by Hawk, Ryanne
“Be out front in ten minutes. I’ll grab you.”
“Done.”
They hung up.
Hammer glanced at Lucky with a brow raised, then said without preamble, “I heard. We’ll ride together, grab Buzz, and go get the girl.”
Lucky nodded and held on to hope as the club donned their vests, guns, and jumped on their bikes, heading toward Cecelia.
“Be smart, little bird,” he whispered. “We’re coming.”
Chapter Fifteen
Close to an hour felt like days as the van skidded to a stop on a gravel road. The crunch and crackle beneath her ear was a dead giveaway that they were probably on some dead-end road in the middle of fuck-all-nowhere.
“Time to go,” the hyena cackled. He lifted her easily with one hand as the side door slid open. He exited, dragging her ankle with him, then picked her up and dumped her over his shoulder, carrying her into what could only be described as a dirty shack surrounded by decayed trees and overgrown grass.
After they had passed through the entry inside, she was thrust into a hard wooden chair. Her neck snapped back and she heard a loud pop. One of the men who’d been driving came closer, holding a tattered rope in his hands, whistling like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Don’t try anything or you’ll regret it,” he said in an almost girlish tone at odds with his sinister blackish eyes and buzz-cut dark hair. Cecelia averted her eyes, appearing resigned, as she gathered her magic again. It came easier this time, faster, and as soon as he started to tie her up, she unleashed, harnessing his auric field to hers, binding them together.
After she was sufficiently bound, the hyena came closer again, peeling off the back wall like a leech. In his hand he held a newspaper. “Get the camera ready,” he said over his shoulder. “Let’s hurry up and get this sent. The faster we show proof, the faster he’ll wire the money to our accounts and we can get the fuck out of Dodge before they even know she’s missing.”
Cecelia was pretty sure Lucky must know she was missing by now, but maybe he was still drugged and hadn’t even woken up yet. That was a harrowing thought, so she forced it aside and concentrated on the tasks at hand. At the top of her list was to stay alive. At all costs.
The cameraman stepped out of the shadows and peeled his ski mask off his face to wipe the dripping sweat. “Ready,” he said and stalked closer, not looking at her as the hyena cackled again and slapped the newspaper over her midsection, aligning it so it stood up straight. The one getting ready to take her picture walked within her field, and she sent her magic out in a burst, quick as a cobra strike, before he moved too far for her to capture in her sticky web. She wanted to sigh in relief, but this was only phase one.
A blinding light made her see spots as he took her picture. Then he skulked back to his corner, probably to email or text the photo to her ex-husband Peter or his goonies.
“Should we remove the tape on her mouth, give her some water?” the shifter on her left asked. He’d been the one riding shotgun on their excursion to the middle of nowhere.
“And listen to her bitch and moan? Fuck, no,” the hyena said, then he left the room, a clang signaling he’d gone outside.
“What do you think, Badge?”
“Do what he says.”
The nicer of the thugs shrugged, averted his face from her gaze, and walked to the far wall where he sat down, legs outstretched, and pulled out his phone. Video game noises wafted around the room and she rolled her eyes.
“Turn the sound off,” the cameraman said. “It’s fucking annoying.”
“Well, sorry, your princely highness.”
The cameraman bent and slapped the video gamer in the head.
“Ouch, fucking bastard. What’d you do that for?”
“Insolence won’t be tolerated once I’m president and alpha, reject. So keep your trap shut, listen and follow orders, got me?”
The gamer mumbled something too low for Cecelia to hear, but the cameraman punched him in the face, sending the kid sprawling out onto the ground, his phone flying from his hands.
The hyena burst through door and yelled, “The fuck y’all doing? Stop fucking around. We got work. You get the picture sent yet, Badger?”
“Yeah. Cell reception ain’t great, but it’s on its way to our liaison.”
“Good. Hopefully the tycoon’s good for the money. All this will be over soon, then we can start our own pack and charter. Fuck Darius and all his stupid rules.”
“Word.”
