Wounded: Book 8 (A Rylee Adamson Novel) (5 page)

He ignored the woman’s question as he drew in deep breaths, scenting the wolves around him. Trying to pinpoint them and where they fit in. What he found shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did.

These weren’t just any wolves, though some of them may have been local by their scents; no, the majority of them were from Rylee’s territory. Yet they were here.

This was Beauty’s pack. He’d run into them more than once when he’d first been turned and had been staking territory around Rylee’s home.

Which meant the woman walking toward him, the woman he knew only by the power radiating off her, was Beauty herself.

“Why are you here, Beauty?” He all but growled the words, but they were for the ogre’s ears, really. He only hoped she would play along. Overconfident as she was, she played right into his plan.

She rolled her shoulders. “We roam where we wish.”

He doubted that. He infused his next words with power. “I want the truth. Why. Are. You. Here?”

She blinked and spoke almost without seeming to realize it. “The Great Wolf commanded us to travel here. That we would be needed.” A breath escaped her and then she glared at him. “Oh, dear, you think you can boss us around? You think you can run this pack, or,” she laughed softly and put a hand to the hollow of her throat in a delicate gesture, “take it from me?”

Taking the pack from her wouldn’t be
that
hard, not really. Peter had shown him how. Interesting, though, that the Great Wolf had commanded it of them. Could it be because of him? He had a feeling it was.

Before he could say anything, Raw stalked over to them, his feet sending up splashes of muddy ice water. This was what Liam had been waiting for.

Fury lit the red ogre’s features, carving it into a mask a devil would balk from dealing with. He held a pike over his shoulder, the tip gleaming with what could only be blood. “Are these your wolves, Liam?”

“No. Not yet. Were any of your people seriously hurt?” Time to play the part, though he couldn’t help scenting, trying to pinpoint the demon in Raw. Three breaths and he had it, a smell of swamp water lingered, though there were no swamps in the vicinity.

Raw shook his head. “No, these are werewolves, but not like you.” Raw’s eyes didn’t look like he believed Liam. He looked more inclined to keep fighting. Not a good sign.

Beauty let out another laugh, but under this one he could hear the nerves, and in her eyes there was a flicker of uncertainty. She was right to be nervous. “What do you mean, we are
just
werewolves? We are at the top of the food chain, ogre.”

Liam shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Of course, in that moment, he thought things were going to go peacefully, or at least as peaceful as possible.

He was wrong. Not that he should have been surprised; he’d commanded the wolves to start this fight, and now he had to look like he had nothing to do with it. Apparently, Beauty didn’t like that.

Beauty leapt at him, shifting mid-air, a flash of tawny fur and fangs. He dodged her, slamming a fist into her head and still managing to keep his wolf in check. The wolves around them started to rise from the ground, growls sliding along their throats. Beauty lay on the ground, shaken from the blow that would have killed a normal wolf.

“I said enough,” Liam bit out between his teeth and the wolves froze, lowering themselves the few inches they’d come up.

Raw laughed. “That’s it, hit the bitch.”

He ignored Raw and moved to stand over Beauty. “Either you submit, or I’ll kill you.”

She snarled up at him, blood trickling from her pale nose, golden eyes glittering with hatred. Even for her life, she wouldn’t submit, and he knew it a split second before she lunged at him, her teeth sinking into his right thigh. Right over the wound that had brought on his own change.

Her teeth sunk in deep and he gritted his jaw. Killing her was the only option, but that didn’t mean he had to like it; not when he’d asked her pack here.

He slid his hands around her neck and she glared up at him, but didn’t move. She knew what was coming.

No, there had been enough death and they needed strong allies. Beauty might not have been the nicest bitch in the book, but she was strong. With every ounce of power in him, with everything Peter had taught him, he spoke to her.

“Let go and submit.”

Her teeth withdrew from his leg and she sat back on her haunches, a look of consternation passing over her eyes. She shifted into her human form, panting for breath.

“That’s not possible. I am an alpha; you can’t force me to submit.”

A look of confusion passed over Raw’s face. “Are we going to kill them or not, Liam?”

Liam shook his head slowly, the wound in his thigh closing up already. “No. Not today.”

