Rise to Embrace [Rise of the Changelings, Book 3] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove)

by Lynn Hagen

  Pappy was holding Brooke, trying his best to stanch the bleeding. Willow knew it was futile. If she didn’t convert him, Brooke was going to die.

  “I can save him,” she said as she dropped down onto her knees next to the man she loved. Brooke’s amethyst eyes flickered over to her, and Willow began to sob as she grabbed his hand. “Please let me save you, sugar.” Willow used Brooke’s endearment as she pressed his hand to her breasts.

  “How?” Pappy asked. “How can you save my boy?”

  “She has to convert him,” Deluca guessed correctly.

  “It’s the only way,” Willow said as she glanced from Pappy to Deluca. She didn’t see Dad anywhere and guessed he was getting rid of Garrett’s body. The werecoyote wasn’t where he had fallen just moments before.

  Willow prayed he was rotting in hell.

  “Humans can’t mend a torn throat. If I don’t convert him, Brooke will bleed out,” she continued.

  Pappy glanced over at Deluca. “This is your call. He’s your third. Decide now.”

  “Do it,” Deluca said without hesitation. “I won’t lose Brooke. He might be a pain in the ass, but he’s my best friend.”

  Willow could hear the tears in Deluca’s voice. She gave a firm nod and then leaned in toward Brooke. “Did you hear that? Deluca is okay with it.”

  Brooke mouthed for her to convert him. Willow nodded, letting her canines elongate. She wiped the tears from her eyes, telling herself to concentrate. This was the first time she had converted anyone, and she didn’t want to screw things up.

  Using the tips of her long, sharp teeth, Willow bit into her lower lip until she tasted the warm, metallic blood fill her mouth.

  “What are you doing?” Dad asked as he walked into the hallway.

  “Saving our boy,” Pappy answered.

  Willow was terrified. She knew the first shift was violent. Brooke would survive, but he was going to go through a very agonizing night.

  Being careful of his open wound, Willow bit into his shoulder. Her saliva and blood were transferred to Brooke’s bloodstream. She made sure to use as much of her blood as she could to ensure the conversion took.

  Again, this was her first time.

  Brooke grew utterly still, his breathing very shallow. Laura had come up with the kids, but ushered them into their room. Trisha argued to stay by Willow’s side in case she needed her, and Laura finally relented when Deluca said it was okay.

  As Willow allowed the saliva-blood mixture to flow from her mouth to Brooke’s body, Trisha began to talk. Willow knew the teenager was nervous because she was sure Trisha wouldn’t have volunteered to talk to the men around her.

  Trisha was at an awkward stage. Willow didn’t know any teenager who would voluntarily talk to strangers, men no less, if they had a choice.

  “His first shift is going to be volatile and dangerous. His body is basically reforming itself on the inside, his skeletal frame taking on the characteristics known in the changeling world.”

  “Will he look any different?” Dad asked.

  “No,” Trisha answered. “But after his first shift, he will be stronger, faster, and his senses will be more attuned with everything around him.”

  Willow eased back on the bite, licking the wound and then gazing into Brooke’s beautiful face. He had fallen into the sleep all people fell into when being converted. This was the easy part. As soon as her lycanthropic DNA fused with his red blood cells, the party would begin.

  “His eyes might glow a lot at first,” Trisha continued, “until he gets them under control. I wouldn’t bleed around him either. He’s new, so he won’t have control over his baser need to eat what bleeds.”

  “Sounds peachy,” Pappy said.

  Trisha glanced down at her hands as they fidgeted. “I like being a werecoyote.”

  Pappy reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “I wasn’t making fun of you, pumpkin. I’m just trying to take all of this in. He’s my boy, and I will do whatever it takes to keep him alive.”

  “We need to get him into the bed and stripped down,” Willow said as she pushed to her feet. “Once the conversion starts, he is going to shift, and wearing clothes makes it all the more difficult. I’m warning you men, when Brooke shifts, it will look like his body is exploding. That’s normal, so don’t freak out.”

  Deluca and Pappy carefully lifted Brooke from the floor and took him into the bedroom he shared with Deluca and Willow. She ran ahead, pulling the blanket all the way back.

