by Breezy Jones
His put his arms around me and held me close. Ryker’s gaze held mine like a magnet until I could swear the world disappeared.
Every fiber of my being longed to kiss him. His eyes darkened, and a throaty sound rumbled low in his chest. Not a warning sound this time. It felt passionate and so full of need. His intoxicating breath seared my cheek and ignited my own need. No matter how much I told myself this was wrong, I couldn’t help parting my lips as my heart stopped beating. Every part of me tingled with anticipation.
“To hell with Eric—” Ryker started but was cut off when a loud popping sound rang through the forest.
I jumped pulling my lips away from Ryker’s. I searched around me as the clearing filled with a familiar blue smoke. The smoke dissipated leaving a well-dressed man standing a few feet away. I tensed pressing against Ryker to cover my naked body.
Enzo.
I groaned. Not what I needed right now.
“What do you want?” I demanded, as Ryker relaxed his arms around me but didn’t let me go. His chest vibrated with a low guttural sound.
“Now is that any way to treat a guest?” Enzo snapped his fingers and suddenly Ryker and I were clothed.
I huffed, eyeing him coldly. I was in no mood for his crap though I felt much better no longer naked.
“It is when the guest is unwelcome,” I snarled.
“Dammit, Enzo,” Ryker gnashed his teeth. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Enzo clicked his tongue. “I thought you wanted answers. It was you, after all, who sent for me.” His voice teased, but his expression was hard—almost greedy—as he scrutinized Ryker.
“I didn’t send for you,” Ryker stated.
“Oh, but you did,” Enzo retorted. “You asked me to find answers about Nina’s little vampire friend. Or do you no longer need the information?” Enzo stitched his hands together as he peered down his nose at Ryker.
I huffed.
“Out with it, genie,” Ryker said.
Enzo pouted pushing out his lip. “Now, now you should treat me better after all I have something you want.”
Ryker’s arms tensed, and he held me tighter. “Fine, fine.” Enzo relented. “Your sweet vampire, Lindsey, is working with…” Enzo paused for a beat or two. “The bad guy.” His shoulders shook as he announced, “But she’s unaware of her actions.”
Ryker stood taller and squared his shoulders. “How is that possible?”
Enzo’s lips twisted upward, his eyes blazing with fire. Twisted fingers of fear clawed at my insides.
“She’s being controlled, of course. Just like the other Fae.” He shrugged. “She’s strong enough to fight the compulsion. Your friend Seth should be thankful for that. She saved his life after all.” I looked down at the muscles in Ryker’s chest beneath my fingertips for a moment mulling over his words.
“Then, she didn’t attack him?” I mumbled.
“Oh, Seth wasn’t lying, dearie.” Enzo’s lips spread again into that sickening sneer. “Not about any of it.”
“I would know if I hurt Seth,” I shouted. I stepped out of Ryker’s embrace and walked over to Enzo.
He just clicked his tongue. “It was your eyes he saw, dearie, and he isn’t mistaken.”
My body stiffened as my stomach turned and a sour taste filled my mouth.
Enzo rubbed his hands together, eyeing me playfully. In an instant, he was beside me running a finger across my cheek and down my neck.
I whirled around, backed up, and snarled a warning. “Get your hands off me,” I yelled.
He seemed unaffected as he simply sunk his hands into his pockets like he was waiting for me to chill.
“She is quite something, isn’t she, Ryker?” He cooed with his gaze locked on me.
I curled my lips watching him with slanted eyes as did Ryker who stepped in front of me.
“You’re right you know,” Enzo teased, now gazing at Ryker lecherously. “She’s not a pack princess.”
“Stop with the games, Enzo,” I grunted.
Enzo shot a nasty glare at me, and his face scrunched up.
He relaxed again, his face no longer playful but suddenly serious. “You have no idea what the little she-wolf is capable of.”
Ryker released a guttural sound of warning.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “You’re not making any sense.”