Raw let out a heavy sigh. “Then keep them far away from us. My ogres will not be controlled as easily as this.” He swept out the pike in a circle, encompassing the area.

With a grunt, Liam flicked his hand, beckoning the wolves. They slithered on their bellies toward him. Not submissive like Alex, but not such strong alphas that they could take on Beauty for leadership of the pack.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair as Beauty stepped up beside him, pressing her naked body against his, her shift in tactics not surprising him at all. “You are the one I’ve been waiting for. I will share my pack with you … amongst other things.” Her hands slid down his back to his ass, massaging him hard.

Liam stared at her, let her see the wolf in him. “You aren’t sharing anything with me, Beauty. I am taking this pack. Defy me again and I will let the ogres have you.”

Beauty paled and her eyes glittered with fury. Well, at least he knew she was no longer interested in him; she just wanted to kill him now.

Wrong again. She puckered her full lips and blew him a kiss, then slid her tongue along the edge of her mouth.

Irritation flared in his gut. “Go. Wait for me there.” He pointed at Doran’s house and the pack moved off as a unit, Beauty snarling, but doing as he said.

Raw thumped his pike into the ground. “That was relatively well-handled. For a wolf. Will you stay and eat with us?”

“No, I want to check on Nikko, make sure none of the wolves got through to them.” Last thing he wanted was to remind Raw about the fact that Nikko’s daughter was the
only
young unicorn—the only one born in the last fifty years and a potential tool to bring Orion across the veil. He wanted to avoid that almost as much as he wanted to avoid putting himself alone in the middle of a nest of demons.

“They are fine, we are watching over them,” Raw said, his eyes glittering, his pupils dilating and then elongating horizontally. His hand gripped his pike, knuckles turning a faint pink. This was not good.

“Rylee’s instructions. I don’t disobey her. You know how she gets.” He held up his hands like he had no choice and started to walk deeper into the camp. Hell, they should have known something was up when they saw how the ogres had gladly offered to be the outer ring of protection for everyone.

Yet, if they couldn’t trust their allies, who could they trust?

Raw’s eyes followed him; he could feel the anger from the ogre burning into his shoulder blades. It took everything he had to not to spin around and challenge him right there. Erik was right, though, there were too many. A very loud part of him, the suspicious FBI agent who he would always carry around, wondered why the ogres had waited. Raw didn’t make him wait long on that count.

“When will the harpies be here?” Raw called out after him and Liam knew in a flash of understanding why they hadn’t attacked.

They were waiting to take all of them by surprise, to wipe out every ally Rylee had.

“Not sure.
Eve
thought a day or two at most.” He lied, knowing the harpies were supposed to be showing up in the morning. They were so screwed if they couldn’t get everyone out before then. He picked up his pace, putting some distance between himself and the perimeter where Raw stood guard. As he stepped around a tent set up by the ogres there was a whimper from inside. He stopped in his tracks and took a breath.

It was
Mer
, the green ogre that had been sharing Raw’s bed. He glanced around, gritted his teeth and made a quick decision. Shit, he was getting more and more like Rylee with each passing day. Without fully thinking it through, he scratched on the tent with one finger and called softly, “Mer?”

The whimpering eased and the tent flap slid open. Her eyes were dark and heavy lidded, and not just from tears. One eye was swollen shut, the other right behind in that department, her lip was split in three spots, the piercing in her cheek had been torn out, and the few fingers he could see were bent at the wrong angle.

“What?” she managed to mumble and still sound a bit snotty. It was her temperament, but that didn’t bother him. He took a long breath, the scent of the ocean and hot sand filling his nose. No scent of demon.

He crooked his finger at her, taking a chance. “Come with me.” With great care, she emerged from the tent, the rest of her body not looking any better than her face.

“He will beat me for leaving the tent.”

“Not if you’re with me.” Liam had to fight to keep the snarl from his voice. Even though there was no scent of demon curling around her, he would still have Rylee Track her when they got back to Doran’s, to be on the safe side. “We are checking in with Nikko, then you’ll stay with us.”

Her lip trembled and that broke open the cuts making them drip down her green skin. “Why?”

“Because that isn’t how anyone should live.”

