Out cold.
Bronwyn fought the haze rolling over her, pushed free of Maverick’s dead weight and growled as six men dressed in black combat gear came at her from all directions, the red lasers attached to their guns flashing in the darkness as they closed in on her.
She staggered to her feet, snarling and baring fangs at them, a powerful need to protect Maverick at the helm.
Pain burst outwards from the point of impact again as she ripped the dart from her flesh, as she cast it aside and growled at the men. They wobbled in her vision as it tunnelled and she shook her head, fighting to remain awake. Whatever dose they had hit her with, it hadn’t been enough. They had known exactly what to hit Maverick with though. Because they had tranquilised him in the past, back at the compound? They had never hit her with a tranquiliser, must have guessed wrong about how much they would need to knock her out.
Their mistake.
She kicked her shoes off as black fur rippled over her skin, as she surrendered to the urge to shift and the dark hunger to rip these men apart to protect Maverick. A growl pealed from her as she tore at her clothes, shedding them, and shifted.
The moment all four paws hit the asphalt, she was running at the closest male.
“Contain her,” one of the men barked.
Bronwyn felt the bite of another dart in her rump, kept running at the male but her actions grew sluggish, her steps faltering as cold swept through her and the edges of her vision darkened. She stumbled sideways as she neared the human and fell into a heap just inches from him.
Darkness swallowed her.
Voices wobbled in her ears, rolling back and forth in time with a black wave. Each time that wave receded, everything grew a little clearer, a little lighter. She frowned as her head ached, moaned as she felt the cold press of a hard floor against her side.
Her senses were slow to come back online, but when they did, they immediately blared a warning at her. Her heart lurched into her throat as she shot up into a sitting position, and she groaned as her skull felt as if it was ripping apart.
She pressed her hand to her head and leaned forwards.
“Winnie?” Maverick’s voice warbled and she tried to focus on it, on him.
“I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to be so effective,” a man said.
Shock rolled through her.
She lifted her head and opened her eyes, couldn’t believe what she was seeing as she stared through the thick steel bars at the owner of that voice.
“Andrew?” she breathed, struggling to grasp what was happening. “They let you go.”
Relief flooded her and she smiled. It faltered when Maverick spoke.
“He was never their captive, Winnie.”
She glanced at Maverick where he knelt in the cell next to hers, his hands resting on his jeans-clad knees.
Numbness swept through her as she looked at Andrew, into golden eyes that held not even a trace of warmth as he stared at her.
“What’s he talking about?” She shuffled onto her knees and glanced down at herself as she realised she was wearing a black robe. She frowned as she remembered the hunters and shifting into her bear form to protect Maverick, and then looked at her brother as she gathered the robe closed and tightened the belt. “Andrew? What’s he talking about?”
Bronwyn looked him over, cold skating down her spine as she took him in and saw he was dressed in standard issue Archangel fatigues. She shook her head, unable to believe he was with them even as all the evidence she needed was right in front of her.
Movement off to her left caught her eye, dragging her focus away from Andrew. She could only stare as the female she had seen on the video call stepped into the corridor between the rows of cells and strode towards her brother.
“Preparations are being made to retrieve the other asset.” The female slowed to a stop beside her brother and slid him a look. “Bringing only Maverick in wasn’t our deal.”
“I know. I’m as disappointed as you are. I really thought she could do it.” He turned to the huntress. “But she played her part beautifully in a way. Drove her car as predicted. You were right to place a tracker on it.”
Bronwyn gaped at her brother. “You put a tracker on my car?”
Gods, she had been such an idiot. She had been worrying about bringing her phone and laptop to Black Ridge, and they had been tracking her car.
“I should toss her in the arena just for making me wait in that backwater dump of a town until we could finally get a fix on her.” The huntress buffed her nails and scowled down at Bronwyn.
Bronwyn glared right back at her, but it was Maverick who growled. Before he could say anything, Andrew continued.
“Sure, you had to wait, but now we have the location of a number of assets. If one of them is the bear who offered us a place in his pride, then we have nothing to worry about. With Rune and Maverick, and that alpha bear, we’re off to a good start.”
“A good start?” Bronwyn murmured, her brow furrowing as she looked up at her brother, her mouth drying out and heart picking up pace. “What are you talking about, Andrew?”
She didn’t want to believe he was talking about what she thought he was, that he had done the unthinkable.
When he didn’t respond, she pushed to her feet and stumbled to the bars, falling to her knees near them. She reached through the gap and seized the left leg of his black pants as she growled.
“Answer me.”
Andrew slowly shifted his golden eyes to her hand and then eased to a crouch before her, pulling something from his pocket at the same time. He opened the heart locket and looked at it, his eyes darkening as he stared at the pictures it contained.
“Funny that she kept my picture in her locket. Just another attempt to make things look normal. Another lie.” His eyebrows knitted hard as the corners of his mouth turned downwards. “I’m surprised she never replaced me with you… like she did in real life. You know… they always loved you more… but I suppose I can understand that. Who would love a bastard child like me?”
She gasped as she leaned back, her eyes widening.
