Infinity Unleashed (12 page)

“Tiger-shifter. Well… hybrid tiger-shifter." She smiled with embarrassment. "Half human, half tiger.” She grabbed my elbow, gesturing to the sofa. “Please, Infinity, sit down. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“This feels all wrong.” I jerked my arm away, fighting the odd wave of dizziness stubbornly. “Mason is an orphan from the Fire and Ash war just like me.”

She looked at me sympathetically. “No, he’s not, Infinity.” She extended her palm to touch my clammy forehead. “You’re running a fever.” She pulled out her cell. “Bring up the broth now,” she barked into the cell with gold eyes widening with concern.

I plopped down onto the sofa tiredly, my mind racing a mile a minute. How could I not remember coming here? Then something awful occurred to me that caused me to yank at my hem. “Who dressed me?” I swallowed nervously at the thought that I might’ve been sexually violated.

Skylar’s eyes widened. “The servants dressed you.” She sniffed the air loudly. “And you are most definitely still a virgin.” She looked at me with sad eyes. “We would never hurt you, Infinity. Mason would kill anyone who did. He loves you.”

I snorted with disbelief, knowing all too well the only person Mason loved was himself. “Let me be the judge of that.” Pointing over at the door, I looked at her accusingly. “That door was locked. Why?”

“Mason didn’t want you wandering out before he explained everything.” She wrung her hands worriedly. “Members of the pride are not exactly happy that you’re staying here. That’s why Mason put you here in your own private wing of the mansion. You know, just to ensure that you’re comfortable and safe.”

“Uh-huh,” I responded distractedly. In other words, the tigers were plotting to kill me in my sleep. I scanned the oversized corner living room slowly, wondering about the probability of escaping through the French doors that opened onto the terrace, and then I remembered the suite was at least five stories high. I would break my damn neck just trying to get to the ground floor.

Already in defense mode, I moved quickly, gathering enough information to get me out of this mess. “And exactly where am I?” I snapped.

“Colorado” She looked at me patiently. “At Degrassi Creek. That’s the name of our compound. Most of the pride lives behind its protective walls.” She licked her pouty lips anxiously. “Look, I know what you’re thinking, but don’t even think about escaping. The enforcers will chase you down and kill you. They resent your presence so much they don’t care about the repercussions of defying the Alpha or Mason.”

My throat felt parched as I tried to process all of this information. “Okay, stop.” I held out my hands defensively. “I get that they hate me for some reason.” I forced myself to smile. “So why don’t you just help me escape? Then you and your happy little pride can rejoice that the evil human is gone,” I said sarcastically.

She gave me a puzzled stare. “Where will you go?”

Rage bubbled to the surface. “Back home to New York!”

Skylar took a big step away from me with wide eyes.

My head pounded from the sudden, raging migraine. I took a calming breath. There was no way I’d be able to convince her to help me if I didn’t get my emotions under control. So I used another tactic. The calm, cool, and collected persona I used for dealing with slimy music industry executives and concert promoters who attempted to cheat me out of my rightful profits.

“Think about it, Skylar. Why would I voluntarily come to a compound filled with tiger-shifters?” My lips pursed with displeasure. There was no way in hell I would come here voluntarily, especially not with Mason. He was not exactly my favorite person right now. Not after my lawyer exposed his one-man coup to take over my life and finances.

She looked at me serenely. “Because he’s your mate.”

I threw my hands in the air. There was no rationalizing with her. She was like some brainwashed psycho. “Where’s Mason? I want his ass front and center right now!”

She sat down at the edge of the sofa. “In a meeting. The pride is in an uproar over the fact he brought you here. They think you’ll bring trouble to the pride.” She patted my knee. “But when they find out about the trauma you’ve endured and that you’re Mason’s mate, they’ll all calm down, and then we can all go back to business as usual.”

My mind disregarded everything she said except for one thing. “What trauma?”

She touched my arm with a cool hand. “I’m really so sorry about your mother.”



A shiver went through my body. “What? My mother?” I asked in a panic-filled voice.

Skylar’s eyes darted away before staring at me compassionately. “Maybe you should wait for Mason to explain.” She jumped up nervously, backing toward the door. “I shouldn’t be the one telling you this.”