They said nothing more as they carefully made their way to the unicorns. The unicorn crush was smack in the middle of the ogre camp. They were sleeping standing up, heads hanging low, except for a few on the perimeter who watched the darkness.

Nikko saw them coming and trotted out to meet them,
Calliope
at his side. His young daughter pranced lightly, tossing her head, her black mane blending with the night as much as her snow white body stood out like a sparkling gem. She was young, only seven months old, but already she had a strong place in the unicorn crush as the future leader.

Wolf, has the council already come to a decision?
Nikko’s voice rang in Liam’s head. He lifted a hand to the stallion. How was he going to warn them without setting the ogres off? He didn’t want to take the chance they would be overheard, even this close to the unicorns. So he played it safe and couched his words, hoping Nikko would understand.

“Rylee wants to set up a perimeter on the other side of Doran’s house. Would you be willing to move your crush?”

Nikko bobbed his head.
Of course. When?

“Right now.”

Mer started, her eyes narrowing. “The ogres are capable.”

Again, Liam lifted his hand. “I know. But this is what Rylee wants, and she’s running the show.”

Nikko’s eyes met Liam’s and he wished he could send thoughts like with Blaz. Instead, he held the stallion’s gaze, flicking his eyes once toward the ogres who stood twenty feet away. He could only hope it would be enough.

The stallion didn’t question him, but instead gave a soft nicker that floated in the air, his eyes never leaving Liam’s. Almost as a unit, the herd woke, heads and horns lifting into the air. Liam did a quick count. There were less than thirty unicorns, and that was including Calliope in the mix.

Take my daughter with you. We will circle around.
There was an edge to Nikko’s voice that Liam caught. The savvy unicorn knew something was up, and he knew better than to come right out and ask.

“Of course. Come on, pretty lady, let’s go see Rylee.”

Calliope trotted over to them and put herself next to Mer. Without hesitation, the ogre dropped her hand to the filly’s withers. Calliope gave a snort and butted her nubby horn against Mer’s thigh.

Mer gave a soft gasp and Liam glanced over to see her face healing. “Don’t forget to thank her.”

The green ogre bent and kissed the tiny unicorn on the nose. “Thank you, precious one.”

Of course.
Calliope’s voice was a tiny echo of her father’s; the power was there, but not the iron hardness. At least, not yet.

Liam started them across the long walk to Doran’s home, each step ratcheting up the tension along his spine. Something bad was coming and he was pretty damn sure he knew it would be in the form of ogres trying to kill them. Mer’s back straightened as they walked, but he noted she didn’t offer to stay now that the worst of her wounds were healed.

“He wasn’t always like this. He’d never hit me until after the ceremony with
Sas
to break ties with the rest of the ogres.” Mer glanced at him.

“Not here. We can talk about it later.” He bit the words out. Calliope turned her eyes to him.

Is something wrong?

Many eyes were on them as they walked, and not one was kind, or even just curious. Hatred flowed through the air like an overwhelming perfume. Someone had heard what Mer had said, and it was going through the ogres like a wildfire.

“Mer.”

“Yes?”

“Protect the foal at all costs.”

He counted the moments in heartbeats. When he hit six and they were forty feet from the ogres’ perimeter, Raw stepped in front of them. He lifted his massive hand, a flame appearing above his fingertips.

“Going somewhere,
precious
?”

Liam put himself between Mer, Calliope, and Raw.

“She’s coming with me, sweetums.”

Yeah, he had truly begun to take on some of Rylee’s lesser qualities. Like pissing off the bad guys when he shouldn’t. Raw’s face dipped into a shade of red that was almost purple.

“Mer.” Liam put his hand out, pointing at Doran’s, but didn’t take his eyes off Raw, “Take her and go.”

Mer didn’t hesitate, just scooped up Calliope and bolted the last forty feet past the ogres who reached for her. She managed to dodge them all and then she was in the clear. Good enough.

“Our master doesn’t care about a unicorn foal and an ogre whore,” Raw said, laughing. “But you, you are important to him. He will be so very pleased when we hand him your head. Do you know that this knife”—he pulled out a dull, copper blade with a wooden handle—“is cursed? It is the knife that killed the last guardian.” Raw’s grin was feral, madness oozing off him.