by Lacey Thorn
“Lioness,” she said with a snarl and click of her teeth that had the man taking a hasty step back.
“Well, then.” The Professor took off his glasses, wiped them on his shirt and put them back on. “You’d be the first to show up then.”
“The first?” Clara asked.
“But it said they would awaken and try to find him.” Abby reminded them all of the legend that had been their guide so far. “It said when the Tah awakened, the rest of his pride would begin to awaken and seek him out.”
“Well, I didn’t come here seeking Tah,” Clara said. “I come looking for them.” She nodded toward Reno and Amia.
“And why is that again?” Reno asked. “Why follow us?”
“I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t hurt her,” Clara said. “I’ve been powerless too many times when it came to her, had to sit back and pray she survived whatever they did to her. You were alone. I thought I might be able to take you, or at least distract you enough for her to get away.” She shook her head.
“You were the one in the woods,” Reno stated.
Clara nodded. “I was. And you put yourself in front of her to protect her. I was curious. So I followed you both here. I saw you kill the guy outside the store. That’s when I knew she’d be safe with you.”
Reno nodded. “I’ll protect her with my life.”
“She deserves that. You,” Clara said. “She’s given enough blood to the Blanes.”
“Don’t,” Amia said, and Reno could feel the tension growing in his mate.
“Why did you do it? Why not just keep running? Hiding?” Clara asked Amia.
“I tried to run. They always found me,” Amia replied. “Now we all know why. They put a fucking tracker in me. I couldn’t have gotten away no matter what I did.”
“Which means you’ve led them here now,” Clara stated.
Reno felt Amia shiver and felt the echo of pain radiating from her. He growled, and she looked up at him with sorrow in her eyes.
“I begged you to let me go. I don’t want to be the reason you die.” She glanced around the room. “Any of you.”
“No one is dying,” Logan said. “Trackers been jammed since you got here. Besides, I think we’ve proven just how capable we are when we faced down the last group of hunters who came here.”
“You had hunters here?” Clara asked.
“They’re dead,” Logan said.
His reply was short and clipped. He was mad as hell, which was not normal for Logan. Logan got pissed off, he vented, and he was over it. But this was a different side of Logan. One Reno hadn’t seen before. He wondered what that was all about.
“Nice,” Clara said as if they weren’t talking about death, about murder, no matter the circumstances. “She can tell you what they’re capable of.” She nodded toward Amia.
“I thought you weren’t trained as a hunter?” Tah questioned.
“I wasn’t,” Amia said, throwing a bewildered look at Clara. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
“You may not have been trained by them, but you were certainly taught by them. I know what they did to you, and I know how many times you were taken.”
“I made my choices,” Amia said.
“No one chooses what you’ve endured,” Clara countered.
“You have no idea what I endured,” Amia said, and her voice was filled with anger. His mate was finally getting as angry as he was. “You went your way, and I went mine. If you watched me at all over the years, it was from a distance.”
“You don’t know that,” Clara said.
“I do know that,” Amia told her. “How do I know that? Because I never pulled your ass off that wall a second time. And I would have. I would have gone in for you.”
Clara recoiled as if she’d been struck, and Reno could see his mate had struck deep and true with her words. Damn if he didn’t take pride in that.
Amia came up out of the chair, surging to her feet in one fluid movement. Reno caught her around the waist, preventing her from crossing the distance to Clara. Yes, his mate was fired up and pissed off now.
“Twenty-four people. That’s how many I’ve saved over the last eight years. That’s how many times I’ve put my ass on the line to go in and help someone. A stranger. And you’ve watched me for how long? How long?” She almost screamed the last words, her whole body shaking against the tight hold he had on her.
“Five years,” Clara whispered.
“You’ve watched me for five years. And not once approached me. Not once offered help or even a thank you for saving you. You watched them take me and did nothing.”
“What did you want me to do?” Clara yelled. “Did you want them to take me again? What good would that have done either of us? You, they kept alive. Me? I would have been dead. Hate me all you want, but you know I’m right.”
And Amia deflated, almost going limp against him. “You’re right. They would have killed you, and I would have been in no position to try and prevent it.”
“Do you know how hard it was to watch and know I was fucking helpless to do anything to stop it? To save you the way you had me?” Clara was angry now. “I was alone. Hell, there were times it was all I could do to keep them off my ass. So I watched and waited, and when you got someone out of there, I took them to safety.”
“I… You… All of them? They all made it?” Amia asked, and Reno could feel the toll the emotional rollercoaster was taking on his mate.
“The ones I could,” Clara amended. “There were some I couldn’t help.”
“Why?” Amia demanded.
Clara shrugged. “They weren’t mine to help. I let them go their own ways.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Amia cried out.
“They weren’t shifters?” Tah questioned.
“Please tell me these assholes aren’t just randomly choosing people off the streets, claiming their shifters and torturing them to death?” Kenzie said, and the quietest member of their group looked a little sick.
Holt patted her knee, while Vic put her arm around her. None of the trio looked happy.
“Jesus,” Logan said.
