Hell's Wolves MC: Complete Series Six Book Box Set

by J. L. Wilder

  Beside her, Heather had stiffened. Val was talking a mile a minute, trying to reassure her friend. “Van isn’t going to win the whole Games,” she said. “Even with the top score in this event. It won’t be enough. This is exactly what I was talking about, Heather. He only signed up so he could show off how good he is with his bike. He doesn’t ride in a good position when we go on a run. He never gets to show off. How could he resist something like this?”

  “No one knew the events were going to be biking things,” Heather argued.

  “Well, they should have figured it out. We all should have. They’ve all been wolf traits and bike skills. The things that define us as a pack. I don’t know why we thought it would be anything else.”

  Izzy didn’t speak. She had barely spared a glance for Van when he rode into the clearing. She was glad he’d won, because she didn’t dislike him at all, but she certainly didn’t want him for a mate. Even a nice man who wasn’t Wyatt wouldn’t be good enough. To look across the dinner table at Wyatt every night and know he could never be hers, to bring up his children and lie too everyone, including them, about who their father was—it would break her heart.

  There was a distant rumble—the sound of another bike—and all heads turned toward home, to the place where the rider would emerge. Please let it be Wyatt, Izzy thought desperately. If he were the next one to ride into the clearing, he would win the Games, and all their worries would be over. Please. I’ll do anything.

  The bike burst into view.

  It was Gunner.

  Around her, the pack burst into applause, knowing that he had won, that no one else’s finish mattered now, but Izzy did not join in. She felt as if she’d suddenly sunk beneath the surface of a pool of water. It was hard to hear. It was hard to breathe. Her mind felt very distant from her body.

  How could this have happened?

  How could Wyatt have lost?

  This competition should have been his. He practically lived in the garage. He worked on his bike all the time. Out of every event at which they’d all competed, this was the one Izzy would have had no concerns whatsoever about if she’d been told about it beforehand. Wyatt should have been able to leave the others in his dust.

  Something must have gone wrong. That was all she could think. Something unexpected had happened, something that had made it harder than it should have been for him to get to her. She turned to Val, wanting to share her theory, but the look on Val’s face made her throat close up. She hadn’t quite thought this girl was her friend—they hadn’t come that far in the past two days—but Val was grinning and cheering madly along with everyone else sitting in the clearing. And that was wrong. Val knew how brutal Gunner was likely to be.

  She’s never really had to think about it, Izzy realized. She’s never put herself in my shoes. All these girls are worried they won’t get to mate with their favorite guy, and I understand that concern, because I’m worried about that too—I’ll die without Wyatt.

  But belonging to Gunner is a whole other level of horror.

  He had climbed off his bike now, and he was shaking Robert’s hand and smiling. He hadn’t looked her way yet. Everything in her was itching to run, but she didn’t stand a chance surrounded by the entire pack like this.

  Then, with a pounding of footsteps, he came tearing into the clearing.

  Wyatt. He was on foot, and that was also wrong. Strangely, though, it gave her hope. He was supposed to arrive on his bike, and even after losing the competition, she thought he would have seen that challenge through to the end. The fact that he had left his bike and run here meant that something else was going on.

  She was also comforted simply by the sight of him, although at the moment he looked angrier than she’d ever seen him. A vein in his neck stood out, his fists were clenched, and his skin seemed almost to be rippling. He wants to shift, she realized. It’s animal rage, what he’s feeling. He’s trying to keep it under control.

  All would be lost if she got up and went to him. But she had never ached to hold him so badly.

  He strode up to Robert. “Don’t award Gunner the win,” he said in a ringing voice that got the attention of everyone standing around the clearing.

  “He’s scored the most points,” Robert said. Did she detect a hint of regret in his tone, a touch of sorrow? Was it possible that Robert understood what he had done to her by promising her to the winner of this competition? Was it possible he might help her now?

