Tempted by the Jaguar #3: Ramification (Riverford Shifters)

by Cristina Rayne

  “The females at least,” Jack confirmed. “Sometimes they would inject shit into me that would either force me to shift or turn me into a raging lunatic and put me in a room with Ryder or another guy—a coyote shifter—for a day or two.”

  A look of rage abruptly flashed in his eyes, and for a split-second, Jack was one hundred percent wolf. “I don’t know the coyote’s name or where he was from. By the time I met him, his human soul was completely gone. Only a scared, crazed coyote remained. I get the feeling that those lion bastards put us in there with the intention to induce us to fight. Sometimes we could resist the urge to attack, sometimes we couldn’t. Afterwards, they would measure our brainwaves and draw blood…and other things.”

  “I can’t believe you actually managed to hatch an escape plan in those kinds of conditions. No doubt you were being watched closely.”

  “That’s just where we met each other,” Jack said. “It was where we formed a bond where we knew we could trust each other. You see, sometimes we would be put in that room without the rage juice or with us both in our human forms. We would talk, mostly about random shit like hunting or football, but every so often we would reveal important stuff to each other, a word at a time.

  “When we talked about hunting, he would say phrases like ‘trust a hunter to,’ ‘Riverford’s hunters are pretty tenacious,’ or ‘hunting with my clan brothers has saved my ass more than once.’ It took me a couple of conversations to realize what he was doing. I wasn’t sure if he meant a literal brother, but judging by how many times he brought up the word ‘hunter’ in a single conversation, I figured it was probably a name. He also exclusively mentioned the forest along Riverford’s southern border as well as bitched about how there were now too many apartment complexes built right up to the forest’s edge.”

  He smiled self-deprecatingly. “I talked about braying donkeys a lot.”

  Hunter almost smiled, but the atrocities being revealed made certain that he wouldn’t be smiling anytime soon.

  “In this way,” Jack continued, “we managed to come to an understanding that if an opportunity ever opened up to escape, we would make sure at least one of us got away.”

  “Hence your earlier comment about Ryder being beaten when you last saw him.”

  To his credit, Jack didn’t look away from the steel that was probably in his eyes. “Once a month, they would bring us to the surface into an outside pen, for the sunlight, I suppose. Who knows what those sick bastards were thinking. It was surrounded by ten feet of electrified fence. Then a few days ago, a miracle happened. I happened to kick a rock at the fence and it didn’t spark. Ryder threw another just to make sure the bastards weren’t fucking with us—remember, everything seemed to be an experiment—but nothing happened again.

  “Without the electrical current, the wire was laughably weak. We waited until a couple of the guards closest to where we were standing started talking, and I ripped a hole large enough for us to squeeze through. We transformed and made a run for it, but Ryder was shot in the leg. I don’t know if it was a bullet or tranq dart, but he roared and turned back to charge the guards. As I maneuvered around the pens, the last glimpse I caught of him was in his human form on the ground being kicked by three of them.

  “It took me half a week to cross the state. I stole a car in the first small town I found and drove as far southeast as Temple. I figured being so close to Riverford that traveling in wolf form and avoiding the highways was best. I made it to about a mile outside the city when that bitch found me.”

  He looked down at the bandages down one arm and grimaced. “As you can see, I was seriously getting my ass kicked, but luckily we tumbled towards the edge of a cliff with about a sixty foot drop. I somehow managed to shove her over. It was then that I realized how hurt I was. Frankly, I’m shocked I actually managed to drag myself so far. When I heard the female jaguar with you say your name…I was afraid that I had already passed out from the pain and blood loss, it was too good to be true. I think I was even hallucinating at that point, seeing faces from other victims. That’s why I freaked out when I woke up and saw myself connected to tubes again. I was certain that Retriever or assassin or whatever she was had managed to climb back up that cliff and had found me collapsed somewhere. I hope she broke her neck and is rotting in hell right now!”

