by Rhea Regale
She detected the tightening of his muscles and leaped to the right as another shot burst out. The dart slammed into the rock where a moment before she had been backed up to. She made it a handful of strides when two wolves jumped into her path, crouching back in preparation to attack. Her paws slid over the loose leaves, her rear slamming into the ground as she broke left.
Another wolf appeared, black jowls peeled back from glistening white teeth.
Aya came to an abrupt halt, lifting her jowls and baring her teeth to the entourage closing in around her. Her muscles quivered with a menacing mixture of stark fear, adrenaline, and anger. No one would take her down. Not like this. She’d fight for herself, for Lenox.
One wolf lunged toward her, coming up a few feet away. Aya retreated slowly, her guttural rumble resonating against the trees and rocks. The distinct click of a new dart engaging signaled the gunman had finished reloading.
Aya made her decision in a split second. She spun around and dodged the gunman’s line of fire as he pulled off another round, but turning her back to three bloodthirsty wolves left her at a great disadvantage.
Sharp claws dug into her hindquarters. She yelped as the bigger wolf dragged her to the ground. He never released his hold on her, digging deeper into her muscles, sending shock waves of fiery pain up her body. She clawed at the ground to climb out from under him, but he overpowered her. She turned over, wedged her back paws against the wolf’s fleshy belly, and threw him off—
Teeth clamped down on her front arm. She howled, a new wave of pain tearing up her arm. The male who took her down recovered from where he landed a few feet away. Aya swatted this new wolf’s snout, her claws raking down his sensitive nose. He released her paw with a high-pitched yelp and shuffled backwards, shaking his brown head as blood streamed off his nose.
Aya scrambled to all four paws and barely had her balance back before something solid whipped her across her shoulders, splaying her over the ground.
The gunman sneered and twirled the barrel of his weapon back to her.
A deafening roar grazed the outskirts of her swimming mind. Leaves and branches exploded, raining down in a gray-green array. Aya gasped as the slow-time reel of this newest wolf barreled into the gunman, knocking him flat on his belly. Tawny fur stood on end. Pointed ears lay so flat against his head that there were impressions left in his fur. His eyes were ablaze with a wild ferocity that caused her lungs to constrict and her heart to speed up.
Riley tore into the gunman’s neck. The man howled. Riley snapped his jaw sharply and a deafening crack echoed in the night. The man became silent and still.
Aya edged closer to Lenox, her attention fastened on Riley. He crouched low to the ground, his large front paws on the dead man’s back, staking his victory behind the trembling growl that rolled endlessly. His teeth shimmered with fresh blood, his snout stained with dark splotches of red.
The three wolves leaped at once.
“Riley!”
“You stay put, Ayasha! Let me handle them!”
The raw bite in his demand froze her where she stood. She lowered herself to the ground, nudging Lenox’s head with her nose while she kept her attention on Riley. If the tranq contained the same concoction of drugs they’d used to sedate Riley earlier, the only way to get him back to the house would be to carry him.
Damn, this wasn’t looking good.
Riley hopped back, his front paw hooking on the strap to the gun. He flowed fluidly from wolf to man within a blink, and swung the gun to the nearest enemy. One round fired, nailing the middle wolf in the throat. The creature dropped to the ground without as much as a cry. Riley regripped the gun and swatted the two remaining wolves with the wide butt, sending both staggering back, shaking their heads.
Aya lifted her head from Lenox’s scruff. Riley spun toward her, eyes glowing with a primitive fierceness that may have poured fear into her spirit if she were his enemy. He knelt down beside Lenox and peeled back one of his eyelids.
“We have to get him home,” Aya said. Riley groaned, slamming the butt of the gun into the ground. Blood stained his face and fingers. She cast a worrisome glance toward the two sneezing wolves as they pawed their snouts with short little whimpers of pain.
“Yeah, no kidding.” He slid his arms beneath Lenox, bowing his head to hoist him around his shoulders. Aya climbed to her feet as Riley settled Lenox into place. His eyes lifted to hers. “He’ll be fine.”
