Chapter 29

After he'd shifted to wolf form and back, the deep gashes on Tak's shoulder fused enough for him to seal it permanently. He went into the bathroom and prepared for the painful process. In his tribe, warriors who kept battle scars rarely used liquid fire. Not shifting to heal was a show of bravery, and the elders insisted suffering was the only way to honor their ancestors. But they used liquid fire for tattoos, and Tak knew firsthand about the excruciating process.

They didn't call it liquid fire for nothing. It wasn't an actual liquid; that would be a dangerous weapon. It came in a grease form—like ointment—and it only required a small amount to do the job.

"Do it fast," he muttered, psyching himself up for it.

He gripped the basin with one hand and gritted his teeth as he smeared the liquid fire across each scar, his skin searing as the potion performed its magic. He left alone the parts of the wound that were still open. He'd have to wait for those to naturally seal before he repeated the process to make a more uniform scar.

Tak bellowed in pain, his teeth clenched in a futile attempt to keep quiet. Four claw marks ran from the back of his shoulder right over the front—one precariously close to his neck. Just an inch higher and it would have sliced his head halfway off.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door. "Are you in pain?" Lakota asked.

Tak grimaced as he wiped the residual ointment away with a rag. "What gave it away? The screams?" He glanced in the mirror at the lump on his head, which wasn't as ominous as it had been earlier that morning. The shifting helped, so he didn't bother worrying about it.

Tak couldn't braid his hair with the fire still shooting down his arm and chest, so he left it free. At least he had his own clothes, the ones he'd left behind while guarding Hope's front door. She'd washed and folded them. Damn if she wasn't the most thoughtful woman, even in times of crisis.

Tak opened the door, his white muscle shirt in hand.

Lakota glanced down at it. "Need help?"

"Are you my nurse?"

Lakota grabbed the shirt. "For the right price. Raise your good arm, Your Highness."

Tak put his good arm through the sleeve hole while Lakota looped the shirt over his head. He needed help with his right arm since his muscles were sore and it was excruciating to lift it. Another shift would do him some good, but he wanted to stay lucid for a little while and find out what was going on.

"I'm sorry I left Oklahoma without talking to you," Lakota said, straightening the shirt before stepping back. "I tried, but you're a stubborn asshole, and maybe I didn't try hard enough. I was afraid if you knew the truth about why I was there, you'd think I lied to you on purpose. Our friendship was real. You were like a brother to me. In the end, it was easier to just leave without explanation."

"Why was it so easy for you to doubt my word?"

Lakota held on to the doorjamb. "Because in my line of work, a man's word isn't good enough. Bounty hunters lose their lives for placing their trust in the wrong men. Under any other circumstances, we would have been fast friends. But I still had a job to do. I couldn't tell them you were innocent because you said so. I've got to rule out everyone and make a strong case. I insulted you under your own roof, but you walked away from our friendship without looking back long before I did. I'm telling you, man, I never intended to take advantage of the trust and kindness your tribe gave to me. I didn't know walking in what it was like behind those walls. I've been undercover before and lived with packs, but all of them were involved in criminal activities, and none of them felt like a home. It wasn't easy to leave, but what choice did I have? Your father practically shoved me down the aisle with Mel."

Tak tossed back his head and laughed. Lakota joined in, and just like that, the rift between them mended. They no longer spoke of forgiveness or blame. Tak trusted Lakota, and so did his wolf. Yes, he'd felt betrayed, but now he understood why Lakota had done what he'd done. It wasn't an apology he needed so much as finding out if the bond they shared was real. It was an unconventional way to form a friendship, but Lakota was a strong wolf whom Tak respected. Maybe one reason Tak liked him was that he could envisage a future where Lakota was his second-in-command. Tak hadn't made any concrete plans about leaving the tribe, but maybe he'd thought about it enough that it was time to give it some real consideration.

"Now that we're good, I should probably ask why you're still in town, hanging around my baby sister."

"All I wanted to do was protect her. I know you do things differently in the city, but I couldn't in good conscience leave her alone. Especially a woman inexperienced with weapons. Didn't your father teach her how to use a knife?"

"Hope had her own interests, and they didn't involve hunting deer. Besides, most of us city wolves don't need weapons. We're civilized, remember?" Lakota gripped Tak's good shoulder and led him down the hall. "Let me get you a beer."

Tak chuckled. "I should probably mention I'm a recovering alcoholic."

Lakota stopped cold and searched his eyes. "No wonder you never drank the beers I bought you. All this time I thought you were just being an asshole."