  It was probably best not to tell him about his own run-in with the lioness just yet, especially when Jack’s eyes now held a hint of desperation. “Do what you want with what I’ve told you. Tell your Elders everything, some, or nothing. Ryder believed that you could find a way to help all of us so much that he was willing to risk being killed to give me the chance to get to you.”

  Hunter felt a weight equal to the mass of the earth drop onto his shoulders. He closed his eyes, not wanting the other shifter to see his turmoil.

  “It’s because Ryder knew that only I, and our tiger friend, Maxim, are stupid enough, insane enough, to try to take on the lions head on in order to save him,” Hunter said quietly. “Did he know about Anna?”

  “I don’t know. I only learned her name a few weeks ago when a couple of my tormenters were discussing the female tiger shifter over what they thought was my unconscious body. Ryder knew one of the kidnapped shifters was a female tiger, but whether or not he had ever seen her wasn’t something he ever told me.”

  “That they mentioned her recently gives me some hope that she’s still alive.” Hunter opened his eyes and met Jack’s eyes. “There aren’t enough words in the universe to thank you for crawling through hell just to find me, but I promise you that I’ll do everything possible to get our loved ones out of that cesspit even if Maxim and I have to charge in alone. In the meantime, is there anything I can do for you right now?”

  “Can you bring me a phone?” Jack asked. “I need to call my father, my Elders.”

  “Of course.”

  Hunter picked up the cordless phone sitting on the nightstand beside the hospital bed from its charging base and handed it to the wolf. He then stood up.

  “I’ll give you some privacy. Just holler when you’re done. I’ll keep the doc busy if he comes before you’re finished.”

  “Thank you.”

  The genuine gratitude in his voice was almost painful to hear. As helpless as Hunter was feeling at the moment, it wasn’t something he thought he deserved.

  “And Hunter,” Jack called out just as Hunter was opening the door. “You and Maxim won’t have to go at it alone. The Parker Grove wolf clan will stand with you. I’ll make sure of it.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “That pretty much sums it up,” Hunter said into the phone as he stood inside one of the clinic’s empty offices.

  The silence on the other end of the line from Donald Gaither as he had quickly related several key facts of his discussion with Jack had almost been tangible. That the man always with a thousand questions hadn’t asked a single one throughout his entire report was more than a little unnerving.

  “Jack’s spoken with both his family and his Elders. I imagine they’ll be here to move him to one of their own facilities within the hour.”

  “I’m on the way as we speak,” Gaither said. “Martinez, Davis, and both Alvas are waiting for my call. We should all arrive to receive them in twenty minutes or so. Is Kylie with you? Now I know you said this morning that she was stable, but I would prefer you keep her away from the Elders of another clan for the moment. We don’t need another incident in this already delicate situation.”

  Hunter’s heart sank. He had hoped that Gaither wouldn’t bring Kylie up at all.

  “No,” he replied, careful to keep his tone as business-like as before. “Her father called after I spoke with you, and she went to have breakfast with him instead of joining me on my morning run.”

  “Wait—you aren’t with her?” Gaither nearly shouted. “One of the lions’ assassins is doing God-only-knows what in the city, and you left her alone with only a human to protect her!”

  “Spare me th
e lecture, Gaither!” Hunter snapped. “I’m not psychic, damn it!”

  “Call her,” the Elder commanded in what Hunter had come to think of as his “CEO voice.” Too bad that Hunter wasn’t one of his employees. “Tell her you’re on your way to pick her up, and for God’s sake, don’t let her out of your sight. She may be the lions’ next target for abduction for all we know. Take her to your apartment for the time being. Once we finish meeting with the Parker Grove wolf clan Elders, we’ll join you to discuss strategies for her safety.”

  “No way in hell you’re having that meeting with the wolves without me!” Hunter growled. “This is my brother’s life we’re talking about!”

  “I doubt very much we will be discussing or deciding anything more than a time and place for further discussions,” Gaither said dryly. “Clan members need to be warned about this new danger, intelligence gathered about the ranch the wolf spoke of. We must tread carefully, Hunter, no matter how painful it is for you to do so. For now, you can help the clan best by protecting our most vulnerable member.”

