Rhylan

by Emilia Hartley

  Rhylan didn’t believe that. He reached and nipped the hem of her shirt with his teeth. She jumped back, a laugh on her lips. She gave him a reproaching look.

  “What? Did you think that meant something?”

  The wolf pulled its lips away from its teeth in response. It knew otherwise, that Thalia belonged with them. It was unquestionable, irrevocable. Unable to hold onto her declaration, she looked away and folded her arms over her chest. The interaction with the other shifter had left her raw.

  Rhylan warned the wolf that she might not be ready. The shifter woman was a blustering firestorm of determination. Whatever she had in her mind could be slowly changed. The wolf was patient, so he reminded him to stay patient. Pushing the issue might push her away from them entirely.

  As if Rhylan hadn’t done enough to push her away already, the wolf shot back. It wanted to argue with him. It thought it could win this fight in the ways Rhylan could not.

  “So,” Thalia began, arms still folded over her chest as she fell to sit on his bed. “What do we do? We know where Javi is, but how do we get him out of there?”

  She was ignoring the most important part. Rhylan had warned her, but she refused to consider it for even a moment. Her brother was in there, whole and waiting for her to save him. All her life, he’d been the one to swoop in and rescue her. He’d argued against her engagement. He’d even saved her from drowning once. The more she thought about it, the more she realized her parents had been absolutely awful at keeping her not only happy, but alive.

  She fell back, letting out a breath until she felt like she might crumple. There was nothing left in her. Miles had returned, ready to drag her back to California. While he said he wasn’t in a rush, they could put it off for only so long before her father flew out here himself. He would drag her back. Kicking and screaming.

  Her eyes drifted toward Rhylan. Would he save Javi for her if she had to leave? The request was there, on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. She couldn’t bring herself to beg for another’s help.

  “Who was he?”

  Thalia shot upright.

  Rhylan slowly turned to look at her. She could see the wolf rising through him, pressing into the surface even though he’d changed recently. His beast was strong willed, at war with the gentle man Rhylan seemed to be. It made her stop and consider him. Everything he’d done so far had been in contest with the strong voice living inside him. A man’s mind versus a wolf’s instincts.

  Had the blackmail been the machinations of the beast? Her surprise at his words bled into a greater understanding. Rhylan was… more than she’d ever expected.

  “He’s my fiancé.”

  He snarled, the sound rumbling through the room. It rattled up her spine in a boneshaking shiver. It should have frightened her. She should have run for the door. Instead, the sensation settled into a warmth in her core. Rhylan stalked toward her. He entered her space, his nose hovering over her own while his eyes burned with something yet unspoken.

  The look made her heart flip. It stole the words from her mouth and the breath from her lungs. Unable to speak, she looped an arm behind his neck and tugged him off his feet. As he fell atop her, she rolled until she was atop him, her hands on his shoulders.

  The beast in him brought his hands to her hips, gripping like he’d never let go. Her heart warmed. The chemistry between them was unlike anything she’d ever thought to feel. It was too bad he was a liar and she needed to use him.

  “I didn’t choose him,” Thalia said, running her hands down his chest until they found the hem of his new shirt. “My father is an Alpha. This was his idea and there’s no ignoring your Alpha.”

  His hands flowed up her waist, over her breasts, and toward her neck. Wrapping one, strong hand around her throat, he tugged her toward him. His lips found hers. The kiss delved deep into her. Her breath stuck as it felt like his tongue brushed her very soul. Her mind spun for a moment, unable to hold onto the plan while she spun out of control.

  One of his hands found her ass and guided her to grind over his cock. It amazed her how quickly she’d lost control of the situation. She sank into him, enjoying the feel of his hand on her throat, of his tongue in her mouth as it found her soul.

  Finally, she pulled back. She gulped down air while her mind settled. She was light headed, so much that she might float away. One thought kept her grounded. It pushed back the wild desires clawing through her and helped her get back on track.