Tak winced when another streak of pain lanced through his shoulder. "If I'd told you I was an alcoholic, I would have had to tell you my story. The two go hand in hand, and I didn't want you to know."

"What story? You mean the one about you getting into the accident and the woman dying?"

Tak could scarcely breathe. "You knew?"

"Your packmates like to gossip. They didn't mention alcohol, only that you got the tattoo after the accident. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"You were the only one who didn't see me with tainted eyes. You would have treated me differently."

Lakota turned his mouth to the side, and they resumed their pace. "I had a feeling there was more to the story; the accident was mentioned in passing one night at the bar. Some men have loose lips when they drink."

"I'd like to know which man was flapping his gums about my business to outsiders."

"Outsiders?" Lakota pretended to be insulted.

Tak put his hand on Lakota's shoulder. "Before we go any further, you should know I'm in love with Hope."

Lakota's jaw set. "You better mean hope in the philosophical sense and not my baby sister."

Tak gave his shoulder a squeeze and mashed his lips together to keep from smiling. "She's no baby."

"Let me know when that shoulder of yours is healed so I can kill you."

Tak let go. "So that's all it takes for you to hate me again?"

"A good brother doesn't make it easy for a man to put a claim on his sister."

"I'm not asking your permission," Tak said matter-of-factly. "I just want you to know where I stand. Nothing's decided. She might not even choose me. I already asked her once, and she turned me down."

Lakota's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Don't look so thrilled."

"She's a smart female. Hope isn't looking for a mate, and she's not the kind of woman who would accept the first offer."

When they entered the main room, Lorenzo was pacing back and forth like a windup toy, his eyes fixed on his phone.

"Have you heard from your sister?" he asked Lakota. "Melody said she's not back."

Tak glowered. "Back from where? I thought she was at the store?"

Lakota glanced at the message before checking his own phone. He didn't seem too concerned. "Did anyone call her? Sometimes she takes long walks."

Lorenzo dialed a number. "It keeps going to voice mail." Then he looked up at Tak as if searching for an answer.

Perhaps he was wondering if Tak had a sixth sense that Hope was in danger, but Tak didn't feel anything was amiss. He adjusted his muscle shirt away from his wound and looked at Lakota, who was reading a message. "Well?"

Lakota blanched. "Austin and Jericho searched the route she would have walked and didn't find anything. The banker said she left."

"When?" Lorenzo asked.

After a pregnant pause, Lakota lifted his gaze. "An hour ago."

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?"a man roared. "Did I tell you to kidnap her? Did I?"

"You didn't say not to kidnap her," I heard Nash reply. "She waltzed out of the bank with a lumpy purse. Look at all that money."

"Yeah, look at all that money," the man parroted. I recognized the voice but couldn't place it. "Do you realize the shitstorm you just opened up?"

"I don't give a damn," Nash retorted. "You promised me more money."

"Wasn't the cash from the safe enough?"

"A drop in the bucket. If she keeps that much in the safe, just imagine how much they have in total. That's a lot of dough."

As I became more lucid, I peered through my lashes. The seat belt still held me up, and the van reeked of pizza. Through the windshield, Nash's red baseball cap came into focus first. I looked at the other man. Messy black hair, mustache… Wait a minute. The longer I stared, the more I realized it was River.

My head pounded, and a bitter taste settled in my mouth. I closed my eyes, listening to as much of the conversation as I could through the open window.

"Are you so stupid that you think she's just going to walk into the bank and close her account because you asked her to?" River said, scraping his shoe on the asphalt. "What part of discreet do you not understand?"

I chanced another look. We were parked alongside a road, no buildings or telephone poles within view.

"You need to take her back. Now, before she wakes up," River ordered. "This wasn't part of the deal."

"I'm not taking her anywhere until I get more money. I've done a lot of dirty shit for you. Wrote on their windows, delivered your note, threw my bowling ball into the store—and that was my best ball. Played delivery boy so you could pay off that Japanese woman. Is that what you did with your share of the money? You need to get a life. At least I'm not living in the woods."

"How many sedatives did you give her?"

"Same amount I put on that pizza when I broke into her apartment and robbed the safe. Look, I left that life behind a long time ago, so you better believe it's going to take a lot of money for me to put my ass on the line. And by the way, she had a wolf in one of the bedrooms, so I think I deserve a bonus."

"Same wolf you supposedly killed at the shop?"

"He came at me, so I knocked him out with a tire iron. He should be dead."

"But he's not," River pointed out. I heard him drumming his fingers on the hood of the van.

"He must have nine lives. I heard that crazy bear almost killed him."

