by Ruby Madden
Her mind scrambled for options, even calculating various options for escape. She wasn’t stupid. If the situation indicated she should run, she’d by golly run. Wasn’t that what she and Emma had been doing for the past two years?
Another long, rumbling growl sounded in her mind. The bear was telling her, no ordering her to do just that—run. Now. She’d love to obey that command, would take great pleasure in obeying later when this was all over and he was dominating her in bed. Now, however, she needed to keep this man occupied until the brothers arrived. Meanwhile, maybe he would tell her where Emma was being held. The more time they wasted looking for her, the more damage the Panthera could inflict.
“You’ve been watching us, haven’t you?” She and Emma had felt the presence of someone in the shadows for weeks. At first, they’d hoped it was their father, keeping an eye on them from the distance. Or, even the bears, waiting for the right time to seek them out. It had been this man. He was good, she had to give him that. “For Jacobson.” She’d be damned if she’d give the lion the title of a leader. All he’d ever done was lead women into a life of misery. “Can’t the damn man stalk his own prey? Oh, wait. I bet he’s impotent, isn’t he?”
The shifter lunged and Abigail managed to dodge his strikes and landed several solid blows of her own. Just a few more minutes, Abigail encouraged herself when she took a punch to the ribs. Ryker would be here in just a few more minutes.
The lion shifter threw a roundhouse kick, catching Abigail in the temple. It slammed into her like a sledgehammer and she sailed backward from the force of the blow, hitting the ground. The pounding in her head kept her from getting up.
“Abigail!” Ryker charged from the darkness, falling on his knees beside her. His face swam before her eyes, but she could feel his rage. The rage intensified when he discovered the warm trickle of blood on the side of her head. She stared up at him. His eyes were shifting between brown and gold as he struggled to keep his bear in check. She knew he wanted to shift and tear the head off the shifter who had dared to hurt her. She wanted him to do it. How bloodthirsty was that? In the background, the crunch of bone filled the room as Ryland took care of the lion.
One down, one to go, she thought, closing her eyes so her head would stop spinning.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Trying to save my sister.”
“Well, that’s a job for her mate now.” The fight between the bear and the cat was over.
Crouching beside his brother, Ryland asked, “Is she okay?”
“She got her damn head busted open, so no, she’s not okay.” Ryker kept his bear in check only because he needed to stay in human form to help Abby.
“Easy.” Ryland laid a reassuring hand on his brother’s back.
“Yeah, easy, bro,” Abigail seconded. She touched the side of her head. Her fingers came away with only a little blood. “Look, it’s already healing.”
Ryland winked at her when Ryker growled and she wondered how he could be so upbeat at a time like this. Seeing the tension in her big guy ease away, she realized Ryland was doing it for Ryker’s sake.
“Nice try, sweetheart, but you’re still bleeding.”
If she wasn’t so scared, she might have laughed, or hissed, at Ryker’s high-handed manner.
“And you. Stop trying to—just go, damn it,” Ryker ordered as he stood and lifted Abigail into his arms in one coordinated move. Lifted her almost as fast as she had fallen. The man had a threatening amount of strength. “Find your mate.”
Ryland was off before Ryker had stopped speaking.
“Let me down.” Abby wasn’t about to admit to the throbbing pain and floating sensation in her head. She did anchor her arms around his neck.
Ryker took in everything about Abby in a painful, jolting glance. Her lips were pinched, her eyes too wide, her skin bleached white. He knew it wasn’t just her head injury, which, he was grateful had begun to heal. He knew her mind was filled with thoughts of her sister at the hands of the mad shifter. He knew he’d have the same crazed thoughts if someone were holding Ryland. Or her. His arms tightened. “Ryland will find her, sweetheart, I promise.”
“We are not leaving here, Ryker Blackwood. Emma needs me. I feel it.”
Ryker knew that pull of a twin. It was strong. Not as strong as a mate bond, but it wasn’t something you could ignore either. “Alright.”
“Aren’t you going to put me down?”
