Tempting the Tiger (16 page)

“Where are we going?” she asked and suddenly found herself spun around and slammed face-first against the wall. A hard body leaned into her, pressing until she gagged for air, her entire body revolting at the touch. She hadn’t been prepared for this attack, had never seen it coming. Being with Reno had made her stupid, and weak, so weak.

“What did you do to him?” the one Reno had called Murphy gritted in her ear, voice hard, deep and with the barest hint of a brogue.

She panted and gasped, unable to answer even if he really expected her to. She could barely suck oxygen in. Speaking was a no-go. Her body hurt, and the longer he touched her, the worse it got. What were they planning to do to her? And why? Why?

“There’s an empty cell over here,” the one called Finn said. The friendly guy who’d met her earlier was gone, replaced by an ice cold warrior even an outcast Blane could recognize.

“How did you fuck with his head?” Murphy asked and slammed her head against the wall.

She shook her head as black dots appeared around the edges of her vision. Her hand reached up, clawing at his grip on her hair, scratching skin and drawing blood. Where was Reno?
Where was Reno!
She could feel her body giving up the fight as she slid deeper into the darkness. She was barely conscious when he literally tossed her inside a room by his grip on her neck and in her hair. Her head slammed into a hard surface and sent a kaleidoscope of colors going off behind her clenched eyelids.

“No one’s going to die on our watch,” she heard Murphy say. “You think you can just come in here and tell us we’re all dead?”

She hoped he wasn’t waiting for an answer from her. She couldn’t form a word if she’d wanted to.

“Heard her loud and clear. She told Reno she’d kill him and all of us as well. I told Tah as soon as I got back.”

Oh, God. Finn had overheard and misunderstood her, seeing her as a real threat to him and the group. A threat to Reno. She felt a wall behind her back and slid to sit, throwing her arms out to help and encountering walls, too close. The walls were too close. She was panting for breath again, and it had nothing to do with the choking she’d received.

“And you’re sure he said to lock her up?” Murphy asked.

“She threatened us. You think he’d tolerate anyone threatening Abby? He was pissed,” Finn said.

“But he said to bring her down here and lock her up?” Murphy demanded.

“He said to follow her and watch her closely. We just got lucky when Reno agreed to let us take care of her.”

“Jesus. You don’t have a fucking clue if this is what he meant or not, do you?” Murphy exploded.

“He said take care of her. What’s your problem?” Finn demanded.

They were obviously fighting over her and how to handle her. She was trying desperately to focus on that and them, but it wasn’t working. Oh, God, it wasn’t working. She was losing it, losing herself in a nightmare that wouldn’t go away. Breathe. She needed to breathe. Then she could focus on crawling out the still open door.

“Stay down here and keep an eye on her until I talk to Tah and find out what the fuck is going on,” Murphy grunted out.

She tried to shake the daze from her head as fear seized her and locked her inside, trapping her even better than they’d planned. Finn slammed the door, shoving her feet until she sat with her knees to her chest just so she could keep a few inches of space between her and the door. She was trapped, enclosed. Locked inside too tiny a space. Oh, God! Oh, God!

“What the hell is that noise?”

She thought that was Murphy again, but was too lost to know or care.

She did realize the keening, animalistic moan was coming from her, but she couldn’t stop it. She wanted to talk, to tell them it wasn’t her they needed to worry about. She wasn’t the one who’d kill them. It was the danger that would follow her they needed to worry about. But she could feel the walls closing in farther, smell the dampness of earth around her, and real terror seized control of her until it was no longer a room she was in. She fell headlong into a past she’d never really left behind.

The chamber. She was in the chamber. Reno’s had been the one betrayal she’d never seen coming.

* * * *

Reno paced the floor, feeling more and more wired as the minutes ticked away. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He could feel it.

“Talk to me,” Tah demanded. “What the hell is going on?”

“Fuck!” He all but roared. He needed Amia. He shouldn’t have let her out of his sight.

“Reno.”

The command in Tah’s voice sank through and brought Reno’s head up, locking his gaze on Tah’s. If he wanted to get back to Amia, he had to talk. Quickly.

“They took me. I was getting ready to try a little night surveillance when they surrounded me. Tranqed me, and took me.”

