Should have Put a Leash On It (16 page)

There was no way he was going to let anyone think that Rylan had switched sides. His view might be bias, but Micah was certain he’d know if Rylan was working for the other side.

Ryder piped up from near the back. “How do you know? This could all be part of it, to get us chasing our tails while Trevor uses Rylan as a distraction against us.” Gabriel and Hunter didn’t say anything, but Micah could tell by their body language that they were thinking similar things.

Micah didn’t have a chance to respond as Skylar was across the room in a split second and getting right up in Ryder’s face. “Rylan would never betray Remington. This pack is the only home he’s ever known. He’d die protecting it.”

The certainly and conviction with which Skylar announced his faith in Rylan calmed the tension that had been rising in the room.

Ryder tipped his head with an offer of submission. “Okay then.”

Remy nodded slowly when Skylar was back at Remy’s side in an instant and placing a hand on his shoulder in support. The vampire was like a rock for his brother. A proper mate. “So what does Trevor want?”

That was the part Micah was most worried about.

“There’s no way to know until he shifts and activates Trevor’s conditioning,” Jake told them sadly.

Micah glanced at Jake, taking in the defeated way the jackal slouched against the desk. But he had to ask. “Is there anything you can do?”

Jake let out a long breath and gave Micah and the others a forlorn look.

“You need to understand, this isn’t something Trevor thought up one morning. To find the perfect plant that carries the properties to potentially affect not just shifters but vampires as well took time, lots of time, and planning. Each small variation is manipulated to target a specific area of your make up. It would have taken years—decades—with a hell of a lot of specialists working on it.” Jake shook his head, snatching up the file only to throw it down again. “I’m just one jackal.”

Sage moved closer to Jake, reached out to offer a comforting arm around the man’s shoulders. It was clear Jake was overworked to his limit. “What are you saying?”

The jackal wearily leaned against Sage. “I’m saying that I don’t know whether I can fix this. I’m close to getting the mating element fixed, I’ve had more time on it and it has the same chemical signature as the smoke Trevor burned to control the pack. The base plant from Jacko’s mother’s estate helped me isolate it. But this is advanced stuff, guys. It’s a whole new ball game. At this moment the only thing I can suggest is that you make Rylan shift so whatever it is triggers, let it play out then hope he snaps out of it when the conditioning parameters are satisfied.”

Elder Lavi had been quiet through all of this, but Micah had been aware of the vampire watching everything. “Will the mating bond break through the conditioning?”

Jake shrugged unhappily. “I just don’t know. The mate bond is unpredictable at the best of times, but if anything is possible.” The jackal swayed, almost dead on his feet.

As much as Micah wanted answers, he wasn’t going to push the man to the breaking point. That wouldn’t help anyone and Jake had been working almost nonstop on the mating block since he arrived with the elders months ago.

“Why don’t you get some rest? Perhaps fresh eyes on this after a few hours will yield something new,” Micah urged gently.

Jake nodded, but Micah wasn’t sure how much the jackal was taking in.

Elder Lavi went over to Jake and took the jackal from Sage, holding the man up effortlessly with a hand under his arm. “I will make sure he rests.” With that the two figures disappeared in a blur of movement out the door. This left the rest of them wondering what the hell to do.

“So what do we do now?”

They all turned to Remy.

“We get Rylan to shift and go from there.” Remy held up a hand to silence and arguments. “We need to know. Until we do, Rylan is a ticking time bomb.”

Micah returned to Rylan’s room. He was supposed to bring Rylan back to the office where Remy and Skylar would be waiting. The others were supposed to be hidden about outside ready to move in if things got out of hand and Rylan became violent.

Rylan snapped to attention when Micah entered and he could see how hard being excluded had been on Rylan. “How’d it go?”

“It went...pretty awful actually.” Micah was only supposed to fetch Rylan. But if anyone truthfully expected him not to tell Rylan anything, to leave his mate looking like the bottom of his world had fallen through, then they were cruel. “Listen. I need you to trust me, okay? No matter how bad things get or what happens. I’ve got a feeling this is going to suck major donkey balls. I need you to remember that you come first to me now.”

