WHAT THE EVER LIVING
fuck was he doing?
The thought kept running through his head. He had no use for this female beyond fulfilling her Rut—which he’d fulfilled in the stupidest way possible—and finding her sisters before he sent her away. He couldn’t give her what she wanted. He didn’t have it in him to bare his soul to her, to let her claim him like lost luggage. He needed her gone, to forget her scent, to erase the taste of her from his oral memory.
But he was deep inside of her, and his thoughts were solely for his next orgasm and the scent of her in the air. In this moment, he lived for that scent alone.
His thrusts were as aggressive as he felt. He pumped into her, relishing the way her body gripped him, milked him, as she gasped and cried out her pleasure.
He was going to be a miserable shit when she walked out of his life. He knew it, but he wouldn’t say it. He’d let her go, force her if he had to. She was right to accuse him of not being willing to protect her. Or anyone else for that matter.
Tyson returned his focus to Harmony when her body shuddered around him. She came with a sob; a joyless sound lacking all signs of an erotic release.
“Harmony…”
She reached behind her, pushed his hips away, and opened the door, spilling into the bathroom on shaky legs. He caught her before fell and possibly hit her head on the edge of his claw footed tub.
“Leave me alone, Asim. I just want to take a shower.”
“Look at me.”
“What for? Do you want to know if you hurt me?” Her eyes met his. They were dry of tears and free of all emotion. “You didn’t. I was caught off-guard, that’s it. I know who is in this room with me, and he is nobody’s hero. I know his claws are mightier than mine, that his cut is deadlier and his bite more vicious. I won’t turn my back on him again. You don’t have to worry about me, Asim. I may learn the hard way, but I only need to learn once.”
She turned away from him and started the shower, hot water only.
Tyson left her alone and dressed in a pair of track pants. He needed to eat because he could feel his strength weakening. Hunger was never a good thing for a Rocky, especially when it appeared he was going to spend the day dealing with the aftermath of post-Rut regrets.
“You’re a fucking moron.”
He sighed. Just what he needed, a scolding from the God of Destruction.
“What are you doing here?”
“Trying to ensure you learned something. As your Champion, I’m responsible for you bastards.” Lykil rose from his seat at his dining room table. “Do you know how much work it is to keep all the leaders on a leash and get them to dance as I wish them to? Fucking impossible.”
Tyson frowned. “I did what you wanted.” He scanned the room. “Where is Ronan?”
“Checking the local area for that little tidbit she finally told you. You know about the abductions? Yeah, there’s this neat thing that happens when you get out of your own ass and do your job. You know stuff. Like as soon as it happens. You’re so out of touch with your people it isn’t even funny.”
“They aren’t my people. I don’t want to rule them any more than they actually want me ruling them.”
“And that is where you have made an erroneous assumption. They may have just given you the title, but the females of your race are not idiots. The males may be, but they aren’t willing to forfeit their lives to prove a point. The females knew that if anyone would have a chance in protecting their interests, it was you. Too bad you let your own pain drown you, but you aren’t the one who suffers from your neglect. They do. Every female too weak to protect herself and her daughters, every male unable to stand strong in an assault against his prowl, they are the ones who suffer while you sit here and wither away into obscurity.
“You are supposed to be their strength, their Defender, and the only things you have managed to erect a defense to are your heart and soul.”
“What do my heart and soul have to do with the protection of the Hafiz?”
“You think you can protect those that you don’t love in some fashion? Do you think you can have this callous attitude and protect them? To defend them with your life if necessary? You can’t. Love requires a sacrifice of self. You have to be willing to open that black heart of yours to give two shits about the people who are counting on you. Or rather were counting on you. I can’t say they bother too much now. You have a Hafiz nation of hopeless Lycans. Which is a shame, because the saddest thing in the world is to live without hope.”
Tyson stood in silence, trying to think past the grumbling of his stomach.