“Jesus Christ, Reno!” Tah thundered. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“No time. I was lucky to get away.” He blinked his eyes, rubbed his chest, and felt a strong urge to see Amia, to touch her. “She rescued me.”

“What?”

“One minute, I was chained to the fucking wall getting electrocuted and beat all to hell. The next minute, she was there.”

“Fuck! They electrocuted you?”

He watched Tah rub his chest and knew his friend was thinking of the time he’d been chained to a wall, electrocuted and beaten. Looked like hunters had their standard forms of torture. Nothing like a good electrocution and beating to make your feelings about someone crystal fucking clear.

“Are you okay?” Tah asked.

Reno nodded. Except for the crazy vibe he had to find Amia, he was fine. Just fucking fine. He continued pacing and rubbing the back of his neck, then pivoted and headed back across the room, shaking his arms out and twitching as if someone were still running electricity across his skin. Wrong. Something was wrong.

“She found you?” Tah prompted him.

“Yes. Woke up, and she was there.” He felt the purr rumbling up through his chest at the thought of Amia and did nothing to stop it. “She got me off the wall and out of there. We were attacked on the way out. She took a tranq to the shoulder. I took them out. Took her with me, got the Jeep, and got the hell out of there.”

“Are you sure she saved you?”

The growl spilled from him. He remembered the softness of her touch, the way she’d urged him to be quiet, the way her hair had made him think of an angel. “What are you suggesting?”

Tah sighed. “I don’t know. Just seems like they were on to you. They waited and took you. Beat you and left you.”

“Sounds like what happened to you,” Reno fired back. “What does that have to do with Amia?”

“She’s a Blane,” Tah shrugged his shoulders. “Are you sure she isn’t a plant to lead them straight to us? Maybe they sent her in there to release you, expecting you to take her so they could follow.”

“No fucking way.” He kept the roar inside and fought the animal urges with male logic.

She’d shown up out of nowhere, saying she’d heard he was there. She’d fought him every step of the way about taking her but had never seriously tried to run from him after that first time. What if the reason he hadn’t felt threatened in the woods had been because they weren’t there to take them, but to follow them? He’d taken her back and made love to her. The animal inside was enraged at the questions running through his head, and Reno lifted his hands to grip his hair as the battle raged within him.

Did she feel anything for him? Or was it all a tease to get him to bring her here? The need to save her, protect her? But she’d been escaping them for years. How? And why? And why did just the touch of doubt make his soul cry out in fury? Because it was wrong. Tah was wrong.

“Are you sure of that?” Tah’s question interrupted his internal war. “You’re not really acting like yourself right now.”

Pace. Rub. Pace. Growl.

“If she’s a plant, it’s not by choice.” He thought of the scar across her belly, the nightmares, and the shadows in her eyes. There was no way she could have faked all that. He thought of her eyes, her confession that she’d be the reason he died if he took her. He’d never once picked up on her lying to him. The animal rumbled in agreement as he shook the doubt completely away. He would bet his life she was as much a victim as anyone the Blanes had hunted.

“You might be too close to see this, Reno.”

His head came up, and he bared his teeth at Tah. “Is that how you were with Abby when you awoke in that cell? Too close to see the truth?”

Tah’s angry growl filled the room. “Watch yourself. Abby’s my mate. I won’t tolerate you questioning her. Ever.”

“What if Amia is mine?”

“Have you claimed her?” Tah looked tense, uneasy.

Had he? The animal roared yes, but the man was still uncertain.

“Amia is not the enemy,” Reno said in answer.

“Until we know that for sure, we have to take precautions.”

Something about Tah’s tone of voice had Reno’s eyes narrowing in anger. He stopped pacing, shifted his legs wider and crossed his arms over his chest. It took all his focus not to move to the desk Tah leaned on and put his hands on him. Rage burned in him. Rage directed solely at the best friend he’d ever known.

“What have you done?” He did his best to keep his tone level, but the anger was there, in the rumble of his voice, in his very stance.

“What needed to be done to ensure the safety of everyone here.” Tah stood tall and unafraid, at peace with whatever choice he’d made. “She threatened to kill us all. I can’t just ignore that.”

