turning around, I look through the bodies, seeing almost every member of the council but one, who, frankly, doesn’t bother me at all. He’ll run, hide, and never surface if he’s lucky, but as things stand, this is done.
I did it. We all did it. Six years I’ve planned and plotted and waited for this moment. It’s true that I never once suspected my own father of being intelligent enough to be the leader, but what the hell do I care?
We’re free! Jock and I did this. Together. We brought down a network, stopped the creation of an army. All this time I’ve denied my destiny, my Fated, the chance to live a life that is about love and family. It’s done.
I can go back to my pack, not only free of the resistance and the subterfuge, but without having to face my father ever again.
I can mate, have my young—oh God, the thought of mating Beebee and seeing her grow with my young is enough to almost bring me to my knees. I find myself swallowing tears when I turn, my eyes searching for Bee in the midst of chaos, only to have Jock pop up in front of me, the grin of victory I expected to see absent when he grabs my shoulders and stops me from moving.
“Now calm down before you lose your shit, okay?! There’s no sense in getting your own ass tossed in the soup as well.”
“Jock, get the hell out of my way.”
My words cut off when I finally see Beebee, only to see Logan pulling her to her feet with a sad smile that reaches all the way down into my chest and rips my guts out.
No!
She doesn’t fight when he turns her, rips her shackles off and slaps on regulation cuffs that all enforcers wear. It’s only when he gently nudges her to walk that it strikes me he’s arresting her.
Over my dead fucking body.
“Sorry, pal. I need you to not lose your shit.”
I don’t see Jock’s fist before it’s too late, but I feel the bastard right before my eyes slip closed and my knees buckle.
Beebee!
Chapter Twenty-two
Beebee
“You look so much better now that you’re bathed and dressed in real clothes with real designer tags.”
I ignore Hannah and lay back on my cot, snuggling my back into the mattress with a sigh. At least I’m comfortable in here, I think, biting my lip when the urge to cry almost overcomes my new-found decision to be stronger and not sob uncontrollably all the time.
I went and lived. And now I’m a prisoner, and I haven’t seen Brig, and nothing I say or do will change any of this, especially since it’s been four days and Brig is just…gone.
Even Hannah is so pissed she won’t talk about it, which makes me think the bastard went and did it! He left after telling me he loves me and being the hero. I’d laugh about it. I mean, it’s just so ironic, but I can’t because it isn’t funny.
I am heartbroken.
“Stop it! You’re well rid of him. Didn’t I tell you he was a bastard?” Hannah huffs, getting comfortable in a sofa chair Logan carried down here for her.
The male is the perfect mate. He loves his kooky mate, ignores her rudeness most of the time, gives her knowing, completely loving and accepting smiles and does sweet stuff for her I didn’t think Logan was capable of.
In short, he’s cool and perfect and seeing him all up in her business with the affection and consideration he shows her makes me feel awful! I want that. With Brig. Who has left me here, abandoned me, and totally killed my heart.
“Oooooh my God would you stop saying that? You’re alive. Your heart is alive. You just have to be a female and shrug this off.”
“I’m in jail. Brig left me because I’m a convict, and I…I am so saaaaad.” I sniffle, hiccupping when she huffs and reaches out a hand to pat me awkwardly.
Her belly is growing, fast, at least that is what Logan says, and from the concern in his eyes when she isn’t looking, I’m thinking she’s cooking more than one kid in there.
Would serve her right.
Mika told me all about how Hannah made fun of her size before she had Brandon—oh, I so wish I had been here to see him be born and…
“That’s gross. And stop wishing twins on me! Dammit, Beeber. I want to walk away from the birth with my will to live still intact. Stop. Just stop whining inside your head and think about something positive,” she snarls, making me grin and stifle a laugh.
God, I love her.
She’s so salty and mean and just perfect for me right now. She refuses to let me feel sorry for myself. She actually screams in rage when I have one of my crying moments—a lot, it happens a lot—and generally stays down here pestering me for as long as Logan will let her.
At first that wasn’t long because he was so pissed at me that it took him eight hours to come back down here after he locked me in. We’re still friends though, thank God, even if it hurts me when I see the pain he’s feeling over all this.
“He’ll get over it! He’s just angry that he didn’t find you himself. It’s a male pride thing, Beeber. Males want to be the hero,” she says, rolling her eyes and flipping her dark hair over her shoulder.
“Brig was a hero. He saved me. He—”
I stop speaking when I feel another cry coming, biting my lips to keep the sounds in when Hannah’s face goes hard and her eyes narrow.
“He did the right thing for once in his fucking life and then turned it to shit by disappearing instead of coming back here with you and telling you the truth,” she says as she hisses, giving me pause.
