At mention of his Demon, Sophie looked all around and stopped when she saw him.
Wait a minute. Uncle? Sophie’s uncle was Ted Norris? Demon. He’d told her his name, but she’d already known it? He had more questions than answers, but the misery, not fear, in Sophie’s eyes took him aback. Even from far away he could sense her guilt. The bottom dropped out from his world.
His mate, the woman he’d loved with every fiber of his being, had sold him out.
Norris started laughing so hard he cried. “Oh honey. You done good. Brought me my wolf and an invite into that special town in one big fall, didn’t you? How many did you bring with you? Sixty? A hundred?” He turned to the crowd. “Fellas, we’re having a Folly to end all Follies! Extinction’s come to Cougar Falls!”
The men around him cheered and toasted to success.
“What are you talking about?” She tried to pull from his meaty grip, but Norris wouldn’t let her go.
If she didn’t stop, she’d bruise. Monty wanted to tell her to be careful, and then he wondered why he should care, if she’d set him up. Ted Norris’s niece. So why was she here, looking so sad and scared? None of this made sense. Had she been that great an actress she’d fooled the entire town for two fucking years, pretending to be scared while drawing them to their doom? But she was Ac-taw, and Ted’s niece…
Monty had been right. Norris wasn’t human. But he hadn’t shifted either. What the fuck?
“That group you have outside is just in time for the biggest Hunt ever. Thanks, girlie. Brett, come greet your cousin. She smells so good.” Norris winked at Monty. “Just as pretty as a peach too.” Brett left Monty with the other guard, a stunned smile on his face.
Norris knew Monty had mated her. The bastard taunted him with it. Terrific. Now he’d no doubt torture her to goad Monty into doing his bidding. But it wouldn’t work. First, Monty didn’t think he’d actually hurt his own blood. Nor would Monty care, not if Sophie had been so callous as to turn on her own kind. On him.
She frantically tugged on her wrist until Norris twisted and snapped it. Her howl of pain provoked a reaction Monty couldn’t help, and he turned on the guard holding a gun on him and snapped through his wrist with his teeth, feeling the bullet pass through the back of his neck. The sting hurt, but it was minor. He continued to tear and tug until the wrist gave way.
The chain didn’t allow him much movement, but he kept his focus on the Hunter by his side, not stopping until the fucker died.
Sophie screamed as her uncle pushed her into the pit with the rabid cats who’d paused in their fight with one another.
“Let’s see how much you’ve learned, little girl. Is scared little Sophie ready to take her rightful place yet? You ready to come home?”
Brett blinked at his father in shock. “Ted. That’s Sophie!”
“She’s just an animal whore, boy.” Ted shook his head. “She made her choice.” He turned to Monty. “But she did her job. Brought you to me like I told her to. Too bad she couldn’t keep her legs closed. Just like her momma, God rest her soul.”
The cats snarled and hissed, and Monty’s heart almost stopped, fear for his mate overtaking all sense. He strained and pulled, but he couldn’t tell what was happening in the pit.
He heard louder noises from outside, more guns, wolves growling, and what sounded like vehicles moving in. Large trucks?
Yet he couldn’t take his gaze from the pit, where Sophie had fallen. The screech of a pissed-off cat boiled his blood, and when she cried out for Monty, he saw red. His mate, trapped in this place with his enemy, when he’d promised he’d protect her. He felt the pain stab him deep where his spirit bled. He had to go to her.
Then he noted Norris’s crafty smile.
Or did he? Was Sophie Monty’s or not? They’d bonded. He loved her, she loved him. So why hadn’t she said anything when he’d told her the name of the man he tracked?
He wanted badly to trust, but years with Norris had taught him to count on nothing and no one but himself. Ac-taw would turn on one another in a heartbeat. Monty had only himself to rely on to get out of this mess, to protect the town. Norris was definitely up to no good.
Brett stopped by his father’s side, his face expressionless. “A whore?”
“Yes.”
“Well, damn.” Brett didn’t say anymore. And he didn’t have to.
Ted slapped him on the back. “Good man. Stay strong. Now let’s see what the girl can do.” He faced Monty. “What do you say, Demon? Think your whore can best two feral cats? And these lions have claws, boy. They hate humans.” He peered into the pit. “Well get to it, pussies. Cleave the girl in two and you might live to see another day.”
Monty needed her to shift, and he barked at her to do so, furious he couldn’t trust his instincts, which told him to save her, no questions asked.
More feline yowling and snarling, then nothing, and Monty wished to hell he could see. Whatever happened had to be good, though, because Norris started frowning. Explosions sounded from outside, and the Hunters looked nervous. Norris lifted his pistol and aimed at the pit, ready to fire.
Monty’s whole life flashed before his eyes, and he pulled on his collar hard enough to choke himself.
Before Norris could fire, a huge white wolf knocked him on his ass.
Axel?
“Sophie, get your ass out of there. And bring the cats,” Axel roared.
Monty stared, wide-eyed, as Ted shot at Axel and screamed at Brett to move with him. Hunters started firing at anything with fur, but not as many had their guns with them as they might have liked. They’d been ready to watch Shifters rip each other apart, not actually fight them off themselves. The booze they’d imbibed didn’t help them either.
As Norris crossed toward Monty, Monty knew he had to take a chance. Though vulnerable, he allowed himself to shift, hoping somehow he might slip out of his collar while mid-transformation.
Before he could manage it, Norris reached him, and Monty settled back into his wolf. He lunged and caught Brett’s leg. He refused to let go, even while the man screamed and Ted struck at his jaw again and again.
He blacked out.
When he came to, he saw the woods around him in a blur as he bounced in the open back of a Jeep barreling away from the camp. Sophie. Where is Sophie?
“Fucking professionals, my ass,” Norris snarled. “How hard is it to spray Hunter’s mist? You tranq the wolves and move in on them. Jesus. We should have had enough for three more follies this year. Instead the camp’s a mess and we took massive casualties. What a cluster.”
Brett remained quiet a moment before he asked quietly, “Charley and Matt? What about them, Dad?”
Ted smacked him, the slap loud in the night. “It’s Ted, you moron. Your brothers were perverted, unclean filth. Matt fucked those animals. Male or female didn’t seem to matter. And Charley was less than useless. They played bait, and they managed to screw even that up. Matt should have radioed to let me know when to set off the traps. He’s dead? Good. It’s more than he deserved.”
Brett raged at his father, his attack unexpected. The Jeep bobbed all over the place, but Monty couldn’t move, still chained, this time to the frame of the vehicle.
Until it overturned.
Sophie was as frantic to get far away from the cats growling at her as she was to rescue Monty. God, the look he’d given her, the hurt and anger. She hoped she could make things right before she died, at least.
One of the cats raked claws across her back, and it took her mind from the throbbing ache of her wrist. Enraged at being stuck down here while the chaos above them continued, her mate at risk, she turned and snapped back at them. Without thinking, she let her wolf take charge.