  “We’re going to need cold compresses and a pitcher of water. He’s going to dehydrate, and he’ll be begging for something to drink. A straw would help, too.”

  Dad nodded and left the room as Deluca and Pappy undressed Brooke.

  “What about his throat?” Deluca asked as he brushed a hand over Brooke’s head. “It still looks so damn raw.”

  “It has already stopped bleeding,” Willow pointed out. “The wound will start healing once the conversion begins.” She reached for Deluca and pulled the scarred and calloused hand into hers. “Give it time.”

  Willow saw Brooke’s arm jerk and knew the change had begun.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Rick scented hyena too late. He was on the ground with the barrel of a gun shoved into his head. Omar, Benito, Miguel, Dorian, and Freedman were taken down as well.

  “I knew joining the Death Squad would be a wise career move.”

  Rick felt the fine hairs all over his body ripple at the sound of Tyson’s voice. Of all people to replace Middleton, the government picked a psychopathic werehyena. He knew the military was desperate, but he didn’t think they had lost their minds.

  On second thought, they had. Declaring war on a species just because they feared it was crazy.

  “Hello, Tyson,” Rick said from the forest floor.

  “Alpha Tyson!” the werehyena shouted the correction.

  Rick ignored the man as his eyes flickered over to Dorian. His mate was lying there wearing an expression of being extremely pissed off. It infuriated Rick to see the gun aimed at Dorian’s head. He wanted to rip the bastard’s throat out who held the gun.

  “Ah, you don’t like that your mate is in danger, do you?” Tyson asked as he slowly backed away. “He’s your weak spot.”

  “If you exploit my vulnerability, nothing will save you from me,” Rick threatened. Tyson bent down, dangling his hands between his legs as he smiled at Rick.

  “I’m pretty sure you are not in a position to threaten me, Enrique. But I, on the other hand, have you at my will. There are many people looking for you. I’m pretty sure I can be paid very handsomely from the highest bidder.”

  “Highest bidder?” Rick was confused as hell. The government wanted him—preferably dead if he was to go by the many attempts on his life. He was being blamed for too many damn murders he didn’t commit. He knew if they had their way, he would be strung from the front porch of the White House.

  But he was not aware of anyone paying to get their hands on him.

  “I see Garrett has not informed you about your birth certificate,” Tyson said as if he were truly relishing this drawn-out moment. “Oh, this is too good to be true.”

  Rick’s eyes snapped over to Freedman. The man holding a gun on him was kicking the shit out of Freedman.

  “Leave him alone!” Rick shouted.

  The one with the gun laughed as he kicked Freedman again. “I told this fucker that he was going to pay for killing Middleton. I told him I would be coming for him. Nice little trap we set, huh? The intel you received about Garrett was false. The werecoyote alpha is currently in Louisiana. He has a score to settle with Willow and his son.”

  The coyote was going after Kell. Rick felt rage fill him at the thought of any harm coming to any of the kids or Brooke and Deluca’s family. Willow had been through enough, and she didn’t need the one man who could destroy her finding out where they were.

  “As the humans say, you’re outnumbered and outgunned,” Tyson said to Ric
k. “By the way,”—Tyson leaned in closer—“I win.”

  “Get up,” one of the humans said to Rick. The rest of the men who had come with Rick were pulled from the ground, guns trained on them as they were marched to one of the lofts.

  Wasn’t it ironic that it was the same loft that Garrett had escorted them to? Thankfully Edward and Isabelle weren’t here this time. Rick was already worried about Dorian and the others. He didn’t need to worry about his pregnant sister.

  “So tell me, Enrique,” Tyson began. “How did you manage to stay a step ahead from the ones hunting you down? Quite frankly I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”

  “He had a fucking snitch,” the man who held a gun to Freedman’s head spat. “We trusted you, Freedman. How in the hell can you sell us out for a bunch of freaks?”

  Rick noticed the slight narrowing of Tyson’s eyes, but he didn’t say a word. The werehyena wasn’t going to risk this newfound power to correct the soldier. Rick could see it in Tyson’s dull yellow eyes.

