“Trista.” He took a deep breath and released it slowly. “There’s something between you and me. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there, and my bear is determined to keep you close. You felt it last night, didn’t you?” She didn’t want to answer that question and he didn’t seem to be looking for a reply. “No matter what you say, no matter what anyone does, you’re mine.”
That sounded way too close to a declaration of claiming for her comfort. “You can’t just say things like that.”
“You know just as much as I do about the law. Do you need the formal words?”
“You can’t just…” She shook her head, refusing to even let herself think about what he meant. Thinking about it could kindle hope and she had no room in her life for wishes and dreams.
“Amazingly enough, I can.” He stepped away. “Now, c’mon. We have things to do today.”
Yeah. They did. Without saying a word, she followed in his wake, down the hallway and through the kitchen. She turned her attention from the living room as they passed, forcing herself to breathe through her mouth so she wouldn’t scent the blood that soaked the floor.
Before long, they stepped onto the front porch, the day’s sun nearly blinding her with its brightness. She managed to thump down one step and then two before a familiar sound chilled her blood and froze her heart.
Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
The alarm on her watch repeated over and over again, reminding her that her time was up.
She was officially violating the laws of visitation.
She was officially free game to any shifter leader.
She was officially two steps from dead if the bears had any choice in the matter.
Instant awareness struck her, her senses kicking into overdrive as she evaluated her surroundings. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The fight fucked with her head and now she was in the middle of a hostile area. She prayed the Abrams brothers would abide by Keen’s wishes but this morning proved that Van’s hatred was fierce.
Trista froze on the stairs, attention flitting across the open driveway. She tilted her head back, nostrils flaring as she brought the area’s scents into her lungs. She couldn’t shift, but she still had many of the animal’s abilities. Bears—lots of them—but what did she expect in Grayslake. She identified Keen’s and discarded it. Then there was Ty and Van’s followed by Mia’s. She didn’t think they’d try anything, not with the stress between the brothers.
Then there was… Reid.
“Trista?” Keen stood below her, his brow furrowed and head tilted in question.
“We have to—”
“Stay exactly where you are.” Reid’s gravelly voice rolled over her, his words followed by the heavy thump of his booted feet on the aged wood porch.
The threat wouldn’t come from the bears, then. It was the wolf she had to worry about.
Slowly, he came into view and she found him wearing his usual uniform of sorts. Black leather boots, dark jeans, black shirt, leather jacket. On the average male, people would assume he was trying too hard to appear menacing. Reid would scare the hell out of people even if he was nude. Clothes didn’t do a damn thing but hide the ugly inside him.
A vibrating growl split the air between her and Reid and it got her into motion, had her stumbling down the remaining steps. She fell into Keen’s arms and he immediately shoved her behind his back, hiding her from the Alpha’s view.
It wouldn’t do anything. It sure as hell wasn’t going to save her from what was to come. He’d be violating the laws he held so dear if he kept her from Reid.
Still, the wolf approached, his steps measured and slow. She counted them as he tromped down the porch stairs, booted feet traveling over the gravel driveway until he stopped before Keen.
“Back off,
wolf
.” Fur once again coated Keen’s arms.
Staring at his back, she cursed herself for being a coward, for depending on the male before her to protect her from her own stupidity. She should have fought harder to be left alone, should have demanded he drop her at the hotel last night. Instead, she allowed him to drag her to the clan den. To her death if Reid had his way.
“Gladly,
bear
. Just as soon as you hand over Ms. Scott.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you.” Keen’s growls intensified.
“Hmm…” The sound was smug and condescending. “That’s fine.” Reid shrugged. “I brought her opponent with me anyway. Come along, Ms. Scott. I’ve finally caught you violating the law which means—as the Alpha of a pack—I can demand justice for the infraction. We can finish this. Let’s go on the grass so we don’t stain the Itan’s white gravel while you die.”
Trista didn’t have to look toward the side yard to know what she’d find, that he had wolves lurking in wait.