"Maybe that's who I should have hired."

"Fuck you, River. Those scam artists are unprofessional douchebags. Hope never had a clue what I was doing. That's the way you con someone. Nobody gets hurt."

"This isn't going to work. You need to take her back before she wakes up. You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Maybe not, but if she wakes up, you're going to have Lorenzo Church to deal with, and if he becomes your problem, then that means he's my problem. I don't feel like spending my life on the run."

"You should have thought of that before."

"Goddammit, take her back!"

When I heard a skirmish, I peered through my lashes at them throwing punches. While they were distracted in a testosterone war, I unlatched my seat belt, horrified to discover that the keys weren't in the ignition.

I can't believe this!

All this time, River was the one terrorizing me into quitting the store. Not Dutch, not even the grizzly.

Tire iron. Nash mentioned a tire iron.

When the two men fell out of sight, I quickly reached beneath the seats. Still groggy, I did my best to search the immediate area behind me. A bottle of powder sat inside the open pizza box, the contents spilled carelessly. If Tak's wolf had chased Nash outside my store, Nash wouldn't have had time to reach far inside the van. It had to be around here somewhere! When my fingers touched metal behind the seat, I got a firm grip of the rod and sat up. With one end of the tool bent, I wasn't certain which was the best way to hold it.

River sprang into sight and spat out a mouthful of blood. "I should have handled everything on my own."

"Maybe you should have," Nash fired back from somewhere out of view. "I don't exactly like stalking and harassing women. I thought you partnered up with me because I had easy access to her building, but it sounds to me like you're just too chickenshit about her father to do the work yourself." Nash howled with laughter as he stood up, gripping the van to steady himself.

"You won't be laughing when Church's pack is hunting your ass down. I lived with them for a long time, and they'll skin you alive. Church won't kill you fast; he'll take his time and pour salt on your wounds. You'll beg for mercy. And do you think he'll give two shits that I'm the one who put you up to it?"

"I'm tired of delivering pizzas," Nash said, his tone flat. "I don't want to go back to burglary either. Cracking a safe is easy. But when people start hiring private investigators to track you down, it loses its appeal. If I had enough money, I could figure my shit out and find a real job. Look, I don't want to hurt her; I just want what you promised me. There's no dignity in driving a van around and groveling for tips. I make good money, but it's not enough to live on for the next few centuries."

"That's not my problem."

Nash pounded his fist against the van. "I just made it your problem! What if I sent her father a letter and told him everything?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"How much is my silence worth to you?"

"Her seat belt's off," River said, his voice quiet.

With lightning speed, I threw open the door and fled. When I put enough distance between us, I turned around, the tire iron raised high and ready to strike. "Stay back, or I'll knock your head off!"

Both men slowed their pace, River holding his hands up.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "Your friend made a wrong turn, and I'm helping him take you back home."

Was he delusional? Obviously he hadn't a clue how much I'd heard, but the least he could do was fabricate a good lie.

"You're a better liar than that, River. Remember?"

When he took a step forward, I angled my body, ready to strike.

"I never lied to you," he said.

"You're the one who convinced me that no alpha would want an inexperienced woman. I didn't come up with that all on my own, but you made me believe it was my idea. Months and months of grooming me. You said I was special. You said no one would find out, and my father wouldn't care."

"Your stupidity isn't my fault."

"You were a seasoned wolf with years of experience living in a pack. My father trusted you, and so did I."

His lip curled. "Do you think I care that your feelings are hurt?"

"Why are you doing this? Were you the one who stole my clothes and put them on my doorstep?"

"No, that was him," he said, jerking a thumb at Nash.

Nash turned to face River. "You told me to do whatever it took to humiliate or scare her. Don't act all innocent."

I scowled at Nash. "I never would have expected this from you. We've always been good to you. Lakota tips double, and I could have gotten you an apartment in our building like you wanted."

"I made that up so you'd trust me to use your bathroom. I needed to scope out the rooms and unlock a window."

I furrowed my brow. "A window?"

He flapped his arms. "You have a double deadbolt, so it was easier to fly up. Brought my tools inside a bag. I had to ride naked down the elevator since the bag was too heavy with cash for my bird to haul out. Going out the way I came would have also meant leaving your window open, and that would've narrowed down suspects to avian Shifters or Superman. You should get a better safe. That's a crap model you can open with a special magnet. Nothing personal, but a man's gotta eat." He jerked his thumb at River. "This guy paid me to do all those things. Am I sorry? Only that I didn't put enough sedatives in your pizza slice earlier so you didn't have to see this. I've incurred a lot of debt over the years paying off bounty hunters, and I'm trying to get ahead in life. You can't blame me for making a living."

