Traitor (Shifters Unlimited: Clan Black Book 3) Read online

  Her heart laid bare, she waited for his answer. If she could count on another alpha to pick up the cause, then her life was worth the price. But from Deacon’s hardening expression, he didn’t agree with her.

  In one swift move, he left his wife’s side and moved in front of Rayven. He bent over her, one hand on the back of the couch, the other on the arm, effectively pinning her in. “No.”

  Rayven’s heart sank, her thoughts swirling in confusion. How could she have been so wrong in reading him? She bit her lip to keep from screaming at him. It would do no good. And maybe, just maybe, she’d get another shot to convince him. Swallowing back her anger, she gave him the details he’d asked for. “I was miles away from my clan’s stronghold on the day of our alpha’s death. In fact, I was in the custody of his enforcers because I’d been caught freeing a boy at one of the hidden labs.”

  “You don’t get to answer my questions and hide, Rayven Karndottir, just to sacrifice yourself. If you want help saving your people, you damn well better choose to live and save them yourself,” Deacon snarled as he leaned in, forcing her back on the couch. “Now. Or the tribunal will shred you to pieces and divide up your precious people as spoils.”

  Furious, she pushed at his chest with her good arm, blinking furiously. He didn’t budge. “I’m here. What more can I possibly do for them?”

  His features tightened, sharp edges defining his cheeks and jawline. Red glinted in his eyes, and she braced herself for an attack. “Shift, Rayven.”

  Out of control, she lurched up, propelled by energy she didn’t recognize, prepared to plow through him. He sprang back, ready as if anticipating her next move.

  Her vision narrowed, focused on the hearts she could sense beating in the room. Lena stood, blocking the exit to the front hallway. Deacon moved before her. The second exit, a doorway to what she assumed was the kitchen, slammed closed as she flicked a glance that way.

  Damn his alpha powers.

  Hemmed in, her only recourse was to back toward the fireplace. Or perhaps the window. “You must already know I can’t shift. I’ll bet Breslin told you all about my dormant animal.”

  Sparks glistened in Deacon’s eyes, but he seemed genuinely surprised by her pronouncement. “He told me he’d sensed your beast, had seen evidence of her.”

  How? She was damaged. Broken.

  “I can’t shift,” she spat back, her breath tumbling out in harsh raps as if she’d spent the day screaming.

  Without warning, Deacon changed, his muzzle elongating out of human features. His growls thundered against her eardrums as a wave of alpha heat and energy pummeled her body.

  “Now, Rayven.” Despite the odd shape to his mouth, she understood every command. “Save yourself or go home, but don’t waste my time.”

  Another shock wave sent her skidding backward across the rug to within a foot of the fireplace. She teetered, arms out and legs spread to stop herself from being tumbled into the flames. Gasping for air, she snarled back at him. “Do you think I don’t want to save them?”

  “If so, claim your birthright.” His voice reverberated from the rafters of the room as the walls shook and the windows rattled in their frames.

  “I don’t want my father’s place.” Dear Goddess, was she sobbing?

  His eyes began to glow. Prickles ran across the surface of her skin and then dug in as if a thousand cuts sliced, threatening to tear her open. She dropped to her knees, unable to wrestle back control, much less breathe.

  “You’re going to let any shifter who wants to, muscle their way into your territory, murder anyone who resists them, until they have control?” Unbelievably, the volume of his voice increased, growing deeper. A nearly paralyzing drumbeat pulsed in her ears. He stalked closer, his hands now sporting fur and jagged claws.

  “Your friends will die because they still believe in you. Your enemies will dominate those who remain neutral. And your legacy of humanity will end—because you’ve given up.”

  “I’ve never given up,” she hissed. Like glass cutting through her muscles and organs, pain shattered throughout her body.

  Deacon loomed before her, though she could barely see. A film of white floated like smoke across her eyes, then red hardened in her field of vision.

  “Yet you’ll turn them over to a man who doesn’t care if they live or die. For it will be a man, Rayven. They dominate in your territory, thanks to your father.”