Everything Lykil had said was true. He really didn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to those who were supposed to count on him. Lykil’s words were probably supposed to be a rallying cry, a verbal jab to incite him to action. Unfortunately, he was just as interested in that concept as he was in his unwarranted title of Asim.
Lykil’s expression of shock would have been amusing if he hadn’t found it a little sad.
“You’re actually surprised that I don’t care? Almost as amusing as the thought of me as a hero. I’ve never found the infamy deserved or warranted. I haven’t done anything to garner their faith in me. The fact that they have embraced me as some sort of savior is not my problem. I have no need for it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m hungry.”
Destruction became so visibly enraged that Torin appeared, assessed the situation, and took the god with him when he disappeared. Tyson shook his head and went into the kitchen to find his front door open and Ronan leaning against the jamb.
“I went into town earlier while Lykil kept watch. Your kitchen cabinets were pretty bare. You aren’t poor, are you? I have money if it’s an issue.”
“I have money, dumbass.” He opened the fridge to find it fully stocked. “I just got here two days ago. I wasn’t planning on staying, just a day away from my other house.”
“Women trouble?”
“Less of them there than there are here.”
Ronan snorted and glanced back outside. “So… what are you going to do?”
“About?”
“Lykil, who else?”
“I’m supposed to do something?”
“Wow. You really don’t give a damn about anything do you?”
“How much of our conversation did you hear?”
“All of it.”
“Well then, I don’t have to repeat why I don’t.”
“Dude, seriously? You really have no fucking clue what is happening to your people. Fuck, it’s happening across all Lycan groups.”
Tyson closed the fridge, suddenly not that hungry. “What’s happening?”
“He told you Lycans of all kind are fucking missing, being abducted. We have a rescued female in our pack who was abducted in her early teens with her mother.”
“Point?”
Ronan rolled his eyes. “Damn, you’re stupid. I know I’m not the only one who noticed the scars on Harmony. They’re fighting them like fucking dogs. Our people are taken from their homes and families and treated like fucking animals, and you don’t give a shit. The leopards at the rescue center where you work are treated better than your own people. Here’s an added bonus, Lykil won’t tell us, but I figure there is a group in the area. Right in your own backyard. Your people suffer in your own backyard. But don’t worry, I get it, you don’t care.”
Ronan must have taken Tyson’s blank expression as an indication that his words hadn’t made the impact he’d hope they’d make because Ronan shook his head and let out a sad laugh.
“Let me put it this way. You don’t exhibit the traits of a fucking Rocky right now. You’re acting like a fucking coward. I’m having a hard time justifying letting you live. Fucking disgrace to the Order, your people, and all Lycans.”
With that, Ronan went back outside.
Tyson sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. All he wanted was peace. One day of peace. And he’d come to his cabin to find a group of Lycans and a god trying to force him to see past the point where he’d stopped caring.
* * *
Her shower had been the hottest shower of her life, but nothing was hot enough to wash away his scent. The smell of him was imprinted on her skin, like it had been ingrained in her very DNA and released as a marker for any who dared to come near her. Nothing was worse than trying to get rid of a person’s influence, only to have every breath be a reminder of the one she desperately wanted to forget.
She dressed in the clothes Isis had brought for her, slipping into the jeans a little too easily for her comfort.
The first thing she needed to do once she left Tyson in the rearview of her mind was to start putting back on weight. The worst thing about being held against her will was the food. Or rather, the lack of it. The stuff her captors had fed her wasn’t good enough for dogs, yet they fed it to her and her sisters as if the meal was substantial enough to make them champions.
After a final look in the mirror, she put aside the mental remarks about her unusually thin figure and exited the bathroom. Just her luck she’d find Tyson sitting on his dresser waiting for her. She sighed and began picking up the toys Isis had given her.
“Leave it.”
“I’m going to clean them.”
“So that they can go in the trash?”
“Who says I’m throwing them away?”