  Freedman curled his lip at the man, but Rick could scent how much pain Freedman was in. The kick to the ribs had done more damage than the human was letting on.

  “You always were a hothead, Baker. You are too damn blind to see what the government is doing. For fuck’s sake, they are wiping out an entire species just because they don’t want to figure out what to do with them.”

  “There should only be us born Americans in this country anyway. If they had stayed in hiding, none of this would have happened. Everyone would be ignorant.”

  “Yes,” Freedman replied. “You are very ignorant, aren’t you?”

  Rick growled, but was held back by a gun in his face when he took a step forward. Baker had slammed the butt of his rifle into Freedman’s temple, making the man sway on his feet. Damn, Rick was impressed with the human. Freedman didn’t crumble under the assault. He stood there holding on as Baker raised the rifle again.

  “That will do,” Tyson said.

  Baker turned his hate-filled eyes on Tyson. “Just because O’Hanlon put you in charge doesn’t mean I have to listen to a filthy animal.”

  Tyson threw his head back and laughed as his canines grew in length. His dull yellow eyes began to glow as he turned his attention to Baker. “Watch what you say, little boy, before I eat you.”

  Baker didn’t back down, but Rick could see fractions of fear dawning in the man’s eyes. The guy knew when to shut up because he grew quiet.

  Rick could see Baker was only brave with a gun in his hand. And he wasn’t even that when confronted with an alpha male. He had been told about the Death Squad terrorizing Trisha and Peanut, and Rick would love nothing more than to show them what real terror was. If only he could get rid of Tyson, Rick and his men would do away with the infamous Death Squad. He was sick of running from them and sick of being hunted down like an animal.

  If the opportunity presented itself, Rick was going to kill them all.

  Tyson turned toward Rick. “Where is Mason Sellers?”

  Rick shrugged. “Hell if I know. Last I checked, I wasn’t his keeper.”

  Tyson spun around, shooting Dorian in his leg. Rick howled as he began to shift. Tyson swung back around and shot Rick in his side. “I don’t think so, alpha. Now tell me where Mason is.”

  “He’s with Brooke and Deluca,” Rick lied as he held his side. The pain was tearing through his body, making it almost impossible to stand, but all Rick could think about was Dorian. If he went after his mate, Rick knew Tyson would finish Dorian off. So as agonizing as it was to stand there and listen to his mate howl in pain, Rick knew he had no choice.

  But Tyson was a dead man. Rick was going to kill the bastard if it was the last thing he did.

  “I was trying to handle things quietly, without all this hoopla. You were to be arrested, Edward was to be killed, and Sasha was just going to disappear. All the leaders near my territory would have been gone, allowing me to take over. But no,” Tyson said. “You just had to escape. Edward had to escape, and Sasha is proving hard as hell to catch.”

  “You killed Alexander?” Rick asked.

  “Oh, it was pinned on the detective that died. I made sure of that. But, yes, I killed those three changelings.”

  Now Rick knew the man was going to die. “And who took the pictures?”

  Tyson laughed. “Oh my, you saw those? I was saving them for such an occasion as this. My top enforcer, Gibbs, begged me to let him record the murders. He is such a twisted man, but good to have around. Too bad I had to kill him for letting Edward get free. Good help is so hard to find these days…don’t you agree, Enrique?”

  Rick refused to answer the man, even though he thought of all the people who had betrayed him.

  “I even did you a favor and killed Silvia and Graham for their betrayal. You should thank me.”

  “Not on your fucking life.” Rick snarled the words. Even though Graham and Silvia had betrayed him, Rick mourned the loss. He wasn’t sure why Graham had done what he had done, but he wondered now if Olivia had any knowledge of what her mate had done or if she was clueless. One thing was for certain, Rick wanted to find his godsons and make sure they were all right.

  “Fine, have it your way. But remind me to never do you a favor again.”

  The man was unstable. Rick saw it in Tyson’s eyes. He truly believed he had done Rick a favor. How screwed up was this man? Rick could understand why Tyson had tried to get rid of the leaders. Power was an addiction for some. He even understood why Tyson said yes to becoming the new leader of the Death Squad, again, power.