“Oookay? Is this…like not to be all weird and stuff—”
“That’s impossible, Beeber. You’re already a freak. Just spit it out,” she sneers.
Yeah.
“Are you angry at him? I mean, I thought I was pissing you off because you hold like a main member feminist card and you’re not impressed that I actually have feelings? Like you don’t like your best pal being a real person?” I ask, frowning when she purses her lips.
“Scar’s my best pal—”
“I am! Stop trying to play hard to get and just talk to me. You’re angry with Brig, I get it, but you know, Hannah, he saved me. He did so much more than I ever thought possible and—”
“And it’s his fucking job as your Fated!” she screams, cutting me off with a bang. “It’s not him doing you any Goddamn favors by not getting his mate killed, Beeber. He literally doesn’t have a choice in this, and after what you told me, about the whole fucking weird love confession thing, at like the worst moment, the least he could do is come on down here and repeat, wash and rinse because you deserve better.”
“Er, I don’t get what you’re—”
“He is your male,” she says softly, her tone going sad, almost hesitant, as if she doesn’t want to be the one to tell me. “He’s known it since he turned twenty-three and his wolf kicked in like a beast. Why do you think he hardly saw you anymore? The male would go into town and eat ice cream for three hours just to see you go into the diner. Then, nothing.” She huffs, throwing her hands up in the air when I just blink.
I mean—?
“Fated?” I ask, shock lancing through me even more brutally when she nods, pulling a face when my own crumples and I drop my head into my hands.
“But…and…I…the cave…shower…my movie moment…!” I whine in a high-pitched cry of disbelief, everything hitting me all at once.
He just… and I am so…this is just not…
“He’s my Fated?” I ask again, once I manage to calm down, a little, enough to actually breathe, when Hannah starts looking antsy and ready to bolt. “I…I really want to believe this, Hannah. I do. I mean, I loooove Brig. A little. I’m still mad at him. But it isn’t true. I’ve known him for years. If we were Fated, I’d have felt it by now and—”
“People do not Fate until the male puts off his scent and the female goes into heat. That is the process and that is what starts the bond. Trust me, I know. I may not have bonded to Logan at first because he was fighting it, but the heat was definitely there. For years.”
“I haven’t been in heat.”
“Because you’re a cougar!” she yells, throwing her hands up impatiently. “Geez, Beeber! Don’t you know cougar breeds are different? Females can’t do heat until the male Fates her or mates her and gives her the full bite. Brig only scraped the surface of your skin. He didn’t mark you completely.”
I twist, peering, or trying to peer, at the spot where he nipped me before, but I can’t see right at this angle, and I am not allowed a mirror.
“He just got carried away. I mean, I knew it when it happened and—”
“And it hurt your feelings when he didn’t bite you. Yeah, I know. I’m a female with a vagina and a heart. I get the whole significance of the bite since I’m a shifter, too.”
“I know! Dammit. That wasn’t what I was getting at!” I yell, promising myself a good cry later for this. “I’m saying that he didn’t bite me.”
Hannah rolls her eyes, as if she’s losing all patience and then sighs dramatically.
“Beeber. He wanted to bite you. That is my point. He wanted to put you into heat, and I think he really, really had to fight the urge. Because he is your Fated. Can you just imagine the willpower it would have taken not to bite you?” she asks, making this worse because dammit…
“And that right there disproves your theory! If I was his, he would have bitten me. Everyone knows a Fated can’t resist for long. Even Bear couldn’t hold out for more than a few months. Brig held out for years!” I yell, sitting up in my anger. “He isn’t mine.”
“He is! He’s Brig! He’s cold and calculating when he needs to be, and he’s been working towards getting to the leader of that cockamamie council for years, Beebee! He probably had to kill himself denying it so that he could get the job done. Hell, from what Logan told me, this trial of yours was planned by Jock for months. Months, Beebee. Months. Doesn’t that tell you exactly how cold Brig had to have been? He was in on it, and he is your male. It must have been so hard for him—”
“You’re defending him now?” I ask, snorting when she blushes and sniffs disdainfully.
“I am not. I’m just trying to get you to see. He’s yours. He just wouldn’t let himself admit it because he couldn’t mate you then,” she says softly, so tenderly and gently I want to scream.
Trust Hannah to flip the script on me just when I’m starting to get good and pissed.
My Fated? My Fated! He’s my Fated, and he kept it to himself for years and years and… and what was with that whole fucking ‘I wish I was your Fated’ speech?
Huh? Huh!? How dare he make me sad and feel all heartbroken, and then tell me he loves me and let me get arrested?
I am so not happy.
