Ryan's Treasure (7 page)

“Huh? What’d I do?”

“Nadi, let them explain.” Ryan touched her arm, concern obvious on his strong face. “Maybe it isn’t what you think.”

“Don’t try to make this better. You can’t fix it.” She gestured between the other two men. “My father and my brother ran and left us to be used and beaten. To be shot down like rabid mongrels. There is no other way to look at it.”

“Father?” Jake turned to stare at Grant. “Is that true?”

She let the shift come while she ran, muscles and joints screaming, but it did not slow her stride. When she slammed into the door, it swung easily out of her way. Someone called her name, but she couldn’t look back. The main gate stood wide. Nothing to stop her from fleeing. The gravel hurt her paws, but soon she reached the trees and moss covered ground.

***

Ryan started after Nadi then stopped himself. If he caught her but had no answers, she wouldn’t listen. Grabbing his little brother by the collar, he shoved him toward the bench beside Grant. “All right, start talking. Grant, you’re first. Jake can take up where you leave off.”

The old man hung his head, his skin matching the white streaks in his hair. “Nearly thirty years ago, I was taken from outside this compound. I suppose they thought I was one of the strays and no one would miss me. I was young, arrogant, and cock-sure of everything. When they threw me in a cage with a beautiful white shifter, I found my life mate. I tried to convince her to run, but she’d been there too long. Didn’t even know she could shift, but I could smell the possibility on her. I could have left at any time. Simply become a man and walked away in the night. But I couldn’t bear to leave her behind, even to go get help, especially once she conceived. When the older girls were born, I tried again to get her to go, but she worried the little ones wouldn’t make it. Once they were big enough, I showed Gray and Sable how to shift, made them practice over and over…before they had it down well enough to make an escape, a couple wolves broke out. The mill owners tightened security and began to shackle all the males at night. I couldn’t shift with the band around my leg without crushing the bones. They separated me from Lyusya and the girls. I learned she carried again about a week later.”

He looked up and stared at his son. “We were all in the exercise yard when your mother went into labor with you. The guards left her in the dirt.” Grant stood, obviously too agitated to be still. “No one seemed to worry about her, left her lying there like she was nothing. The first child, my first son, was born in human form. Your sister came next and then you.”

Jake shoved his fingers through his hair. “Mom regretted not running away with you, but she swore you’d come back if you lived. I believed her. We all did. But you’re no more than a coward.”

“No.” Grant growled, and his wolf glinted in his eyes.

Ryan put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Finish your story.”

With a nod, he sank back on the bench beside his son. “Diablo and a couple others heard the baby cry and came to investigate. It was obvious where it had come from. The umbilical cord remained attached. That bastard kicked my son. He was going to kill him. I had to get him out of there. I shifted, grabbed the child, and ran. I took a bullet in the shoulder and another grazed my hip, but we made it out of the compound. Unfortunately, the baby died, the side of his head caved in by Diablo’s boot. I buried him near the river and came back to the Sanctuary for help. By the time I got here, infection had set in and I could barely move. It took me two weeks to recover. I sent several people to the mill to ask about your mother. Each time they came back with the same story. There was no white wolf or wolf pups in the compound. Just dogs.”

Jake shook his head. “They shut us in a small shack at the back of the property. I think everyone would have written Diablo’s story off to the delusion of a drunken fool, except others witnessed you change and snatch the baby up.”

Grant gripped Jake’s hand. “I thought they’d killed you all. I could have had my family with me. Should have protected you. I won’t blame you and Nadi if you never forgive me.”

“I did the same thing. Ran when I should have stayed. They bred our mother again and again, but nothing ever took. I tried to protect her.” His voice broke. “I would have died for her if I could have.”

Ryan squatted in front of the two men. “Stop beating yourselves up. Jake, tell us what happened. How’d you get away?”

“They decided the baby had been a hairless wolf, not human, and Grant had just seemed bigger in his rage. They kept Mom, hoping they would get another mutant, perhaps start a breed of allergen-free wolves, but she couldn’t conceive from the seed of lesser beings. Stinky and I were in our mother’s pen when the command came down. Diablo pulled her into the yard and put a gun behind her ear. I jumped the fence and lunged for him, but it was too late. Others came running before I could kill the bastard.”