  But to stand here and hold a conversation as if his mate wasn’t lying on the floor in pain and Rick should be thankful for having the people who betrayed him killed was just plain bizarre.

  “So,” Tyson said as he jumped up onto the counter and crossed his arms over his thighs. “Do you want to know about your birth certificate?”

  “Not really,” Rick answered.

  “Okay then, but don’t come running to me when you find out that the man who raised you wasn’t your biological father.”

  Rick wasn’t going to listen to this. He had loved his dad and wasn’t going to let anyone sway him from the most fond memories he had growing up. His father had been kind, loving, and a damn good dad.

  “I guess our guest has nothing to do now that Mason isn’t here.”

  Rick had no idea what Tyson was talking about until he saw a man walk into the room. The growl ripped from his chest as soon as he recognized Jayson, the deli clerk.

  “What the hell do you mean he isn’t here?” Jayson complained. “I was paid good money to bring him in.”

  Tyson shrugged and then waved a hand at Rick. “Ask him. He let Mason run off with the soldier boys. I guess Garrett is going to get paid for the kill instead of you.”

  Jayson’s eyes widened and then narrowed when he saw Dorian on the floor. “I can’t believe my eyes. Dorian? I knew the papers were right when they said you shacked up with an animal. I guess Cherry was correct when she said Mr. Marcelo was changeling.”

  “You are such an asshole,” Dorian groaned from the floor. “I should have known you would join some hate group. You are narrow-minded enough for them.”

  “Nah,” Jayson said. “I just believe immigrants need to go back to where they came from. But there’s a problem with that belief. Where do the nonhumans go? Since we can’t figure out where to send them, we’ll just kill them.”

  Dorian laughed, which shocked the hell out of Rick. He didn’t see anything funny about their situation. “I can’t wait until I kill you. I’m going to relish every damn second.”

  Rick grinned despite the hostile condition. God, his mate was such a fucking badass. Rick wanted to heal his mate and then fuck the shit out of him.

  Everyone turned when a man came running into the loft. “Everyone left. There are soldiers heading this way, and they didn’t want to chance being arrested.”

  Tyson hopped down from the counter. “Didn
’t I tell them they had nothing to worry about?”

  “Oh, you have something to worry about,” Baker said as he raised his gun. “You led us to Enrique. You’re no longer valuable.”

  Rick jerked back when the Death Squad opened fire on Tyson. He stood there stunned as hell. He knew that Tyson was going to meet his demise, but Rick had thought it would be at his hands. He quickly moved over to Dorian as Jayson raised his hand for them to stop firing and went to check the body.

  “How do you feel, gatito?” he asked his mate.

  “Like shit,” Dorian replied.

  “He’s dead,” Jayson announced as he stood. “Now to take care of Mr. Marcelo and his little band of Merry Men, and we can be on our way.”

  A leopard and a jaguar leapt in through the window, taking everyone by surprise. Rick, Benito, Omar, and Miguel shifted, joining the fight.

  “You sneaky fucking bastards!” Jayson shouted as he ran for the door. Rick tried to go after him, but was slammed in the side by one of the soldiers’ fists.

  His wound wasn’t healed yet, and the pain racked his body. He sliced his claws across the human’s face, watching as the blood poured from the wounds. His instincts damn near drove him to eat the man, but Rick fought the urge, turning to see who needed help as the human fell to the floor, dead.

  He leapt on the man attacking Omar. He knew the werewolf was stronger than the human, but Omar was not a fighter. Rick bit into the man’s neck, tearing flesh from bone.

  The rest of the Rick’s group took the squad down with changeling efficiency.

  After all these months of running, hiding, and wondering if the Death Squad was going to finally catch them and kill them, the men lay on the floor of the loft, dead.

  Rick couldn’t believe his eyes. He wasn’t free, not by a long shot. Not when the government was hell-bent on wiping them out.

  But to defeat one of his enemies put a smile on Rick’s face. He felt closer to his goal, even if this small victory was just a handful of men. He was proving to the humans who wanted them dead that Enrique Marcelo was not so easily defeated.