Taming Her Mate

by Kathy Lyon

  Ryan had the benefit of surprise. He jumped the two guys who’d been about to rip through Emory, but they were both big men with brass claws and superhuman strength. Ryan fought quickly and with a steady hand, but it was a losing battle. He could handle two to one, but as soon as he knocked the closest one on his ass, another stepped into the fray. Not to mention the growls of actual wolves coming from somewhere close by. It would be seconds now until they attacked. And even though Emory was fighting like a demon against Wade and another attacker, he had the same number problem that Ryan did.

  It was the same as when Nanook had the hybrids attack him. The sweat, the smell of blood, and the steady, growing ache in muscles that were already well past tired. How many life-or-death fights had he faced in the last week alone? This time added a flash of metal, bright and deadly. He blocked one of the bastards, but pain burst through as metal cut into his forearm. He adjusted just as another blow tore into his shoulder.

  Pain. So much pain. He was going to die now.

  The knowledge almost felt welcome. Ever since Nanook set the hybrids on him a week ago, Ryan had felt like death was stalking him. He was going to die violently, if not under the hybrids, then in the sewer. And if not there, then now against souped-up werewolves who were staging some kind of pack coup.

  He dug deep, searching for an escape. He ducked and pivoted, he watched his opponents and tried to keep track of new threats. And he fought with precision, power in his punches like never before, speed that hadn’t been there two days ago. A dozen times he thought he was too slow to dodge a strike only to hear the whistle of the brass claws slip past him. He closed in with one werewolf, managing to grab its head and twist hard when he shouldn’t have had the speed or the strength. The wolf went down while Ryan spun to take on the next.

  He felt the energy of a shift hovering close, but he was in sneakers. It would only take a second to toe them off before shifting, but he didn’t have that kind of time. He could just bust through them, but he knew from experience that it still would foul his footing for some very important seconds. So he stayed as he was and fought as he’d never done before. But even that strength wasn’t bottomless. He started to flag, his breath coming in harsh gasps. He took a hit on his side and felt the hot slick of his blood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emory go down. The alpha had taken out two of his attackers, one man and one wolf, neither of which was Wade. Ryan had finished off three—two men and one wolf. But that left three more somewhere, still alive and lethal.

  Damn it! He wasn’t going to make it. And now Frankie would have no one to back her against her brother. No one to tell her that her father had been betrayed by his own men. And no one to hold her when she sobbed out her grief.

  That was unacceptable. He had to survive if only to help her through her pain.

  Then something hit him from behind. Claws? A bullet? Who the hell knew? But the force of it threw him forward. He landed on the wolf coming for his throat, startling them both as he rolled to the side. But he was on his back then, his belly exposed and—

  Gunshots. Several in rapid fire.

  He saw the wolf shudder from the impact. The only reason Ryan hadn’t been hit yet was because he was on the ground already. But that wouldn’t last. He had to get up. He had to move away while the wolves were distracted.

  He rolled to his stomach and crawled. His leg wasn’t working right. Neither was either one of his arms. Still, he dragged himself a foot, maybe two. But in the end, he realized he’d failed. Not only himself this time, but Frankie, too. The thought stole the last of his strength. Not in an ebb of power. Not in the way of a slowly dimming light.

  He went dark, like a candle finally guttering out.

  Chapter 18

  Frankie slipped inside the community center doing her best to be inconspicuous. It wasn’t going to work. Her brother had spies everywhere and someone would spot her soon, but she had to find her father. He was the only one who could end this without bloodshed.

  She’d spent the better part of the day visiting each of her supporters inside the pack. Every single one of them—Noelle included—had been rounded up and taken to the community center “for their own protection.” A few had gotten off a message to her via social media, but most of them simply weren’t home. But she saw them now, isolated into a small group near the nurses’ office.

  Hazel was there, unconscious on a cot. Noelle played with her boys nearby, her expression haunted. They were guarded by one of her brother’s thugs who wore a pistol on his hip and looked menacing next to the barrier sign, which read “Infected Area. Stay Back.”

  That was total bullshit. The only thing they were infected with was common sense and her friendship. But at least they weren’t being hurt, just turned into pariahs. She sighed as she looked around and wondered how to find her father. He never missed an opportunity to glad-hand, so he ought to be obvious as he worked the room, telling everyone how he was making sure they were safe during this crisis. She’d intended to talk to him in the middle of the pack, lay out her case, and pray that her father and the rest of the pack saw what was happening.

  But she couldn’t do that if her father wasn’t here. Which made her wonder exactly what had happened to the man. Had Raoul locked him up? Did her brother have so much power that he could imprison the alpha without consequences? If so, then she’d waited too long to make her move. He was in control, which meant she’d have to directly challenge him in a dominance fight. And there was little hope that she could survive that.

  She slipped along the side of the room, moving casually through the chaos as she studied those present. Most of the pack was here in small clusters sharing food, watching kids, or sleeping on cots. A couple wolves prowled the edges of the building, both loyal to her brother. How Raoul was keeping everyone here was a mystery. The citywide quarantine was lifted. Detroit was returning to normal. She needed more information—

  “There you are! I was so worried!”