The purge that made hyenas the bears’ enemies may have only happened seven months ago but the hatred that lingered between Reid and her family had been going on for years. The wolf was constantly searching for a way to end her and now he had his opportunity.
Her mother’s voice drifted across Trista’s mind, the explanation so simple even a child could understand the words. When she was five, she
had
understood the law. Unfortunately, one look at Keen Abrams destroyed her good sense and any ability to think.
A leader can deny the right of visitation, but you don’t need permission from anyone if you’re not staying longer than twelve hours. So the trick, Trista-girl, is never being in one place for too long.
Staring at Keen’s back as more and more dark brown fur covered his skin, she realized she was about to lose the best thing that had never happened to her.
All because she’d been in one place too long.
*
… stain the Itan’s white gravel while you die.
Keen’s skin went taut, muscles tight and bunching in preparation of his attack on Reid. The words, the inherent threat, enraged his beast.
“Never.” He shoved the words past his gritted teeth. “You’ll never touch her.”
Reid, fucking
wolf
bastard, smirked and Keen’s fingers itched with the need to rip that expression from his face. “No, my new Beta, Adrienne, will.”
He flexed his hands, fisting them and then allowing part of his shift to flow through him as he relaxed. Hands became paws with that single movement, human nails giving way to blackened claws.
“No one is touching her.” He tilted his head left then right, cracking his joints. “No one.”
He drew air into his lungs, searching for any hint of Reid’s true feelings, and found nothing. Psychopathic asshole couldn’t give a damn about the strings he pulled.
“Oh, I disagree,
Keeper
.”
Keen didn’t care for the wolf using his old title as a slur, a reminder of his duties, but it did bring forward a rush of knowledge. Ideas, ways to mold the laws to his bidding, filled him.
As he pieced together her defense, and his plan, Reid kept speaking. He had no doubt that the male goaded him, but Keen had a bigger play in mind.
“Ms. Scott has the Southeast Keeper’s number on speed dial so my hands have been tied because the man’s a stickler for the rules. He bitches to the wolf Alpha and he comes down on me. Not something I want. So, she’s been rotating through my territory with that bitch mother of hers for years.” When Trista’s gasp reached him, he decided Reid would bleed for that remark. “Now, she stayed in Grayslake too long and, as you know, any shifter leader can exact justice for a true infraction whether she’s in their own territory or not. She’s mine, bear.”
The wolf grinned like he’d won the lottery.
“Unless…” The idea twisted and turned through his mind and the bear was on board with Keen’s thoughts. “… she is one of your allies. In which case, she’s bound by that agreement.”
He recognized that others appeared in a loose circle around them. Some he knew—Reid’s wolves and a woman who he assumed was Adrienne—as well as his brothers and their mates. He let his gaze flick to Ty’s and noted the remorse and pain etched in his brother’s features. He was going to have to rely on Reid’s knowledge of the laws and Ty’s guilt.
Reid snorted. “An ally? A hyena? Heath Scott’s
sister
? You gotta be fucking joking.” He shook his head. “Pass over the bitch and let us end this. She knows this reckoning has been coming for a while. My ex-Beta caught the mother and
took care
of her before a true agreement for leniency was established. But this whelp—”
Suddenly Keen had a hissing and spitting woman attempting to crawl her way over his back. Fully human hands reached around him, clawing and scratching at the air as she fought to reach Reid. “You fucking killed her. You fucking bastard, asshole, son-of-a-whore!
You
violated the law, you
asshole
!” Keen spun and caught her, holding her against his chest and still she battled to get to the wolf. “Fuck you and your
fucking
laws!”
“It was a purge,” Reid growled in return, but Keen heard the doubt hidden beneath the outrage.
“For
hyenas
fuck-hole, she was
human
,” she hissed.
Dear God, he didn’t even want to follow the lure Trista placed before him with those words. Reid had been trying to catch Trista and her mother for years as they skirted the laws of visitation which meant he knew they weren’t part of the Boyne Falls hyena pack. Which also meant Trista’s mother had been eliminated without cause since Ty’s order addressed the pack. And if Trista was the half-sister of Heath Scott and only a half-shifter herself… Her mother
was
human.
