9
“I need you here right fucking now.”
River’s voice came over the line when Creed handed her the burner phone.
Creed had stayed with her. He’d claimed he just had business with the Howlers, but she’d felt the lie in his words and he’d known she would.
He was a good man.
“What happened?” She said with fear in her throat.
“I need you here. There has been a development. You need to be here. Just get your ass here.”
Creed grinned. “He’s such a conversationalist. Always admired that about him.” He raised his brows. “Ready to go?”
She looked at him dumbfounded. “No?”
“Wrong answer sweetheart. Come on.”
She sighed. “Fine. this is ridiculous. I am a grown woman for heaven’s sake. I should have the option of doing whatever the hell I want to.”
“It’s about Line.” Creed turned and walked toward his big truck as if her complaints mattered not at all.
Harmony huffed, but she followed because she did care about helping Line.
“You are really no help at all, do you realize that?”
He grinned. “I think there’s a certain poetry to it.”
“You would.” She rolled her eyes but climbed into his truck and let him drive her the few miles to the little trailer that sat behind River’s house. It was a place to stash people and keep an eye on them. It reminded Harmony of the old shed where Reed had been caged. The sight of it always made her skin crawl.
It only took a few minutes to make the drive, but her stomach was churning by the time she stepped out of the truck and looked at the trailer. Shauna was there, and Harmony took heart in seeing the woman. Harmony had helped Shauna escape when her family had taken Shauna hostage. They had become friends since then and her presence eased Harmony’s worries.
“We will get him back.” Shauna assured her pulling her into a hug. “I promise we will. You have to have faith in that.”
Harmony nodded and soaked in Shauna’s reassurances. It helped. It helped to have someone understand and offer comfort instead of just telling her to be strong.
“Lion.” Creed snarled when he saw the tiny woman seated on a low couch in the old trailer.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” He pushed Harmony behind him.
“She has information. She helped Line escape, but they got him back. There’s plenty she isn’t sayin’ but she gave us that much.” River frowned. “He was alive two days ago.
“You don’t understand. I can’t. I can’t disobey my queen. I can’t do that.” She whimpered under his gaze. “I don’t have the strength.”
“You disobeyed her enough to come here.” River snarled.
“I was never ordered not to. They wanted rid of me. I was a burden. She let me go.”
“I smell a lie.” Books tilted his head and lifted one side of his mouth to reveal his fangs. Harmony jumped in surprise and she noticed several glances from others in the room. Books was usually the calm one, but by the look in his eyes, he was barely hanging onto his skin.
The woman paled and shivered. “Alright. I escaped. I helped your friend out of the house and then I just kept going. I think it was adrenaline or something, maybe his dominance, maybe Kirisima was just too busy to order me back, I don’t know. I escaped, and they will kill me if I they ever find me.”
“This is bullshit. It’s a trap. She has led them here or something.” Ricky spat. “She was ordered to come here and fill us full of shit. I ain’t buyin it.”
“I swear. I didn’t. I didn’t know. I just ran. I helped him escape, but he blacked out, I couldn’t wake him, and I couldn’t carry him. I ran. You don’t know what life there was like...I had to escape.” She whimpered.
“You fucking left him and saved yourself. Coward.” Dice spat in disgust.
Books was snarling now, not trying to hide his hatred toward this woman. He stepped around Harmony and out of the trailer.
“Need a breather.” He said instead of his usual greeting and closed the door behind him.
“Why am I here? There is no reason if she can’t tell us anything.” Harmony stepped around Creed, but he kept his hand on her arm. She wanted to look at this woman, smell her. She wanted to know if Line was alive.
The woman’s eyes snapped to her. “You.” She hissed and lunged for Harmony. “You will die!”
Dice grabbed her by the hair and shoved her back down on the couch.
“What the fuck is your problem?” River screamed in her face. “You came here for protection and you try this shit? I should break your fucking neck.” He shoved her away. “You don’t threaten my fucking pack. You get that?”
She paled. She shook her head as if to clear it. “I... I don’t know.” She sobbed into her hands. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”
“You get up again and I will fucking kill you.” River vowed.
“It’s her connection with her queen. It’s different for them.” Lucian said in his smooth way. He was a cool observer, untouched by the emotions that twisted in the others.
He didn’t care, maybe he couldn’t care, but he was curious.
Pie stepped in the room behind Harmony. He looked tired and pissed off.
“Welcome home Pie.” River breathed trying to regain control. “Appreciate you coming out, I know your ass is dragging.”
“Anything to get him home.” Pie said and tiredness drug at him.
The woman shivered on the couch where she sat. her eyes were on the open door like she would give anything to escape. She seemed to draw her strength.
“They let me go. They knew you wouldn’t see me as a threat. I was to find out what held him and now I know, and they know. They want me to kill her.” Her eyes shot to Harmony and Creed let go of a string of curses. “It’s the only reason they would let me go.”
“Why?” River’s voice was calm and as Harmony looked around the room, she saw the effect of it on the others. His power was an amazing thing.
The woman’s golden eyes met his and he held them.
“Something holds him to the world. Holds his wolf. She can’t kill it, my queen. If she cannot kill his wolf, his lion cannot take hold. She cannot control him until she kills it. Even then, it will be difficult because he is very dominant, but it is worth it.”
Harmony couldn’t breathe.
If the news shocked River, he did not show it.
Books leaned on the open door, a dark scowl on his face.
“How will she kill the wolf?” River asked. The woman looked sick. The strain was getting to her fast.
“She uses the serum. The one that brings the Sickness. If a shifter has only one animal the sickness will kill him. If he has two, it will kill only the dominant one and the other will live. Feline is always recessive.”
