Finding Chrissten: Legacy, Book 5 (22 page)

Knowing what he had to do, Hank shoved all thoughts of Chrissten aside. There was no room for softer emotions. Not until the fight was over. That needed all his attention and concentration.

There was a werewolf in need of killing and he was just the male for the job.

Brian looked up from the papers he was perusing. “Yes.”

William was standing just inside the door with a gleam in his eyes. “We found them.”

Pleasure and anticipation shot through him in equal measure. He’d get to kill those wolves that had messed with him and his pack and he’d get his mate back. “Where?”

William turned the laptop he was holding in his hands so Brian could see the screen. “I found some old newspaper clips. Seems several men were killed in that area last year.” He glanced up at his alpha and smiled. “Looked as though they were mauled to death by wild dogs.”

“You don’t say.” Brian’s entire body was humming. The hunt was on and he had the prey in his sights.

“Aaron and Beck have already gone to check out the area. I figure it’s only a matter of hours until they come up with something. In the meantime, someone’s been searching through our property holdings.”

“Oh really?” Brian rubbed his hands together. Tonight he’d have Chrissten back where she belonged.

“I think I can backtrack and find out who it is.”

William was a computer hacker of the first order. Brian might hate technology himself, but he wasn’t stupid enough not to use the resources at hand. And William was the best. “You keep on it. I’m heading over to join the others. If you find out anything, call me immediately.”

William inclined his head. “As you wish.” He hurried off back to his makeshift office to work magic on his computer.

Brian headed down the stairs and out into the night. Cloud cover obscured the moon but it was there. He threw back his head and howled. Down the street, two men dashed inside an abandoned warehouse. Brian grinned. “That’s right, run you puny humans.”

He howled again and the two other members of his pack picked up his song and quickly hurried to his side. When they reached him, he grinned at them. “We’re going hunting, boys.”

Chapter Fourteen

Chrissten gave herself one final look in the mirror. Her body tingled in various places, a reminder of what she and Hank had just done. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glowed, but at least she didn’t look quite like she’d just rolled out of bed. She looked normal. Almost.

She gave a sigh of relief and turned toward the bathroom door. It was cowardly of her, but she didn’t care. She was so glad it was Bethany who’d come to check on her and not her brother.

She didn’t think Quinn would have let Hank leave as quietly.

The crumpled bed sheets and the smell of sex in the bedroom told their own story. One that was impossible for any werewolf to miss. Heck, anyone would be able to tell what went on in that room and they wouldn’t even need an enhanced sense of smell to do it. All they’d have to do was look at the bed or at her. In spite of her attempts to look normal, she felt as though she was wearing a big neon sign that said,
Well-Pleasured Woman
.

Her body still hummed and her skin was tender to the touch. She felt totally energized. Parts of her ached, but it was a good sensation, a reminder that she was a woman, a woman capable of having a physical relationship without fear.

She put her hand against her neck, covering the small love bite Hank had put there. Luckily, her sweater covered the mark, but she knew it was there. A visual reminder of what they’d done.

She and Hank had made love. And it had been spectacular. Sure, she’d had several human lovers but those experiences had been less than stellar. And Brian didn’t count. Biology aside, what he did to her was rape, pure and simple. This was different. Special.

Chrissten hugged the feeling tight to her heart. It wasn’t something she could explore. Not yet. Not until Brian was out of her life for good. She’d have to go downstairs, find Craig and start working on him. He’d know the details of tonight’s hunt. And if he didn’t, he could find out from Damek.

Only when the fight was done could she even begin to consider what was happening between her and Hank. The thought of tying herself to another male scared her. She wasn’t sure she could do it or even wanted to. Assuming that’s what Hank wanted. Maybe he was just interested in sex. They hadn’t really talked about it.

“Stop it,” she muttered. “It doesn’t matter. Not yet, anyway.” It didn’t make sense to get worked up over something that might not even happen. She could die tonight. So could Hank. Brian wasn’t going to go down easily and neither were the other purebloods with him.

They were killers, plain and simple. And she was their prey. She wasn’t sure what Brian might do to her now that she’d taken another lover. And he would smell Hank on her. Of that she had no doubt.

Brian might kill her in a fit of fury, but she was more afraid that he wouldn’t. Chrissten shuddered and rubbed her hands up and down her chilled arms. There was no way she could survive being raped by him again, not after Hank had shown her the way it should be between lovers. She’d fight to the death if he caught her again.

That’s why it was doubly important for her to find Brian first. If she could get him alone she might have a chance at killing him. She didn’t want Hank or her brother involved in the fight. Wishful thinking maybe, but she was determined. She had to protect her family at all costs.

She ignored the niggling detail that she now included Hank with her family. She wanted to protect all of the Haven pack. Yes, she wanted to protect the others, but Hank was special to her.

She needed to talk to Craig, but first she had to deal with Bethany. Hopefully she could prevail on the other woman to keep quiet about her and Hank, at least until after tonight’s confrontation. If Damek was right about Brian’s location, and she suspected he was, if she was still alive after tonight she could deal with the fallout from her and Hank making love.

She grabbed the door handle, took a deep breath and pulled it open. “Hey, Bethany—” Whatever she’d meant to say was lost as she stared at her friend. Horror filled her chest, making it hard to breathe. It was a scene from her worst nightmare.

Brian stood just inside the door, his thickly muscled forearm around Bethany’s neck. It would take no effort at all for him to snap her spinal cord and kill her. He smiled at her, showing a lot of very sharp teeth. “Hello, mate.”

As quickly as the terror filled Chrissten, it drained away. She’d survived Brian before, and she would do it again. She just had to be smarter than him. There had to be a way to save Bethany and she would find it. She couldn’t allow Quinn’s mate to die. He’d already suffered enough.

