Xan's Feisty Mate (10 page)

“I’m assuming you two are close?” Xan moved to one side, allowing Laikyn to do whatever doctors did.

A laugh very much like silver bells came from the gorgeous woman. Had Xan not already given his heart and soul to Breezy, he’d have been attracted to the other woman.

“If she’d have wanted, this one could’ve been a doctor years before I ever did. Have you heard of eidetic memory? Basically, she remembers everything she reads.”

“Will you keep it down, my head feels like someone took a sledge hammer to it.” Breezy pushed Laikyn’s hands away. “Besides, I don’t have an eidetic memory...exactly.” She grumbled.

Shaw and Parker chose that moment to storm into the space, their faces like ash.

“This is bullshit. That’s what, three times someone has tried to take your life. What the hell are you gonna do if you can’t protect her?” Shaw asked Xan.

He stabbed one finger at both her brothers. “What don’t I know?”

They both looked at each other, then Breezy. Parker shrugged. “We’ve no clue. I mean everyone loves her that we know of.” He looked at Laikyn, then Breezy who still hadn’t managed to get up.

“She’s been given a heavy dose of some sort of tranq. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say they knew to give her enough to put down a large animal. Since the she-bitch who shot her was a shifter herself and had come purposefully to grab Breezy, it was likely a preset dosage. Look at this,” she indicated Breezy’s arm. The bruise showed where the needle was carelessly jabbed into her flesh.

Xan bent and took a big sniff. “Yeah, I can smell the lingering scent, but the question is why?”

“If we knew that, then we would know the why. Until then, I’d say we lock down the Iron Wolves Club, and don’t let anyone who isn’t pack in.” Laikyn looked up as Rowan walked in.

“That’s a good idea, except we have a few non-members that I trust with my life, and my mate’s. My name’s Rowan Shade. I’m Lyric’s mate, and a newly made shifter. These are my team.” He tilted his head at the men who filed in behind him.

Chapter Seven

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L
aikyn took in the five men who were clearly nonshifters. Being a doctor who dealt with humans on a daily basis and living so far away from her pack, she’d gotten used to dealing with men and women who couldn’t shift. Power emanated from the men who entered the apartment she’d commandeered as a triage center. She’d never told her friends or pack members about her affinity for sensing when things were going to happen before they did. Afraid they wouldn’t believe her, or worse think she was crazy. Her parents had told her to keep her ability to see things to herself, lest she want others to think she was tainted. However, a month ago she started having dreams of her once best friend Breezy being stalked, and chained to a concrete wall by a crazed being, and she’d known she had to return. If her dreams turned out to be nothing, at least she would get a nice family reunion.

A week ago, she’d woken up from a sound sleep covered in sweat, the image of a blond wolf standing over a broken and bloody Breezy too much for her to ignore. It had taken her five whole days to work out a family emergency and threats she’d quit in order to get out of Kansas City. Even then she wasn’t sure she’d be returning. The small practice she shared with two other colleagues had started out great, until they began wanting more, and by more she meant they wanted her. Laikyn shuddered. Not happening. She wanted, needed a dominate man, but not two that wanted her to submit to them at all times. Nope, she wanted a wolf.

Kellen, alpha of the Iron Wolves stomped in, making the air still for a moment. Her wolf, which hadn’t come out in over two years, not since...she pushed aside memories that were too painful to think about. The alpha would never look at her if he knew what happened to her. What she allowed to happen. The fact he stood with his disapproving scowl on his face proof enough.

“Laikyn. How long you here for?” His gaze didn’t stray past her chin.

“A couple days or so,” she answered.

He remembered. Kellen, the man who always looked a woman up and down without a bat of an eye, couldn’t stand to look at her for more than a second. She watched his face as it closed up and then turned to focus on Breezy.

“How’s she doing?” Kellen asked Xan.

Xan helped Breezy sit up, wincing at the bruising on her face. “She’s pissed, but is doing better.”

“She’s right here,” grouched Breezy.

