Only After Dark The Boxed Set Books 1 - 4: Shifters Forever Worlds (31 page)

E
vie shoved
at the fur that covered her. She had to be dreaming. She pushed at the thick fur, but it was attached to something massive. She wriggled, half her body trapped beneath the thickness.

She realized immediately she wasn’t sleeping. And she sure as hell wasn’t dreaming.

Her head felt like someone had filled it with cotton, but otherwise she was awake. Her lids didn’t want to open. She so wanted to go back to sleep, to lose herself in the fur that wrapped around her like a blanket.

Her tigress released a piercing cry in her mind. The cry became a howl, raising Evie from her partial stupor.

She forced her eyes open, adjusting quickly to the darkness that surrounded her.

The fur wasn’t actually a blanket. A large brown bear was next to her, breathing deeply, seemingly asleep.

What the fuck?

The bear opened one dark gleaming eye, staring at her.

She didn’t move. She couldn’t shift fast enough to defend herself from the bear.

Before she could have another thought, and certainly before she could act, the bear began a swift transformation, shifting into his human form.

Todd Scanlon!

Memories came rushing back to Evie. She’d been in the restroom. There’d been a knock on the stall door. Thinking someone needed help, she’d released the latch.

She hadn’t anticipated the door flying open, almost knocking her down. Grabbing the stall’s painted steel panel walls, she’d steadied herself. When she’d looked up to see who’d knocked, Todd Scanlon stood at the entrance.

Her first thought had been,
what is he doing in the ladies’ room?

Her second thought had been why was there a guy behind him holding a pistol?

That had been her final thought. The gun made a loud whisper sound and a soft pop.

A piercing stab tore through her bicep. She hadn’t had a chance to glance down, she was too busy struggling because Todd had grabbed her other arm.

Then everything faded to black.

And now, here she was with Todd Scanlon.

Wherever here is.

Because she had no fucking clue where she was.

She looked around the dark room. Empty walls. No table. No chairs. Nothing but the mattress she was on, which was on the floor. Across from her a door with a tiny window.

It’s more like a fucking cell.

He wasn’t captive with her was he?

No, how could he be?

She was not naïve. She knew what had happened. They’d used a Tranq on her.

She swallowed the chalk dust that had accumulated in her throat. “Why?”

That was all she could manage, until she cleared the chalkiness from her throat.

Todd had completely taken his human form.

He placed a hand on her hip, tracing slow patterns in the fabric.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted you?” He raised himself on one elbow, his fingers still making circles.

She cringed, put her hand next to his, pushing it away firmly. “Get away from me.”

“What’s the problem?” His voice almost sounded innocent.

You drugged me, you asshole.
“Really?”

He frowned. “What do you mean? Yeah. Surely you know how I feel about you?”

Where the hell is this coming from?

If she’d been a cartoon character, her head would be spinning. That’s how she felt right now.

He continued talking as if the look of horror she was sure was plastered on her face wasn’t evident.

“Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve built, it’s all led up to this moment. We can finally be together. He’ll be out of the way permanently soon. I understand.” He ran a hand through disheveled hair. His expression was full of sympathy. “You’re conflicted; you’re torn between the two of us. I get it.”

There were a series of flashes in his eyes, and it was more than his bear’s amber glow. She tried not to stare, but couldn’t help it. His brown eyes had tiny pinpoints of white in them. She’d never seen that before. It was like tiny little starbursts in the brown, regressing and returning like tiny Christmas lights.

“Torn?” She may have been mesmerized by the phenomenon on his eyes, and she might have the aftereffects of the Tranq, but she wasn’t so out of it that she couldn’t process what he was saying. “What do you mean torn?”

“Him. Me.” He studied her face as if looking for comprehension, then continued. “You’re torn between me and that bastard, Mason Martinez.”

She shook her head. “This is—”

“I can make it so he doesn’t pull on your tigress anymore. So that you can concentrate your love on me. Fully.”

He thinks my connection to Mason is only my tigress?

“Todd.” She thought she’d try for logic and reason. If that didn’t work, she’d shift but she wasn’t holding hope for being able to do anything against the Tranqs she was sure he and the other guy had. “I don’t think you understand.”

“No, really. Look.” He reached across her, his body lying on her.

She was almost ready to shove him off when he pushed off and sat up on the mattress they were on.

“You’ll change your mind.” He held up his hand. A cell phone. He tapped on the screen. “Look.” He turned it her way. “Recognize anyone?”

She gasped. “Mason?”

Mason was on the phone’s screen.

In a cage.

“No. My God. No.”

Quicker than she could expect it, Todd’s hand flew out, his knuckles hard as he backhanded her.

Evie’s head snapped back.

She put her hand to her mouth. Blood. Her lip throbbed, and her tigress roared, urging for a push, wanting desperately to kill Todd.

Wait.

“Baby, I’m sorry.” Todd grabbed her shoulder with one hand and pulled her close.

