Taking It Off for the Coyote

by Serenity Snow

  “No!” Adalyn screamed and charged her.

  Cambrie blocked the energetic attack from Adalyn easily even as she cradled Sam’s head. Then hit her with a telepathic rebuttal that wasn’t nearly as hard as the one she’d used on Sam and Adalyn sank to her knees.

  Cambrie saw the pain in her eyes as their gazes held. “Don’t force me to do this,” she whispered as she removed her hands from beneath Sam’s head.

  Adalyn’s hand went to her head. “M—” The words died on her lips as Cambrie delivered another blow. She watched her slump to the floor and slowly stood as she heard someone approaching.

  Mica appeared in the doorway. Her gray eyes held interest even as she carefully surveyed the scene. “I guess you’re as dangerous as we thought. Sydney, you were wrong.”

  Shock clenched her fists as Sydney joined them. Betrayal slithered through her. “You tricked me? To what end?” she demanded, her voice shrill as tears clawed at the backs of her eyes.

  Sydney went to Adalyn. “What did you do to her?” she demanded as she felt for her pulse.

  “I defended myself,” Cambrie said weakly and Sydney looked up at her, her gaze enigmatic. “I can’t believe I trusted you. Well, stupid me.” She stepped over Sam. “I’m out of here.” Neither woman attempted to stop her. Mica was hurrying to Sam.

  In the bedroom, Cambrie grabbed her bags, glad she hadn’t unpacked them. She hurried from the house to the garage.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Sydney asked from behind her.

  “Away from you treacherous lunatics,” she snapped. “You’re as bad as Patty and Sorrento. Deceptive and cruel.”

  “Cam listen to me,” Sydney pleaded.

  “Stay away from me,” she screamed. “I’m so crazy about you, but you don’t even want me.”

  “That’s not true,” she said softly and Cam saw the hurt in her eyes, but it was hard to tell if it was because Sydney knew she’d hurt her or if Sydney was upset over the harm she thought had been done to her packmates.

  “I wasn’t with her long before I started to suspect she’d killed my grandmother, but by then it was too late for me to leave. She’d put the chip in me, just beneath the skin. It delivered electrical currents to my body.”

  “What?”

  “She almost killed me more than once to prove a point,” she said angrily. “And it wasn’t just shock collars. She’d set her hyenas on me and make me run so they could hunt me. They broke my legs, my arm, and wrist. Her healer would heal me just enough to keep me alive, and she’d let me stay in pain to remind me she was in control.”

  “Baby, stop!”

  “She forced me to kill for her, but I won’t do that again. You’ll have to kill me or make me kill you.”

  “You could kill your mate?” Sydney asked, slowly approaching her.

  “You’d kill me for Sam,” she retorted. Cambrie backed up sensing they were alone. She saw pictures in her mind’s eye and tried to decide which one to make Sydney believe.

  “I’d never kill you, sweetheart,” she said in a soothing tone.

  Cambrie laughed. “You sound like Patty right now,” she screamed. “But I’m not that big of a fool anymore.” She hit her with a clear image and Sydney’s advance stop. “I want the keys to the truck.”

  Sydney came to her and handed them over.

  “Thank you.” She was careful not to touch Sydney because she didn’t look as deeply in her thrall as others often were. Cambrie knew their bond as mates had gotten her into Sydney’s mind but was the very reason she’d never be able to truly control her.

  Cambrie climbed into the truck, started it, and found the remote to open the door. When it opened, she backed out. Mica was rushing into the garage as she left and Sydney was snapping out of her control.

  ****

  “She’s powerful,” Mica said.

  “I’m going to get her back before—”

  “Before what?” Mica jumped in, her tone irritated. “Before she runs back to Sorrento and his partner?”

  “I need the keys to my bike,” she said holding out her hand and Mica tossed them to her. “Tell Sam I’m going to do my job to keep from killing her while she’s unconscious.”

  “Cause she wouldn’t kill you while she’s awake. You’d have a better chance now.”

