The Alpha's Fight: Huntsville Pack Book 3 (16 page)

As soon as he dealt with Mason, he would call the sheriff and get to the bottom of it all.  And as far as Mason went, it was time to speed up the timetable. He'd been content to bide his time, but with Lia in danger, he needed to act fast.

"Come on, Mason. Everyone here has had a go at me but you. When are you going to take a turn?"

Mason turned around from where he sat at the bar. "I'll get to you soon enough."

"What are you? Afraid?" Ryder shook his head. "Don't deny it. You sent these guys to make sure your dirty work would be easy and now you're too much of a chicken-shit to see it through, aren't you?"

"Take him outside." Mason waved his guys forward.

Trent opened the bar door and looked out the door. "Not everyone's here yet, alpha."

"I don't care. I'm done waiting and I sure as hell don't want to listen to Ryder spout anymore nonsense."

At Trent's nod, two men grabbed Ryder and hustled him out of the bar and into the parking lot. While he'd been inside, most of his home pack had gathered. He nodded to Warner and his mate, Thalia, her eyes were wide with worry. Peter stood next to them, arm wrapped around both his mate, Flora and his daughter Julia, who tucked herself into her father's strength, her eyes haunted. They'd been counting on the new pack as a way to get away from Mason. Before their alpha started harassing them over Ryder's plan to leave the pack, he'd given them smaller and smaller cuts of the pack's income. That was the price of not going along with Mason's games, of not bowing down to the violence he demanded.

Ryder wanted to tell them it would be okay. That the new pack would still happen, but he didn't really know that was true. He'd been in his share of hard fights, but never ganged up on before by a crew intent on preparing him for an execution.

His body had too many injuries to operate at full capacity. This meant his reflexes were slow. Mason wasn't all that fast, though. He'd never trained to be nimble like Ryder had. Never drilled until he could move his bulk at speeds that would surprise even a shifter. Ryder could only hope his fighting experience would still give him an edge. The silver put his wolf on mute and eroded his strength, but it couldn't take away his training.

Mason's men herded the crowd into a rough circle and placed Ryder in the middle. Mason came forward and addressed everyone.

"Ryder has challenged my authority. I don't know why. All day, every day,
everything
I do is for this pack, for you. I'm the one who brings in the money that supports all of you. All I ask for in return is respect." He gestured to Ryder. "This shifter has none. He doesn't respect me, which means he doesn't respect
you
. A pack's strength is in its loyalty. You divide the pack and it falls. We all know this."

A murmur went through the crowd and several heads nodded. Ryder kept his expression neutral as stony glares shot his way.

"In case anyone else has forgotten that I am alpha and why I am alpha, I've called you here today to remind you." Mason turned to Ryder. "I challenge you, Ryder Chase. An alpha's challenge. The winner will rule this pack."

"I accept," Ryder said, keeping his head high. He couldn't keep people from seeing his injuries, but he would be damned if he would let the pack see any other weakness.

Someone came up behind him and removed the handcuffs pinning his hands behind his back. He wind-milled his arms to get the circulation moving, flexing his hands in the process.

That was all the time he had to prepare as Mason launched himself into the air, aiming straight for Ryder.

***

A
lessio drove fast, but with breathtaking precision. He pushed the odometer into the triple digits and timed the deceleration perfectly for a curve.

"Where are you taking me?" Lia stared out the window trying to make sense of time and space...on multiple levels.

"Home."

"And where is that?" She pulled on the silver cuffs yet again, hoping this time they might snap, but that continued to be wishful thinking. The burning sensation was almost unbearable. The heat branded her skin and sent sharp jolts of pain up into her shoulders. From there, it spread up her neck and into her head, pounding in her temples like a drum on fire.

"You'll see." He downshifted and gunned the motor to take advantage of a straight stretch of road.

"Just tell me." She threw up her hands in exasperation.

He slammed the brakes, throwing her forward. The only thing saving her from smashing her face into the dashboard was the seat belt he'd so carefully fastened around her earlier. Jerking the car to the side of the road, he put it in park and turned to her.

"You do not talk to me like that."