“No, frankly, you’re safer in my arms than on your own two feet since I don’t know what the hell you’ll do next.” Despite his words, he slid her body down the front of his. He didn’t lower her right away, just kept her pressed against him. His hands closed around her waist, thumbs digging into the bottom swell of her breast. Her feet didn’t touch the ground and her arms kept their hold around his neck. “She’ll be alright, Abby. I promise.”
The tender expression on her mate’s face stole another piece of Abby’s heart. “I know, I know.”
For a moment, Emma thought she heard Ryland’s voice in the darkness. At one time she could have sworn she’d felt Abigail reaching out to her. Instinctively, she’d tried to answer, only to weaken herself. No, she was probably just hallucinating to help herself survive the night. All the crazed lion had done so far was try to intimidate and frightened her. So far, Emma thought he was doing a good job. She had small cuts on her arms and back from the bite of his whip. They healed almost as quickly as he made them.
“Emma!” Ryland’s voice called again.
“Ryland?”
“I’m here, Emma. I’m here.”
Relief spread through her so quickly her legs lost what strength they had. Without that support, the weight of her body pulled on her shoulders and wrists and she groaned.
He strode from the shadows. His face held an expression she’d never seen before, and prayed she never would again. His bear was emerging, blurring the beautiful features of the man she loved.
“Ryland!” A movement behind him had her screaming his name.
“What a touching reunion.”
The man who had terrorized the sisters for the last two years, stood in the doorway, partially shifted. Instead of hands, he had paws and his face was completely animal. It was a gruesome sight. Most shifters hated the feeling of being half man, half animal.
Ryland whirled and let loose a primitive growl of rage, shifting as he moved. In a flash, an enormous grizzly was fending off a lion shifter whose features were contorted into something out of a nightmare. The animal’s eyes showed dark, crazed irises, surrounded by walls of white. Its teeth snapped at the air. They came at each other in a blur of motion. The challenge of Jacobson’s half-lion was answered by Ryland’s bear. The air shook with the intensity of the two battling animals and the sharp metallic tang of blood filled the room. Ryland’s shift from man to bear had been quick and efficient, but not fast enough to avoid the cat’s claws as they slashed through the air, slicing through the tendons and muscles of the bear’s chest.
Emma twisted and turned, pulling on the metal cuffs that held her in place and kept her from her mate. She wanted to scream at her helplessness, but knew she couldn’t distract him. While Ryland was a bigger man, and his animal outweighed the lion, Jacobson’s insanity lent him a strength that was deadly.
If she shifted, it would break the bones in her hands, allowing her to slip from the cuffs after she shifted back into human form. It would hurt like hell. Plus, she didn’t know how much good she’d be to Ryland as a human with broken hands. But she would be free. Calling upon her cat, she started to shift.
The half-shifted lion was formidable and the bear knew he had to defeat the atrocity before it could hurt its mate anymore. Ryland waited for the smaller shifter to tire. Through the half-formed mate bond he sensed Emma’s fear and desperation to get to him. Images of what the bastard had done fed his anger. Ryland felt the rendering of flesh beneath his sharp claws and the crunch
of bone beneath his paws. Again and again, he attacked the lion.
For a split second, the animal in Jacobson faded, leaving the human shivering in fear and desperation. His head snapped back as Ryland’s bear made contact. His lip burst open in a splatter of blood. But then he lifted his head, the animal firmly back in place. The lion’s eyes glowed red with madness, his features distorted by the strength of Ryland’s blows.
Before the Panthera could recover, Ryland swiped his claws across the man’s chest, digging in deep. Blood blossomed on his chest and he couldn’t hold his shift, staggering against the wall on two legs. But he wasn’t spent. As the mentally insane can do, he found strength in his illness. In an instant he was shifting and charging forward—toward Emma.
Ryland’s bear roared. She had freed herself from the chains holding her, but at a great cost. Her hands were broken and Ryland could see she was struggling to shift again to heal herself. The cat would be stronger, but not strong enough.