Rylan took his hand and looked him dead in the eye. “You’re scaring me, but okay. I’ll try to remember that.”

That was probably the best he was going to get. Rylan had to know Micah wasn’t telling him everything. It felt as if there was a timer in the back of his mind constantly ticking down the time.

“Good.” He took Rylan’s hand and went to lead him out of the room, but his wolf refused to leave with their mate. “Fuck it.”

Micah stepped closer until they were pressed against each other. He brushed Rylan’s hair back from his face and tipped Rylan’s chin up and to the side. He was more than a little surprised when Rylan did it without question.

“I accept you as my mate, Rylan Burke. Do you accept me as your mate?” He said the words every shifter learned. He knew technically they were already mated, but he wanted to do this right. He wanted Rylan to know before whatever happened next that this was for real.

Rylan swallowed and closed his eyes briefly before whimpering. “I accept you as my mate, Micah Lupe.”

Micah kissing Rylan’s throat softly and bit down. As soon as his teeth broke skin, he pulled away. He wanted to mark, not injure. His bite would heal in minutes with the vampire blood still running through Rylan. Unlike his own mating mark this bite would be small but no less permanent.

“As much as I’d love to see what kind of trouble we could get into together and maybe actually make it to the bed eventually, we need to get to the office before they come looking for us again.” It was so, so tempting to shut out the world for just a little longer.

Rylan stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Be straight with me. I’m not going to like where this is going, am I?”

Licking his dry lips Micah shook his head, avoiding Rylan’s eyes.

Rubbing his hands on his jeans, Rylan nodded once and started for the door. “Let’s get it over with then.”

The walk to Remy’s office felt like a mile long trudge to the gallows. When they reached the room, Micah could only scent Remy and Skylar inside. But the lingering scent trails of the others said they were close by. Judging by the way Rylan slowed as they entered the room, he had picked up on that fact as well.

Remy stood in the middle of the room and Micah frowned when he saw the desk and all the chairs had been pushed up against the wall. “First of all, Ry. You have to know that I never doubted that you stayed loyal. You’re my best friend.”

“I’m seriously starting to freak out now. Why is everyone talking like they’re saying goodbye?” Rylan pointed at both of them and Micah realized that by easing into this slowly because they were afraid of what would happen after Rylan shifted they were making things even worse.

Skylar moved silently to the doorway and Micah winced as he understood that Skylar was cutting off the means of escape. Everything was getting out of hand faster than Micah could keep up.

“Remy—”

Ignoring him, Remy kept his attention on Rylan. Rylan glanced his way but returned to the alpha. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“We need you to shift, Rylan, right now,” Remy answered honestly.

“I...No, I can’t.” Rylan staggered back, hand raised as if to ward them all off.

“We can’t wait any longer, Rylan. I’m sorry, I really am. You know I wouldn’t make you do this after what you’ve been though without having a damn good reason.” Remy’s voice was harsh, but Micah could smell the anguish leaking off the alpha wolf. This was one of the reasons Micah hadn’t wanted Remy to be an alpha. Alphas had to make the hard decisions and sometimes they had to choose to forsake their friends and family for the good of the pack. Remy was good and loyal and Micah didn’t want to responsibility of alphahood to crush that goodness.

“
No!
”

The panic poured off Rylan like sweat and Micah had to physically stop himself from going to his mate by gripping the desk behind him. Skylar appeared next to him, hand on his arm in a gesture of comfort.

Vampires weren’t like shifters, they didn’t instinctively touch to sooth or calm. However, Skylar made an effort for those he cared about. Micah hadn’t imagined himself on that list, especially after the car incident.

He didn’t move, but he couldn’t hold back the soft whining sound. His wolf was desperate to return to Rylan’s side.

Rylan turned on him with a stare so cold, it was like icicles stabbing him in the back. “Was this what all this in there was about? Telling me to trust you, so you can bring me here and humiliate me? You have no idea what he did to me. He forced me to change over and over again, beating me until I passed out. It went on for weeks, every day...every night.” Rylan’s voice trembled and a tear escaped to trickle down the man’s cheek.