"How am I supposed to talk to you?" She lifted her chin and shot him a glare full of defiance.

His hand snaked out and wrapped around her neck before she could blink. He yanked her toward him and buried his nose in her neck. "Like this," he murmured over her skin.

She shivered again as his lips brushed over her. "Why are you so cold?"

He went still for a second, and then pulled away to look into her eyes. "Is it possible you do not know?" He frowned at her.

"Know what?"

"Look at me."

She blinked, which annoyed him. He took her chin in his hands and leaned in until their noses touched. "I said, look at me. Deep into my eyes. What do you see?"

"N-nothing." Except that wasn't exactly true. While she didn't see anything other than  black, soulless pupils surrounded by a frigid blue, she did sense something. A weight or a presence. It pushed against her, an unseen power she couldn't name and didn't understand.

"Are you sure?" He narrowed his eyes until she felt like his gaze was boring into hers.

"What are you?" His energy didn't remind her of shifters. No, Alessio was something else. She licked her lips. Her brain told her she should know this, but wouldn't actually let her have the word. Stupid head injury. It was going to get her killed at this rate.

"Perhaps this will help." He leaned in again, burying his face in her neck. "Ah, your heart, it sings for me. Such a sweet melody."

"W-what?" She tried to pull back but his hand was tight as a vise on her neck. Panic fluttered in her chest and the instinct to run at any cost shot through her, tensing her muscles. She flailed in her seat, but it did her no good. Between the seatbelt, the handcuffs and Alessio, she had no hope of escape.

Alessio looked at her again. "Shh. It's okay." He put a finger to her lips, rubbing it lightly from one end of her mouth to the other. His touch was cold as an icicle; freezing and unyielding. Goose bumps puckered her skin.

For the third time, Alessio nuzzled her neck.

Everything after that happened so fast. Something sharp pricked her neck. Fangs, her brain told her. Alessio had fangs. But that wasn't all...the glass on the driver door shattered as someone thrust a fist through it.

Alessio reacted so fast, he was a blur. He turned to respond to the intrusion, grappling with the hands reaching for him. Lia screamed as her door opened and a large man yanked her out of the car. She kicked at him, aiming for his groin, and snapped her teeth at his hand.

"Settle down," he growled. "We're saving you."

She kicked his shin, just to be on the safe side.

"Ow." He let her go and didn't stop her when she started to run in the general direction of the Rowdy Howl. Ryder was back there. She knew he was in just as much trouble as she was, but maybe together they could beat it.

A woman in a white shirt and jeans with a gun holster strapped on her hips stepped in front of her, forcing Lia to stop and reconsider her path. "I wouldn't go running off alone right now, if I were you."

"Who are you? Are you with them?" Lia nodded over her shoulder where two men took on Alessio, who'd gotten out of the car and now crouched on its hood. His face twisted with rage, he made an ominous hissing sound.

"Yes."

When Lia made to dive to the side and run around the woman, she moved with her, staying right in front and blocking her way forward.

"We really are your friends. Just hear me out."

"You have two seconds, and then I'm running, even if it has to be through you." A growl rumbled in her chest, the sound low and very serious.

"We're not going to let that bloodsucker take you." The woman nodded over to Alessio. The two men had grabbed him by the feet and were in the process of dragging him off the roof of the car.

"Bloodsucker?" Lia wished she could touch her neck and feel what Alessio had done to her there. Her brain finally cooperated and let her have the word she'd been looking for. "Vampire? You mean he's a vampire?" She shuddered with disgust.

"Yeah and you were his next morsel. Mason's been selling shifters to him." The woman shook her head. "We've been saving who we can. If Alessio hadn't pulled over, we might not have gotten to you in time." She pointed to Lia's neck. "I see he took the first blood."

"Is that bad? Am I okay?" She looked to where the men fought with Alessio. From a distance, the fight looked absurd, almost like the three stooges. One guy punched Alessio, followed by the other, and then Alessio went for them both. They went round and round with their fists for several seconds until one of the shifters kicked the vampire's feet out from under him, forcing him down to the ground.

"No. You'll be fine. It's when you drink their blood that the bond becomes permanent." She nodded over to the fight. "We got to you in time."