Enzo snickered, making my skin crawl as he attempted to get closer to me.
“Oh, but that’s for me to know and you to find out,” he said. Malice shone in his beady eyes.
I moved to stand beside Ryker, knotting my knuckles by my side. Ryker released a menacing low gnarl—his dark eyes fierce while his neck muscles strained. I could tell he wanted nothing more than to rip the djinn apart.
“Don’t forget, you and I have a deal,” Enzo said to Ryker. “Time to pay up.”
Ryker snarled. “You haven’t held up your end of the bargain.”
Enzo’s eyes flashed.
Ryker said, “Have you forgotten? You were supposed to find out who was behind all this.”
Enzo huffed, raking his gaze up and down my body. “That’s an easy one. I thought you guys had figured it out by now.”
Ryker said nothing as he stood protectively in front of me with his shoulders tight.
After a few seconds, Enzo rolled his eyes. “Krampus of course. Not that it matters, but the council won’t be happy with you if you go after him.” Enzo waved two fingers at Ryker. “Now our deal.”
Ryker looked as if he was ready to explode in anger but held his arm out. Enzo snapped his fingers, and a vial appeared. Magically it filled with a thick red liquid.
My stomach roiled, and bile crept up my throat. Taking deep breaths, I paced the forest floor. Getting sick was not an option. When the loud pop sounded, I stopped, knowing Enzo was gone. What the hell did he want with Ryker’s blood?
Chapter Twenty-Two
I inhaled the fresh air, smiling as I gazed around the square. It had only been five days since I was last here, but it felt like years had passed. The center of the square had been turned into an ice rink. Couples skated arm in arm around the circle. Children laughed and giggled as they fell repeatedly.
Lexi and I walked side by side with Ryker behind us toward Hot Shots. I could feel his eyes on my back making my stomach dance with butterflies. For the hundredth time I’ve thought about what Ryker was about to say before Enzo appeared in the woods. I had my suspicions, but we hadn’t talked about it. Understandably, I’d reverted to my standoffish behavior around Ryker.
On the rink, a little girl squealed as she held onto her father’s arm, picking up her feet every time she thought she might fall. I watched her antics until we turned the corner into Hot Shots. A meeting had been called so that the pack could figure out our next move.
Ryker held the door open, and I ducked inside behind Lexi. It seemed we were the last to arrive. All the men in the room turned their attention to us.
I tensed. Ryker placed his hand on my lower back and nudged me forward. I allowed him to usher me along the front of the store, to our table by the bay window. I wasn’t sure I’d have moved without his push, but I wasn’t about to let him in on that fact. I took the seat and worried my lower lip.
All around us, voices rose until they reached an almost unbearable volume. I slid my chair closer to the window, wishing I could disappear, until I spotted Seth among the crowd. He eyed me suspiciously, and my chest tightened.
Ryker whistled from where he stood beside my table, and all conversations ceased.
“Any new information that might get us around magic?” he demanded.
“No,” a man spoke up. “We still don’t have that figured out yet.”
Another voice added, “He has an army of weres, vampires, and other Fae under his compulsion. What we need
is help.”
“I’ve sent word to the other packs. Now that we know it’s Krampus behind this, we have a more solid lead,” Ryker said.
“With crystals from Jack and her siblings, Krampus has almost all the Christmas magic,” Mason said, pushing himself through the crowd.
Ryker hummed with a hand on his chin. “If he gains all the magic, we won’t be able to stop him.”
“We need a plan,” Mason said.
Pops clapped his hands once as he weaved through the crowd. “The warehouse is surrounded. Getting in is going to be tricky.”
“We at least need to free those who’ve been captured,” Mason added from his spot by the door.
“Do we know who else is being held?” I asked.
Ryker shifted to his other leg and put a hand on his hip.
“Just who we already know about, Santa’s sons, and those being controlled,” said someone else.
Ryker rubbed at his neck thoughtfully before giving his attention to everyone. “All right. Have we had any word from the other packs?”