I scrambled off the sofa, grabbing her arm. “No! Stop.” I swallowed over my anxiousness, pressing on. “Please, just tell me what happened to her.”

Her eyes softened with sympathy. “Your mother was attacked and killed by wolf-shifters.”

“Wolf-shifters?” No, that felt… wrong. “Why would shifters want to kill her?” My heart thundered. “And who were they?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter.” Her mouth flattened. “Wolf-shifters are all the same—ruthless monsters.”

All my mental barriers came crashing down. Tears slipped from my eyes as the weight of Mom’s death settled on me. My knees buckled, but Skylar was quick. She caught me, gently sitting me on the sofa as I cried so hard my body violently trembled. It was ugly and raw, but I didn’t care. A part of my soul was ripped away forever. Skylar wrapped her arms around me, and for once in my life, I allowed someone other than Mom to comfort me.

“I know my words may seem hollow, but her soul has gone to a far better place.”

I had absolutely no memories of Mom’s death, which was odd. Something as earth-shattering as that I would remember. I know that I would. Shaking her arms off, I responded. “You’re right.” I wiped my eyes angrily. “Your words are hollow.” I looked around the suite. Everything felt wrong. I had to go home. I had to see her for myself. “I need my clothes.” I tried to stand but collapsed back onto the sofa. “How long have I been here?”

“Not long, a couple of hours.”

I shook my head with disbelief. “A couple of hours? It’s Saturday?”

She nodded yes.

“There’s no way in hell.” How could I lose hours of memories? It was too bizarre for words.

She looked over at me with serene eyes. “Mason told me rogue wolves tried to subdue you with Rejuvenator. He got there just in time to save you, but by then, they had overdosed you with that filthy Rejuvenator garbage.”



That’s why I was so sluggish. The memory loss was eerily similar to my last Rejuvenator relapse. “And what about Anya?” Anya was like my second mom. I couldn’t lose her too.

For a long moment she looked at me, as if trying to get the strength to say what she was about to say. “I’m sorry, but I believe she’s dead too.” She reached out to touch me, but I evaded her touch. I just wanted to be left alone.

“Infinity… Mason will take care of you. I know he loves you dearly. He will do everything he can to make you part of this pride. We are your family now.”

For some reason, that didn’t exactly fill me with joy. In fact, it made me pretty damn apprehensive. Suddenly, the door swung open with Mason standing in the doorjamb, looking like some tall, blond Greek god. His smile widened as he gestured to the large steaming mug in his hand.

“I come bearing gifts.”

He strode right in, looking at me with a desperate longing on his face that made me uncomfortable. He was gorgeous and worked very hard to keep up his persona, but I saw behind the mask months ago. His gold-blond hair, coupled with his unusual, sensual gold eyes, used to make my heart race with adoration. Now, I felt absolutely nothing.



Skylar heaved a sigh of relief. “About damn time.” She looked at him pointedly. “You two have a lot to talk about. I’ll be back later.” She waved at me before leaving the room swiftly.

Not wasting time, I went on a verbal attack. “Who killed Kara?”

Gingerly, he placed the mug on the side table before reaching for me. I recoiled. Everything about him repelled me. He sighed heavily before sitting on the sofa, deliberately crowding my space. It took everything in me not to move. To prove to him and myself that the power that he once held over me was gone. He didn’t own me.

“I don’t think you’re ready, Infinity. You’ve been through so much the last couple of days between the death threats… and now Kara.” He lifted a strand of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

I smacked his hand away, feeling sick to my stomach by his touch.

“You don’t get to decide when I’m
ready
. I want the truth.
Now!”

Those gold eyes I once thought were so beautiful locked with mine. He was actually pissed off. His body vibrated with anger. “You want the fucking truth? Boulder played you. While you were panting all over him like some dumbass groupie, he was plotting to kill Kara and kidnap you for Maxim.”

My teeth ground together. God, I hated his condescending ass. I fought the urge to bang his head into the coffee table with raw violence. To think I once loved him like some fan girl. I was embarrassed that once upon a time I practically begged him to be my first. It made me sick to my fucking stomach. Thank God I dodged the damn bullet by finally coming to my senses.

