by Michelle Fox
"Just tell me." She threw up her hands in exasperation.
He slammed the brakes, throwing her forward. The only thing saving her from smashing her face into the dashboard was the seat belt he'd so carefully fastened around her earlier. Jerking the car to the side of the road, he put it in park and turned to her.
"You do not talk to me like that."
"How am I supposed to talk to you?" She lifted her chin and shot him a glare full of defiance.
His hand snaked out and wrapped around her neck before she could blink. He yanked her toward him and buried his nose in her neck. "Like this," he murmured over her skin.
She shivered again as his lips brushed over her. "Why are you so cold?"
He went still for a second, and then pulled away to look into her eyes. "Is it possible you do not know?" He frowned at her.
"Know what?"
"Look at me."
She blinked, which annoyed him. He took her chin in his hands and leaned in until their noses touched. "I said, look at me. Deep into my eyes. What do you see?"
"N-nothing." Except that wasn't exactly true. While she didn't see anything other than black, soulless pupils surrounded by a frigid blue, she did sense something. A weight or a presence. It pushed against her, an unseen power she couldn't name and didn't understand.
"Are you sure?" He narrowed his eyes until she felt like his gaze was boring into hers.
"What are you?" His energy didn't remind her of shifters. No, Alessio was something else. She licked her lips. Her brain told her she should know this, but wouldn't actually let her have the word. Stupid head injury. It was going to get her killed at this rate.
"Perhaps this will help." He leaned in again, burying his face in her neck. "Ah, your heart, it sings for me. Such a sweet melody."
"W-what?" She tried to pull back but his hand was tight as a vise on her neck. Panic fluttered in her chest and the instinct to run at any cost shot through her, tensing her muscles. She flailed in her seat, but it did her no good. Between the seatbelt, the handcuffs and Alessio, she had no hope of escape.
Alessio looked at her again. "Shh. It's okay." He put a finger to her lips, rubbing it lightly from one end of her mouth to the other. His touch was cold as an icicle; freezing and unyielding. Goose bumps puckered her skin.
For the third time, Alessio nuzzled her neck.
Everything after that happened so fast. Something sharp pricked her neck. Fangs, her brain told her. Alessio had fangs. But that wasn't all...the glass on the driver door shattered as someone thrust a fist through it.
Alessio reacted so fast, he was a blur. He turned to respond to the intrusion, grappling with the hands reaching for him. Lia screamed as her door opened and a large man yanked her out of the car. She kicked at him, aiming for his groin, and snapped her teeth at his hand.
"Settle down," he growled. "We're saving you."
She kicked his shin, just to be on the safe side.
"Ow." He let her go and didn't stop her when she started to run in the general direction of the Rowdy Howl. Ryder was back there. She knew he was in just as much trouble as she was, but maybe together they could beat it.
A woman in a white shirt and jeans with a gun holster strapped on her hips stepped in front of her, forcing Lia to stop and reconsider her path. "I wouldn't go running off alone right now, if I were you."
"Who are you? Are you with them?" Lia nodded over her shoulder where two men took on Alessio, who'd gotten out of the car and now crouched on its hood. His face twisted with rage, he made an ominous hissing sound.
"Yes."
When Lia made to dive to the side and run around the woman, she moved with her, staying right in front and blocking her way forward.
"We really are your friends. Just hear me out."
"You have two seconds, and then I'm running, even if it has to be through you." A growl rumbled in her chest, the sound low and very serious.
"We're not going to let that bloodsucker take you." The woman nodded over to Alessio. The two men had grabbed him by the feet and were in the process of dragging him off the roof of the car.
"Bloodsucker?" Lia wished she could touch her neck and feel what Alessio had done to her there. Her brain finally cooperated and let her have the word she'd been looking for. "Vampire? You mean he's a vampire?" She shuddered with disgust.
"Yeah and you were his next morsel. Mason's been selling shifters to him." The woman shook her head. "We've been saving who we can. If Alessio hadn't pulled over, we might not have gotten to you in time." She pointed to Lia's neck. "I see he took the first blood."
