Carnal Secrets (43 page)

Eli laughed and then turned his attention to her. “It’s good to finally meet you, Shaya.” He cocked his head, studying her for a minute with an analytical gaze. Then he nodded, apparently satisfied about something. “Derren’s right. You’ll make a good Alpha female.”

Shaya frowned. “You don’t even know me.”

“Ah, but I know things about you. You evaded Nick for a long time, so you’re clearly smart. A number of the wolves here went all the way to Arizona to check on you and refused to leave until they could be sure you’re safe, which means you’re good at earning loyalty, and that says a lot about a person. Also, Derren tells me you insist on being at Nick’s side through all this, which proves that you’re brave and believe in protecting those who matter to you. If you’re Nick’s mate, you must be as strong as he is. Not physically, no, but being physically strong doesn’t make someone Alpha material. It’s a good trait to have, but that’s not the be-all and end-all.”

Shaya looked up at her mate. “I like your brother.” Eli gave her a winning smile.

Nick snorted. “Don’t let that smile fool you, baby. He’s a ruthless fucker.”

Shaya could believe that. Eli was almost as dominant as Nick, but he wore that dominance in a very subtle way—much like Dominic. Eli’s wolf, however, wasn’t so subtle. Shaya’s wolf could easily sense his wolf, sense his curiosity and edginess.

Eli’s expression suddenly turned serious. “Derren updated me on what’s been happening. In my opinion, it won’t matter what the verdict is tomorrow morning. The extremists will attack in any case.”

“But we’ll be ready for that,” announced Taryn. The others nodded.

“Ready and waiting,” rumbled Trey.

The next morning, the court hearing was held to hear the case put forward by the human extremists. And every shifter worldwide celebrated as the case was dismissed.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I
t was eleven thirty in the evening when the humans finally came. Shaya and the others were all in position, planted in various spots—waiting, silent and still. While many were in their wolf form in the woods, Shaya was positioned on her stomach on a thick branch of a tall tree, allowing her to oversee whatever would come next. Despite the anxiety running through her body and mind, her hands were steady as she held the rifle. It felt right in her grip, made her remember the times her dad had taken her hunting when she was younger. For long periods of time, they would lie still as she was doing now, their senses on high alert. As such, this wasn’t unfamiliar, but still her wolf wasn’t so steady; she was too frightened for her mate’s safety.

Most of the females, Kent, and, of course, Kye had remained in the caves, guarded by Caleb, Gabe, Rhett, and Cam. As such, there was a total of eighteen wolves—including Shaya—taking cover in what would soon be a battlefield: Nick, Derren, Eli, Taryn, Trey, Dante, Jaime, Roni, Tao, Trick, Marcus, Ryan, Dominic, Bracken, Jesse, Zander, and Amber.

It wasn’t long before, one by one, the humans began to enter through the gap that Tao had deliberately made in the perimeter fence. Forty-six humans in total. The fact that they were all dressed in black made Shaya roll her eyes. Dark clothes worked well as camouflage, but black would make a person easier to see, as true black looked unnatural, outlining a person’s silhouette. Even from her distance one hundred yards away, she could clearly see with her shifter-heightened vision that the humans were well armed with guns and knives. It wasn’t unexpected, but it was still alarming.

Knowing his stature and posture well, she could easily spot Logan co-leading the group with another figure as they slowly and cautiously began to move. Could that be the shifter responsible for the creation of the game preserve? Quite possibly. Just the idea had her wolf growling.

Shaya’s advanced hearing barely picked up much noise from them, but she guessed they were all quite experienced at going unseen and unheard if they had been enjoying themselves in the game preserve. Instantly, the images she had seen on the news flashed in her mind, making her sick to her stomach. Having a perfect view of Logan and his co-leader, it was so tempting to just shoot them both there and then. But that wasn’t the plan.

The entire day in the caves had been spent going over the plan. It was simple. They had to lure the humans far inside the expansive territory, which served two purposes. One, it meant Tao could seal up the opening in the fence, thus trapping the humans inside. Two, everyone felt the humans deserved to be tracked and played with, just as they had done to the shifters in the game preserve. Only once the humans were deep in pack territory would the shifters all begin to attack. When images of the mutilated child shifters once again flashed before her, Shaya felt a surge of anger. Yeah, the bastards had this coming.

As the humans followed the trail Trey had left, Shaya thought they would undoubtedly believe they were getting closer and closer to the entrance of the caves. In reality, they were being led farther and farther into the woods. Shaya watched as, without the humans’ knowledge, their hunters began to move into place until the large group was loosely circled as they walked, giving them no avenues of escape when the attack finally began.

It wasn’t until the humans reached one of the many shallow lakes that the shifters made any moves. The three humans at the rear of the group were targeted first. There was no loud attack. Ryan, Dante, and Jaime—all in their human form—each stepped out from behind a tree and swiftly snatched a human and yanked them aside. Shaya knew exactly what they had done in the shadows: snapped the humans’ necks instantly, taking them out of the equation.

Totally oblivious, the rest of the group continued onward. A few seconds later, Dante, Jaime, and Ryan repeated the move. They did it again and again, picking off the humans. They might have done it again, but then one of the group stepped onto a bear trap; his pain-filled cry echoed throughout the forest as the two jaws clamped around his foot and he dropped to the ground. Several humans gathered around him.

Panicked, one human crouched beside him. “Shit, what happened?”

“A bear trap.” Logan.

“I can’t get it off!”

Logan again: “Of course you can’t. You’re not supposed to be able to. Be careful, there’ll be more around.”

“Do you think they have the place rigged?” one asked him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the closer we get, the more traps there are. And not just bear traps.”

“We better get moving,” said the co-leader. His voice didn’t sound at all familiar. “The wolves will have heard him screaming. They’ll come out here to look around.”

