by Amy Green
The standing wolf came closer, his head still lowered, and Tessa’s heart pounded, but she stayed still. The wolf wasn’t snarling or threatening her. He circled her once, then walked toward a wide staircase that was set far back in the gloom. He was telling her to follow.
She did, climbing the carpeted stairs, holding on to the worn, polished hand rail. She glanced back down at the sitting wolf, but he hadn’t moved—just turned his head to watch her. She wondered what Heath’s wolf looked like, if it was bigger than these wolves. Since the one leading her was taller than her waist, it was hard to imagine a wolf bigger than these ones.
He led her through the big double doors that were propped open at the top of the stairs, and Tessa realized she was in the upper level of the theater, with a view of the darkened screen. There was no movie playing—since it was barely seven o’clock in the morning—and no one in the seats below them. The entire place was eerily quiet, as if only ghosts lived here.
Except that in the upper gallery, the seats had been cleared away, leaving an open area. And there were people up here. Four men, sitting on wooden chairs, one of them with a can of beer in his hand. Around them were littered duffel bags, empty cans, empty food containers. This was where the Martells had moved camp. And this, Tessa remembered, was where Charlie Donovan had liked to do business. That explained the open space with the chairs cleared away.
The man holding the beer was Xander Martell. Heath had described him to her, and this was him to the letter: a big man, with dark hair grown shoulder-length, stubble on his jaw, and a jacket of military green. He was drinking a beer at seven o’clock in the morning, and when she looked at him he gave her a wide, white-toothed grin.
“We finally meet, sis,” he said.
“Hello, Xander,” Tessa said.
He looked her up and down, taking in her jeans and red top—his look a little creepy for a half-brother—and then stood. He walked toward her slowly, still holding his can of beer, and his expression went hard and hostile when he got close. “Well, well,” he said, taking in her scent. “I see why you walked in here like you own the place. You’ve gotten yourself mated to a Donovan. Which one?”
Tessa paused, trying to remember the role she was supposed to play here. Xander’s harsh gaze was throwing her off. “Heath,” she said.
“Good choice,” he said. He circled slowly around behind her, just as the wolf had. “The man-slut. Easiest to get him to fuck you, for sure. Not a bad strategy, sweetheart.”
She wanted to slap him and throw up at the same time, give him a hard kick to the balls, but she made herself speak, her voice calm and cynical. “A girl has to do what a girl has to do, you know? It’s just business.”
“Just take your clothes off and hold your nose, huh?” Xander said, his tone nasty as he rounded to the other side of her. “I hope he gave you a nice ride, at least. You look like you could use one.”
He was trying to provoke her. Even she could see that. He was trying to get her to react so he could figure out what she wanted. “Look,” she said, “I came all this way. Don’t you want to know why?”
“Since you smell like Donovan, I assume it isn’t to join my crew,” Xander said.
“I don’t care what I smell like to you, shifter,” she snapped, staying in character. “I came here to talk to you. They don’t know I’m here.”
Xander was facing her again. There was intelligence in his eyes, but it was tempered by a weird light that made her nervous. Xander is out of control, Tyler had said. He’s going to get us all killed. He was staring at her, with his beer held casually in one hand and a smarmy grin on his face, but his eyes betrayed the fact that he was very, very angry. She had to remember that this man saw her as a rival, that he’d tried to kill her, and that he’d just discovered that her mating had foiled his plan. Xander is going to lose his shit, Tyler had said.
“I’m supposed to believe a Donovan bitch hasn’t told her master where she is?” Xander said, the hate in his voice at odds with how softly he spoke.
She took the opportunity to play that up. “He’s not my master,” she snapped, as if angry at the implication. “He’s just someone I used to get what I want, which is protection.” She really hoped that Heath, wherever he was in this moment, couldn’t hear her, even though this was part of the script. She found it hard to say the words. “I didn’t want to get in bed with a Donovan, Xander, but since you tried to abduct me, I didn’t have much choice.” She looked around at the three other men, who had been joined by the two wolves. “Is this your whole posse?” she asked. “If you think you’re gonna take all of Shifter Falls with this many men, you definitely need my help.”