  An image of lioness-Kylie roaring at the other lioness flashed in his mind, and Hunter had to lock his jaw to keep from laughing. Vulnerable his ass. That was an alpha female if he ever saw one. Maybe if he had been thinking with his brain instead of his cock, he would have been able to see beyond the façade she had painted and called her bluff.

  “Hunter…” Gaither’s voice suddenly growled in impatience.

  He only just managed not to hiss back.

  Fine. If Gaither wanted to go all politician on him and dance around the issue, then Maxim and he would just have to take matters into their own hands. Ryder and Anna simply didn’t have time for all the usual bullshit.

  He had gotten Jack’s number before he had left the poor bastard to rest, and while he did agree with Gaither that intelligence was the next step, Maxim could have his security team and various contacts across the state on the case before any of the wolf clan Elders stepped foot in the clinic.

  “You know how to find me,” was all Hunter said as he ended the call before the Elder could say another word.

  He quickly put in a call to Maxim. Hopefully his friend had made some progress in finding Kylie. No matter how painful, the question of her loyalty was something that absolutely had to be resolved as soon as possible. Now that the mystery of his brother and Anna’s disappearance had been somewhat answered, there was too much at stake at this point to leave such a huge loose end untied. If she was a threat, she had to be dealt with, and if not… A wave of heat that had nothing to do with anger abruptly washed through him, and he nearly dropped the phone.

  Christ, he was so fucked.

  “Maxim, where are you?” he demanded a little more roughly than he had intended the second the call connected. “We need to talk now. That wolf was a treasure trove of information like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “I’m in my office at the club. Good timing. I was just about to call you. Some major shit is going down right now in regards to Kylie, and we need to decide what to do ASAP.”

  Fuck. Was she really—

  “Tell it to me straight, Maxim,” Hunter bit out. “Is she one of those bastards?”

  For a few seconds, only silence reached his ear, and he felt something tighten in his chest.

  “While the jury’s still out, some of the things I’ve found out in the last hour are pointing to no,” Maxim finally replied cautiously, “but it’s not something I want to discuss over the phone.”

  “Right. I’ll be there in less than twenty.”

  Now to find a ride to his apartment so he could pick up his truck. He hoped to God Kylie’s pheromones had faded enough overnight. The last thing he needed was her potent “come fuck me” scent mucking with his brain again.

  ***

  “You look like you’re in pain,” Maxim commented the moment Hunter stepped into his office at the club.

  Hunter’s scowl deepened. “Let’s just say that I would have been better off walking here.”

  His friend’s nostrils flared as he neared. “I see what you mean. I’ll send a couple of my men to blast the inside of your truck with ozone. Until then, I’ll loan you one of mine.”

  Hunter collapsed into a chair. “Thanks. I have a feeling I’ll be needed it a lot today.” He then fixed Maxim with a serious gaze. “Maxim, that wolf saw Ryder and Anna.”

  Maxim had been leaning back in his chair in his usual casual sprawl, but at Hunter’s words, he sprang forward so quickly, a wild look in his eyes, that for a split-second he thought Maxim was about to lunge over the desk at him.

  “When? Where?” his friend demanded. The desperately hopeful look in those pale blue eyes was heartbreaking.

  “It’s not good. The lions have them, as we thought.”

  Then slowly, excruciatingly, Hunter recounted everything Jack had told him. The more he talked, the more Maxim’s expression hardened until the tiger’s anger was all he could smell. He had been anxious to get rid of the smell of Kylie’s heat from his nose, but not like this. The sharp smell of Maxim’s anger was so strong, the look in his eyes so feral, that Hunter feared his friend was about to lose control of his tiger.

  Then Maxim abruptly slammed both fists onto the top of his desk, making Hunter involuntarily hiss in reaction, and he realized just how much on edge he, himself, had become as he had talked.