He smiled coldly. “You didn’t know. Don’t be upset. No one was supposed to know. I was Dad’s dirty little secret. A bastard offspring. The result of a drunken one-night stand with a female in Whistler. A human female.”
“That’s not—”
“Possible? Oh, I assure you it is. Our father was a no-good cheating asshole. When he found out about it, he confessed the ugly truth to our mother. To protect me and our shambles of a family, Mom agreed to move to another pride. They picked me up along the way and passed me off as their kid.” Andrew snapped the locket closed, the suddenness of his actions making her jump as she struggled to take in what he was saying, as her whole life felt as if it was falling apart around her. “Mom always looked at me as if I was dirt. As if she despised me. Dad loved me at first, but after a while I could tell he was sick of the sight of me. I was a constant reminder of what he had done. Dad kept his promise and changed for the better, transforming himself into the perfect mate, and then you came along. Gods, they loved you. Both of them. And it sickened me. It sickened me to be near you, knowing how much they loved you, seeing them dote on you when all they felt for me was scorn.”
“That’s not true. They loved you.” She tightened her grip on his trousers.
He huffed and grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip, twisted it as he glared at her. “When they died, I was glad. I was glad they were gone. I thought it was over. I was free. I thought I could build a life for myself, free of the stain of being a bastard, could make the pride see my worth. But then we were shipped off to our aunt and I knew the moment she looked at me that she knew… she knew I was nothing to her. She knew I was a bastard child, a weak bear.”
Tears burned the backs of her eyes as she stared at Andrew, as she remembered how he had kept his distance from everyone at the pride, and how he had been distancing himself from her since he had matured.
“
Did you ever love me?” she whispered, not wanting to know the answer to that question, but needing to ask it.
He cast her arm away from him. “No. Maybe. At times, I loved you. When our parents died and you looked at me as if I was your whole world. I tried to tell myself we were half-siblings, that we shared a father, and that meant something. It did for a while, but then the raid happened.”
It struck her that he had changed when they had been brought to the compound because he had feared if he shifted and attempted to protect her, the other bear shifters would know he was born of weak stock, the product of a mating between a human and a bear. If his mother had been their father’s fated one and bound to him, he would have been as strong as him. That bond would have increased his mother’s strength and healing, and increased her lifespan to that of their father.
But she had been some run of the mill human.
He slid Maverick a black look, his golden eyes narrowing. “You swept in to save my sister and the way she looked at you… at Rune. Gods, I hated her.”
Bronwyn flinched. “Brother…”
“Don’t brother me. You treated them better than you had ever treated me. You loved them more than you had ever loved me,” he barked and she flinched away again. That wasn’t true, and deep in his heart he had to know it. He had to. He glared at her and then Maverick. “You were so strong. The glorious prized fighters. I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance against you in a fight… that there was no way for me to win my sister back.”
Maverick growled. “So you abandoned her. If you had come to us, we would have protected you too.”
Andrew scoffed. “Protection? I didn’t need or want your protection. I would never submit myself to something so abhorrent to me. I found another way to protect myself. Your betrayal allowed me to wash my hands of you and focus on building a better life for myself.”
“My betrayal?” She felt those words as a blade in her heart. Her brother had lost his mind. Was he really so jaded by life that he viewed what she had done as an act of betrayal? She shook her head. “Maverick and Rune offered me protection. If I hadn’t taken it, gods know what would have happened to me, Andrew.”
He scowled down at her. “Because the gods know I wasn’t strong enough to protect you. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it, dear sister? I wasn’t strong enough to keep you safe, so you traded up. You played the damsel in distress to get the two best fighters to take you into their protection. I bet you fucked them every night to keep them on your side too.”
“Watch your mouth,” Maverick snarled and looked ready to launch at her brother.
“Or what? The cage is reinforced steel. I admit, it’s not the high-tech facility we were held in before, but the budget didn’t allow for it. We only have a couple of modern cells and one of those is occupied. Maybe after the money begins rolling in, we can upgrade the rest of the accommodation. Although, I’ll enjoy keeping you in a cage like this, like the animal you are. I know all about your exploits, bear. Better watch your mouth.” Andrew smiled coldly when Maverick reared back as if he had been struck, his handsome face darkening as her brother issued that threat.
What did he know about Maverick that was enough to have him turning so submissive? Looking so afraid as he glanced at her?
“Where was I? Oh, yes. I learned quickly to gain the favour of the hunters. It was important to my survival. I made some alliances that continued long after we were freed.” He looked up at the huntress. “Sylvia here, for example. Her father used to run the compound where we were held. Imagine my surprise when she cornered me in Vancouver close to seven years ago and offered me a deal.”
“A deal?” Bronwyn felt sick as it hit her. “Those trips. Every time you went to Vancouver… you were…”
She couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Maverick snarled, “He’s been supplying the hunters with the locations of prides, working with the enemy.”
Bronwyn pressed her hand to her stomach. “Gods, Andrew. Why?”
He rose to his feet and looked at Sylvia, and the answer hit her. He had embraced the human part of his blood, because of the female. She had seduced him into a different form of slavery, capturing his heart, turning him to their side.