Kellen’s booming laugh startled Laikyn. It had been so long since she’d heard it. She used to love to listen to the cadence of his voice, whether he was talking, yelling, laughing, or just plain growling at someone. His voice had always sent shivers of delight down her spine, making all her girly parts wake up. No other man, or wolf had been able to do that for her. Even when she’d walked in on him and his numerous conquests doing the dirty, or as he and Xan so eloquently put it
bouncing on their cocks,
she still fancied him her mate. Her wolf eagerly agreed, the tramp. Always wanting to lift her tail and submit. She’d gone to the clubs to learn how to be submissive, dressed how she’d seen he liked, but the only thing it had gotten her was in a predicament she couldn’t get herself out of. Now, he looked at her with nothing but loathing, and maybe a little pity. Yeah, she was going to die mateless, and it was her own fault.

“The effects of the tranq are wearing off. They either planned for her to be out for a short period, or they had another dose and would have shot her again, or their location is close. None of those options are good. If you shift, your face and the rest of the drugs will leave your system quicker.” Breezy nodded.

Xan stood in front of her. “Everyone out. My mate is not getting nekkid in front of you assholes.”

Laikyn laughed. “All right, you heard the man. Out.” She made a shooing motion with her hands, making sure not to touch or get close to Kellen.

“We will wait outside. As of now nobody runs the grounds outside unless in groups of five or more. Feel me?” Kellen looked over her head. She pretended like it didn’t hurt. She’d gotten good at hiding her feelings. Heck, her wolf was in hiding, so it was just her human side she had to control.

“Good plan, Kell.” Xan agreed.

“I’ll wait outside, too.” Laikyn started to step out.

“Lake, wait.” Breezy held out her hand.

“What’s up?” She looked between the newly mated pair.

Her friend cleared her throat, looked down at their clasped hands, not looking like the secure woman she’d known since childhood. “What if I wanted to...you know,” she paused. “Start a family? Would that drug or whatever have any lingering effects on me or my child?” Breezy’s blue eyes brightened.

A shaft of envy hit Laikyn, but she squashed it, and took a deep breath, trying to see if she could detect that faint scent of new life.

Xan waved his hand. “She’s not pregnant yet. We just wanted to make sure that if and when we decide to start a family it won’t be a problem from whatever this sick fuck has done.”

Laikyn nodded. “I’d like to run some blood tests, but I don’t have a lab here, so I’d have to send it off to see what was in you, which could cause some questions. Do we have the needle she used? Maybe there will be some traces, or if we’re lucky we can get some answers out of her.” That would be the best way for all of them.

Xan looked at the closed door. “The vet here in town has a lab that could do the blood scan. Draw it and we’ll see what Kellen can get from the she bitch.”

With a nod, Laikyn got her supplies out, glad her dreams had given her the knowledge to pack accordingly. Of course, if her partners did a count of the supplies she might have some explaining to do, but she’d cross that bridge later. Or more than likely that bridge was already burned. Damn, she hated when she thought of things so ominously.

After she had the needed blood from Breezy, she listened while Xan called Dr. Davalari. He’d mated an older she wolf years ago, but had never been turned. He agreed to run the blood work and promised to be there shortly, barring traffic.

Laikyn waited for Breezy to get up. “I’ll leave you two alone. You should shift and then rest for a couple hours. Whatever is left in you should work its way out during the shifting. If you need me holler, or call.” She wrote her number down on a slip of paper, then gave Breezy a hug. “I really missed you.”

Breezy teared up. “I missed you, too. You stayed away too damn long.”

Wiping under her eyes, Laikyn turned to the door. “Now, don’t get up to anything I wouldn’t do.” She winked, thinking that was the most absurd statement. If she was closed up in a room with her mate she’d be...well she’d be in heaven or hell, depending if she froze up like the Ice Queen she’d been dubbed by the men she’d tried to date.

****

K
ellen eyed the little she wolf with disdain. There was something familiar about her that niggled the back of his brain. As the alpha he couldn’t dismiss it. He waited for her to wake up, to see she was held captive by the very ones she’d betrayed.

They’d moved her to the garage at the back where they did custom work. After he’d dismissed the other members of his pack, he’d made sure she was properly tied down. Arms and legs strapped to the metal chair right next to the oil drain. A very effective way to wash away any blood and bodily fluids, and clearly a fear inducing method as well. She was held immobile from chest to knees, with silver chains even the strongest wolf couldn’t break without serious injury. Kellen didn’t think she was the strongest, yet she’d been cunning enough to get into his pack without detection, and he wanted to know why, and who sent her.