“I did.”
Harmony bent and picked up the remote controlled one she really liked and started back to the bathroom.
“Trash is over here.”
She kept going to the bathroom, turned on the sink faucet, and washed the toys with the specially formulated soap. When she was done, she dried them and put each one back in its case, carrying them back into the bedroom where she put them in the bag of clothes Isis had left behind.
“You may be Asim to the Hafiz, but seeing how you don’t give a damn about my welfare, I don’t owe you my compliance. I don’t care what you want. Your orders are merely suggestions.”
“You think so?”
“Do you honestly think I should pay your wishes any attention? What good would it do?”
“I am more powerful than you; I can make you comply. I’ve been lenient with you in regards to your complete disregard for my orders.”
She flipped him off. “You’ve been lax ensuring our safety. The females of your race are being held captive, raped by males of other species, forced to fight to the death like roosters in a cock fight, and bred like dogs when our Ruts hit. Do you think I give a flying fuck what you want me to do with a handful of vibrators that were going to be my salvation until you deemed me suitable enough to load me full of your seed to shut me up? I don’t care what you want, just as you don’t care what your people need.”
Harmony picked up the bag and started to the bedroom door, but was yanked to a stop.
“What did I tell you this morning?”
She turned around and watched a variety of emotions filter through Tyson’s eyes. None of them were the ones that would get her to put her bag down or get her to reconsider the drastic nature she’d go through to ensure he would never bother her again.
“Let go of me.”
“No.”
“My luck is shitty. I do admit that. I must not have said my prayers often enough or didn’t worship the gods hard enough to end up escaping one captor only to stumble into a shitty excuse of an Asim and be held captive again. Yay me!”
“I’m not holding you captive. That implies I want you to stay.”
“Then what do you want?”
“We need to talk about freeing your sisters.”
Her stomach growled as if sensing her unease at the topic and changing it for her.
“Well as you know, I haven’t eaten anything. I’m starving. Besides, I can just tell one of the other males out there. See! We have a solution that doesn’t involve us communicating. Ever.”
“You’re being immature.”
“Pot or kettle?”
“Go to the kitchen. Ronan has stocked the kitchen. You’ll eat; then
we
will talk.”
She went to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich, but when she was finished, she told him nothing. She wanted her sisters out of their crappy situation, but she wasn’t going to discuss it anymore with a male who didn’t care about them or her.
THE FEMALE WAS INTENT
on driving him insane. The male in him wanted her without reason. Needed her without cause. His need to possess her was too intense. Nothing close to what he’d felt for the female he’d loved—and lost— in a single glance, but the desire to fuck her irritating ass on his dining room table was still a palpable thing.
Maybe he had a thing for females who agitated him for no reason.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m waiting.”
“For?”
“Tell me about the men who are holding your sisters. Which direction did you come from?”
“I already told you I’m not talking to you about that. You don’t give a shit what happens to them anyway. If I’m sending someone in to get my sisters, I want that someone to care if they get out alive or not. You probably would prefer an ‘or not’ scenario, Mr. Villain.”
“What makes you think I’d wish death on your sisters?”
“I guess you being unaware of the plight of your people led me astray. You really care for us, don’t you?” She rolled her eyes and faced the door. “That was sarcasm in case you missed it.”
“You can answer my questions the easy way or the hard way.”
“So we’ve moved on to threats. Got it. Anything I should expect? Nevermind, surprise me. Can’t be worse than being raped by a male who’d been threatened with death if he didn’t comply.”
“I have no intention of raping you. We’ve already fucked; can’t say I’m impressed.”
When Harmony turned to face him again, her eyes were void of emotion. She had the appearance of someone who’d seen too much, who’d endured more than her fair share of misery. The horrors she’d witnessed and survived evident in the cold way she regarded him. Death would have been kinder to her suffering.
“Well, that leaves pain. Fine by me. Preferable really. Pretending I’m having a good time in the bed with you was arduous enough the first time.”