  Her brother needed her.

  Now.

  She rolled off Rhylan. Every step away from him gave her back her sense of mind. He was dangerous, more so than she’d originally thought. He’d quit lying to her, then this burst between them. A trap she could so easily fall into.

  “We need to focus,” she whispered. She had work in the morning. They were precious hours taken from her mission. Miles would inevitably want to see her, too. Now that she knew where Javier was, she wanted nothing more than to run back and stage a brave rescue.

  But, she’d seen what those people were like. Rhylan had experience tricking and outsmarting them, but how many times would they fall for the same tricks? How many times could he sneak in without getting caught himself?

  Thalia was suddenly concerned for his wellbeing, too. Once a pawn in her plan, he was quickly becoming more. A lover? A friend? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she couldn’t afford to hurt anyone else in her mission. It made her curse her brother. If he hadn’t been so foolhardy. If only he’d stayed home with her.

  “The hunters are led by a matron. She’s the one skilled in soul magic, siphoning from the shifters they catch like they’re batteries.”

  When she turned, Rhylan stood over the desk, his back to her. His shoulders rose and fell with his breath. He fought against himself, against his wolf.

  “Sydney had her in custody, but her family posted bail recently. We need to be careful around her. So far, I’ve only seen parlor tricks from her. She uses the soul-magic to make herself sneaky and get the upper hand, but I’m sure it has other uses. I don’t want either of us getting in that kind of crossfire.”

  She licked her lips. It needed to be now. She needed to get Javi out of there before they destroyed him. Before the brother she loved was gone. The thought twisted her heart, wringing out the last of the lust she’d felt moments ago. She glanced at the sliding glass doors before the balcony and the landscape beyond it, hands fisted at her sides.

  Javier was out there.

  “Did you hear me?” Rhylan caught her shoulder, spinning her around.

  Without realizing it, she’d stepped toward the door. Her hand was on the handle, ready to shove it open and leap over the balcony railing. As if she touched fire, she snapped her hand back.

  “They nearly had you, too. Is that what you want? You want to run in there blind and alone to become one of their batteries?” His voice hitched, as if the words physically hurt him.

  She swallowed and shook her head.

  “Then let me call in some favors. My… my Pack might be able to help us.”

  “You say pack like you’re not used to it.”

  “I’m not. It’s a recent thing.”

  Unable to tear her mind away from the sight of the farmhouse, from the thought of her brother, she returned to her seat on the edge of the mattress. “Tell me. I need…”

  He nodded, understanding. Rhylan was back, his wolf shoved aside for now. His head fell back, and he studied the ceiling above him for a long while, silence stretching. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as she would have thought. She propped a pair of pillows against the headboard and settled back, strangely at ease in his presence.

  She tried not to think too hard about what it might mean. Her life was laid out for her, no matter how hard she fought to be free of it. There was no room for anything she might want.

  None.

  “Remember how I said this family of hunters siphons the souls of shifters? They can drain the soul and leave
nothing but a shell behind. We aren’t sure how that affects shifters, but we know this one wanted to die. She seemed incapable of controlling herself without a soul, attacking my friend’s human mate.”

  Thalia followed, putting the pieces together. “You mean the cop? She’s a shifter now?”

  Rhylan nodded. “She almost wasn’t. It almost killed her. I had to bind us as a pack to force her body into accepting the magic. If I hadn’t done so, she would have been burned from the inside out.”

  Thalia cringed. “Did you want to be part of a pack?”

  Rhylan paused, considering his answer. “At the time, I wasn’t prepared for it. Now that I have them, I’m grateful. Although I haven’t gotten much of a chance to talk to Jax about being a shifter.”

  He turned around, phone in his hands. She realized he’d been texting the entire time.

  “I contacted them. Asked them for help.” He gestured to the phone in his hand. “They should be here in a little while. I think they gave up his room here and started living in her place in town.”