“It’s a lucrative business. It was all going well. I had enough money for a penthouse overlooking Stanley Park, had a woman warming my bed, and wanted for nothing. Until someone at Archangel discovered the arena and closed it down.” Andrew reached out and brushed his knuckles across the female’s cheek, his golden eyes warming. “Sylvia had the idea to make a new arena, one serving hunters stationed in and around Calgary. Vancouver HQ is focused on their local area. A compound out in the sticks isn’t even going to register on their radar. Of course, we needed big names to draw the crowds.”
“So you sent me to Rune and Maverick.” She couldn’t believe her own brother was behind everything and had betrayed her. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him, her heart breaking. “I thought you were in danger. I was afraid they were going to kill you. I’ve spent the last few days terrified. That hunter had a knife to your throat.”
“I had to make it look convincing.” He slid a black look at Maverick. “I know how much you love these bears… your protectors. You were so quick to steal Winnie from me. I hated you for that.”
“What you hated was the fact I was stronger than you,” Maverick spat and rolled his shoulders. “How about we meet in the cage and see which of us walks out of there alive? My money is on me.”
Andrew chuckled. “You’ll be going in the cage, but it won’t be me you’ll be fighting.”
“No,” she bit out and reached for her brother again, but he moved back a step, evading her. She threw a wild look up at him. “Please, Andrew. Don’t do this.”
He scoffed. “What did you think would happen if you brought him to me? Are you so naïve that you honestly thought I wanted him for a reason other than his prowess in the arena?”
No, she wasn’t, but part of her had begun to believe it wouldn’t come to this. She looked at Maverick, hating herself for what she had done, and that it was for nothing. Andrew had betrayed her and now Maverick was going to be forced to fight again. Her heart felt close to breaking as she gazed at him, as she thought about what her brother had done.
Andrew moved closer to her again, recapturing her attention. “You know… you could have been on this side of the bars if you hadn’t chosen to betray me. It took a lot of effort to get Maverick’s number. The huntress we sent to seduce him when we located him in Vancouver this winter had her work cut out getting him to hand over his digits, but it was worth it.”
Bronwyn couldn’t hold back the growl that erupted from her as she thought about Maverick with another female.
Maverick was quick to reach for the bars that separated them, his tone soft as he said, “Don’t let him poison your mind, Winnie. I never slept with that female. I should have known the bitch was up to something, coming up to me in that bar each night, flirting with me no matter how many times I told her I wasn’t interested. Must have been a week of her hounding me before she snatched my phone and swapped our details before I could get it back off her.”
She looked from him to Andrew. “If you had his number, why involve me?”
“It was a test.” Andrew’s eyes remained cold and unreadable as he stared down at her.
“It was sick,” Maverick snarled.
Andrew slid him a look. “I admit, Sylvia wanted to track you via your phone to your pride, even went against my wishes and tried it, but you dropped off the radar and we lost you. That’s when I came up with a plan. You would do anything for my sister, and if I got her to call you, she would undoubtedly lead me straight to you. We needed to get the new facility up and running first. The moment it was ready for you and Rune, I staged my capture and set the ball rolling on bringing you in.”
When his gaze shifted back to her and darkened, Bronwyn tensed.
“And you failed the test.”
&
nbsp; She shook her head, a weak denial that did nothing to ease the guilt slowly building inside her. “You’re wrong. We came to save you. I didn’t tell Maverick anything. He overheard me talking to Sylvia and I had to tell him you’d been taken captive. He offered to help me rescue you.”
“You picked him over me,” Andrew growled, flashing fangs. “You’ll always pick him over me.”
She reached for him again as tears burned her eyes, a desperate need to make him see that she hadn’t betrayed him sweeping through her, to make him see that she loved him, but he evaded her.
“We’ll make it interesting. A big opening night fight to draw the crowds.” Andrew moved to stand in front of Maverick’s cell. “An old friend of yours was more than happy to return to the fold in exchange for the chance to bloody his fists and fangs again. If you can defeat Klaus, then my sister goes free. If you fail, then she’ll be next to fight him and you’ll have to watch.”
“You son of a bitch. She’s your sister! How the hell can you do this to her?” Maverick launched at the bars, slamming into them as he reached an arm between them. He growled as Andrew took two steps back, placing himself beyond Maverick’s reach. “Let her go. I’ll fight if you let her go.”
Bronwyn shook her head and pushed to her feet, moved to the bars that separated her and Maverick and gripped them. “No. You can’t fight him. No.”
The polar bear would kill him.
“Neither of you get a say in the matter. Maverick fights Klaus, and if he fails to beat him, you’re next in the cage.” Andrew swept away from them, Sylvia following close on his heels.
Bronwyn sagged to her knees, all her strength leaving her. She couldn’t believe her own brother would do such a thing to her, to Maverick. She wanted to bury her head in her knees and hide there, some part of her desperate to believe this was all a nightmare brought on by the tranquiliser and that she would wake up to find both she and Maverick were safe.
Maverick came to her and placed his hands over hers, gently eased them away from the bars and held them.
Awakened by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 5) Page 12