Claiming Shayla (30 page)

“You’re shaking,” he whispered in her ear.

“So are you,” she told him.

He grunted, tightening his grip on her.

“I’ll be all right in a bit. Just give me a moment,” she told him in a soft voice, uncaring if others heard her.

The pack was enraged. Anger was a living, breathing entity in their midst. One wrong word and things would turn ugly. Mob justice would prevail, and Laurie Bell would be ripped to pieces. Even the Raven pack’s wolves’ fur stood on edge, their teeth bared and hackles clearly raised.

“Remember our plan,” she murmured to Rory, her gaze on Laurie Bell’s haughty expression. “Death is too easy for her. I want her to pay for what she did to you, Kian, Shannon, and your mother. And then I want to go home, me and you, skin to skin, and forget this night ever happened.”

They’d determined Laurie Bell acted alone. She might not be the only threat, Shay mused, but after tonight anyone should think twice about coming after her and their children.

Rory slid his hand from her waist down to cup her butt. The sudden hardness pressed against her stomach told her that her words had their desired effect. She raised her face to his. “Kiss me.”

The kiss was hard, brutal, tasting of the anger he tried to manage. But when it was over, both Rory and his wolf were more in control of themselves. He turned her so that her back pressed against his front, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Shay relaxed into his hold.

“Laurie Bell, I find you guilty as charged. Caleb?”

“Guilty.”

“MacDougal?”

“Guilty.” MacDougal’s voice showed his disgust.

“Council?”

Wesley and Bertram’s response was instant. “Guilty.”

When Graham didn’t answer, Rory asked, “Graham, how do you vote?”

In a voice so cold it made Shay shiver, Graham said, “Kill the bitch and be done with it.”

Laurie Bell flinched and looked at her brother in shocked disbelief. “What?”

Graham kept his eyes on Rory. “She’s dead to me.”

He really is a bastard. And to think, she thanked me for saving your sorry, worthless life
. “Finish this so we can go home,” she told Rory, revolted by the whole matter.

“The penalty for the crimes committed against the alpha pair and their unborn child is death, but…” Rory paused.

The pack began muttering.

“What? What does he mean, ‘but’?”

“Kill the bitch and be done with it!” Graham hollered again.

More cries of the same were called out.

“But,” Rory continued in a louder voice, “as my mate stated, death is too kind for you.”

All eyes swung toward Shay, taking her measure. When Rory remained silent, the quiet increased as anticipation grew. What could be worse than death? Shay knew what they were thinking by the expression on their faces.

“I hereby declare you outcast. All property is to be seized. You have three days to clear all your personal belongings.”

Laurie Bell’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t kick me out! I’m the pack’s healer. You need me.”

“Three days!” Rory reiterated.

“My house! My shop! You can’t take them from me,” Laurie Bell protested.

“They belong to the pack, purchased with pack money. The house and its land, the shop and all the merchandise therein,” Rory reminded her. Shay had the satisfaction of seeing Laurie Bell’s face turn white as the impact of what she was losing hit her.

“But what am I supposed to do?” she wailed.

Did she really think they cared?

Behind her Rory seemed to expand. The heat of his flesh scorched hers where they touched. His power rose in the air, so heavy breathing became difficult. Her wolf stirred, rising to the surface in response to whatever Rory was doing.

“Don’t fight it,”
he stated in her mind. Until then Shay hadn’t realized she was. She relaxed, trusted herself to Rory’s care. Her beast rose, joining with Rory until they were no longer two beings but one powerful entity.

Then Shay felt something else, someone else’s wolf join with them. It felt like Rory, but there was a subtle difference. A glance at Kian showed his eyes were glowing pure gold and he’d partially shifted. He still looked human, but his mass was larger and he’d sprouted claws and fangs.

Shay felt a tug and realized Rory was pulling on the pack. Caleb, MacDougal, the council, then each member, one by one, eyes began to glow bright gold until the clearing was lit. Her hair whipped around her face, but there was no breeze. The sheer buildup of energy had Shay staggering, punch-drunk under the strength of it.

“
You. Are. OUTCAST
!”

