“Son of a bitch!” Taryn pushed a button on the wall, and an alarm blared throughout the caves. “Rhett, grab Kye on your way to the panic room.” As the male disappeared out of the room, Taryn whipped out her phone and swept her thumb over the screen. “Shaya, we need backup. No, it looks like Ramón and his men are on our territory. Get here as soon as you can.”
Marcus turned to Taryn, jaw hard. “The whole thing was a setup. Ramón figured you’d go to the gate with Trey and you’d be easy to grab. Only you didn’t go, so now they’re on their way here and the most powerful of the wolves within the pack aren’t around.”
“Two wolves just took down the police,” said Roni, watching the screen. “The rest are chasing after the SUVs.”
Riley glanced at the other cameras, occasionally catching a glimpse of the SUVs whizzing past with wolves hot on their tail.
“We need to get out there and hold off the humans,” said Dominic.
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Taryn told him, her voice a little bloodthirsty. “Riley, you get Savannah and Dexter and take them to the panic room.”
Riley nodded. “Don’t let the fuckers get in.” Heart pounding, she raced out of the room and through the tunnels. This wasn’t the time to panic, she told herself. She had to stay calm or she’d scare Savannah and Dexter.
Reaching their bedroom, she swung the door open. The sight she found made her skid to a halt. Dexter was lying on the floor, unmoving, with a pool of red around his head. Savannah was hissing at the female smirking behind her, who had one of the viper’s pigtails wrapped around her fist and a razor-sharp talon pointed at Savannah’s neck.
Rage. Dread. Disbelief. Panic. Each emotion hit Riley like a rock to the solar plexus and sent her raven into a rage. Her chest tightened until her breastbone hurt. Taking a deep breath, she flexed fingers that suddenly tingled. She was gripping her phone so hard it was a wonder that it hadn’t cracked.
Only two things stopped Riley from losing her shit: Savannah wasn’t bleeding, and she could hear Dexter’s heartbeat.
“I didn’t mean to bash his head so hard against the wall, but those claws of his are a hazard.” Shirley’s stare was fevered, unblinking. And in those eyes there was a hint of something, something not altogether sane, that made Riley’s stomach twist. “Expecting Cynthia?”
“It did look more and more like she could be behind all this,” said Riley.
Wind gusted through the open balcony door behind Shirley. Clearly the lock hadn’t stood up all that well to shifter strength. “I was flying around the perimeter of your territory, wondering just how I’d be able to cross over without being sensed, when I noticed the humans at the gate. They provided a nice diversion.”
Riley kept her voice a flat monotone, giving Shirley no emotion to work with. “So, what, you’re punishing people for not helping Wade?”
“He didn’t need help. He needed people to stop messing with his head and manipulating him. It was one of you. It had to be.”
“So you just figured you’d shoot us all to be sure the person responsible was punished.”
“You and Lucy spoke to him most often. Sawyer was spending time with him, though. Wade told me that Sawyer just wanted to help him to impress you. Cynthia was calling him all the time, telling him that you and Lucy were laughing at him behind his back. I can believe that.”
“You don’t believe it, though,” Riley said. “Not really. It wasn’t the first time Cynthia tried coming between me and my friends, and it wouldn’t have been the last.”
“She swears she didn’t give Wade the gun and tell him to do it . . . I think she was actually telling the truth.”
“But you hurt her anyway, didn’t you?” Which explained why Cynthia was missing.
“I wasn’t going to take the chance that she was lying. One of you did it.”
“Wade did it, Shirley.”
“Wade was—”
“Depressed. Troubled. Full of anger he couldn’t get out because his nature was just too sweet. It built up inside him until he burst like a volcano. I think he wanted to die. I do. I think he just also wanted to take with him the people who’d made him feel that way.” It was a sad truth, but it was the truth all the same.
“No.” Shirley’s voice shook. “No.” Her grip must have tightened on Savannah’s hair, because the little girl whined and tried pulling her ponytail free. The sound made Riley’s heart squeeze. Her raven flapped her wings and released a guttural rattle.
“Let her go.” It was hard to keep the plea out of her voice. “She’s not who you’ve come all the way here for.”
