Neglect and improper nutrition had matted Garnet’s once sleek-and-shining crimson fur, now thinning and mangy in spots. Amber supposed her own golden hide appeared equally unkempt and untended. Survival had long been more important to the sisters than any beauty regimen.
Perhaps their once-heralded looks had landed them here so long ago as teenagers, the young princesses of a dysfunctional shifter family. Perhaps it had been their Northridge name. Magnum had always seemed to take such joy from the destruction of their family. Who knew anymore? Who really cared? They’d long ago stopped trying to figure it out. At least the beatings had ceased.
Amber shifted in order to speak aloud and nudged her sister in the flank until Garnet did the same. In human form, both their stomachs rumbled. The tattered T-shirt Garnet wore swamped her, but the sharp angles of her collarbone and shoulder blades, of her rib cage, stood out when she moved. Both their bellies gurgled again.
“What?” she whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“Listen,” Garnet said. “Something’s going on. The gate opened.”
Amber’s ears twitched. Though more acute in wolf form, her senses still far exceeded the abilities of the average human. An electrified barbed-wire fence surrounded the compound. The gate rarely opened anymore. She could count on one hand the number of times anyone had ventured through it in the last year. But a truck with balding tires and a muffler on the way out roared and whined past the sisters’ hut.
Cracking open the door, she stared out. An old Dodge Ram pickup screeched to a halt in front of the caretaker’s cottage near the gate, emitting the odor of dirty fuel. The stench made her eyes water. Ozzie, one of Magnum’s most disgusting henchmen, leaped from the truck. Reaching into the backseat, he dragged out two squirming, crying toddlers.
“He’s brought new prisoners,” she said to Garnet. “Children. Shifter young.”
“Young?” Garnet jostled her for space at the sliver of doorway. After peering out, her twin edged away and squeezed her eyes shut. “Goddess, no.”
They’d been teens themselves, barely out of puberty, when Magnum Tao, the insane Alpha of the Black Hills Wolves pack, snatched them from their homes in Los Lobos, away from friends and family, and brought them here. They’d had no contact with those left behind. Impressed into slavery, they’d been forced to cook and clean and cater to Magnum and his gang of disgusting cohorts. Today, they were young women who could not stand to be near anyone, except each other. Who could not bear anyone’s touch, except each other’s.
They hadn’t seen Magnum at all in more than twelve cycles of the moon, Amber realized. His lieutenants had also vanished for the most part. She and Garnet had been left more or less alone to scavenge from cabin to cabin for food and clothes and other necessary supplies.
“Stay here,” she hissed to her twin. “I’ll see what’s going on.”
Before she could move, Ozzie jumped back into the dilapidated truck and clattered off alone. The electrified gate slammed shut the moment the vehicle passed through.
“What the fuck?” Their jailers’ baffling decisions and whims were never rational, but this move fell off the bewildering chart. “He just dumped them here? Great Luna. I don’t think they’re much more than a year old! Too young to slave for Magnum and his wretched crew!”
“Let’s go see, A.”
Keeping to the shadows, the women slinked toward the caretaker’s cottage and peeped in a grime-streaked window. On one wall, a big, flat-screen TV blared. In the center of the room, two tiny, fluffy fur balls—one a precious little female cougar kitten and the other a chocolate-brown wolf pup—shifted back and forth from their animal to human forms, snuffling, whining, and whimpering.
“They’re so cute,” Garnet murmured. “Look at them. So sweet and innocent.”
Amber agreed, but panic seized her. The precious little female kitten would not last long in the compound. It was a mercy Magnum hadn’t killed her already. He’d never allow a cat onto pack lands. Although…Amber had never been quite sure where the compound was located. Pack lands or not, they were under Magnum’s thumb here…and the only thing Magnum despised more than a cat was an impure, mixed-breed wolf.
The male pup curled himself around the tiny kitten protectively, and the pair snuggled together as though they’d done so since birth. Like siblings. Amber wasn’t sure how that could be, but somehow there was the look of family about them. Dear sweet Mother Luna. Were they the product of an illicit mating? A wolf and a cougar? Had Magnum destroyed their parents? What would he do to these adorable little ones? He was so beyond insane, he could tear them limb from limb and eat them alive then wear their pelts as some kind of sick trophy.