“I think they know exactly who they take,” Tah countered.
Clara lifted a brow but didn’t say anything. The room was so quiet as they all waited for Tah’s next words.
“Amia can see a glow around people,” Tah stated.
“Is that like an aura reading or whatever that is?” Kenzie spoke up again from the couch.
Hell, the tiny brunette was usually so quiet you forgot she was there. It had worked to her advantage more than once. Reno had nothing but respect for her and everyone else in the room as well. Even Murphy and Finn, though he still wanted to beat the shit out of them.
“I don’t think so,” Tah answered, and his eyes were dead set on Clara. “Abby and I talked about this. We have a theory.”
“Actually, it’s Tah’s theory, and I think he’s right,” Abby said, and there was no missing the excitement in her voice.
“I can see shifters,” Amia said quietly.
“It’s a hunter trait,” Clara confirmed. “From what we’ve learned, not every hunter has it. It’s a rare talent. That’s why they always hunt in groups. At least one among them can see.”
“Oh, God,” Amia said, and Reno felt the horror wash through her. He knew what she was thinking.
“You are not like them,” he growled. “You used it to save people.”
“But I—”
“No.” A rumble was rising from his throat before he could control it.
Amia just reached up with one hand and rubbed over his chest, soothing him while searching his eyes. He knew exactly what she would see there, only love and respect.
“I’m betting there are several of us in this room glowing,” Tah said. “Myself, Reno, Clara.”
Amia nodded. As she skimmed her glance over the room, he wondered what she saw, and who else among them might be glowing. He knew Tah would press Amia about
it, when they were alone. Tah would want to confirm his suspicions and talk one on one with those involved. He wouldn’t put anyone on the spot, especially with Clara among them. Shifter or not, she wasn’t one of them and was obviously hiding things.
“Shifters,” Reno grunted his agreement with Tah’s assessment. “You can see shifters.”
“Now that’s a skill that could come in handy,” Vic said.
“I think being able to see a hunter would be even better,” Finn finally spoke up.
“What’s to see?” Logan offered. “They’re the assholes coming at you with death in mind. If the big gun doesn’t give you a clue, then nothing will.”
“Tah and I think your dad must have at least suspected,” Abby said. She glanced at Tah, and at his nod, she continued. “We think it might have something to do with why they kept you alive. Of course, we didn’t realize it was a hunter skill, but it makes sense.”
Amia shook her head. “I was kept alive as an example to others. Those were my father’s last words to me. That I would beg for death, and it would be denied. He’d had plans for me, and I’d ruined them.”
“Plans?” Reno asked.
“My God. His original plans for me. He was going to breed me,” Amia whispered.
“What?” Reno all but roared.
“It’s why I left. He was turning me over to another hunter for training, and I knew it wasn’t just hunter training. I’m betting he has the ability too. Maybe he hoped by putting two of us together, we would breed more just like us.”
“Kellan,” Clara said, and Reno’s growl filled the room.
“I should have killed him in that parking lot,” he said. “One shot. That’s all it would have taken.”
“They would have killed you,” Amia said. “And I would have never met you. This is how it was meant to be.”
Reno nodded in agreement. No matter how much he wished he’d killed Kellan, Amia was right. If he had, chances were he’d have bled out in the parking lot of that hotel and never been chained to the wall in a barn for Amia to rescue.
“Everyone I rescued. Twenty-four people. They all glowed,” Amia said, and the room sat for a moment in stunned silence.
Reno watched Tah turn toward Clara. “What did you mean not all of them were yours to help?”
“Cats.” Clara sighed. “They weren’t all cats.”
“And you just let them go?” Tah thundered. “You didn’t offer help?”
“They were wolves,” Clara fired back. “Wolves have their own codes. Most would rather die than ask for help.”
Abby and Tah shared a look, and Reno knew she’d be putting in a call to her best friend, the Professor’s daughter, Jess. Jess was mated to four alpha wolves; Derrick, Cody, Adrian and Michael. None of them were really sure what the alphas were dealing with, but it kept them moving. They’d stopped in to lend a hand when Tah was struggling with learning how to bond with his lion. The four alphas as well as their mate had helped tremendously, not just with knowledge, but during the attack they’d faced from the hunters after Tah and Abby.
“How did you help the cats?” Vic asked.
She hadn’t been there when the wolves had been with them. In fact besides him, only Diane, the Professor, Logan, Tah and Abby had been there then. Finn and Murphy had arrived just before the wolves had left, but hadn’t gotten the opportunity to really get to know any of them.
Clara took a deep breath and shook her head. “I just helped them.”
She was hiding stuff again. He was willing to bet wherever her adopted mom and uncle were was where she’d sent those she’d helped. It only made sense. There was safety in numbers. Why not send them to a place where there were people just like them? He’d have to talk to Tah about approaching her in a less confrontational way. It only made sense that she was on guard around them. They’d put her on the defensive from the start.
Tah’s growl rumbled through the air. “I’m going to let that pass for now,” he said. “But you’re treading on thin ice with me,” he warned.
