Should have Put a Leash On It (25 page)

“It will be over soon,” Oscar said quietly to his buddies, who, being good little minions, snickered obediently.

“Enough talking.” The banter was making him twitchy. Micah’s wolf wanted this over as quickly as possible.

Oscar snarled and shrugged out of the leather jacket, tossing it at him. “I agree.”

Micah caught the coat and ripped his fingers through it as if it were made of butter. He smiled. It must have cost a fortune. When the garment resembled a pile of scraps, he flicked the ruined piece toward the minions. He was no one’s coat hook.

Through it all, Oscar only stared as if he couldn’t believe what Micah was doing.

Yeah, it must have been very expensive.

The big idiot was so angry he was shaking. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“I really don’t think I am,” he answered, picking a piece of leather out from under his nails.

The slight twitch of thigh muscle let Micah know what Oscar planned. Anyone not looking for it wouldn’t have noticed. But Micah was and he braced ready for the attack.

However, before Oscar reached him, Rylan intercepted.

The other two challengers tensed as if they were going to jump in, but Micah stilled them with a glare. The middle one pushed the smallest forward as if to use him as a shield. Too easy.

Rylan’s punch landed squarely on Oscar’s jaw. The loud crack made it clear the hit had either broken some teeth or even the shifter’s jaw. Oscar crashed to the floor hard, spitting blood. “What’s the matter? Scared?”

Oscar wiped the blood from his mouth. “I don’t fear half-breeds.”

“We’re going to have to work on that,” Rylan replied dryly.

Several animal chuckles came from around the room

Rolling his eyes, Micah took a few steps away from the fight and pushed the chairs and beanbags aside. Rylan definitely had a flare for the dramatic.

Clearly Oscar wasn’t as appreciative of Rylan’s humor as the rest of them. Oscar roared and tackled Rylan to the floor, then started punching Rylan in the torso, pummeling his sides.

Micah had to flinch at some of the blows. If one of the hits had managed to fracture a rib Rylan would be hurting bad.

“Come on. Use his weight against him.” His voice was too quiet for anyone to hear him. Help from the sidelines wasn’t allowed in a challenge fight.

If he interfered, the challenge was void and the winner was selected by the council, usually the member who had sanctioned the fight to begin with. That must have been another backup plan in case Remy didn’t let them fight or if anyone else stepped in. It was too well thought out, with a lot of angles covered, for it to have come from dumb and dumber. Oscar wasn’t exactly a brain surgeon either.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that this happened so soon after Trevor had escaped. The timing was too exact. Now was the perfect time to issue a challenge. There were less guards on site and the pack had been told to meet here tomorrow so no one else would be visiting unannounced. Most of the pack guards were resting after running several shifts back to back trying to find Rylan and coming in as backup with some of the vampires that Elder Lavi had loaned them.

Rylan ducked left when he should have gone right and Oscar cornered him.

Somehow Oscar managed to maneuver and trap Rylan in a chokehold from behind.

“Don’t let him lock his fists out or you’ll be stuck,” Micah whispered to himself.

There was no way Rylan could have heard him, but his mate looked up regardless. Rylan kicked backward and even though his foot connected with Oscar’s shin, the shifter didn’t move. Rylan didn’t have the leverage to flip the bigger male and Micah agreed with the tactic of kicking out and reaching up to try and get at Oscar’s eyes. It was a smart move.

Unfortunately, Oscar was too tall and Rylan’s hands only slapped the bastard’s face.

Rylan’s eyes stared to water and turn red as they stared at each other.

Swallowing his instinctual reaction to rip Oscar’s lungs out through his ears, Micah lifted his hand to tap his elbow and turn his head to one side.

Understanding dawned in Rylan’s eyes and his mate twisted his head into the hold at the same time he was pushing Oscar’s elbow up.

The split second was all Rylan needed.

As soon as Rylan was free Micah could breathe again. Rylan spun around and slammed a killer punch into Oscar’s solar plexus and the shifter dropped to his knees. Rylan followed that up with a punch to the face.

Oscar blocked a second punch and struck out. Rylan sidestepped, but the hit still grazed his mate’s side with enough force for Micah to worry about internal damage. If Rylan didn’t win in the next few minutes, Oscar might wear him down enough to snatch victory.

“Nice try, but you missed,” Rylan taunted, motioning for Oscar to come at him again.

