Rise to Love [Rise of the Changelings 1] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove)

by Lynn Hagen

  “How you doing in there, king?”

  Edward ignored the hyena. They had done nothing but taunt him since his capture. He caught the faint dirty yellow eyes looking in on him, the expression mocking. The coloring of the hyenas’ eyes made Edward think of old newspaper. The vibrancy gone, nothing remaining but a brittle reminder of what once was.

  “Why don’t you come in here and find out?” he snarled the threat. “Or are you only brave when there is a door between us?”

  “Fuck you.” The hyena slammed the panel closed and walked away.

  Coward.

  Edward sat on the floor, putting his back to the wall as he looked up at the ceiling. No matter how many times he had searched the room, he couldn’t find one tiny opening to escape through. Being a wererat, he could shift into a creature the size of a large housecat and wedge through almost any opening.

  But the werehyenas had made sure that option wasn’t available to him. The room was air tight except for the tiny window in the door, and that had a sliding steel panel attached to it. What pissed Edward off the most was the fact that he was being used as cannon fodder for the wolves. The hyenas didn’t even want him or his race, not that he was aware of. He didn’t know the local werewolf alpha, but he had heard that Enrique was just and fair. The changeling wouldn’t leave Edward in this situation.

  He prayed that the rumors were true, and hoped that they weren’t. Enrique was being set up, and Edward didn’t want to be used in the alpha’s defeat. But he did want out of this stank-ass hole he was shoved into. The place was disgusting. Mold grew along the stone walls, and there was something small and smelly in one corner. He was not getting close enough to find out what it was.

  Edward growled as he tapped his head against the wall. Just because he was a rat didn’t mean he could be used in such a demeaning manner. His pack was strong, astounding in numbers, and he had fallen for a fucking pretty face. God, he needed to be shot and put out of his embarrassing misery.

  He was never going to live this down.

  “Move away from the door.”

  Edward had tried his best to overtake his guard, but the changeling had caught on at the last minute and been quick enough to get away. They didn’t take any more chances after that. There was another man with him, holding a gun that was aimed directly at Edward’s head.

  “Dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Suit yourself.” The guard cracked the door open and slid the tray in, closing it quickly behind him. As hungry as Edward was, he’d rather starve than eat the slop they were trying to feed him. It was probably poisoned.

  He prayed he found a way out of this situation before something happened to his pack. He had been stuck here for two days and there was no telling what the hyenas would do if he remained locked in this room for too much longer.

  Edward prayed Leon had enough sense to seek out Enrique—even if the thought pissed him of. If his second-in-command didn’t, not only would Edward die in this wretched place, but he would be outed to the bigoted humans as changeling. If that happened, there was no doubt in his mind that he would lose not only his job as a director of IT, but his hard-earned degree.

  He wanted to kill the werelion who thought telling the world they existed was a bright fucking idea.

  Rick cursed under his breath at the sight ahead of him. “Get down.”

  Dorian slid to the floor, wedging himself between the seat and the dashboard. “What’s wrong?”

  “There are police cars outside my home.” The hyenas were relentless. It seemed they weren’t going to stop until Dorian was behind bars. But Rick had a feeling they weren’t looking for the human this time.

  He pulled into the neighbor’s driveway across the street and kept going until he reached the end of the driveway behind the house. It gave him enough cover. He turned in his seat and looked toward his home.

  “Do you think they are looking for me?”

  Sparing a glance down toward the car floor, Rick saw just an edge of fear in Dorian’s eyes. How could anyone be this calm when they were sitting with handcuffs around their wrists and knowing the law was just across the street? He shook his head. “I think they’re looking for me.”

  Dorian pushed up a little higher, resting his upper body on the seat. “Why would they be looking for you?”

  Turning around, Rick settled back. “Because one of those guys killed was my nephew. The werehyenas are trying to take over my territory, and it seems they have found a way to get both of us out of the picture.”

