Primal Night Page 16

  Thane’s eyes widened, his head tilted an inch. “One life was lost in that attack, the male being from your pack. Not to mention Kazimar being caught, interrogated, and punished for following your orders.”

  Pain swelled inside of him, drowning out his anger. He would appeal to Council on Kazimar’s behalf—for all the good it would do. The loss of Will had been regrettable. He should have ordered the male to stay behind. But he had felt the desperation for the fight through the Alpha bond. Will had known time was running out, and Ryker had let him decide how to end it. Kazimar was strong, and while it pained him to make such decisions, every one of his pack knew he wouldn’t risk their lives needlessly.

  “I know damn well what has been sacrificed. Saving the females from Josef came with a hefty price. A cost all my males would pay willingly. We had to save the females of Shadow Moon. Darkness devours our kind. Every damn day shadows lace tentacles of evil around our honor, our integrity, our moral compass. It’s in our nature to want to bleed others, to kill, to conquer. Without females to anchor the beasts, all hope is lost. But you already know that.”

  Thane crossed his arms, a frown taking over his face. “That doesn’t explain why you didn’t report it. Council resources are vast…”

  Ryker snorted and shook his head. “Who knows how far my father’s reach goes? He is on the Council, yet here we sit in a creation of his own darkness. I couldn’t trust the Council. No one can.”

  Thane lifted a lip in a silent snarl and leaned back in his seat. “Is that why you misused Council resources to kidnap Kali?”

  “Kidnap is such a harsh word. I’d go with save. Considering if Kali made it back to the Council, she would have simply vanished out of the Council system as did the other females I could track.”

  Thane tapped away at the screen of the tablet. Probably sharing the information with the other Council members? It was a bad idea, in his opinion. There was a real possibility that more than one Council representative was involved. But he was a lowly outcast; what would he know?

  “Which brings me to my next set of questions. How did you find out about the Pit, and what’s been your involvement?”

  He adjusted his position. Nothing felt comfortable. He needed to get out of the Pit. It felt like the evil was seeping into his pores and infiltrating his body. His leg started to bounce. “After October’s Council meeting my father pulled me aside and questioned how I was doing.”

  He’d been going through a rough patch. A moment where he wasn’t sure he could beat the monster he harbored. Darkness had rolled through him like thunder, and his father had noticed the change.

  “My wolf was riding me hard.” Who was he kidding? His wolf always rode him hard. “Unfortunately, my father knew me too well. He could sense I wasn’t coping and that I was losing hope, losing control of my beast.” He reached up and massaged the back of his neck. It was embarrassing to admit his weakness out loud. Thinking back, he should have known something was off. Josef’s concern was out of left field and unlike his father. He’d been caught in a moment of weakness and really needed someone. Anyone.

  Energy pulsed through his body. Ryker pushed away from the table and stood, needing to move. His skin itched, and his mind kept wandering to Kali and her safety.

  “He wanted to show me something. We left, he had my eyes covered, and hours later we ended up here, where he unveiled ‘hope for all shifters’ and told me the grand plan to breed with females. His thought the more children, the more chance females would be born and therefore mates. I had no idea about all the male warriors he was training.” That had been a shock. It didn’t surprise him if Josef thought to overthrow the Council. He was just that arrogant to think he would succeed.

  “Since I’d been to the Council meeting, I still had my Scribe pen, which allows me to take images and scan documents during our meetings. As my tour of the Pit unraveled, I knew how bad the situation was. It cost me five glyph marks holding my rage back.”

  He shook his head and swallowed down the bile the memory brought. “I don’t know how he didn’t smell the fury pouring off me.” He shrugged. “I guess the stench of fear and pain drowned it out. I took some candid shots of the prisoners, and I’ve been on a quest to bring this place down ever since.”

  Thane’s fingers typed frantically on his device. He peered over the tablet every once in a while. Finally, he tucked his tablet away. “I think I have all the information I need to formulate my report. Don’t leave Dark Falls. I’ll be meeting you there with my sentencing for both you and your female. If you do run, we’ll track you down and you’ll both be sentenced to death. Understood?”