  This isn’t my fault. I’d gladly give my life for my people. Her muscles started to shake. She bucked and fought, spittle flying from her mouth as she tried to move away from the beast towering over her. How could he do this to her?

  “Your death isn’t a gift to anyone.” He bent down to her and gripped the back of her neck in his maw, teeth short of piercing her flesh. Emotions welled inside her and froze the air in her lungs. “Choose life. Choose the people who are sacrificing for you. Free your people.”

  No. I won’t submit.

  I won’t give up.

  No…

  Damn. I refuse to end this way.

  Static roared in her ears as a pressure built inside her. Her skin burned and her body disintegrated. Barely aware, she watched fur sprout in a flurry of white along her arm. Carving-knife-sized claws emerged from her paws. Her leg bones snapped as she groaned with the changes.

  A deep huffing sound replaced the roars, equally as loud but no longer shredding her brain. Heaviness pulled at her and she sank to her side, a deep moan echoing as her injury made contact with the floor and her cheek pressed against the hardwood.

  She breathed painfully through the last twitch, expecting an end to the torment and death as shock waves rattled her body. A tsunami of energy exploded around her. Her body vaulted into the air, destined to crash back to the ground with a fatal wallop.

  Instead, strong arms caught her and lowered her onto softness.

  Deacon whispered from behind her. “I’m glad you’ve decided to live, Alpha.”

  She snapped her teeth, but the movement jarred all her broken and bruised bits. Even with her mouth closed, a grumble still made its way out. She and her beast weren’t quite at peace, but freedom felt blessed. Debating her options, she opened her eyes and caught sight of her clothes shredded on the floor. Breslin’s jacket, however, still lay across the room at Lena’s feet.

  Rayven couldn’t control her animal’s response. She wanted her mate, and she shivered as longing coursed through every nerve in her ursidae body. But short of his presence, she wanted what she could smell of him. Whether he’d left them or not, she and her bear needed any token of the man who’d brought them to this point.

  Before she thought the action through, she dug her claws into the floor and pulled herself toward Lena, intent on the jacket. Pain sizzled through her, and she collapsed again.

  In the blink of an eye, Deacon was above her, fully shifted, his muzzle at her neck. “Stay still.”

  “Why can you speak in my mind?” Her anger fought against panic. He’d called her Alpha, but mental communication only worked between alphas and their pledged servants. She’d hated her father, though the thought of losing her ties to the clan she loved, who still needed her, twisted her inside out. “Did you claim me for your clan?”

  Deacon’s voice grew louder in her mind. “Don’t harm my mate, Rayven.”

  “Never. We like her—” She inhaled again, Breslin’s scent filling her lungs. The shivers eased…but not enough. “Need—”

  Deacon moved away but stayed between her and her goal.

  “Don’t worry. I’m bringing you the jacket, Rayven.” Lena’s calm voice cut through her panic.

  She mewled and rasped her claws over the wood.

  “Deacon, get out of my way.” Lena appeared over Deacon’s shoulder and crouched, elbowing her husband when he didn’t move. “I’ll spread it next to your head, Rayven. How’s that?”

  The male musk of her mate’s scent wafted over her. Rayven eyed Deacon warily but stuck her tongue out to lick Lena’
s hand in thanks.

  “I didn’t take you into my clan,” he said. “But you’re in my sanctuary. I can keep a channel open to you for a brief time. Before your alpha mantle refuses me access and kicks me out.”

  “My—”

  “Yes, Rayven, the mantle is not as solid as it should be, but you’ve claimed your chance.”

  Deacon’s words abruptly ended inside her mind.

  “You’re beautiful, Rayven,” Lena said, before Rayven and her beast gave into exhaustion.

  “A Kermode bear.” Lena remained crouched beside the several-hundred-pound white-furred bear passed out in front of the fireplace. “We need to move the couches and block off the hallway so no one bothers her. She’ll need room to walk. I can’t image how she went her whole lifetime without shifting into her bear.”

  “She’ll be fine. She just needs time to heal,” Deacon murmured as he listened for the low, steady heartbeat in the huge beast to convince himself Rayven would indeed stay in a healing sleep. “The white bears born from black bears are considered Spirit Bears by my mother’s people. They symbolize peace and harmony.”

