Tempting the Tiger (6 page)

“She said she was crying because every new discovery was a reaffirmation of little Tah. That he’s growing bigger and stronger inside her.”

“You going to let her name the baby after you?” Reno said to pull Tah back from the worry Reno could hear in his voice.

“Hell, no. He’s coming into this world with a lot of baggage as it is. He needs his own identity. Not to be placed in the shadow of his dad. People will try to put him there as it is. Sharing my name will only make it worse.”

Reno understood Tah’s thinking. “I’ll kick the shit out of anyone who tries to make him feel inferior in anyway.” Of course, no one who was with them at the cabin would ever do anything but dote on the child.

“You and me both,” Tah agreed with a sigh.

“So she has you convinced he’s a boy,” Reno said with a chuckle.

“She’s adamant, and Diane can’t get a good enough look to tell one way or the other yet.”

“Christ, you’re going to have your hands full with this kid, no matter boy or girl.”

Tah laughed now. “I’ll make sure Uncle Reno is on babysitting duty a lot.”

“Anytime,” Reno vowed and meant it. He’d protect Tah and Abby’s child with his life.

“Reno, don’t do—”

“I gotta go, Tah,” Reno said quickly, cutting him off before he could give a direct order. “I’ll call you in a few days and check in. Give Abby a hug for me.”

And he hung up, feeling just a bit guilty. But he didn’t have to be a mind reader to know Tah was going to tell him not to do anything stupid. Not that he thought his plan was stupid, but Tah might. His friend was thinking like a leader whether he realized it yet or not. Tah took the safety of his pride seriously. He wouldn’t like Reno’s plan to sneak onto the Blane Farm with little to no information about the layout.

He took a shower and lay down for a nap or at least a bit of downtime to let his mind and body relax while he waited for night to fall. He dressed quickly when his alarm beeped and found it pitch dark outside with the moon playing hide and seek with the clouds. Perfect. He took his bag with him like always. He left nothing behind in the room, preferring to keep everything in the Jeep in case someone wanted to snoop around. The Jeep had one hell of an alarm system that he kept turned on. There were only two ways to bypass it. Beeping the button on his keychain or keying in a code on the keypad on the door. Either way, you only had ten seconds to place your thumb on the sensor by the keypad or the alarm went apeshit again. And his thumb was the only one programmed into it at the moment.

He’d just thrown his bag in the back when he sensed movement around him. The parking lot had bad lighting, and he doubted he’d have picked up on them if not for his elevated senses. He debated jumping in his Jeep but shook the thought off immediately. Running would defeat the purpose. Instead, he shut the door and armed the alarm before turning to face the man who stepped out of the shadows by the edge of the building.

“Can I help you with something?” Reno asked, trying to look at ease as he scanned the immediate area. He knew there were more men spread around the lot. There was no doubt in his mind this had to do with the Blanes, and he had a feeling he was finally meeting some of the hunters.

“Hear you been asking around about Blane Farm?” The guy was tall but nowhere near Reno’s height. He’d place him around six feet even, maybe six-one.

“I’ve been asking about a lot of places around here,” Reno answered with a shrug. “I’m on vacation. Want to see as much as I can before I leave.”

“Vacation, huh?”

“Vacation,” Reno affirmed with a nod before narrowing his eyes on the guy. “Now, I’ll ask again. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Where are you going this late at night?”

Reno just looked at him, refusing to answer. His senses were alive, and he had a bad feeling shit was about to go FUBAR fast.

“I’ll ask you again,” the guy said, using Reno’s exact words. “Where are you going this late at night?”

“None of your fucking business,” Reno said. He casually slipped his hand behind him to grasp the gun tucked in the holster at the small of his back.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

This guy was really pissing him off. What had tipped them off? Who had he spoken with that might have found his curiosity about Blane Farm more than just casual interest in a local point of interest?

“Why don’t you have whoever’s with you step out then?”

The guy laughed. “It wouldn’t do you any good. Grab your gun if it makes you feel safer. You’ve got several on you right now anyway. You might get one shot off before you go down.”

Reno shrugged as if that didn’t bother him. “As my one shot would pierce your heart, it wouldn’t much matter, would it?”

