Lycan Unleashed

by Shannon Curtis

  “He’s dealing with a lot at the moment.” She glanced down at the twig she held. Rafe had taken his talisman. Did the Woodland Alpha Prime even know the blow he’d dealt his enemy? She lifted her gaze to the trees. Matthias was out there, alone. He was at his most vulnerable. Unable to shift. Rafe could rip him to shreds within seconds. She frowned. What the hell was Matthias thinking? Just the thought of not seeing him anymore, of not having him around to tempt her, tease her, frustrate her, challenge her, inspire her... In the brief time she’d known him, she’d already grown accustomed to his presence, his touch. Without him, there was just a cold, lonely darkness, worse than anything she’d ever experienced in the quiet shunning of her pack. For the first time in her life, she understood the nature of a pining mate, of walking the earth without that special one to fall into step with, whose stride matched yours, whose shoulders shared your burdens. The yawning emptiness that would be her life without him made her heart crave him.

  “We’re all dealing with a lot. But he’s imprinted on you. Any male who does that cherishes his she-wolf, and protects her from harm—even from him.”

  Dalton’s words broke her out of her reverie. She blinked. “What?”

  “It shouldn’t matter how much he has to deal with, he imprinted on you. You’re practically his mate. He should be treating you better.”

  She nodded. Dalton was right. They were practically mates; she didn’t want to go through life without him, and for whatever reason, he was off fighting a battle he couldn’t win on his own. She had to accept it. She loved the Alpine Guardian Prime. She actually wanted to be his mate—despite what he’d said. Her eyes narrowed. Well, she couldn’t just sit here and play with sticks while he faced down her own alpha prime. Mates stuck together, through trials and triumphs. She was going to drill that into his thick skull when she caught up with him.

  “You’re so right, and I think it’s time I tell him so,” she said to her friend, and rose to her feet. Dalton frowned, then stood, wincing as he put weight on his knee.

  “No.” He shook his head emphatically.

  “Yes,” Trinity said succinctly. “He needs me.” Whether he was willing to admit it or not.

  “It’s ludicrous, Trin. Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.”

  “What’s the matter?” Softly spoken, there was no mistaking the curiosity and sternness in the deep baritone. Trinity turned. She hadn’t heard Zane’s approach. She put her hands on her hips. “I’m going after Matthias.”

  Zane frowned, and glanced at Dalton. “She can’t.”

  “I know she can’t, but try telling her that.”

  “She can hear you quite clearly.” Trinity turned toward Jax. She would have to say goodbye to the boy. He’d worry, he’d get anxious, there would be tears from both of them. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t even consider leaving him so soon after he’d lost his mother, but this was something she had to do. Zane dodged so that he again stood in front of her. “Matthias wants to do this on his own.”

  “Yes, well, Matthias isn’t my guardian prime,” she pointed out sweetly. “As such, I don’t have to take orders from him.”

  Zane tilted his head. “Did you ever wonder how a non-genuine became our guardian prime?” he asked quietly. She paused, listening. “It’s because he’s the best. He fought hardest, out of the lot of us. I’ve seen him fight, and I’ve seen him battle against all odds. Hell, none of us have ever beaten him, individually or in a group. He’s smart, he’s strong—he’s the best damn lycan I’ve ever seen. If he has a plan involving just him and Rafe, believe me, he knows what he’s doing.”

  She’d promised Matthias that she’d never reveal his secret, and that promise now chafed. “What if something happens to him?” She tried a different tack. “We wouldn’t even know. He’s going to be outnumbered, Zane, and we all know Rafe doesn’t fight fair.”

  For a moment, Zane wavered, then he shook his head. “Nice try. My money’s on Matthias.”

  Every second she wasted arguing was another step closer to danger for Matthias. She couldn’t leave him to face this on his own. “Fine. You stay here and babysit. I’m going.”