Defiant eyes opened, the color a cross between hazel and brown. “So, is this when the torture begins? I won’t tell you a thing, so you might as well kill me,” she rasped.

So rebellious. He couldn’t wait to see what she did next. Kellen lounged in a comfortable leather chair a few feet from her, his legs sprawled. The syringe she used dangling between his fingers. He waited but didn’t say a word. Sometimes the wait was worse than the yelling.

The air filled with her panic. He kept his expression blank, twirling the needle in his fingers.

“Say something, asshole,” she growled.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Such language. I’m waiting for you. Seems to me you have all the answers, while I have...nothing.” He looked at the offending object.

Good. She appeared to be thinking she had a bargaining tool. Her arms shifted, the silver chains hit her wrists, the scent of burning skin reached him, her scream of pain did nothing but amuse him. Let her suffer. Until he got answers, her torment would continue. He had not an ounce of sympathy for the traitorous cunt.

“Help me,” she cried.

Kellen crossed his booted feet. “You’re the only one who can help yourself.” He tossed the needle in his hand up in the air, catching it in his palm. “Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll end your torment.” He wouldn’t allow her to leave, but he was a man of his word.

“I don’t know anything. I was just supposed to grab the bitch and...” she clamped her lips shut.

He shrugged his shoulders, grabbing a longneck from the table he’d pulled next to his chair. He watched her eyes follow him as he took a pull, saw her lick her dry lips. Yeah, he just bet she was thirsty. Again, he gave no fucks. He was the alpha, and a bastard. Until she gave him answers, he could sit here and drink, even catch a few Z’s. Hell, he may even call for some female attentions. He wondered what kind of reaction he’d get from their captive if he had a woman bouncing on his cock. An image of Laikyn popped into his head. He barely contained the snarl that wanted to erupt.

The smell of burning flesh brought him out of his own personal hell.

“Ah, little bitch, are you hurting? I got all night. I snap my fingers and I have food, drinks, and even women if I want. So, you just sit there and lie. I can smell it you know.” He told her.

The more she fidgeted, the more she burned. Silver hurt worse than anything to a shifter.

“You’re a sadist. You use women and throw them away, just like all men. Sandy said so.” She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Ah, so this Sandy is your boss?” He finished his beer, pulling out another, acting as if her words didn’t mean shit to him. “Go on, maybe if you say something that I want to hear, I’ll tug those chains off your flesh. If you keep moving like that, they’ll go all the way down to bone. Do you know what’ll happen then?” Her eyes sharpened. “That’s right, little bitch, the silver will continue until it disintegrates your bones. A shifter without hands would be useless to your Sandy or whoever is in charge of you.”

“Fine. All I know is my job was to bring Breezy to a meeting point. Sandy was adamant it was to be her, not another female. It’s always been her.” She spat the last word, clear hate in her tone.

“Where is your base of operations?” Kellen sat forward.

“I don’t know. We are always brought in and out in darkness.” She yelped in pain.

Kellen scented the air. He didn’t doubt for a minute she was telling the truth, which didn’t help them. “What were they going to do to Breezy once they had her? Don’t fucking lie, I know you have an idea at least.”

Her chin fell to her chest. “Kill her I hope.” Her head came back up. “Our leader hates her with a passion. Clearly, the one named Breezy has done something and deserves to die. Maybe you should ask her what she has done to warrant a death sentence.”

Kellen laughed. “Little bitch, a mad woman doesn’t need a reason. You were just a pawn. Do you see anyone knocking down our doors to rescue you? You’re collateral damage.” He scoffed. “Right now she could care less if we were all using you for our own baser needs, before ripping you to shreds.”

“You said if I answered you, you’d let me go.” Her voice cracked.

He stood. “No, I said I’d tug the chains off your flesh. I’m a wolf of my word.” He grinned, knowing his canines were showing. The scent of her fear and flesh assaulted his senses.

Taking the leather gloves out of his back pocket, he stood and with ease he crossed the short distance and adjusted the chains so they were no longer touching her skin.