Traitor (Shifters Unlimited: Clan Black Book 3) Page 8

  “No.” She raised her chin, glaring at him as she tried ineffectively to push him away.

  He stood and turned away with an upheld palm to stall anything further she had to say. He’d regain control of his libido if it took every foul trick he knew. “Don’t waste your breath telling me you’re innocent. I’ve heard plenty of seasoned killers plead their case to save their sorry skins. You’re the offspring of a monster, and his blood runs through your veins.”

  Nearly sitting, she jerked back as if he’d struck her. “What an ass. You’re just like all the others.”

  Stunned, he watched her rise to her feet and stalk toward him. Did she think a woman more than a foot shorter than he was with wicked curves and broken bones could threaten him? Again his traitorous cougar clawed inside him, clamoring to shift out. Breslin ground his teeth, ignoring the call, remembering this female likely shared Gauthier’s disposition.

  “You’re judge and jury, without even hearing what I have to say.” She snapped her fingers in his face, her eyes slitted with fury. “Kill me now and be done with it.”

  Done with it. No. They were barely getting started. However, he fixated on wiping the frown off her lips and instead hearing her whisper his name with something other than disdain. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind.”

  Hell, she was beautiful and deadly. And how twisted was he that this woman tempted him? Or maybe giving in was the answer to purging her peculiar effect on him. He’d stared at her lips for long enough it took him a second to realize she wasn’t talking anymore. With one arm clutched against her side and tense lines of pain marring her face, she scowled at him as if he were somehow at fault here.

  Then she took half a breath and swallowed hard. “You’d be saving all the alphas a lot of trouble, especially, if their goal is to be rid of me anyway.”

  He had to hand it to her. She certainly wasn’t backing away from the inevitable outcome of her murder charge. For she was guilty, he had no doubt about that. A Karndottir was perfectly capable of committing patricide. “My alpha commanded me to bring you back alive and in one piece. Your best option is to state your case to him, not me. He’ll make sure you receive a fair trial whether you deserve it or not. Take it or leave it and quit goading me.”

  “Fair?” Her whole body went rigid. “I wasn’t anywhere near Karndottir when he died. Hell, I haven’t even seen the alpha in the last three years. Yet, I was run down like an animal, attacked by the alpha’s team, and summarily bundled up for a tribunal which will likely end in my death. We all know nothing fair exists among the alpha board members.” She paused as her hand clenched at her side.

  A blush stained her cheeks, but the rest of her skin had gone paler. He needed to get them moving. “Not all the alphas are like your father.”

  “How would I know?”

  Fair point. However, it didn’t change anything.

  “These charges are intended to make me disappear. The reason they sent the Ghost is to make sure I suffer.”

  He couldn’t help his frown or the unease sliding through him that her words sparked. No one had dared breathe that name in his presence in decades and now he’d heard it twice in one day. Not that he didn’t deserve the disdain his past elicited. “My job was never to make you or anyone else suffer.”

  “Is that supposed to be some kind of twisted assassin way to let me know I’m hurting your feelings?”

  “You have quite the vivid imagination, Ms. Karndottir,” he ground out, unable to get past the memories her flurry of anger brought to his mind. Memories he’d rather not revisit. Barely able to make sense of his own fury, he glared at her. Moments ago, just the warmth of her body had tempted him unlike any woman in decades. Now neither man nor beast could decide how best to put as much distance between them and this female as possible.

  But he had a job to do. “Law differentiates justice from psychotic killing.”

  “Good to know laws make it okay to kill innocent people,” she said. “I’ll be frank with you. I’m not about to shift and give you an opportunity to claim me by law. I’m also not about to allow a stranger power over me, whether I’m a prisoner or not.”

  “Poor little alpha’s daughter. Forget playing on my sympathies.” He shook his head and leaned in nose to nose. “Let’s be clear on one point, the last person on earth I’d want to claim would be you.”

