Chapter Fifteen

It was too dark to see.

A muffled voice rattled her brain, and Timber groaned and curled in on herself. Her head was pounding.

She couldn't make out any of the words, and the edges of her vision were just charcoal-gray fog.

The headache at her right temple threatened to split her head wide open.

"How…know…doing…"

Timber winced. She could understand some of the words, but the order didn't make sense.

"You're the one who chose this location…" The voice was feminine, and angry.

Timber lifted her hand to her head. Her skin was warm and slick, and the air smelled like wet copper.

She was bleeding.

She was bleeding a lot.

Panic flared in her chest as she applied pressure to where she thought the wound was.

"You said this would be far enough away. None of that is my fault or my problem!" That voice. So familiar.

Timber tried to push up on one arm, but the pain in her head was excruciating. She was dying! She fell back down to the hard surface she was lying on, squeezing her eyes closed against the dizzying pain in her head.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The pit-pat of her blood hitting the floor by her ear concerned her.

Where was she?

Timber tried to remember anything, but her brain was so fogged.

Wreck.

She remembered Wreck.

Josiah, her mind whispered.

She remembered his name uttered from another woman's mouth. Kendra, her mind whispered.

Fuck.

She pressed her hand to the gash at her temple, and held in a scream at the pain. Was she bleeding to death?

"How was I supposed to know they had the Almost Alpha in their woods? I wasn't the one doing recon! Blame Murphy! Oh, they have the Cursed Bear? They have Bash?" Silence. "We knew they would call on Vyr, so I did my part. I took care of Vyr, and I am pulling the phoenix away. I wanted to be in the war, but you said this was more important! Now I'm babysitting some bitches who are barely alive. Don't give me that bullshit about innocents. The human is with the phoenix! She's with the Fastlanders!"

There was a pause, and then, "Screw you, Rook. You're the one wanting to be King. If you want the Pride, you have to make the hard decisions. What do I care about some human bitch? Stop calling her an innocent. She's the mate of Wreck Itall. She ain't innocent. I'm one of the best lionesses you have for war, and you sidelined me for this bullshit. Now you're getting me in trouble for what? For knocking her out? What did you expect me to do? Ask her nicely if I could abduct her? You know, you're real high and mighty right now, sitting back, ordering everyone to do what you want like we're your little puppets, but who is the one who got Riyah? Who is the one who grabbed Wreck's mate? Who's the one pulling the fire-starters away from Damon's territory so the allies I got for you can do your dirty work? A little fuckin' gratitude, Rook. I am the most valuable player here. Remove your orders, and let me join in the war. I want to be the one to kill Silver for you. I have Holland blood in me. I will earn my rank and avenge our people for what that bitch did to you. She made you look weak, but I can help make our Pride strong again. Remove the orders. Let me fight."

There was silence, and then, "Yeah, well I couldn't get close enough to Clara, or I would've gotten her too! If Vyr comes for Riyah, which he will, Damon will follow his son. And how the hell did they have such a heads-up we were coming? Why are they all camped out in Fastlander woods? Why is Vyr in the mountains at all?" She was yelling now, and her voice held the grit of someone who wasn't human. "This was just supposed to be the Fastlanders, and now they have too many weapons. You need me out there."

The blood drained from Timber's face as she listened, leaving a cold sensation in her cheeks. This woman, this shifter—Kendra, or whatever her name was—was pulling the fire-starters out of the mountains? She'd taken her to get to Wreck? She remembered Kendra coming up to her window when she was in her truck and asking if she was all right, but then…nothing. She'd knocked her out?

Wreck. They were pulling Wreck off something. War. Kendra had talked about the war, and she'd said Holland. Her head hurt so bad, and all her thoughts were blurred and jumbled. Think!

Damon was the blue dragon. Think . Vyr was his son. He was the red dragon. Damon had brought him in for…for…war. Lions. The Holland Pride? The war was here? And she was being used as bait to drag Wreck away from the mountains. She was thinking clearer now.

"Psst."

Timber startled hard. She wasn't alone in the dark. She wasn't alone here in this room!

"Who's there?" she whispered shakily. The woman in the other room was still yelling.

"I'm Riyah."

"Riyah, mate of the red dragon?" she whispered through her terror.

"Yes."

Vyr's mate was here in the dark with her.

"Are you okay?" Timber asked on a breath, hoping Riyah could hear her over the sound of Kendra yelling.

"She's given me something. Some kind of shifter suppressant. I can't Change, I've tried."

"What are you?"

"Polar bear, and witch. I have neither right now, and I'm bleeding." There was fear in her voice. "I'm not healing. Whatever she gave me is powerful."

Shit. Timber whispered, "It's going to be okay. Where are you?"

"There's a wall at my back. Follow my voice."

Timber gritted her teeth against the pain as she pulled herself toward the voice.

Kendra, or whatever her real name was, had collected the hearts of some of the monsters of Damon's Mountains. She'd stolen Riyah and Timber.

When Timber reached her, Riyah's hand gripped hers hard, and she dragged her closer. In the dark, Timber felt along her face, her shoulders. Riyah guided her hand to her stomach.

It was warm and wet. Too warm, and too wet.

"I fought. She cut me."

Shhhhit.

Timber peeled her shirt from her body, then pressed it against Riyah's stomach. The agony in her head was easier to ignore when she had someone to take care of.

"My boot," Riyah whispered. "The second she gets that King to lift the order he's put on her, she's going to kill us. There is a knife in my boot."

"A knife is not enough."

"You have to try," Riyah said under her breath. "We don't quit."

"No, I mean, one blade isn't enough against her. She's a lioness. She has teeth and claws." God, she was so scared. She couldn't stop shaking.

Riyah was holding onto her wrist so hard, and she was so still. "What can I do?" Riyah asked.

Her mind racing, Timber blurted out, "Turn me. Maybe I can keep us safe if you Turn me."

The words that had left her mouth were shocking. She should be ashamed of them, right? Asking a stranger-shifter to Turn her? But Riyah was bad off, and Timber knew her limits as a human. That lioness in the other room would have them dead in minutes, and what could she really do with a knife? Not as much damage as she could do with teeth and claws.

"Give me your arm," Riyah whispered brokenly. "I need your wrist. The veins there will make it faster."

Shaking like a leaf, Timber gave her wrist to the woman in the dark. The woman she'd never seen. The woman she might not ever see if she didn't keep them safe from whatever was happening.

"Tell Wreck I'm sorry," Riyah choked out, and then pain seared through Timber's arm as her skin was ripped into.

A burning sensation boiled through her blood from her wrist upward, and Timber gritted her teeth against the searing agony of her body ripping in two.

The door behind them opened, and a stream of light illuminated the room.

Timber's vision shook, and blurred, as the silhouette of Kendra was stark against the blinding light behind her. She still wore the high heels she'd worn to the counseling session earlier.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, approaching. She had a gun in her hand. A gun? She was a lioness. The gun seemed cowardly.

It made Timber angry.

She had all these weapons, but she wanted to kill Timber and Riyah with a gun? From a distance? After she'd hurt them and stolen them?

A long, low rumbling sound emanated from Timber's chest. Something big and dark was growing within her. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe!

"What did you do?" Kendra asked, lifting the gun to Riyah's face.

Timber looked behind her, and saw Riyah for the first time. There was too much blood, but she was smiling as her nostrils flared with her labored breath. "I avenged us," Riyah gritted out as a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and down her temple.

She didn't like that gun aimed at Riyah, and a long warning snarl filled the room.

…and as the gunshot went off, Timber let the animal eat her alive.