Harmony watched River’s body stiffen.
“The lions are behind the serum. Fucking lions.” Books cursed with more venom than Harmony had ever seen.
“Of course. The hyenas aren’t resourceful enough.” There was pride in her voice and it made Harmony’s stomach churn. “You disgust me.”
Creed looked over at her and frowned. “I’m with you.”
River’s eyes silenced them.
“Why does she want Line?”
“She needs to join his bloodline to hers. We are few. Lionesses like me are not allowed to mate. Our queen must bear cubs for us, but we need new blood. Your man has new blood. The other Prides are as we are and there is such animosity between us all that we are unwilling to trade males. We need a strong male. We need him to survive.”
“Line. He’s a lion.” Dice said, disbelieving. “Anybody else find that fucked up? I mean, he’s a lion and we call him Line.”
“We can talk of irony later Samual. Right now, we need to focus.” Lucian sighed.
“His father was a dominant. Those are no good, can’t be controlled or trusted. He left his Pride, ran, knowing they would eventually kill him, and searched out mates for himself. He found five of various species. He wanted a normal life, begged for it and he was allowed to breed, but he was being watched. When he discovered that his mates were being murdered after they gave birth he began digging. He discovered that his offspring were being used as test subjects. Not his alone, there were others, but he was furious that his children were being used by the Pride that turned their backs on him. He went a little mad, helplessness will do that to a dominant.”
“What happened then?” River asked.
“He found them and killed them himself, before we could learn too much, but it was too late. We had discovered that if you take a babe’s mother then the child has no anchor to that part of him. It is the only way to kill that side. Give the child the shot and let that part of him die. Then we have a new blood source. We anchor the child to us and we have a lion with new blood.”
“You realize that you don’t. Lion has lion, gives you lion… doesn’t give a new line. It waters it down.” Books explained.
“No, but it dilutes it, mixes it.” She explained. “It lengthens the line.”
“So, Line’s daddy decided he’d rather kill his offspring rather than protect them?” Ricky scowled.
“It was easier than killing his Pride. The problem was, he was stolen away from us.” She shrugged. “We had to search for him, but by then he had bonded to an aunt and his wolf was strong, his lion was almost nonexistent. We allowed his father to find them, but somehow the boy survived. Now we need him. he is valuable. Fate smiled on us.”
“You people are sick.” Pie spat.
She looked up at him with hurt in her eyes.
Pie walked out, and the door slammed behind him. In a moment they heard the mournful sound of two wolves in song for their lost brother. Harmony felt for Pie. He’d been sent to protect Line and now he was in danger. It was hard for him to take. It was hard on all of them.
“Tell us how to find Line.” River commanded, and Harmony winced at the power in his voice, but the woman looked sick.
“I... I can’t...I can’t say anything more…” there was a stain on her face and she broke out in a cold sweat that coated her face. “I can’t understand it, I... I just can’t.”
She looked so confused by it that Harmony almost felt sorry for her. Her golden eyes stared toward the door as if she would give anything to escape.
What must it be like not to own your own will?
“We will find you and cut out your heart. The bond will be broken. You will never be safe.”
“Get her out of here.” River demanded.
“It won’t matter. They are coming.”
The woman’s eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped to the floor. No one tried to catch her. Her head bounced and made a sickening thump.
The howls from outside changed and River looked toward Harmony.
“Get her the fuck out of here.” River roared.
Harmony was bustled back into Creed’s truck and this time Pie, Books, and Dice followed her along with several men she didn’t know. Something was wrong. She was in danger. Pie and Books paced, their big paws kicking up dust as they protected Harmony from the threat of whatever was coming.
Something huge landed in the bed of the truck and she turned to see Lucian’s sleek tiger pacing the small space.
“Get the fuck out of my truck!” Creed yelled and was rewarded with a hiss from the monster in the bed of his truck.
“Hold on sweet cheeks. We gotta get your ass somewhere safe. How would you like to spend some quality time at the Full Moon?”
She saw them then, eyes.
“Fucking lions. I hate these bastards.” Creed didn’t slow even when a big golden body stood in the road. He slammed into it and she heard a sickening crunch when the truck bounced over it. She looked back and watched the Howlers firing shot after shot into the blackness that surrounded them, but they couldn’t fight them, not like this. Pie and Books ran beside the truck. She marveled at their speed, their long legs eating up the ground as they guarded her.
Her heart pounded. These men were risking their lives to keep her safe, why would they do that?
Creed looked grim.
“You matter to Line, so you matter to all of us. It’s that simple. It’s family.” Creed said with only a glance in her direction.
Lucian roared from the bed of the truck and Harmony heard his claws ripping into the roof as he climbed on top. In a flash he leapt over the hood and crashed into a mass of golden haired lions.
“Fucker scratched my truck!” Creed shouted, but she knew he was worried less about the truck than surviving.
“What’s happening?” she asked, panicked.
“The little bitch led them right to us and River’s stupid ass brought you right in there like a fucking idiot.”
“I don’t understand.” She was so tired. She felt like she was being dragged under water.
“It was a trap.”
“What’s going on out there?” She searched the night franticly.
“War sweetheart. That’s what’s happening. The lions just declared war on the Howlers and anyone who is allied with them.
“What are we doing?” She wanted to fight. She wanted to do anything to help.
“We are losing sweetheart.” He smiled sadly, but he wasn’t giving up. He swerved and drove faster, but he knew they were losing.
The lions were powerful, and they had more money than any other species. If they were banding together to fight a war, no one would survive.