The guy just smiled, and damned if that wasn’t the catalyst to make Reno regret not getting in the Jeep and hauling ass earlier. You had to worry about a guy who didn’t care if he died or not.

“We all make sacrifices. I’m thinking you’re worth it.”

“I’m no one,” Reno stated.

“Just a tourist?” the guy asked.

Reno nodded.

The guy’s glare was hard, eyes cold as ice, as he lifted his finger and pointed it straight up. “I don’t think so.”

Reno had just enough time to translate it as the signal it was before he felt a burn in his right shoulder and glanced back to see the dart sticking out. His arm was already going numb, rendering his gun useless. Any minute, it would drop from his hand. Fuck, any minute, he would drop. They’d used the same type of tranquilizing darts some of the men with Harlan Jones had used. He was sure of it. He shook his head, fighting to stay on his feet, fighting to stay conscious as the guy headed toward him.

“I don’t think you’ll be needing that.” He took the gun from Reno’s hand easily.

“I can’t believe he’s still standing, Kellan.” A young boy stepped out of the shadows.

Reno blinked, noticing with a heavy heart it took a little too much effort to bring the kid into focus. The kid had to still be in his early teen years, as puberty hadn’t come on full force yet. His voice was high, and his face still looked closer to babyhood than adulthood. It made Reno sick to think of what this kid was growing up learning.

“I think we’ve got ourselves a real trophy here, boys,” the one called Kellan said. “Let’s bag him and get him home. Then we’ll have some fun while we get some answers out of him.”

Reno’s last thought was of Tah. If Reno didn’t call in forty-eight hours, Tah would send someone after him, or come himself. Neither was a good idea. Somehow, Reno had to figure out how to get out of this. Alive.

* * * *

He came awake with a shout ripping from his gut as a surge of electricity set his insides on fire and had his back arching away from whatever he was resting against, straining at the bonds that held him in place. Fuck, his body hurt like a motherfucker. His clothes were gone except for the black boxer briefs sitting low on his hips. Well, fuck. This wasn’t good.

“Three shocks to get you to join us.”

It was the guy called Kellan talking to him. Reno gritted his teeth tightly. They’d done that to him three times? No wonder he fucking hurt. He’d been overconfident, cocky. He knew better. Now he was going to pay for it. He should have thrown his fucking ass in the Jeep and driven away. Instead, here he was. Chained to a fucking wall it seemed, and they didn’t look as if they were going to use talking to try for those answers they wanted.

“Take the cables off him,” Kellan ordered, and two men moved forward.

Reno nearly bit through his lip as they jerked the clasps free, taking skin and all, and not caring a damn bit.

“So nice to have you join us again.” Kellan glanced down at Reno’s wallet in his hands. Bastard. “Reno Esponetti.”

“Kellan,” Reno said. “Blane, is it?”

Oh, and the guy looked pissed that Reno had caught his name before he passed the fuck out earlier. How long ago? How long had he been out? He had no idea, and his forty-eight hours was ticking away.

“I’ll ask the questions here,” Kellan said as he stepped forward.

There was little Reno could do but absorb the blows as Kellan punched him in the face, stomach and side. It hurt like a bitch, but Reno was no pussy. He’d been in more than his fair share of fights over the years. He’d even spent a little time as a P.O.W. until Tah and the rest of the team had saved his ass. Yeah, so Tah might have had a reason to order him not to do anything stupid.

Reno coughed and spit out a bit of blood when Kellan finally moved back. He wasn’t sure if it was from the split lip he was now sporting or something much worse. Good news was he didn’t think any of his ribs were broken, yet. But they were bruised and aching all to hell.

“Now, what exactly are you doing here in Parkview?”

“Tourist,” Reno slurred. Damn, his mouth wasn’t working the way he wanted it to. His face must be a little more swollen than he realized.

Kellan nodded, and one of the other men in the room stepped forward and worked him over again. He was barely hanging onto consciousness when the guy stepped back, and Kellan, the fucking bastard, noticed.

“Water,” Kellan ordered.

The next thing Reno knew he was being doused with two full buckets of ice cold water. And how do you like that? He was right back in the game, feeling every fucking inch of his screaming body.

“Who are you, and why are you asking questions about Blane Farm?”

If Reno ever got free, he was going to rip Kellan apart with his bare hands. He took a deep breath and tried a different route.