  She grunted and stalked outside her bike parked at the curb. Sydney grabbed the helmet and tugged it on. She had no idea what she was going to do about her mate. It wasn’t really like she could just track her down and drag her back. After all, Cambrie had just rejected any claim she had on her.

  “Fuck that,” she muttered and reached into her pocket for her phone. She’d put a tracker in Cambrie’s bag while Cambrie dried her hair. She followed the signal certain Cambrie hadn’t noticed it—yet.

  Sydney started the bike and followed Cambrie to Mystic knowing she wouldn’t go back to the duplex. She found her truck parked outside a motel and hoped Cambrie was inside. Using her animal senses she picked up the scent of salt and baby powder.

  She took the stairs up to the second floor of the old hotel and slowly followed her prey’s scent until it ended at the third door on the row. Sydney knocked.

  The door had no peephole so Cambrie would be forced to open the door and rely on her considerable ability for protection.

  She’d already proven once this morning how quick she was at defense. Sydney prepared to evade her attack with physical force if she had to.

  “Yes?”

  Sydney knocked again and the door creaked slowly open. She kicked it and the knob was jerked from Cambrie’s hand as the door flew open wide and Sydney forced her way in, slamming the door behind her.

  “Get out.”

  “Or what? You’ll hurt me too?” she snapped.

  “You’re here to drag me back and force me to give you the land? I won’t,” Cambrie said softly, shaking her head. “I’m always running from danger, but I’m tired. So get out. I need to rest, so I can figure out a way to help my pack to get rid of Patty.”

  Sydney reached out to touch her, and Cambrie evaded. She grimaced as pain sliced through her. “Cam,” she said softly. “This test was not my idea, but Sam isn’t just an alpha. She’s my friend.”

  Cambrie glared at her. “I understand animal law. I understand friendship, but you should have felt you had my trust, Sydney.” She shoved her as tears filled her eyes. “You hurt me for no reason.”

  “Cam—”

  “Don’t touch me,” she whispered, shaking. “I don’t want your hands on me. I’ll still help because getting rid of Patty benefits me. Having your pack live on Gray Tail lands benefits me.” She pointed to her chest.

  “What are the terms?”

  “You know what the sad part of this is, Sydney?”

  “Tell me?” She swallowed tightly, furious with herself and Sam.

  “The alpha had part of the land. He just couldn’t sell it, and I was going to give his part to your pack as a gift of trust. How ironic is that?”

  Sydney ran a hand through her hair. She’d been right about Cam. Why hadn’t she refused to be part of Sam’s little game?

  Because they were sisters and they stuck together for better or worse.

  “It’s fucked up,” she muttered and paced away from Cambrie. “Sam and I both know how nasty things can turn with hyenas, Cam. We belonged to two packs that were attacked by them. They turned key members of our pack including chief of security and our pack leader. The first time, me and Sam were the only ones to survive.”

  She nodded but didn’t speak.

  “The second time was here. Again a female led the attack against our pack.” She shook her head as if trying to dispel the memories. “The pack leader betrayed us and so many kids died, the stench of blood, the bodies—we were cleaning up for months. Then, Mallory had to step up and take over.” The images of the past flitted through her mind. She saw them clear as if they had just happened yesterday. “Sam doesn’t want to take unnecessary risks, to lose
so many again.”

  “We both have our scars,” Cambrie murmured.

  “Scars and fears, Cam,” she said. “Baby, I fucked up, but I won’t do it again.” Sydney reached for her but this time Cambrie didn’t reject her touch. She sighed as she cupped her face. “You have no idea how good you feel and neither did I until this moment.”

  “Sydney, I can’t—”

  “I meant what I said about not letting you go, Cam,” she said in a hard tone. “People mess up and sometimes their reasons are worse than mine.”

  “I know, but your first loyalty is to your alpha, and you’ll always put her first which means I’ll ever have a real place in life, just in your bed. I need more than that.”

  Sydney’s eyes filled soul-deep hunger and vulnerability that touched Cambrie to her soul and she wanted to believe anything Sydney said.

  “Take a real chance on me, Cam, because right here, right now, I’m letting my guard down for you.”

