Her Lion Guard - The Complete Series Box Set (BBW Shifter Romance) (19 page)

“I never wanted to fight you, Wiley,” Jonas was saying, voice underlain with instinctual distress. The bond may be gone, their pack destroyed, but Jonas Edwards was not one to forget friends easily. Neither was Wiley.

No, Wiley did not forget.

“It was not my first choice, either,” the Wolf laughed, the sound hollow and dark. “Kinda hoped you would turn tail and run. It is, after all, what you do
best
.”

Neither did he forgive.

Jonas, bless his stupid, do-gooder heart, actually stepped back. Actually thought about Wiley’s words, tried to find absent meaning twisted in their depths. If Wiley was a better man, he would have explained – would have told Jonas the truth of his presence, faced him fairly and away from his family.

Wiley was far from a good man.

The Wolf struck quickly – before Jonas could respond, before the pain of Wiley’s words could be replaced by indignation. Jonas was not prepared for the assault, could do nothing but grab Wiley as the man hurled past him and toward Mary-Lou. They fell together, snarling and tearing at each other with single-minded ferociousness. Wiley grinned through the pain of Jonas’ claws, eyes bleeding red as the lust for battle overtook his mind. Had the Lion cub not crossed him thus, had he not joined forces with those Wiley had sworn to hunt until the day he died, the Wolf would have been delighted at the opportunity to play with one of his own strength. It was not often that he met another of his caliber, an alpha worth his time. Even on such occasions, friendly sparring was far from Wiley’s mind; the need to overtake, dominate,
kill
too strong to ignore. But with Jonas – it would have been different with Jonas.

Yet it was not. Wiley found the thought most displeasing. For this, too, the human wench would pay.

Howls and growls shook  the night as Wiley’s pack descended upon the roof. Their job was simple – keep the Snake and Fox distracted while Wiley took care of Jonas and then, Mary-Lou. With the fight six to two, the task was easily accomplished. Wiley grinned with satisfaction even as blood poured from a deep gash against his forehead, burning as it seeped into his left eye. The fight had taken them to the very ledge of the roof, a path that may have seemed random to the Lion Shifter but had been very much planned on Wiley’s part.

“Sorry, Jay,” the Wolf growled at the wild-eyed man beneath him, “But I have no time for you tonight.”

Wiley rammed a powerful fist in the very center of Jonas’ chest before the Lion Shifter could so much as snarl back. The hit would have but winded the man, stalled him for mere moments – if it had not also slammed him backwards, straight into the metal railing. Had Jonas been human, the impact would have shattered his spine, cracked his skull and spilled his brains against the moonlit roof. As it was, the Lion Shifter lost consciousness, horror tightening his face moments before darkness took over his mind. Jonas knew what was to happen, what had happened. Wiley smirked; good.

Wiley let Jonas’ body collapse where it would, blood-lust receding as his focus returned to the plan at hand. Violence still raged around him, the Snake and Fox fighting back to back against four wild-eyed Wolves. Wiley sought out the two missing members of his pack, snorting in disgust to find a scarred woman cowering over the fallen body of a gray wolf not far from where he stood. Wiley kicked her in passing, growling as she let out a mournful whine. Pathetic. Had he more time, he would have taught the weaklings a lesson.

The human had fallen motionless at some point during the short skirmish. Wiley studied her limp body: His eyes traveled up her bared neck, catching on the mating marks there. The Wolf wondered what it would feel like to put his own teeth there – not to Mark, no, but to
tear
, to chew through skin and muscle and bone. Wiley licked his lips, tasting phantom blood on his tongue.

Wiley ignored the disconcerting slackness of Mary-Lou’s face, the empty eyes with which she regarded all and everything around her. The girl was easy to pick up, to sling over a broad shoulder – and so he did, pleased to encounter no resistance. Had she been this compliant before… well, she would have been dead sooner. The Wolf howled in triumph, steps picking up speed until he was running across the roof. He did not forget to wave jauntily at the remnants of Mary-Lou’s pack just before he swung off the ledge. Their angry screams had him laughing the entire way down.