  “I’m going to shred every inch of flesh from those bastards’ bodies before ripping open their bellies with my fangs,” Maxim snarled, his voice so deep and full of rage that he sounded like a stranger.

  In the twenty plus years he had known the tiger shifter before him, Hunter had never seen him even close to this pissed off.

  “We will,” Hunter assured him just as fiercely. “Jack has promised the help of his clan, and I believe him.”

  From the pinched expression on his face, Hunter could tell Maxim was putting tremendous effort into reigning in his fury. Maxim had always been the mellower of the two, which was saying a lot given Hunter’s general aloofness, and he was grateful for it. Now, more than ever, they would need his friend’s levelheadedness.

  Maxim closed his eyes and drew in a final, calming breath before he said, “The wolf clans are the best allies one can have, so at least there is a sliver of good news in all that horror.”

  “A few of my Elders will be meeting with the Parker Grove wolf clan Elders and Jack’s pack shortly. I wanted to stay for it, gather as much information before dropping such a huge bomb on you, but then Gaither brought up Kylie.”

  Maxim nodded and sat back in his chair, though the rigidness in his body remained. “Given that you actually fought a shifted lion inside Riverford, I’m not surprised she was his main priority. Historically, clans have always acted a little crazy whenever a Returner popped up.”

  “But is she really a Returner?” Hunter asked, his uncertainty bleeding into his tone. “When she confessed to me that she knew she was a Polyshifter, she also called herself a Returner. After lying to all of us about her ignorance, how can we ever trust anything she says or has said?” For all I know, getting me to fall for her was all part of some nefarious plan.

  “Which brings us to the ‘serious shit going down’ I warned you about earlier. While my people were talking to the staff at Riverford Regional, a certain suspected Sniffer was also seen talking to a couple of nurses. Like us, the man was asking about Kylie’s father, how they might be able to reach him. Luckily those nurses knew no more about Dr. Moore other than that he was one of the hospital’s rotating doctors rather than on permanent staff. I think my people spooked him because he ran off soon after, but the fact that a Sniffer was asking about someone close to Kylie could mean several things.”

  “A misdirection,” Hunter couldn’t help saying. “Planting doubt to any suspicions.”

  Maxim nodded. “Lord knows how those bastards plan to come at us. That they’ve been quietly and successfully kidnapping shifters in our area is likely just the tip of the iceberg
. Maybe their plan was to use Kylie as a distraction, something that would undoubtedly draw our eyes momentarily away from what we should have been doing.”

  Hunter narrowed his eyes. “But you don’t think that’s it. You said as much when I flat-out asked.”

  Maxim smiled thinly. “I don’t, but only because I found out that Dr. Moore has been good friends with a cougar-shifter RN named Karen Wilson and her son for years and that she called in sick to the hospital this morning. If not for that fact, I imagine my suspicion would have run deeper than even yours.”

  Hunter frowned. “I don’t know any Wilsons personally.”

  “Sasha’s husband has been friends with Karen’s son, Mitch, since they were brats barely able to shift. Although I don’t know the particulars, I do know that Karen’s husband was killed by a couple of lions on a business trip to New York when Mitch was only three, so there’s no way in hell that family is associated with the lions. If they’re the ones either hiding or trying to get Kylie and her dad out of Riverford, then I have a hard time believing that Kylie is one of the lions’ pet Polyshifters simply for the fact that Karen, more than anyone else, would have been suspicious of a human girl suddenly shifting for the first time in adulthood.

  “However, despite all of that, we’re really just flying in the dark right now. You need to get over to the Wilson house right now, and if Kylie is indeed there, start convincing her and her dad that they need to leave with you.”

  “I think I’m the last person she would want to see right now,” Hunter protested, “especially with the way I blew her off earlier when she tried to explain herself.”

  Maxim shook his head. “Right now, you’re probably the only shifter she would even agree to talk to, much less let anywhere near her.”

  Hunter ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “I’ll try, but don’t be surprised if she attacks me instead. I don’t want to hurt her, but she may not give me a choice.”