Micah narrowed his eyes and focused on Rylan’s face. There was nothing on the surface that would make him worry, but he knew Rylan had to be tiring. He wanted to join in and beat Oscar into the floor. To not be able to do so was infuriating.

Rylan got too close and paid the price and Oscar delivered a powerful blow to Rylan’s thigh. A hit like that would work quickly. It wouldn’t cause major damage in the long term, but it would cause the victim’s limb to go numb in the short term.

Asher caught his eye and scowled. He wasn’t the only one who knew the consequences of a strike like that. If Rylan let Oscar take the advantage now, in a few seconds, Rylan’s left leg would be almost useless and the fight would be all but over.

“Fuck.” He resisted the urge to put his fist through the wall.

When Oscar pushed to his feet Rylan charged and landed a harsh kick to Oscar’s knee.

Almost everyone hissed at the crunch.

“Ahhh! You broke my fucking knee!”

“Oops?” Rylan shrugged as if it was an accident and did the same to Oscar’s other leg.

Oscar collapsed to the ground with a heavy thump, screaming in pain.

“Do you yield?” Micah could hardly contain his glee. There was no way Oscar was recovering from that any time soon. Rylan had won. All that was left was to get Oscar to yield or knock the fucker out.

“No,” Oscar said through gritted teeth, clutching his knees.

Rylan hobbled over to the man, dragging his left leg slightly. “Come on, man. Give it up.”

“Fuck off, you dirty half-breed.” Oscar’s slurred words were barely comprehensible as the shifter visibly fought to stay conscious.

Waving Oscar’s vile insult away, Rylan closed the gap separating the two and Micah didn’t dare blink as his mate pulled back his arm and put his body weight into the last punch.

Oscar tried to roll away, but it wasn’t fast enough. Rylan’s fist hit true and that was all she wrote. The other shifter fell back, eyes closed and unconscious.

Micah rushed over to Rylan, wrapping his mate’s arm over his shoulder so Micah could take his weight. “Well done, mate.” He pressed a kiss to the mating bite mark visible above Rylan’s collar.

Rylan’s pleased smile shone back at him.

“Is the challenge over?” Asher circled the other two challengers.

Sage came forward and glanced between Oscar and the others before grinning. “Yes.”

“Oh, good.” Asher’s punch was so fast, his brother appeared like a blur. One moment the two goons were slowly backing toward the door and the next they were on the floor, knocked out cold.

The others surrounded Rylan, clapping him on the back and congratulating him. As challenge fights go, it was short, but there was no doubt Rylan had impressed everyone here.

Looking up at the hidden security camera in the light fitting, Micah gave a thumbs-up sign and pointed to the communal laptop that rested on the table in the corner. He knew Alex and Liam would be watching. That laptop synced information to all the pack computers automatically. As he watched, the power light on the laptop flashed twice. Alex understood what he was hinting at.

By tomorrow morning, Micah wagered that every member of the pack would have seen the fight. Any other perspective challengers would know that Rylan wasn’t weak—he was a force to be reckoned with. Even tired and still healing from his ordeal with Trevor, Rylan had taken out a strong shifter in under ten minutes.

Sage bumped his shoulder, getting his attention.

“You’re his mate. I figured you’d pick the small one. Even Rosemary’s pups could beat
him,
” Sage commented, stepping over the fallen shifter. From the nods Micah received from the others as he looked around at his friends he guessed that was the popular opinion.

Micah wasn’t going to lie and say he hadn’t thought about it. But in the end he needed Rylan happy and defeating the weaker opponent wouldn’t make that happen. Rylan wanted to prove himself, so Micah gave him the opportunity to do so.

It had been kind of hot to see Rylan beat the large shifter, and Micah had been half hard throughout the last few minutes of the fight, since he’d known Rylan was going to win.

“Thank you for picking the big one...and for having faith in me.” Rylan wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He thought it was going to be a quick peck, but Rylan teased his lips apart and plunged his tongue deep.

Moaning, Micah clutched at Rylan’s waist. Their jean-clad erections rubbed against each other. “Does that mean more orgasms?”

Laughter erupted around them and he realized he was still surrounded by his brothers and the rest of the inner circle. His face burned in mortification.

Rylan enjoyed his embarrassment and patted his ass. “Definitely.”