  “Take off my fears of getting hurt? Take off the scars of past pain? Without trust there can be nothing good in that for me.”

  “I’m giving you my trust, opening my heart to you,” Sydney said and fear stung her, made her want to pull back. She’d lost her first real love in the most violent of ways, and she knew Cambrie could meet the same fate. Still, she wanted to finally let someone all the way in to her heart again.

  She wanted to let Cambrie in. If she said no, Sydney wouldn’t just walk away, but she wouldn’t try too long. She was used to being without, but she still ached for more than a warm body in her bed for a little while. She wanted a companion, a friend, and partner who’d be there on cold nights and warm days.

  Cambrie shook her head. “I just don’t know.”

  “I’m not used to putting anyone but pack first.”

  “Just—” Cambrie blew out a breath. “I want to be treated as part of the pack, I want Cruise to have what he asked for, and I want to be consulted in everything that has to do with developing the land.”

  She hadn’t told her to go to hell.

  “I’ll call Sam and let her know your terms. Then, we’ll head back.”

  “No. I’ll sleep here.”

  “You’ll sleep where I sleep,” Sydney told her coldly.

  She put her hands on her hips and glared up at Sydney. “Don’t think you get to boss me around now, Sydney Spring. I don’t care what your position is in your pack.”

  “We’ll see,” Sydney replied as she removed her phone to make the call.

  ****

  Cambrie walked away giving her some privacy. Her hearing wasn’t as acute as a coyote’s so it was more than a gesture. She pulled back the blue curtain to look out the window. The lot was empty except for the day manager who was strolling back to the office with a tool kit in hand. Her stomach tautened in apprehension and released the curtain.

  She turned from the window and strode across the room to the small closet where she’d stowed one of her bags. She put it on the bed and sat down to pull on her sneakers.

  “Well?” Cambrie asked Sydney when she ended her call and slipped her sleek phone into her jeans pocket.

  “Sam wants to talk, but she’s willing to agree with one condition.”

  “What’s that?” Cambrie tied her shoe and met Sydney’s gaze. Her eyes were unreadable which only put Cambrie further on edge. Not that it should. Sydney had never been an open book to her.

  “She wants full disclosure,” Sydney told her. “She wants everything you know about Midnight Howling from their property holdings to their normal fighting tactics.”

  She nodded. “I can do that.” If this was a trick and they betrayed her, she’d become the assassin Sorrento tried to turn her into. Ruthless, merciless, and cold. She’d die, but she’d take Adalyn, Sam and Sydney with her.

  “Let’s move out,” Sydney said. “Your pals will be calling soon and Sam wants to work this out before agreeing to anything with them.”

  “Well, she may as well agree because I’m sort of a packaged deal. The resisters come with me. I won’t let them lose their home. Non-acceptance of them is a deal breaker.”

  “You have to understand her reluctance to just take the word of your friends at face value,” Sydney said.

  “I understand there was no deception in them,” Cambrie retorted. “I understand Cruise and Rick are going to fight with or without her at their backs. I’ll be there with them no matter what Sam decides.”

  “No.”

  “Patty already knows I’m a fighter, but she has to see that I’m no longer going to hide and pray she forgets about me. I’ll die standing up for my right to live on my terms.”

  Sydney grimaced. “I’m not agreeing to that.”

  “You don’t have to.” Cambrie got to her feet holding Sydney’s gaze as she grabbed her bag. “I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.”

  “You take me with you in whatever decisions you make, Cam,” she said coolly. “Your life isn’t the only one you put at risk, so think about that.” Sydney picked up her bag and headed to the door.

  Cambrie went ahead of her reaching the door first and gripped the knob. “I’m not backing down from this. You decide what’s best for you.” She turned and disengaged the lock before opening the door to find two men standing there with cold eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “It’s been a while, Natasha.” Riggs had winter frost eyes and a deep voice that Cambrie was sure made women weak in the knees. His lips peeled back bearing white teeth in a shark-like smile.

