by Rhea Regale
“Stop. He’s with me,” she snapped. Riley’s nostrils flared, but he didn’t counter Mase’s warning.
“He’s a rebel, Ayasha.” Mase shoved her behind him. Just then, she caught the potent scent of wolves along the shifting breeze. She had no time to react before Riley’s door was thrown open. Three thickly built men ripped Riley out of the driver’s seat. Four more wolves prowled behind the three men who dragged Riley to Mase.
“Let him go! He’s with me!” She avoided Mase when he tried to restrain her behind him. She tugged at one of the man’s hands on Riley’s biceps, but the man snarled at her. “I’ll bite your fingers off if I have to—”
“Ayasha, this man killed your uncle. Why would you protect him?” Mase stepped closer, his gaze blazing and the fierce predator in him gleaming on the surface of his face. Aya pressed her back to Riley’s front and spread her arms. “You wouldn’t tell me where Lenox is over the phone. The man would never leave your side unless something’s happened to him.” Mase jabbed a finger at Riley, who, thus far, had remained quiet. Now, he barked. “What did you do to him, Riley?”
“He did nothing,” Aya snapped. Her blood rushed to her head, throbbing in frustration. Her heart hammered against her chest, and the walls of her control were rapidly cracking. “Riley tried to save Lenox, and he saved me. Mase, Lenox is in trouble and we need your help. Riley and I can’t fight against Eliza’s pack alone. I don’t want anything to happen to Lenox. I don’t.”
“I don’t trust you with a fucking bone, Riley, let alone with our white and our alpha,” Mase growled. Muscles strained in Riley. She could feel them coil and tighten against her back. Heat pulsed off his bare chest. His hard breaths hit the top of her head sharply. “I want to know what happened to Lenox. If he ends up dead, I vow to the spirits I will shred your hide and burn it.”
“Lenox believes Eliza is one of Laela’s sisters. She’s been part of my pack for a year and a half now. Earlier tonight, she attacked the males who showed unwavering loyalty to me, killing every one of them. I never suspected my pack had been infiltrated by hers. I reached Maddock, one of my strongest, and learned of Eliza’s true identity and motive. While I was gone, she must’ve ordered the pack to ambush Lenox and Aya,” Riley explained. Aya turned to him. Something softened in his amber eyes when he looked down at her. “Aya called for me when Lenox was tranqed. I got there as fast as I could, but more wolves came. I couldn’t carry Lenox and keep Aya safe.”
“We had no choice but to leave Lenox behind or we’d all be dead,” Aya said. She stepped up to Mase and grabbed his shoulders. Her eyes stung with unshed tears, her heart twisted and tore. “I don’t want anything to happen to him, Mase. We need help.”
“You should’ve sacrificed yourself for him,” Mase said to Riley.
“If I sacrificed myself for him, both of us would end up helpless and our white here might have been killed. I did what I thought was right,” Riley groaned. The defensive tone he took struck a chord in Aya’s chest. “And if the Lenox I knew years ago is the same as the Lenox today, he would not have been happy if I left Aya to fend for herself at his expense.”
Mase’s features softened, if only slightly. His shoulders straightened from his offensive hunch. After a long, tenuous minute when the air thickened enough to be chewed on, he nodded once. The men holding Riley stepped away, and he shook out his arms. Mase held out his hand for Aya, but Riley’s arms whipped around her, keeping her close to him. There was no doubting the underlying warning in his embrace. She belonged to him, and no man, other than Lenox, would have a go at her.
“Isn’t this interesting. Big bad wolf has a heart somewhere in that body,” Mase grumbled. “Very well. Get inside. The more time we spend out here, the more time your pack has with our leader.”
Aya slipped her fingers between Riley’s and led him up the stairs in Mase’s path. Mase paused at the top and glanced back at her.
“My wife will settle you into an open room. You’ll have no part in our recovery, do you understand?” he asked, though the question implied a demand. Aya shrugged. There was no point in arguing. She’d never sit around and wait for them to find Lenox. She’d be part of that team whether they liked it or not.