  A puzzled look crossed Dorian’s face. “I can understand why they sicced the cops after you, but why me? I’m human. I have nothing to do with your territory or changelings.”

  This was why Miguel should have never put Dorian up for consideration. The man didn’t understand a damn thing that was going on or changeling politics. “Because, if I chose you, then you are just as important as I am, if not more.”

  “I still don’t understand,” Dorian grumbled.

  “If they took you, or had you arrested, they know I would do anything to get my mate back. I would go to any length to ensure your safety. That makes me vulnerable.” And that was one of the reasons why Rick had put off mating. He didn’t like someone having leverage over him.

  Dorian slid back down toward the floor. “That’s why you shouldn’t pick me.”

  “No, shit,” Rick agreed. The man was turning out to be more trouble than he was worth. Guilt swamped him. No, Dorian wouldn’t even be in this mess if it hadn’t been for Rick. The man would be standing behind the deli counter listening to Jayson and Cherry talk shit about nonhumans. “Why did you let Jayson accuse you of hanging out with vampires?”

  Dorian’s head snapped up, and then his eyes narrowed. “Miguel told me about changeling hearing.”

  “Answer the question, Dorian.” Rick could tell Dorian was stalling. He was used to this tactic in juveniles, not his could-be mate.

  “What do you want me to say, Mr. Marcelo? I’m not sure how I feel about creatures that go bump in the night, but it pissed me off to know Jayson was trying to threaten me. I was standing around in some sort of haze after the “party” at Miguel’s, and Jayson caught me. He wanted to know if I had a few fang friends.” Dorian shook his head and pulled his cuffed hands closer to his body. “If he had started those rumors about fang friends—”

  “You would have lost your job and been some sort of outcast among your peers.” The thought sickened him that Dorian would deny knowing nonhumans and made him feel like a hypocrite at the same time. Wasn’t he doing the exact same thing? Wasn’t he hiding his true nature to keep his job? So why did it bother Rick that Dorian would deny him if ever confronted?

  “That’s not really it, but it does have a part in it.”

  If Dorian had lied, Rick would have driven him someplace safe and been done with the human. As much as the truth hurt, he was glad Dorian was honest with him. “What’s the other part?”

  His head fell back and thunked against the door. “I don’t like people being judged because they are different. Jayson lumps races together. His attitude is, if one is bad, they are all bad. He pisses me off.”

  Rick nodded. He had heard Jayson spouting off his narrow-minded views. Rick couldn’t do anything about it because he wouldn’t be able to explain how he had heard Jayson without giving his secret away.

  “God, I wish I had a key to these things.” Dorian shook his hands, the cuffs rattling. “They are getting irritating as hell.”

  “Let me see them.” Rick reached a hand out. Dorian slid halfway up the seat again and stretched his arms out. His fingers slid over the cool metal. He thought cops used plastic cuffs, but it seemed some still preferred the old-fashioned.

  It would have made things a lot easier if they were plastic. Whoever had cuffed Dorian hadn’t left much room between metal and skin. Rick’s hands weren’t small, his fingers barely nudging under the steel bracelets.

  “Can you get th
em off?”

  “I can, but I might hurt you in the process.” Dorian was human and a hell of a lot frailer. His bone density wasn’t as thick as changelings. If Rick mated Dorian, that might change, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to turn Dorian furry.

  He was beginning to like Dorian the way he was.

  Without thought, Rick began to rub his thumb over Dorian’s skin. It was smooth, creamy, and flawless. He didn’t have scars like Rick did. But then again, Dorian didn’t have a pack to rule, or fight his way through life. It took a lot to damage changeling and leave scars. They healed their wounds on their own, their lycanthropic blood making it almost impossible to kill them.

  On the tail end of that thought, Rick wondered if he could subject Dorian to changeling life. He wasn’t even sure why he was thinking any of this. Hadn’t he argued with himself about not choosing Dorian? Hadn’t he even thought to himself that he needed to find a way out of this mating mess? Rick needed to stop thinking that maybe Dorian had a chance.