Wiley landed in a crouch, muscles tensing briefly as flesh smacked against stone. His body absorbed the impact, and he was quickly off and running again. A large, black jeep waited for him by the curb. It was parked mere meters from the front of Mary-Lou’s apartment – Wiley smirked at the appropriate presumptuousness of his men. He set Mary-Lou on the ground as to open the back door.

It was his first mistake of the night.

Mary-Lou whimpered in displeasure. The brightness, the warmth around her was receding – too early, much too early for what she needed, what her mind needed to heal. She grasped at the presence of Gloria within her, held on tightly even as it slipped through her fingers like so much sand.

No, darling, no
, her mind whispered, urgent and hard,
You must wake up.
Mary-Lou shook her head; no, not yet, not yet –

Mary-Lou, you must wake up!

Mary-Lou came to with a start. She blinked against the sudden darkness, the change of scenery – this, where was she?

“What—” Mary-Lou gasped, voice rising in a helpless scream as a bloody hand clamped over her lips.

“Shut up,” someone – Wiley! It was Wiley! – growled in her ear. Mary-Lou kicked at the man, bit at the flesh pressed against her mouth until her teeth tore skin. The Wolf snarled, gripped her tight enough to bruise. “Fucking bitch,” he spit out. Seconds later, Mary-Lou found herself pushed in the backseat of a car, head smacking hard against the opposite door. She shook dizziness away, groped for the door’s handle – just to have it wrench open beneath her fingers, another body pushing hers further inside. A female Wolf had just entered the car, jaw blood-slicked and eyes fierce. She grasped Mary-Lou’s wrists in one of hers, dragging the disorientated human into her lap and caging her between her thighs.

“The others?” Wiley growled. The woman shook her head.

“Fucking Snake Shifted. It’s hell up there.” She quieted, hand tightening around Mary-Lou until the human gasped in pain. “Tony’s dead,” the woman finally ground  out. Wiley cursed, nails scratching paint off the car as he slammed the door shut.

“Keep the bitch still,” he ordered from the front. The rumble of engine, the squeal of tires, and the car swerved onto the road and sped into the night.

CHAPTER SIX

Mary-Lou did not like what was going on, and not just because she was currently being held like a child in the lap of a bloodthirsty Wolf Shifter. Anxiety gripped her chest; what had happened, while she was stuck in a golden-tinted trance? Had her family been hurt? And where, for the love of all, was
Jonas
?

Mary-Lou knew Jonas would not be separated from her by choice, would protect her and their pack at the cost of his life. The thought left a cold numbness in her mind, made the human woman speak even as fear of her captors shook her weakened body.

“Wiley, what did you do to Jonas?” The Shifter who held her tightened her grasp about Mary-Lou’s wrists, grinding the fragile bones within against each other. Mary-Lou refused to whimper, glaring up at the smirking woman instead.

Wiley chuckled, the sound nasal and not at all pleasant. “Why should I tell you?” the Alpha taunted. He was well aware of her panic – enjoyed it, likely, the smug bastard. Mary-Lou bared her teeth, not paying the warning growl the female Wolf let out any mind.

“You hurt him, didn’t you?” Mary-Lou snarled. “You hurt a man whose only wish was to protect his family. You hurt your
friend
, and for what? Status? Power?
What an
honorable
man you are!”

Wiley laughed over the female Wolf’s sharp,
Shut it
, the sound subsiding behind a nasty grin.

“My friend? Human, Jonas and I were
brothers
.” The poisonous grin disappeared as Wiley’s face twisted in a snarl, dark and malicious. “Will be once again, once all is right.”

“Once you kill all he holds dear, you mean,” Mary-Lou snapped back. She twitched as a clawed hand grasped her throat, sparing a slanted glare for the female Wolf to which it belonged. “Wiley,” she tried again, voice more level and controlled, “You are not stupid. You know there is only one way this will end, and it won’t be with everything going back to how it used to be.” Whatever that was. How Mary-Lou wished she had pressed Jonas for the story of his and Wiley’s time together!

