Disgraced Cowboys (Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 3) [Siren Publishing Ménage Amour] (18 page)

Kade folded powerful arms over his chest. “Is that so?”

“Yes, that’s so. They won’t come for me. They never have before.”

Kade’s gaze glittered skepticism, but the other man’s wavered. “Maybe she’s right. They ain’t completed the bond yet. How would they even sense her?”

Kade scoffed at him. “You of anyone know that a proper bond isn’t required to sense a mate’s distress.”

“I’d bitten Lily myself, though. That must have accounted for some of the connection.”

“That bite helped you find
where
Lily had gone. But a mate’s stronger emotions can be sensed in any case, once physical relations have taken place.” Brandi sneered at the satisfied expression on the man’s face. “You can’t pinpoint a location without the bond. But her wolves won’t need to. They already knew I found her once. The minute they felt her fear, they should have known right where to find her.”

Brandi shook her head. “If you’d listen through that thick, tattooed skull of yours, you’d hear that they won’t bother. You’re
barking
up the wrong tree, pun intended.”

“They might surprise you,” Kade said. “They’ve been here once tonight already. We caught their scents when we brought you in.”

Her pulse skipped, but she shook it off. “Probably sniffing after your herd, like you said in the kitchen. It definitely wasn’t to find me.”

The other man strolled forward, watching her carefully. He had the same cowboy swagger, golden-flecked eyes, and arms-across-the-chest pose, but the two men were quite different. He was shorter than Kade, and bore no visible tattoos. Kade’s hair was sleek, dark, and nicely combed, whereas this guy had an unruly mass of mahogany waves that tumbled in a side sweep across his forehead. Still, both men projected a weighty presence and potent sensuality that made it easy to see how Lily could have fallen head over. The same traits Brandi had seen in almost every werewolf she’d met.

The man kept staring at her, and she blanched. “What are you staring at, Wolfman?” she asked.

One side of his mouth rose with the bare hint of a smile. “The name’s Chaz Saratoga. You’re in my house.”

She gave a harsh snort. “Well,
Chaz
, I love what you’ve done with the place. The ropes on this chair really add an authentic Western touch.”

His grin faded. “Why are you so certain your mates won’t come for you?”

“Because they’ve already proven otherwise. I’ve been in trouble two other times since Kade’s freak-out-the-naked-chick visit, and they didn’t bother swooping in.”

“Before or after you’d let them claim you?”

“I’m not a piece of baggage, thanks,” she snapped, glowering at him. “I haven’t been
claimed
by anyone, and no one ever will. Least of all those two.”

Chaz’s gaze shimmered with amusement as it flicked Lily’s way. “You know, she reminds me a lot of you.”

Lily propped her hands on her hips. “And would you have strapped
me
to a chair and forced a fate on me that I didn’t want?”

He frowned. “So, this is female solidarity talkin’.”

“No, it’s the voice of reason,” Lily said. “Someone around here needs it. You can’t do things like this, not even to protect me. Brandi is innocent. What’s more, she doesn’t approve of what Seth and Marcus did any more than you do. She doesn’t even want to be here when they show up.”

“
If
they show up,” Brandi corrected, “you can have them. I don’t want anything to do with either of them if they’re responsible for the things you say.”

Kade and Chaz exchanged glances, then Chaz looked at her. “I was turned by that pack. You probably don’t want to know what all they were responsible for.”

Her heart literally felt like it was shriveling into a dried, hard raisin, thumping hard and dull against her chest. Here she’d been feeling sick about the attention of other men, when her body should been heaving at the thought of giving herself to such vicious creatures.

She gave each of them a pointed look. “Then that settles it. You can either keep me here forever waiting for bad guys to act like heroes, or you can let me go and I’ll take you to them.”

Chaz’s eyes widened.

“You know where they’re hidin’,” Kade said.

She gave the men a tight smile. “That’s right, cowboys. I know where they are and how they’ve thrown you off the scent. I’m willing to tell you if you help me figure out how to get rid of their influence. I don’t want to be their mate.”