He held her close, quieting her struggles until she sobbed against his chest, her face pressed along her neck as tears soaked his skin. So strong and so fragile at the same time. She’d been running and it was going to stop. Now.
“Through the law of claiming, I Keen Lincoln Abrams, fourth son of Jeremiah Abrams and youngest brother to Ty Abrams, Grayslake Itan, claim Trista Scott as my own. She is my mate, she will bear my young, and she will serve at my side.” Trista met his gaze, red-rimmed eyes wide and filled with horror and hope and he didn’t falter as he repeated the words that would tie them together. “I have said it and so it is done.”
Then the air filled with howls battled by growls, but Keen didn’t care. For the first time in his life, his bear was truly at peace, truly relaxed, and it was all because of the woman in his arms.
He had her. Now he refused to let her go. Ever.
Trista had to leave, had to get away. She was desperate to run and flee the moment Keen turned his back just as much as she craved being in his presence.
He’d claimed her before one and all. Claimed. Period. Done. No backsies.
And she’d stood there and let it happen. No. She’d fought to get to Reid, fought to scratch out his eyes and claw out his heart.
Her mother was gone. Morgan, the now-dead pack Beta, had killed her and Reid
gloated
about it. Gloated. Held tight in Keen’s arms, her anger rushed forward anew, anxious to be unleashed on the wolf Alpha.
She wanted to kill him, to watch him squirm and cry out as she tortured him. Had it been quick for her mother? Or slow? What did they do to her?
Trista ignored the fight that surrounded them, voices raised as the men yelled at each other. They didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.
Another sob raced up her throat and it escaped before she could swallow it once again. She couldn’t let the emotion overtake her, not while Keen still held her. It would be another step, another shuffle toward depending on him wholly and that couldn’t happen.
“Shh…” His large hand traced her spine as he hugged her closer. “I’ve got you now.”
He did and she didn’t want him and she refused to listen to the voice in her head that called her a liar.
“Keen.” Another choked sob, another gasping breath as she battled for calm. She pressed against him, molding her body to his, and promised herself she’d allow him to hold her for one more minute. One more second and then she’d pull away.
The fight continued, the coppery tang of blood filling the air as the roars and snarls of the two groups went after each other.
Trista wasn’t sure how long it continued—seconds? minutes? hours?—but it ended with one feminine shout.
“
Enough!
” Damn, the Itana had one set of lungs on her, and she was effective. All growls ceased and the sounds of battle quieted in an instant. As soon as peace reigned, she spoke again. “Now, I don’t know the laws like Keen, but I know he wouldn’t make a claim without being one hundred percent right.” A snort shot through the air and it was immediately followed by a low grunt. “I said
enough
,” Mia snapped. “I don’t hesitate to believe him and that means it would be best if the wolves left our territory for the time being.”
It was a prettied up order, plain and simple, and the low shuffle and crunch of wolves stomping past them filled Trista’s ears. She kept her gaze averted, remained locked in Keen’s embrace, as they moved along. She didn’t want to look at them, didn’t want to acknowledge that she cowered before them in another’s arms.
She’d lean on him… just this once. Except, based on the tightening of his embrace and the rumbling growl coming from his chest, she didn’t think he’d accept “once.”
He wanted forever. His claim said forever.
And that scared the hell out of her.
The thunk of vehicle doors closing preceded the roar of engines and the scattering of gravel as the wolves departed. She stretched her senses, verifying the pack members no longer lingered, and then she allowed herself to relax a little. Not completely because Van still stood nearby, but some of her tension eased.
The sounds of the SUVs and cars departing slowly lessened until only the nervous shuffle of Keen’s family reached her. An increase in volume and a rhythmic crunch announced someone’s approach and the chest against her cheek expanded as a threatening growl escaped him.
Trista wasn’t comfortable around Keen’s family, but she figured none of them were ready to put her down. At least, not at the moment.
She wiggled a hand free and stroked him, rubbing her hand across his chest in a soothing motion. “Shh…”