  Lena twisted to sit cross-legged on the floor and ran her fingers across the bear’s head. “I thought you said Gauthier was a grizzly shifter?”

  “Shifter physiology doesn’t conform to the animal laws of nature. Our mating calls can cross species. Like humans, our DNA chooses. But her mother would have to have been a black bear for Rayven to inherit the recessive white bear gene.” He rubbed his chin as he watched the slumbering beast with its muzzle cuddled into Breslin’s jacket. “Gauthier must not have known.”

  “Of course. All he cared about was that his child wasn’t a male. Is she a rare shifter in your world?”

  “Very.”

  “That pleases you.”

  “Supremely. From what she’s told us and what we’ve witnessed, your initial conjecture about her is likely right. Rayven Karndottir takes after her mother—I’m guessing in all the ways that count.”

  Lena leaned closer and whispered, “So she’s an alpha now.”

  “Not quite.” Deacon scrubbed at his jaw and stared at Rayven’s bear. She slept peacefully, but the hum of magic around her didn’t hold the punch it should.

  “Not quite alpha or only partially accepted by her mantle? Do we have a bigger problem like when that voice entered my mind and tried to urge the feral children to kill me?”

  He moved closer until the heat of her rested against his shins and his beast calmed. He was inordinately pleased at how often she caught on to the nuances of his world. “I can’t decipher what is wrong, only that she doesn’t have full control of her mantle. It did attach to Rayven, but it’s…unfinished. I sense a block—an unnatural magic. Since the ferals were altered unnaturally in Karndottir’s territory, I suspect you are on the right track about who might be causing Rayven’s problem.”

  Lena cocked her head. “We stopped them before. We’ll do it again.”

  “Why didn’t I realize it was that simple?” he added dryly. “However if we succeed in helping her survive the tribunal, she’ll be a good ally.”

  “Don’t hedge your bets with me.” Lena lifted her chin and delivered her gaze of laser-like focus. “When. Not if. I know you. We are not going to let anyone destroy this special alpha.”

  “We’ll do our best.” He crouched beside Lena, and then pulled her up with him. “For now, let’s allow her some peace and quiet.”

  19

  Airstrip near Calgary

  Breslin grabbed his gear as the Gulfstream GV taxied toward the hangar door. “Brindy, you should stay inside the plane.”

  “I’m detecting at least three heat signatures on the thermal imaging camera,” she said through the open door of the cockpit. “You sure you don’t want me down there with you?”

  The day he couldn’t handle three shifters, they’d have to roll him around in a wheelchair and feed him banana pudding before putting him out to pasture. “No, thank you. But this might be a little rocky at first, so stay clear.”

  “You’re right. It’s not every day that someone takes the alpha’s daughter out of their territory as a prisoner and then returns with her mate mark on his neck.” She at least had the common sense to have turned her back on him, showing trust as she pelted him with sarcasm.

  However, she’d gotten to the heart of the matter. The next few minutes would be tricky. After they rolled to a stop, he released the doorway, lowering the stairs. He scanned the tarmac and inhaled, searching for a hint of predators on instinct. The last thing he needed was extra surprises.

  He crossed the several yards to the building, taking his time. Now would be the best time for bullets, but he caught no sounds of trigger mechanisms or the smell of gun oil on the wind. As he reached the hangar door, Quinn’s profile emerged from the shadows and moved forward. Aubrey exited the building and moved into the doorway behind him. Another man, about seven feet tall and two hundred and fifty burly pounds, joined her. What the…? Breslin inhaled again. For a moment, he’d thought Grizz had beaten him here, but the scent wasn’t familiar.

  Quinn strode forward and made it within ten feet of him. The half-breed coyote’s nose wrinkled and his features twisted. “You son of a—” He attacked fast enough to take down any normal shifter not paying attention.

  Breslin spun and punched, knocking Quinn in the shoulder and dodging the outstretched claws. The coyote landed on his side and rolled into a stand, his lips pulled back in a snarl as he crouched for another attack.