24
Xander took a swig of his beer. “How exactly do you propose to help me?”
“I just spent the whole night listening to the Donovans argue,” Tessa said. “They captured that kid who set fire to the Black Wolf, and they got it out of him that you’re here. But they can’t agree on anything.” She shook her head, like she was disgusted. “They’ve been at it all night, and I can’t stand it anymore. Those losers are never going to get anything done. So I’m here. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I don’t care who wins, I just want this whole thing over so I can forget about werewolves and go back to my life.”
Xander laughed. “You think you can just go back to your life, now that Heath has mated you? You’re his for life, honey. That’s the deal you made.”
She shook her head, thinking I’d better be Heath’s for life. I’d better be. “He’ll probably just go back to his ways,” she said. “You said yourself he’s a man-slut. He’ll fuck anything that moves. He’s Charlie’s son, after all, and Charlie screwed whoever he wanted.”
“He always was a worthless piece of shit, or so I hear,” Xander said. “Lazy, getting by on his looks. Spoiled by the alpha.”
“Charlie never took a mate,” one of the men at Xander’s shoulder pointed out. He was young, like Tyler, with longish brown hair and a goatee. God, he’s been recruiting from the young, inexperienced ones. “He never had an official woman. That’s why he screwed around.” He was watching her sharply, as were the others.
“Who cares?” Tessa tossed her hair like this didn’t matter. “You shifters make a big deal about this mating bond, but Charlie never respected it. Why would Heath? He’ll just go back to hounding like he always has and leave me alone.” She hoped her acting was believable. She didn’t even want to talk about Heath sleeping with other women. Even as part of a lie.
“So you come in here and you want me to believe this story, that you’re gonna help me defeat the Donovans,” Xander said cynically.
“Sure,” Tessa said. “You want territory, right? Why not? There’s plenty around here. God knows the Donovans don’t know how to run a fucking thing. They can’t stop arguing long enough to get anything done. Brody is pigheaded, Devon has disappeared, Heath only thinks about sex, and Ian just wants to fight all the time. I’m telling you, it’s stupid.”
He wasn’t quite fooled—not yet—but Xander’s eyes lit up. “I knew it,” he said. He turned to the men behind him. “You hear that? I was right. We can take this place.”
“It’s worse now that the sheriff has arrived,” Tessa told him. “Ian Donovan already has a prison record. The cops are all over him and he’s freaking out. He’s trying to pin the murders on Devon, since no one knows where Devon is. That’s pissing Brody off. It’s only a matter of time before one of them gets hauled away, and then where will I be? I’ll have mated with that stupid shifter for nothing.”
“And you think helping me win territory is going to make it any different?” Xander still wasn’t quite convinced.
“You burned down my bar,” Tessa said, not having to fake her anger at that. “I worked there. That was my paycheck. You think Heath is gonna move his lazy ass to rebuild it? No, I’m out of a job. And my apartment is trashed, my stuff ruined, thank you very much.” She glared around the room, and a couple of the men
looked away. “So, like I said, I don’t care who wins. I just want all of this to stop so I can look for work, get back to my life, and forget the werewolf mating ever happened.”
She watched it happen, watched it in Xander Martell’s eyes. He started to believe her. He wanted to believe her so badly that her act finally sunk in. “Fine,” he said. “You can join us. It will only hurt the Donovans for us to have Heath’s hot little piece of ass here. Maybe I’ll let my boys have some fun with you, just to make it clear who’s boss.”
A pulse of fear iced down Tessa’s spine. She was supposed to be protected as Heath’s mate. But when she looked around at the other men, they didn’t look enthused. In fact, they looked a little disgusted. No one said a word.
Tyler was right, Tessa thought. They aren’t loyal.