His control broke. He couldn’t stand to see Rylan so scared. Micah rushed to Rylan, trying to touch him and calm him down, but Rylan angrily slapped his hands away. “Rylan, no. I swear—”

“No.” Rylan infused the word with hierarchal dominance.

It didn’t matter how strong he was. Second trumped beta.

Micah drew up short as his wolf strangled his own response so abruptly that he choked on it.

Several people gasped and he realized the others had come to investigate when they heard Rylan shouting. All of the inner circle had witnessed his own mate shut him down so hard that his wolf retreated to the hierarchy of pack. Even Zeke was there. Remy must have called him over when Micah had gone to get Rylan.

Asher and Zeke tried to intervene, but Micah waved them off. He might be embarrassed and hurt, but he knew Rylan was only lashing out because he was scared. If Rylan could live through hell by Trevor’s hands, then Micah was strong enough to take being kicked if it helped Rylan deal with it.

Before anyone else could say anything, Rylan’s angry sneer crumpled and the wolf jumped at him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“I know,” Micah said with a confidence he didn’t feel. Oh he had no doubt Rylan was sorry for shutting him down, but it didn’t bode well that Rylan turned on him rather than to him when he was afraid. They’d have to deal with the consequences of it later.

He met Remy’s eyes over Rylan’s shoulder. His brother looked like he was about to swallow glass and Micah knew what Remy was thinking. The quicker Rylan shifted, the faster they could figure out what the hell Trevor had done to Rylan and fix it.

There had to be a way to fix it. He wouldn’t accept anything less. There was no way in hell he was losing Rylan now.

Hardening himself to his wolf growling inside at him to stop, Micah forced himself say what Remy wanted him to. “I need you to shift for me, Ry.”

Rylan’s breathing stuttered on a sob and his body shook in Micah’s arms. “Okay.”

In that moment he felt lower that dirt. There must be a special place in hell for people like him.

Rylan pulled away and started stripping off his clothes. Micah took the items, hugging them to his chest like a security blanket. Rylan didn’t look around at anyone, just keep his head down and when he was completely naked, crouched down. He saw the wolf look at his forearm, at the branded T in his flesh and tremble.

Micah shrugged off the hands that grabbed him and closed the distance between him and Rylan. He ripped off his t-shirt and sweatpants and mirrored Rylan’s pose. “I’ll go first.”

Rylan nodded slowly, eyes wet with gratitude at not being left to do this alone.

The shift should be like simply allowing the body to flow from one form to another. Micah initiated his and one moment he was closing his eyes as a man and the next he was opening his eyes as a wolf. In real time it probably took thirty seconds because he wasn’t pushing it and there was no urgency.

He bumped his head into Rylan’s chest and licked the man’s neck, encouraging him to shift. When Rylan still didn’t shift, Micah bowed in front of him and barked sharply, wagging his tail. It was a clear invitation to play.

Rylan didn’t laugh.

He spotted the telltale signs of a shift starting and rubbed the side of his body against Rylan, not unlike how a cat would rub their scent on their owner.

A part of him died when Rylan howled with pain. Whatever Trevor had done to him went against the laws of nature. To defile another shifter’s change was truly monstrous. Even in the great supernatural wars, no sides stooped that low.

Rylan’s body snapped and reshaped in a gruesome show of pain and terror. The scent of Rylan’s fear clouded the air. Not one person in there was unaffected by the experience of watching Rylan contort in agony.

Asher shifted as well and came to sit beside him.

Through it all, he didn’t look away. In the back of his mind he noticed some of the others shift and join him. Even Alex hopped over to him with a squawk. It was a show of support, to say that they were all in this together, but nothing penetrated his heart and his mate lay a foot away from him, in pain and reliving trauma inflicted by a madman. Because of him.

Rylan howled and cried out, clawing at the black carpet. Fibers flew into the air as Rylan flipped onto his back, body in spasm. All Micah could do was watch and hope it would be over soon. If he’d known it would be this bad, he would have taken Rylan and run.

It felt like forever, but eventually the shift was over and Rylan collapsed. Instead of an energetic wolf, ready to play and run with a pelt of glorious grey and black fur, Rylan’s wolf lay in a broken heap, furless and pale.