  He jerked his chin toward her and beyond to the open path between the trees. “We need to get out of here. If you prefer to suffer from your wounds instead of shifting, that’s your choice. But move your sweet ass. Now.”

  He strode past her toward the woods. They were going to have to make it to shelter on foot. Before the sniper and more replacements crossed the river and tracked them. Assuming there weren’t some here already. And despite what he’d told her about moving under her own steam, he didn’t expect her to last long once the sun set. An hour should get them close enough to town for him to find a house or a car and scrounge up dry clothes for her.

  “Keep up, or I’ll toss you over my shoulder and carry you.” He didn’t bother to look back, keeping track of the slow scuffing of her boots behind him. At a misstep, he slowed, prepared to turn around and catch her. Then the footsteps resumed their slow beat. At a break in the trees, he stopped, facing forward until she caught up.

  As he debated adjusting his stride so he could walk beside her, she pushed past him, making a point to shove against him with her good shoulder. Her stomach grumbled, ruining the effect. “Don’t bother. I’d rather die with dignity on my own two feet.”

  “I promise you won’t die by my hand.” Why he’d offered that, he didn’t know. Maybe as a reward for her display of stubbornness, a response he enjoyed.

  She glared at him over her shoulder and he withheld his satisfaction. Yes, he wanted that—an unpredictable show of flame from the spitfire. Injured but mad as a hornet, she refused to back down. It was worth antagonizing her just to see her eyes change from violet to indigo with the flare of her emotions.

  He followed, finally analyzing the truths his beast shoved along their shared connection. The animal believed her claim of innocence, but Breslin countered she was no doubt good at lying. And he knew she was hiding something. A secret that seemed to be compelling her to stay in her father’s territory even as her desire for vindication urged her to seek Deacon’s help.

  His cougar’s interpretations of her actions aside, what she wanted to do and why didn’t matter. Her reasons were her own. He only needed to get her across the territory line. However, there was no harm in amusing himself along the way by antagonizing her a bit.

  Both cat and man enjoyed her spirit, with the side benefit of her anger keeping her warm. They had a lot of ground to cover. He planned to reach the Glacier National Park line between Canada and the United States by tomorrow.

  If she thought that by keeping her face forward he wouldn’t catch the delicate pull of her skin over her cheekbones and the bruised shadows beneath her eyes, she’d underestimated him. He couldn’t ignore those signs.

  He pulled his fancy new phone from his pocket, for once glad working for Deacon included perks. The latest of which were high-tech waterproof gadgets—thanks to Brindy’s influence.

  Eyeing the way Rayven’s hips swayed before him, he tapped on a name and spoke before even saying hello. “Callum, I’ve run into a delay.”

  At the terse voice on the other end, he scrunched his eyes and held the phone away from his ear.

  “You didn’t take out your anger on Rayven, did you? Because—”

  Determined not to get sucked into an ethical pissing contest, Breslin interrupted the oncoming lecture. “I haven’t killed her if that’s what you’re asking. However, it seems her clan decided she was fair game and didn’t mind risking my life as well. We’re detouring to shake them. Is Brindy there?”

  “Yes. But you’re bringing her here. Alive, right?” Callum continued faster.

  Breslin remained silent. He wasn’t about to
forgive quickly if Callum had known all these years Karndottir had a daughter.

  “Deacon will want her alive.”

  “Stop repeating yourself.”

  “She doesn’t deserve—”

  “Get. Brindy. On. The. Phone.”

  “Breslin, you’ve got to believe me—”

  “Now.”

  A loud crack and snarl echoed in Breslin’s ear with enough volume he winced. What the hell?

  “Hey, Taggart. What you need?” Unlike Callum, Brindy was all efficiency.

  “Can you track my phone and monitor it?”

  “Will do. The locals not playing nice?”

  “Something like that. Not sure why I expected any different.”

  “Don’t get into any mortal battles. I don’t have the chopper ready yet, and the medical kits needed restocking.”