“Boys?” Xander turned and looked at his men. “You heard her. Apparently our girl here likes a little wolf action. I think we should show Heath Donovan who truly owns Shifter Falls.”
The two wolves stood, and the gray-and-white one growled softly. A man with a thick, dark beard stepped out of the gloom and spoke. “We aren’t doing that, Xander,” he said. “She said she’s just here to give us information.”
“She doesn’t get to choose what she’s here for,” Xander shot back. “Take her to the projection booth. I hear that’s where Charlie Donovan had all his fun.” He grinned at Tessa. “The movies weren’t the only dirty thing in this theater, honey.”
Still, none of the men moved. Tessa felt her body tense, a trickle of sweat down her back beneath the red shirt. She didn’t think they’d move on her, but what if they followed orders? How fast could she run, especially with two of them in wolf form?
Xander had moved his gaze away from Tessa and was glaring at the bearded man. “I said take her to the projection room,” he said.
“We need to question her,” the bearded man said.
“No, we need to fuck her,” Xander shot back. “Just think of it as part of the strategy.”
“She’s Heath Donovan’s mate. It’s against the rules, Xander. We won’t do it.”
“There are no rules here!” Xander shouted at him. “There never were!”
Oh, shit, Tessa thought. And then, Guys, please hurry.
“Andrew is right,” said another man, coming forward. “We never agreed to this. We never agreed to killing anyone, either.”
“You all agreed to follow me,” Xander said. “You sound just like Tyler. I should have killed that kid when I had the chance.”
“It was supposed to be clean,” the man said as one of the wolves paced up behind him. “We were supposed to come in, break them down, and negotiate. We never agreed to raping Heath Donovan’s mate or ripping open innocent humans.”
“Or the Silverman,” said the goateed kid. “We never agreed to hiring him either. He’s a killer.”
“Killing people is how you win,” Xander said, his face going mottled with anger. “We have to show force. If the Donovans don’t surrender, we kill them. We kill everyone who is loyal to them. But first, we break them.” He pointed to Tessa. “Starting with her. I can’t kill a Donovan mate—I’ll give you that. But that’s the only rule I’ll follow. Take her to the projection room.”
“Fine,” the bearded man said. He stepped forward and grabbed Tessa by the upper arm. “Come with me,” he growled. Tessa squirmed, but he was much bigger than her, and a hundred times stronger. He dragged her reluctantly to the back of the balcony, where she could see a dark set of stairs and a doorway.
“Please,” Tessa said. “Please.”
“Be quiet,” the bearded man said. When they were far enough from Xander, he dropped his voice to a murmur. “Run when I give you the signal.”
She thought maybe she hadn’t heard right at first. She didn’t have shifter hearing. But she murmured back, “They’re coming. They can help you.”
The man didn’t say anything, but in the dimness she could make out a second door. A fire staircase. She looked at the bearded man, and he gave her a quick nod.
He let her arm go.
And Xander Martell put a knife to her neck.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing, Andrew?” he said in the darkness, his voice low and lethal. “Letting our captive go?”
“He wasn’t—” Tessa said.
“Shut up.” Xander dug the point of the knife into her skin. “You’re not going anywhere, sis. I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to kill you after all, and then I’ll be Dad’s only heir. But now that you’re Donovan’s piece, I’m going to keep you alive long enough to teach him a lesson not to fuck with me.”
She wanted to look at the bearded man again, cry for help, get away—anything—but Xander grabbed her by the back of the neck, his fingers digging into her skin, and shoved her forward. She hit the door to the projection booth, her cheekbone banging against the wood. He jammed the knife harder into her neck. Why don’t they help me? she wondered. Why doesn’t one of them do something?
Then Heath grabbed Xander off of her and threw him to the floor.
Tessa twisted around, still pressed against the door. Heath and Xander were locked in a fight, Heath on top, his hands pressed to Xander’s throat. Xander snarled and swung his fist, punching Heath in the eye at the same time as he gave Heath a knee to the gut. Heath kept his hold, but his balance wavered and the two shifters rolled, trying to gain dominance.
