“You should go back,” Mandalay told her. “There’s no reason for us both to be in trouble.”
“Too late.” She shrugged. “Dad’s also furious at both of us.”
“I don’t care.” He toyed with the sandwich.
“Eat. You might need your strength.” She rubbed his shoulder. “Is he going to be okay, really?”
“Yeah. The poison’s probably taking a bit to wear off even with the antidote. It was ravaging his body slowly.”
“I wish I could get my hands on the asshole that poisoned him,” she muttered.
“You’d be too late,” he said angrily.
She smiled. “You’re going to be a good mate to him, Manly,” Serena said softly. “I hope he deserves you.”
“What about your date?”
“Oh, I cancelled,” she said. “I wasn’t going to leave you out here alone.”
“There are guards and Nic when he wakes up.”
She snorted. “He has to wake up first. Besides, who’ll protect you if you have to heal someone?”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Thanks, sis. I love you.”
“Aw. I love you, too, baby brother.” She kissed the top of his head. “Eat or I’m telling Nic you were starving yourself because he was unconscious.”
Mandalay took a bite. Nic wouldn’t want him starving himself, but she was right. He might need his strength later if trouble came calling again.
Chapter Twenty
The silence was serene and the soft, cool energy filling the space could only belong to one person. His mate.
Nic opened his eyes in a room where the light was fading to find Mandalay sitting near the window with his eyes closed and headphones stuck in his ears. He smiled as he studied the face of the man he’d been watching for the last two years. He’d only come back because his mate was here.
There would have been no reason to take the position of hunter if not to be close to Mandalay. He’d honed his skills knowing Mandalay would more than likely never want to leave this pack or this area.
Nic could live with that as long as Mandalay’s family didn’t separate them.
Mandalay’s eyes opened, and his lips curved into a smile as he removed the headphones and set them aside. He was on his feet coming over within seconds.
“I see your fever has broken,” Mandalay said. “I thought I was going to have to freeze you for a few days to get it down.” He smoothed his fingers over Nic’s forehead before bending to drop a kiss on it.
“Who told you I was injured?” Nic reached for Mandalay’s hand, needing to touch his mate.
“Serena,” he said. “Apparently Rush told her.”
“Rush? He shouldn’t have known I was out here.” He frowned. “How did he find out?”
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “I don’t really care. What bothers me is how Jody lets Leon and Nika get away with not coming out here to work on you citing some kind of accident as their reason.”
Accident?
That made no sense. Someone had known he was going to be attacked, probably killed, if a healer couldn’t get to him in time.
“Do you know who attacked you? I mean, why the hyenas attacked?”
“Mandy,” he said, squeezing his hand. “Don’t ask me questions I don’t want to answer, because lying to you will be hard.”
“Then, don’t.” He sat on the bed. “I’ll keep your secrets, Nic. I promise.”
“All I have is suspicions to check out,” Nic said, deciding to fight the natural compulsion to share things with his mate. “Kelley, has her family been notified?”
“Jody was upset. He said she was barely twenty-four,” Mandalay replied. They took her body back with them.”
“She was. I was going to start training her to work with me as a hunter. She was going to be good once she got past having to kill her packmates.”
“Did you talk to her? Did she say anything?”
Her words came rushing back to him. She was already dying when he reached her, unable to fight off the three hyenas who’d attacked her.
“He brought me out here to talk and then left me when I refused to take him back. But, it was almost like he knew they were here. He made me get out of the truck not far from where I heard them talking.”
“Who? What were they talking about?” He’d wanted to get as much information from her as he could because she was dying.
She’d frowned as she stared at him as if confused. “He’s colluding with them. He was telling them the rotation schedule for this area. He said it was one of the lesser guarded places and it would be easy to take if they moved quickly.”
“Who said this? Who was involved?”
“He scented me and called me by name. The next thing I know, the hyenas are on me. I managed to kill one and wound another, but they got me down, and I panicked. I couldn’t get them off me.” Tears slid from her eyes, and Nic knew he was going to kill the man behind this.
“His name, honey. Tell me his name.”
She’d stared at him for a blink, her eyes glazed over, and then she’d whispered something he’d barely heard.
The hyenas attacked him on the heels of her last words.
“I spoke with her briefly,” Nic said quietly. “I was attacked, and they started in on her again. I guess they wanted to make sure she was dead.” He clenched his hand in the sheets as he fought to contain the fury whipping around in him.
“You’ll find out who killed her,” Mandalay said.
“I hope so, but in the meantime, you’re going to have to leave,” Nic said as he struggled into a sitting position.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mandalay said. “You’re in no condition to fight.”
“I’m sure I won’t be alone,” he said. “I want you to head back. I’ll call Ross to come get you.”
“No!” Mandalay snapped and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll send Serena home.”
Nic sighed. Brother and sister were still here. What had Jody been thinking?
“I’ll call Jody,” Nic said, and Mandalay growled at him.
“Do it and you’re going to piss me off for a long time,” he said. “Anyway, Jody already tried to make me leave, but I don’t trust Nika to take care of you.”