“Heard you led hunting tours once upon a time. I like to hunt.”

“I don’t think so.” Kellan’s smile was downright evil.

He nodded his head and yet another guy moved in. This one had a fucking crop of some kind. One of those with all the little tassels on it that made Reno think of a kinky sex toy. But it stung like a bitch when the guy hit him, and the burn didn’t fade into any fucking type of pleasure like books proclaimed the ones used during sex did. This one just fucking burned to the point his skin felt on fire. He was as striped as a tiger when the guy finally stepped back. Bastard was sweating from the exertion.

“I can do this all night,” Kellan stated. “Can you?”

Reno gritted his teeth and refused to answer. He was smart enough to know it didn’t matter what he said. They were going to kill him, but only after they’d gotten their jollies off by beating him over and over again first.

A nod of Kellan’s head and another solid beating from the last figure in the room, the kid. Any pity he’d been feeling for the boy left as he went to work on Reno, wearing a set of brass knuckles on each hand. Reno felt the skin split along his side, then above his left eye as the kid caught him good enough to ring his bell.

He was sagging again when Kellan finally called the kid off. Jesus, who taught a boy to beat a man who had no ability to defend himself? Abby had said they were brutal. She’d hit the mark dead center on that one.

“Leave him,” Kellan said. “We’ll give him a chance to catch his breath before we start round two.”

Reno spit more blood out before doing his best to slur some words out.

“What was that?” Kellan asked as he stepped forward with a grin.

“Fu….ou…” Reno slurred again, and Kellan laughed.

“Well, now, we don’t dirty ourselves with animals. But there are other ways to take care of that for you.”

As Reno’s stomach curdled, Kellan slammed his elbow into the side of Reno’s head hard enough to have darkness closing in. He felt the hit once more and tried to shake his head. He could hear Kellan grunting before another blow hit him and started pulling him under.

“Bastard doesn’t go down easy, does he?”

Reno heard the glee in Kellan’s voice and knew the man was enjoying that fact. Then he knew nothing but blessed silence.

* * * *

“Well, aren’t you a big boy.” The voice was husky but definitely feminine, and there was something about it that seemed to wrap around him and bury deep.

He groaned and felt soft fingers cover his mouth.

“I need you to be quiet. We don’t have much time, and I’d prefer not to be caught just yet. You’re lucky I was around and heard you’d been taken.”

What the hell was she talking about? Who was she? And what had she heard?

He felt her squat at his feet and, one by one, she released the shackles around his ankles. He felt the brush of her body against his as she stood and leaned into him.

“I’m going to release your hands,” she whispered. “I’m right here, so use me to help you find your feet. I can’t carry you out of here. So you’re going to have to help me out. Sound good?”

He nodded his head. She felt too tiny to be able to bear any of his weight. He shuddered to think of the men who had beaten him getting their hands on her. She freed his right hand, and he dropped it to his side, slowly rolling his shoulder and flexing his fingers.

“Okay, last one here. Brace your feet if you can.”

He let his weight settle in his thighs, shifting his feet a bit wider as he felt her reach up and begin working on the last shackle. Her breasts rubbed along his chest, and he could feel the fullness of her. Shit, he shouldn’t be thinking about sex right now, but his cock had a mind of its own. It rose long and thick between his thighs. Since he wore nothing but his boxer briefs, it would be hard to hide it from her. Where the fuck were his clothes? And his wallet? Had the bastard left it here?

He bit off a groan of agonizing pain and braced back against the wall as the final bond came loose and he was free.

“I know,” she soothed.

He prayed they were just empty words meant to ease him. No woman should ever endure what had been done to him.

“I think they left your stuff over in the corner there. Can you hold yourself up?”

Reno nodded again. He wasn’t as sore as he’d anticipated, but it was still taking all he had to remain on his feet. She might not seem like much compared to him, but she’d been keeping him upright. She was stronger than he’d anticipated.

He blinked his eyes a few times before he could focus on her across the room. It was shadowed, but he could just make out a few things about her. Her hair hung in a braid down her back and seemed to be a mix of blonde and red that made him think of flames, and not the kind that had ripped through his body earlier when the Blane hunters had tried their best to electrocute him. No, she made him think of the good kinds of flames, the ones that came from lust and sex.