by Crymsyn Hart
Dallas’s expression darkened. “That would be impossible. They released me because they both wanted to go into the sunlight. It was time for them to die. They would’ve liked you both, but they’re nothing more than dust now.”
This time Ryker clutched his hand. “Know that you can tell me anything. I know I’m a prick sometimes, but that doesn’t ever mean I’m going to disown you because of where you come from. I know I treated Orianna like shit, but I promise that I’ll do better.”
Dallas nodded. “Good to know. Let’s eat and figure out something that we can all do with Orianna. I think it’s time we all make her feel welcome here. Do you agree?”
“Yeah. Good. I think we can think of something,” Pierce said.
Ryker didn’t say much, but by the pleased expressions on his mates’ faces he knew they wanted to bring her into their lives as much as possible. However, they were going to have to figure out some kind of schedule where he could have one or both of his mates to himself. Maybe he didn’t have any control over who they were mated to, but in a way he was glad that Pierce was becoming more confident in his skin. It also came out in the bedroom. Last night he had taken the lead with their lovemaking. Pierce had always been timid when they originally got together. At first Ryker hadn’t wanted Pierce anywhere around him. Even though his smell had triggered the mating instinct in Ryker, he fought it tooth and nail. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t act that way again, but look what I did with Orianna. It dawned on him that another reason why he didn’t want Orianna in their lives was because he was insecure about how she would impact their lives. It was the first time he was able to admit it to himself, and that made him feel good. All he had to do was keep that in mind the next time something threatened his relationship. He realized that with the three of them sitting there it was the most normal his life had ever been. He wanted to keep it that way.
“Good.” Ryker finished the chili and decided it was time for him to start another sculpture. He had just the idea. He plunked the dishes into the sink and walked out the back door. The first thing he noticed was that the blackout curtains weren’t on the windows of the guesthouse. A moment of panic gripped him. Oh, God! What’s happened to her? Orianna was either turned to ash or something had happened. He raced toward the door and saw that it was busted open. A panicked cry left his lips.
Dallas and Pierce raced from the kitchen to him.
“What happened?” Dallas asked.
Ryker turned and faced his mates. Pierce’s expression grew dark as he surveyed the guesthouse. Before Ryker could speak, the other man stepped forward and was nearly nose to nose with him.
“What did you do to her? Did you suck up for one night and then arrange for her old pride to retrieve her so they could torture her?” Pierce growled and shoved Ryker through the doorway so he landed on the broken door.
Glass from the shattered window lodged into his back. Ryker hissed in a breath of pain from the shards and slowly got up. The anger welled up inside of him, but he didn’t hold it against his mate because Pierce was worried about Orianna. Ryker dusted himself off and took stock of the guesthouse. The new furniture had been trashed. Stuffing from the couch littered the floor. Tears had shredded the fabric of the chairs. The overwhelming odor of dried blood filled the kitchen. Smears of crimson sullied the white floor and walls. Shit! It looks like a bomb exploded in here. What the hell happened here? His sense of urgency increased.
“I didn’t do anything, Pierce. After last night, I know that she was trying to bring us all together. To hurt her would be to injure you. Then you wouldn’t speak to me. I recognize the scent in here. It isn’t another vampire, but a shape-shifter. It has to be her brother with two others I don’t know. I don’t know how they got in here without us hearing them or smelling them; they had to have masked themselves pretty well. This had to have happened a little while after I went to sleep.”
“Orianna!” Pierce rushed into her bedroom before Ryker could stop him. The other two followed him.