Kade shifted his stance. “Chaz, get the knife from Lily.”

Brandi’s smile—and hopes—faded when Chaz moved to obey, plucking the blade from his mate’s slender hand. Her mood lifted, however, when he used the blade to slice her bonds himself, much more quickly than Lily could have managed.

“So, which way are we headed?” Kade asked while Chaz moved around to cut the bonds on her other wrist.

She never got to answer. Both men froze, their heads whipping toward the doorway.

“Chaz,” Kade said in a low murmur.

“I know. I sense it, too.”

“What is it?” Brandi asked, wondering why they were all suddenly whispering.

“It’s too late,” Lily answered, hugging her arms. “They’re here.”

“Lily, get back!” Chaz shouted, but she stayed right by Brandi’s side as the front door crashed inward.

Brandi’s heart jumped practically into her throat at the sight of the two fiery-eyed, naked males who thundered inside. Marcus’s eyes shifted to Brandi, who was still mostly tied to the chair, and back to Kade with a murderous gleam.

“You son of a bitch,” he spat, his cock bouncing between his legs as he strode purposefully toward Kade. “Pretty cowardly of you to kidnap a woman when you couldn’t deal with us directly.”

“That’s pretty damn funny, comin’ from you,” Chaz said, stepping purposefully in front of Lily. “Seems to me I recall the same boot bein’ on the opposite foot not long ago.”

“That wasn’t us who done that,” Seth said, practically firing daggers from his red-gold eyes. “Blaise was the one who had Lily grabbed. Never figured you two would become just like that bastard.”

“Don’t pretend you weren’t in on it,” Kade said. “Or that I didn’t rip his throat out for what he tried to do to Lily.” He stepped closer to Marcus. “Which is what I’ll do to any of you who breaks my command about joinin’ forces or comin’ near her again.”

“Blaise was the one who was obsessed with Lily,” Marcus said. “You know damn well that Brandi’s the one we care about, or you wouldn’t have brought her here.”

Brandi cackled out a dry hack of a laugh. “Oh, so you suddenly care about me? Had me fooled.”

Both men gave her a shocked double take. “What have they been tellin’ you?” Seth asked.

“The truth, for a change.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.” Marcus leveled a stare on Kade that the other man fired right back. “Since even
they
don’t know the truth of what went on in Blaise’s pack.”

“I was in that pack,” Chaz said. “I know plenty.”

“You don’t know shit,” Seth said. “You never joined the pack. You rejected it.”

“For good reason. I wasn’t into murderin’, thievin’, and kidnappin’.”

“You kidnapped and robbed us of our woman, so I’d say you’re two for three,” Seth snapped.

“Let’s take this outside,” Kade said. “Away from the women. We have business to settle.”

She saw Marcus’s skin ripple oddly, and Kade’s jaw began to lengthen. Jesus Christ. They were going to shift and tear each other to shreds right in the living room.

“Wait!” Brandi shouted. “Stop. And by the way,” she went on when she had Seth’s attention, “they didn’t steal me away from you.
I
made the decision not to be involved with monsters. I knew back in the cave I should be leery of letting myself feel anything for you. Now I know why.”

Marcus shook his head. “None of what they’re sayin’ is true. We weren’t ourselves when we were part of that pack. Kade and Chaz don’t understand that.”

Kade growled, and it was a low, guttural, animal sound. “What I understand is that I ordered you to remain disbanded. Some of you disobeyed that command by gettin’ together to tear up the club the other night. You two decided to make that reunion permanent—and to ignore my orders further by comin’ back here to my ranch.”

“What the fuck did you think we were gonna do when you grabbed our mate?” Seth said. “Send a thank you note?”

“Not now,” Chaz said, inching closer to the men. “He means earlier. We know you were here tonight, scoutin’ out the place while we were gone. We picked up your scent.”

“We were lookin’ for Brandi, you damn hardheaded cowpoke,” Seth said.