Wiley said nothing. Mary-Lou stared at the back of the man’s head, astounded at the sheer level of self-delusion the Wolf was exhibiting.
How easy you must be to manipulate
, she thought,
And how obvious in the fact that you are running errands for someone else.
Why would she, the symbol of all Wiley detested in this world, still draw breath otherwise? Someone had wanted her alive.

Mary-Lou wondered who, exactly, was pulling the brute’s strings – which powerful being fed the Alpha blood-soaked fairy tales and pretty lies – and felt exhaustion weight her very soul. Wiley had taken on the role of the bad guy, fit in it easily enough to allow for a quick resolution to the problem he posed: Incapacitate him, and the Alpha will no longer be a threat to Mary-Lou and her family. The shadows that lurked behind Wiley’s brute strength, the manipulative machinations at work somewhere out of view – how was Mary-Lou to bring
them
to justice? Not for the first time, Mary-Lou wished Fate had handed her a guidebook to account for all the twists and hidden turns Life had laid in her path.

All had to be brought to light, Mary-Lou thought, if any of it was to change. Wiley was but a part of a larger issue.

However, as he was her immediate situation… Well. First things first.

“Stop the car,” Mary-Lou said. She had no intention of meeting Wiley’s masters as she was – dirty and bloody and reeling from mental wounds she had barely begun healing. Mary-Lou was ready to fight, ready to push the two Wolves to their limit before she let them take her away.

Ready, indeed, for everything but the car’s sudden, screeching stop.

Mary-Lou spared Wiley’s surprised face but a glance before she was
moving
. The female Wolf had hit her head during the car’s unexpected maneuver; she did not have much time to rid herself of the disorientation that followed as a bony elbow slammed into her right eye, bruising the tender organ and slamming her head into the back window in a single motion. She howled, claws grasping for Mary-Lou even as the human woman slipped out of her grip and the car altogether. The human ran off the road and into the dark forest which surrounded it, pale flesh melting into the shadows of the woods.

“Stay here!” Wiley growled. The female Wolf turned to regard her Alpha, a slow smile stretching her mouth wide. The man was grinning, eyes blood-red as he stared in the direction Mary-Lou had disappeared; it was full moon tonight. Hunter’s moon.

“Enjoy the chase,” she purred, her own eyes glowing yellow-green beneath heavy lids.

“Oh, I will,” Wiley snarled back, muscles tensing and then releasing as he shot off toward the woods.

Mary-Lou ran. She ducked low branches, evaded the gray shadows of tree-trunks and thanked her lucky stars that the moon shone full and bright above her. A mere human, her senses were limited at the best of times; in the pitch black of an unknown forest, she would have been the easiest of prey without the aid of her sight.

Mary-Lou knew it was only a matter of time before Wiley found her. Even with her head-start, there was no escaping the vast inequality between human and Shifter physiques. The fact that her own blood was smeared into her skin and thus serving as a beacon to Wiley and any other predator prowling the woods did not help her cause any. Still, she ran, holding onto the foolish hope of finding help – a town, a cluster of houses, anything that would deter Wiley and his pack away.

At least, she had hoped to run a while longer before a large, powerful body slammed hers into the forest floor.

“Help!” Mary-Lou screamed, thrashing beneath Wiley. The man did not give an inch, did not care enough to even muffle Mary-Lou’s desperate cries. His victory was obvious, complete – Wiley slapped the human woman across the face, laughing to hear her jaw click loudly with the power of his blow. Momentarily stunned, Mary-Lou could do nothing as the Wolf grasped her leg and pulled, literally dragging her across grass and stone and fallen branches. It was painful, and it was humiliating; Mary-Lou collected her remaining strength, took a deep breath, and
howled
– voice as loud and desperate as she could make it.

She did not expect to hear someone roar back.

Wiley dropped Mary-Lou at the sound, claws out and teeth bared as he twisted around to meet the familiar newcomer. He was too slow, much too late as Jonas was already there –large body smashing into Wiley’s, clawed hands grabbing and twisting the Wolf’s neck. Mary-Lou heard the crack of bone against stone, saw Wiley falter and flail beneath Jonas’ steadfast grip. She was reminded of another night, another place – remembered begging for Wiley’s life in a situation just like this one.