“I’ll feel better when he’s someplace secure.” Aya jutted her nose to the wolves. Their pain must’ve been subsiding because they ceased staggering and pawing. Their beady-eyed glares held steady on them for a tenuous moment. “Uh, I think they’re back.”
“Fucking peachy.”
Aya gauged her opponents. She needed to make sure Riley got Lenox back home. She may have been smaller in stature, more inexperienced than these wild creatures, but she linked with her inner wolf. The feral toxin of survival instincts rushed her and she bolted toward the two standing wolves.
“Aya! What the fuck are you doing? Don’t—”
Aya slammed into the first wolf. Barks and growls sheered the night as she fought for control. Every swat of his paw, she dodged and countered with a half-dozen of her own. Her teeth tore open his chin, his cheek. If she could get to his neck…
A loud rustling caught her attention. She knocked her enemy away in time to see more wolves bursting into the melee. While she was battling, Riley had placed Lenox on the ground and transformed back to his wolf.
“Aya, when I tell you to run, you’d better do it.” Riley stood over Lenox, protecting the unconscious wolf as a new duo crept closer to him.
“I’m not leaving you two.”
Riley snorted, his jowls trembling as they remained taut, baring his teeth to the new threat.
Air rushed by her, ruffling her fur as the two wolves she had attacked leaped past her. All at once, four wolves converged on Riley in a standoff that lasted seconds before they pounced. Aya screamed, but the sound came out as a high-pitched wail. She charged toward the ruthless pack. One wolf whimpered as he flew backward. Another barked out in pain.
Riley clawed out of the center of the brawl. He ran up to her side and nudged her violently with the top of his head.
“Go, go, go!”
“But—”
“NOW!”
Aya sprang forward. Riley held pace alongside of her, switching from one flank to the other. They sped through the forest. Her paws barely touched the ground before she arced in a leap again. The night became an obscure blur, all except for what lay directly in front of her path.
“Faster, Aya. I can’t fight them off and keep you safe. They’re gaining.”
“I would’ve helped—”
“Over my dead body, and that’s what you would’ve had if we didn’t get out of there.”
“But Lenox—”
“We’ll get him. Focus on your speed.” Riley snorted beside her, the strength he expended apparent in his labored breathing. Still, he plowed ahead. Aya wouldn’t let him down. Her heart shattered to know Lenox was left behind. She had no choice but to trust in Riley. If it wasn’t for him, they’d all be dead.
Aya didn’t stop until she bounded up the open expanse of Lenox’s backyard. She dove through the shattered slider and into the dark house. Riley transformed back to human.
“Hurry. We haven’t much time. Grab a set of clothes. I’ll find Lenox’s cell phone.”
Aya leashed in her wolf, melting back to her human form. She hurried down the hallway to the guest room and snatched a handful of clothes laid out over the bed. When she returned to the living room, Riley had a pair of Lenox’s jeans draped over his arm, a cell phone in one hand and a set of keys in the other.
He flashed her a solemn look, and it nearly succeeded in cracking her adrenaline-fortified shield. The aches and burns from her numerous wounds throbbed in time with her hammering heart. Her chest was painfully tight, constricting her breaths. She clung to her
clothes, a weak lifeline in this deadly ocean.
Cries and howls filled the night, their symphonic calls chilling. Aya shuddered, trying to cipher through the events that left a marred streak through her memory.
Riley snaked an arm around her waist and urged her to the front door.
“You okay?” he murmured, the rough edges of his tone dulled by his concern. Genuine concern, she noted. He threw open the front door and ushered her outside. She nodded. “They’re coming up the back hill. Get in the truck. We’ve gotta get out of here.”
Silence struck her, but she did as she was told. An unnerving numbness coiled along her body, squeezing any residual strength she may have had from her adrenaline rush. She stumbled along the driveway when her knees quivered under her weight. Riley scooped her up and carried her to the passenger side of the Silverado. He dropped her in the seat and ran to the driver’s side.
He couldn’t have slammed the truck into drive any sooner. As the back tires spun out, they shot a spray of pebbles across the front yard. Aya caught the reflective orbs of two wolves rounding the side of the house and gasped. Her muscles seized even as their yelps were muffled through the window. They scampered out of range before disappearing from sight.