"Thank you." Turning around, Lia showed the woman her handcuffs. "Is there anything you can do about these?"

"We've got a key somewhere. Maybe one of the guys has it."

"What are you going to do with him?" She nodded toward Alessio.

"Turn him to dust. He's been preying on shifters for far too long."

"But," Lia moved to look at the woman again. "He has my sister, and I don't know where she is. If you kill him, I may never find her."

In that moment, it seemed like fate turned against her. One man straddled Alessio while the other pinned his hands over his head. The one sitting on him, stabbed a finger into the vampire's chest, repeating the motion over and over in a robotic fashion that moved faster than Lia's eyes could track. When he paused a moment later, she saw his finger covered with blood up to the second knuckle.

"Wait," she shouted, running toward them. "Don't kill him."

It was too late. The man raised and brought his hand down one last time before she even finished speaking, this time slamming his fist straight through Alessio's chest wall. Bone crunched and the vampire writhed underneath him, screaming in a high pitched wail that abruptly ended as the man withdrew his hand. Thrusting his arm up into the air, he threw his head back and howled. Blood dripped down his arm, soaking the sleeve of his T-shirt.

Lia swore under her breath as she realized he'd yanked out Alessio's heart. As she  watched, Alessio turned to dust in one big poof.

It was too much. She dropped to her knees, tears of frustration slipping down her cheeks. "No. No. NO." Staggering to her feet she ran to the men. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Both men looked at her, surprise in their eyes. The one shrugged. "We just killed the guy who was going to suck your blood and turn you into a fucking blood slave. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right." He looked to his companion. "Do you want to be right?"

His buddy shook his head. "Nope."

"He had my sister." She fell to her knees again, shoulders slumped. "Now I'll never find her. Never." Hopelessness crushed her chest, making her heart ache.

"Roger, do you have a handcuff key?" asked the woman. "We've got to get these off her."

"Yeah, sure." Roger, this was the man who'd ripped out Alessio's heart, rooted in his pants' pockets with his bloodstained hands. After a second he produced a key and tossed it to the woman. "Here you go, Dani."

The woman snatched the key out of the air. "Thanks." Kneeling behind Lia, she fiddled with the lock until it sprung free. "You're safe now. You can go back home."

Lia wrapped her arms around her knees, wincing at how much her shoulders ached at the movement after being held in one position for so long. "I can't. I have to find my sister. He took her somewhere." She looked at them all in turn, her eyes wide and pleading. "If you knew he was a vampire and taking shifters, do you know where he lived? What he did with the shifters he bought?"

Roger gave a slow shake of his head. "I'm sorry, but we've been trying to catch him for a while."

"Today was the first time we'd caught sight of him," said the other man.

"Mason's been smart about keeping these deals quiet," added Dani. "We've only been finding out about them after the fact."

"Who are you? Are you from Ryder's pack?"

Dani shook her head. "No. We're Pack Council. We've been investigating Mason and other blood slavers for months now." She pointed to the men in turn. "That's Roger and Sam."

Lia nodded to the men. "So why are you here?"

"Mason Claw's up to something. We're on our way to see what that is," said Sam.

"You're heading for the Rowdy Howl?"

"Yeah," said Dani.

"Mind if I come?" She stood up and brushed her hands off on her pants. "We can take the car."

"Things are probably going to get ugly. You're better off just going home," Dani said.

"I can't. I have to find my sister or home doesn't mean anything." Lia left out how she didn't even know how to get home in the first place. She was just as lost as she'd been when she first woke up several days ago. Nothing she'd done had yielded any concrete results or the return of her lost memory. She could run, they were right about that, but she refused to stop pushing until she had the answers she needed. Running away took her nowhere. If she wanted to remember who she was, her gut said she had to keep pushing.

That meant dealing with Mason.

And seeing Ryder again. The thought of his dark eyes meeting hers made her so happy she wanted to howl.

"Suit yourself." Roger shucked his clothes as he spoke. "I'm going to wolf it, though. The smell of that vampire is already too far up my nose, and my clothes are ruined. No reason to keep 'em."