"Is that bad? Am I okay?" She looked to where the men fought with Alessio. From a distance, the fight looked absurd, almost like the three stooges. One guy punched Alessio, followed by the other, and then Alessio went for them both. They went round and round with their fists for several seconds until one of the shifters kicked the vampire's feet out from under him, forcing him down to the ground.
"No. You'll be fine. It's when you drink their blood that the bond becomes permanent." She nodded over to the fight. "We got to you in time."
"Thank you." Turning around, Lia showed the woman her handcuffs. "Is there anything you can do about these?"
"We've got a key somewhere. Maybe one of the guys has it."
"What are you going to do with him?" She nodded toward Alessio.
"Turn him to dust. He's been preying on shifters for far too long."
"But," Lia moved to look at the woman again. "He has my sister, and I don't know where she is. If you kill him, I may never find her."
In that moment, it seemed like fate turned against her. One man straddled Alessio while the other pinned his hands over his head. The one sitting on him, stabbed a finger into the vampire's chest, repeating the motion over and over in a robotic fashion that moved faster than Lia's eyes could track. When he paused a moment later, she saw his finger covered with blood up to the second knuckle.
"Wait," she shouted, running toward them. "Don't kill him."
It was too late. The man raised and brought his hand down one last time before she even finished speaking, this time slamming his fist straight through Alessio's chest wall. Bone crunched and the vampire writhed underneath him, screaming in a high pitched wail that abruptly ended as the man withdrew his hand. Thrusting his arm up into the air, he threw his head back and howled. Blood dripped down his arm, soaking the sleeve of his T-shirt.
Lia swore under her breath as she realized he'd yanked out Alessio's heart. As she watched, Alessio turned to dust in one big poof.
It was too much. She dropped to her knees, tears of frustration slipping down her cheeks. "No. No. NO." Staggering to her feet she ran to the men. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Both men looked at her, surprise in their eyes. The one shrugged. "We just killed the guy who was going to suck your blood and turn you into a fucking blood slave. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right." He looked to his companion. "Do you want to be right?"
His buddy shook his head. "Nope."
"He had my sister." She fell to her knees again, shoulders slumped. "Now I'll never find her. Never." Hopelessness crushed her chest, making her heart ache.
"Roger, do you have a handcuff key?" asked the woman. "We've got to get these off her."
"Yeah, sure." Roger, this was the man who'd ripped out Alessio's heart, rooted in his pants' pockets with his bloodstained hands. After a second he produced a key and tossed it to the woman. "Here you go, Dani."
The woman snatched the key out of the air. "Thanks." Kneeling behind Lia, she fiddled with the lock until it sprung free. "You're safe now. You can go back home."
Lia wrapped her arms around her knees, wincing at how much her shoulders ached at the movement after being held in one position for so long. "I can't. I have to find my sister. He took her somewhere." She looked at them all in turn, her eyes wide and pleading. "If you knew he was a vampire and taking shifters, do you know where he lived? What he did with the shi
fters he bought?"
Roger gave a slow shake of his head. "I'm sorry, but we've been trying to catch him for a while."
"Today was the first time we'd caught sight of him," said the other man.
"Mason's been smart about keeping these deals quiet," added Dani. "We've only been finding out about them after the fact."
"Who are you? Are you from Ryder's pack?"
Dani shook her head. "No. We're Pack Council. We've been investigating Mason and other blood slavers for months now." She pointed to the men in turn. "That's Roger and Sam."
Lia nodded to the men. "So why are you here?"
"Mason Claw's up to something. We're on our way to see what that is," said Sam.
"You're heading for the Rowdy Howl?"
"Yeah," said Dani.
"Mind if I come?" She stood up and brushed her hands off on her pants. "We can take the car."
"Things are probably going to get ugly. You're better off just going home," Dani said.
"I can't. I have to find my sister or home doesn't mean anything." Lia left out how she didn't even know how to get home in the first place. She was just as lost as she'd been when she first woke up several days ago. Nothing she'd done had yielded any concrete results or the return of her lost memory. She could run, they were right about that, but she refused to stop pushing until she had the answers she needed. Running away took her nowhere. If she wanted to remember who she was, her gut said she had to keep pushing.