“He didn’t play me, Mason. I know people, like I know you. Don’t forget that being in the music industry has honed my bullshit detector.” I wanted to add that I smelled bullshit all over him. “Boulder didn’t lie. He was straight up with me.” In fact, that’s what I liked most about him. He was straight up with no chaser.

His face twisted into an ugly mass of rage. “Stop being so stupid. Maxim paid Torch and Boulder to kill Kara and Anya. They would’ve killed you too with that overdose of Rejuvenator they shot you up with if Nick and I hadn’t arrived just in time to save your sorry ass.”

My back straightened. My fingers dug into the flesh of my palm, stopping me from doing what I really wanted to do—gouge his eyes out.

“Don’t you ever call me stupid again. I’m not going to sit here and be fucking verbally abused by you. Now be fucking nice or this damn conversation is over.”

He laughed bitterly. “You’re not in control here.”

“And neither are you.” I looked at him icily. “If you think that because I’m on your territory that I’m going to roll over and submit, then you’ve got another fucking thing coming. Your reign of power over me has been over for months. I woke up.” I pointed in his face. “And what I see behind that perfect mask is not pretty.”

His jaws snapped and eyes flashed from human to tiger then back to human. I paused, waiting for him to calm down, not giving a shit if he went all tiger on my ass. I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore.

I continued. “And if this whole conspiracy theory is true, did the Collective have anything do with the attack?” Memories of all of the death threats I received if I didn’t cancel my concert flooded back. Death threats orchestrated by the Collective, a corporation of vampires. Frowning, I asked, “And why does the name Maxim sound so familiar?”

He gritted his teeth. “It should. Everyone knows Maxim Lupo. Humans know him as the oil tycoon. Others know him as the leader of the New York Wolf Covenant.” He looked at me slyly.

“Go on,” I said flatly.

“He’s also your father.”

My body twitched. “I’m a wolf-shifter?”

“Hybrid, half Valkyrie, half wolf-shifter,” he spat.

I licked my dry lips, wiping the perspiration from my forehead. In a weird way, it all made sense, down to the scary spirits that trolled my dreams, showing me snippets of the future and the past.

“Why did Maxim kill them?”

“Your concert made everyone nervous.” He leaned forward and sneered. “Vampires run the Collective and the mangy wolf-shifters from the Wolf Covenant are paid to look the other way while getting a cut of the blood for Rejuvenator profits.”

I looked back at him steadily. He wanted to rattle me. Wanted tme to back down from the knowledge that vampires and wolf-shifters wanted me dead. Not happening. “So it was true. The vampires are using Rejuvenator as a cover-up to use humans as their personal blood bags.”

He quickly hid his shock that I knew the truth all along and most importantly… I wasn’t afraid of it.

“After the Fire and Ash war, the Other population was nearly extinct and they needed to boost the number of births. That’s the real reason Rejuvenator was engineered. They thought they found a cure, but what they found instead was a cure for human diseases.”

“Others don’t give a crap about humans,” I stated flatly.

“Very true, but with so few humans left after the war, the High Council prohibited vampires from feeding on them. That’s how the blood for Rejuvenator got started, creating clean, bottled human blood for vampires to gorge on without killing. It was a fucking brilliant plan, and the Collective made billions. Humans were so damn grateful for a disease-free existence they were falling over themselves to give up their blood for free. It was a win-win situation for all.”

My eyes widened as more pieces of the puzzle started coming together. “You mean it was a win-win for the vampires. The wolves probably got pennies from this scam and the Others were left out in the cold.”

He looked at me with grudging respect. “I’m impressed you figured that out. As far as I’m concerned, the vampires have held the reins for far too long. It’s time for an organizational change and I plan on leading it.”

I snorted with disgust. “It’s always about money and power with you, Mason.” He was such a scum bucket.

“Coming from a woman who’s made millions from pimping her image, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“And I used that image to cut off the vampires’ food supply, not to profit from it.” I sneered.

His lips curled up with distaste. “God, you’re so damn naive. Do you know what would happen if the blood for Rejuvenator program disappeared? Vampires would hunt humans to extinction. Then they would come after Others for food.” He scowled. “There was already grumblings of war. We didn’t need you poking your head in our damn business.”