Micah walked Rylan to the door as Mars, Hunter, Gabriel and Ryder shifted back to human and started to pull on their clothes.

“Can two of you keep an eye on our guests, please?”

Walking back over to the intruders Mars kicked one. The shifter didn’t react. “Yeah, sure. They’ll be out for a while yet.”

Ryder nodded and volunteered to stay, too.

Micah opened the door in time to see Remy and Skylar coming down the stairs. They must have been keeping an eye on things from the control room with Alex and Liam.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate him?” Micah had thought Remy would have been excited that Rylan had one the challenge. Remy just seemed bored with it all.

Remy frowned at him. “Of course he was going to win. Rylan’s almost as good as you at assessing weaknesses and he teaches close combat defense on the weekends to the submissive members of the pack. It was a new thing...before he disappeared, but it was a great success.”

Micah looked at Rylan in shock. “What?”

His mate had the decency to blush. “I saw Sage steal the phone from Oscar. I figured I’d give him and Alex some time to go through it.”

All he could do was shake his head.

“Don’t sulk. You shouldn’t have underestimated me.” Rylan poked him in the chest.

Sulking after someone had pointed out that you were in fact sulking was redundant. So Micah reserved his brooding for after they got back to Rylan’s room. Then he was planning on getting a full explanation on just how good Rylan was.

Remy smirked at him and he knew his brother had been waiting a while to rub that in his face.

Instead of retaliating he twisted to see Sage. “So what did you find?”

“Well, Alex texted me to say he’s still digging though the call history, emails and payment trail. It turns out Oscar has had quite the windfall recently. In the last hour he received a payment of thirty thousand dollars from none other than our good friend Trevor. All three idiots did, in fact.”

Micah whistled at the figure. How was Trevor bankrolling everything? The farmhouse couldn’t have come cheap and neither were the experiments or hired muscle. “Any clues as to who on the council is out to get us?”

At his question, Sage looked like he was chewing on nails. “I found something...a phone number that called Oscar a few months ago.”

“Who is it?” Skylar asked, shifting out from behind Remy.

“Dom Craigson.”

That revelation dropped like a bomb.

Micah had to be certain he’d heard correctly. “Our godfather?”

Sage nodded, expression blank. “Yes. I’ve already booked flights to Washington. I leave in a few hours.”

“There isn’t a plan, Sage you can’t just run off half-cocked,” Micah argued. This was insane. They had no idea what they were up against. Sage could be walking into a trap for all they knew. “At least wait until Alex has finished searching though the information you got from Oscar’s phone and accounts.”

“We can’t afford to wait—”

“Micah’s right. Wait until Alex has something you can work with, then you can run off and do your whole spy thing.” Skylar’s evident knowledge of what exactly Sage did wasn’t as surprising as Sage’s dropped jaw made it seem. Fuck, Micah would be more surprised if Skylar hadn’t known.

Remy didn’t look bothered by Sage’s accusing glare. “It’s hard to have secrets when he can read my mind,” Remy explained, tapping his temple lightly.

Sage continued glaring. “Fine. One week, then I’m going without or without your permission.”

“You’re also going to have to get Alex wired up like a Christmas tree,” Skylar added and held up a hand to stop any arguments. “There’s no way I’m letting my mate lose a brother. So you either do this safely or I’ll ask Elder Lavi to put your ass in a hermetically sealed bubble!”

Skylar and Sage had a stare off. Neither one seemed to realize that having a glaring contest with a blind man was a little odd.

“You’re a bad influence on him, he wasn’t this contrary when you got him,” Rylan directed at Remy.

Hissing, Skylar bristled like a cat and spun on Rylan. “Remy didn’t
get me.
I’ll have you know that I haven’t changed at all.”

“Rylan stands corrected. You must have always been a pain in the ass then,” Sage shot back. They resumed glowering at each other.

Micah just flicked back and forth between them, watching the show. As far as he was concerned, both of them were as bad as each other. It was a wonder they hadn’t clashed before now actually.

Micah stood waiting on the plot of land he’d just bought from Remy, wearing his new suit. It was by some designer he couldn’t pronounce the name of that Skylar insisted was the new innovator of men’s fashions. He had no idea what that meant, but he had to admit that he liked the suit—not how much it cost him, however. His bank account would be seriously hurting for a while.