And if that meant she’d have to lie and sneak around, then that’s what she’d do. After all, Riley was right. She loved Lenox, and she wasn’t about to let some rabid wolf take him away from her.
Now, if only Riley realized her feeling toward him echoed those she had for Lenox.
* * * *
The burning yanked him from the dark waters of his subconscious.
Lenox hissed. More pain speared down from his shoulders and wrists, settling in his gut. Shaking the haze from his mind and the clouds from his vision, he looked up. His wrists were shackled above his head with fortified iron cuffs held by a chain that was slung over a thick tree branch. The metal bit deep into his flesh. Blood streamed down strained muscles that bulged from his forearms and biceps. The searing burn that woke him didn’t come from his arms.
He slowly lowered his throbbing vision to the gashes crisscrossing his chest and stomach. A thin sheen of pink and red covered his skin as the wounds continued to spill miniscule amounts of blood. His legs bore the tight residue of dried blood that had trickled past his hips and caked into the short hairs.
Worst of all, his wounds had not reached an advanced stage of healing. Judging by the position of the moon in the sky and the subtle warming in the air around him, dawn was not far off, which meant he had been out for a few hours. His wounds should have stopped bleeding by now.
Unless…
“You’re awake. Wonderful.”
The sensual female purr drew his attention away from the mess of wounds. His shoulders stiffened, but the slightest movement of his body unfurled a new wave of agony. Fresh blood squeezed from the deep gashes, creating new trails down his front. He swallowed the pain and forced himself to appear as calm as ever.
The woman stepped out from behind the rocks in front of him. She wore nothing but a feral smile and a mad gleam in her eyes. Something in her hand glinted as she crossed a ray of waning moonlight. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The wolf in him growled.
His wounds were etched by silver, most likely the same silver claw this woman wore on her index finger.
“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced before you kidnapped my man and converted him into a white-wolf-loving pansy.” She lifted her hand and the sharp tip of the nail caught under his chin.
Nox drew back his upper lip in a sneer. “I’m well aware of who you are, Eliza. I can smell Laela’s blood in your veins.” He lifted his chin off the point and snorted. “Get that thing away from me.”
“I’ve always had a secret weakness for silver. Haven’t you?” The menacing chuckle that touched his ears ignited the predator inside him. His wolf stirred restlessly, waiting for the moment he willingly handed himself over to his spiritual being. She scraped the weapon along his cheek. “No?”
Change topic. Nox held the woman’s dark gaze as he waited for the claw to come closer to his mouth. She slowly slid her tongue along her upper lip. He curled his fingers around the chains above his cuffs, relieving some of the pressure from his shoulders.
The adornment reached the corner of his mouth. He snapped his teeth, wrenching the weapon off of Eliza’s fingertip. He whipped his head and sent the object flying into the forest.
Something solid smacked the back of his knees. Heat washed up to his head, making him dizzy as he dangled by his wrists. Darkness exploded behind his eyes with the next crack against his calves, and he howled, unable to suppress the evidence of his pain. Flesh ripped over his wrists. Warm liquid slid down his arms in new rivulets. Unconsciousness hovered just beyond his mind.
And his wolf snarled long and deep, waiting…waiting…
“Enough, Kyle,” Eliza said. Her eerily calm tone would have fueled his inner rage had his pain not taken over in violent spasms. His t
oes dragged over the ground as his body swayed from the branch, dead leaves, twigs, and pebbles scraping his flesh.
Eliza grabbed his chin and lifted his hanging head. He blinked several times, trying to focus on the woman who held him captive, leaving him to wonder in the black sea of agony what had happened to Aya and Riley. His only hope was that his assumptions that Riley was coming around to them were correct and he had gotten Aya to safety.
Nothing could happen to their precious mate. Nothing.
