Chapter 25
Cersi rolled slowly onto the grounds of BlackLodge. From the road, she could see the main house and disappointment slammed into her chest like a sledgehammer when she saw his truck was missing.
It could be parked at his cabin, she told herself. But, he’d never parked it there before, he always kept it at the main estate house.
As she parked and pulled her keys from the ignition, Brayden and Afften came out the back door.
“Hi,” she offered lamely as she closed the door of her jeep.
“Cersi, what are you doing here?” Brayden looked over her shoulder. “Where’s Tyson?”
Brows spearing down, she shook her head. “I don’t…”
“He went to find you,” Afften beamed. “He was gonna bring you back.”
“When?” Cersi asked breathlessly, “When did he leave?” Heart pounding out an excited rhythm, she struggled to hear over its frantic beating.
“He left…” Brayden stopped mid-sentence and lifted his head. “Someone’s coming. It’s probably him.”
Excited and suddenly nervous, Cersi turned to face the road. Her hands lifted and attempted to smooth down her unruly hair before dropping to rest anxiously on her thighs.
“Shit! It ain’t him. Afften get Noah. Cersi get inside.”
Eyes still on the empty road, Cersi didn’t understand what was happening. Apparently, Afften did though because she snarled. “I’m not leaving you. Cersi go find Noah and then stay inside.”
Find Noah? Stay inside?
She was just about to ask what was going on when a line of trucks crested the ridgeline and descended quickly into BlackLodge.
Fuck!
Cersi couldn’t keep the worry from her voice as she asked, “Brayden?”
He barked, “Go find Noah, Cersi, and then stay inside!”
She didn’t race for Noah though. She asked, “Where’s Haddix?”
Afften was the one who answered, and when Cersi turned to the female shifter, she looked nervous. “He took Vesa to town. They went to a movie.”
Fuck!
Without hesitation, Cersi turned and raced to the door, jerking it open she rushed inside bellowing, “Noah!”
Noah was already making his way out of the living room to her. “Who the fuck is here?”
She pointed to the door. “Trucks, lots of ‘em.”
Noah brushed past her as she hurried out the door. Cersi stalled long enough to whip out her phone and punch in a group text to Vesa and Tyson.
‘Trouble at BlackLodge come quick!’
She pushed send just as she heard a truck door slam and not wanting to give away that there was someone in the house, she tiptoed to the alcove window and peeled back the curtain just enough to peek out.
There were six trucks parked haphazardly behind the ones belonging to the BloodMoon’s out front, but that wasn’t all. There were giants. Giants everywhere! All the men were bigger than Noah and Brayden, hell they even rivaled Haddix’s stature. Cersi counted eight standing in front of their trucks with another four who remained in the vehicles.
Twelve men! We can’t beat twelve men!
Her eyes darted to her jeep where she’d left her purse that held her pistol. There was a knife in her boot, but that wouldn’t do shit against twelve shifters. For an insane moment, she considered calling the police, but bringing more humans into what looked like the makings of a shifter war was only ensuring their deaths. Besides, they didn’t know if these new men meant any harm.
“We’re here for the Monster.”
Shit! Yeah, they weren’t here for a visit.
Whipping out her phone, she typed in, ‘Tyson don’t come home! They’re looking for you. Stay away!’
“He ain’t here,” Brayden answered gruffly. “And neither is our Alpha, so you need to take your men and leave, Regan.”
Cersi winced at Brayden’s dipshit admission. Honestly, who in the hell admitted their numbers like that?
Noah bit out, “Who the fuck are you?”
A few chuckles went up before the man standing in front of Brayden, the one he’d called Regan, answered. “The Council sent us.”
“The Council?” Afften tried to step around Brayden, but his hand caught her hip and held her back. It didn’t keep her from gritting out, “We have two females here! Haddix and Brayden are both mated, and we’ll have a third female in our pack soon. We are in compliance!”
Regan looked from Afften to Brayden, “That true?”
Brayden grabbed Afften’s hand. “She’s mine, and Haddix is mated too. He participated in The Hunt. There’s no need for the Council to summon any of us. We’re not in violation of their goddamn rules!”
Regan slid his gaze from Brayden to Noah. “So where is she? This third woman you’ll be claiming.”
“Not me,” Noah smirked and crossed his arms triumphantly over his chest. “She’s Tyson’s, and she’s inside.”
Jesus fucking Christ!
Cersi dropped the curtain when a dozen pair of eyes snapped toward the house.
Idiots! Idiots! She was surrounded by idiots! Why were they telling these men anything?
Jerking the knife out of her boot, she flipped it open as she backed up toward the stairs looking for a place to hide. She didn’t find one before all hell broke loose outside.
Brayden bellowed, “Hey! Hey!”
Snarling filled the air followed by the unmistakable sounds of violence. The BloodMoon’s were fighting. She considered her options, but it lasted only a second before the front door was ripped open.
Regan stood there staring straight at Cersi. Lip curling up in a silent snarl, his eyes drifted up and down her frame before he sneered, “So Monster likes dark meat, eh?”
His words pissed her off and snapped her right out of her indecision. Tightening her hand around the hilt of her knife, she vowed to go down fighting.
Regan leered at her before yelling, “She’s here!”
Several bodies filled the space behind Regan, but Cersi kept her eyes on him.
“Bring the Monster’s mate,” he commanded and then turned and gave her his back as the men who’d entered slowly stalked her.
Waltzing out the door, Regan crowed, “We’ll make him come to us.”
Doing a quick count, Cersi realized there were just too many men to face alone, and yeah, she was a fighter, but she wasn’t an idiot.
Spinning, she made a run for it, but a fist caught her hair and jerked her back hard. Her knife shot out quick as lightning, but the deep gouge she left on the arm holding her only served to piss off the shifter holding her. He shifted partially, and sharp teeth snapped at her face. She cried out when a hand gripped her wrist tightly and squeezed so hard she swore her bones were going to shatter. The knife clattered to the floor, but fuck that, she was going down fighting and fight she did. Kicking, punching, biting, clawing, she bucked as two men grabbed her arms and two grabbed her legs hoisting her off the ground. The strain on the gunshot wound to her shoulder burned so damn bad that she couldn’t help but cry out at the pain. Still, she fought even when she felt her incision ripping and liquid warmth running down her skin.
“Get the fuck off me!”
They didn’t. They stretched her out until a fifth man came into view. The last thing she remembered seeing was his fist hurtling toward her face.