Protect.
Neither Ryland nor his bear hesitated to eliminate the threat to their mate. Still in bear form, he caught the lion before he reached Emma. He closed his jaws around the lion’s head, crushing it. He slung the half-man, half-animal away.
As the red faded from his vision, he shifted back into his human form. Across the room, he saw Emma shimmer and a sleek jaguar took her place. She limped toward him, her two front paws still not healed. “Oh, baby, you are so beautiful.” He knelt down beside her and slid his fingers into the thick fur on her neck. “But you need to shift back for me.”
She didn’t immediately follow his order. Instead, she butted her hand into the palm of his hand, forcing him to continue to scratch her behind her ears. She lifted one paw and he held it gently in his hand. His fingers found the still mending bones and winced at the pain she must have endured. If he’d killed the fucker quicker, she wouldn’t have felt the need to try to help him. “I need you to shift, Emma.” He coated his words with the alpha power all bears possessed. One more shift would heal her and he needed that. He needed her to be alright.
Her lips curled up at his attempted power play. It let him know she wasn’t going to shift simply because he’d ordered her to do so. It didn’t matter, as long as he got to hold her in his arms.
His hand stroked the soft fur along her side and he felt her quiver beneath his touch. Her fur reminded him of printed silk, the cat markings ghostly imprints beneath the dark coloring. He smiled as she purred and butted her head against his leg, wanting more of his caresses. “If you shift, sweetheart, I’ll stroke every inch of you.”
A snarl was his answer as she backed away.
A bright shimmer of light and Emma stood in front of him. Her voluptuous body a thing of beauty. He reached out and pulled her to him, burying his face against the rounded softness of her stomach. The touch of her fingers in his hair calmed his bear. Somewhat. He knew the animal would only regain its control after they took her, hard and fast.
Just what he was going to do once he got her out of here.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” he ordered a he rose to his feet.
“What, shift?”
He growled. “When we get home, I’m going to show you exactly what to do with that sassy mouth of yours.”
Her eyebrow arched and visions of her on her knees flashed through his mind. “I have a whole list of things we’re going to discuss. Your daredevil days are over.”
“You mean a list of rules, don’t you?”
“You betcha. Got a problem with that?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Oh, how he loved the stubborn set of her jaw. But first things first. He yanked his shirt over his head to give to her. A small laugh escaped him as he helped her dress.
“What the hell do find funny at this particular moment, bear boy?” She managed to push her arms through the sleeves and yanked the shirt down as far as it would go.
“I was remembering your comment about not being my Barbie doll.” He eased her hair from the collar of the shirt, smoothing it behind her ears.
“Well, don’t get used to it.” He knew Emma was trying to hide a smile of her own.
“Emma!”
The sisters ran toward each other, crying and shouting all at the same time. “Emma Sorenson, you are in so much trouble.” Abby hugged her sister close, aching for what had happened yet feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The threat to them was gone.
“I’ve heard that from someone else.”
Abigail’s eyes filled with tears at the tender smile that lit Emma’s face when she looked at her mate. It had been years since she’d seen her sister look so happy.
“You gave us a scare, Emma.” Ryker’s bear still shown in his eyes from Abby’s little mishap, but his voice had gentled. Abby realized fate had delivered wonderful mates to her and her sister. “Just don’t ever do that the fuck again.” He pulled Emma into his arms and gave her a fierce hug.
Yep, fate had chosen well for the two Sorenson sisters.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Phantom like, he appeared as a dark shadow—a black silhouette against the room’s dark interior. He looked powerful and threatening. He was huge, not as big as the bear shifters who acted as the Panthera’s guards, but damn impressive in size. His scent indicated he was a wolf, bigger than her alpha. The bastard who had sold her.
As he approached, Janet pushed the young wolf behind her, shielding her with body. They were both weak from hunger, but the girl had something else wrong with her.