Shirley tapped her talons against Savannah’s fragile neck. “I don’t know . . . I think hurting her will hurt you, so maybe I should just do that.”
It took everything Riley had not to lunge at the bitch. Her muscles literally ached from the strain of keeping still, but she feared making any move that could set Shirley off. “That wouldn’t be enough for you. It’s me you want. Why wait all this time to hurt me? Why not do this years ago?”
“It’s your fault,” Shirley spat. “Seeing your face, having you around . . . it brought it all back. Everything went straight back to the way it was—Sawyer wanting you, Cynthia arguing with you, your uncles adoring you. But no Wade. No. While you’re all moving on with your lives, he’s dead.”
“But you didn’t kill us.” Riley paused, hearing tires screech and wolves growl just outside. Her stomach knotted at the sound of bullets firing, but she took comfort in the fact that none had hit her mate—she’d feel it if they had. “I don’t think you really want anyone to die, Shirley. You wanted people to remember Wade, to remember what he went through, and feel your pain.”
“Don’t kid yourself. I wanted you all dead. Especially you. You were supposed to be his best friend, but you did nothing to help him, just like you did nothing to help Daniel.” Shirley sneered and gave a quick snort of disgust. “Your mother never deserved him.”
The jealousy in the latter words made Riley frown. “Why?”
“He wasn’t hers anyway. I knew as soon as I saw Daniel that he was mine.” Shirley’s face actually lit up a little. “I didn’t need to feel the tug of the mating bond—I just knew. My raven knew.” The light on her face died an abrupt death. “But he didn’t. He felt something, I could tell, but he only had eyes for Anabel.” Her mouth curled in contempt. “Everyone had eyes for Anabel.”
Shocked, Riley was struggling to keep up. “You think my father was your true mate?”
“I know he was.” Shirley’s voice was like a whip. “He was mine, and she stole him from me. I had to watch them together. I told him he was my mate. He wouldn’t believe me and neither would she. She said I was just trying to break them up out of spite. I did try breaking them up after that, I really did, but—as he was so fond of saying—she was his world. They imprinted, and then they had you and you were both his world. Me? He avoided me like the plague.”
Now that she was mated, it was impossible for Riley not to appreciate just how agonizing that must have been. Shirley’s eyes were so wet and dull that Riley might have felt sorry for her if it weren’t for the talons aimed at Savannah and the fact that she’d hurt Dexter.
Shirley pressed her trembling lips together. “When Anabel died, I thought, ‘He can be mine now.’ Her death was fate at work, Riley. Fate punishing her for taking what wasn’t hers to take.” A flush crept up her neck and face. “I could have saved him. If they’d let me see him, let me speak to him, I could have brought him out of that state. He would have lived for me. I was his mate. But it was you the flock pinned their hopes on. They wouldn’t listen to me. Wouldn’t let me in to see him. ‘Riley will bring him back,’ they said. But you didn’t. So he died. Maybe fate was punishing him too for turning his back on what it offered him.”
“Are you forgetting that you were mated when he came to the flock?”
A dismissive sound. “I would have gotten rid of Dean for him. Dean never loved
me anyway. He liked his girls young. Once I was too old for him, he lost interest.”
Riley got it then. Not only had Shirley been rejected by her true mate, but the male she’d taken as her mate had withdrawn from her. Wade had been Shirley’s anchor, her reason to live. And then she’d lost him. It would seem her grip on her sanity had slipped a little. Just maybe that grip had increasingly loosened as time went on, because the woman in front of Riley—a woman hurting children in a way that went against a raven’s nature—was definitely not stable . . . which was why it was absolutely imperative that Riley get the bitch away from the kids fast.
Shirley narrowed eyes that glittered with loathing. “I hated seeing you near Wade. I didn’t want anything of your mother touching my son, but he wouldn’t listen. He’d always find a way to sneak off and be with you and Lucy. He never defied me over anything else.”
Riley caught sight of Dexter stirring slightly in her peripheral vision, and her heart slammed against her ribs. She was relieved that he was conscious, but she was also frightened that he might draw Shirley’s attention.