“You don’t have a clue what she threatened! What have you done?” Reno roared the question, his entire body shaking. Claws emerged again, and he burned with the need to attack. He’d taken two steps before he found the control to stop.

Didn’t matter. Tah met him halfway. He was up in Reno’s face, teeth bared, chest out. “I’m protecting my fucking pride because my head of fucking security can’t do his God damn job. Get your fucking head screwed back on right, Reno.”

“Where is she?” The words were a mere whisper of sound as they faced off, enemies instead of friends.

“She’s being contained until we figure out why there’s still a signal trying to go out, even with the Jeep and gear gone.”

“What?” That took the wind out of Reno. How was that possible? He’d taken her clothes, her shoes. There was nothing left from before. Or was there? He shook his head. No more questions. No more doubt. His beast rumbled in agreement. Only one thing stood clear in his mind. They were in danger.

“It’s not her,” he answered. “Where is Amia?”

“Is it you?” Tah ignored his question.

“No.”

“Then chances are, it’s her.”

“She would never betray me, Tah. I’m certain of it. There are things about her you don’t know. Where is she?”

“Then tell me. Make me see her through your eyes,” Tah demanded.

“She’s been hunted, tortured. Christ, I’m not even sure what all they’ve done to her. And still she fights them.” His gaze locked with Tah’s. “I’m not the first person she helped escape them. She’s been helping others since she was sixteen, and trust me when I say she’s paid the price.”

“Then why haven’t they killed her?” Tah demanded, unknowingly mirroring some of the very questions Reno had just voiced inside. “Why not just kill her and be done with her?”

“I don’t know,” Reno admitted, and saying it, realized he didn’t care. As long as they never got their hands on Amia again, he didn’t care why they’d left her alive. He was just grateful they had.

“Then I need to do what I must until we do know,” Tah said quietly.

Reno heard the sadness in his friend’s voice. He made it seem as if the choice was either Amia or the pride. Easy choice for Tah. Not for Reno.

“Don’t make me choose between you and her.”

“Are you saying you’d pick her over us? Over me? Over Abby and the baby?”

“I’m saying don’t ask me. I’m not sure either of us would like my choice. Now where is she?”

“I thought you didn’t mate her?”

“I’m not sure what the fuck is going on between us,” he confessed as he paced away again. He wanted to rage, to attack, anything to find out where she was. “I know I need her until it’s a physical ache I can’t satisfy. I take her, and it only makes me want her more. I know the thought of anything hurting her makes me want to kill. And make no mistake. I will kill to protect her.”

Tah eyed him, then blew out a rough breath. “Fuck! You’ve mated her, Reno.”

“How can you sound so sure of that?”

“That’s how I am with Abby. Even knowing she’s in the lab with Diane and the Professor right now, I still feel the loss of her at my side. I still twitch with the need to have her beside me, where I can know she’s safe.” He shook his head and looked devastated. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it had gone that far. I asked you, but you… Doesn’t matter. I should have figured it out by how off you’ve been. I knew you’d taken her. I just didn’t realize.”

“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded.

Tah’s mouth opened, but the words never made it out. Just then the door opened, and Murphy stood there. Reno smelled the blood on him and growled. He’d been with Amia. Where was she? And why the hell was there blood on Murphy?

“What the hell is going on?” Reno demanded, but Murphy ignored him.

“She’s been detained,” Murphy said, looking at Tah.

Reno was on him in a few steps. He had Murphy by the neck, feet dangling as he held him against the wall. “Where is she?” he roared in his face.

“Reno!” Tah yelled his name while Murphy’s face started going purple. He felt hard hands pulling at him, but he held tight. Survival instincts were kicking in strong. He had to get to his mate. His mate. Ahh, fuck! She was his mate, and he’d left her.

“Down…stairs…” Murphy was trying to choke out between gasps for air. “Base…ment…”

“If you’ve hurt her, I will rip you apart with my bare hands.”

Reno growled the promise into Murphy’s face as he dropped him and headed toward the hidden stairs that led to the bottom basement level. He thought of the tiny rooms they’d discovered there, rooms the Professor had installed to hold small quantities of supplies. He prayed they hadn’t put Amia in one of those rooms, but he was blasted by her terror as soon as he breached the door.