  “Are you going to try taking them off or keep molesting my hand?”

  The corner of Rick’s mouth twitched. “I don’t want to break your wrists in the process.” And he could. He could snap Dorian like a twig unintentionally, and Rick wasn’t willing to risk that. “Leave them on until I can get a key. Are they hurting you?”

  Dorian pulled his hands free, but Rick caught them, giving them a slight tug. “Are they hurting you?”

  “They’re cuffs.”

  Within the blink of an eye, Rick had Dorian pulled from where he was crouched. He pressed his lips into the side of Dorian’s face. “Are. They. Hurting. You?” His tone was low, but he let Dorian know he wasn’t going to ask again.

  Dorian swallowed hard enough for Rick to hear the wet sound. “No.”

  He released the human, letting him slide back down to the floor. “Then it can wait.”

  “You don’t like me very much, do you?” Dorian asked as he settled back into the small space.

  “I don’t know you,” he answered honestly. “I know your name, address, and social security number for employment purposes, but as a person, you’re a stranger to me.” Rick hadn’t meant for his tone to be flat, but he was tired of sitting here. He was also pissed that the werehyenas had offered him and Dorian up as sacrifices in their diabolical plan to take over Rick’s pack. He would see every last hyena dead before he allowed any of them near his pack. They were cowardly creatures that Rick wanted to wipe out of existence.

  “At least you know more about me than I know about you.” Dorian shifted around a little bit, but there wasn’t much room. The guy looked uncomfortable as hell. “Are they gone yet?”

  Rick looked over his shoulder. “No.”

  “Perfect.” Dorian sighed. “You wouldn’t happen to know who lives here, would you?”

  Rick glanced over at Dorian. The man was taking this pretty damn well for a human. “Why?”

  “I have to use the bathroom. I’ve been cuffed and on the run since I got off of work yesterday, and my bladder is protesting now.”

  Rick started to tell him to go behind a bush and then stopped. What if Dorian was spotted? “No. I try not to get too cozy with my neighbors. It poses a greater risk of them finding out what I am.”

  Dorian stared up at Rick with his big brown eyes, watching him, studying his face. “It must really suck to be you right now.”

  That was an understatement. “It has its moments.”

  Dorian glanced down at Rick’s thigh. There was no heat or lust in his look, but Rick could feel his thigh tightening under the gaze. “Being human has its moments, too,” Dorian said.

  Rick didn’t understand why Dorian sounded so sad. The human had nothing to worry about. It wasn’t his blood that was on the most wanted list. Dorian didn’t have to tiptoe around society, praying no one found out he was changeling or vampire. It wasn’t his neck on the chopping block if they found out he was nonhuman.

  “I wouldn’t know.” He looked away, confused at why Dorian’s gaze was affecting him so much.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dorian said as he pushed himself up into the seat and reached for the door.

  Rick grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

  “Unless I get out of your car, I’m going to piss in it. I can’t hold it any longer.”

  Glancing around, Rick saw a tool shed. It would have to do. “Go in there.”

  Dorian chuckled. It was the first time Rick had heard his laugh. It was light, nice. “And piss all over their garden tools?”

  “Aim carefully,” he warned and then released Dorian. “But get back in the car quickly.”

  The door opened soundlessly as Dorian got out. He didn’t bother to close it.

  Smart man.

  Rick kept his eyes on the human but continued to watch his house across the street. A warrant was probably in one of the cop’s hands. He wasn’t going to risk being caught. One blood test and Rick’s life was over. He wouldn’t put it past the hyenas to tell the police officers that Rick was not only changeling, but high up the hierarchy. The hyenas were really starting to piss him off.

  He had to walk a fine line as it was. His pack depended on him staying out of jail. There were reports that changelings were being cataloged. The news was disturbing. That meant the government would have records of who was changeling across the nation. If Rick was proven to be a werewolf changeling, then his picture, and information, would be uploaded into a database. No matter where he applied for work, his information would be sent to his employer, telling him that Rick wasn’t human.