Nausea enveloped her. Could she and Garnet help the little ones in some way? When they couldn’t even help themselves?
Something even stronger pulled at Amber’s emotions when she observed the little wolf in either his human or animal form; a familiarity she could not place. His chocolate-brown coat and dark eyes reminded her so much of someone, the way he held himself, the expressions crossing his small, fierce face. Someone from the past, from before their imprisonment. But who?
A pang struck her heart—a numb organ that had not felt much of anything for a long time. The vise of foreign emotion gripped the useless muscle. Her heart cried out. She longed to hold him and the little kitten, too, to snatch up both cubs and clutch them against her chest, filling her empty arms.
Beside her, Garnet sniffled, tears streaming down her face. “We can’t let Magnum hurt them, sis.”
“They’re related to each other, I think. They look alike, somehow. Do you know them, G?”
Her twin shook her head. “No, how could I? We’ve been trapped in this prison long before they were born. But oh, no, Amber. The poor kitten. You know he’ll never let her live. Is that why he had them brought here? How can we save them?”
“We will have to. We’ll have to think of something. Fast. Magnum’s probably killed her parents already. Maybe both their parents. They have a look about them…don’t they, G? The pup especially…the little boy….”
“He reminds me of someone, too.”
“Who?”
“I…don’t know….” A pain tore through her head as she tried to dredge up old memories.
Garnet’s features twisted into a grimace, and Amber suspected she endured the same agony whenever she attempted to rake up the past. She stared at the little one, and tears welled in her eyes, burning, momentarily blinding her to everything but one thought. “Brick,” she whispered. “Oh, Goddess, G. He looks just like Brick did. Remember?”
Garnet responded to the mention of their youngest brother with a howl of pain. “Yes,” she agreed, her voice raw and soft. “Brick.” Her tears fell to the ground unheeded. “He’s Brick’s cub. Our nephew. Oh, Amber…do you think the kitten’s our niece?” She moaned. “Oh, no, Brick, what have you done?”
Amber shook her head. Magnum clearly despised the Northridge family, the reasons for which she could not fathom. She’d thought all her siblings save Garnet were dead. But had Brick been alive long enough to take a mate? She shuddered. No way Magnum would have let him live if he’d mated with a being other than a wolf. No question Magnum would have seized any excuse to beat Brick senseless, to rip out his throat, and stomp his bleeding, lifeless body into the ground, to leave him dead and decomposing as a warning to the rest of the pack. Her belly clenched in agony. They’d never see their brother again.
“We have to do something, Garnet.”
“But what?”
“I have no idea. But…something.” She called upon all her inner strength, the well of fortitude that had kept her alive thus far, and watched as Garnet also steeled herself. “Even weak as you and I are, we can take Ozzie between us. If no one else comes. Let’s go.”
They stationed themselves outside the cottage to make sure no harm befell the tots. So peculiar that Ozzie had dropped them, apparently to fend for t
hemselves. And yet, typical Ozzie, really. His actions always skated the thin ice of bizarre.
“We should feed them,” Amber mused.
“Yes,” Garnet agreed. “Not sure we’ve got anything left from the last scavenge. I’ll go look.”
After her twin departed, Amber remained vigilant at the window. She could not tear her gaze from the small cubs. Could they really be Brick’s young? Her nephew and niece? She couldn’t get over that. How many years had passed since she’d seen her brother? Any of her siblings or family besides her imprisoned twin?
A short time later, the sick, twisted Tao henchman returned in the truck, this time with a gun trained on a young woman. He dragged her from the vehicle and threw her inside the cottage.
The little pup and kitten stopped whimpering and gazed at the new prisoner with recognition and something akin to glee, as if they suspected they were all playing some kind of game.