That meant dealing with Mason.
And seeing Ryder again. The thought of his dark eyes meeting hers made her so happy she wanted to howl.
"Suit yourself." Roger shucked his clothes as he spoke. "I'm going to wolf it, though. The smell of that vampire is already too far up my nose, and my clothes are ruined. No reason to keep 'em."
The other man followed suit and both men dropped to the ground as their skin rippled and blurred until their wolves came to the forefront.
"I'll go with you." Dani walked toward the car, heading for the driver's side.
Lia hurried to catch up and get there first. "If you don't mind, I'd like to drive." Call her paranoid, but she wanted to control where the car went.
Dani shrugged. "You know where you're going?"
"Yeah." Lia slid into the driver's seat and pressed the accelerator, satisfied when the engine responded with a loud roar. Giving the wolves a few seconds' head start, she then whipped the Charger around in a half-circle and barreled down the road in the direction she'd come from.
Chapter Sixteen
Murder gleamed in Mason's eyes as the alpha circled Ryder. He made a show of struggling to keep up, hiding his strength until he needed it. The silver they'd injected into his blood burned and throbbed all over his body. His wolf had vanished from his mind's eye, too weak to manifest in the face of so much poison. He knew he wasn't shifter strong anymore, but what Mason had failed to understand was that Ryder's success in the Pack League wasn't just because he was a shifter. He'd sweated and bled to make himself the best MMA fighter in the shifter nation. That kind of dedication had nothing to do with being a shifter.
Of course, the odds weren't as good as they would've been if Ryder had been at full strength, but he still had a shot at coming out on top. The trick was to keep Mason believing what he wanted to about Ryder; that he was weak and easy pickings. He would get sloppy then and make mistakes.
Ryder was counting on it.
He'd seen Mason's type in the ring. They would talk themselves up until they didn't think they had to train anymore. Ryder had delivered some painful lessons to over-inflated egos in the past. His alpha was no different.
The pack ringing them was quiet, shifting uneasily as they waited for the fight to begin in earnest. Their expressions ranged from angry to concerned. The ones who were worried were the ones counting on Ryder's new pack to give them a better home. They were afraid it was about to be taken away from them. Or worse, blow back on them once Ryder wasn't the focus of Mason's anger anymore.
Mason darted in close, his fist connecting with Ryder's stomach. The air left his lungs in a loud 'oof' and he doubled over, taking longer than he needed to recover.
"See? He's not even as strong as I am." Mason's voice crowed in the air. "This is no alpha. Not unless you like weakness." His foot lashed out and hooked the back of Ryder's knee, forcing him to the ground.
Ryder moved with the momentum of his fall and rolled over so that, when Mason jumped, he wasn't there. He got up on all fours, deciding to give Mason the target he should hit next.
Fortunately, the alpha wasn't smart enough to realize he was being manipulated. He gave a howl of satisfaction as he kicked Ryder in the stomach. Ryder let the force of Mason's foot carry him upward and, as he went airborne, he used the alpha's own power against him.
Stretching out his body, he angled himself toward Mason and slammed into the alpha with the full force of his weight. They both went down; Ryder on top, Mason underneath him. As they landed, Ryder let gravity help him head-butt his opponent with enough force that he heard bone crack.
Darkness clouding his vision, Ryder felt his head, wondering which of them had cracked their skulls. As far as he could tell, it wasn't him, which meant Mason's brain had taken the hit. Good.
Pulling himself upright, he then let himself drop, putting all his weight behind his elbow. Aiming for Mason's head, he let himself come crashing down. Mason's arms started to come up to defend himself, but then abruptly dropped to the ground as his skull cracked and gave way under Ryder's weight. Through his elbow, he could feel brain squish under what had once been Mason's forehead.
He stayed on Mason for a long minute, not wanting to give up any ground until he was sure he'd won. Mason didn't move or make a sound. Cocking his head, Ryder listened for a heartbeat and heard nothing. That was it. The fight was done. Mason no longer breathed.