  “Funny.” If he needed medical support, Karndottir’s clan would need a whole lot of pine caskets. “Can you also find a takeout place within three miles southeast of my direction?” He watched Rayven stumble. “Make that one mile.”

  “Sure thing.” He listened as Brindy tapped computer keys. “I’ve got a diner, a steakhouse, and a pancake place.”

  “The first sounds good. I need a takeout order for two of everything and my usual.” He rubbed his chin, eyeing Rayven’s slowing pace. “Add some chocolate cake too.”

  “Right. Hold on.” Brindy hummed as she sorted through whatever screen she’d found online. “Okay. Looks like they’ve got roast chicken, mashed potatoes, side vegetables, your six burgers, pasta and…hmm. And chocolate cake. Is that enough for you and the army you’re feeding?”

  “Just me and a starving woman.”

  “I guessed that from the chocolate cake.”

  “Not all women are the same, Brindy.”

  “Like you’d know?”

  “My female teammates make certain I understand there are different tastes for different women.” Tormenting him no end about feminine nuances he didn’t need to know for their own amusement. But he’d paid attention.

  “Smart man.”

  “Add some carrot cake if they have it. I’ll pick it up in an hour.”

  “Good luck evading Gauthier’s rat pack.”

  “Not a problem. And thanks.” He slid the phone away and lengthened his stride, closing the distance between him and Rayven. She hadn’t acknowledged his call, and he doubted it was an attempt to be subtle. Fatigue nipped at her heels. If he didn’t do something to get the she-devil moving, they’d never make it somewhere safe by nightfall. Yet, there was a fine line between riling her up and driving her into the ground.

  “Need me to carry you, Karndottir? I’ve seen bunnies move faster than you. Unless you’re trying to sniff all the clover you can before I get you back for the tribunal.”

  “Bite me,” she snapped. But her posture straightened along with a sharp intake of breath, and her pace quickened.

  That’s better. He glanced around and sniffed the air. Jacob, and whoever was gunning for Rayven, would be watching the border crossing and highways, making Breslin and his prisoner easy marks. He didn’t bother to update Deacon, knowing Callum would at least pass along a harried overview of the situation.

  But once they reached the border, he’d be in his old training grounds. Regardless of which alpha owned the land, he’d honed his killer craft in those mountains with an instructor who could best any alpha. All they needed was to make it there before their pursuers.

  Whatever it took, he’d make damn sure Rayven survived. Beautiful catnip to his cougar or not, she was likely born a killer and would die one. But not on his watch.

  Thirty minutes after leaving the riverbank, sweat coated Rayven’s body despite the slight chill in the air and her damp clothes. She shivered and took in the disturbingly familiar layout of the town set at the bottom of a gradual slope before them.

  Crap. Some of the homes were more than familiar. Damn her luck again, she now had bigger problems than the enforcer lagging behind her.

  She stopped, silently running through escape options. The tribunal didn’t frighten her. She’d die someday. But if Breslin was right about Jacob’s team hunting her, and despite the accusations she flung at him, she saw no reason for him to fabricate such a thing, then this sleepy little town was the worst place for a showdown. She’d never forgive herself if she inadvertently led the alpha team to Liam Wilson and his family. The six months she’d spent building a plan to help the Wilsons and their children disappear to this town had all gone to waste. The poor Wilsons wouldn’t have any warning of danger either. Rayven had picked this ski resort town for its off-season quiet. The family would never expect or be prepared for the alpha’s team to show up at their door.

  Rayven didn’t kid herself. Karndottir’s enforcers were all purebred wolves and no bears. He didn’t risk competition from his own species. The alpha personally trained his team. If any hint of the Wilsons or their human-lynx scent existed in this town, the enforcers would know. They’d strip the other children from their parents just as he’d done with the Wilsons’ oldest son, Nathan.

  Those assholes had also done an excellent job of hiding Nathan. She’d searched for weeks, all the time expecting a trail of the alpha in the conniving scheme, but oddly never finding one. She also found no trace of him around the trails of the other missing children either. Along with the aggravating fact that the destroyed laboratories and holding cells contained no evidence pointing to who had organized the kidnappings.