Something about the woman comforted Amber. Perhaps she had saved the cougar cub from Magnum’s wrath? Had she taken the kitten in? Could she take care of the little ones as Amber and Garnet could not? A new thought shook her. Maybe Magnum would punish the woman for what she’d done. Was that why Ozzie had brought her here, too?
Amber narrowed her eyes. More foreign emotions rippled through her. Did she know the young woman? Maybe. The newcomer seemed about the same age, perhaps a couple of years older. Was she from Los Lobos? Had she been there when Amber and Garnet had been stolen away? Was she Brick’s mate? The little fur balls’ mother? No. Despite the tiny tots’ joy at seeing the woman, their reaction said “friend,” not “mama.” Whatever the relationship, Amber could not let the same fate befall the newcomer that she and Garnet had long endured.
She watched through the window as Ozzie duct taped the woman’s hands behind her back and bound her ankles to the legs of her chair with a thin rope that had enough give for her to raise and lower her legs, giving the small shifters a ride as they sat on her feet. The unknown woman told them a story and sang to them. Meanwhile, Ozzie collapsed on a nearby sofa with a beer in his hand, watching a baseball game on the TV.
Once, the new prisoner raised her head and stared out the window, meeting Amber’s gaze. A flash of recognition passed between them then vanished as rapidly. Fearing discovery—or worse repercussions—Amber ducked below the window sill to hide.
Gradually, she crept back up, careful to keep as hidden as possible as she stared into the cabin. An image on the TV Ozzie watched caught her attention. One of the players. The pitcher. A big, toned male, who seemed to tower over the other ballplayers, his pinstriped uniform so taut over his body he might have been poured into it. Huge muscles rippled with every movement. And his face! Goddess. Hewn from stone yet sensual at the same time. Riveting, wintry-gray eyes the color of sparkling bleached granite. Coal-dark hair feathered around a milky, black Irish complexion evident even beneath the summer tan and sunburned nose. She had never seen a more handsome man. She bet he smelled divine.
He went into his windup, and she stared at him, mesmerized, unable to look away from the screen as he lifted his leg, exposing the thick sinews of his thigh, the tight curve of his ass. She’d never seen a finer ass or better, broader shoulders on any being, wolf or human.
As she stared at him, completely entranced by the image of male magnificence shown on the wide screen, vehicles filled with shifters burst through the outside barricades and roared into the compound. Were they here to rescue the newest prisoners? Their shouts and growls filled the air.
Amber barely heard the commotion at the gate or surrounding the cottage. The yells of the young woman tied to the chair and the cries of the little kit and pup went unheeded as so much background noise.
She could not look away from the video screen or gorgeous hunk of masculinity displayed there. His face, his body branded her soul. She could not absorb anything else. A shattering need for the unknown male consumed her. A hunger for him unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She craved his heavy weight on top of her, his large hands running over her bare skin, his sensual mouth on hers then his lips closing around each of her nipples, sucking, stroking with his tongue. Her breasts grew heavy and full with her arousal, the buds hard and pointed, straining against her T-shirt, anticipating his teasing hands, his toying mouth, his thick, throbbing cock inside her. His rich, delicious scent embracing her.
Goddess. She squirmed. Heat enveloped her. She loathed all the males Magnum had partied with at the compound, but she wanted the man on the TV. Her sexual awareness awakened for the first time in her life.
The fantasy scenes dancing in her head had her quivering on the brink of orgasm as she replayed once again the images of his tongue skimming southward over her hot flesh, lower and lower, tracing a path from her breasts to her belly then, at last, delving into the slick womanly folds between her legs. Sucking, nibbling, tasting. Readying her for the sublime penetration of his hard, thick cock. The idea melted her, made her so liquid her lust drenched her panties.
Beautiful and perfect. His own taste would be nothing less than delicious, and his tantalizing scent would cocoon and paint her skin, brand her as he made love to her while whispering endearments into her ear. So different from the snorting, grunting, disgusting rutting of Magnum’s henchmen.
Garnet tugged her arm. “Come on, sis, we’ve got to go!”
“TV,” she murmured.
“Come on, Amber! We’ve got to hide!”
