Tempting the Tiger (17 page)

His roar rocked through the corridor as he hit it at a run. He could hear Tah behind him, yelling his name. Finn stepped out, and Reno could see his mouth moving, but nothing was getting through except the scent of his mate and her terror. He threw his arm out, and Finn went flying. Then he was yanking a door from its hinges and falling to his knees in front of Amia.

She’d huddled into herself, knees to chest as she rocked and mumbled.

“Amia.”

He was afraid to touch her. Her head lifted at his voice, and he growled at the sight of her tear-ravaged face. Then his breath stopped at her reaction. She cowered from him, recoiling from the hand he held out toward her. His mate. Rejecting him.

“Betrayed,” she whispered. “Betrayed me. Not safe. Never safe. Can’t trust anyone.”

He reached for her and pulled her into his lap as she fought and screamed, locking his arms around her as terror held her firmly in its grasp. He could hear Tah and Finn but didn’t care about anything or anyone but Amia. His heart was breaking as her words penetrated his brain.

“Let me go. Let me go,” she yelled, trying to beat at him. “I’ll be good. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll be good. I promise. Please, don’t lock me in again. Please.”

Her cries wounded man and beast. He shouldn’t have left her. He should have protected her better. He’d promised her she would always be safe with him. He’d promised and failed. Holding her close, he could only croon to her, uncaring of the tears spilling down his face.

He felt Tah’s touch on his shoulder and looked up at his friend with wounded eyes. The mighty roar of a lion echoed around them as Tah got a look at his face. Was he threatening Amia even now? He snarled, ready to defend her to the death if need be, even against Tah. The thought nearly broke him in two, and pain unlike any he’d ever felt before almost crippled him. Then he felt Amia soften in his arms. The tension left as she blinked, slowly coming out of the stupor of terror that had held her so firmly.

“Reno?” She whispered his name, one soft hand coming up to brush his tears. She looked confused and unsure.

“I’m here,” he assured her, holding her even closer. “I’m right here, baby.”

“I thought you left me. I thought I was alone.” She shuddered in his arms, and another growl left him.

“Never.”

“Don’t leave me,” she begged, clutching him, her nails digging deep into his biceps and piercing his skin. “Please don’t let them take me again.”

Gone was the woman who’d told him to let her go, who begged him to just let her walk away. He knew she’d be back, when this terror faded and Amia regained control. When she was able to push the fear behind her, she would demand he let her go. He only hoped she would forgive him for letting this happen.

“I’ll never leave you. No one’s going to take you from me again.”

His gaze met Tah’s, and he knew he’d made his choice. He loved Tah. Abby and the baby. Logan. All of them. But if he was forced to choose, it would be Amia he walked away with.

“This is on me,” Tah said, locking his gaze on Reno’s. “My order. My blame. I am the only one responsible for what happened here.”

Tah crouched down beside them and put his hand on Reno’s shoulder. Reno was torn apart with the need to defend his mate while being understanding of his alpha. It was a position no man should ever find himself in. Tah moved his other hand toward Amia and softly smoothed hair back from her face. She glanced up and met Tah’s gaze, her eyes widening as she leaned closer to Reno.

“You are home now,” Tah told her. “No one will ever hurt you again. That is my vow to you. I can’t undo what has been done this day, but I can give you my solemn oath it will never happen again. Not here. Not by us.”

Then Tah did something Reno never expected to see his friend do. He bowed his head to Amia, and Reno felt the ripple of that one act straight to his soul. His mate had just been welcomed to the pride.

A single tear spilled down her cheek as she stared at Tah with awe.

“Amia?” Reno asked, wiping it slowly away with is thumb.

“He glows,” she whispered, never taking her eyes off of Tah.

Reno remembered her whispering the same words when she’d first seen Tah on the steps. He’d thought maybe it was the sun playing tricks on her. But there were only shadows down here.

“Even brighter than you. Brighter than any I’ve ever seen. He glows as if the sun itself is inside him.”

She blinked at him, smiled and closed her eyes, passing out and leaving Reno staring at Tah, both of them confused. It was time to figure out what the hell this glow she saw was. What was it she saw that they didn’t?