  ***

  Rhylan’s lips still burned from the kiss. He wanted nothing more than to take her again. Over and over again. Thalia’s small lips in the shape of an O filled his mind. The echo of her moans filled his ears.

  He stayed on the other side of the room, yanking the desk chair away from the wall and falling into it. He tapped his heel against the floor, counting the moments if only to keep the wolf away. It wanted more. It wanted all of her. But, he kept his human mind distracted.

  She’d pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her cheek atop them. “That isn’t going to help you any, you know.”

  He stopped tapping his heel. “Huh?”

  She gestured to him, all of him. “What you’re doing. Fighting against your wolf is only creating a divide. It isn’t going to fix anything.”

  He laughed, a sharp sound that cut through him. If only she knew. The beast inside him was a base creature that he needed to rein in.

  “I’m serious,” she continued. Concern flickered over her face, filling him with warmth. “You’ll never feel like yourself unless you try to find a balance.”

  “I’ve tried.” His voice strained.

  She shook her head. “Clearly not hard enough.”

  “You don’t get it.” A growl slipped through him. He gripped the arms of the chair, the wood groaning and creaking as his desires rose through him. “You don’t understand what this thing wants from me. If I let it go, let it do what it wanted, you’d hate me.”

  “I mean, you already did mighty fine doing that on your own.”

  He wanted to roar in the face of her humor. She made light of his struggle. Her voice wormed its way inside her chest and wrapped around him. Where she should have made him feel serene, it only riled the beast. He wanted to bend her over. Take her while she screamed.

  “Hey,” she said, pulling him back.

  His eyes snapped open, just now realizing he’d closed them at all. The room came into sharp relief. Thalia unfolded and moved to stand before him.

  “I’m not saying give the beast exactly what it wants at all times. I’m saying give it parts of what it wants. The parts that agree with you. I don’t what it’s like to be changed, but I do know what it’s like to not have control.”

  He reached for her. Instead of yanking her into him, he let his hand slide along her arm until it circled her wrist. She let herself be pulled forward into his lap. She leaned against him as he tightened his arms around her.

  The wolf settled. It breathed her scent and found a moment of peace.

  The problem was she couldn’t belong to them. She belonged to someone else. Could the wolf live with that? He highly doubted it. The wolf would not settle for anything other than Thalia. His Thalia. Their Thalia.

  Just then, the door burst open. Sydney strode in, her head high and her mate not far behind her. Where she beamed like the sun, Jax sulked like a shadow. The only time he lit up was when he looked at his mate. There was serenity in that look, the kind Rhylan yearned for. Where was that when he looked at Thalia? All he found when he looked at her was fire. And, it burned him each time.

  “Oh, hey.” Sydney had a smirk on the corner of her mouth. “You are banging the maid, after all. Aren’t you?”

  To his surprise, Thalia didn’t slip away from him. She didn’t respond either. With his Pack present, he set Thalia on her feet and stood to embrace them. He gave Sydney a quick noogie and gave Jax a bro hug, the kind with clasped hands between them. The touch was comforting. It helped to further settle the beast inside him now that they were no longer alone, and sex was completely off the table.

  Although, he wouldn’t mind sex on the table.

  Thali watched the other two shifters with wide eyes. Rhylan just now realized how much larger than her they were. She was a short woman, the width of her hips not making up for the lack of height. Sydney, on the other hand, was downright Scandinavian and towered over his mate.

  “This is my Pack,” he said with a wave of his arm.

  Thalia gave them a weak wave, her eyes flitting from one shifter to the next. At first, he thought she was nervous, then he realized she was sizing them up. Her trust for anyone other than her brother was weak at best. He wondered what happened in her life to make her so defensive. Who’d hurt her?

  Then he remembered what she said about the lack of freedom. She was the daughter of an Alpha, He could not imagine what it was like, but what she’d told him was enough.