“Every time you do something naughty, you’ll be punished. I won’t stand to have a disobedient dog in my pack,” Eliza cooed. She nuzzled her nose against his cheek, and the very nearness of the beast sent chills down his spine. “We want the same thing, Lenox, but for different reasons. You want to fuck the white. I want to fucking kill the white.” Her tongue flicked out, and she licked him from jaw to temple. “Only one of us can get what we want, and I hold the upper hand. You fail to obey me and I’ll be sure you’re begging for me to kill you. Right after I skin that fragile little creature of yours.”
Nox felt a stab in his hip. Warmth spread throughout his aching body. He couldn’t grasp what was happening until the hovering darkness spilled over his mind and he drifted off.
* * * *
Twenty-five years had passed since Riley last sat in Mase’s presence, and it didn’t help that over a dozen other men had converged in the elegantly decorated living room. No one gazed around to admire the lush watercolors or the antique accents that donned the paneled walls. No one seemed to notice the gold tray on the coffee table that held an array of petite snacks for the guests, or the pitcher of fresh-brewed iced tea.
An hour after his unwelcome arrival, the small group that went out in search of a lead to Lenox’s whereabouts had returned empty-handed.
Now he was the main focus of this skeptical pack. Every pair of eyes trained on him until he felt like a fucking guinea pig in a lab with laser beams shooting into him from every direction. In a sense, he didn’t blame them for their cautious behavior. He had proved no alliance toward them up until this point. Had it not been for Ayasha, he might very well still be treading the wrong path. A path filled with mindless destruction and senseless killing.
Riley’s heart thumped at the thought, but he quickly swallowed the shame that fought to color his face red and bring his gaze to the floor at his feet. Now definitely wasn’t the time to show weakness, especially in the midst of this simmering pack.
He needed to return Lenox, alive. The drive up to Mase’s bed-and-breakfast gave him time to clarify one crucial thing: Lenox never stopped being a friend, even when Riley turned the raw fierceness of his wolf on him. And Aya, damn that beautiful little vixen, snagged a place deep in his chest that even he feared to acknowledge.
Well, Aya loved Lenox, and that’s how it should be, even if it shredded every alpha intuition in his body. He was no good for her. Undeserving of her.
“You’re smart to keep your wolf in check.” The dark rumble of Mase’s voice tore him from his thoughts. The man came back into focus. Riley straightened his shoulders, which seemingly had slumped during his introspection. Pull it together, man. Leave the petty thoughts for later. Only they weren’t petty, and they continued to plague him. “Where’s the bitch hiding at?”
“I’m unaware of a den other than the motel I’ve checked the pack into,” Riley said.
One of the glowering wolves snorted. Another reclined in his chair, arms crossing with deliberate exaggeration over his chest. All of them feasted upon him, waiting for him to misstep so they could attack.
He chuckled to himself. I might be blind, but I’m no fool.
“You’ve been sleeping with the woman for how long and you’re telling me you have no idea where she might be hitched up?”
“I’m telling you if she deceived me for a year and a half, I think she’s capable of slinking below my radar on this account as well. Have you checked the motel?” Riley asked. His defenses were climbing higher with each cold question asked of him. These men were loyal to their leader to the death. They didn’t care what it took to get him back.
Even if it meant torturing him.
“Riley, you’re a mangy smartass, you know that? We’ve all bases covered and no Eliza. She somehow erased her scent from the forest behind Lenox’s house.” Mase leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees. He cocked his head to the side, narrowing his clouded green eyes on him. “So tick off some locations where we might have success finding her.”
Riley flexed his fingers in his lap. His blood heated with his mounting frustration. He ground his teeth, desperately working off a layer of anger, and enamel, while the numerous gazes pointed at him intensified. The air grew thick and dense with testosterone. The scents made his skin tingle and itch. His lungs were saturated with the air of a hunt, but he was the prey. Damn, this wasn’t the time for a power struggle. Couldn’t they see that?
At last, Riley shifted on the sofa, mirroring Mase’s position. The corner of his mouth twitched from restraining his alpha wolf. His lip curled back in a scowl. “I’m definitely a smartass, but I’m not a fucking idiot. I wouldn’t dump myself into the midst of pups unless it was a dire situation. You want your leader back, I want Aya’s mate back. A quarter century of rivalry needs to end tonight, or Lenox is a dead man.”