Nic sighed. “Mandy, trust me to take care of myself, okay? I have no idea what’s going to happen here. They could be planning to move in by nightfall. I want you safe. I need you gone.”
“Then, your need exceeds your ability for satisfaction at this moment,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll get your phone, so you can call Jody.”
Nic growled and got out of bed. “Pretty baby, listen to me. I know you want to help, but you can best help by being home.”
Mandalay threw him a look. “You’re so cute when you’re upset,” he said and turned to pick something up. “Here. I’ll go tell Serena to get ready to leave.”
“You’re going with her,” Nic ordered as he took the phone.
* * * *
Mandalay rolled his eyes as he left the room. His sister was in the living room talking to someone quietly. They both looked his way as he drew closer.
“Is Nic awake?” the man asked.
Mandalay had no idea who he was, but he had to be pack if he was here.
“Manly, this is Robert, he’s one of the tech guys. He was doing a little work on the security system while you were keeping your man company.”
“Hi,” he said. “Nic wants you to go. He thinks trouble might be coming.”
At that moment the door opened, and Artisan stepped inside. He gave Mandalay a smile. “Is Nic awake yet?”
“Just now,” he said. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “It looks like trouble is moving in. One of the lookouts spotted hyenas.”
Mandalay drew in a shaky breath. Nic couldn’t fight with that shoulder. “I’ll tell him.”
“Tell him he has maybe fifteen—twenty minutes to decide what he wants to do,” Artisan s
aid. “I’ll get the guards ready to fight.”
Mandalay hurried back into the bedroom where Nic was already dressed in pants and grimacing as he pulled on a shirt.
Mandalay went to help him. “I told you that shoulder was still healing,” he muttered. “Artisan said hyenas are out there. Maybe twenty minutes away.”
“Shit. Help won’t get here in time,” Nic said. “Mandy, baby, I want you to stay close to Bowen, okay? I want Serena with you.”
“I need to be near you,” he insisted.
“You need to do as you’re told,” Nic growled. “And you will. You’re an unranked soldier right now, and your job is to follow orders. We’ll likely have to retreat as it is. Jody only left me ten soldiers, and that’s not including you, Serena, and Robert.”
“I’ll do what you say,” he said evenly. “Now, sit down so I can put your boots on for you.” Nic snarled at him, and Mandalay smirked. “Go ahead then. I just thought you’d like to save your shoulder for the fight.”
Nic pulled on one boot and then the other before tying them, and Mandalay saw the hint of pain in his eyes. His big strong wolf was going to need some major shoulder healing before the night was over.
Nic got to his feet and headed for the closet. He grabbed a bag and tossed another at Mandalay.
“Put that on,” he said. “Medical supplies and a couple of tranq guns.”
“Lucky for you, I already knew that.” He took the bag. He’d added his own to it earlier for lack of anything better to do. The pack would be easier to handle than his medical bag.
Nic hurried from the room, and Mandalay was surprised to find the living room filled with soldiers.
“Artisan, report.”
“We’ve got twenty hyenas and as many jackals coming in. That’s just from the south. Ten more hyenas are coming in fast from the north. They’re keeping to the trees, but lookout spotted the team.”
“Artisan, prepare to defend the south, take half the men.”
“It’s suicide,” one of the soldiers snapped. “We can’t defeat hyenas.”
“Roll over and play dead then,” Nic growled. “Maybe they’ll leave your punk-ass alone. The rest of you—Bo take Serena, Robert, and Mandalay and get in the truck and go. Mandy, don’t be a hero but do what you can to help Bo. Serena, can you shoot?”
“I’ve had lessons, but I don’t know how effective I’ll be.”
“You drive,” Robert said. “I’ll take shotgun. I can use a gun.”
“Get out,” Nic ordered. He gave Mandalay a look, and Mandalay nodded.
“I’ll see you later,” Mandalay said. “Take care of that shoulder.”
Nic blew him a kiss. “The rest of you—”
“Why are we doing this?” the same soldier who’d protested at first demanded. “We’re not going to make it.”
Nic walked to him and back-handed him. “You want to run, run, but when I get back to the den, you’ll be properly punished.”
“You’ll be dead,” he said with a hard look and headed out the door.
“We’ll do what we can to hold the line until the troops get here,” Nic told them. “Jody is sending us fifty people. We just need to defend long enough. I won’t lose one inch of our territory. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” they all said as one.
“Let’s move out.”
Mandalay left with Serena virtually dragging him.
“Don’t make him worry,” she snapped. “You’ll get him killed.”
“I’d be better help here,” he said. “We both know it.”
“Yeah, well, you could be pregnant,” she said. “I know you guys had sex already.”
“Shut up,” he muttered. “I’m not.”
“Later,” Bowen said with a hint of amusement in his tone. “Fuck.”
Mandalay smelled the jackals and turned to see five of them running toward them.