Logan nodded his agreement. “Two of you help him up and support him as he walks. Filcher, any movement back there? Filcher? Filcher?”

“He’s not there,” another human said. “Shit, neither is Gavin or—”

“We’re being picked off,” drawled the co-leader.

“We’re being hunted,” corrected Logan. His voice held a telling tremor. “That means they know exactly where we are. Stay close together.” Two of the group helped support the injured human as they all slowly continued ahead through the trees, constantly turning as they walked to cover every angle.

Twenty seconds or so later, another human triggered a thin trip wire that sent a spiked boulder swinging at his head. Grunting, he fell to the ground, crying out and cursing and bleeding like crazy.
Shit, that had to have hurt
. When the spiked boulder continued swinging and looked about to hit another human, the male dove out of the way…and stepped into another bear trap. While a few of the large group went to tend to the injured, everyone else seemed to freeze, wary of moving.

Whereas the group had before seemed nervous but confident, they were now cautious and fearful—just like the wolves wanted. It wasn’t until right then, when the group was confused and disoriented, that the ambush began. There was gunfire, there was growling, there was screaming, there was yelling as the wolves came at the group from all directions. It was also the go-ahead for Shaya to act. Aiming for those who she judged the biggest threats and of whom she had a clear view, Shaya fired one bullet after another, gratified down to her gut as she disabled the bastards.

One of those bullets hit her target’s arm rather than his heart, and he dropped his gun as he flinched with the pain. When Nick’s wolf turned his attention to him, the human turned and ran in what could only be described as a blind panic. He suddenly screeched in pain and fell to the ground, having stepped on one of the barbed-spike plates that were planted around. Nick dived on him, closing his jaw around the asshole’s throat.

The wolves were all merciless in their assault. Trey’s wolf had gone feral by this point and was tearing into whatever human was near him. Although he’d taken a bullet to the leg, it wasn’t stopping him—not in that state. Most likely disturbed about his injury, Taryn’s wolf was staying near her mate as she pounced on the humans with equal vigor.

Now in their wolf form, Jaime and Ryan were fighting alongside Dante’s injured yet relentless wolf, who kept bumping Jaime out of harm’s way—all instinct at that moment. Jesse, Bracken, and Zander weren’t far away, attacking with a rage that spoke of the pain of losing loved ones to these corrupted humans.

When Tao and Trick’s wolves lunged at two now weaponless humans, they instantly turned and sprinted away…and fell right into a deep pit in the ground onto a cushion of spikes.
Ouch
. Similarly, Eli’s and Amber’s wolves chased another duo of humans into a second deep pit that was also cushioned by spikes.

One human was running backward and simultaneously firing in every direction. Had he been looking ahead of him, he might have seen the heavy rock that was supported by several branches, tilted on an angle. The second the human’s foot hit the branch that served as a trigger, the rock collided into him, crushing him. Dominic’s wolf then delivered a killing bite to his throat.

Meanwhile, Shaya continued trying to pick off or, at the very least, severely injure the remaining humans. Unfortunately, two of those remaining were Logan and the co-leader, who were being protected by the others. Clearly determined to reach the two sick bastards, Nick’s wolf was targeting their protectors. Roni’s, Derren’s, and Marcus’s wolves were helping him, but the circle of protection was still strong.

Shaya didn’t have a good angle on the remaining humans and it was pissing her the hell off. She thought about climbing down from the tree and moving to a spot that would provide her with a better shot, but she had promised Nick that she wouldn’t step any closer into the war zone, and she’d keep that promise. If she didn’t, it would distract him, and that would risk him being seriously hurt.

Watching as he suddenly stopped still, she frowned. His head turned her way, and she felt his confusion and anxiety. Then there was some kind of explosion. She could only guess that one of the humans had some kind of grenade—at that moment, the
who
,
what
,
why
,
when
, and
how
wasn’t important; what was important was that the force had sent Nick, Roni, and Derren zooming through the air. Roni crashed into a tree, Derren flew out of her view, and Nick hit the ground hard—so hard that she
felt
as blackness overcame him. Fuck, he’d passed out.

Everything inside Shaya screamed at the sight of him lying there like that, unconscious and vulnerable. Her wolf froze in panic, howling. Drowning in emotions she couldn’t even understand right then, Shaya ignored reason and rationality as instinct took over; she climbed down and raced through the maze of trees. With only Nick’s safety on her mind, she hadn’t registered the presence of three unfamiliar scents until an arm looped around her waist, a hand was clamped over her mouth, and the gun was yanked from her hand.
Shit!

She struggled like crazy, hitting and head-butting and scratching, but her attacker—a shifter, she sensed—didn’t release her. From the corner of her eye, she saw movement: Amber’s wolf was finishing off a fleeing human. She caught sight of Shaya and froze in what was most likely surprise. Shaya appealed to her with her eyes, hoping that for just once, Amber would do what was right instead of what suited her.

She didn’t.

The bitch loped away, leaving Shaya at the mercy of God-knew-who. Then the butt of her gun smacked into her head, and everything went dark.

“For God’s sake, shift! Now, Nick! I can’t heal you until you shift!”

It was not the voice of the Alpha female that woke the gray wolf. It was the feel of his mate’s fear, her anger, her determination to be free of the danger she was in. Danger. He had
known
the danger was coming for her, had felt it just before the blackness came.

There was the sound of the Alpha female’s voice again. But the gray wolf had no interest in her. His only concern was his mate. She needed him, and he would not, could not, ignore that. He tried jumping to his feet. His leg crumpled beneath him. He yelped with pain, unable to rise. He could feel Nick’s panic, knew that Nick wanted dominance right then. Accepting for his mate’s sake that Nick was the strongest at that moment, the wolf backed down.