  She turned at the sound of her brother’s voice. She heard the false sincerity in his words and wondered if it had always been there or if she’d just now started noticing it. Either way, she lifted her chin and steeled herself for a confrontation.

  “Raoul, you look very dapper.” Wavy dark hair, heavy horn-rimmed glasses, and a silver pinstriped suit all combined to cut an almost regal figure. Her brother had always gone for the geeky look—mostly because he was a geek—but Delphine’s influence had him tripped out in the latest GQ fashions. And speaking of the bitch, she paced beside her man as a full wolf in spandex leggings. She looked ridiculous, but anyone who sneered would get an up close look at her sharp canines. Frankie didn’t sneer, but she also didn’t give the woman any attention. That was the best way to annoy her.

  He brushed her compliment aside. “Where have you been? It’s childish of you to disappear like that with everything that’s going on. We’ve been worried sick.”

  “I’ve been checking on our people, Raoul. It’s what a true leader does.”

  He reared back, his brows arched. “A true leader protects the pack, Frankie. That’s what I’ve been doing, and you made it harder by running around and hiding from us. This isn’t a game.”

  She bit back her hard retort. It wouldn’t help anyone if she got into a childish spat with her brother. Instead, she focused on the business of the pack. “Why have you trapped our people here? What threat are you protecting them from?”

  He gaped at her. “From the bears, you fool. They’ve declared war.”

  “No, they haven’t. You have.”

  He rolled his eyes. “If you would check in regularly instead of pursuing your own amusement, then you’d know that they have.”

  “How—”

  “They poisoned the city! If that’s not an attack, then I don’t know what is!”

  His words were loud and all around them, pack members nodded in agreement. “The bears didn’t do that. You’re the one who—”

  “The police found the
proof today!” he cried, his voice booming across the space. “They raided a storage area filled with the poison. It was in the back of a Chinese restaurant deep in grizzly territory.”

  Hell. He was up to date. And he was pulling the pack around to his point of view. She needed to contradict his lies right now or everyone would blithely go along with her brother. “They didn’t do this,” she said, trying to keep her voice even and calm. “They’re the ones who told us not to drink the water.”

  “I told everyone to avoid the tap! And Father.”

  She shook her head, stunned that people were still nodding at such obvious lies. “You created the serum, Raoul. You had Brady and our pack dump it in the water.”

  He huffed out a frustrated breath. “Why do you say such things? I created a vitamin for our people.” He turned to the room at large. “Didn’t it make you feel strong? Didn’t you like how it made you healthy and vibrant?”

  “It’s an addictive drug—”

  “Because of the bears’ tainted water. But that was their plan all along. Weaken us so that they can take over.”

  Oh God, he was twisting everything to make it the Griz’s fault, and the pack was buying it. They just couldn’t accept that one of their own would knowingly poison them. And who could blame them? He’d injected the shit straight into her veins and she still struggled to believe he’d done it.

  “The Griz don’t want to take over. You’re the one pushing for war.”

  “They are trying to exterminate us! But thanks to my vitamins, we’re stronger than ever. We’ll punish them for hurting us and the city we love.” All around them, people were clapping as they got caught up in Raoul’s enthusiasm. He turned to her. “So sister, are you with us or against us? Are you one of the pack, Frankie? Or a bear lover?”

  She winced at his phrasing since it was true. She was well on her way to being a bear-lover and that would not play well with the pack. “I have spent my whole life supporting the pack, and everyone knows it. I built this center for us.”

  “Yes,” Raoul said gently. “You helped Father a lot with that. A pretty face always gooses the fund-raising.”

  She was a hell of a lot more than a pretty face, but his supporters took their cue from him. They looked like they wanted to pat her on the head and send her off to play with dolls. So she looked away from the men to see the women. Surely, they knew her worth. They remembered the times she’d babysat their kids, fought for improvements in the neighborhood, made sure the walk to and from school was safe.

  But when she looked to the women, they weren’t saying anything to help her. Some flashed her a brief smile, but most were occupied with their children who were getting stir crazy in this confined place. Some were taking care of food, others helped with diaper changes, toddler fights, or reading to sick kids. And wasn’t that the problem in a nutshell? Even in this day and age, the men still had time for politics while the women—many of them working professionals—spent all their spare time managing food or the kids. They might remember when she lent a hand, but they certainly didn’t have time to support her in the middle of pack politics. They just wanted to get home and get back to a normal routine.

  “Where is Father?” she said. She was losing the public opinion battle, so she had to focus now on their father. He certainly saw some of Raoul’s faults, assuming he wasn’t too addicted to the serum to hear reason. If she could convince her father to publicly throw his support to her, then she’d have enough power to end the madness.

  “He’s trying to get the bears to see reason.” He rolled his eyes. “Personally, I think it’s a waste of time. They’re stupid and aggressive.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “The bears are as logical and sane as—”

  “Your pal Detective Kennedy?” he interrupted. “The one who didn’t give a shit about our wolves getting robbed? It wasn’t until I got involved that the crimes stopped.”

