CHAPTER 13
Maya swallowed hard, her throat aching under Pyotr’s fierce grip as he leaned towards her. She pressed back against the wall, her heart thundering and blood racing as fear sank icy claws into her heart and squeezed it.
“You are mine and I will not share you with anyone,” he growled and pressed closer, gripped her throat harder.
She stared at him through wide eyes, reeling as his reaction to the male suddenly made a sickening sort of sense.
The females in his pride slept with more than one male, were shared between them all.
Her stomach turned, bile rising up her throat.
Pyotr moved closer still, pressing the length of his body against hers and pinning her to the wall with it. His grip on her throat loosened and he smoothed his palm over her cheek, the anger that had been in his golden eyes melting into a soft look, one that had her hackles rising and warning bells jangling in her head.
He canted his head and gazed at her, and she could almost fool herself into believing he was the male he had been outside, gentle and tender, caring.
But he wasn’t.
He was far from those things.
Talon had been right about him.
Pyotr brushed his knuckles across her cheek, his gaze drifting to follow his hand, and he became absorbed in touching her, his air distant and lost.
She risked a glance at the door, the need to escape and find Grey pushing her to act.
His hand closed around her throat again and he growled low, a warning that rang through her and had her freezing against the wall, afraid he would go through with it and hurt her if she dared to move.
He rubbed his thumb along her jaw and over her chin, forcing her head up, so her eyes met his.
“I have been waiting so long for you,” he murmured softly, warmth back in his eyes. A shadow shifted across them a moment later, chilling her. “My own female… my female to own.”
Her stomach twisted again.
Gods, she needed to get away from him.
He lowered his hand to her chest and she tensed, going rigid as he slowly stroked his palm over her breasts, his eyes tracking his hand, darkness mounting in them as he touched her.
“I have been dreaming of this moment… of having you.” He lifted his golden eyes to hers. “I have made a place for you in my cabin. I will keep you there, all for me.”
She wanted to shake her head at that, the thought of becoming his captive sending her pulse rocketing faster, that fear squeezing her heart tighter. No. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life locked in a cage, a slave to this male, letting him do gods only knew what to her because he thought he owned her.
She wasn’t an object.
The females of his pride might do whatever the males wanted, but she wasn’t one of them, had been raised to be strong, to be something more than a whore, a breeding bitch for males.
She slapped his hand away.
Pyotr growled and shoved her back against the wall, using his strength to keep her pinned there, and she fought him as he dragged her skirt up and palmed her crotch.
“This is all for me,” he snarled. “Get that into your head. You are mine now. Your brother gave you to me… and I will do as I please with you.”
“No.” She swung wildly with her left hand and he grunted as it connected, smacking hard into his cheek and knocking his head back.
She had been stupid to go along with this, for fooling herself into thinking it would work out fine and Talon had been wrong about Pyotr.
This wasn’t where she wanted to be. She wanted to be with August, needed him with her and ached for him so fiercely, her heart crying out for him as she slapped at Pyotr, driving him away from her.
“Bitch.” Pyotr caught her right fist when she tried to punch him and twisted her arm, ripping a cry from her lips as white-hot pain lanced her bones. He shoved her back against the wall. “Someone needs to teach you to respect the males of your species.”
He pulled at her skirts and she kicked at him, frantically struggling to break free before he could do something terrible to her, something that would break her.
There was a knock at the door.
A familiar scent teased her senses, gave her comfort and strength.
Grey.
Pyotr glared at the door, collected himself and stepped back. He looked back at her as she righted herself and straightened her clothes with trembling fingers.
“You dare disobey me… and your family will pay.”
Maya lifted her head to look at him.
He struck her hard across her cheek and she slammed into the wall near the door and collapsed to her knees, pain spider-webbing over her skull, her ears ringing, and the taste of blood blooming on her tongue.
The next thing she knew, gentle hands had her, gathered her into strong arms that tore down her strength and had her clinging to their owner as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. She buried her face in Grey’s neck, unable to stop the sobs as they wracked her, and her heart and mind mocked her with the fact she had been stupid, an idiot to think coming here had been the right thing to do.
She had been a fool to believe that she would have a good life here, one where she was part of the pride, helped everyone who needed it and lived as part of their family, doing the duties of an alpha’s mate.
She was going to end up shut in Pyotr’s cabin, used whenever he wanted, treated as a slave. She would never see the light of day again.
Gods, it terrified her.
She squeezed her eyes shut, pressed closer to Grey and battled the fear rushing through her and the terrible things it whispered to her, evoking images that left her cold and trembling.
As the pain in her cheek faded, and those voices quietened, her strength slowly returned, Grey’s gentle words of comfort and the shield of his arms around her restoring her balance and clearing her mind.
No.
Coming here had been her only choice. If she hadn’t shown up, Pyotr would have dispatched his warriors to her pride, and she had the sickening feeling that they would have returned with Byron as their captive, so their alpha could make an example of her brother.
She had the feeling that if she disobeyed Pyotr now that he would do the same, only he would be making an example of Byron in front of her, showing her what happened when she didn’t do as he wanted.