"Hurting someone isn't how you make a living," I fired back.

"Not everyone has the luxury of joining a pack," River said. "Some of us have to fend for ourselves."

His words were weapons intended to inflict guilt and pain.

River branched to the right, closing in on me. "Put that down, and we'll talk. I don't want trouble any more than you do. Drugging you wasn't my idea."

"But threatening me and vandalizing the store was. Don't pretend like you have a moral compass. Did you hire that grizzly to burn down my store?"

"I had nothing to do with the fire. It seems like you're good at making enemies without my help. You see how dangerous it is for a little girl to own a business? Without a pack, you're nothing but a walking target."

"So you were just trying to show me the light?"

When I glimpsed Nash coming at me, I swung the weapon and struck him in the head. His eyes widened for a moment before he swayed and hit the ground like a slow-falling tree.

"Why the animosity?" I asked River, trying to steady my shaking hands. "Why do you hate me so much that you want to destroy my life?"

His lips thinned below his mustache. When he finally spoke, his words dripped with anger and pain. "No pack would take me in. When Lorenzo Church boots you out, people don't need to know the reason. I'm forced to live like an animal, stealing uneaten food from tables and living in the woods so I can save what little cash I have. Then I saw you opened up a business. Well, good for you," he sneered. "The Packmaster's princess can do no wrong. We were both guilty, but I took the punishment while you reaped the rewards."

"Do you think it's been easy for me to carry the guilt?"

"There you go again, talking about feelings while one of us is sleeping in a ditch between a cast of hawks and a herd of deer."

"I didn't get a free ride. Nobody gave me anything I didn't earn myself. I worked hard for this business, and I chose to become independent so I could succeed on my own. You don't need a pack to do well in life. I blamed myself for a long time, but you took advantage of a young girl who wanted to feel special. I take responsibility for the choices I made, but I've always felt bad about what happened to you. Did you ever once regret the choice you made, and not because of the struggles you've endured but because of how it might have hurt me? Your honeyed words convinced me to lie to my father and deceive him. And not just my father, but my Packmaster. Why couldn't you have waited until I left the pack to be my lover?"

"Then I wouldn't have been the first."

Lakota was right. I was just a trophy to some of these men. I knew River had never loved me, but I wanted to believe that he'd felt something for a young woman he'd spent countless hours giving special attention to. Had everything he said been a lie, all just so he could claim my virginity? Had he done that with other young women in the pack?

Believing that hurt more than anything.

In the distance, an engine roared in our direction. I stepped onto the road and away from River to get a better look at the truck gunning toward us, a mirage of heat fluttering behind it.

"Someone's coming," I said, warning him.

He stepped onto the road, forcing me to turn my back to the oncoming vehicle. "Humans don't get involved, remember?"

The truck horn blared incessantly.

River reached for the tire iron, and I swung it at him.

"You're going to get yourself run over!" he yelled.

I spun around, startled by screeching tires directly behind me. The white truck came to a hard stop. When my eyes rose from the grill to the windshield, I recognized Tak in the driver's seat. My father and Lakota sat next to him. A gunmetal-grey Camaro eased up behind them. Inside were Wheeler, Jericho, Austin, my mother…

Oh my God.

They emerged from their vehicles.

Slowly. As if to make a point that the cavalry had arrived. Every last one of those Shifters looked prepared to shed blood.

"Wait," I pleaded.

Tak didn't stop. His eyes were on the bloody tire iron in my hand.

I held my left arm in front of my father to stop him from going after River. He dragged his gaze toward me, fire burning in his eyes.

More cars appeared. Melody and members of my old pack formed a wide ring around us. I expected to see River running off, but another car stopped in the opposite direction, more men getting out.

"What right have you to take my child?" my father snarled at River.

I blocked his view before he charged. "Father, wait."

Tak approached and swept my hair back. "She's been drugged. Look at her eyes."

"Your scars," I whispered, staring at the red claw marks down his shoulder.

Tak stripped out of his tank top. "He's mine."

"Neither of you will do anything," I declared, dropping the tire iron. It clanged on the concrete and drew everyone's attention. "That man shamed me a long time ago, but he'll shame me no more. He's responsible for everything, Tak. The stolen money, the broken window, the note—he paid off that man to do his dirty work," I said, pointing at Nash. "He's offended me in the worst way by coming after my business and the people I love. I won't have you put one finger on him."

My father's lips peeled back in displeasure. "Why?"

"Because he's mine to challenge."