The tires bit into the ground, gaining traction, and the heavy truck sped ahead. The tension was near palpable in the truck as Riley guided the vehicle at breakneck speed along the dark dirt road. He barely tapped the brakes when they reached the end of the drive, and peeled out onto the paved roadway.
“Aya, you’re in shock.”
Riley reached over to her and had to pry her fingers away from her clothes. Her muscles tightened more. She tried to decipher the scenery as it blew by them. She tried to make any distinction in direction. Even her wolf senses seemed awry. She could smell the blood still on Riley, but she couldn’t smell the heat of masculinity that put her at ease. Everything smelled like metal, copper, resonance of death. Her eyes saw Riley, but his details were so hazy. Were those scratches on his face? Was his chest marred? Was that a bruise on his arm? A circuit in her spirit sparked and sizzled, needing to be reconnected to flow correctly.
“Sweetheart, I need you to come back to me. I need you to help us get Lenox back.”
Aya blinked. Lenox. My other mate. A man who took her into his home when she narrowly escaped the fire that claimed her uncle. The same fire Riley and his pack started. The same pack that attacked her and Lenox in the forest, then attacked Riley. Oh, God. I need to snap out of it. I’m spinning around in circles. I’ll do Lenox no good if I can’t get control of myself.
“Ayasha.” Riley’s voice was brimming with genuine concern. That same concern flashed in his amber eyes, igniting a warmth that sliced through the ice holding her spirit and her mind captive. His fingers tightened around hers. This time, she returned the pressure. “Are you okay?”
“Riley, they’re going to kill Lenox. We need to get back to him,” she said, ignoring his inquiry. He shook his head, the multi-hued waves tumbling over his cheeks. “They will! They were trying to kill us!”
“If they wanted him dead, they wouldn’t have tranqed him. They’re gonna take him prisoner. If I know Liza, she’s gonna make sure he wishes he were dead.”
“Then we must go back.” Aya shook her head, the last of her shock slipping away. She pulled her knees beneath her and turned to Riley. Her heart twisted, her gut cinched. She didn’t want to leave Lenox. She couldn’t! If anything happened to him… If she were to lose him…
“You love him.” Riley’s voice held no resentment, only a hint of resignation. He avoided looking at her. “I know that.”
Aya grabbed hold of his shoulder, allowing him full control of the steering wheel as they sped up the mountainside. She swallowed the truth of his words. “Where are they going to take him? How long are we going to wait before we go find him? It’s almost dawn. If we wait too long—”
“As soon as I get you cleaned up, and those wounds disinfected, we’ll go. We need more muscle, little one. I can’t defeat a pack of rebels on my own.” The truck slowed down. He pressed a finger to her lips, hushing her before she had a chance to get her protest out. “And there’s no way in hell I’ll let you place yourself in any more danger. Lenox can be a frightening wolf to face when he’s enraged, and returning to a bruised and battered white won’t be earning me friendship points.”
“Where are we going?” The sickening churn of her stomach intensified. Every glance at the clock wrenched the need to turn back and help Lenox. The farther along they drove, the more her wolf detected a familiarity with the surrounds.
Aya’s eyes widened. A shutter snapped in place over Riley’s expression, locking the turmoil away.
“One place I know you’ll be safe.”
* * * *
Eliza sauntered up to the fur ball lying on the ground. She nudged the gray-and-white with her bare toe. No response. She lifted her gaze to Jared, who stood on the other side of the downed wolf.
“And the others?” she asked. It took more strength to keep her voice level and calm, but her nails bit deep into her palms.
One out of three. Poor odds.
Jared’s eyes lowered. Kyle fidgeted beside him. He cast a short glance toward their mauled sharpshooter and a second fallen pack member. Two more men sat on a downed tree and nursed severe wounds to their faces, throats, and arms.
The outcome of their planned ambush was not what she had envisioned.
“Well, someone better start speaking before I leave you with no throat to speak from.”
“They got away,” Jared said quietly.