“I don’t blame Wade for what he did that night,” Shirley went on. “None of them cared about him. They deserved to die and you should have died with them. Now you can.”
“You loved Daniel. I’m part of him.”
Her eyes flashed with scorn. “You had no right to be born. You should never have been born. They had no right to be mated.”
Riley threw her phone at Shirley. Instinct had the woman reaching to catch it. Savannah dropped to the ground and Riley charged at Shirley, sending them both toppling over the balcony. Riley shifted midair and shook off her clothes. Shirley did the same, and the ravens clashed in a fury of talons.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The black wolf bolted through the trees, teeth bared. His pack mates ran alongside him, keeping pace with the cars that raced toward the mountain. His muscles burned. His lungs felt raw. His heart beat too fast. But the wolf did not slow. He pushed on, veins buzzing with adrenaline.
Two humans leaned out of the car windows, guns in hand. The wolves did not retreat. They kept moving, using the trees for cover. Bullets slammed into the ground. Others hit tree trunks; pieces of bark flew. A burning heat grazed the wolf’s shoulder, but he ignored the pain. He had to. Echoes of his mate’s fear and anger sliced at him. He needed to reach her.
More bullets were fired. A yelp came from behind him. It made the wolf’s heart stutter, but he could not pause to help his pack mate. He had to reach those who were unprotected, he had to help his mate.
He put on a burst of speed as the cars reached the mountain. Several wolves rushed out of the parking lot and charged at the first car. They knocked it down, sending it sliding off the path. The other screeched to a halt.
Humans aimed their guns out the windows of both cars, but the pack attacked as a unit. Fast. Cold. Brutal. Without mercy.
With a vicious growl, the black wolf dived at the second car. He sank his teeth into an arm, tasting blood, enjoying the cry of agony. A gun fell at the wolf’s feet, but he kept his grip on the human.
The male punched him, spitting harsh words. Snarling, the wolf bit down harder and yanked. The human slipped out of the car, banging his head on the ground. The wolf wasted no time in tearing out his throat, but he felt no triumph. It was the leader he wanted.
The car rocked as the Alpha dragged another human from it. The white wolf helped her mate slash and maul their prey. His screams split the air, joining the growls, snarls, yelps, shouts, and sounds of bullets firing.
Some bullets hit the ground or the cave wall. Others sank past the fur and flesh of his pack mates. But the wolves did not retreat. They gave no reprieve. Blood, sweat, and rage scented the air, feeding his fury.
The wolf scrabbled to get inside the car to reach the human hiding there, but the male stumbled out the other side and tried to flee. The Beta wolves quickly took him down, slashing his back and pitilessly ripping into his shoulder.
Another human leaned out of the other side and aimed his gun at the Beta pair. Heart beating fast, the black wolf rounded the car and lunged. The human heard his growl and turned. Eyes wide, he fired. A burning heat skimmed his ear, but the wolf bit down on the human’s hand. The male cried out, but he did not drop the gun. He moved it to his other hand and—
The car rocked again, making the human lose his balance and topple out. A she-wolf appeared and slashed their enemy’s throat again and again, until he was choking on his own blood.
A female scream made the black wolf’s head snap up. His mate and another female were falling off a balcony. They shifted midair into ravens and attacked each other. Their wings flapped in a frenzy, and feathers seemed to burst off their bodies.
The wolf watched as they bit and stabbed each other with their beaks. Watched as they repeatedly clashed, raking each other with their talons. He could feel his mate’s pain. Despite it, she did not weaken. Did not ease back. She fought harder. More brutally. More—
The wolf’s breath left his lungs as something hard and hot smashed into his shoulder. Despite the blinding pain, he spun to find his attacker. The human was hanging out of the car roof, gun still pointed at the black wolf. Then he was gone—yanked back inside by a wolf whose jaw was locked around his ankle in a crushing grip.
Taking a moment to look around, the wolf growled. Most of the humans were now dead, but many of his pack were hurt. Some were hobbling. Others were weak from blood loss. One wolf had fallen and was being guarded by pack mates.