He snorted and reclined in his chair. “Was it now?”
“It would be faster if you two just fuck and get it over with,” Ronan said, startling them both from their banter.
“We did that already. I won. Got a baby out of the deal. Go me!” Her eyes betrayed her. Lingering in her blue-gray depths was muddled anger and lust.
“Well, do it again until both of your shitty attitudes improve.” He paused as if thinking. “Scratch that. We’d never leave. I doubt Tyson would know a good mood if he fucked it to death. Come on, Harmony. Walk with me. I need some good old humid Florida air.”
The way Harmony vacated her seat would have wounded the feelings of a lesser male. Bat out of hell wasn’t an accurate enough description for the speed she left his presence.
He decided to deal with her later, because she would tell him what he wanted to hear, even if she told Ronan first.
“Your people skills are the worst I’ve ever seen, and I know some shitty people.”
Tyson turned to find the last god he expected in his house. He stumbled over his greeting to the God of Kings and Queens, the god from which his power as Asim came.
“So tell me, why do you think I am here?”
“Did Lykil tell on me?”
Ulryk laughed. The sound vibrated the walls of his house and thrummed a long lost sense of happiness in his soul.
“I have talked to him. Or rather I listened while his Hermod tried to keep him from ripping you to pieces just to appease his mood. Destruction really is mad. But no, I have a delivery.”
The gods didn’t make deliveries. That’s what their personal Hermods were for. To have Ulryk in his home meant one thing.
“Yes, you have been Challenged. Your people grow weary of your indifference. Took them long enough I might add.”
“But why did you come to tell me? I mean it’s not like you couldn’t send a scroll.”
“I could have, but I want to impress on you something that Lykil can’t do without impressing his foot up your ass. You need the female to trust you. You are aware that Lykil can’t tell you everything because he is bound by the rules of his new domain. I am not bound by the same rules, but I can’t tell you all that I know because you have to learn something on your own. If you think mortals are pawns now, imagine what it would be like if we told you everything we wanted you to know. Your life would be pointless.
“The female is important. She isn’t a pest or someone to toss away. Damn the mate you’ve lost. Hafiz aren’t meant to be bound the way the Alesers and Talas are. Her importance is to the well-being of the entire Hafiz Nation. She’s also imperative to your personal survival.”
“How is that?”
Ulryk shrugged. “One of those things where I get to know and you don’t.”
“I don’t have time to coddle her. She isn’t my Soul’s Mate.”
“Your Soul’s Mate is dead. Her soul is in Gardas; therefore, she is useless to you. Her strength did not keep her safe.” Ulryk smirked in a way that begged Tyson to wipe it off his face. “Guess who isn’t dead when she should be? Guess who survived when she shouldn’t have? Guess who is still here while the corpse of your mate belongs to Death? That would be Harmony, the female you regard as insignificant every chance you get, the female you’ve impregnated, but have deigned to lie to yourself about the reason you’ve done it. Start being the Asim the race needs or prepare to meet your mate in disgrace.”
Ulryk dissipated, leaving him alone to process everything, not that he was alone long enough.
“Ronan said I needed to talk to you so here I am.”
Harmony stood at the front door, sunlight streaming in behind her. Her deep brown hair blew softly around her shoulders, but the image was anything but peaceful. Everything about her radiated a sense of banked violence, of vengeance to be exacted, all spawning from a moment that had changed her forever. A moment everyone seemed ready to blame on him.
* * *
Harmony sat at the table and stared across at the father of her unborn. She tried to think of something good to say about him, anything to make it easier to see him as more than the irritant she was forced to endure the presence of.
