“We love you, Riley,” Breton whispered hoarsely. “We love you so fucking much. You can’t lose this. For you. For us. Live for us, please beautiful.”
She tried to reach out to him, her arms fitting through the bars. The guards jeered at them for the outbursts. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t get the words out like she wanted.
She loved them, too, and she was going to lose them. She was broken, and she was going to lose them without being able to tell them she loved them.
They kept telling her how much they loved and cared for her as she was taken from them. Their words seeped into her heart and stayed there. Their scents were all she could smell. Their eyes were all she could see.
As they rolled her out of the room, her scream for them pierced her own ears.
“No!” She kept trying to reach for them as they rolled her through a hallway, already out of sight of her pride. Away from her family. They were gone and still she reached.
Through one last door, sunlight nearly blinded her. She winced, shrinking to cover her face with her hands.
“And there is today’s entertainment!” The leader laughed. She didn’t even know the sick fuck’s name. She didn’t know any of their names and they were going to hunt her. Hunt her, rape her, then hand her over to the smooth voiced violator. “Tiny thing, I’ve got some rules for you!”
She looked up at him. She finally felt the fire in her begin to come back. She let it grow until it blazed.
This was the face of the man who stole her everything from her. And she would remember it. Burn it into her memory.
And one day, she would see it again as the life drained from the blue eyes. She would see blood mat the dark brown hair. She would see something other than that fucking pleased smile on his face. She would hear his final words full of fear, begging her for his life.
They thought shifters were monsters? She would give them one. One day.
“Rule one! If you don’t shift when the cage opens, we just shoot you and bury the body. You lose instantly.” He laughed and held up one finger. Then he went to two.
“Rule two! You get a five-minute head start once the cage door opens. After that, the dogs are let go to track you. We humans will be on foot just to keep things interesting. We like the challenge, you see. You will hear another gunshot marking that.” He flipped up a third finger.
“Rule three! If you get over the fence and off the property, you’re free to go. So, going back to rule one, shift so you get that chance,” he grinned down at her. “Are the rules clear enough?”
She nodded and stood up as her cage was put on the ground. The fence. She would follow Brenton’s order. She had no choice but now she wanted to. Just so she could come back and kill this fucker one day. She would even follow Isabella’s advice. Win, no matter the cost.
She thought for a moment longer. Maybe she could rescue her pride. Brenton didn’t tell her not to come back…
“Go!” A gunshot went off and the cage door slammed open.
She shifted and smelled the shock in the air as she tore past them. She didn’t even take a second to think about it.
She ran as fast as she could.
For nearly twenty yards it was open, then it became thick forest. Just like home. At nearly seventy miles an hour, the open area ended in seconds. She hit the forest at full speed.
She didn’t know the land well, but she could trust her instincts. She had to. The cheetah in her was smart enough handle it. She felt branches whack her, felt plants and leaves get trampled under her paws.
Five minutes. When she was too exhausted to keep running, that would be one minute already gone. She would still have even more time to make distance, but her body would want a break that she couldn’t give it.
She was lucky in that moment to be of human intelligence. She could push past the instinctive will to stop moving once she had to bring her speed down. She could force herself to keep moving.
Her heart felt like it would explode. She had to slow to a walk before her body gave out.
She had to make it. She couldn’t fail her pride. Not now. Not after they had given her family, happiness and love.
She loved them so much it hurt. Why didn’t she ever tell them?
She kept trudging along as her body relaxed and recovered. She had made good distance. The dogs would move slower than her, but they also had more endurance.
The gun went off. They were now following her, looking for her and they knew the terrain.
Riley stumbled upon a stream and took a drink, taking in as much water as she could safely. She couldn’t get waterlogged now, so she stopped drinking quickly. She waded into the water and walked up the stream, letting it soak her coat, cool her down. It would also interrupt her scent trail. She hopped out, feeling better.
She held the guys’ love for her and her love for them in her heart. It was all she needed.
She took off again, not able to go nearly as quickly as she had before. Her legs ached, but she had to make it. She was the fastest fucking cat on the planet. What good was it if she couldn’t outrun humans and dogs?
She kept moving, slowly, the dogs’ howls and barks staying a little distant. She kept her direction. No reason to go wide and get lost.
She kept her nose searching the air for the tang of metal in case the fence was nearby.
The dogs got closer, relentless.
Her heart ached from the sight of her guys as she rolled away.
Her paws were scratched up, a couple of her claws were broken from the rough terrain. Rocky, hard earth, dry and unforgiving.
She tested the wind. Shit, she was upwind of the dogs. She turned east, after having run so much to the north. She could try and get a different breeze, maybe just confuse them a little.
It seemed to go on forever. Her legs shook with exhaustion, but she kept pushing. Her head was hung low as she panted. She was moving at a steady walk and she knew she couldn’t stop. If she stopped, she was done. The sun was now nearing midday. She’d been going for so long, alternating between sprinting and walking. Her body wanted to quit so badly.
She let her mind go through memories with them, like getting the brothers tattooed with her own artwork.
She couldn’t lose. She couldn’t.