A howl split the air. Not one of triumph. Not one of grief. One of frustration. Following the sound, the black wolf ignored the burning pain in his shoulder as he ran to his Alpha male. The wolf paused as he caught another scent. It was a scent he knew, a scent that made him growl with a cold rage. It was the scent of the human who had wounded his mate and tried to snatch the cheetah cub.
With a snarl the wolf changed course, following the scent past the car and over to—
A loud bang was followed by a squawk. The wolf halted and looked up, panting. His heart leaped as the tangled ravens dropped from the sky. He felt his mate’s head slam on something hard not just once but twice; he winced at the echo of her pain.
His leg muscles tightened as the urge to run to his mate took over. He rushed into the woods, skirting trees and kicking up dirt.
Gunfire cracked the air. A force slammed into the wolf’s thigh, making his leg almost crumple beneath him. More gunfire. Pain after pain exploded in his flank. His world tilted, grayed, became diagonal. And as he landed on his wounded shoulder, a crippling agony radiated through him. His vision blurred and faded until it was almost black.
The wolf lay there, sides heaving, breaths bursting in and out of him. Except for the ringing in his ears, everything seemed quiet. Too quiet. He could not seem to move, not even when he heard footsteps rustling in the grass.
“Don’t. Move.”
The voice sounded distorted and far away, but the wolf knew it was the leader, the one they called Ramón. The human that the wolf most wanted to rip apart with claws and teeth.
“Now, which of the pack would you be?”
The wolf did not understand the words, but he snarled. He wanted to rise, to attack. But his leg, shoulder, and flank pulsed with white-hot pain. Warm blood kept pumping out of his wounds, soaking his fur and the ground beneath him.
Another human walked through the trees, holding a limp raven by the talons. It was the same male who had tried to snatch the cub. “You shot it right out of the sky, sir. The little bitch deserved it after what she did to me.”
Ramón smiled at the black wolf. “Is that why you came running this way? You were looking for the raven? How sad that you couldn’t save her.”
The wolf didn’t panic at the sight of the dead raven. He knew his mate was alive. She was in great pain and barely conscious, but alive. The wolf wanted to go to her, to help her, but he could barely move. Fear skittered through him. The wolf had be
en hurt many times before, but this seemed different. The blood would not stop pumping out of him. He felt wet. Cold. More tired than he had ever been.
“Put down the bird. Let’s get him in the car.”
The wolf snarled, but the humans grabbed his legs. The wolf reared up with a growl, teeth bared, but a crippling pain lanced through him. Everything started to fade. Darken. Then there was nothing.
Something buzzed at Tao, prodding him awake. Not an insect, he thought as he gathered his jumbled thoughts. Not even a sound. But what was it?
It happened again. A spurt of strength buzzed all the way up the mating bond. It was like being given a shot of adrenaline.
Fuck, he was cold. Heavy. Sluggish. Digging deep for energy, he tried to move, and pain rolled over him in waves. Never-ending waves that made his stomach churn and his head spin. He breathed deep, taking in the scents of blood, oil, leather, and . . . Ramón.
Tao forced his eyes open, and there was the bastard—sitting on a bench inside a van, pointing a gun at him. Tao really was damn tired of guns.
The arrogant piece of shit hadn’t even put any restraints on Tao, so sure he was in the position of power. And fuck if Ramón wasn’t in the position of power. Tao had little to no energy in his system and, honestly, he was pretty sure he’d pass out again if he moved.
Only once in his life had he felt this weak—the night he’d almost died.
“You’re awake. Good. I didn’t know your kind could shift while unconscious.”
It happened occasionally.
Ramón smiled. “I must say, you and your pack mates are much more vicious fighters than I gave you all credit for.” There was actually a little respect in those words. “I’m pretty sure me and my driver are the only survivors.” And that didn’t seem to concern him.
Tao’s upper lip curled. “Maybe if you hadn’t come after the others and then hidden in the trees like a couple of pussies, you’d be just as dead as them.”
Ramón’s anger rose up in his scent. “I’ll let that comment slide, since I’m quite sure this has been a trying evening for you.” His brow creased. “It’s been just as trying for me. Things didn’t really go to plan.”