“Mandalay, Serena, stay close to each other,” Bowen ordered. “Rob, let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Nic wasn’t surprised to see the first line of hyenas and jackals sooner than expected. The moles could be any number of people from soldiers out here with him to those left in the den. And after his attack, he’d only gotten a little information out of one of the hyenas he’d beaten to death.
That information left him to believe the attack on their lands would occur sooner rather than later, which meant they’d had hours to prepare while he’d been unconscious.
He didn’t bother to shift as the hyenas ran at them. He stilled himself for the attack and threw out a punch to the first hyena who ran at him. He had a tranq gun a holster attached to his belt, but he was saving it for when things got really bad.
He spotted Artisan taking on two hyenas and decided to shift. He’d be deadlier in his animal form. So, he did and launched himself at a jackal who was taking down the only female soldier in the bunch.
Nic attacked him from behind, biting into the side of the neck and hitting the target dead on. The man would bleed out before he did any more damage.
His shoulder ached, but Nic ignored it as he ripped into hyenas who took down some of his team with deadly efficiency. They were always confident in a crowd, but get one hyena alone and he tended to run.
No one was running, in fact, the ground was already stained red with the blood of the wounded and the dying.
A jackal leaped onto Nic’s back as he finished off a jackal, and he shook him free, noticing the chill in the air. After getting the jackal off his back, he was attacked by a hyena. A second one laughed before jumping for him.
Nic winced from the bite to his shoulder but shook the animal off him before rolling to avoid a second. The two smacked into each other as he came to his feet.
A wave of cold kissed his back, and he turned to see his mate just out of the line of attack in human form with hands out stretched, palms facing him. The cold that ranged out skimmed over one of his soldiers to slam into the back of a hyena.
The cold was gyrating waves that took out hyena after hyena until a jackal attacked Mandalay from behind. Serena was on him, ripping him apart with teeth and claws.
But it wasn’t enough. Nic knew he had to retreat. The jackals were still coming.
* * * *
Two hours later, Mandalay watched his mate as he stood across the room, waiting for him. They had only lost four of the ten men, but the others had been badly wounded and were now being treated.
Only twenty soldiers had come to their aid and all but five were dead.
Kimble looked tired as he leaned against the wall talking to Nic and two others. They all wore grave expressions, but it was Nic whose shoulders were slumped in defeat. His mate probably thought the losses were his fault, but he’d done what any dominant wolf would do, he’d fought instead of running.
That was a flaw in their design, he mused. They only retreated when there was no other option but death left. He, on the other hand, would have gotten everyone out of there the moment he realized they were so badly outnumbered.
“We’ll talk later,” Kimble said and turned to head down the hall.
Nic came to him after a brief word to the other two men.
“It’s not your fault,” Mandalay said gently, reaching for Nic’s hand.
Nic sighed. “We lost the land.”
“I’m sure Jody is already planning on how to get it back,” Mandalay said.
“He’s too tired to think,” Nic muttered. “Getting it back won’t be that easy without cat help. Those hyenas were on tonight.”
“You did your best,” Mandalay said. “Why didn’t Jody send more men? If he had, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Nic shook his head. “Let’s go. I need to rest. My shoulder hurts.”
“I’ll take care of you when we get to my place.”
He shook his head. “We’re going to mine. It’s safer. I have no idea what’s going on, but I want you safe.”
“Okay.”
“How is Sere
na?”
“She’s fine.” He shrugged. “I healed her right up.” His sister was none the worse for wear. In fact, she’d been excited to be part of the action despite the terror of being attacked.
Nic wrapped his arm around him and headed for the exit. Mandalay glanced back, feeling as if someone was watching them. His wolf grew edgy and cold rushed through him.
“Settle down,” Nic murmured. “Whoever it is won’t make a move right now. He thinks his team’s off to a good start. Let him.”
There was a hardness in Nic’s tone that had Mandalay looking up at him, but he didn’t reply. Clearly, the battle was just beginning.
* * * *
“Our sources were right,” Manuel said with a grin. “It won’t be long before I have the entire wolf pack under my control.”
“Don’t gloat,” Grace said, giving him a warning look. “We did our jobs tonight and our moles did theirs. Now, it’s time to play out the next part of our plan.”
“I just wish I knew what old Palmer had been up to,” Chico said from next to the window. He had a drink in hand like Manuel himself.
Manuel glanced at him, only vaguely curious. He’d proven he could win. There would be no reason not to allow him to take control of the territory.
“That would be nice to know,” Grace said. “He was definitely up to something, and that might be a problem if we don’t find out what.”
“I’ll worry when we lose,” Manuel said. “Jody proved most helpful.”
“I don’t know if I trust that test,” Chico said. “What if it was just a game and they’re going to strike back?”
“We’ll see, but I’m already preparing to take him out. Jody’s a threat no matter how helpful he was. I don’t trust him not to have regrets down the line and come after us,” Manuel replied. “I doubt the wolves will take prisoners.”
“You’re right,” Chico agreed. “I think we should move fast to claim the rest. We’ll have half of their territory.”
“We’ll take a few days,” Manuel said. “I need to wait for reinforcements.”
“They might have panthers up by then,” Grace told him.
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