Ryder blinked at the suddenness of it. Dealing with Mason had been easier than he'd expected.
"Cheater!" Trent strode into the circle, anger making his face red.
Ryder pulled himself to his feet and glared at the second. "You would know a thing or two about cheating wouldn't you?" He nodded to the crowd. "Ask him about the syringes full of silver water they shot into my veins. I'm not even at half strength and I took Mason down. That's the kind of shit alpha that was leading this pack. You should be thanking me because he made you weak. Every single one of you." He beat his chest with a fist. "Come on, Trent. Keep accusing me of cheating and I'll send you to join your alpha."
Trent roared and leaped into the air, choosing the advantage of height. Ryder calmly tracked the man's trajectory and side stepped him at the last second. The silver definitely slowed him down, but he could still muster decent speed. Of course, it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. His muscles cramped up, knotting so tightly in his thighs, he thought they might snap.
Ignoring the pain, he thrust out his arm so that Trent ran into it with his throat. With a strangled gargle, Trent dropped to the ground, his hands going to his neck. He couldn't even scream when Ryder carefully and methodically smashed his foot into Trent's knees, crushing the joints.
"I should kill you," he said. "But I'm not Mason. Once you heal, you're to leave this pack. This isn't your home anymore. Understood?"
Trent glared at him, defiance an angry fire in his eyes, but he nodded. Struggling to sit up, he used his hands to drag his body toward the woods.
"Ryder." Tillie ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank the moon, you're okay."
Ryder wrapped a protective arm around his grandmother. "Let me look at you. Are you okay?"
"I'm a tough old wolf, don't worry about me. What about Lia?"
"I'm getting to that. Just give me a minute." He turned his attention to the rest of the pack. "There's no room for this here. If you want to beat people up, threaten them and give power to the one asshole who least deserves it, you're going to have to find a new pack. This isn't your home anymore, either. Go now if you want t
o live." He sought out Erik and pointed to him. "That goes for you, too."
Erik's face went pale and he swallowed hard, but he didn't argue with Ryder. He took a step back, preparing to follow Trent. The men next to him did the same.
A horn honked, the noise jarring in the tension surrounding the pack. A Dodge Charger whipped into the parking lot and brakes squealed as it came to a stop.
Ryder gaped as he saw that Lia was the driver. She'd escaped somehow and come back. He almost couldn't believe it was true.
But wait. She had company, and it wasn't anyone he knew. A woman with a gun holster around her waist stepped out of the passenger side and said, "Everyone stay right where you are."
"On who's authority?" Ryder asked, wondering if this had something to do with Lia.
The woman fished a small wallet out of her back pocket and flashed a silver moon badge at him just as two large wolves bounded up to stand next to her. "I'm Dani Moon from the Pack Council. We're here to investigate Mason Claw."
"Investigate all you want. He's not going anywhere," said Tillie, jerking her head toward where Mason's body lay.
***
Lia jumped out of the Charger and ran to Ryder, moving so fast her hair streamed behind her. She threw herself at him so he had no choice but to wrap his big arms around her as his grandmother gracefully stepped to the side, a knowing look on her face.
"Ryder." She breathed his name. "You look like hell."
"I've been better," he said.
"Are you okay?" She ran her hands over his shoulders and up to cup his face—gently because of all the bruises. Staring deep into his eyes, she said, "I found out something important."
Curiosity lit his eyes. "Oh?"
"I don't have a mate. There's no claim on me." Standing on tiptoe she kissed him. Electricity shivered through her as their mouths collided.
He spoke, mumbling into her lips, but she shushed him. "I've been fighting not to kiss you again this whole time. I don't want to let another second go by without following my heart."
She bit his bottom lip, laughing low in her throat when he growled at her. His arms tightened around her and he lifted her up so she didn't have to stand on tip-toe anymore. She moaned as his tongue slipped between her lips, stroking her until she thought she might catch on fire. Their kiss made her heart sing and her damaged brain told her this was a good thing. A very good thing that went way beyond mere physical attraction.