  Well there it was. He’d pleaded his case, told the truth, and now he’d have to bear the consequences. He nodded once.

  One thing was for sure—Kali would not be on the receiving end of the Council’s justice. They’d let her down in the worst way. She was a result of failed processes. He would tell Thane every horrid story she’d mentioned so the Councilman knew exactly what she’d endured thanks to their disservice.

  “Before I go to Kali, there are some things about her past you must know.”

  Following Knox through the tunnels and up the set of stairs, Kali felt her heart beat faster. Her wolf needed to be close to Ryker. But, those poor females had endured only the moon knew what, and if she could help them it was a done deal. The male opened the lift and unlike last time she wasn’t panicked. As they rose, she smelled the snow in the air, and the breeze hit her face. Whimpers and moans filtered along the breeze, and she was glad that she was there to help.

  Kali reached out and held steady a timid she-wolf’s hand. She was small even for their kind; her whole body shook as she strained to step up into the truck with her tiny precious cargo held to her chest. Monsters. Each and every one of those bastards deserved death. In fact, seeing just how many females had been captive, death was a mercy. To have stolen so much from all these she-wolves. How screwed up did you have to be to justify that it was okay?

  The next female paused in the line. Kali kept her voice gentle, making sure to come across non-threatening even though rage still thrummed in her veins. “It’s okay. Take my hand. We’re getting you out of here. You’re free now.”

  Looking up, the female’s hood slid back, revealing fire-red strands that glistened in the moonlight. “Gracie.”

  She took a step forward, arms outstretched for a hug. Gracie reared back, her eyes darting from left to right. Kali let her arms drop and stepped back. Too much had already been taken from Gracie; she wouldn’t risk causing her more distress.

  “It’s okay. I won’t touch you.”

  Gracie didn’t answer. Dirty hands reached up and pulled the hood back over her head, and she stepped up onto the platform and into the darkness of the truck.

  Kali bit her lip and glanced back to the line. So many females. They seem to go on forever. The ugly truth was all lined up in a row. All of them as malnourished and dirty as the next. Trust wouldn’t come easy, and she hoped like hell that there would be a safe haven for these she-wolves to try and heal.

  A female with shorter black hair—the kind that looked like someone had grabbed all the hair and hacked across where the elastic bunched—paused and turned toward her. “My name is Elizabeth, and I’m from the Wolf Hollow pack. Can I somehow get word to my family that I’m alive?”

  She grabbed a blanket from the stack at her feet to buy time. Her imagination couldn’t begin to paint what this she-wolf had gone through. Wrapping the material around her frail shoulders Kali nodded, unable to keep the emotion from her voice. “As soon as it’s safe I’ll find you a phone.”

  Her attention skipped back to the opening of the barn. She sucked in a breath and hoped Ryker would be okay. When he’d first sent her away, she’d refused. Her wolf wanted to be close to him and if she were honest, so did she. But, he didn’t want to be distracted by having her in harm’s way and after all that had happen, she relented.

  “You! You’re
like some bad smell clogging up the vents. What are you doing here?”

  Kali spun to face the angry voice and froze. Mackenzie stood there dressed in black fatigues with the whole nine yards, including a bulletproof vest. Guilt swam up her throat, and she bowed her head. The last time she’d seen the woman, she’d recently been turned into a were by her mate’s bite. She was ashamed to admit, she’d not only known about Delmac’s control over the female and her sister, Ava, but been monster enough to play a key role in manipulating her in exchange for a pack that would keep her safe from the Outlaws.

  “Mackenzie. I… I’m sorry for what I did. It’s no excuse, but I was backed into a corner. I never meant… I never wanted to hurt you or Ava. I didn’t have a…”

  “Choice?” Mackenzie cocked a brow, her eyes pulling tight at the edges. “Save it. You hurt my sister; you hurt me. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for that.”

