Wild Nights (19 page)

the mountainside.

Lenox Carter would beg for mercy if he dared defy her.

Wild Nights

127

Chapter Eleven

“We have a few coming up the drive behind us,” Riley murmured.

Aya twisted in the seat and tried to see into the black shadows of

the forest. A flash of light here, another there. She stretched out her

wolf senses, seeking a familiar scent beyond her open window, or the

prodding zing of another along the telepathic link. Everything was

silent and clean, all except for the whisper along her spine assuring

her that they were being watched.

Aya fell back into the seat and cast a glance toward Riley. Well,

he
was being watched. The stoic expression on his face did not reveal

any thoughts that might have been plaguing his mind. He kept his

eyes on the dirt path ahead, expertly guiding the large truck up the

mountainside.

As the trees thinned toward the top of the hill, the soft yellow

glow of lights stretched from the windows of the large house. Riley

tapped the accelerator a bit more and the engine rumbled. He sped up

until he pulled the truck to the foot of the porch stairs.

Aya didn’t have a chance to grab the door handle before Mase

swung the door open, took her about the waist, and hauled her out of

the truck. His eyes flashed with possession and malice, trained like a

warrior on Riley. His top lip peeled back as a dangerous growl rolled

from his chest. Aya shook free of Mase’s strong arms, smoothing out

the ruffled shirt she’d changed into on their drive.

“Stop. He’s with me,” she snapped. Riley’s nostrils flared, but he

didn’t counter Mase’s warning.

“He’s a rebel, Ayasha.” Mase shoved her behind him. Just then,

she caught the potent scent of wolves along the shifting breeze. She

128

Rhea Regale

had no time to react before Riley’s door was thrown open. Three

thickly built men ripped Riley out of the driver’s seat. Four more

wolves prowled behind the three men who dragged Riley to Mase.

“Let him go! He’s with me!” She avoided Mase when he tried to

restrain her behind him. She tugged at one of the man’s hands on

Riley’s biceps, but the man snarled at her. “I’ll bite your fingers off if

I have to—”

“Ayasha, this man killed your uncle. Why would you protect

him?” Mase stepped closer, his gaze blazing and the fierce predator in

him gleaming on the surface of his face. Aya pressed her back to

Riley’s front and spread her arms. “You wouldn’t tell me where

Lenox is over the phone. The man would never leave your side unless

something’s happened to him.” Mase jabbed a finger at Riley, who,

thus far, had remained quiet. Now, he barked. “What did you do to

him, Riley?”

“He did nothing,” Aya snapped. Her blood rushed to her head,

throbbing in frustration. Her heart hammered against her chest, and

the walls of her control were rapidly cracking. “Riley tried to save

Lenox, and he saved me. Mase, Lenox is in trouble and we need your

help. Riley and I can’t fight against Eliza’s pack alone. I don’t want

anything to happen to Lenox. I don’t.”

“I don’t trust you with a fucking bone, Riley, let alone with
our

white and
our
alpha,” Mase growled. Muscles strained in Riley. She

could feel them coil and tighten against her back. Heat pulsed off his

bare chest. His hard breaths hit the top of her head sharply. “I want to

know what happened to Lenox. If he ends up dead, I vow to the spirits

I will shred your hide and burn it.”

“Lenox believes Eliza is one of Laela’s sisters. She’s been part of

my pack for a year and a half now. Earlier tonight, she attacked the

males who showed unwavering loyalty to me, killing every one of

them. I never suspected my pack had been infiltrated by hers. I

reached Maddock, one of my strongest, and learned of Eliza’s true

identity and motive. While I was gone, she must’ve ordered the pack

Wild Nights

129

to ambush Lenox and Aya,” Riley explained. Aya turned to him.

Something softened in his amber eyes when he looked down at her.

“Aya called for me when Lenox was tranqed. I got there as fast as I

could, but more wolves came. I couldn’t carry Lenox and keep Aya

safe.”

“We had no choice but to leave Lenox behind or we’d all be

dead,” Aya said. She stepped up to Mase and grabbed his shoulders.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears, her heart twisted and tore. “I don’t

want anything to happen to him, Mase. We need help.”

“You should’ve sacrificed yourself for him,” Mase said to Riley.

“If I sacrificed myself for him, both of us would end up helpless

and
our
white here might have been killed. I did what I thought was

right
,” Riley groaned. The defensive tone he took struck a chord in

Aya’s chest. “And if the Lenox I knew years ago is the same as the

Lenox today, he would not have been happy if I left Aya to fend for

herself at his expense.”

Mase’s features softened, if only slightly. His shoulders

straightened from his offensive hunch. After a long, tenuous minute

when the air thickened enough to be chewed on, he nodded once. The

men holding Riley stepped away, and he shook out his arms. Mase

held out his hand for Aya, but Riley’s arms whipped around her,

keeping her close to him. There was no doubting the underlying

warning in his embrace. She belonged to him, and no man, other than

Lenox, would have a go at her.

“Isn’t this interesting. Big bad wolf has a heart somewhere in that

body,” Mase grumbled. “Very well. Get inside. The more time we

spend out here, the more time your pack has with our leader.”

Aya slipped her fingers between Riley’s and led him up the stairs

in Mase’s path. Mase paused at the top and glanced back at her.

“My wife will settle you into an open room. You’ll have no part in

our recovery, do you understand?” he asked, though the question

implied a demand. Aya shrugged. There was no point in arguing.

She’d never sit around and wait for them to find Lenox. She’d be part

130

Rhea Regale

of that team whether they liked it or not.

And if that meant she’d have to lie and sneak around, then that’s

what she’d do. After all, Riley was right. She loved Lenox, and she

wasn’t about to let some rabid wolf take him away from her.

