Rizer Pack Shifter- Complete Series

by Amelia Wilson

  Nicole rubbed her arm as if he’d been holding her too tightly. She smoothed down her brown hair. “Can I please go home?”

  “No,” Victor growled.

  “Hold on,” Ian said gently to Nicole. “What is wrong with you?” He asked Victor. “You’re acting like she’s liable to suddenly change and take out the pack.”

  Victor slapped his hand to his own face. “She is.”

  “What goes on here?” Darian asked entering the front room, Cara, the female alpha and Darian’s mate was right behind him. “Where have you been, Victor? Where are Killian and Angeline? I thought they were with you and who is this? You have to have permission to bring anyone here.”

  “I’m nobody, he just picked me up from my pack and he won’t let me go. I just want to go home. Please,” Nicole said sounding pitiful to the alpha pair.

  Cara at least didn’t buy into what she was saying right away as Darian looked like he did. Her golden blond hair was braided close to her scalp in a crown. “Why have you brought her here, Victor?” she asked.

  “Angeline and Killian told me that I had too. They said it would save the Rizer pack.”

  “How?” Darian asked. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

  Victor didn’t know where Angeline or Killian was and he’d been planning on them explaining the why of things. He really wasn’t quite sure what Angeline saw in her vision. Victor simply knew that he had to get her away from Rafi’s pack. He could guess why but he didn’t want to put Nicole at risk.

  “She told me only that Rafi has formed a new pack, one that is going to mean the end of this one and leaving Nicole with him would mean that we would all be killed.”

  Darian approached Nicole.

  Victor could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She was afraid. Victor moved closer to her side ignoring the look Darian gave him. He couldn’t allow her to be scared, he wanted her to know that he was right there with her.

  “You’re a tiger shifter, I can smell it.”

  “Yes, I am but I have no quarrel with you. Only with Victor and I just want to get away from him.”

  More of the pack was arriving. With their keen hearing, no doubt everyone in the fortress could hear the conversation happening in the front room. Errol, Ian’s twin brother without the scars arrived with his mate Onyx.

  Looking around at their faces as more of them arrived, Victor could see them sympathizing with Nicole. She was winning them over with her innocent act. Nicole was anything but a victim, she was going to do something to try and get herself free.

  “I apologize for your being brought here this way. Angeline is never wrong so if she says that your standing with Rafi’s pack will mean the death of my pack I must insist that you stay with us at least until we can clear this up with Angeline.”

  Nicole pushed out more of her fake tears. “Do I have to stay with Victor? He scares me.”

  “I do not fucking scare you, Nicole.” Victor raised his voice realizing too late that she was doing a great job of making him look like a total asshole. “We grew up together. She’ s my predestined mate. I would never hurt her.”

  “He’s not the same as he was when we were kids and that was years and years ago. I don’t know this man. Please, don’t make me stay with him,” her pleading tone was convincing and it made Victor want to bend her over his knee and spank her again, among other things.

  Darian gave Victor another once over as if looking for a hidden weapon. “It’s uncommon to have a predestined mate, even more, uncommon to have one that is not the same type of shifter. Are you sure you aren’t feeling confused since so many of the Rizer pack have been fortunate enough to have predestined mates?”

  “That must be it. You’re confused,” Nicole said. “I understand how that can happen. If you let me go now, I promise I won’t tell my mate about you ripping my pants and your sexual advances.”

  “That’s a little underhanded, even for you, isn’t it?” Victor growled at Nicole.

  Cara and Onyx appeared to be the only ones who weren’t being taken in by Nicole. Victor was grateful for this when Darian’s amber gold eyes flared yellow with rage. Cara put her hand on his shoulder and the look she gave him must have told him more than the rest of the pack was able to get from it.

  Victor could feel many of them looking at him differently, judging him. “It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. I know the truth and so does she. We’ve always known, she and I. Nicole just happens to also blame me for everything that’s ever gone wrong in her life.”

  “You’re mated to someone else?” Darian asked Nicole. “Who?”

  “Rafi,” Nicole lied.

  Hearing her claim Rafi when she refused to claim Victor to her family lit the short fuse on his cannon of that old wound and the rage associated with it. “How dare you claim him.” Victor’s growl shook the walls of the room.

  Nicole jumped away and appeared genuinely surprised by his reaction to what she’d said but Victor doubted any of the emotions she was portraying were truthful.

  “Take it back, Nicole. You will not do this to me, not again.”

  Nicole folded her arms, her wet eyes glared at him. “I do not claim you. I never will.”

  “Twisted bitch,” Victor growled knowing she was hurting him on purpose.

  “Ian, take Victor to eat and rest. He’s not acting like the man we know him to be,” Darian said his gaze glowing yellow again. “I don’t put up with violence of any kind toward women. You will apologize for putting your hands on her and for the language you just used with her.”

  His authority was unquestionable. It made Victor fill with remorse that was not truly his own. The reprimand should have crippled him, but Victor was too stubborn to give in to the shame he knew he didn’t really feel.

  “I’m sorry that you lied again. Sorry, that you are more interested in punishing me than having a real life again, one where we could be happy.”

  Nicole glared at him.