  The apology just didn’t cover it. Words never could. Somehow she’d find a way to make things right. Shoulders deflating, Kali’s heart hurt. She’d done a lot of bad things in her life. Having Mackenzie and Ava pay the price was one of the lowest moments that had made her realize she’d gone too far in the name of surviving. She didn’t expect forgiveness. That wouldn’t stop her from trying to earn it.

  “I understand. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you got your happy-ever-after with Jaxx. He’s a good male. For now, I hope we can put our differences aside for the moment so we can get everyone to safety.”

  Kali seemed to chew on her words, finally nodding, spinning on her heel, and heading over to the next truck.

  Deep baritone voices echoed across the lot. Several of the females stiffened. They may be freed from the hellish place of the Pit, but she suspected their nightmare was far from over. Males emerged from the mouth of the barn. Not Ryker.

  She hadn’t missed the new glyph marks burned across his skin. He’d been through so much in such a short period of time. Killing his own father would be a mark he wouldn’t get rid of soon, and on some level it would have to hurt. Maybe not losing the man that Josef was, but the dream of what he could have been.

  His beast had been snapping and snarling through the interrogation despite Thane’s orders. The way Thane’s gaze flickered to Ryker, his eyes pinched like he too was worried for the mental well-being of Ryker. It only intensified her fears. She just hoped he could hold it together until they made it to safety.

  20

  “This is where you live?”

  Kali’s voice sounded surprised. Ryker looked from Kali and down into the gully of Dark Falls. At least a few feet of fresh powder coated the ground and blanketed the pitched roofing of the main cabin and the few smaller cabins at the edge of the tree line.

  He pulled her close, enjoying the way their bodies fit together. “This is home.”

  “All of this is yours?”

  Coasting down the long drive freshly ploughed it looked like the snow dusted the branches and leaves of the many pine trees in his territory. More picturesque that normal, he thought. His heart squeezed. Outlaws were drifters, never settling in one place, usually because enforcers hunted them. “As far as the eye can see in the valley and coasting up the mountain for a good twenty miles. It’s still a work in progress. We’ll get there one day.”

  Did she like his home? He wasn’t one of the wealthiest Alphas, but his pack did okay. He swallowed down his nerves. Kali’s gaze fixed to the flickers of light shining from the frosted windows. Or it could have been from the icicles bleeding from the eaves. The pack had renovated during the summer, and they hadn’t had the time to lay insulation with all the other maintenance his territory demanded. Something he’d rectify soon.

  “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Sometimes if we were lucky, Jefferson would secure places just like this in the winter, probably some family’s holiday home. After the pack passed out, I would pretend that I lived there with a real family.”

  She sucked in a breath and rolled her lips over her teeth, clamping her mouth closed. The muscles across her shoulders tensed and her gaze fixed outside, as if suddenly realizing what she’d said. There would be no hiding from him. Leaning in, he nuzzled her neck, tipping his lips just beneath her ear lobe. “Everything you’ve endured has made you into a mate I could only dream of. Never be ashamed of who you are or where you’ve come from.”

  He kept his words low. They were only meant for her. She sniffed and swallowed, licking her lips. After a moment she finally nodded. His female had done what was necessary to survive. Devastatingly, her introduction into pack life had been filled with violence and abuse, not the nurturing, supporting, and protective behavior all packs should adopt.

  All that was about to change if she’d have him. His brows pulled together. But, would she want me? The taste of time dwindling soured in his mouth. Grinding his teeth, he bit back the fur hovering under his skin. Each fiber of his pelt burned with bites of venom, venom that coursed through his veins and filled his mind with darkness. He’d have to mate. Tonight. And if Kali rejected him, he just hoped he’d have enough time to seek out Saint before all of him was totally lost.

  “Naw, look at that, boss. The welcome wagon has gone all out and put out the warm welcome.” Knox’s voice broke the moment.

  His enforcer stretched out opposite where Kali and he sat, arm benched on the backrest, his body twisted at the hips looking out the window toward the main cabin. Smoke curled from the chimney; inside would be nice and warm. Not that they needed it. Shifters regulated their body temperature.