“Hello, Brian.” Her calm greeting caught him off-guard. He tilted his head to one side, silently studying her. He looked the same as always—big and strong. Clinically speaking, he was actually good looking with his brown hair, rugged features and thickly muscled body. But it was his eyes that showed his true character. They were cunning and arrogant and mean. He took what he wanted because he could and cared nothing for others. He was cold and dangerous.

He jerked Bethany up until she was standing on her toes. Her fingers gouged into Brian’s arm, but he ignored it as though it were nothing. And, Chrissten knew, to him it
was
nothing.

“Why don’t you let her go so we can talk?” The rest of the pack was three floors down, surrounded by the smell of humans, food and booze. None of them would scent him until it was too late. She had to save Bethany and herself.

He laughed and it made her shiver. She knew the sound well. Brian always enjoyed making her suffer. He liked her pain. “Now why would I do that? We can talk and I can keep her to ensure your good behavior. You do anything I don’t like and I’ll kill her.”

Chrissten nodded. She couldn’t look at Bethany, couldn’t bear to see the fear and desperation in her eyes, couldn’t afford to reassure her. Brian would see any attempt to communicate as a threat and he might kill Bethany out of spite.

“How did you find me?” Brian had a huge ego. She needed to get him talking about himself.

He shrugged. “Took a while, but someone’s been searching for us, tracking our property on various online databases. We simply started following the trail back. We hit some dead ends and came up with some possibilities. We checked the newspapers and found an interesting story about an incident last year. Didn’t take much effort to have a look and put it all together.”

His eyes darkened and the expression on his face was feral. “Just because we’re wolves doesn’t mean we’re idiots. My second in command is quite the computer wizard. William’s been alive over a hundred years and has been studying computers since their inception.”

Craig hadn’t covered his tracks well enough, even though he was an experienced hacker. Most purebloods didn’t like modern technology, but learned what they needed in order to get by. Their skills weren’t much different from the average human. It should have occurred to them that Brian and his pack might have a computer wiz too.

“I knew another pack had helped you escape from Doctor Morton. They’ll all pay for that. I’m going to take both of you back to the pack. You’re mine, but the rest of my wolves can share this one.” He jerked on Bethany’s throat again.

Chrissten couldn’t help but see Bethany’s pale, frightened face. She couldn’t let Brian take both of them.

“How are you going to get both of us out of here? Someone will be up to check on us any minute.”

“I don’t think so.” She could see the cunning in his face and an icy finger of fear scraped down her spine.

“What have you done?”

He laughed again. “Just a small diversion.”

As if on cue, Chrissten heard the distant sound of breaking glass followed by a scream. Something was happening in the bar. Brian’s attention was momentarily diverted to the noise below and not on the two women.

Chrissten didn’t hesitate. She partially shifted—claws forming on her hands and large fangs dropping from her jaw—and launched herself at her mate. Bethany saw what she was doing and picked up her feet, letting her full weight fall on Brian’s arm. He wasn’t expecting it and his arm jerked downward.

It all happened at once. Bethany clawed at his forearm and managed to slip away. Chrissten jumped and hit Brian straight in the chest, knocking him back. She’d seen the instant of surprise in his face. She hadn’t been able to shift for the last months she’d been in captivity, and he obviously hadn’t been expecting a partial shift.

He tossed her aside as though she weighed next to nothing. She shifted back in midair and yelled at Bethany. “Run!”

Her friend didn’t hesitate, but bolted for the door. Brian was caught between the two of them. If he went after Bethany, he’d lose her. Bethany’s shoes pounded against the stairs as she raced down them. Time had run out.

“Me or her,” she taunted. “You can’t have us both.” She rolled back to her feet, hands in front of her, ready to fight.

“I’ll come back for the bitch.” He stalked toward her. She backed up until the wall stopped her. She had no gun, no knife. No weapons other than her brain and her body. She’d meant to get one but there was no time now. She was facing Brian alone.

He struck out, his big fist connecting to the side of her face. She tried to avoid him but there was nowhere for her to go. She managed to turn her head and took a glancing blow rather than a full-on one. It was still a powerful hit and she saw stars. She brought her knee up fast and hard, hitting him where it would hurt the most. He doubled over and roared with pain. His next punch hit her with the force of a sledgehammer. Everything went dark.

Hank noticed the two punks who came into the bar. He knew their type—young and cocky and looking for a fight. They were also packing weapons. He’d turned away from the door for a second, distracted by woman yelling at her boyfriend and the two had snuck in. He headed after them. He’d show them the door. They didn’t have trouble at Haven, which was one of the reasons the bar was so popular.

He almost reached them. As if sensing him, the one on the right whirled around and smiled at him. Something was off, but Hank didn’t have time to figure out what it was. The second guy grabbed an empty chair and heaved it through the bar’s large glass window. The crash silenced everyone for a split second. Then the club erupted with life. Several women screamed and people began to hustle for the door. Michael sailed over the bar, coming to help him.

Hank grabbed one of the guys just as he reached beneath his shirt and grabbed a gun. He didn’t get a chance to fire it. This guy was human and Hank wasn’t. He moved with preternatural speed, yanking the guy’s arm up and back. The bone snapped. The punk yelled and Hank grabbed the weapon.

Michael had already reached the second man and had subdued him. Benjamin was calming the crowd with Quinn’s help. Kevin was on the phone, probably to the cops. Just what they didn’t need or want. Still, it could have been worse. The punks could have hurt one of their patrons.

Isaiah and his brother came out from the office area and surveyed the situation. He could read his alpha’s expression as easily as he could his own. This was going to slow down their hunt tonight. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Isaiah stalked toward the troublemakers. The guy Hank was holding was moaning and groaning like a baby. Hank shoved him into the nearest chair. “Stay.”