  “So, we’re breaking into the barn again?” another voice said. Nora walked through the door, her red hair a mess of frizz, shadows hanging beneath her eyes.

  “Who’s that?” Thalia snapped. She took a small step back. “She smells like the farmhouse, like the people who shot me.”

  Sydney’s head whirled toward her. Her eyes roved over Thalia in search of an obvious wound. “You were shot?”

  “It was a tranquilizer dart.”

  Jax’s growl filtered through the air.

  Rhylan waved him down, unable to meet his packmate’s gaze. “We didn’t attempt to go inside. Don’t worry.”

  “We shouldn’t be going anywhere near it right now!” Jax howled.

  Sydney put her hand on his arm. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, saying something about how Rhylan and Thalia were in one piece. That was what mattered.

  Without an Alpha to lead them, there was nothing Jax could do to reprimand them. He would not step up to the job and Rhylan had no control over himself yet. Even Sydney was still adjusting to the change. They were one hell of a mess, he realized.

  “What were you doing back there?” Nora asked, her eyes narrowed. Her gaze flicked to Thalia.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t answer to you. Not someone who smells like them.”

  The two women stared each other down. Neither would look away, neither would give in. Rhylan held back the urge to sigh with annoyance.

  “She was one of them. She defected to help us.”

  Thalia’s lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn’t buying it. The trip in the back of the hunters’ van had been enough to scare her into caution. More so than usual.

  Eventually, Rhylan got everyone to take a seat. Sitting helped to relieve the rising tensions in the room. Jax and Sydney took the desk chair he’d carved nail marks into. Nora sat on the floor near the door, still unable to look away from Thalia. His mate sat on the far end of the bed, as far as she could get from the Pack and Nora.

  He realized that both women placed themselves near easily accessible doors. It would only take a single motion for either to be out of the room should anything happen. The thought sat uneasily in him. He wished he could make them all behave, make them get along so there would be no hiccups in their mission.

  The mission itself was up to Rhylan and Jax. Sydney, because of her job, could not go near the farmhouse again. Cordelia could claim harassment and Sydney would lose the job she fought so hard to maintain. It left them near empty
handed. He did not want to risk Thalia. Part of him wanted to beg her to stay here while he went and found her brother.

  He would do anything for her.

  Halfway through the plan, Nora’s head snapped up. Her eyes widened, as if struck. Her gaze narrowed in on Thalia, taking her in from head to toe. Rhylan watched her heart rate elevate and her skin flush. Her chest rose and fell with the beginning of hyperventilation.

  He rose from his seat and moved toward her. The wolf was sated, and the logical part of his brain was in control for once, allowing him to access the knowledge he’d spent years acquiring.

  “What is it? You’re going to have a panic attack if you don’t work through it.” His words were rough, but he could not solve her issue without first knowing what was wrong. He looked her over, searching for signs of some other pain.

  But, she didn’t respond. She reached for the door knob and lurched from the room.

  Chapter Eleven

  Thalia slipped outside, following the human woman. She suspected the worst, waiting to see her crawling toward her fellow hunters to inform them of a room full of shifters ready to be harvested. Instead, the human woman simply paced the parking lot. She walked back and forth, hands lifting her hair from her neck as if she were too warm.

  Was the human woman afraid of them? It hadn’t seemed that way when she first stepped into the room. The woman had come across as strong and guarded. What she’d become since leaving the room was a mess quickly falling apart.

  Thalia felt for her, quite against her will. Rolling her eyes, at herself or at the human, she wasn’t sure, and stepped forward.

  “Hey, you alright?”

  Nora slammed to a halt at the sound of Thalia’s voice. She said nothing.

  Thalia resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. She was trying to help, but the woman had become a wall. If she didn’t want help, Thalia could turn away. Something kept her feet rooted. Call it instincts, call it a gut feeling. She stayed, waiting for Nora’s explanation because she knew she needed to hear it.