Chaz snorted. “So now you’re psychic werewolves? You knew she was comin’ here before we even grabbed her?”

“We sensed she was in trouble,” Marcus said, looking genuinely confused as he glanced at Brandi, searching for answers. “Since Kade had harassed her before, we tried here first. When we found nothin’, we went to the club. By then she was gone, but we heard she’d quit her job. We still sensed she was in trouble, though. Picked up her scent in the parkin’ lot and wound up doublin’ back here.”

Her mouth set into a firm line. So, they claimed they had known about her earlier plight and had tried to help but went to the wrong place. And they were here now, weren’t they?

Still, that didn’t change a thing about who they were—or rather, what they’d done.

“Thanks for stopping by,” Brandi said, “but I have no interest in being with men who are guilty of the things you’ve done. I told Kade he could have you if he helped me find a way to break this hold you’ve apparently got over me.”

Marcus’s jaw clenched. “You don’t know what you’re sayin’.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Blaise’s pack was never a real pack,” Seth said, stepping toward her. “Don’t you get it? He had total control over us. We weren’t his mates. We were his hostages.”

“Werewolves can’t do that,” Kade said. “Not even alphas can exert that much control.” He gave them a scathing look. “Obviously.”

“Blaise could.” Marcus actually shuddered. “I don’t know where he learned it, but I do know he spent years perfectin’ the technique. He’d been around a lot longer than most weres in the area.”

“I don’t believe you,” Kade said. “I saw the sick gleam in some of your eyes. Some of you enjoyed that power.”

“His offspring weren’t bein’ controlled,” Seth went on. “They were loyal—and just as twisted as their father. The rest of us were attacked and turned into weres to grow his army of puppets. None of us wanted anythin’ to do with the way he ran a pack. But he controlled our will.”

“But even he couldn’t force us to do some of the things you’re thinkin’,” Marcus added. “He could compel us to back him up and stop us from gettin’ in his way. We couldn’t fight back against him. But murder? Kidnappin’? No. Those dirty deeds were left to those whom he trusted. His own flesh and blood—who all fled the territory when you took over.”

“Save the bullshit,” Chaz said. “Blaise turned me and tried to get me to join his pack. I refused. He never
made
me do anythin’.”

“You were different,” Marcus said. “He didn’t want to control you for one simple reason. This ranch.”

Brandi watched Kade and Chaz flick a silent glance at one another.

“He saw the opportunity to have a ready supply of fresh meat,” Marcus went on. “Beef raised by his sired werewolf. You didn’t exactly excel at it when he first turned you, what with your new ravenous animal nature. None of us can, which is why most of us leave ranchin’ when we get turned. But you were determined, and Blaise was curious enough to let you try. Then Kade came along and somehow helped you turn things around.”

“In short,” Seth broke in, “Blaise believed he was controllin’ you by not controllin’ you. He let you think you were free, when in fact he wanted you to succeed so our pack could come in whenever we wanted and raid the herds.”

“And had he have failed for much longer, Blaise might have changed the plan,” Kade said, looking at the men. “He’d have taken over Chaz’s will.”

Marcus nodded. “Until you claimed him. That muddied the waters.”

Chaz grunted. “Don’t tell me
you’re
fallin’ for this, Kade?”

“It’s the truth,” Seth said.

“Well, I for one am not falling for it,” Brandi said, shoving fingers from her free hand under the ropes around her bound wrist to ease the chafing. “I don’t believe they conveniently had no control over themselves, especially when you have never heard of it being possible.”

Chaz saw her struggling and moved back to cut her loose.

“Actually, I have heard of somethin’ similar,” Kade said, giving the other men a measuring look. “A long time ago. I just hadn’t ever seen it firsthand.”

“Yes, you did,” Marcus replied. “You just didn’t know that’s what you were seein’.”

Brandi rubbed her wrists while Chaz knelt down to cut through her ankle ropes. She met Marcus and Seth’s gazes but pursed her lips.

“You don’t believe us,” Marcus said.