  “He scored those points by cheating,” Wyatt said. “He cheated to win this last event, Robert, and if he cheated there, who knows where else he might have cheated.” He turned in a circle, facing the other members of the pack. “Did anybody actually see Gunner step in the river during the race yesterday?”

  “He came back with wet paws,” the same as you.” Robert sounded very old, suddenly, and very tired.

  “It had rained the night before. There were puddles on the ground. He could have done that anywhere,” Wyatt said. “I had water halfway up to my knees after the river. How high did the water on Gunner’s paws come?”

  “That wasn’t a requirement of the competition,” Gunner snarled. “If you had a complaint about the event you should have brought it up at the time. I beat you fair and square in that race. I beat you fair and square in this whole contest.”

  “Fine,” Wyatt said through gritted teeth. “We’ll talk about the last event, then. I assume the statute of limitations hasn’t passed for me to complain about that. And that’s the event I know you definitely cheated in.”

  “Ridiculous,” Gunner spat.

  “Do you have anything to back this up?” Robert asked.

  “Look in his pocket,” Wyatt said, pointing. “He took the air cap from my tire so I couldn’t keep it full. My bike would have been fixed up and ready to ride fifteen minutes ago if I’d had that. I would have beaten Van here.” He glanced quickly at the younger man. “I’m sorry.”

  Van shook his head. “He was ready,” he said to Robert. “I saw.”

  “Did you also see Gunner take his tire cap?”

  Van frowned. “I didn’t see that. I saw Wyatt looking for something. I guess that was it. He got on his bike, and then he seemed to realize something was wrong, and he got off again. That’s when I left.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know what else happened after that.”

  “Check his pocket,” Wyatt insisted. “He’s got the cap.

  Robert turned to Gunner. “You’d better turn out your pocket.”

  “Come on. Doesn’t this constitute an illegal search? He’s just being a bad loser.”

  “It’s the quickest way to resolve this. Turn out your pocket now.”

  That was a command. Gunner’s hand immediately went to his pocket. Watching from her blanket, Izzy felt a hot flash of triumph. Wyatt would be vindicated. Gunner would be disqualified, and she would be spared that worst of all possible outcomes. Thank God.

  But Gunner’s hand emerged empty, his pocket pulled inside out. “See?” he said. “He’s crazy. Or he’s lying.”

  A shiver passed down Izzy’s spine. Now what were they going to do? Had Wyatt been wrong?

  Wyatt clearly didn’t think so. “He’s put it somewhere else then!” he cried. “He had it. He was mocking me in the garage.”

  “So, what!” Gunner yelled. He seemed to have reached the end of his tether. “So, what I was mocking you? Of course, I was mocking you, old man! I warned you, didn’t I? I warned you not to get involved in the Games, that they’d be too much for you, that you couldn’t win. You fought dirty in the hand to hand combat, though, because you’d never beat me fighting fair—"

  “You threw Van into a tree! Don’t you say a word to me about fighting dirty!”

  “Mocking you isn’t cheating. You lost, and you got a bit of trash talk for it, and you just need to accept that. Stop throwing around bullshit accusations that you can’t back up. You lost. Get over it.”

  Wyatt turned to Robert. “You don’t believe this, do you?
”

  Robert shook his head. “There isn’t any evidence to back you up here, Wyatt.”

  “You know what he is. What he’s like. You’ve lived with him longer than I have. Don’t tell me you can’t see it.”

  “He’s never done anything to betray me or to harm the pack,” Robert said. He was looking at Wyatt strangely now, as if he’d never quite seen him before. “He can be rough around the edges. I admit that. I think even he would admit that. But that doesn’t mean he would defile our Omega Games by cheating.”

  “Is this really the man you want to be our pack beta?” Gunner asked quietly, as if Wyatt wasn’t even there.

  Wyatt turned on him. “Is this really all about rank for you?” he asked. “Is that the only thing in this world you care about? Be the beta! Take it! I never wanted it!”