She had to keep moving… She had to stay ahead of them.
The concert with Brenton and what they had done in his car.
The dogs were still back there though, even if they were now getting tired as well.
She hit a rocky section of wherever they were. They definitely weren’t in Colorado, that was for fucking sure.
She had to climb through it, but it would slow her down considerably. Unacceptable.
Zachary and her getting her lip pierced. How he wanted to make her have a good day while she was buried under paperwork.
The dogs got closer again and she spun. Shit, she’d been running for so long and she couldn’t increase her speed. But they were moving fast again.
Andrew’s midnight picnic, one of her favorites.
She tried to pick it up and keep moving ahead. She was still moving east, and she no longer gave a shit about the wind. If she wasn’t running in intervals, this distance would have been easy, but she was, and she had no idea where she was going.
Then she saw it, as the dogs got closer than they had yet. She could see them running through the trees behind her now, still a distance away though.
The fence. Ten feet tall. It loomed over her, even at a distance.
She powered towards it and once she got there, she shifted back to human. She began to climb as the dogs moved closer.
They would be there soon, but she couldn’t climb fast. Her arms shook, and her legs tried to give out.
“Please…” she whispered to herself. “Just this. Just do this.”
Her body couldn’t fail her now. She couldn’t allow it to do that.
She reached the top, grabbed that wonderful rail. Her right foot slipped. Hounds bayed, some growled.
Too close. She hauled herself over and fell. She started running again but only about twenty yards. She found a rock and dove behind it, curling down and praying they didn’t try to shoot her anyways.
She’d done it. She’d escaped.
As soon as she was behind the rock, the dogs ran into the fence. Howling.
She waited, counted the seconds. How far behind were the humans? Did they see her? Would they finally go over the fence, if it meant fifteen million? Or would they let her go, thinking she made it way faster than them?
At sixty seconds, she heard it.
She’d stayed only one minute ahead of the hunters for the entire run. Her guys would have been so proud of her. The thought brought a silent sob through her. She covered her mouth with her hands.
“The fence!” The leader roared. He sounded much different angry. “Fifteen million, down the fucking drain! She could be fucking anywhere now!”
“We’ll catch her again boss. The moment any hunter in the country sees her, she’s done, and she’ll be returned. She’s pretty infamous now with the SHS, she’ll never be safe.”
“You’re right. Our client will be mad but he’s still buying the male lion for eight million.” The leader was consoling himself.
Brenton. They were selling Brenton to that other shifter. The one who wanted her.
“Didn’t he consider getting all the cats?”
“Yeah…” That trailed off. “Tell him he’ll get a deal if he buys them in bulk for fourteen million. Tell him he has three days or he gets none of them. That should recoup the loss of the female. A fucking cheetah. Who would have thought? We’ve never had one in our cages before. I wouldn’t have agreed to the hunt, if I had known.”
“Then we wouldn’t have had a hunt, Boss.”
“You’re right.” The leader groaned. “Let’s head back. Shit, we’ve been out here for four fucking hours. This is the second escape this fucking week. And other one was a mile from here. Fuck. We need to put people out here one day.”
She shifted back to human, and took stock of her body. They were gone, and she could breathe again. She’d done it.
She looked at her hands, torn open and bleeding in a couple spots. She felt the sting of sweat falling into her eyes, into the cuts and abrasions she’d gotten all over her body.
Her legs shook as she tried to stand, scraped and scratched. They gave out and she fell but was unable to summon the energy to even groan in pain. The bottom of her feet were as cut open as her hands and fingers.
Three days. Would the guys be safe for three days? She peeked around the rock and saw them all walking far away now. She kept silent. She’d done it. She’d won.
Exhaustion took her, and she fell into the dirt, unable to continue her thoughts about what would come next.
GABE
The dogs were back. He could hear them. That meant they had Riley, if she was caught.
He couldn’t allow himself to hope she had made it.
The pride had failed her. He had failed her. He was worthless at protecting her.
He sat in a ball in the corner of his cage, as far from Troy as he could get. He scratched his arms. He itched desperately, remembering the feeling of the needle.
He wanted it so bad. He wanted to end this so much, it hurt. He couldn’t handle loving her and never seeing her. He couldn’t handle a world without her in it. He couldn’t do another Caroline, where it was all his fault.
“I wish any of you would have told me she was a cheetah!” The leader stormed in, cattle prod in his hands. “Any of you have something to fucking say?”
Gabe’s head came up slowly. He looked at the guy, the angry blue-eyed man. He saw it, there. The man had given himself away.
“She’s gone and now you’ll never see her again.” Gabe laughed harshly, standing. He leaned up to the front of his cage, sneering at the disturbed human. “You lost.”
He was stabbed with the cattle prod and went down. No one said anything since it would just keep the pain going longer. The pride had lessons in that. Never beg for an end to torture. It will just take longer.
She was alive out there. Running for them, to live her life for them.
Go, gorgeous. Don’t stop. Leave them here for their ends. They didn’t deserve her. She wasn’t worthless at protecting herself.
She wasn’t worthless like him.