And if Byron’s death wasn’t enough to break her, Talon’s or Grey’s would follow.
Only she wasn’t going to give him a chance to hurt her brothers.
“I’m going to kill him,” she whispered against Grey’s neck and he stilled.
“Not a good idea.”
She didn’t want to hear that. She pushed back, her senses stretching around her, beyond the walls of the cabin, monitoring everyone who moved around the village.
Two males stood outside the door, both of them from the group of three tigers that had come upon her and Grey in the forest.
A female was with them.
“I’m going to do it,” Grey said, voice darker than she had ever heard it. He stood and she grabbed his wrist, stopping him. He looked down at her, his blue eyes glittering with frost. “I’m going to kill him for hurting you.”
She shook her head and looked at the door. “There are too many of them.”
Pyotr had an entire pride of warriors at his back.
If Grey tried to attack him, those warriors would be quick to defend their alpha, and she would lose her brother. Grey would become the first of her brothers that Pyotr killed in front of her, and she feared his death would be all it would take to break her. She couldn’t lose him.
He turned stormy eyes on the door, his jaw tensing as his lips flattened in a hard line and his silvery eyebrows drew low.
She could feel his fury, his need to fight and punish the one who had struck her, and that it was hard for him to deny that need.
“Please, Grey,” she whispered and he glanced at her, sighed as his shoulders sagged and he turned away from the door, coming to crouch in front of her. “He’ll pay… but we need a plan… we need to do this together.”
He opened his mouth to speak.
“I know you don’t want me to fight,” she said before he could utter the words, “but I need to fight. I need it…”
She held her hands out in front of her, drawing his focus to them, and to her nails. They were black, transformed by her hellcat genes and the need to fight she was battling to hold inside, to keep tamped down until she needed it. She wanted to go out there and launch herself into a battle just as he did, but it would only get them, and their pride, killed.
They needed a plan if they were going to succeed in taking Pyotr down.
Grey took hold of her hands and lifted his blue eyes to meet hers. “So what’s this plan?”
She didn’t have an answer to that question.
He smiled softly. “We’ll think of something.”
The door to her right opened, and the female she had sensed outside stood there, a petite blonde with dark gold eyes. She placed her hands in front of her pinafore and bowed her head.
“My alpha would like to announce his intention to hold the ceremony tomorrow night. He has posted two guards outside the cabin so you will feel safe while you prepare.”
Maya wanted to laugh at that. Pyotr had placed the two males there to keep her from escaping, not to protect her.
Well, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Not until Pyotr was dead and her pride, and her brothers, were safe from his wrath.
“If your brother would like to come with me.”
Maya shook her head. “No. My brother will be staying with me until the ceremony to ensure that everything is done according to tradition.”
The female quickly looked at her, surprise and fear flashing in her eyes, and then back down at her feet. Maya had the feeling that she expected Pyotr to punish her because Grey had refused to do as he wanted and was staying with Maya. What sort of male treated those he was responsible for in such a terrible way?
“As you wish. If there is anything you require, please speak with the guards.” The female backed away from the door and closed it behind her.
Grey huffed beside Maya. “A satellite phone would be nice. Do you think he would agree to it?”
She frowned and looked at her brother. He scowled at his phone as he held it above him, moving it around, as if that was going to get him a signal.
“Why don’t we just ask him to invite the pride to the ceremony?” Because that was as likely to happen as him giving them a phone so they could call for help.
Grey’s lips tugged into a wry smile. “I could try leaving and going back down the trail until I get a signal.”
Maya looked at the door. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. If you try leaving… I don’t think you’ll get far before he stops you.”
And then she would be alone, without her brother to protect her.
“Quick thinking mentioning the tradition thing.” He stood and shoved his phone into his jeans pocket, and held his hand out to her.
She took it and let him pull her onto her feet. They were unsteady, her legs trembling beneath her. He helped her to one of the armchairs and she sank into it, leaned her elbows on her knees and buried her fingers in her long hair, clawing it back as she held her head.
Grey dragged the second armchair close to hers and eased into it.
They had thirty-six hours.
Tradition stated that Pyotr couldn’t see her in the thirty-six hours leading up to the ceremony, which was why he had chosen tomorrow night. He wanted it done as soon as possible.
The next she would see him would be at the ceremony.
She thought about it, going over everything she knew about traditional wedding ceremonies. Most tiger shifters didn’t bother with them, but her parents and his had written it into the contract that bound them and he couldn’t break from it, otherwise his claim on her could be broken and he wouldn’t be able to retaliate against her or her pride.
So she had thirty-six hours to come up with a reasonable plan that wouldn’t get her, Grey, and her kin killed.
She looked to her right, at Grey where he sat with his eyes locked on the door, a steely look in them. His anger flowed through her, together with a trace of despair, and a trickle of fear.
Gods, she was glad that he had insisted on staying with her until she was settled, because she might have been forced to go through with everything if he hadn’t been around to help her.
He looked across at her, and gently placed his hand on her leg. “We’ll get out of this mess.”
She nodded. They would.
Together they were strong.
And she had just come up with a killer plan.