Chapter Nine

Reno sat with Amia, refusing to leave her side while she slept in his bed. He would be there when she woke up. Finn and Murphy were staying away from him. Smart of them, but then he’d never considered them stupid. According to Tah, they’d only been following his orders, but still, Reno wanted to beat the hell out of them for the terror they’d put Amia through.

“What did the Blanes do to her?” Tah asked.

Reno hadn’t been able to pull Amia’s shirt down fast enough from where it had lifted as he’d carried her. So Tah had seen the raised scars that marred the perfect flesh of her stomach. Tah had seen and been horrified by it. Even now, Reno could hear the disbelief in Tah’s voice.

“I’m not sure,” Reno said. “Her body is a living testament to her strong will and sense of survival. She hasn’t said much about it, but I know the Blanes have left scars far worse than the ones on her skin. I’ve watched her so deep in a nightmare it makes me ache for her.”

“Anything like what she went through downstairs?”

Reno nodded, unable to speak about what had happened yet, about what his friends, his family had put her through.

“I’m sorry,” Tah said for the hundredth time. “When Finn told me what she said…”

“Don’t,” Reno said. “You did what you thought you needed to.” And Reno wanted to tear him apart for it. Tah, Finn and Murphy. The beast demanded blood. But the man was in control enough to know, in their place, he would have done the same. Besides, hadn’t it been his initial intention to bring her here and demand answers?

“Christ, I’ve never seen anyone that terrified before. And her words. She’ll be a good girl. Just let her out. Jesus. What the fuck did her family do to her?”

“Everything they could to fuck with her. She hasn’t said, but I have my suspicions. Everything they did to us and then some, I’d say. I’m guessing they locked her up in some kind of chamber, at least that’s what they call it. She was taunted with missing it when we were confronted while trying to escape.”

“A fucking small chamber if her reaction to the room downstairs is anything to go by,” Tah stated wearily. “You bring your mate here, and we welcome her by showing her we can be just as sadistic as her fucked up family.”

Reno didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. Tah was right.

“I hope she can forgive me. I’d like to be her friend,” Tah said. “I know Abby will, too.”

“She told me she doesn’t make friends.” He glanced up and met Tah’s gaze. “They either end up dead or betray her. Dead or betrayed. Those are the choices she feels she has.”

Betrayed me.
The words she’d whispered when he’d reached her would haunt him for the rest of his life. She thought he’d betrayed her. It was enough to make him want to roar again, to make him want to shed blood and claim vengeance.

Tah’s phone beeped, and Reno watched as he held it up, swiping his fingers across the screen and reading something.

“Logan’s on his way back,” Tah said. “He didn’t find anything.”

“You said the signal is still coming from here?”

Tah gave a weary sigh. “It appears so. Have to wait for Logan to get back with the handheld for us to be able to pinpoint it.”

Both their gazes fell back to the bed and Amia.

“It’s not her,” Reno said. “I would bet my life on it.”

“We’re all betting our lives on it,” Tah said. “And I believe you. I don’t think she’s doing anything. Not intentionally, anyways.”

“What are you saying?”

“That maybe they’ve done something to help them track her. You said they always find her?”

“When she was begging me to let her go, she said they would find her, that they always find her.”

“I’m betting it’s not dumb luck,” Tah growled. “But damned if I can scent anything on her.”

“Me, either,” Reno admitted.

Tah looked at him closely. “Are you okay?”

Reno shrugged, not willing to spout the proverbial fine he normally would. He wasn’t fine, not by a long shot.

“Twitchy. Feels like my muscles are burning. Hard to focus. Hard to sit here when all I want to do is prowl the fucking room. I want to draw blood for what she went through.”

“I’m right here,” Tah offered, spreading his arms wide in offering. And he would to. If Reno needed a pound of flesh to be okay, Tah would give it to him. Made it damn hard to stay mad at the bastard.

Reno snorted. “I feel ripped in two between you and her. I think my beast has always known she’s my mate, even when I fought it. I wanted to mount her, bite her for God’s sake.”