  That wasn’t supposed to be happening.

  But it was.

  Maybe Omar’s conspiracy theory wasn’t so far off of the mark.

  His inside informant had told him that the practice was becoming more widespread. Congress was in battle over what to do, and until they decided, no one knew how to treat vampires and changelings. From the way things were progressing, prejudice and fear seemed to be the recipe the humans were using.

  The general consensus was that humans would rather eradicate them than figure out where in nature and society they belonged. They were trying their best to make the dangerous little vampires and changelings go back into the dark shadows where they had lived for so long.

  Little did the humans know that changeling and vampires hadn’t been here the whole time. Their ancestors came from the other side of the veil—according to legend. He wondered what the humans would do if they ever found out there was an alternate universe.

  According to the elders, the veil had closed decades ago. He wasn’t concerned that the humans would find out.

  But if Rick got his hands on the werelion that thought outing them was a good idea, he would torture the bastard for many, many years before killing him. The werelions were a proud race and felt that they should be just as equal as humans. Rick had never dreamed one of them would be foolish enough to come forward.

  That particular lion was on the most wanted list among the nonhumans. Every changeling and vampire alike wanted his head.

  His head snapped up when he heard a noise coming from the shed. Didn’t the guy know how to take a quiet piss? What was he doing, writing his name on the tools? His spine stiffened when he saw something moving behind the shed. The shadow was too large to be Dorian. The human was only around five seven. The shadow was much taller and broader than Dorian was.

  Rick eased his door open. He knew the cops hadn’t spotted him hiding behind this house. He had been watching them. If they knew Rick was over here, the entire force would have the house surrounded by now. He slid from the car, crouching low, circling around the back of his car, and then moved quickly toward the shed.

  Just then Dorian walked out.

  Rick placed his finger over his lips. Dorian froze.

  “Hiding from the police I see.”

  Rick scented hyena. Damn, they just didn’t know when to let up. The man hadn’t stepped into view yet, so Rick pushed Dorian toward the ca
r. The human hurriedly climbed inside, shutting the door behind him, not making a sound. If Rick didn’t fear being heard or seen, he would kill the werehyena.

  Backing away, Rick almost made it to the car when another shadow appeared. This time he recognized the blue uniform.

  “Freeze!” A gun was aimed at his head.

  Rick dove into the car, started it, and peeled out of the driveway, hearing shots ring out and prayed his Mustang didn’t get hit. It was his baby. So what. “Grab my cell phone and dial Nathaniel’s number for me.”

  Dorian grabbed the phone lying on the middle console and did as Rick asked. The man didn’t argue. He just began scrolling through the list. He hit the button.

  “Put it on speaker.” Rick cut the wheel, continuing to drive backward when the police car tried to block him from driving forward.

  “Where are you?” Nate’s voice boomed through the car.

  “Being chased by cops.” Rick cut down another street, barely missing a parked car. “I need a diversion. I’m one block south of my home, heading toward Henry Avenue.”

  “Be there in less than five minutes.”

  Rick prayed he had five minutes. The cops weren’t giving up, and he had spotted the werehyena running through the backyards, keeping up with Rick’s car. What the hell did the changeling hope to accomplish by running after him? If he jumped out into the street trying to stop Rick, he would run the son of a bitch over.

  “There’s another car joining the first one,” Dorian said from beside him. “And they look pissed.”

  “So am I,” Rick replied as he pressed the gas pedal to the floor. He prayed no kids were out playing because he was going too damn fast to stop.

  Rick needed to find out why the cops and werehyenas were making cozy. He knew the werehyenas wanted his territory, but this was getting a little too out of hand. There had to be more to this, and Rick was determined to found out what was going on.

  Chapter Seven

  Dorian was in a panic. Who wouldn’t be? He was handcuffed and sitting in a car that was racing away from the police. How in the hell had his life taken such a drastic turn? “What are you going to do?”