  “I’ll say this once, Quinn. It’s not what you think.” Breslin kept his stance limber and checked over his shoulder, noting the other two had moved closer. But while they both registered anger in their expressions, neither had shifted for an attack.

  Prepared to deflect the next hit, Breslin staggered as a lash of emotions paralyzed him—sadness, pain, longing. For a second, his vision wavered, and he wiped at his eyes. Images flashed—the bakery in Black Haven? The bookstore? Rayven’s scent wafted around him, the taste of her suddenly tempting and bright on the back of his tongue. As quickly as it had come, the images and the emotions vanished.

  But Quinn catapulted, shifting back to human form. He landed a blow on Breslin’s jaw and pulled back for a second swipe.

  Breslin caught his forearm and spun him down onto the asphalt. “That’s enough. We have a lot to accomplish, and this is wasting time.”

  “We’ll determine that after you explain why you’re covered in Rayven’s scent,” Aubrey said as she moved closer and snatched at his shirt, pulling it away from his neck to get a good look at his mark. He dropped his hold on Quinn, shrugged his shoulder so she let go, and stepped back. She followed him. “That’s more than a little bite. Looks a hell of a lot like a mating mark to me. What do you think, Elijah?”

  The bear shifter moved beside Aubrey and delivered a cold-eyed stare. Unlike the others, Elijah didn’t have to broadcast his capacity for hurt. Breslin understood firsthand from sparring with Grizz how difficult heavy bear-shifter muscles were to deflect, much less bring down.

  Quinn sprang to his feet beside the others. “There’s no way Rayven would have let him claim her.”

  “We don’t know if he claimed her, only that she’s marked him,” Elijah said. “The only one standing here is Ghost, not our girl. Aubrey, you make the call.”

  Breslin snorted but didn’t move, waiting on the outcome. If they were wasting his time, he’d have to beat them all into submission and head out on his own.

  She tilted her head, still staring at his mark, then raised her brows. “She did seem rather accepting of him the last time I saw them together. And there was the meatloaf.”

  “What?” Quinn snapped.

  Aubrey just smiled again. She hadn’t cleared Breslin. However, there was a small sparkle in her eyes, one that held equal promises of acceptance if he proved himself worthy. And retribution if he didn’t.

  “Would she tolerate him enough to mate him?” Elijah
pushed.

  Offended by the thought that he’d manhandle a woman for a mating mark and that they’d even consider Rayven would allow such a thing, Breslin scowled. “You do her a disservice, and has it occurred to you that killing isn’t my only skill?”

  “Breslin, is there a problem?” Brindy chimed in from her position at the bottom of the stairs of the plane. “Deacon wanted to know when I should arrange for a pickup.” She hadn’t obeyed his order to stay in the plane, but at least her comment would have them wondering about the repercussions of trying to take out any of Deacon’s team. He could kill them all if they pushed the issue, though that would upset Rayven. Besides, they were more valuable to their clan alive, and he needed their help.

  “Best guess is within twenty-four hours. I’ll have to let you know.” He wiped his mouth with his hand and took his phone out of his pocket, checking the information Brindy had sent him earlier. “What new details do any of you have?”

  Quinn’s change in position registered as he turned toward Brindy. “You have one of our females—”

  Breslin didn’t bother to look up from his phone. “Rayven isn’t your female and if you take one step toward the nice pilot who pulled the satellite images to scan the area you’ve targeted in order to check for detonation devices, and I’ll kill you, Quinn. Instead of just mopping the tarmac with your hide. Then I’ll leave you here for Jacob’s team before I go find the boy whose testimony Rayven needs to save her.”

  Elijah stepped between Quinn and his direct view of Brindy, but focused on Breslin. “You have a plan?”

  However, Quinn couldn’t seem to leave it alone, not even bothering to put on the jeans Aubrey sailed his way. He sniffed several times in Brindy’s direction. “The fox doesn’t look like much. I can take her.”

  “You don’t look like much either,” Aubrey added, looking pointedly below Quinn’s waist.