In the bedroom, they found the bed was a mess. The blackout curtains were in a heap on the floor. Ryker grabbed one of the sheets and inhaled, seeing if he could find any more scents. Primarily it was Orianna’s. An image of her naked form with her hair spread onto the pillow flashed through his mind. He tried to shake it off and tell himself that he wasn’t attracted to her, but he wasn’t going to go there. Taking another whiff, he realized the scent also permeated the house. He had smelled it before. It was the client who he had met with a couple of weeks before and for whom he’d declined to do the commission. The man had wanted to order a sculpture with two massive lions standing on a hill looking down at the others. It had vaguely reminded him of the Lion King movie, but he had said no because he didn’t like the vibe of the man. The muscles in Ryker’s jaw locked. That man had to be Mason, Orianna’s mate before she was turned into a vampire. He threw the sheet down.
“I know who took her. It was Mason, her brother, and someone else from her old pride. Her brother said they would come for her, and it appears they have. I didn’t think they would kidnap her. They are not on pride land.”
“They won’t get away with this. What they did was an affront to us. We have to get her back,” Dallas growled. He hurled down a piece of clothing that was stained with blood.
Orianna must have put up quite a fight. It might have been daylight, but she wasn’t going to let anyone take her against her will. Ryker had a newfound respect for her. She had fought against her own family to remain with them. He only hoped that they could get there in time to make sure that nothing else had happened to her. If they had come to get her during the day, then they had to have plans for her.
He clenched his fists. “They won’t get away with this. No one comes onto our land and takes our girl. We do not belong to the pride. They were supposed to leave us alone. They’re fanatics who have Orianna. It’s time that we go and get her.”
Pierce and Dallas nodded. A determination like he’d never felt before settled in his bones, making him realize that she meant more to him than he thought. That, and no one was going to trespass on his land and hurt one of his own. It would take everything in him, but if it meant that he had to challenge the current pride leader, then so be it.
“Do you know where she is exactly? The town is rather large,” Pierce asked.
“We don’t know where they took her. She could be anywhere,” Dallas said.
Ryker looked at his two mates and saw the concern in their faces. He had to act fast even if it meant breaking every speed limit on the way. He left the guesthouse with his mates in tow and grabbed his keys in the kitchen of the main house. They piled into his car, and the only destination in his mind was getting to Orianna.
They drove until they reached the center of town. Ryker had no idea where she was in the vast town, but he had an idea where to start. He parked the car along the side of the street in front of a small restaurant that was a hangout for the locals. Ryker had eaten there before. When he walked in, the few patrons looked up. Orianna’s brother was behind the counter wiping it down. Patrick looked up, stopped, and bolted toward the back door. Dallas was already there. He grabbed Patrick and held him against the wall.
Ryker could see the resemblance to Orianna. He sharpened his claws. The other people who had been eating scattered out of the diner. Pierce was keeping the two waitresses at bay.
“Where’s Orianna?” Pierce demanded of her brother.
“You’ll never find her.” A grin spread on Patrick’s face.
Dallas growled. “You dare come on our land and kidnap our mate. If anyone did this to your pride, you’d have their head. Tell me where she is, or I’ll rip yours off. Answer our questions.”
The unmistakable cha-ching, cha-ching of a shotgun sounded next to Ryker’s head. “Release him and get out of here.”
Ryker glanced over and saw the chef had a gun pointed at his head. He looked over at Dallas and nodded at him. Ryker put his hands up. He heard
other footsteps behind him. When he looked behind him, another man had Pierce at gunpoint. The new addition was dressed in a deputy’s uniform.
When he inhaled, he noticed the heady scent of the other man and recognized it as the one who had also invaded Orianna’s home. “Patrick said you’d come looking for his sister, that abomination. We just assumed it’d be tonight. Surprised she hasn’t turned you three into her minions,” the chef said.
“Look, we just want her. You came onto our land and took her without due cause. She did nothing against your pride. We want our mate back. Isn’t that a reasonable thing to ask?” Pierce said through gritted teeth.
The tension in the air was escalating, and Ryker didn’t want anything to happen to his mates. “She’s not an abomination. She’s a beautiful woman. We have no quarrels with your pride. We are independent from you and want to stay that way.”
“What should we do with them, Patrick?” the deputy asked.