The man walked slowly into the room. When he was still several feet away, he crouched down before her. Waiting. If he thought for a moment she would bare her neck to him, he was in for a huge surprise. The days of a being a meek, submissive wolf were over.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Or her.” He jerked his chin indicating he knew she was trying to protect someone. She took a deep breath. There was something about this wolf that made her feel almost calm. She assumed it was the alpha power radiating off of him. Instead of the bursts of powers she was used to from her old alpha, his emanated off him in a constant, steady wave. As if his power was a part of him, not something to use as a weapon to inflict pain.
But she knew all he had to do was turn up the power and she’d be on her knees before him, writhing in terrible agony. The fucking Panthera had used the same power on her and his other captives. Her wolf had fought him tooth and nail even though it had prolonged her pain and punishment.
“Who—who are you?”
Since she’d been captured, she’d seen both humans and shifters working for the lion. They were all the same, males who needed to inflict pain to feel powerful. Thankfully, Janet, because of her size and shape, hadn’t inspired sexual interest. They’d used her as a slave. Cleaning, cooking. Beating. It was nothing new to her. Her own pack had treated her little better. Most of them just didn’t have the sadistic streak the lion had exhibited. This man didn’t fit any of the norms she was accustomed to. He was intimating. Damn intimating, but she didn’t feel threatened.
Liam watched as the female wolf decided whether she was going to trust him or not. He wanted to tell her straight out exactly who he was but knew he couldn’t. It would make her wolf hide away and never come out again. “I’m here to take you home.”
Janet swallowed a laugh. She had no home. Her alpha had sold her to the highest bidder, disgusted with her lineage. “Good luck finding that.”
For the first time she looked directly into his face. She’d learned the hard way not to do that with the shifters guarding them. They saw it as a threat. A challenge for dominance. No matter that she was usually wearing cuffs and chained to the floor.
In the dim light, his face was a study in shadows, his eyes little more than dark hollows in a sharply etched landscape. He was tall, imposing—and deadly looking. Cats were sneaky and vicious. Bears overwhelming in their strength. Wolves were cunning and ruthless.
/> She backed up again, crowding the young wolf’s body until she muttered in pain. The woman was strung out on the drugs the bastard had kept feeding her. Today, Janet had been unable to protect her. The guards had drugged all of them. She’d heard that he had a new plaything. No doubt, he’d been afraid they might try to escape while he was otherwise occupied. The bastard was so arrogant she knew he’d never dream someone would have the gall to try and rescue any of the women he kidnapped or bought.
But someone had. She’d heard the raised voices and running feet.
And now this man was here. Was he the young wolf’s mate? They smelled similar, or at least they would when the drugs wore off. She tried to read his scent, but the drugs were affecting all her senses.
She so badly wanted to trust someone again. He still hadn’t moved and it dawned on her that if he meant her any harm, he surely would have sprung by now. He could have overtaken her. She’d tried to keep her strength up, but months without shifting and living on rations had weakened her both as a human and shifter. Her larger size meant the shit they’d been shooting into them metabolized in her faster, but the effects were still there—and appeared to be getting worse. Why?
She realized instantly why her body was starting to betray her. Her wolf was succumbing. Not to the fear of the situation. Or the drugs. But to the presence of this male. The handsome wolf frowning down at her with concern.
“Help her.” Janet whispered the words as relief from the terror of the last few months washed over her, weakening her as the drugs and beating never could. She gave her wolf over to the protective energy radiating off the big wolf in front of her.
As blackness overwhelmed her, she sensed his touch. Just her luck, she thought dimly. A handsome man was about to touch her and she’d know nothing about it. At first his voice sounded irritated, as if he wished he hadn’t bothered. But as she allowed the blackness to engulf her, she would have sworn she heard more than a hint of concern mix in with that irritation.
No one tried to stop Ryland and Ryker as they carried their mates outside. They didn’t realize that the cavalry had arrived until they stepped outside the house. The compound was overflowing with shifters and human trying to flee. Whether they were afraid of being caught, or simply trying to escape themselves, the bears didn’t care. They had their mates and that was all that mattered.