At Rory’s roar, something burst out of them and hit Laurie Bell straight in the belly. Shay could almost see the flow of power. The force of the blow bent Laurie Bell over, then bowed her spine. Head thrown back, she let out a high, agonizing scream that hurt Shay’s sensitive eardrums. Laurie Bell collapsed to her knees. Would have fallen on her face if Alex and Kian weren’t holding her upright.

Like a dimmer switch being turned, the brilliant glow of the pack’s eyes slowly faded until everyone’s irises were their natural color. Rory’s heat, though still high, no longer felt as if it would scorch a layer of skin off Shay’s back. The power rush faded, leaving her mentally tired but physically energized.

Shay turned to say something to Rory when there was a muffled scream, then a gurgling sound. Spinning around, she saw Laurie Bell on the ground, her bloody hand clutched to her throat. Kian casually flicked the blood off his clawed hand, his face impassive.

Her mouth gaped. That wasn’t part of the plan. Shay glanced at Rory. “Did you know he was going to do that?”

He smiled grimly. “It appears Kian felt it necessary to inflict a bit of justice of his own.”

“Did he kill her?” Shay asked, prepared to be pissed.

“No, she lives.” He watched Laurie Bell continue to bleed out, then shrugged. “I don’t believe she’ll have much of a voice from now on.” He glanced out over the pack. “Sanders, you and Davidson escort this outcast to pack up her belongings.”

The crowd parted as the men came forward. When they reached her side, both recoiled slightly and gave Rory a look of terror-filled awe.

“What’s wrong?” someone asked.

With a cautious glance at Rory, one of them answered, “She smells human.” Then they picked her up and carted her off.

That started another round of shocked mutters. Shay mused that this day would go down in pack history, and prayed they’d never have to repeat it.

After Laurie Bell was gone, Rory turned to the rest of the pack and said, “Let’s run.”

The Sparrowhawks were slow to respond, but gradually they shook off the anger and lethargy, began to undress and shift. Once on four legs, they pranced restlessly in place, looking at Rory.

“Go ahead,” Shay told him. “They need you.”

“You wanted to go home,” he reminded her.

“We will. After…” she said.

“You too, Alex,” Kee called out as Rory shucked his clothes. “Go burn off some of that energy.”

“I won’t leave you unprotected,” Alex said.

“I’ll watch them,” Caleb said.

Kian signed,
I’ll stay as well.

“Kian said he’d stay too. Go, run. Rory needs you,” Shay said, eyes on the form of her mate. His ears were flattened, tail hanging low. “You’re the only one who understands what he’s feeling right now.”

Alex followed her gaze, then without another word of protest, cast off his jeans. His body flowed seamlessly into that of a wolf, and he loped over to join the rest of the mingled packs. Rory arched his neck and howled. Alex did the same. Then the Sparrowhawks and Ravens charged off into the woods.

So, in a replay of her first meeting with the Sparrowhawks, Shay found herself once more sitting on the mound, waiting for her four-legged lover to return. This time instead of the women of the pack, she had Kiesha, Caleb, Kian, and Nikolai keeping her company.

“You can shift now. You didn’t want to run with the packs?” Shay asked Kiesha.

Kiesha cast a wary look at the pine-strewn ground before reluctantly settling beside her cousin. “I’m still not that good at it, and Alex wants me to avoid shifting until after the babe is born.”

“Why? Does it hurt the baby?” Shay asked, placing a protective hand over her stomach.

Kiesha shook her head. “Alex doesn’t think so, but he’s not willing to take any chances either. In fact, he hesitated on allowing me to come tonight—not that I wouldn’t have come anyway—because he was concerned all the people shifting at once would force me to change as well.”

“Did it?” she asked curiously, keeping to herself that she was able to shift at will. That was something only Rory and Kian knew. She’d shocked them with her capacity to shift easily from human to wolf and back, especially since her scent still proclaimed her to be fully human. One day that ability might save her life, and Rory wanted the element of surprise on their side. Not only could she do a full shift, but both Rory and Kian were teaching her how to do a partial one as well.

Digging her hands into the soil, Shay concentrated until she felt her nails shift to claws.

