CHAPTER NINETEEN
While her mate lay next to her on his side, Riley was flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling. It was two thirty in the morning, and her brain was working a mile a minute. A kaleidoscope of images and thoughts seemed to be swirling around her mind.
The shootings, past and present.
Dexter almost being kidnapped.
Ethan lying in his bed, injured and sleeping.
Lucy taking a bullet right in front of her eyes.
So much had happened, and Riley was able to do so very little about it. She felt powerless. Useless, even. Those feelings rubbed her raw and pricked at her raven’s pride.
It had been three days since the pack had the video conference with the Mercury Alphas. Harley’s margay cousins had happily taken on the job of spooking Ramón. They also hadn’t wasted any time in acting. Just yesterday they had broken into his home and wrecked his bedroom with claws and teeth—creating a mess that could only have been made by animals or shifters.
Ramón wouldn’t know margays had caused the damage, but he would know the Phoenix wolves had retaliated. He hadn’t called to complain or threaten the pack, but it was too early to tell if their plan would pay off or if Ramón would seek—
Tao gently tapped her temple. “What’s going on up here that woke you?” His eyes were closed and his voice was deep and throaty with sleep. As always, it made her tingle in lots of interesting places.
“Nothing in particular.” She kissed him, feeling bad that she’d disturbed him. “Go back to sleep.” She started to slip out of bed, but he splayed his hand on her stomach.
“Stay,” he coaxed.
“There’s no point. I’m wide awake.”
“Just lie here with me.” He grazed her earlobe with his teeth and turned her on her side to face him. “I like having you next to me.”
“But then I’ll be bored and fidget and keep you awake.” Which never seemed to bother him but eventually would, the longer they were mated. “If you’re not getting enough sleep, you won’t be completely alert and you’ll tire quickly when you’re working.”
“Just stay.”
“God, you’re stubborn.”
“Are you only learning this now?”
She snorted. “No, I learned that when I first arrived on your territory and you argued with the Alphas to have me removed, no matter how many times they said no.”
Tao smiled. “You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?” He traced the length of her spine with his finger. “If it makes you feel any better, the whole time I was working to make Taryn and Trey change their minds, all I wanted was to be buried balls deep in you.”
“Even though you didn’t trust me as far as you could throw me?”
“Even though.” He licked over his claiming mark. “I love looking at this. I love that our scents are mixed.” He raked his teeth over the bite as he closed a hand around her breast. “I love that you’re all mine.”
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to fuck me back to sleep this time,” she warned him. She was simply too wired.
“I do love a challenge.” He was just about to roll her onto her back when his cell phone beeped. Grabbing it from the nightstand, he tapped the screen. As he read the text message from Gabe, every muscle in his body tensed.
Sensing the change in him, Riley frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s at the gate.” He jumped out of bed and began pulling on some clothes.
“Who?”
“I’m about to find out. I shouldn’t be long; I just have to—why are you getting dressed?”
Dragging on a T-shirt, Riley flicked her hair out of her collar. “You’re going to the security room to check out the cameras, right? I want to know who’s here.”
Yeah, well, Tao didn’t want to drag her into the matter in case she insisted on getting involved in something dangerous. “You’re better staying here.”
“Should I remind you that I’m Guardian? I need to know if there’s a risk to the children so I can get them to safety.”
Tao swore, unable to deny that. “Fine. Let’s go.”
A minute later they were entering the security room, located near Trey’s office. Rhett was there, his fingers tapping crazily on the keyboard of his computer. Trey, Jaime, Dante, Makenna, and the other enforcers were also present. They’d undoubtedly all received the same warning from Gabe, who was manning the perimeter gate.
Riley glanced around. “No Taryn?”
“Kye had a nightmare, so he ended up in our bed,” said Trey. “She’s staying with him while I find out what’s happening.”
Tao went straight to the wall where all the monitors were positioned and homed in on the screen that displayed footage of the gate. Gabe was standing just outside the security shack, his eyes locked on the visitors standing behind the locked gates. “Is that . . . ? That’s a police car.”
Rhett nodded. “Yep. They got here a few minutes ago.”
Tao looked at Trey. “What do they want?” His stomach dropped when his Alpha turned to Riley.