Baby? What the fuck?

She pulled away slowly, regarding him as if he were a rattlesnake.

Hell, a rattlesnake would have been more predictable.

She couldn’t let him see how she felt. How much it upset her to see Mason in the cage.

“What?” She fought to control her emotions. “I’m not…” She wasn’t sure what kind of trap this was.

“Your scent tells me you still care for him. You’re releasing the indicators of concern. Even your pulse jumped when you saw Martinez.” He reached out, placed a hand on her neck lightly. “This little vein was throbbing the moment you laid eyes on him.”

Evie slapped his hand away. “I don’t know what game you’re playing.”

She left traces of her blood on his hand.

“You belong to me.” His hand snaked out, quick, serpent-like and seized her behind the neck, pulling her close.

His lips landed on hers. Flat. Cold. Making a lizard come to her mind. No sooner did that thought strike Evie, and before she even had a chance to react to his kiss, his tongue snaked into her mouth, seeking hers—slithering, exploring.

Evie jerked back. “What the fuck?”

Before Evie could stop her, her tigress slipped out, sharing control with Evie. Her claws extended, her hand darted forward, slashing at his face.

Todd, his hand flying to his cheek. He pulled his hand back, looked at it. It was covered in crimson stripes, matching the ribboned slashes she’d left in his flesh.

“You bitch.” The starbursts in his irises began a quick winking—menacing in the brown pools.

His expression changed, running a gamut of emotions, anger, lust, disgust, disappointment, and a few others she was unsure of.

It’s like he’s on some sort of super-steroids for emotions. I hope this doesn’t happen when he shifts into his bear.

He picked up the phone he’d dropped at some point, then pressed the screen. Raising it to his mouth, he said, “Let’s have fun. Send in two shifters. No, three.”

Over his phone’s speaker came, “But, boss, I thought we were going to have him fight tonight?”

“Well, don’t let them kill him, you idiot,” Todd snapped. He tapped on the screen again, showed her Mason.

He was still in the cage, but stirring.

Todd stood. “Come with me.”

No. Hell, no. Fuck, no.
“Let me out of here. My brother will kill you.”

“Your brother can’t even figure out what’s been happening on his own territory. He’s been too busy chasing that tail.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

He raised a brow. “You don’t know? You haven’t seen his new woman? Even my surveillance team knows.”

What the hell is he talking about?

It didn’t seem to matter, when she thought of the image of Mason in a cage, and the words Todd spoke about sending three shifters in.

“Come with me, or I’ll rescind my order to have him live.”

“What’s happening tonight? What was that guy talking about? The one on your phone?”

“A little sporting event. Shifters on shifters. A nice little cage match. It makes me a sweet living.”

“You do that? You have shifters fighting shifters? Involuntarily?”

Was that why he kidnapped her? Why he took Mason?
“You want me to fight?”

“No. I want you to be mine. By my side. To be my mate.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Over Martinez’s dead body, you mean.” He smirked, his features, now more than ever reminded her of a reptile. “Let’s watch your ex-boyfriend try to hold his own with three shifters.” He took long strides toward the door.

“You drugged him. How can he possibly have a fair chance?” She rose to her feet, followed him to the exit on shaky legs.

“Fair chance?” He whirled around, eyes glistening from the starburst patterns. “What do I care about that?”

Turning, he jerked the door open and strode into a long dark hallway lit with bare bulbs that hung every few yards.

The hallway smelled of sweat and death. A shiver passed over Evie’s spine. She tried to hold her breath, to avoid smelling it, but it was impossible. She struggled to keep up with Todd’s long strides.

She was beginning to get the picture. She remembered overhearing Lézare talking to Vax about the underground fighting ring that had been skirting between the two territories and more. She hadn’t really paid much attention. She had other concerns as the marketing director for Arceneaux Business Enterprises.

She tried to remember what all Lézare had said, but no specifics came to mind, except they didn’t know where exactly the headquarters were for the fighting rings and they didn’t know who exactly ran it.

God I wished I’d paid better attention.

The odor of the hallway was pervasive and it stuck to her. Shifters died here. Sacrificed to Todd Scanlon’s twisted ambitions.

They were nearing the end of the hallway where a set of double doors with clear panels awaited.

What was behind the doors? Would she see Mason? Would Mason be dead?

And then she heard the roar. It reverberated in her mind and bounced off the walls. Behind those doors, something very large was very pissed.

M
ason fell backward
. The bear before him roared, flanked by two more bear shifters. He stood over Mason, six-inch claws raking at the air. The bear was lost in a wave of red, blood pouring from the wound on Mason’s forehead, just above his brow, a two-inch deep gash from the bear’s black claws.

Mason swiped at his eyes so he could see better.

He pushed for a shift, needing his lion to step up and help, but the Tranq had fucked him up. He couldn’t push the shift into place. His lion paced and rumbled in Mason’s head. His anger surged, the adrenaline already pumping through his body at breakneck speed.