Superficial things popped into her head. Tyson was attractive—beyond the god-given beauty—on some level. He was utterly masculine, his body carved in a way that spoke of many hours of hard work. He sported fewer battle scars than she did, though a few of his were more horrendous. She liked his short hair, which was unlike the long tresses most Rockys wore. He had the darkest green eyes she’d ever seen on a Lycan. Flecks of light brown added some light to his nearly black depths. Still none of it was enough to keep her from being agitated by his presence and everything he stood for.
“You want to talk. Talk.”
She nodded, more to herself than him, taking the moment to calm herself so that she could speak without being reduced to a string of curses and maybe a few thrown punches. He was working overtime to make sure she hated him. Harmony wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to try so hard.
“My sisters are being held in a house northwest of here. They have locks made in Gardas on the cages. I don’t know how to break them. Their cages are on the ground floor, and they are always guarded. I suppose they are guarded a little more heavily since my escape.”
“How did you escape?”
“They took me out of my cage.”
“Why?”
She hedged. The things that they’d wanted to do to her rang in her head. Her captors had injected her with something that made her almost incoherent as they moved her to another room outside of the main house. From the feel of the slab beneath her, it had to be the room her sister had spoken about, the one she had to escape if she wanted to retain any sense of dignity and sanity.
“Why did they take you out, Harmony?”
“For a little one-on-one training.”
Tyson frowned at her. “Meaning?”
“Males. You are the worst possible thing to be forced upon a female, yet we endure you and your simpleton brains because some of us like the feel of a stiff cock. Figure it out yourself. It doesn’t matter. I wasn’t in the main house when I was able to run.”
He nodded, but she could tell that he’d put something together in his head about what she’d been implying. His eyes were hate-filled, and though he was looking directly at her, she could tell whoever he finally aimed that hate at would suffer terribly.
“How long did it take you to get here?”
“I ran for two days. I had to stop a few times because they’d tracked my scent. I did my best to cover it, but I’d been drugged, which made it hard for me to remember to keep up the routine to smother my smell.”
“Two days,” he said. “I can handle that. Do you know anything about their security?”
“No. I was always blindfolded—with the exception of when I was drugged—after they took me out of my cage.”
“Besides your sisters, who else were they keeping?”
“Depends. They rarely had Talas or Alesers. Not enough loners among them. We were partitioned off so I don’t have an exact count. There were twenty to thirty cages, but that doesn’t mean they’re all occupied.”
He turned his attention away, his thoughts seeming to take over. She took the moment of silence as her chance to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“To find something to do. I can sit in silence by myself.”
“You should go to sleep. You look tired.”
Harmony knew the instant he said it that her reaction would come out irrational. Despite knowing her reaction wouldn’t be pretty, she glared at him and forced herself to stand.
“If I look tired, it’s because I’m forced to deal with you and your petulant attitude. I’m not going to sleep here anymore than I absolutely have to. I let my guard down once. It cost me my freedom. Stupid me. I let it happen again, and surprise, surprise, I ended up pregnant by the idiot who rules us. No thanks on the sleep. I’ll stay awake and keep myself safe.”
Tyson studied her in a way that left her feeling naked. He stared at her long enough that she felt she should leave because the intensity and pure eroticism of his gaze wasn’t something that should happen where it could accidentally be stumbled in on.
“Go get in the bed, Harmony. I have no use for you if you’re too tired to actually listen to basic commands.”
“I’m not tired,” she said. She’d lost the venom in her tone, truthfully too tired to be bothered.
“I don’t care. Go get in the bed or I’ll put you there myself.”
Rebellion twinged in her gut. She wanted him to take her to bed, and she didn’t know if she should blame it on her Soul’s bond to Tyson or to the fact that despite how irritating Tyson was, she liked when he dominated her. Only he made her will melt at all the wrong times, like in this moment.
She sat down in her chair, crossing her arms across her chest. His eyes tracked the motion like the predator he was, zeroing in on the way her breasts rose above the pressure exerted by her arms. She had him where she wanted him, but she wasn’t sure he’d comply with the part of her that was apparently dead set on ensnaring this male once again.