  Zane sighed and glanced at Dalton, who shrugged. “And do what, Trinity? You’re a tracker, not a guardian. Rafe believes you’ve betrayed him. You’re as good as dead as soon as he sees you, and if you’re not, it’s because Matthias has had to stop whatever he’s doing to save your butt. Stay out of his way.”

  She put her hands on her hips, and eyed each of them in turn. “You can’t tell me that if that was your mate out there you wouldn’t be doing the same thing. I’m going.”

  Dalton’s eyebrows rose. “Wow. That’s the first time you’ve called him your mate.”

  “Close enough.” They may not have completed the mating bond, but she knew now. She didn’t want to lose him, and she’d do everything she could to save him. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.

  * * *

  Matthias crouched behind the tree, watching the activity near the yawning mouth of a cave. Woodland Pack members strolled about, talking quietly if at all. There was a pall over the large group. He didn’t know if they were aware of the cave-in, but from what he could see, they weren’t happy.

  A smaller group of guardians were training off to the side, their grunts and yells audible as they sparred with each other. The juveniles sat in a sizable group, whispering among themselves. He eyed the rest of the terrain. Rafe had set more guardians in two perimeters, and he couldn’t see how many were inside the cave and beyond, nor could he see the alpha prime.

  The guardians were placed too far apart, he realized. Some were in blind spots to the others, and he mentally marked their positions. There were a lot of Woodland here. He needed to trim the numbers.

  It was as he gently lowered the fourth guardian he’d knocked unconscious that he heard the whisper-soft crunch of pine needles behind him. He whipped around, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the branch swinging toward his head. He heard the crack, felt the pain and then his beast howled inside his mind, the last sound he registered as he slid into the darkness.

  Chapter 21

  Trinity trudged through the woods, her arms swinging as she walked the trail they’d left from that morning. She was following Matthias’s scent, not resisting the pull of the pine, moss and sexy male. She hadn’t been walking long, not even an hour, when she heard the crack of a twig to her right. She whirled, arms up in a defensive pose, her stance balanced.

  Nate raised an eyebrow, and the two men he was with halted. Her shoulders sagged when she recognized Matthias’s sergeant.

  “You startled me,” she muttered.

  He nodded. “So I see.” He gazed beyond her, then frowned. “You’re out here alone?”

  “You haven’t been back to camp, yet?”

  He shook his head, and her gaze turned to his companions. One seemed familiar, and she narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. Tall and broad-shouldered, his dark hair and silver-blue eyes teased at her memory, and her eyes widened when recognition finally hit.

  “You’re the dentist,” she breathed. He was big, nearly as big as Matthias, with the proud lift of his chin she automatically associated with a warrior.

  Ryder Galen tilted his head as he slowly stepped forward. He wagged a finger at her. “I know you,” he said softly in his deep voice, eyes narrowed. “You’re Woodland.”

  She swallowed. Her pack had done a terrible thing to him, and he had the ability to somehow render them all unconscious—she still couldn’t remember how that had actually happened. She eyed him warily, and he held up a hand.

  “Relax. I remember you—you tried to stop your alpha prime.”

  She was surprised he remembered that. She’d tried to put a stop to the farce of a pack trial that Rafe had conducted, and then the dentist had spotted the lycan who
had delivered the tainted supplies to his surgery that had killed Jared Gray, and all hell had broken loose.

  She nodded cautiously, and Ryder smiled grimly. “I have no quarrel with you.”

  She looked toward the other man, and didn’t know whether to run or cry, hide or fight. Nate was a lycan, and Ryder Galen was obviously more than just a dentist, and they each gave an impression of strength, of danger. This other guy, well, he had an air of imposing menace that eclipsed even Rafe’s. Taller than the other two, his shoulders were massive, his legs long and thickly toned with muscle beneath the leather pants he wore. Boots, black T-shirt and a black leather jacket added to the overall lethal vibe. She had no idea what color his eyes were, hidden as they were behind very dark sunglasses.

  Realization dawned. “You’re the witch,” she said. She swallowed. “I need you.”