  Oh, calm down... Izzy thought desperately. He wasn’t going to win any points in this argument by flying off the handle, that was certain. If there was to be any chance of Wyatt convincing Robert that Gunner had cheated and that he shouldn’t be given the victory, the conversation would have to be calm.

  But Wyatt had passed the point of calm. He was seething. “This has been rigged from the start,” he said. “This whole competition was set up to favor him. Set up to work against men like me, older men with brains and the ability to reason, and, hell, the ability to show compassion for another human being. I’m the only one here who’s even bothered to make friends with her.” He gestured toward Izzy, who shuddered. That wasn’t safe. He should be leaving her out of it. They couldn’t give away how close they were...

  Now Gunner was laughing outright. “Oh, God,” he cried, looking around the clearing at the rest of the pack, clearly inviting them to join in on the joke. “I think the old man’s got a little crush on the omega!”

  Laughter sprung up here and there. Izzy felt her own inner wolf start to rise. How dare they laugh at him?

  Robert wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t even smiling. “Quiet, everyone.”

  Slowly, the laughter died down as the pack fell in line with the alpha’s command.

  He looked angry. “There have been too many accusations levied against the participants in these games,” he said firmly. “First in the hand to hand combat, and now in the final round. The results stand. Gunner is the champion and wins rights to our omega.”

  No! Terror filled her. She found Wyatt’s eyes, hoping for the comfort she usually drew whenever he was near. But his gaze was full of panic and pain. He’s out of ideas too.

  “Tonight,” Robert said, “the pack will have a celebratory feast. When the feast is over, Gunner, you and the omega will make your way to the third-floor room, which has been fitted out with furnishings and prepared as a bedroom for you. Your first mating will take place tonight.”

  Gunner leered. “She’ll be pregnant by morning.”

  Izzy felt sick to her stomach. There had to be a way out. There just had to be.

  But she couldn’t see it.

  THE FEAST THAT NIGHT was one of the most horrible events of her life.

  She and Gunner were seated side by side at a table in the middle of the backyard. Other members of the pack kept coming up to congratulate them or wish them luck tonight, most with a wink and a giggle.

  There were a few kind people, a few who seemed to understand that for Izzy, at least, this was nothing to celebrate. Lena rested a hand on Izzy’s shoulder as she placed her plate before her. Izzy looked up into the older woman’s lined eyes and saw sadness there, sadness and something like empathy. She knew, maybe. She seemed like she’d thought about what it would be like to be won by Gunner.

  As painful as it was to be visited at their table, the times in between visits were worse. “Eat up,” Gunner said when Lena had moved away after dropping off the food. “You’ll need lots of energy for tonight.”

  She didn’t answer. The lump in her throat made it impossible to talk.

  His hand found her thigh. “Are you excited? You don’t show it, but I’ll bet you are. You’re an omega, after all.”

  “Don’t touch me.” She meant her command to come out sounding firm, even sharp, but her voice wavered, and she sounded young and frightened instead.

  Gunner stroked her thigh. “Don’t be like that. We belong to each other now. Tonight, can be nice, you know.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “You’re an omega. You’re my omega. Don’t you want to do your part for the pack?” He angled himself so that he was facing her. “It’s your job to bear children for us. It’s your job to give birth to our new generation.”

  Yes, her mind cried. But not with you.

  Once again, she looked for Wyatt. She’d been looking for him intermittently all evening long, hoping to make eye contact with him and see something that would give her hope. He must be trying to come up with a plan, mustn’t he? There was no way he would leave her with Gunner. He had promised they would be a family. He had promised her.

  But she couldn’t find him anywhere.

  Gunner pinched her thigh. “What are you looking for?” he asked, a sullen expression on his face.

  Izzy looked at him and thought that maybe he had some idea of what she was looking for. “Just looking around,” she said. Her voice sounded stronger now, she was pleased to realize. She’d hurt him. By resisting his advances and looking for Wyatt instead, she’d hurt him. Maybe not as much as he would eventually hurt her, and maybe she would only suffer all the more for her efforts. But it was worth it. Every little barb in his flesh was worth it.