Eliza snickered, rolling her eyes toward the full moon. The gray clouds that had cloaked the forest in darkness for them to initiate their attack thinned. The icy blue light that poured down on her was a brutal reminder of the pack’s failure. She wanted to see the reflection of red on that pristine surface. She wanted that moon to bleed as the spirits wept over the loss of their precious white wolf. She wanted to laugh in the face of fools who bowed down to the old ways and ancient lore passed down from the elders.
Whites were nothing. Their coats may be snowy and pure, their bloodlines rare, but they were wolves no better than the rest of them.
Folding her arms over her naked chest, Eliza trained her attention on Jared. Her malicious humor fled, leaving cold blood in its place.
“It’s quite obvious they got away. What happened to them? Are they injured? Where did they go?” The fury sharpened her voice with each question. She had one wolf, but she wanted three. The two that eluded her pack were the two she wanted most.
Riley, you’ll pay for this, she vowed silently to herself. Oh, yes, he would pay for abandoning her and her pack. A man turned traitor deserved excruciating punishment. But her man turning his back on her for the pleasure he found in that white… Prophecy or not, she’d destroy him.
Lost in the funnel of frustration and betrayal, she barely heard Jared explain what had happened.
“…not hurt. He placed himself between us and them, but in the end, his loyalty was definitely exposed. He left this one for the sake of the white. We couldn’t reach them before they took off in the truck,” Jared said. He turned slightly. Eliza noticed the raw welts and narrow streaks of dried blood across his back. “He kicked up enough of the drive to nail us all with pebbles and stones.”
“And you retreated,” Eliza groaned. She lashed out her arm and grabbed Jared by the throat. Her nails dug into his flesh, and he grimaced. New streams of crimson trickled down to his shoulders. The other males took a step back, out of her immediate reach. “You had a perfect opportunity, and you blew it. You all blew it. Why the fuck didn’t you tranq Riley first? Wasn’t that the plan?”
Eliza shoved Jared back and the man stumbled over the rough terrain. He fell on his ass and wisely remained on the ground. The huntress in her snarled to come out. All she needed was a little provocation and the leash would snap. Blood would douse the night, but it wasn’t the blood she w
anted.
With an agitated growl, she flicked her wrist toward Lenox Carter. She’d deal with these imbeciles until she got what she wanted. Then she’d build a new, stronger pack. A smarter pack.
“Let’s get this one out of the area. If I’m gonna find any solace this evening, might as well be with him,” Eliza sneered. She spun on her heels and dove ahead, allowing her wolf’s lithe body to consume her.
One good thing came out of the evening, though she would never admit it to anyone. She had Lenox. Her body yearned for the expert sexual skill Riley possessed, but her curiosity over this new, incredibly handsome man muted that need.
Tonight, she’d toy with the white’s other mate. She would cover the man in her scent. And if he resisted?
An inner laugh filled her mind and her spirit as she loped down the mountainside.
Lenox Carter would beg for mercy if he dared defy her.
Chapter Eleven
“We have a few coming up the drive behind us,” Riley murmured.
Aya twisted in the seat and tried to see into the black shadows of the forest. A flash of light here, another there. She stretched out her wolf senses, seeking a familiar scent beyond her open window, or the prodding zing of another along the telepathic link. Everything was silent and clean, all except for the whisper along her spine assuring her that they were being watched.
Aya fell back into the seat and cast a glance toward Riley. Well, he was being watched. The stoic expression on his face did not reveal any thoughts that might have been plaguing his mind. He kept his eyes on the dirt path ahead, expertly guiding the large truck up the mountainside.
As the trees thinned toward the top of the hill, the soft yellow glow of lights stretched from the windows of the large house. Riley tapped the accelerator a bit more and the engine rumbled. He sped up until he pulled the truck to the foot of the porch stairs.
Aya didn’t have a chance to grab the door handle before Mase swung the door open, took her about the waist, and hauled her out of the truck. His eyes flashed with possession and malice, trained like a warrior on Riley. His top lip peeled back as a dangerous growl rolled from his chest. Aya shook free of Mase’s strong arms, smoothing out the ruffled shirt she’d changed into on their drive.