Jake scrubbed his hands over his thighs but didn’t look up from the floor. “I took off. A shot grazed my shoulder. It was nothing more than a flesh wound, but I waited until I was stronger before I returned. I didn’t know how to shift then, wasn’t sure it was even a possibility, so I waited a week or so until things settled down and then went back at night. At the time I didn’t know they’d sold my sisters, but I couldn’t find a trace of them. It was as if their scent had been wiped away, like they never existed. I figured I was too late. That Diablo had gunned them down just as he had killed our mother. I ended up here a few months later and forced myself to forget Stinky and the others.”

A shudder shook him. “The guilt over leaving them never faded, but I tried to block that part of my life. It was too late to save the girls. I couldn’t talk about it to anyone for years. I should have done something, but…as far as I knew, I was the only one left. Pretending allowed me to keep my sanity.”

“I’m sorry, son.” Grant’s voice broke. “For leaving…for not recognizing you. But now I have two of my children back, I won’t lose you again if I can help it.” He stood and headed for the door with Jake on his heels.

“No.” Ryan rushed to intercept them. “She won’t want to see either of you yet.”

Jake snarled. “Back off. She’s my sister.”

“She is, but right now her emotions are running hot, and she’d sooner rip your head off than talk to you.” He slapped the other men on the back and stepped between them to the door. “If I can’t get her to calm down and listen, I’ll come back for the two of you and we’ll try again. But right now, the woman needs to process, and she doesn’t need pressure. Let her work through it.”

Grant shook his head and tried to move around him. “Get out of my way, son. I abandoned my daughter once. I won’t do it again.”

“You didn’t abandon her. You tried to save the child you knew prejudice and ignorance would destroy. Nadi’ll understand. Give her some breathing room.”

Jake glared. “She’s out there alone with her heat coming on. What if someone else gets to her first?”

“Do you think you could protect her better than I can? I won’t let her get hurt, but the two of you will only make things worse.”

Grant puffed his chest out in indignation, reminding them all he was the true Alpha, but the move didn’t have the same effect it would’ve had even a few years before. “Who put you in charge, boy?”

Wounded pride and fear of losing his daughter drove the other man’s display, and although Ryan could sympathize, he wasn’t about to back down. Not this time. “Argue with me later. Right now, Nadi’s out there running scared. I’m going after her—alone. End of discussion.”

Chapter Seven

Nadi ran until her body hurt too much to go another step. Her legs trembled even after she sank to the ground. Her sides heaved with desperate gasps and a strange warmth hummed in her blood. Since she escaped the mill, she’d convinced herself she would put the past behind her and be all right. But the years of pain and fear came rushing back. She wanted to believe neither Grant nor her brother had abandoned their family, but it was all too convenient.

Well, what do we have here?

She jerked at the sound of a telepathic voice and rose to face a group of strangers. A handful of mangy wolves stood in a semicircle around her. The giant boulder at her back blocked any hope of escape. Her heart thundered, but she stood her ground.

The biggest of the pack slunk closer, his gaze steady.
What are you doing out here, sexy thing?

The others chuckled, and one moved to stand beside the first.
Maybe she’s looking for someone to take care of her.

I can take care of myself.

But she doesn’t have to
. Ryan circled the rock and stood beside her, hackles raised and fangs gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the trees. As massive as he was, he wouldn’t survive a five-on-one attack. She edged closer, ready to stand beside him even if they fought to their deaths.

He nudged her back.
I don’t want you hurt.

That makes two of us, but no way you’re facing them alone
.

The pack of males moved in, a solid wall of frustrated testosterone spoiling for a fight. The bushes moved behind them, and another half dozen wolves entered the small clearing. Nadi wanted to scream. It was too unfair to find freedom only to lose her life to her own kind. Worse, to witness her savior’s death.

Hello, brother. Need some help?