The bearded man—Andrew—stepped back, but the stairwell door banged open and Ian came through. He slammed Andrew back against the wall in one movement.
And behind them, coming out of the shadows, was Brody. He’d come over the balcony rail, and he stood with the last of Xander’s men and the two wolves surrounding him, facing him, the wolves snarling, the men braced for a fight, their expressions uncertain.
Heath gained dominance over Xander again, his hands still gripping Xander’s throat. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, and Tessa could see the edge of his wolf tattoo flexing as his powerful arms squeezed. Heath lowered his face close to Xander’s. “I’m going to kill you,” he said.
Xander snarled and snapped at him, and Heath jerked his head back just in time.
Ian had Andrew by the neck, and Andrew raised his hands. “I wasn’t going to touch her, man,” he pleaded. “I was going to help her escape.”
Tessa found her voice. “He’s telling the truth,” she said to Ian.
Ian glanced at her, then let Andrew go and moved to join Brody. Heath had subdued Xander, pinning him to the floor, his knee to Xander’s back, his grip pinning Xander’s hands behind him, both men out of breath.
“Okay now,” Brody said, as if he was calling a meeting. His voice was calm, but Tessa knew it was deceptive. Brody was as ready to fight as any of them. “Here’s the situation you guys find yourselves in.” He looked at Xander’s men, including the two wolves. “The Shifter Falls police have surrounded every exit of this building. The roof and the basement are sealed off. The door at the bottom of those stairs right there is covered by cops. So is the front. And we have your leader.” He looked around again. Tessa could hear Xander panting where Heath had him pinned to the floor, but none of the other men made a sound.
“So here are your options,” Brody continued. “You can go back to California. That’s just fine with me. I have no beef with you and won’t take revenge. If you don’t want to go back, you can try staying in the Falls and joining my pack. I’ll put you through a probation period, because of the dead bodies and the burned bar and all, but I need men, and if you keep your nose clean we can work something out. Or,” he finished, adjusting his baseball cap, “you can face the consequences with your boy Martell here.”
“He’s not my boy.” One of the men stepped forward. “He’s not my leader either.”
“You fucking traitor,” Xander growled from the floor before Heath squeezed his throat again.
“You mean it?” Andrew, the bearded guy, said to Brody. “You’d let us surrender and joi
n your pack?”
Brody looked him in the eye. “That depends on whether I can trust you,” he said. “I know it wasn’t any of you that killed the two bodies we’ve got out in the woods. I know that was the Silverman. So if you’re willing to take orders for a while and do some community service, I’ll think about it. That’s all I promise.”
“I’ll take it,” the goateed kid said. “Fuck, I don’t have to think about it. If you can get me out of this porn theater and away from this asshole, I’ll do anything you say.”
The other men agreed, and both of the wolves sat, indicating they were standing down. Brody crossed the balcony to Xander and looked down at him. Ian had produced a length of twine and bound Xander’s wrists behind him, but Heath still held the man to the floor.
“Here’s the question,” Brody said. “What to do with him?”
“Fuck you, Donovan,” Xander spat. “Fuck all of you. I’ll kill you.”
Brody sighed and cracked his knuckles, glancing at Ian. “It’s a dilemma,” he said, and not for the first time, Tessa could see that behind his calm and casual exterior, Brody was just as hard as the others, if not harder. He turned his gaze to her. “Tessa, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Tessa managed. Her cheekbone hurt and the skin stung where the knife point had dug into her neck, but if she mentioned these things, her mate would probably snap Xander’s neck. “I’m not hurt.”
“That’s nice.” Brody tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling, thinking. “We kill him, we start a war,” he mused. “But he not only tried to have his men rape a Donovan mate, he tried to have her killed. I’m not sure I’m feeling merciful.”