“Soon as we get confirmation, kill this bitch.” The hyena hiked a thumb toward her, and an involuntary shiver snaked down her spine. She had to be smart and fast. Before the hyena turned to leave the room, he looked her in the eye. “It’s nothing personal. Just business.”
Yeah. She thought. Well, it’s personal to me. Thankfully the tape hushed her mouthiness; otherwise, she’d probably end up with a bruised face or dead sooner rather than later.
“She’s not going anywhere. I’m gonna have a smoke.”
The video gamer got up and brushed by her chair, then left the room.
“Just you and me, pretty,” the cameraman said. He stalked closer to her, reached his hand out and pulled her t-shirt away from her body so he could see her breasts.
Cecelia trembled.
The lecherous look he cast her made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. If he went any further, she’d have no choice but to use her magic, and she didn’t want to play that card yet. It was too early.
He backed away, licking his lips, eyes trained on the spot between her legs. Fear spiked Cecelia’s blood with the fight or flight reflex and her heart raced.
“I like ’em scared,” he said. “I can smell your fear from here. Like a sweet ambrosia.”
Someone yelled from outside, “Race, get out here.”
He shrugged. “There’s always later.”
As he walked by, he bent and licked a wet trail up her neck, then inhaled close to her ear.
A moment later he vanished, the outside door banging hard as he left.
There was no use trying to calm herself down after that bastard had put the moves on her and all but told her he was going to have his way with her, whether she wanted it or not. Instead of falling into being a hapless wallflower during her own demise, Cecelia crushed the feelings into tangible energy, stoking her internal reservoir of magic to boiling. Her time was almost up, and shit was about to hit the fan.
The backs of her eyes hurt from the concerted effort, but once voices had grown louder and the outside door had opened, blowing in a myriad of foul scents, Cecelia decided to make her move.
The four men walked into the cramped, empty living room, well within her field. The hyena spoke in a dangerous voice. “Money’s been wired, princess.” His words were oddly spoken, like a snake hissing, followed by his trademark cackling laugh.
“Gun, knife, or claws and teeth?”
Since Cecelia’s mouth was still taped shut, she didn’t think they were asking her opinion on which way to kill her.
She didn’t hesitate. She snapped her eyes open and released the ball of magic surrounding her, casting it around the room to make a large bubble. In her mind she said, “Paralyze,” knowing her command would grab hold of the shifters’ aura and lock them into place.
As Cecelia stared at them, their faces bulged with strain as they tried to remove themselves from her power. All she had to do was keep a steady stream of energy connected from her to all four of them. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, she thought.
Instead of using her energy to hold herself upright, she sagged in the chair, letting her chin fall to her chest, and focused on the strand of energy pulsing in blue from her toes to their feet.
Time ceased to exist as the room fell away, leaving her alone in the dark, clinging to the ropes of her fate.
Chapter Sixteen
“What in the seven layers of hell,” Hammer muttered after they had kicked in the door to the run-down shack and filed i
nto the shit hole in a single line, guns drawn.
Buzz whistled and said, “Don’t move. Any of you. Do not enter that room.”
Lucky examined the confined space from the doorway. Four of the Delta Dogs stood stock still in a semicircle around Cecelia, who was in the center of the room duct taped and tied to a chair, not moving a muscle.
Don’t move? Hands clenched and blood pumping, Lucky had other ideas, and his feet moved a step. Buzz’s hand whipped out and slammed him in the chest before he turned and stood face to face with Lucky, his eyes burning a fierce bright green.
A warlock in all his glory. “I said don’t move or you’ll get hurt. You have to trust me, Lucky. It’s why you brought me. Just in case. She’s alive. I can see her chest rising and falling.”
Reigning in his anger proved harder than Lucky thought as he stepped outside for a moment to cool his rage and get his wolf under control. After five heartbeats, he marched back into the small hallway with his crew and watched as his best friend walked into the fray.
“Cecelia,” he called. “Cecelia, can you hear me? It’s Buzz, Lucky’s friend from the tattoo shop. I don’t think we met, but I’m here with the MC. I’m going to remove the tape from your mouth and it’s gonna sting worse than a swarm of horseflies.”