  She stiffened. “You didn’t do a thing!” She’d been the one who followed the case, who reported…Oh hell. Raoul had been there when she reported all the details to her father. He would know everything about the case and be able to twist it.

  “While you were strutting around fund-raising, I was working with Detective Bell. I helped him find the thieves—”

  “He never once mentioned you,” she interrupted. “He said that Detective Kennedy did all the work in solving the case.”

  Raoul snorted. “If he did, then why didn’t Kennedy arrest the thieves? That didn’t happen until he was off the case.”

  Damn it, when did he get this good at twisting words around? She gritted her teeth and headed for the exit. “I’ll take this up with Father. You go ahead and strut around making yourself look important while I—”

  “I’ll tell you one thing the bears did,” he interrupted, his voice loud. “They helped bring shifters out into the sunlight.”

  Frankie spun around. Here it was. The main purpose of everything Raoul had done. “People are dying, Raoul. And shifters need to stay in the shadows.”

  “Why?” he challenged. “Look, I’m not saying what the Griz did was right—”

  “They didn’t do it!”

  “But have you seen the YouTube videos? People are recording the shifts. We’re getting video. It won’t be long now—”

  “Until magic is exposed? And how well has that worked in the past? Are you asking for a volcanic eruption? An earthquake to rip apart the city?”

  Raoul stared at her in pity. “You don’t understand science or magic. It’s not your fault you’re not as smart as I am.”

  Had he really just said that? “You have got to be kidding—”

  “Magic isn’t alive any more than static electricity or gravity.” His smile was condescending. “Come out of the Dark Ages, sister dear. Magic isn’t some demon or God. It’s just a force that we didn’t understand.” He turned to everyone and held out his hands. “Imagine if we began to study magic like we do electricity or cold fusion. We’re magical creatures. Imagine the power we could harness if we only stopped hiding. If we stopped pretending we didn’t exist. Isn’t it time we came out into the open?”

  “There are more of them than there are of us. You want our children rounded up and studied in some lab?” She hated bringing the kids into this, but that was one of her biggest fears. It was every mother’s fear. Hell, hadn’t that happened just a few miles away in Gladwin? Some asshole had grabbed the teens just before they shifted and started experimenting on them.

  “Of course not!” Raoul cried, looking indignant. “That’s why we need to get strong! That’s why we need my serum to fight for our children! So they can stand in the light as they really are. Werewolves! Proud and strong!”

  Oh hell. The men were really loving that. Especially the ones already hopped up on Raoul’s serum.

  “And what if you’re wrong?” she pressed. “What if everyone for the last few millennia had it right? That magic fights back. It doesn’t want to be found.”

  He sighed. “Only children believe such foolishness.”

  She shook her head. “This is not for you to decide. This is something all the alphas must decide together.”

  He chuckled low and sweet, and for the first time, she saw true evil in her brother’s eyes. “I didn’t decide this,” he said. “The Griz did. I’m just playing the hand that was dealt.” He spread his hands open as if it was the most natural thing in the world to poison a city then use it to expose shifters to the world. God, did no one else see what he was doing?

  “Raoul, think!” she pleaded. “This is not smart.”

  “Oh sister, don’t play with the big boys when you’re not equally equipped.” And then, just in case no one understood that he was making fun of her inability to shift, he curled his fingers into Delphine’s ruff while she jumped forward and growled. The wolf bitch looked magnificent if one ignored the spandex. Thick lush fur, sharp teeth, and a powerful jaw. And didn’t Raoul look like every guy’s fantasy—a so
phisticated man restraining a powerful wolf as if it were nothing at all.

  She almost did it then. She almost shifted into her hybrid state and went to town on Delphine. But this wasn’t the time to reveal her true nature. It wouldn’t win her any favors, and she couldn’t be sure she’d win in a fight against a full wolf. This was an argument for her father. He was the alpha, at least for the moment.

  So she turned her back on her brother and his bitch. Her gaze caught on Noelle’s as she moved, and she saw the woman’s sympathy in her expression. But there was nothing her friend could do. Nothing either of them could do but hope that Frankie could make her father see reason.

  Frankie headed toward the exit, only to be stopped short as the community center’s doors burst wide open and Wade ran in no longer brandishing his gun and looking like a badass. Wade was covered in blood, and his face looked ashen. Worse, she could smell the blood clearly and knew before he spoke exactly whose it was.

  “They’ve got him!” Wade bellowed. “They got Emory Wolf!”

  Horror and a cold fear froze Frankie from the inside out. She struggled to take a breath for a moment, much less ask any one of the questions burning through her brain. Her brother, however, had no such restraint. He reacted immediately, almost as if he knew this was coming.

  “Tell me everything,” he ordered. “What exactly happened?”

  Wade swallowed and reported to Raoul. “We went to the warehouse, just like they wanted. You know. For the meeting.”

  “Did you go early? To check everything out first?”

  “We did everything exactly like you said.” Wade’s eyes were wide and terrified, but he kept talking, emphasizing the wrong words. “Everything. Exactly. Just like…” He choked off his words, but Frankie knew what was missing.

  Like you said. As in, exactly the way Raoul had instructed. Meanwhile, her brother held out a calming hand.