Every muscle in his body quivered with tension. His gaze was fixed on Mase’s feral expression as the man contemplated what he said.
A split second later, Riley found himself pinned to the wall behind the sofa. Mase’s steel hand clamped around his throat. Sharpened claws dug into the side of his neck. Riley growled, baring his transformed teeth. Two other pack mates held his hands by his sides, rendering him defenseless.
“You come into my home and threaten me with the loss of our leader. I should tear your fucking throat out now and leave you as a gift on your little whore’s doorstep,” Mase barked. He pulled Riley’s head off the wall and slammed it back. The edges of his vision turned red. Rage thundered inside his spirit. His wolf growled relentlessly inside his mind. His body quivered with the onset of a transformation. “One more chance. I don’t give a shit that you’re an appointed anything to our white. You deliver us to—”
“Daddy?”
Mase’s features froze before Riley’s glowering eyes. The molten heat of his anger bubbled and splattered through his veins, but he didn’t miss the crack in the man’s fearsome expression at the high-pitched inquiry from his son.
“Get back to your room, Ethan,” Mase grated.
“But—”
“Now!”
“Daddy, the girl isn’t here anymore.”
Just as fast as the fierce defender’s expression dropped in confusion, Riley’s anger vanished, leaving a black hole of disbelief in its stead. He ripped his hands from the slackened hold of the wolves and shoved past Mase.
“What do you mean she’s not here?” Riley demanded of the child even as he rushed to the staircase. “Where did she go?”
“I-I don’t know…”
Riley bounded up the stairs three at a time. Lenox’s men clamored at his heels as he bolted down the hallway to the back bedroom.
He threw open the door and came up short. One man rammed into his back, shoving him deeper into the silent room, all except for the gentle fluttering of the lacey curtains hanging over an open window. The intoxicatingly sweet scent of his woman curled amidst the crisp forest aromas and early morning dew. His nostrils flared. His wolf bristled.
The room was empty.
“Ayasha! Where the hell are you?” Riley called out to his mate. Five long strides brought him to the open window. He leaned out, saw the ivy-covered lattice that spanned most of the back wall, and growled. “Aya!”
As Mase stepped up alongside him, he climbed out the window. The man grabbed his arm, bringing him to momentary pause.
“What are you doing?” Mase grilled. Riley yanked his arm back and caught the man’s eyes.
�
��Think what you want of me. I’m not so careless and selfish as to let my woman put herself in danger.” He hooked his bare foot into the latticework and made quick time to the ground. “Ayasha, answer me!”
“While you were having a powwow in the living room, I’ve located a trail.”
His blood went cold. He turned his face up to the window and saw Mase leaning out.
“There’s no time to waste. Aya’s about to step into the wolf’s den.”
With that, Riley handed himself over to his wolf and rushed back to Lenox’s house.
Chapter Twelve
What the hell was I thinking?
Aya dug her claws into the soft ground and crawled along on her belly into the dense shrubs surrounding the pack of wolves. Three of them remained in human form, two men and one woman. All of them surrounded an old spruce.
Her heart lurched when she first caught a glimpse of the object of their attention. Her powerful Lenox, hanging by his wrists, bloodied and battered. Completely helpless. His arms bulged, the muscles stretched taut by the weight of his body pulling down on them. His head hung forward, his dark hair falling over his face. She swallowed back the whisper of a whimper before she gave herself away to the blood-hungry beasts prowling around her man. They had a meal dangling before their salivating mouths and glinting eyes. Bait swaying in wait for a bite…
Aya’s breath hitched. She stilled. Bait. Oh, God. The realization dawned too late for her to retrace her steps. He’s bait. They’re luring me out. As she stared at the rumbling pack surrounding Lenox, her stomach rolled. He was hurt, terribly so, and he needed her to save him. She was only one person, one wolf, and an inexperienced wolf at that. She held compassion in her spirit, unlike the feral creatures before her. She had a weakness for forgiveness, something she doubted the cold-steeled pack possessed.