Buzz’s hands were raised, showing he wasn’t armed, just in case something even more weird happened. Fast as a cobra his hand shot out, grabbed a corner of the tape, and ripped it from her face.
She cried out. “Don’t come any closer! I don’t know how much longer I can hold them.”
Hammer turned and stared into Lucky’s eyes. Warning bells rang in Lucky’s ears.
Buzz said, “You won’t hurt me. I’m not a shifter. I’m a warlock, and I’m going to untie you, then cut the tape off your body. Okay?”
Lucky saw Cecelia nod her head, but he couldn’t see her eyes.
His best friend said, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to see if there’s a knife or a pair of scissors. Do you want me to turn the chair so you can see Lucky and know I’m not lying?”
She inhaled, but Lucky called out, “I’m here, little bird. It’s okay. You can trust him.”
Her chin dropped back to her chest, and he envisioned her crying. It bothered him that he couldn’t get to her, wrap her up in his arms and soothe her.
Buzz returned with a kitchen knife and made quick work of the tape and ties, then picked her up off the chair and sat in the center of the room with her in his lap.
The animal in Lucky growled. Buzz met his glare and shrugged, his eyes saying, “What am I supposed to do?”
Cecelia’s teeth chattered. “I have to let them go. Once I do, they’ll be free to move and they’ll try to kill us all.”
Hammer said, “We understand. We’ll take care of them.”
From behind Hammer, Flash said, “I need a good fight. I didn’t come all this way for nothing.”
Meat cracked his knuckles.
Pretty-Boy tossed his head and said, “Nobody hurt the face!” and grinned at the weirdly frozen bodies. Their eyes moved, but that was it. Lucky figured they must be able to understand what was going to happen, so he prepared himself, shifting to wolf right there in the hallway. Magic erupted inside him, and a tsunami of pain assaulted his bones as he forced the change to happen more quickly than usual.
The clothes he had worn lay in tatters on the floor, and he shook his body from side to side, then stepped out of his jeans.
“Okay,” he heard Buzz say. “Let the magic go so Lucky and the MC can take care of the rest.”
He heard Cecelia sniffle, then she looked right into Hammer’s eyes. “They all need to die. They know too much.” She raised a brow, as if she thought Hammer was going to let them live.
“Aye, darlin’. They’re all gonna pay.”
She nodded one final time, squeezed her eyes closed, and then started to tremble in Buzz’s arms.
At once, a sonic boom ricocheted across the room and threw them all against the wall. Then bodies were moving too quickly and awkwardly in the little room. Hammer grabbed one of the Delta men and threw him hard enough to send him right through the plaster out onto the front lawn. He followed through the crater-sized hole, picked up the Delta by the scruff of his neck, and proceeded to pound his fist into the head of the boy, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.
Fools.
Meat and Flash each battled with one of the Deltas and he left them to it, stalking the fourth and final member of the kidnap team, the hyena. The one who’d been closest to Cecelia in their room. Probably the one who’d carried her. Lucky dodged left and right, weaving through the fighters, and clamped his teeth around the thigh of the cackling shifter right before he shifted into his true form and took off running through the hole and into the woods.
Lucky glanced back before chasing, seeing the Delta Dogs being dispatched, then took off after the last bastard, determined to make him pay in blood.
The wolf hunted, keeping his nose in the air, testing the scents as their prey darted and ran in circles, trying to lose them. Undeterred, the wolf hunted on, his eyes on the prize and his bloodlust on his tongue.
In the distance, he saw a flash of movement as a large animal with spots dove through a thicket. Lucky assessed the area and veered right, then left, giving a wide berth to the main trail the hyena was running on. He closed the distance between them. The hyena glanced back and saw nothing, but had he checked his flank, he would have seen Lucky coming straight at him.
But he didn’t.
Lucky barreled into the side of the hyena and they rolled, toppling over each other, vying for the dominant position, teeth snapping, yipping and yapping.