“They’ve asked to speak with you,” Trey told her.
Riley pointed to herself. “Me? Are you sure?”
“The cameras have audio,” said Rhett. “We heard them ask for you.”
His wolf growled, and Tao slashed a hand in the air. “No fucking way is she going out there.”
“Definitely no fucking way,” agreed Jaime. “This could be someone trying to get Riley out into the open so she’s an easier target.”
Trey rolled back his shoulders. “I’ll speak with the humans and, basically, tell them to fuck off.” He ran his eyes along Tao, Dante, Ryan, and Trick. “Follow me.”
While Makenna and the other enforcers argued to go along, Tao gave Riley a quick kiss and said, “Don’t bother insisting on coming with us. I genuinely think the police are just bait to flush you out.”
“I wasn’t going to ask to go with you,” said Riley honestly. “I need to call my uncles and find out who’s missing from the flock. Someone sent the police here. I want to know who it was.” And she wanted to throttle the fucker for daring to bring danger to her home.
“Text me when you know.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
“Always.” Tao gave her one last kiss and then followed Trey and the others out of the room.
Keeping her eyes on the monitor, Riley pulled out her cell and called Ethan. “Hi, I know this isn’t a great hour to call, but we think there’s a good chance that someone from the flock is missing.”
“Somebody’s on your territory?” asked Ethan, both worry and anger in his tone.
“Not yet, but they’re close, and we think they’re trying to draw me out.”
“I’ll call you back in a minute.”
Riley bit down on her thumb as she waited for the Phoenix wolves to appear at the gate. Makenna, Jaime, Roni, Marcus, and Dominic gathered around her, all completely focused on the monitor.
“I’m pissed that I have to hang behind,” grumbled Marcus.
Dominic folded his arms. “Trey was right in what he said. If he takes too many wolves with him, it’ll look confrontational. It’s better to just get rid of the humans than to antagonize them.”
Roni nodded in agreement, briefly leaning into Marcus. “They’re just pawns anyway.”
Riley shifted from foot to foot. It was possible that someone was hovering around those gates with a freaking rifle, waiting for her. She doubted that they would shoot at one of the wolves in lieu of her. If hurting someone else to hurt her were enough for them, they would have gone after Max or Ethan. They wouldn’t have followed her all the way here just to settle on shooting someone else. Still, she got more and more nervous with each minute that went by. Her raven was just as uneasy; she wanted the freedom to explore the territory for the threat.
Taryn strode into the room. “What the hell is hap—where’s Flintstone?”
“He went to talk to the police and get rid of them.” Rhett gestured to the monitor. “They want to talk to Riley.”
Taryn swore. “The asshole should have taken me with him. We’re the Alphas, we should always present a united front.”
“I suppose he thought it wasn’t worth dragging you away from Kye just to go send the humans away,” said Makenna. “Where is Kye?”
“Still asleep in my bed. I had to know what was happening.”
As the monitor showed Trey, Tao, and the others finally nearing the security shack, Riley blew out a breath. She couldn’t quite shake off her apprehension. A bolt of reassurance shot up the mating bond and a half smile curved her mouth.
They’d be fine, Riley told herself. They’d all be fine. And if something did happen to anyone, Riley would raise fresh fucking hell on the trigger-happy fucker.
Tao and the enforcers flanked Trey as they strolled to the security shack. Despite the darkness, Tao could clearly see the two humans behind the iron gates, standing beside a police car. One was tall and lean, the other was balding fast and had a thick, old-fashioned mustache.
Trey spoke to Gabe at a volume that wouldn’t meet the humans’ ears. “Have they said anything else since we left the caves a few minutes ago?”
“Not to me,” replied Gabe. “But they keep talking into their radios. They obviously know how acute a shifter’s hearing can be, though, because they’ve kept their voices quiet.”
Trey nodded. “Wait here, Gabe.”
Again Tao and the enforcers flanked the Alpha as they approached the closed gate. Both officers strode toward them, their gaits casual and easy, their perceptive eyes scanning each and every wolf. Tao’s wolf sniffed in annoyance as the wind carried the scents of fast food and cigarette smoke that clung to the humans.
The taller of the two studied Trey carefully. “You’re the Alpha?”
“I am,” said Trey.