  Her heart is pure ice.

  “I’ll take her to get cleaned up,” Cara said.

  “I’ll help you,” Onyx said, her black hair pulled up in one long curled ponytail.

  Darian turns to Nicole. “If you cause any of my pack physical harm while you’re here, I will take your life as compensation.”

  Ian gripped Victor holding him back when his monstrous roar ripped from somewhere deep inside at the threat against his mate. “He’s just a fool in love,” Ian said with a smile in his voice when Darian answered Victor with a roar of his own.

  Victor was aware of Nicole watching him with a new glint in her eyes. He didn’t know what it meant and prayed it wasn’t Nicole thinking she would rise to this challenge and bring the wrath of Darian down upon them both.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  NICOLE

  “Go with them, Nora,” Darian told the woman with the red hair and intense green eyes.

  “She’s going to escape. We can’t let her do that, I need to be the one to watch her. Me,” Victor pleaded with his alpha.

  Nicole kept her face angled toward the floor. She made mental notes of any possible weapons as they walked into another room, the dining room, beyond that a hallway with doors leading to an inner courtyard.

  This may be my way out.

  “Right inside this room,” Cara directed Nicole. These women were not so easily fooled as the men were but that was usually the case.

  Nicole smiled brightly at her anyway. “Thank you.” The room she was directed into was a wardrobe with a bathroom connected by another door.

  “Do you need any help? Do you know how to use running water?” Nora asked her with her green eyes pinned tightly to Nicole.

  “I do know how, but thank you,” Nicole answered with another smile that was not returned.

  Jolly bunch, aren’t they?

  “Let me show them who is the strongest female. Let me take form.” Her tigress spirit pushed.

  Nicole ignored her even though she was pretty sure the tranqui
lizer was still in effect. Inside the bathroom, she grimaced when there was no window.

  Damn.

  The running water would be a treat. The was hot water and soaps that smelled of lemon and rosemary. It was a luxury she’d not experienced for years. Shedding her torn clothes, her pussy clenched with need at the sight of the ripped crotch of the pants.

  Fuck, I am so turned on I could come with just a few strokes to my clit.

  Thinking of Victor roaring like a wolf, four times larger than his size when Victor warned her, made jolts of excitement vibrate through her body like the best moment in a climax. She thought it was entirely possible that she might have started to come seeing him step up to protect her against an advisory he would not be able to vanquish. That took courage, and she couldn’t ignore it.

  The hot stream of water felt so good she nearly let out a moan and remembered the three women on the other side of the door with their enhanced hearing.

  “I never get even a second by myself.”

  “I have been quiet. I have been good. Let me out.”

  “Exactly,” Nicole said out loud. She washed quickly because if she took her time even a little, she’d be coming in the bathroom for Victor and the women would hear it. While it would be great to get relief, Nicole’s cover would be blown since they’d catch her in her lies if she was orgasming for Victor only minutes after claiming no desire for him.

  The courtyard is probably the best exit.

  “Mate with Victor. We need our baby.” Her tigress pushed again.

  Rafi is good enough. I can’t attach us to Victor any more than we already are attached to him. We need to get out of here. Rafi hates this pack.

  She turned the water off and heard the women quickly silence their conversation.

  Damn, I could have found out what they were saying about me if I wasn’t so focused on Victor. Damn him.

  Nicole picked up the mesh outfit from the floor and exited the bathroom. Cara and Nora both averted their eyes which told Nicole that the two was once human. Shifter born aren’t ashamed of their bodies like humans are taught to be.

  Onyx, on the other hand, did not blink. Her gaze didn’t waiver from Nicole. “You prefer something you can shift in without the clothing getting ruined, right?”

  “Yes. That would be the most useful,” Nicole answered.

  “How big are you as your tiger?” Nora asked Nicole.

  This wasn’t the moment to boast. It would be best if they underestimated her. “Six feet long,” Nicole said.

  “Is that right?” Nora tapped her fingers on her arm. She was looking at Nicole now, over her embarrassment. “I studied the tiger shifters a while back but If I remember correctly, and I do, only the adolescents are under seven feet. Are you in your teens?”

  “I’m twenty-four. Guess I run small.”

  Cara the female alpha exhaled slowly. “I am holding my temper with you she-cat,” she spoke in a calm voice but her dark blue eyes were hard. “I won’t put up with it any further.”

  “I’m a big Tiger,” Nicole admitted. “It doesn’t matter though I can’t shift. No one here is in danger of me.”

  “And when you can shift?” Nora asked.

  Cara raised her light brown eyebrows when Nicole glanced her way. Onyx narrowed her eyes on Nicole.

  “I am formidable, but you have not harmed me. I have no reason to hurt you.”

  “Are you truly mated to Rafi?” Cara asked.

  Onyx handed Nicole a short sleeveless white dress. “I never met the guy but from what I hear he’s not a fan of humans. Are you a human hater too?”

  “Have you murdered humans?” Nora chimed in.

  “I am going to have Rafi’s baby,” she said even though she wasn’t pregnant, one day she would be carrying his baby. “I don’t hate humans, but I’m not a big fan of them either. I have killed humans, yes. They entered the sanctuary of my forest to hunt my kind and my family and I defended ourselves.”