Lucky was bigger, and on the last roll, he used his body mass to pin the hyena to the ground, then lunged at his throat, ripping the carotid as blood gushed and pooled on the ground. Lucky spit out the flesh rather than eating it, and continued to use his jaws to put pressure on the hyena’s neck, suffocating the struggling animal to make sure he died. And stayed dead.
When Lucky was sure the animal’s life had left its body, he let go and sat back on his haunches.
The Delta Dogs patch holder lay still, his mottled and spotted fur covered in blood and dirt, a gaping hole in his throat. There was no movement. Lucky stood, shook his fur and howled to the sky.
Then he turned and raced back toward the cabin.
Chapter Seventeen
Cecelia stood on shaky legs and said to Hammer, “Does this count as my trial by combat?”
She turned as Lucky stumbled into the living room, back in human form, wearing a pair of sweatpants and nothing else. He went to her and caressed her cheek with his hand just before he scooped her up and held her in his arms.
The Inked Menace MC president and Ruling Council of Shifters leader laughed, then razzed the top of her head with his hand. “I like you, kid. I hope you stick around.” He glanced around at their retrieval crew and said, “All in favor of using this as Cecelia’s combat trial say aye.”
A chorus of yeahs went around the room, and Lucky’s little bird smiled. Lucky pressed a kiss to her cheek and said, “Aye.”
“Done,” Hammer stated. “Mind telling us what went down here?”
Cecelia blew out a breath and said quietly, “I used gatekeeper magic to control their movements. I bound them to my will.”
“Can you do that to any shifter?” Flash asked as she picked at her nails. Then she dropped her hands and walked toward Lucky and Cecelia.
Tension vibrated in Lucky’s body as he prepared for war. He knew his club. And he knew the packs. This news wouldn’t be well received.
“Here,” Flash said, pulling out a Pop-Tart from her pocket. “Eat this. It’ll help.”
“Thanks,” Cecelia said, and reached for the silver wrapper. “And yes, I can,” she said to no one in particular, not meeting any of their eyes as she pried open her food. “But I made a vow to never use the magic unless under dire circumstances, and
the more pure the bloodline, the harder it is to take control.”
Hammer crossed his arms over his chest. Cecelia looked up at the silence, then studied his posture.
She continued, her voice rumbling over Lucky’s body. “It’s a magic all gatekeepers possess, and we train to use it when we’re young. Just in case.”
“I don’t like it,” said Meat.
“Me neither,” said Hammer.
Cecelia shrugged, and Lucky loved her for it. “You don’t have to like it. It’s the way it is. There are checks and balances in the universe. I’m your balance.”
Lucky squeezed her tight, ready to fight his friends, brothers, and comrades if need be.
His best friend walked over to stand beside them. “She speaks true. She can’t just control shifters at will. It takes tremendous will and effort, and can’t be sustained for long periods. Present day excluded.”
Buzz faced Cecelia and smiled at both her and Lucky. He continued, “You did amazing, Cecelia. You held on, and saved yourself.”
Cecelia glanced at Hammer and said with a humorless grin, “Now that you know who and what I am, as well as what I’m capable of, I can kill you, by order of gatekeeper law.”
“Touché,” Hammer said on a chuckle. “We’ll talk more later, after we get you home where it’s safe.”
Lucky felt wetness on his shirt and stared into the shell-shocked and tear-filled eyes of his mate. Her skin was pale. He hugged her closer and said, “I wanted to protect you. I’m so sorry I let this happen.”
“Shh,” Cecelia interrupted, and reached a finger up to cover his lips. “I don’t need you to protect me, Lucky. I can protect myself.” He started to protest, but she interrupted, “I do need you to love me, though.”
Lucky laughed and said, “Loving you will be the easy part. Letting you protect yourself, however, goes against every instinct I have.”
“I know. I wasn’t being literal. I just want you to know I’m not a burden. You don’t have to wear kid gloves around me, or worry all the time. I can handle whatever life throws at me.”