“Hell, I should have realized with the teeth, the possession in your voice. I was the same way. The signs were all there, and I should have recognized them.” He shook his head. “When Finn told me her threat. Christ, all I could picture was Abby. I won’t let anything threaten my mate.”

“I can understand that,” Reno agreed.

“And you were able to keep from biting her?”

“I felt conflicted. Like that bite was how we mated.”

“I think you’ve proved otherwise,” Tah said. “Which just emphasizes how much we don’t know.” He shook his head in wonder. “You must be made of steel, my friend.”

“Why?”

“It’s hard to hold that bite back. I know,” Tah admitted.

“But I did,” Reno said. “I didn’t bite her no matter how overwhelming the urge was. I’ve been completely focused on her since she appeared. I needed to touch her, taste her, be inside her.”

“I’m the same way with Abby. I’m guessing that’s how it is with mates.”

“I knew you and Abby were like that, but I didn’t put myself in your place. From the moment I knew her last name was Blane, my head tried to convince me she couldn’t be anything more to me.”

Tah laughed at that. “There’s no fighting what’s meant to be. I’ve learned that much with everything Abby and I have been through.”

“I’m learning that. I just hope it’s not too late.”

“If she’s your mate, truly the woman who will become the other half of you, then she won’t be able to not forgive you. Trust me. Abby lets me know just how stupid I’ve been every time. She yells, throws her hands around as if she can thump me into submission with that tiny fist of hers, and lets me know in no uncertain terms just how wrong I am. Then she forgives me, because she loves me. Nothing comes between us. Nothing and no one.”

“I felt pulled in two different directions when I got here. Part of me wanted to stay with her, to not let her out of my sight.”

“And the other part?”

“Wanted to defer to you. I wanted to honor your request to speak with you immediately. I felt honor bound to follow your command.”

“Whoa,” Tah said with surprise.

“I think we have the answer to whether I’m a part of your pride or not. The pull to follow you is there inside me.”

“It was never a question for me,” Tah stated. “You’ve always been a part. Nothing changes that.”

“And the beast inside me?”

“Is just as welcome here as you are. Doesn’t matter to me what animal spirit has claimed a home within you. I’ll never turn my back on a brother.” Tah stepped to him and dropped his hand on Reno’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I have amends to make. To you and your mate.”

“You owe me nothing.”

“I owe you for everything I have. You stepped in and protected my mate when I couldn’t. You brought me back to her when nothing else could. Those are debts I can never repay. They are beyond the worth of anything I could give. But know this. Anything you need. Anything you want. If it is within my power to give, it’s yours.”

“I…” Reno was too choked up to speak, and Tah seemed to know and understand.

He gave Reno’s shoulder another squeeze then headed toward the door. “I’ll leave you with your mate. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will,” Reno said.

The door opened as Tah went to step out.

“Tah.”

“Yes?”

Reno pushed from the chair and met his friend at the door. Tah stepped forward, and they wrapped each other in a tight hug. More than friends. More than family. Brothers, soul deep.

“Thank you,” Reno said.

“You have nothing to thank me for,” Tah countered as he shifted back and met Reno’s gaze. “Anything you need. Either of you. I’m here.” And Tah stepped away, shutting the door, leaving Reno and Amia alone.

“He’s overwhelming.” Amia’s voice was soft as a whisper coming from his bed.

“Amia!” He crossed to her and sat beside her on the bed. “Are you okay? Oh, God!”

He couldn’t stop himself from gathering her close and holding her against his chest. “I’m so sorry. So sorry.”

He could feel her trembling and knew the moment she locked it all down by the way her shoulders lifted and her hands pushed against him.

“I’m fine, Reno.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze, instead bouncing that beautiful green stare all around his room. “Where am I? I must say this is a much better room that the first one you had me shown to.”

“This is my room,” Reno growled. “And I would have never shown you to that room downstairs.”

Another shudder went through her, but she clenched her hands in the covers and met his gaze head-on.

“You left me to them. They were following orders.”

“Not my orders.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” His growl filled the room. “Not my orders. Never my orders. I promised you’d be safe with me. I meant it.”

She shrugged as if his promise didn’t matter, as if he were just another in the long line of those she’d spoken of who’d betrayed her.