Patrick looked at the both of them and nodded to the chef holding the shotgun. “Dexter, we bring them to Mason. They’ve made threats against the pride and scared our business away. That in itself is grounds for punishment. Maybe they can watch their woman burn. That should be fun. Lee, why don’t you put him out of his misery for a while?”
Ryker was about to say something when he felt the impact of the butt of the shotgun on his head. The pain blinded him, and he saw stars. He followed them as they fell to the ground, and he went unconscious.
Chapter Thirteen
Orianna opened her eyes and was immediately met with pain. It ran through her body, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it. A cry burst from her lips. Next to her she heard a soft chuckle. Mason sat across from her. His smug smile hadn’t changed. She used to love it when his grin was focused on her. Now the hatred in his eyes was burning her as much as whatever torture he was putting her under. When she moved her hand, more agony flared through her skin. She gasped and flexed her finger again, only to bite her lip from the torture.
“What are you doing to me?”
Mason got up, took something off the counter behind him, and then threw it at her face. It landed on her flesh, and her cheek exploded in pain. She screamed at the acid that ate her face. When the anguish subsided, she opened her eyes again and glared at Mason. The rage boiling inside of her was ready to explode. Her cat yowled to be released. The barrier that held her in place was weakened. If she could just give into the cat, then she could find a way to break free.
“I never thought it’d be so easy to get you away from those three men that you have under your spell. Once the sun rose high enough and you couldn’t fight us anymore, it was so easy to take you. Patrick enjoyed watching you fry for a little while. Then we packed you up in a body bag and brought you here. Once we tied you up and put you in a dark room, we began experimenting while you slept. Your burns healed rather quickly. I’ve been looking at the folklore of your kind. We rubbed you with consecrated earth, but that did nothing. Garlic didn’t work either. Then we got to the holy water, and that did the trick. Not sure why it did. There was the choice of staking you, letting you cook in the sun, or even chopping your head off, but I figured this way would be better. A slow way to die so I could see the pain in your eyes.”
“I haven’t done anything to you.” She shook her head and tried to figure out why he was doing this to her. They had been so in love when she was human.
He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “It would’ve been so much easier if you died when you were supposed to.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
Mason chuckled, seemingly pleased with himself. “Did you really think those vampires happened upon us by chance? I told them when I hired them to make sure they finished you off. But no, you had to come back from the dead.”
“What did you do? You killed two of them. You loved me. We . . . ”
Mason growled and stood eye to eye with her until their noses almost touched. “I never loved you, Orianna. You were just my ticket to get closer to the leadership of the pack. You were a great fuck, though. Too bad you turned into a monster. Now your men coming here is the icing on the cake. Those three think they live outside of pride authority because they’re not within the boundaries of our land, and there’s the issue of one of them being a hybrid. They all have to be punished.”
“Leave them out of this. You’re pride leader now even if I came back from the dead. I can’t believe you wanted to have me killed. I would have done anything for you. Why are you putting me under this torment now? Why can’t you let me live my life?”
Mason backed away from her and turned around. When he did, he squirted another stream of holy water that landed on her chest. She screamed from the pain that stole her breath away and lit up her nerve endings. That morning she had fought with all her might until the power of the sun had forced her body to shut down. All she had wanted to do was curl up in the shadows and forget her problems. The night had ended with Ryker finally being nice to her and the change in his demeanor was a breath of fresh air. She had some hope that maybe they could all get along. Now she was trapped and the others had come for her. It would be Dallas’s and Pierce’s natures to rescue her. Ryker would likely follow because he didn’t want his two mates to be hurt. A moan slipped from her lips as she thought about what would happen to them and the fact that she was the cause of it.
Mason shook his head and moved a piece of hair away from her face. So many times she enjoyed his caress, but now it disgusted her. Orianna wrenched her head from his touch and tried to stay away from him, but the ties that bound her were tight and she didn’t have her strength. It seemed to have been a couple of days since she had fed. He caught her chin and forced her to look at him.