  “Looks like he’s run off,” Gunner said.

  “Who?” She tried to look innocent.

  “Please. You think I haven’t noticed the way you and that old fossil look at each other. It sickens me. He should know better at his age, trying to hang around the pack omega. I’ll bet he can’t even father cubs anymore.”

  How wrong you are.

  “And God only knows what you’re thinking. I suppose you like him because he’s the one who pushed for you to get out of that room, is that it?” Gunner shook his head and spat in the grass. “You were better off in there. Do you know how hard you’ve been to resist? Walking around this place with a ripe omega, the scent of you everywhere I go...it’s like torture. Robert was right to keep you away from the rest of us until you’d been claimed.” He bared his teeth, and Izzy imagined those teeth sinking into her flesh. It wouldn’t be a loving, careful bite like the one she’d envisioned with Wyatt. He wouldn’t kiss the bitten place afterward and hold her and tell her she was beautiful. Gunner would claim her hard, impersonally, laughing all the time.

  Too soon, the feast was over. The music was turned off and the dishes collected, and everyone made their way inside, laughing, chattering, carrying the happy atmosphere of the party along with them. Izzy felt as if she were going to her own funeral. The event had been designed with her in mind—it was all about her—and yet it had nothing to do with her. She might as well be an alien here.

  She slipped into a bathroom off the kitchen. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long, but a moment to collect herself before she was forced to go upstairs would help. She hoped.

  She stared at her face in the mirror over the sink. Her skin was white, pale and chalky. She looked as if she were about to vomit. She felt like vomiting. Her legs were shaking.

  There was a knock on the door. “Omega? Izzy?”

  Gunner. There was no mistaking that eager, ominous voice. “Just a second.”

  Then a hand grabbed her wrist.

  Izzy jumped a foot and almost screamed, but a hand clapped over her mouth and muffled the sound that was trying to escape. She knew then, knew before she turned and saw him. Knew by the smell of his skin.

  Wyatt.

  He hadn’t abandoned her. He hadn’t left her to her fate. He was here.

  He released her mouth, pressed a finger to his lips, and pointed to the window.

  Chapter Seventeen

  IZZY

/>   He cupped his hands together, making a step for her, and she grabbed the window ledge and pulled herself up. The ledge scraped against her stomach, and for a moment she was balanced precariously atop it as she struggled to haul first one leg and then the other through the narrow opening. She maneuvered her body, twisting around so that she was hanging by her fingertips, and dropped, thankful as she did so that she had chosen a bathroom on the first floor.

  She was behind the house. She pressed her back up against it, concealing herself in the shadows, staying as flat as she could for fear she’d be seen through the windows. She had done what Wyatt wanted without thinking—hadn’t even questioned it—but now she was beginning to wonder if it had been a good idea. What was his plan? Did he just mean for her to run away, run off into the woods by herself? If that was the idea, he should have told her. Being alone and pregnant in the woods filled Izzy with dread.

  But would it be worse than belonging to Gunner? She had to admit that she wasn’t sure.

  Her questions were put to an end by the appearance of Wyatt’s upper body in the window. He had hauled himself up, and now as she watched he slithered his way through and dropped neatly to the ground beside her. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  “What are we doing?”

  In answer, he took her by the hand and pulled her away from the house and into the trees.

  She didn’t dare question him again. Whatever they were doing, she knew, they only had a brief window of time in which to do it. It wouldn’t take long for the pack to realize that she wasn’t in the bathroom anymore. The open window would betray which way she’d gone. And soon after, they’d realize Wyatt wasn’t with them either.

  She had never been this way in the woods before, and she was just wondering how far they were going to go when they burst upon the highway. It was empty of traffic at night—empty, that is, except for a custom-built motorcycle parked on the shoulder, gleaming in the moonlight.