She thought at first the large wolf spoke to one of the rogues in front of her, but Ryan nodded in greeting. The gray was big, but shorter and less muscular than the man he called brother.
Brother?

He nudged her again before stepping fully in front of her.
Leave. You’re on marked territory
.

Once the others sidled away, Ryan and the large group shifted to second form. She started to change, but he crowded her to the wall with a growl. “Not in front of them. The Alpha and his men do not need to see your lovely body without fur or clothing.”

But
—

“Don’t argue with me. Give in this once without a fight.”

Unsure what to say to such a demand, she sat on her haunches and said nothing.

“Thank you.”

“She’s beautiful no matter her form or state of dress, brother.”

Ryan turned to stand at her side and smiled. “Drake, you look good. Pack life agrees with you.”

“It does. You knew it would.” He waved the others back, and they fanned out to guard the perimeter and their king.

The brothers looked more alike as humans than they did in first form. Both incredibly handsome with rich dark skin, chiseled muscles, and eyes deeper than the night sky, but her protector stood taller and wider, his muscles more developed. Surely if they were brothers, the larger male would have won the right to lead. Why then did the other man command Alpha status?

Drake sank to his knee and held out a hand toward her. “I’m Drake. Leader of the
Hawáe
band of the
Ysán
tribe. And you are?”

She shied from his touch, choosing familiar over unknown. Ryan knelt and ran his hand down her back in reassurance. “This is my Nadi.”

“I can see she’s a treasure. Does she have a name?”

Her hackles rose. She’d deal with Ryan’s possessive attitude later, but she had no intention of allowing anyone to criticize her identity. It was the only one she’d ever had.
Nadi is my name. One chosen for me with far more care than whoever named you after a duck
.

Drake’s laughter blended with his brother’s. “I apologize. I meant no offense.”

“She’s had a rough day.” Ryan coaxed her to lie beside him with long soothing strokes over her head and shoulders. “Tell me how we had the good fortune of your timely arrival.”

“My sentries followed the rogues. When they saw a lone female in the early stages of heat, they warned me. I never imagined she belonged to you.”

I belong to no one
.

“Really?” Drake chuckled and offered his hand again. “Perhaps you would go for a run with me then? Allow me to show you the territory?”

Ryan batted his brother’s arm aside. “She’s not on the market, and I doubt Mia would appreciate you bringing a new female home.”

“It’s my job to shelter any unmated female. Have you forgotten the rules?”

Suddenly, the possessive pronouns and touches made sense. He was trying to protect her even from his own family.

“Don’t make me fight you on this, Drake. I won’t walk away a second time.”

Ryan had left. That explained how the weaker male had become Alpha. But why would he do such a thing? Wouldn’t the pack have needed him? Why would he declare a ragtag bunch of misfits family when he had one?

“If she doesn’t want you, I can’t allow you to impose your will on her. Brother or not.”

The man needed to be slapped. Right or wrong, she shifted. The change created less of an ache each time. When she rose to her full height, her protector practically leaped in front of her, but she stepped around him.

“Damn it, Nadi.” He allowed her to glare his brother down, but muscled arms pulled her against his chest and hid her female parts from curious males.

She bit back a grin. “I don’t know who died and made you a god, Drake, but I make my own choices. I’m not in the market, but when I’m ready, I’ll pick a strong and loyal man, one who would defend me with his life. My mate could never be someone who would undermine his own brother.”

Drake stared at her, silent and unreadable, before he snapped his fingers and one of his men raced forward. “Tollen, return to camp and find something in my tent for this lovely female to wear.”

The soldier shifted to wolf and dashed away in almost the same breath. It seemed a double standard that they all strolled about naked, yet the sight of her generated far too much attention. Ryan swung her behind him once more, and she couldn’t help the tremor of fear at his strength. He swore he’d never hurt her, but such power intimidated her no matter the words.

Still, his wide back drew her attention. Corded muscles followed the deep line of his spine. When she placed a hand on his hip, the firm mounds of his ass clenched. His grip tightened at her waist, but he didn’t say anything to her. Instead, he chatted casually with his brother as if everything were normal.