  His light brown eyebrow rose above the dark frame of his sunglasses. “Darlin’, I hear that a lot.” His lips lifted in a cocky half smile.

  “Uh, I mean, you’re the witch who helped Matthias, aren’t you?”

  This time his eyebrows lowered in a deep V on his forehead. “Who are you?”

  She swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat as she took a step forward, hand outstretched. “I’m—I’m his mate.”

  The witch stared down at her hand for a moment before he finally reached to envelop her hand in his. He tilted his head, and despite the sunglasses she could feel his intent gaze upon her. He shook her hand, just once, then nodded. “I’m that witch.” He waggled his eyebrows. “But you can call me Dave.”

  She sighed with relief. “Uh, Matthias is in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Nate asked abruptly, stepping forward.

  “He’s gone after Rafe. Alone.”

  Nate frowned. “Why?”

  “I don’t fully understand, myself,” she admitted. “We were tracking Rafe, and he and some of the Woodland guardians ambushed us. There was a skirmish, and then Rafe retreated.” She glanced at the witch. “He took Matthias’s ring.”

  Nate swore, and her eyes widened in surprise at his reaction. He put his hands on his hips, his lips tight with frustration. “Hell. We have to go after him.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell Zane, but he’s determined to follow his guardian prime’s orders.”

  “That’s because he doesn’t know,” Nate stated.

  Her eyes narrowed. “But you do...” she said slowly.

  The Alpine guardian nodded. “Yeah. Jared mentioned it once.”

  She frowned. “You never told Matthias?”

  Nate shrugged. “It didn’t concern me. He’s my guardian prime, and he’s the best lycan for the job. That was all that mattered.”

  “He’s ashamed of it,” she told him, her frown deepening. “He sees this as a curse, as a stigma—he will put himself into harm’s way to protect that secret from his pack.”

  Hell. If he’d known that Nate knew, would he have gone after Rafe by himself, or would he have trusted his second-in-command? Looking at Nate, they both realized the answer at the same time.

  “Can you track him?” Nate asked.

  “Of course.” Even now, his scent pervaded her senses, but she could easily give herself over to it. She’d track that stubborn mate of hers until the end of time, if necessary.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  “Wait. Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Ryder Galen inquired.

  Trinity frowned. This would just waste more time. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?”

  Ryder put his hands on his hips. “I once told Matthias I wanted to help him take down Rafe Woodland. I was in Nightwing with my fiancée when Lucien Marchetta told us there was an Alpine presence in Woodland, so I thought I’d come and offer assistance.”

  Her gaze slid to the witch. He smiled and shrugged. “I came for the bonfire and the beer.”

  “So what’s this about Matthias?” Ryder asked again.

  She bit her lip. It was generous of the dentist to offer his help, but she had sworn she wouldn’t reveal Matthias’s secret.

  Dave sighed. “Okay, here’s the abridged version. Matthias’s pack was cursed by a coven of witches, and he’s the sole survivor. Side effect of the curse is that he can’t shift. I made him a talisman to allow him to shift, and now Rafe Woodland has stolen the talisman.” He turned briefly to Trinity. “That about right?”

  She nodded, impressed with his efficiency. “Yes.”

  Dave tilted his head. “So what exactly do you want me to do?”

  “Can you break the curse?” she asked, hope flaring within her.

  Dave barked with laughter, his shoulders moving, then shook his head. “No. That spell was cast by a large coven, with the ashes of a dead witch. I’m good, baby, but I’m not that good.”

  She frowned. “Well, can you do something?”

  Dave folded his arms, his brows dipping as he gave her query some consideration. “There was so much hate built into that spell, I had to use something that symbolized love to try and counteract it. You’d need something just as powerful to create something that has any chance of offsetting the initial curse.”

  Nate rolled his eyes in frustration. “Where are we going to find something like that?”

  Trinity’s eyes widened, and she dug into her jeans pocket, pulling out her mother’s ring. “Will this do?” She held it in the palm of her hand, offering it to the witch.