Not happy at all and—
“What!” I yell when Hannah keeps talking and something registers in my mind, my blood freezing in my veins while she freezes too, and her eyes go wide.
“Ooops! Uh, I gotta go. Logan! Logan…I…uh… I’m a little tired!” she yells, rising up on shaky legs and inching to the left, as if she’s just as ready to bolt as I am to lunge through the bars and grab her by the throat.
“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare say something to me and run away without clarifying,” I warn, ignoring Logan who comes in and stops, his head turning as he blinks between us.
“Beeber, uh, I should totally not have said anything. It just slipped out, and he’s gonna be so pissed at me, and please don’t tell him I told you. Brig has the best revenge, the best, only it isn’t funny when he’s not doing it to you,” she whines, almost making me laugh with her fear.
Real fear. From Hannah Kilter.
God, did I ever think I would see this day? The answer is no, but neither did I think that I would be locked up in a cell, by Alpha’s orders, for treason to the pack, or that I would be sitting here crying for some guy who fucking left me here alone and swanned off to Alaska.
My lip quivers, the feelings just too much to keep inside, and before I know it, I’m blubbering and whining nonsensically while the Dion screams out her angst in my mind’s backtrack.
I want to rail and scream instead of crying like a mess, but all I can think is, I am Fated to a guy who…who left me here all alone and—
“Er, yeah, Lo, I’m gonna need to split, like pronto before things get dicey!” I hear Hannah say out the side of her mouth.
“You can’t just leave her here crying!” Logan mutters, his face going soft when I snort back loudly and swallow. “Aw Barb, it’ll be okay. I mean, he saved your life and—”
“I don’t wanna hear it, okay? Is my mama coming to see me soon?” I ask, changing the subject.
I need some serious mama time and hugs and maybe the chance to explain what happened. Mama always makes me feel better, even if I’m wrong. Logan grimaces, looks over at Hannah with his eyes hard and throws his hands in the air.
“You’re all alone on this one, mella. I’m not explaining you out of this because you find emotional situations hard. You broke her, you fix her. I’ll go upstairs and fix you two ladies a snack. Barb, I’ll get you some booze if it’ll help. Booze usually helps.”
He turns and strides off before Hannah can leave, and I feel just a little better when I see her bite her lip and look away guiltily.
“I shouldn’t have told you that. I was lying for your own good.”
“My own good? I’ve been sitting here thinking that, well, I don’t know what I was thinking while all along you knew. Did he…go forever?” I ask, my voice small and barely recognizable in its pitch.
“I don’t know, Bee. I yelled at him for like three hours two days ago, demanding he get off his ass and come fix this for you, but he shut me down, and I haven’t been able to get anything since. It’s like he shut his mind down. Damn that Logan! He keeps telling people how to do it, and it’s pissing me off,” she mutters, flopping down in her seat with a huff.
I flop onto my cot in solidarity and throw an a
rm over my eyes, sniffing until the last shudder leaves me. I feel…empty, I think, my chest aching with the pain of abandonment.
Yeah okay, it’s not fair of me. I told him it’s okay to leave when this was done, and I meant it. At the time. I just never thought he’d actually listen to me and walk off into the wild blue yonder without a backward glance.
Where’s the scene where we meet again and hug and I commiserate and talk nonstop about all the action—well, the few minutes’ worth I got. Where is the scene where he kisses me and tells me he loves me again before he swoops me into his arms and carries me to bed where we have wicked hot sex and pledge our hearts to each other?
I want all those times, just like that hot air balloon scene in that Katherine Heigl movie with the Scottish guy who ruins the American accent. I can’t remember his name. Something Butler, I think. But whatever! Even that big ass heifer got her strangely accented love scene.
Where’s mine? I whine silently, shifting when Hannah sighs and mutters a curse.
“If I was gonna choose a love scene, it would be the one from Baywatch.”
“There aren’t love scenes in Baywatch,” I mumble, snorting when she giggles.
“Every scene with Pammy is a love scene. I’m straight, but even I have a major crush on those boobs.” She sighs, fanning herself with a sigh.
I snort, laughing at her ridiculous attempts to cheer me up and look at her, seriously look at her.
“I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life, in a cell while he grows moss somewhere in the wild.”
“Aw honey, you won’t ever be alone. I can guarantee that,” she tells me seriously, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“I—”
“Just trust me, Beeber. Trust me. You will have someone to love. I can promise you that.”
“Do you think he’s going to come back?”
It’s a hopeless mess of romantic drivel that I know I shouldn’t depend on with every fiber of my being, and yet I can’t not cling to it because in my movie, Brig loves me, and we live happily ever after. Maybe with a prison break in there somewhere. Whatever, I just, I thought…
Greyriver Shifters Page 69