Eric emerged with a menacing grin creasing his lips. “Yeah, we got word from some other packs.”
His tone made me feel uneasy about the offer of possible allies. I glared at him waiting for the shoe to drop.
“Damon has agreed to lend us the help of his pack.”
“That’s good then,” Ryker said.
Eric snickered with his thumbs tucked behind his belt loops. “You remember Damon, right? He has one of the larger packs with well over seventy men.”
“Yes, I remember him. He’s the alpha in Connington, just over the mountain south of us.”
“He says he’ll ally with us as long as you marry his daughter,” Eric smiled, knowing the power of those words.
Until now this had just been a topic argued between Eric and Ryker. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Eric would seek out an ultimatum like this.
“Yasmin,” Eric said the name with a particularly malicious sound to it.
I cringed.
“I won’t marry a pack princess, especially not the first one you throw at me,” Ryker snapped.
Lexi looked to me then to Ryker.
“You’ve turned down all the options in the surrounding area,” argued someone.
“I can smell your attraction to Nina. We all can. You cannot allow yourself to claim her as your mate,” Eric said.
Ryker’s forehead creased. His shoulders tensed as I watched, horror slowly seeping into my insides.
“And why not? She has alpha blood,” Ryker shot back.
I jumped.
“Doesn’t that make her a better choice than a pack princess, anyway?”
“So, you say. Where is her father?” Eric demanded. “Her mother? She has no pack of her own, no family. Alpha blood without a pack to tie her to means nothing.”
No family.
I almost fell to my knees from the impact of his words. Though I knew they were true, hearing it out loud was more painful than I could have ever imagined.
“That’s enough! We will discuss this no more!” Ryker’s demand cut through the room.
I barely heard it as I slowly took a step toward Eric, my blood curdling within. I had known this was coming, I had let myself get too close, and the pain was my punishment.
“You have a choice you need to make. Her or the pack!” Eric barked.
“Your pack comes first,” someone shouted followed by another.
Another man pointed out, “She’s a vampire lover, you can’t choose her.”
Ryker gazed around the room, his expression hard, as Eric continued inciting the crowd some more.
“She’s the one who attacked Seth, and you’re gonna choose her over us?” Eric spat. His voice, like a drum calling the troops, made my heart beat faster.
“We all know it was her.” Eric jutted his chin and shot a superior look in Ryker’s direction. The challenge was clear in Eric’s brown eyes.
“We’ve been over this,” Pops asserted as he emerged through the crowd and stood on the other side of Ryker.
“You can’t seriously be so delusional,” Eric said, his face reddening as his gaze locked on me.
I glared back, a grumble building in my chest.
“What more proof do you need?” he asked, eliciting a few shouts of agreement.
“You have no proof,” Pops argued.
Eric sneered as my eyes darted around the room. The men, with mixed expressions on their faces, looked from Eric to me.
“Proof,” he sneered. “Seth saw her attack him. He said so himself.”
Ryker growled beside me. “That was Krampus’ men, not her.”
Seth stood and walked up to Ryker. He cast a cold glance at Eric then admitted, “It was dark. I was injured and in and out of consciousness. I can’t be sure of what I saw.”
Eric gave Seth a piercing stare. “Please, you said yourself that you’d never forget those eyes.” He jabbed a finger at me. “Her eyes are a very rare shade of green. Not hazel, not muddy brown but green—a vibrant green. And if those were the eyes staring down at me, I’d have no doubt as to whom they came from.”
“Her and her vampire friend are helping Krampus,” someone shouted.
I suddenly felt ashamed of my eyes as if they were a curse. They’d always been my favorite feature. I loved the brightness—almost neon—and how they were reminiscent of the grass that grew in Pennsylvania. With Eric’s fervent accusations, I was close to clawing them out if it would prove my innocence.
I stood, unable to take it anymore and cried out, “I didn’t do this! I can’t be the only person in the world with this shade of green eyes.”