ZACHARY
He watched Gabe go down from the shock and not get back up. Troy’s face was pale and washed out. They all knew Gabe was falling into despair. And if he fell, Troy might slip with him. It was dangerous situation for them. Those two, with no will to live or escape, were worse than worthless, they would be actively detrimental.
But Riley had made it. He looked to Brenton and they locked eyes. Andrew was smiling in his cage.
The angry fuck left, and they were silent.
“Go, kitten,” Sheriff growled. “She’s fucking done it. I can die a happy man at that.”
Zachary could, too. She was out there, free.
“Damn right,” Brenton laughed. He actually fucking laughed, which made Zachary follow. His ribs hurt from it. His eyes teary.
“I’m happy for you all,” the Alpha wolf mumbled. “I’m sorry I was an ass. She must be tough to have made it.”
“You know, we haven’t had introductions,” Brenton grinned at him, “And since we’re dead men, we probably don’t need to. But I’m Alpha Brenton Kingson. The tiger is Zachary Woods. The brothers at the end are Troy and Gabe Walker. And this last one, the cougar, is Andrew Hicks.”
“The Kingson pride?” The wolf Alpha laughed. “They fucking brought you crazy SOBs down? Fuck, four years ago, you assholes were unstoppable in the feline world. Every fucking shifter in the country knows who you are.”
“Yup, but our girl showed them up!” Zachary cackled. The foxes were also laughing, damn crazy fucks. “And you guys are?”
“Alpha Chris Marek. South Dakota wolf pack. These two are James Paddock and Antonio Hawman.” The leader wolf pointed to the other two. Zachary finally took the time to look the wolves over.
They were a rugged lot, all sporting scars from fights. Chris, the Alpha, had a nasty one across his cheek that was pronounced. They all had brown hair, but their eyes were different. Chris had that canine yellow, unique among the wolves and only a little similar to Brenton’s gold. James had brown, and Antonio had jade green. They all stood between five ten and six feet even which would make sense for their size in comparison to him and Brenton.
“We had a brother escape three days ago,” James sat in his own cage. “Maybe they’ll run into each other and get fucking gone.”
“We can only hope,” Brenton gave a tight smile.
“Yeah.” Andrew shrugged.
“Look, she’s out,” Sheriff growled. “That’s all that matters.” He was directing it at the pride. Zachary didn’t want his Riley out there with a wolf but… if he kept her safe, maybe it was for the best.
They all nodded, even the wolves and foxes. The wolves might have been pricks but none of them had wanted her to be caught. Zachary looked to the foxes and frowned.
“And you two?”
“Huck and Finn,” one of them offered. No last names, no indication of what pack they belonged to. “Twins.”
“So, how long has everyone been here?” Troy called from his end of their row.
“I was grabbed the same day as you boys,” Sheriff sat down, stretching his long legs out. “I just woke up earlier.”
“We’ve been here five days,” one of the foxes. Zachary didn’t know if it was Finn or Huck, since they hadn’t indicated which was which.
“A month,” Chris looked bitter, filled with regret. “And when they couldn’t sell us since wolves are really common, they decided to start hunting us one by one.”
“How many of you did you start with?” Brenton leaned on his bars and watched the other Alpha. Zachary knew they wouldn’t be fighting anymore. In this place, Alpha didn’t matter. Only survi
val and keeping one’s sanity.
Zachary had grown up like this. The bars felt like they were closing in. If Riley hadn’t won, he would have lost it already.
He pushed away the memory.
This wasn’t his parents’ home. This wasn’t the same. It wasn’t because he was a child who didn’t look right. It wasn’t because he was an anomaly.
No, he’d earned himself a place here, where he’d never earned what he’d gotten at the hands of his parents. He was here because he was a threat and that made some sort of a difference.
“We started with nine. Me and my entire inner circle,” Chris exhaled. “We think a rival pack sold out our location. Five hunts went their way until our brother made it out. They weren’t as mad when he escaped, since they already had gotten five wolves for themselves.”
“We think a shifter gave over our information,” Brenton nodded in sympathy.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t figure out who that mother fucker was!” Gabe snarled from beyond Troy. He was falling apart. Zachary knew that Gabe was over there thinking that if he could have just done more, done better, none of this would have happened.
The pride didn’t agree with him. They had told him a thousand times over his life that not everything was his fault. Sometimes there’s just nothing one can do. Zachary was supposed to protect them… but the convoy on the highway had been organized and they were unarmed. It was laughably easy for the hunters and Zachary would regret that for the rest of his life. It also made him irrationally angry, but he kept it bottled up. His anger would do nothing for him here.
“I’m sorry,” Zachary groaned “I can’t imagine how it feels to lose so many.”
“We knew when we woke up what our fate would be,” James shifted in the cage to a wolf and curled up. He was a standard gray and white but a bit big for the average wolf.
“Now what?” Sheriff leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Zachary snorted at the thought.
Nothing, that’s what. There was nothing any of them could do except try to survive where they were going to end up.
Wild Fire (The Kingson Pride Book 2) Page 18