  Dave reached out and carefully picked it up, his fingers handling it with more care than she thought the big guy was capable of. He nodded slowly. “It’s a start.” He grimaced. “But the original talisman was stained with the blood of Matthias’s wife, as well as his.”

  “You can take my blood. Let’s go find Matthias,” she said, and started down the trail, the three men falling in step behind her.

  * * *

  Matthias awoke to a painful throbbing in his head, and a burning sting around his wrists and ankles.

  “Ah, Sleeping Beauty awakens,” a deep voice intoned, and Matthias winced as he turned his head toward the sound. It took a couple of blinks for his vision to clear, but eventually he was able to make out the figure of the Woodland Alpha Prime, sitting on a boulder. He tried to sit up and hissed at the bite at his wrists and ankles. He glanced down. A silver cord was wrapped around his wrists, another around his ankles, the burns already deep from the kiss of the corrosive metal against his skin.

  He glanced around. He was in the middle of the clearing in front of the mouth of the cave, and Woodland Pack members surrounded him in a neat circle. Great. They all looked at him as though he was something that needed putting down. He couldn’t begin to imagine the lies Rafe had told them to explain the decrease in returning Woodland guardians.

  “I presume you’re here to fetch this,” Rafe remarked, and Matthias looked up at him. The Woodland Alpha Prime dangled Cara’s ring from the chain held between two fingers. “You know, I never saw you as the type to really love his jewelry, but I must say, I’m impressed that you’re so determined to reclaim it.” The alpha prime’s green eyes narrowed. “I do wonder why it is so important to you?”

  Matthias lifted his chin. “It’s mine, and I keep what is mine.”

  Rafe arched an eyebrow. “Like our tracker?” He turned to the group at large. “She’ll pay for her betrayal, so I wouldn’t get too attached, if I were you.” He pursed his lips. “Oh, wait, too late, isn’t it?”

  Matthias looked around the group. The adults wore bitter expressions, although the adolescents and juveniles looked uncomfortable. Trinity’s students.

  “She’s weak,” Rafe stated brusquely. “We can’t have weakness in our pack. She’s betrayed us, and we’re better off without her.”

  A deep, dark suspicion
uncurled within Matthias as he remembered this alpha prime’s comments from their fight in the forest. His eyes narrowed. Could it be?

  “She has not betrayed you,” Matthias stated clearly. “She refused to give up the location of your den, and only led us there when we heard the explosions.”

  The man he was looking at directly frowned, confusion entering his gaze. Matthias realized they didn’t know about the cave-in, about the survivors...their children.

  Rafe chuckled. “Lies, but I suppose you’ll say anything at the moment to save your skin, and that of your mate.”

  Matthias sat up, ignoring the painful cut of silver into his skin. “I’m not the liar, here, Rafe. I’m not the one who lied to my pack and assassinated another’s alpha prime. I’m not the one who broke parley, and I’m not the one who planted explosives in your den and left your elders and pups to die.”

  He could see the consternation, the shock, enter the faces of the Woodland pack as they looked to their alpha prime. “Where is your guardian prime? Where are the guardians your alpha prime left with today?” He challenged the group standing around him.

  “They’re dead,” Rafe said bluntly. “At least, they’re dead to me.”

  “No. They’re back at your home den, looking after those who didn’t die in the cave-in Rafe created.” He wasn’t going to use Rafe’s title anymore; he no longer deserved it. He glared up at the lycan. “Your pack are deserting you.”

  Rafe smiled, but it was brittle. “And yet you come here alone. Are you sure it’s not your pack deserting you?” He angled his head. “Or have you deserted them?”

  Matthias jerked against the silver cord, and hissed. This lycan angered him as no other did.

  “I know that you are prepared to risk everything, and everyone, to save yourself,” Matthias growled. “But I don’t want any more lycans hurt in this.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet,” Rafe said. “But how do you propose we end this? Your pack is coming after mine—in our own territory, I might add. Of course we will defend ourselves.” He glanced around the enclosed group, and several Woodland members nodded.