Lexi came over to stand by me, placing a hand gently on my shoulder.
Eric only laughed—a deep, menacing sound. “Please! You may have Ryker fooled, but not me,” he said.
My mouth hung open as I looked from Eric to Ryker who stood with his arms crossed and an impenetrable expression on his face.
“I’m not trying to fool anyone,” I said squaring my jaw.
Eric laughed.
“We all know you and your little vampire friend attacked Seth,” Eric said, his teeth grinding on the words.
“This proves nothing,” an unfamiliar voice added. “Anyone could have attacked Seth.”
Others shouted out their disagreement. The pack was dividing because of me.
“Enzo told us that Lindsey was under control, just like the others,” Ryker said above the noise.
Eric’s sneering pushed my anger over the edge. My blood boiled, and my body vibrated with the desire to hurt him. Badly.
“Where did she come from? Don’t you think it’s funny that she showed up and now all this is happening? And then Seth is attacked by someone with her eyes.” Eric’s words were like bullets, and my wolf wanted to respond.
“You,” I spit, leveling Eric with my most menacing glare. “Are. Wrong!”
The room stilled as Eric pounded his fist into his other hand.
“And you are a killer,” he spat, pointing a finger at me.
Red hot anger burned inside me as I balled my hands into fists.
“We all know it’s true. Why not just admit it?”
My canines lengthened and poked my tongue, but I kept my mouth shut.
Ryker took a protective stance, angling himself in front of me, coaxing another menacing sneer from Eric.
My shift came easily. Razor-sharp claws sprouted from my fingers as my ears pointed and fur replaced skin.
Eric gripped his sides. “I can smell Ryker’s scent on you. You can’t deny you’ve been sleeping with him.”
Tension sparked through the room and murmurs rose. But I heard none of it as I stood on all four paws, flashing my canines.
“Uh. Guys? That’s defin
itely not the wolf that attacked me,” Seth admitted.
Eric snarled. His nose wrinkling with the effort, and he shifted as well.
Within seconds, he was on all four paws and covered in blond fur.
At the sight of him, my wolf went wild, taking over in a rage. It had wanted Eric’s throat for too long now, and there was no holding her back any longer. Teeth bared, I lunged at him.
Eric barked and his canines gleamed in the diner light.
He lunged, tackling me to the ground. Everyone jumped back, giving us a wide berth, but the sounds of their screams were drowned out by my own fury. We wrestled to the floor. I raked my claws across his arms and chest, drawing blood. He sucked in air between his teeth, but he didn’t lose focus as I swiped again.
He drove his claws into my side. I cried out but held my ground. It would take more than that to take my wolf down. Raking my own claws across his face, I drew more blood. He groaned in pain. I pushed him off me with my rear legs. He snapped his teeth, and I stumbled back. His wolf lips curled.
With my unbalance, Eric faced the crowd. The distraction gave me an advantage. I lunged again, going for the throat. In the nick of time, he realized what was about to happen. I missed my mark, and my teeth sunk into his shoulder.
Blood oozed from the wound. My wolf stood taller, and thrust her chest, proud of the damaged she caused.
“Enough!” Ryker shouted. The demand was like an invisible lasso around my neck, cutting off my air. Like a net it spread rapidly across my body and reigned me in.
My wolf strained against Ryker’s command. I wanted more blood—Eric’s blood. Savagely, I clamped down on Eric’s shoulder, putting all my strength behind the bite. Tossing my head from side to side, I dragged my enemy across the floor. As the invisible lasso eased, I raked him across the floor faster and more savagely. And then the lasso evaporated.
I swung my head, and Eric’s flesh ripped as he landed on his back. A guttural roar vibrated through my chest, waiting for his attack. He whimpered as he shifted back to human form and then slumped to the ground. He squinted at me, blood oozing from his neck and shoulder wounds, but made no attempt to come at me. I shifted back to human form, unconcerned that I was now naked in front of the entire pack.