  “The alpha wants to see you,” the man at his back said coldly and held up a gun. “Don’t make me use this on your girlfriend.” Gunner’s brown eyes were flint hard as was his tone.

  She focused as she met his gaze and then hit him with a telepathic blast and started to hit the man behind him, but he aimed at her and cocked his gun.

  “Try that shit, and you’re dead.”

  “Kill him,” she whispered to Riggs. “You can’t let him hurt me.”

  Riggs turned and his partner let out an annoyed cry as he was driven back. Sydney stepped past her.

  “Come on.”

  Cambrie ran after her and Sydney came to a sudden halt and swung the bag hitting the man running toward them. Cambrie ducked a blow leveled at her face and came up driving her knee into the man’s groin. He let out a cry and she shoved him to the ground. He swept her leg knocking her to the ground.

  Moving quickly, he was on top of her hands around her throat. “Patty wants you dead, traitor.”

  She slipped into his mind but his animal put up resistance. So she hit him with a telepathic blow. “Stop,” she ordered. “Now.”

  His hands fell away. Breathing hard she held his gaze. “Where is Patty now?” she asked softly.

  “The Gray Tail Den.”

  “Why?” she asked evenly though she wanted to scream as fear constricted her stomach.

  “She’s surveying the land and preparing for her attack against Snow Fur.”

  “When’s the attack scheduled for?”

  “Two days there will be a party. Poisoned food will be served. Those not at the party will be killed in their homes. Bodies will be burned and two days after that when all of the forces have been briefed the order will go out to kill Summerfield’s mate.”

  Patty wouldn’t be relying on the hit to start the fireworks. She’d use that as a distraction. The hit would be one act of aggression that would escalate the conflict.

  “And with the wolf alpha joining the fight, it’s going to be a blood-bath.” His lips quirked up and that eerie hyena laugh filled the air. “Too bad you won’t be alive to see it.”

  His hand went clawed and her eyes caught on the palm. An arrow with a drop of blood glared at her. Patty’s face flashed in her mind and her voice came unbidden to Cambrie’s ears.

  “The blood of midnight and hyenas that prowl, we are sharp, and our might is indefensible.”

  Pictures tumbled into her mind that she’d forg
otten along with names and knowledge she’d gained in bits and pieces during her relationship with Patty.

  “My parents were killed there,” Patty told her. “It was so cold and seeing them die only made it colder.”

  “Cam!”

  She snapped back to the moment and her eyes widened as claws rushed toward her face. Her blood ran cold in her veins. He froze in his motion, his own eyes widening. He gasped and arched his back.

  He jerked around and Sydney backhanded him knocking him off her. Cambrie scrambled to her feet just as the crack of a gun filled the air. She leaned back, almost falling to her feet and the bullet whizzed past her.

  She turned, jaw dropping and her skin chilling. Sydney used the hyena as a shield as she charged toward Riggs who’d broken free of Cambrie’s telepathic command. Cambrie swallowed tightly and hurried behind her to take on Gunner.

  She didn’t want to kill him. She merely wanted to send him back to Patty with a message from her.

  Sydney shoved her dead shield into Riggs and attacked while Cambrie leveled a blast at Gunner. He fought it, but she took control of his mind with brute mental force. “Listen to me,” she ordered once she had him under control.

  In his eyes, she saw the hyena’s cold stare and knew she’d managed to do something she’d never known she could do. She’d separated the nature of the man from that of the beast. For all intents and purposes, the human part of Gunner was disengaged from his animal will and instincts. He was just a human in this moment.

  “Tell Patty, Natasha is done hiding,” she told him as the animal tried to take over the man’s mind, to reintegrate. “Tell her, to consider this her eviction notice.”

  “Come on, Cam,” Sydney ordered.

  Cambrie backed away and the animal snarled at her, but the man was still powerless. She turned and raced for the bike where Sydney was storing her bag in a heavy looking box attached to the side.

  “Here.” Sydney thrust a jacket at her. “Hurry.”

  She tugged it on as the hyena finally succeeded in reconnecting man and animal. He let out a laugh but didn’t advance.