“You came here looking for more than just Reno and Amia,” Abby stated, pushing to her feet, one hand braced on her belly. “Whether you realize it or not, you did.”
Clara shook her head. “I came for them.”
“I don’t believe you,” Abby said. “The legend said others would come, and here you are.”
“Well, I never read your legend,” Clara challenged. “So I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“You’re a liar,” Abby said.
“I don’t know about any fucking legend,” Clare yelled.
Tah growled again and moved to step in front of Abby. She stopped him with the touch of her hand to his arm.
“You may not know about the legend, but you know more than you’re telling us. We all know it. You have information we need, know things that could help us, and you say nothing. But then you also let Amia be tortured and sat back and did nothing. And I don’t care that you might have died. I don’t fucking care. She went in after twenty-four people, and every time, I’m willing to bet she had no idea if she’d be walking back out or if that would be the time they killed her. And she did it anyway. Every fucking time. So don’t give me your lies. I don’t want them. We can be your greatest support system or your worst fucking nightmare. Your actions and words will choose which.” Abby was harder than Reno had ever seen her. She was more than a match for her mate.
“I couldn’t help her,” Clara screamed. “You think it would have been better if I’d just served myself up and let them kill me? I know where they put her, and there was no way I could get to her without them getting me.”
“Don’t!” Amia yelled, and the trembling started up again.
“You want me to be honest, to tell you the things I keep holding back,” Clara fired, ignoring Amia and focusing on Abby. “How about this? They didn’t just chain her to the fucking wall. They tortured her. With whips, floggers and knives. With the possibility of rape. With slaps and taunts. And still that wasn’t the worst of it.”
“Please,” Amia’s voice was weak as she turned and buried her head in Reno’s chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Amia?” Tah asked.
“You want to know why I didn’t go after her? Why I had to watch and wait?” Clara was on a roll now, and Reno felt slapped by the waves of anger rolling off her, by the waves of pain radiating from his mate. “Because they buried her.”
Gasps filled the room. His among them. Every possibility he’d imagined. Never that one.
“What?” Abby’s voice was strained as she flicked her glance over toward where Amia all but burrowed into his chest.
“They buried her alive. Put her in a coffin and lowered her into the ground with nothing but concrete all around her. And they left her there. For days.”
“Jesus,” Reno said and swept his mate into his arms, holding her tight against his chest while she cried. The things she’d endured. To help people. Strangers who never once stepped in to help her in return.
“Oh, my God,” Abby uttered before putting her hand over her mouth and swallowing as if she might be sick.
“Fuck,” Logan grunted.
“What kind of sick fuck buries someone alive?” Finn asked the question no one else could voice.
“The Blanes,” Clara said. “The sickest, most twisted bastards you’ll ever run into. And if they get their hands on you, any of you, they’ll do the same to you.” She glanced at Abby, let her eyes fall to the mound of her stomach. “Only you won’t walk out when they’re done. They’ll keep you alive just long enough to make sure you suffer for what you are, for the abomination you carry inside you. Then they’ll cut it out of you while you’re still alive, just so they can make you watch while they dissect the animal you carry.”
Abby wrapped her arms around her middle with a sob as if protecting the baby from this unseen future. Tah roared and caught his wife to him, eyes hard and cold on Clara. Amia buried her head in Reno’s
neck, whimpering.
“Get her out of my sight,” Tah roared, and everyone around them moved.
Logan reached Clara first, gripped her hard around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. When she thrashed, he gave her a hard spank on her bottom and said something Reno couldn’t make out with the emotional overload going through him. Whatever he’d said, Clara stilled immediately, going stiff against Logan.
“I’ll take care of it,” Logan said and strode for the door.
Reno met Tah’s gaze and understanding passed between them. Tah scooped Abby up in his arms and left the room with Diane and the Professor both in his wake. Reno knew Abby was tougher than she looked, but anyone would be hit hard with what Clara had just stated. Hell, it had rocked him to the core, and he wasn’t carrying a child, never would. But he could easily imagine Amia round with their baby. Knowing what she’d already been through, what the Blanes would do to her if she were captured again. He felt the urge to hunt them down and avenge his mate, and only blood would appease.
Still, as he carried Amia from the room, he wondered if anyone else had noticed what he had. Clara wasn’t just sharing a possibility. The shadows in her eyes made him believe she was sharing a memory, hers or someone else’s, he wasn’t sure. But what she’d described had happened. And the way her pupils had widened when she’d talked about Amia being buried alive. He’d bet anything Amia wasn’t the only one who’d endured that. Clara had secrets, and the time was going to come when she would learn to trust them enough to share them.
“Reno.” Amia whimpered his name as he carried her up the stairs toward their room.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you,” he assured her, and he was never letting her go.
Chapter Thirteen
Reno held Amia closer to his chest while he used one hand to turn the knob on the bedroom door. He used his foot to shove it wider then kicked it shut behind them. He didn’t bother locking it. No one here would bother them without knocking first. And right then, he wanted to hold his mate, comfort her.
“Amia.” He murmured her name as he sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard.