Now, if only Riley realized her feeling toward him echoed those

she had for Lenox.

* * * *

The burning yanked him from the dark waters of his

subconscious.

Lenox hissed. More pain speared down from his shoulders and

wrists, settling in his gut. Shaking the haze from his mind and the

clouds from his vision, he looked up. His wrists were shackled above

his head with fortified iron cuffs held by a chain that was slung over a

thick tree branch. The metal bit deep into his flesh. Blood streamed

down strained muscles that bulged from his forearms and biceps. The

searing burn that woke him didn’t come from his arms.

He slowly lowered his throbbing vision to the gashes crisscrossing

his chest and stomach. A thin sheen of pink and red covered his skin

as the wounds continued to spill miniscule amounts of blood. His legs

bore the tight residue of dried blood that had trickled past his hips and

caked into the short hairs.

Worst of all, his wounds had not reached an advanced stage of

healing. Judging by the position of the moon in the sky and the subtle

warming in the air around him, dawn was not far off, which meant he

had been out for a few hours. His wounds should have stopped

bleeding by now.

Unless…

“You’re awake. Wonderful.”

The sensual female purr drew his attention away from the mess of

wounds. His shoulders stiffened, but the slightest movement of his

body unfurled a new wave of agony. Fresh blood squeezed from the

Wild Nights

131

deep gashes, creating new trails down his front. He swallowed the

pain and forced himself to appear as calm as ever.

The woman stepped out from behind the rocks in front of him.

She wore nothing but a feral smile and a mad gleam in her eyes.

Something in her hand glinted as she crossed a ray of waning

moonlight. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The wolf in

him growled.

His wounds were etched by silver, most likely the same silver

claw this woman wore on her index finger.

“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced before you

kidnapped my man and converted him into a white-wolf-loving

pansy.” She lifted her hand and the sharp tip of the nail caught under

his chin.

Nox drew back his upper lip in a sneer. “I’m well aware of who

you are, Eliza. I can smell Laela’s blood in your veins.” He lifted his

chin off the point and snorted. “Get that thing away from me.”

“I’ve always had a secret weakness for silver. Haven’t you?” The

menacing chuckle that touched his ears ignited the predator inside

him. His wolf stirred restlessly, waiting for the moment he willingly

handed himself over to his spiritual being. She scraped the weapon

along his cheek. “No?”

Change topic.
Nox held the woman’s dark gaze as he waited for

the claw to come closer to his mouth. She slowly slid her tongue

along her upper lip. He curled his fingers around the chains above his

cuffs, relieving some of the pressure from his shoulders.

The adornment reached the corner of his mouth. He snapped his

teeth, wrenching the weapon off of Eliza’s fingertip. He whipped his

head and sent the object flying into the forest.

Something solid smacked the back of his knees. Heat washed up

to his head, making him dizzy as he dangled by his wrists. Darkness

exploded behind his eyes with the next crack against his calves, and

he howled, unable to suppress the evidence of his pain. Flesh ripped

over his wrists. Warm liquid slid down his arms in new rivulets.

132

Rhea Regale

Unconsciousness hovered just beyond his mind.

And his wolf snarled long and deep, waiting…waiting…

“Enough, Kyle,” Eliza said. Her eerily calm tone would have

fueled his inner rage had his pain not taken over in violent spasms.

His toes dragged over the ground as his body swayed from the branch,

dead leaves, twigs, and pebbles scraping his flesh.

Eliza grabbed his chin and lifted his hanging head. He blinked

several times, trying to focus on the woman who held him captive,

leaving him to wonder in the black sea of agony what had happened

to Aya and Riley. His only hope was that his assumptions that Riley

was coming around to them were correct and he had gotten Aya to

safety.

Nothing could happen to their precious mate. Nothing.

“Every time you do something naughty, you’ll be punished. I

won’t stand to have a disobedient dog in my pack,” Eliza cooed. She

nuzzled her nose against his cheek, and the very nearness of the beast

sent chills down his spine. “We want the same thing, Lenox, but for

different reasons. You want to fuck the white. I want to fucking
kill

the white.” Her tongue flicked out, and she licked him from jaw to

temple. “Only one of us can get what we want, and I hold the upper

hand. You fail to obey me and I’ll be sure you’re begging for me to

kill you. Right after I skin that fragile little creature of yours.”

Nox felt a stab in his hip. Warmth spread throughout his aching

body. He couldn’t grasp what was happening until the hovering

darkness spilled over his mind and he drifted off.

* * * *

Twenty-five years had passed since Riley last sat in Mase’s

presence, and it didn’t help that over a dozen other men had

converged in the elegantly decorated living room. No one gazed

around to admire the lush watercolors or the antique accents that

donned the paneled walls. No one seemed to notice the gold tray on

Wild Nights

133

the coffee table that held an array of petite snacks for the guests, or

the pitcher of fresh-brewed iced tea.

An hour after his unwelcome arrival, the small group that went

out in search of a lead to Lenox’s whereabouts had returned emptyhanded.

Now he was the main focus of this skeptical pack. Every pair of

eyes trained on him until he felt like a fucking guinea pig in a lab with

laser beams shooting into him from every direction. In a sense, he

didn’t blame them for their cautious behavior. He had proved no

alliance toward them up until this point. Had it not been for Ayasha,

he might very well still be treading the wrong path. A path filled with

mindless destruction and senseless killing.

Riley’s heart thumped at the thought, but he quickly swallowed

the shame that fought to color his face red and bring his gaze to the

floor at his feet. Now definitely wasn’t the time to show weakness,

especially in the midst of this simmering pack.

He needed to return Lenox, alive. The drive up to Mase’s bedand-breakfast gave him time to clarify one crucial thing: Lenox never