  Ryker glanced out the window and, sure enough, the tendrils of smoke drifted into the night. He forced himself to nod toward the youngest enforcer in the pack. If he pretended like everything was okay, then maybe it would be.

  Creed peered out the window, squinting. “I’ll be damned. Are those Christmas lights? Thorne and Briggs have outdone themselves. Maybe someone let news of our guest slip?”

  Ryker managed a snort, sure his regular self would react just so. Christmas lights? Along the façade a tiny strip maybe a foot long blinked. He was sure three of the bulbs had blown.

  Knox closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. “You won’t hear me complaining. There’s something to be said about crackling fires at Christmas time that make me all warm and fuzzy. Feasting on s’mores and drinking hot cocoa till diabetes kicks in.”

  Grayson snorted from the seats two rows beside them. “That’s just your gas. Besides, shifters don’t get diabetes.”

  Knox’s grin turned megawatt; he shifted in his seat and waggled his brows. “Exactly my point.”

  Grayson laughed, the chuckle tapering to a groan. Knox’s grin melted. “You okay, Doc?”

  Ryker leaned forward an inch to see Grayson ease back a blooded wad of fabric that had been pressed against his stomach, hiding a deep gash. The fact the bite was still bleeding after the many hours they’d traveled spoke to the severity of his wound.

  Weak. Prey. It wouldn’t take much to neutralize him. Quickly, he adverted his gaze. Concentrating on his breathing, his fingers clamped around his knees. He knew he should feel concern. Grayson was his beta—a friend, even. All he felt was hungry.

  Grayson looked at him and frowned, his gaze sharp and laser-focused solely on him. “Nothin’ a nice, thick steak or three won’t cure.”

  Damn it. He knew.

  From beside him Kali leaned into him. Her scent wrapped around him like a warm blanket and it helped keep him steady. Barely. She whispered, “Doc? I thought his name was Grayson.”

  Before he could respond, Grayson jumped in, fumbling with a first aid kit. “I fix things. Sometimes equipment, sometimes injured males. We don’t have an official healer, so they’re stuck with me till we find someone to fill the role.”

  “Here, let me help you. I’m no healer, but I’ve stitched up a shifter or two.”

  Kali moved toward Grayson and with deft moves that spoke of experience, she had the needle threaded and was pinching the wound
. “This is going to hurt.”

  A part of Ryker was proud that Kali had this skill and would offer it to one of his pack; another, darker part of him wanted to stalk over there and separate them, snarling mine. His beast didn’t give two shits that Grayson was his beta and would never move to harm Kali.

  The truck pulled up, and Creed shot forward with Ford on his heels. “Thank Christ for that. This truck reeks of stale death. I’m out.”

  Ford wasn’t wrong. The tang of blood and death hung heavy in the air. It excited his monster. He’d had a taste of freedom, of the power he could wield.

  He wanted more, and if Ryker didn’t act fast, the beast would get what he wanted.

  Kali’s skin prickled. She wiped her hands on a hand towel in the first-aid kit. Her wolf whined, sensing the shadows inching across Ryker’s soul. It was in the way he clenched his jaw and how his body tensed anytime someone approached. She swallowed hard. He’d barely said more than a few words to her the whole trip. As soon as they got a private moment alone, she’d make her proposal. The thought of losing Ryker hurt. Her chest squeezed, and pain knifed into her stomach.

  With a male like Ryker, she could have a family with his pack. Somewhere to settle and grow roots, a place to raise young. She swallowed. A future. The options were endless. After all he knew about her, would he really want a mate that had a history of playing dirty?

  Of course she knew on a cellular, save-my-humanity level, his wolf craved to complete the mating bond. But in the depths of his heart would he feel cheated that fate lumped her with him? She had nothing but the ghosts of her past, while he had a real home with a real family.

  The males emptied out of the van. She sucked in a breath, harvesting the fresh air. A soft rumble crept out from Ryker. “You okay?”

  She tore her gaze from the warm lights filtering through the frosted windows, the scene like something she’d seen on a postcard. Forcing the note of her voice to lift, she smiled. “When am I not ready?”