The bear dropped to all fours, his mouth wide in a threatening grimace. Sharp canines, long and yellow, drool falling from dark lips and a crimson cavern. He opened his mouth to release another bellow.

Now, goddammit. Shift. Now.
He pushed his lion, knowing his inner beast had no control, but not knowing what else to do.

Fuck.

Fuck.

All he needed was less than a minute’s diversion, he could pull his kit out of his pocket and be out the locked door, leaving behind the three bear shifters that were going to kill him.

A scream pierced the air, angry and full of wrath, interrupting the bear’s roar. All three bears turned to look at the source.

Evie.

Her mouth was wide. Her shriek relentless.

Next to her stood that bastard, Todd.

Mason noticed the gouges that crossed Todd’s face. Something had transpired with Evie.

Mason also noticed she’d been hurt. Abrasions marked the face he loved more than life itself. Then his lion scented her blood and roared.

Forget the kit.
He felt himself beginning a shift.

Nothing would stop his lion now.

Snapping bones and a grunt, followed by crunching and tendons stretching, tearing, then reforming, and his lion, in all his massive magnificence stood before the three bears. His lion leapt, flying through the large cage, landing on the lead bear’s back, digging his canines into the bear’s neck with an incapacitating relentless grip. He shook his massive head, severing the bear’s spinal cord, rendering him a threat no more.

The two other bears leapt on Mason, claws digging into his side, fangs seeking purchase in his throat blocked by his thick mane.

And throughout all, Evie’s scream was in the background.

E
vie stopped screaming
.

The bears had piled on Mason’s lion. And though she could see Mason’s lion moving beneath them, she knew it was a matter of time before they inflicted enough wounds to make him bleed to death, even if it wasn’t an immediate kill.

Then she noticed them. Six more shifters were watching the fight from the other side of the cage. Not actually in the cage, but were they backups?

There’s no way Mason can make it through this alive.

She grabbed Todd’s arm. “Make them stop. They’ll kill him.”

“Why should I?”

“I’ll do whatever you want. Anything. Just. Make. Them. Stop.” Her voice was a shriek, but it didn’t override her tigress’s roars in Evie’s head.

“Anything?” His eyes did that starburst thing. His smile was cruelly evil.

What Mason had done in that picture, was pushed aside. She wasn’t going to let him die this way.

She nodded.
To save Mason.

“Say it.”

“Anything.”

“You promise.” His fingers took hold of her chin, held it with a vise grip, pulled her closer to him. His other hand tucked her body against his, mound pressed against his thigh. He moved his thigh, rubbing against her.

Evie fought the nausea from Todd’s touch and tried to concentrate on Mason.

He dropped his hand from the small of her back, over her ass, cupping it, pulling her even closer.

“Halt,” Todd commanded.

The two bears looked at Todd.

“Give it a rest.”

The bears lugged their bodies off Mason and lumbered away, shifting into two men that were more like hulks of muscle and attitude. Their clothes rumpled but still on, as they always were after a shift. Removing a set of keys from his pocket, one opened the door. They slipped out, and he promptly locked it behind him.

One spit on the ground outside the cage door in disdain. The other shifters milling about behind the barred enclosure turned to their friends and clapped them on the back.

Mason was unmoving.

“He’s dead.” Evie’s knees gave out and she began a collapse to the cement floor that smelled of death, blood, and bleach.

Todd caught her, holding her against his body.

“I doubt that.” He nodded to one of the men. “Check the lion.”

The man leaned down and put his hand between the steel rods of the cage. He felt around, then, still squatting, he raised his head and looked at Todd. “I got a pulse.”

“See?” Todd said to Evie.

The man’s yell interrupted her response. He raised his arm from the cage, his hand dangling from the limb, held in place by a tendon.

Mason was on his feet, bloody, unsteady, roaring.

The man turned toward his friends. One had stripped his shirt off and wrapped it around his useless hand.

“Get him to a doctor,” Todd barked. “Martinez will pay for that. Yuri was one of my best fighters. Our deal didn’t cover the lion shifter fighting tonight. It only covered this afternoon’s scuffle. Tonight, he fights. One on one. To make it fair.”

“Look at him,” Evie hissed. “He’s in no condition to fight.”

“He better hope his shifter powers heal him quickly.” The starbursts began their miniscule flares in his eyes.

“You can’t do that.”

“I can. And if you don’t hold up your end of our agreement, I’ll make sure he doesn’t walk out of there alive. Just a tiny amount of Tranq, and he won’t be worth shit in the ring.”

“I won’t back out.”

But I’ll make sure you don’t live long enough to carry through on your threats.

“Let’s go. Now.” He yanked on her hand, pulling her toward the same set of double doors. “We’re going upstairs. You’re taking a shower and getting dolled up. You’re my date at tonight’s event.”