Her sister dragged her away. They ran for another one of the abandoned huts. Garnet curled beneath a cot, but Amber scrabbled about like a person possessed, whimpering until she found another TV. Compelled by a force beyond her control, she flicked the ancient machine on.
Static and snow filled the small screen, but Amber fiddled frantically with the old, rabbit ears antenna, managing to see past the flickering, jumpy images. Sweet Luna, the man was gorgeous. She gaped at him, a jagged lightning bolt of need striking her dumb. Muscled and masculine, with bulging biceps and thighs and sharp angles in all the right places, he sported a scruffy head of inky hair she ached to run her fingers through. The hint of a five o’clock shadow sculpted his cheeks and strong chin.
An erotic shiver coiled through her, a sensation she’d never felt before. A sense of…rightness. Something like…destiny…her fate somehow entwined with that of the distant man.
Mine.
She stared at the baseball player’s image on the screen, stunned when the ball dribbled out of his glove and he glowered back into the camera as if he could see her, too, his eyes sharp and cool as frost. She recoiled, putting more distance between her and the TV.
The man stepped off the pitcher’s mound, a dumbfounded expression narrowing his eyes. He bit his sensual lower lip. Had he forgotten himself and where he was? She suspected his air of befuddlement was unnatural, a condition foreign to such a dominant and confident man.
A few moments later, he tossed a giant cream puff, the opposing batter squashing it in an instant. He raised his left arm as the ball shot back to him like a bullet. She could almost hear the stunning impact of horsehide and flesh as the ball barreled into his hand like a speeding locomotive. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at the screen in horror as the big, sexy male fell to the pitcher’s mound and rolled around in the dirt in apparent agony.
His pain became her pain. Sickness gripped her at the hideous scene unfolding before her eyes.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no, no, no!”
She reached toward the television set, wanting to grab the male through the flickering screen and bring him toward her to hug him against her body and give him comfort. To heal him.
Without warning, four wolves and a giant bear bounded into the room, howling and roaring as they skidded to a halt and slid back into their human forms.
“Dear Sweet Luna,” one of the wolves shouted. “We’ve found them.”
The man knelt beside her, grasping her hand in his much larger one. S
he flinched away, yanking her fingers from his steady grip.
“Sweetheart, it’s me,” he murmured.
She stared at the TV and the writhing ballplayer, even as the others swept up Garnet and bore her away.
“Help him,” she mumbled, her gestures frantic as she pointed at the jumping images.
“Help who?” The wolf looked around and then shook his head. “Amber, honey, don’t you recognize me?” Tears streamed down her rescuer’s face, and his voice choked. “It’s Chance.”
“Chance,” she echoed. The word felt foreign on her tongue, but right at the same time.
She tore her gaze from the TV and looked at the man crouching before her. He seemed familiar but…it had been such a long time. She glanced back at the small screen again. Emergency crews carried the baseball player’s broken body from the field.
“Look at me, Amber.” The man kneeling next to her raised her chin with two light fingers. “It’s me, Chance. Your brother.”
Chapter Three
Eight months later….
The early spring sun beamed down on Amber as she reclined on the banks of Hidden Maiden Creek, part of the patchwork of fast-rolling streams winding through the Black Hills and feeding the extensive system of crystal lakes dotting Tao Pack territory. The gurgling rivulet, swollen with melting snow as it flowed over Shifting Tears Falls, had been a favorite spot before her captivity at the hands of Magnum Tao.
The place held a bittersweet poignancy. The pleasure of complete liberty sang through her, but so many years had been lost. Sometimes she didn’t know quite what to do with her newfound freedom. Her brothers, Brick and Chance, often hovered, so fierce and set on guarding and protecting her and Garnet, they all but smothered their female siblings. Garnet accepted their vigilance, not quite ready to venture far afield on her own. But, to Amber, they sometimes felt suffocating.
Out in the woods, the air still held the brisk bite of the fast-fading South Dakota winter, but clean and refreshing, too, the young season smelling of new life and the sun’s rays warming her skin.
Amber's Ace Page 2