“I felt the tug on my wolf—God, it still feels so strange saying ‘my wolf,’” Kiesha admitted with a laugh, “but Alex taught me how to control it.”

Shayla hadn’t felt a pull at all. Of course, she’d still been tightly linked to Rory when the pack shifted en masse, so that might have had something to do with it.

“Do you think she was the only one?” Kiesha asked Shay.

Shay glanced at the men, who stood in a group talking before answering. “I don’t know. Conor said enemies, plural, so I doubt it. What I do believe is that after what Rory did to Laurie Bell, anyone else planning to betray him will think twice.”

“And what, exactly, did Rory do? She screamed like someone was tearing her apart from the inside out,” Kiesha said.

“He bound her wolf.”

Kiesha’s brows drew together as she tried to understand what Shay was talking about. “He did what?”

“He bound her beast,” she repeated. “Locked it up so tight it can’t come out. I told Rory as punishment I wanted everything taken away from Laurie Bell that mattered to her. Rory couldn’t make her not be a shifter, so he did the next best thing. He made it so she couldn’t access her wolf,” Shay explained.

Kiesha’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

Shay glanced at Nikolai, who watched them. “Neither did Rory until Nik told him,” she said, gesturing toward the vampire, who winced at her abbreviation of his name. “I guess being older than dirt has its advantages.”

He bared his fangs at her, and Shay burst out laughing. It felt good after the tension of the last few weeks.

She turned back to Kiesha to finish her explanation. “To the Sparrowhawks, the only thing lower than an omega is a shifter who can’t shift.”

“Not just the Sparrowhawks, but all shifters,” Nikolai corrected.

“And this is something all alphas can do?” Kiesha asked.

“No,” Caleb answered. “It takes a lot of power. More power than one alpha alone can command.”

“So how…?” Kiesha asked.

The men all looked to Shayla. “Don’t look at me. I know what he did and where he got the idea to do it because I read him while our bond was wide open. I still don’t know how or why it worked.”

Nikolai sighed and came and crouched down beside them. “Because of the wolf’s bond with his pack, he’s able to link with them on the spiritual plane and gain strength when needed. A pack’s alpha also has a certain amount of control over his members’ beasts.”

“Like the ability to force a shift when necessary,” Caleb added.

Shay remembered how Rory had forced her wolf to retreat when she hadn’t known how to change back to her human form.

“Yes, exactly. The reverse is also true. Just as an alpha can force a change, he can also stop a change,” Nikolai continued. “But the effect is usually temporary.”

“Most alphas only use this ability to help omegas learn how to control their beast in situations where it would be dangerous for them to shift,” Caleb said.

“So what Rory did to Laurie Bell, binding her beast like he did, is only temporary? It won’t last?” Kiesha asked.

Nikolai shrugged. “It’s difficult to say. It all depends on how strong the woman’s beast is and how determined to break loose. Right now she’s sense blind. Her wolf is there, but it can’t connect with her. It’s like being in a concrete box with no opening. The woman will still have better vision, hearing, and sight, and faster reflexes than the average human, but she won’t be able to tap into the strength of her beast. And she won’t be able to shift into her four-legged form.”

“She looked down on Rory’s mother all those years for being an omega, and now she’s less, and outcast to boot,” Shay stated with grim satisfaction. It wouldn’t make up for all the damage the woman had caused, but it was a start.

“Thank you, all of you,” she said, looking at Nikolai and Caleb in particular, “for all you did tonight. Nikolai, I know you and Rory have this whole vampire/shifter stuff going on, but I appreciate you not only allowing Shannon to come here—don’t tell her I said ‘allow’—but stepping in with much-needed advice and wisdom.”

“Of course he did.” Kiesha slung her arm over Shay’s shoulder. “We’re family. Family sticks together. You know how it is: we may argue and fight with each other, but let someone else threaten us and it’s on.”

“Hmm, I always wanted a vampire as a brother,” Shay mused, eyeing the vampire thoughtfully.

Nikolai shook his head and smiled, a mere crook of the mouth. “The wolf has his hands full with you.”

“Yep, but he’s never bored,” she said with a cheeky grin.