  Nora frowned at this information but nodded. “You are a long way from home. I imagine you would be from the group that settled in Indiana?”

  “I don’t want to talk about my family or my past. My family is dead.”

  “So is mine. You won’t be able to skirt around me trying to stir up sympathy. I believe Victor. If he says you two are mated then I think you are mated. If he says you’re trouble, then you’re trouble.”

  Jealousy stirred in Nicole’s chest. This female was awfully loyal to Victor. Fiercely loyal from the look in her eyes.

  And he said he didn’t’ sleep with anyone else. Freaking liar. That whole mating for life thing is probably just bullshit like everything else out of Victor’s mouth.

  “Good for you. You’re wrong but what good is it to tell you if you’ve already made up your mind?”

  Nicole pulled the dress on, thinking as she did that it was annoying to put on something white when it would undoubtedly get dirty. The material was very silky and stretchy however so as she pulled it over her head she was almost smiling.

  She could climb in this dress. Eventually, she’d be able to shift in the dress too.

  “Why are you denying Victor?” Onyx asked. “We could all smell how turned on you are by him. What good does it do you to deny him?”

  They just dig right in, don’t they?

  “I’m already paired off with someone else. Not everyone gets a happily after.”

  Cara opened the door to the hallway. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ve lost but I know what I saw. You love Victor and you are more than a little pissed at him. My advice is to forgive him. Not that you asked, but coming from someone who used to carry around a lot of anger, I found it a relief to let go of that angry.”

  “Is she back here?” Angeline asked coming up the hallway. She had leafs in her hair.

  “Angeline, the baby, are you alright?” Nicole cried out intentionally interjecting panic into her voice. The women around Nicole rushed forward to help Angeline not letting her get a word in edgewise as Nicole slipped into the courtyard.

  There was one of the blond twins sitting at a table with a beautiful little baby girl. She smelled like Cara and Darian, no doubt their daughter.

  He was talking baby talk to her and didn’t even notice she was there until she was almost to the third story of the building. Climbing was almost like walking for her which meant that the stuff they shot her with was probably nearly worn off.

  “Why are we leaving. There are many strong males here.”

  Shut up. I know what I’m doing.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Errol asked resting the baby on his hip. “He’ll just come after you.”

  Nicole reached the rooftop. “Do you value his life?” she asked Errol. He didn’t answer he just stared up at her from the courtyard bellow. “Keep him here. Rafi will kill him.”

  A door opened in the courtyard and Angeline fired a tranquilizer shot catching Nicole in the shoulder.

  Fuck!

  She dropped down on the roof and pulled it out. The heaviness of her body told her she got a good dose of the stuff before she got it pulled out.

  “Get to the roof. She’ll be out for a few minutes but we don’t have long,” Angeline yelled out below.

  If they thought she was unconscious then she still had time to get out. She crawled up the incline, ignoring the fogginess around the edges of her vision.

  Keep moving. I just have to keep moving and I won’t fall asleep.

  She straddled the point of the rooftop as the world leaned to the left. “Shit,” she whispered. Laying down Nicole clutched at the metal plates used as shingles. Her sweaty hands slid over the smooth surface and her body began to slide down the other side.

  Don’t panic. Grab onto something. Cats always land on their feet.

  The edge of the roof was coming at her quick. She was just about to run out of roof. Falling from so high up would cause her a break. Now wasn’t the time for a break.
/>
  Pulling her body inward she leaped off the edge and flew into the air. The sensation of flying and falling made her stomach drop and clench. The forest line was coming at her fast, if she caught herself in a tree, maybe she wouldn’t suffer a break.

  Half her vision turned black leaving her only a tiny window left to see through. Stretching her arms out as far as she could toward the trees she felt the sharp stab of limbs breaking and cracking against her stomach and face.

  She grabbed hold of a thick branch and held on. Taking the jerk of momentum and only just maintaining her grip on the tree limb. Scrambling closer to the trunk of the tree she tried to prop herself up so that she wouldn’t fall out of the tree if she lost consciousness again.

  CHAPTER NINE

  VICTOR

  “She’s gone,” Cara told him the moment he burst into the courtyard.

  “I thought I heard gunfire. You don’t mean, dead. She can’t be dead.”

  Cara shook her head taking hold of his shoulders. “No, not dead it was Killian’s tranquilizer gun. She’s tough like you said. Nicole took out the tranq and somehow managed to get off the roof. We searched around the fortress for her scent trail. We didn’t find one and so we figure she had to drop back down into the courtyard.”

  “No,” Victor said shaking his head. “If she had the choice she would have chosen to get the hell out of here and away from me.”

  Cara sighed lowering her gaze. “I never have asked about your life before you were forced to join the Herod pack. Is there anything I can do to help you to help her heal. I can see her hurting and I want to help her but she won’t let me in.”

  “You wanting to help her means a lot to me. I am going to go look for her.”

  “We’ll all look.”

  Victor didn’t argue. He needed all the help he could get. Racing back into the house and out the front door, Victor leaned into the wind. He was smelling the air and trying to find any trace of his one and only love.