  It could have been a brilliant, subtle way to throw off suspicion from Karndottir, but the alpha didn’t hide behind subtlety. His rules and preferences ran everyone’s life in the clan. Half-breeds and human mates knew to keep to the edges of their society because he ruled by might. Non-wolf breeds kowtowed to his teams or suffered a penalty worse than death. If he’d wanted the children, he’d have taken them outright.

  She closed her eyes, trying for a semblance of calm. She could continue with Breslin and her plan to seek help from the alpha to the south in finding the children and stopping the experiments. Her clanspeople seemed to respect Deacon Black. Even so, the Wilsons deserved peace now. She refused to be the cause of more tragedy. Despite her frozen fingers and every rib on her left side aching, she needed to escape and warn them.

  Too bad she couldn’t convince Deacon’s guard to let her go. Despite his refusal to engage her purposeful attempts to goad him, he remained distant and noncombative. He might not hurt her. However, she couldn’t trust him with the Wilsons’ lives.

  “Sleep standing up much?” Breslin’s voice shook her from her thoughts, and she struggled to wipe all expression from her features.

  “Nope, merely hanging out damp and tired wondering where you’re taking us.”

  “A little farther.” He gestured for her to keep walking and veered off toward a car parked in the lot of a small office building on the other side of the street.

  In the time it took her to realize what he intended, he’d moved behind the car, jimmied the trunk open, and returned holding a small lime-green gym bag.

  “You didn’t need to do that.” He was stealing on her land. If she had control of her animal, she’d give him a smack to the head he’d remember for days. That might have been a clan female’s car. Especially given the ‘I brake for grizzlies’ sticker.”

  But as she opened her mouth to give him another piece of her mind, she caught herself, startled. Her land? She wouldn’t claim this alpha legacy even if it meant the difference between life and death. She’d despised the alpha, and reviled the idea of claiming his title and all the inflated-ego and self-centered decisions that came with it. Hell no.

  Breslin had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, dragging her along before she realized it. He pulled her close and tucked the bag between them. “Lucky for you, women with ‘runner girl’ and ‘nurses rock’ bumper decals usually carry extra clothes.”

  “I don’t want you stealing clothes for me.” She tried to stop, b
ut he kept them moving, and she stumbled along beside him. With a glance over her shoulder, she checked to make certain no one had seen him. “Don’t even think about stealing an RV next. Because I’m voting no.”

  “Mine’s the only vote that counts.” He guided them off the road and across a patch of unkempt yard. Several cottages occupied this section of property. Even with her keen sense of smell, it was hard to tell which homes were empty. But one cottage appeared well buttoned down for the season with its shutters sealed tight and no tire marks marring the soil in the lane.

  He led her up the drive and around to the back door. She found herself turned with her back against the cottage wall beside him as he eyed the place. After a glance behind them, he jiggled the door handle. When it didn’t give, he peered through the cracks in the shutters.

  “Please do not break these people’s window. It’s bad enough you plan on invading their home.”

  “I have no intention of broadcasting that we’re here by breaking a window. And technically, a home requires full-time residents. I think this is a vacation rental.”

  “How very precise. I’d forgotten your reputation for being technically accurate.” She glanced around, mentally gauging the path to the Wilsons’. “Hell, all the parents who use you as the threat to keep their children in line will have to find someone less accurate and more dangerous.”

  “I’m more dangerous than anyone you know.” He slid a narrow metal pick from his belt and had all three locks on the door undone before she could object. His body filled the doorway and his eyes narrowed on her cold as frost. “I’d also never harm a child.”

  She realized she’d gone too far with her insult. The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them. It wasn’t that he visibly reacted. Instead, he stilled beyond anything human or preternatural. He pushed open the door and tossed her the duffel without touching her. The warmth in the air around her, the comfort she’d taken for granted moments earlier when his body pressed against hers, vanished as he disappeared through a connecting doorway.