“I’m Officer Brown. This is Officer Taylor.” His tone was as casual as his stance. Apparently the guy was trying to put them at ease and pretend to be their friend or something.
Taylor, chewing gum, simply inclined his head.
Brown looked at Trey expectantly, as if waiting for him to introduce each of the wolves. He didn’t.
“What brings you officers to my territory?” Trey asked.
Brown glanced past him to where Gabe stood. “As I told your pack mate, we’d like to speak with the raven you have staying with you.”
“Riley Porter isn’t staying with us. She’s part of my pack. That’s different.”
The officers exchanged a brief look, and Tao got the feeling they hadn’t actually known that. Maybe they’d assumed that each breed of shifter stuck with their own kind.
“In any case, we’d like to speak with her,” said Brown.
Trey raised a brow. “Regarding?”
“A complaint was made against her by Ramón Veloz. He believes Miss Porter broke into his home and vandalized it yesterday afternoon.”
Motherfucker. Tao should have considered that the bastard would do something like this. Ramón would have many people in his pocket. He probably thought Riley had flown into his home and let the wolves inside since, as an avian, she had the best chance of entering undetected. He had no reason to believe that the pack had any connection to a group of crazy-ass margays.
“Does he now?” Trey’s tone was bored.
Brown widened his stance. “We’d just like to have a quick chat with her so we can get all this straightened out.” As if he were on their side and believed it was one big, terrible misunderstanding.
“You don’t need to chat with Riley,” said Trey. “I can tell you myself that Ramón’s wrong.”
“You can verify Miss Porter’s whereabouts?” asked Brown.
“She was here,” said Trey.
Taylor lifted his chin. “Mr. Veloz strongly believes that Miss Porter was to blame.”
“And many believe that Bigfoot walks the earth. Doesn’t make it true or really mean anything—it’s just a belief.”
Taylor licked his front teeth. “Still, we’d just like to speak to Miss Porter and hear the story from her.”
Tao gave a slow shake of the head. “Not happening.”
Taylor’s eyes narrowed on Tao. “Is she fine with you all speaking for her?”
Tao ignored the taunt, though it made his wolf bare his teeth. “You won’t pass through this gate. You’re wasting your time here.”
Straightening to his full height, Brown sighed at Trey. “Mr. Coleman, my job is to—”
“I know what your job is,” said Trey. “I know about your laws. And both of us know that shifters don’t answer to your laws. We have our own. That means you don’t have any authority whatsoever here.”
A flicker of movement caught Tao’s eyes. A black SUV with blackened windows was creeping up toward the gate. The hair on his nape and arms lifted. In the distance a flock of birds squawked, as if spooked by something. Alarm shot through Tao and his wolf. He wasn’t completely sure what exactly was happening or where the real threat was coming from, but he knew it was there. “It’s a setup, Trey. Move.”
Just as the wolves all dived aside, the officers opened fire. Bullets pinged as they bounced off the security shack. A screech of tires was followed by a crash as two black SUVs burst through the gates and sped up the rocky path toward the mountain.
Tao’s stomach knotted. The humans would follow the tracks in the path, and that would take them straight to the rest of the pack . . . to his mate. His wolf shoved to the surface, demanding freedom.
The last thought Tao had before shifting was that he hoped the pack remembered what to do in the event of a breach.
Listening as Trey spoke to the police, Riley put a hand to her stomach. Something about the whole scenario didn’t feel right. In fact, it felt . . . off. She told herself she was being paranoid, something that was perfectly understandable given how often she’d been targeted of late. Nonetheless, unease crept up her spine—both hers and Tao’s, she quickly realized. Her raven was just as on edge, though Riley wondered if it was her own feelings rubbing off on the avian.
She heard her cell phone ring and dug it out of her pocket. Ethan. “Hello.”
“Cynthia’s missing.”
“Shit.” Not that Riley was all that surprised. “I can’t really talk right now, I’ll call you back later.” She ended the call and leaned toward the screen as she noticed Tao’s focus shift to something past the police. Something that caused his body to tense and—
The squawking and flapping of wings outside the mountain made her heart jump and her raven’s head snap up. Fuck. A mere moment later, the wolves sought cover and two SUVs surged past the gates while the police opened fire.
“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.