“After your mother died, I found her will. It appears that she left everything to you. I may be pride master, but I don’t have the financial backing. Your mother owned half of town, including this house. When people look at me, they don’t see the leader of the pride, they see a man who’s been beaten down by a ghost. You’ve been the bane of my existence since you were resurrected. There has to be a way to kill you. And these men of yours make me look like a fool.”
Orianna was speechless at the knowledge that her mother had left her everything. He has to be joking. Mom would never leave all of it to me. It had to have been her way of letting me know that she still didn’t believe that Mason was strong enough to lead the pride. It was her mother’s way of sticking it to him. What did I see in him? Her cat grumbled in agreement.
“You only think that. Your friends are the toughest in the pride. They always have been. I don’t want the property. Any of it. I’ll gladly sign it over to you if you just let me go.”
Mason glanced at her and then back toward the front door. Orianna wished that her old house was still the loving place she remembered it to be. The furniture was the same, but the hominess she once associated with it had been strangled out. Her ex-mate’s oppressive nature had stripped the family home she had grown up in. Her mother never would have stood for it. The door opened. Her brother came in, and behind him were Ryker, Dallas, and Pierce—all in handcuffs. Pierce tried to rush over to her, but Patrick slugged him and threw him down to the ground.
Seeing her gentle mate on the ground made her cat angry. It battered against the wall in her mind, clawing at it until she hoped she could find a way around it. Maybe the only thing to do was to give in to what was inside of her. To let the vampire completely take over might release the cat. She had been fighting against her nature for so long because she refused to accept what she had turned into. Maybe that would break the divider that surrounded her cat and let her two natures merge. Orianna had never heard of a vampire who could shape-shift before, but then again she was a rarity by surviving the vampire attack. Her brother kicked Pierce in the stomach while he was down.
Dallas dropped beside him and picked him up. “You didn’t have to do that. He’s already handcuff
ed.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Lee, the chef from the restaurant, demanded.
“What have they done to you?” Ryker asked Orianna. He tried to go toward her, but there was a rope around his neck. Mason grabbed it and then tugged it. Ryker’s hands went to his throat as he tried to pull the cord away.
“Mason, leave him alone.” Orianna struggled against the bindings. Upon hearing Ryker’s words, she figured she must have appeared pretty bad because she could feel that she wasn’t healing. Her veins burned with the need for blood. Her stomach was starting to cramp. If she didn’t feed soon, then the animal nature inside of her would be unleashed.
“I’ll leave him alone only if he swears loyalty to me and the rest of the pride.” Mason wound the rope along his hand.
“Don’t do it, Ryker,” Orianna cried. “Even if you do, he’s going to kill me. He just wants you to suffer more.”
“She’s right, you know. You three have been a thorn in my side, thinking that you can flaunt your freedom outside of the pride. You denied me my sculpture. No one tells me no. Least of all, a hybrid scum like you.” He yanked the rope tighter until Ryker started to turn purple.
“Stop it! Mason, if you ever cared about me, let him go.”
“You care about him?” He chuckled. “How fitting. I didn’t think vampires could feel anything. I’ll let him live long enough so he can watch you die.” Mason released the rope so Ryker could breathe again.
He dropped to his knees and loosened the now-slack rope. Orianna saw the marks from the rope where it had bruised his skin. She shook her head. This isn’t what I wanted! This can’t be happening! We’ll get through this. I know we will.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Ryker.
He nodded. “It’s okay.”
Mason was ready for her to give up. When she was human, she had been meek. Being a vampire had forced her to fend for herself. The cat raged inside of her trying to find a way to escape. The hunger roiled inside of her bones, and it was getting unbearable. She gritted her teeth, not sure if she could hold on for much longer. If she could cry, she would, but not for her, for the men who had come all this way to save her.
