Force of Temptation

  As if by some unspoken agreement, the harpies attacked at once. No warning. No slow descent. One dove toward Jesse like an arrow. He ducked, narrowly evading the talons, and then quickly whirled as he stood, swiping the eagle’s wing. The fucker didn’t even lose its balance.

  Spinning, he saw his mate grab a metal pogo stick and whack another eagle, sending it crashing to the ground near Jesse. He moved to the injured harpy, who was on its back, wings splayed and talons slashing the air. Stomping one boot on its wing, he reached down and broke its neck with a satisfying yank.

  “Jesse, duck!” shouted Harley. But the harpy didn’t aim at him. It snatched up a white-gray wolf with outstretched feet the size of human hands. Instead of soaring away with who she was pretty sure was Eli, the eagle dropped him mercilessly on Roni. And then things just sort of went crazy.

  The battle was chaotic. Brutal. Frenzied. Neither side showed mercy. Blood, rage, and sweat scented the night air, feeding her cat’s hunger to be free and exact her own vengeance. Pumped on adrenaline and fury, Harley swung the pogo stick again and again as the harpies came at her. Each time the metal hit bone, the impact reverberated up her arm. She didn’t care, even though her hand was starting to feel a little numb. She—

  At the sound of a wail, Harley ducked. Talons scraped her scalp and yanked some hair right out of her head. Fucking bastard. Eyes watering, she slapped a hand to her throbbing scalp. It would probably hurt a lot worse later when the adrenaline wore off.

  Another wolf hurried toward them, howling in anger. Harley guessed it was Kathy. A harpy smashed into the she-wolf, sinking its talons deep as it pinned her to the ground. Heart in her throat, Harley rushed forward and struck the motherfucker with the pogo stick.

  The eagle swayed, taken off guard. The she-wolf took advantage of the eagle’s distraction by righting herself and lunging, sinking her teeth into the bird. Another wolf appeared, aiding the older wolf in tearing the eagle apart.

  “Harley, I told you to stay close to me!” Jesse yelled, throat dry from breathing so hard. A horrific force slammed into him from behind, driving him to his knees and snatching the breath from his lungs. The impact could have snapped his spine if he’d been human. Burning pain lanced down his back as talons tore into his skin. He gritted his teeth and—

  The weight of the harpy disappeared at the sound of metal crushing bone. The dead bird landed at his side.

  Harley helped him up and then slapped his chest. “You bastard, stop worrying about me and worry about you!”

  Jesse wanted to shake her. How in God’s name was he supposed to not worry, especially when the scent of her blood tormented his senses and sent his wolf into a frenzy? “Just stay—”

  They both jerked back as a harpy whizzed past them and ripped Ally from the ground. It just as quickly released her, causing her to fall right on the kids’ slide with a loud thunk. Harley flinched in sympathy.

  As Derren rushed to his unconscious mate’s side, another eagle made a beeline for him. But then a ball bounced off its head, testing its balance and distracting it—thanks to Caleb and Kent, who were throwing balls and Frisbees at any harpies that came too close—giving the Beta the chance to dodge the harpy in time.

  Wiping the sweat from her brow, Harley took a moment to glance around. The situation was bad. One eagle had dug its talons into Marcus’s arm and was dragging him along the ground, away from a half-conscious Roni. Zander was struggling to his feet after an eagle struck him hard, barely missing the back of the enforcer’s neck. Nick’s wolf was biting into a bird’s wing and shaking it hard as the eagle tried to attack Shaya. So many of the pack were injured. In addition, Ally was still unconscious, so she couldn’t heal them. Only four of the ten eagles were dead.

  “We’re getting our asses kicked here!” Harley growled at Jesse.

  Well, he damn well knew that. Hell, he’d just watched an eagle soar upward and then rapidly descend, striking Bracken and knocking him to the ground. Once again, he thought about ordering his mate to hide with the pups, but he knew she’d never—

  Hearing several loud growls, Jesse looked to see six wolves charging their way. The Phoenix wolves. Kathy must have called Trey before joining the fight. The wolves wasted no time in getting involved; two pounced on a harpy that had just subdued Zander with its vicious talons and was trying to carry him off. Another two dived to Eli’s wolf’s rescue, whose jaws were fixed shut by strong talons, preventing him from biting. The others took on a raptor as a team, each tugging on a wing and then tearing it to pieces.

  Jesse turned in time to see an eagle flying low to the ground toward his mate, taking aim for the back of her head. He lunged and wrapped both arms around the bird, tackling it to the ground and crushing fragile bones. It let out a loud, piercing wail. He cut off the sound by snapping its neck like a twig.

  He was about to get up when, in a very aerobatic move, another harpy rolled upside down just before it swooped in and hit him like a bullet. The eagle knocked him to the ground and pinned him there. It then tried biting his neck, most likely trying to sever the jugular vein. Fuck that.

  Seeing her mate struggling with a harpy, Harley ran toward him, but she didn’t make it. A pain-wracking force hit her in the side, sending her sprawling onto her back. Her head smacked the ground hard, and stars burst behind her eyes. Motherfucker. The raptor’s hooked beak and claws attacked her pitilessly, ripping flesh from bone. Hissing with the pain, she reached behind her for something, anything . . . there. Harley heaved up the scooter and brought it down hard on the big fucker.

  Something snapped, and the eagle fell back, wailing—stunned but not dead yet. Harley winced in pain as she tried to get up. She was slashed in too many places to count. The coppery smell of her blood was so strong she could almost taste it.

  Talons caught her calf in a crushing grip, tearing through jeans and skin and muscle. She kicked and struggled, but the eagle dragged her along the ground. Her T-shirt rode up, causing the ground to chafe and scratch the skin of her back. “You motherfucking motherfucker!”

  The eagle came to a sharp halt and wailed in pain. And there was Bracken; he’d seized the eagle by one broad wing and was now prying the talons from her leg. It was no use. He yanked hard on the wing, breaking its flight feathers. The talons withdrew from her leg, and the harpy, losing its balance, fell with a screech. A trio of wolves immediately dived onto it.

  Jesse, having fought off his attacker with the help of Trey’s wolf, carefully helped Harley stand, biting out a harsh curse as he saw that she was covered in deep scratches and puncture wounds. Hell, she looked worse than he did. His hands shook as they took hers. “Baby—”

  An eagle whooshed their way and snatched up Bracken, taking him high in the air. Another eagle joined the first and grabbed the enforcer’s leg; the two harpies then engaged in a tug-of-war midair. Bracken was shouting in agony.

  Jesse’s heart slammed against his ribs. “Shit!”

  There was the cock of a shotgun, and then bang. One of the eagles holding Bracken screeched and, releasing him, dropped from the sky and disappeared into the trees. Several more shots were fired. The second eagle also released Bracken, and they both hit the ground hard. Jesse winced, figuring the enforcer would have some broken bones from that fall. Better that than to be torn in half by harpies.

  “Check he’s okay!” ordered Shaya, still holding the shotgun steadily. Jesse wondered at which point she’d ran back to the lodge to fetch the weapon.

  “Any of the bastards left?” panted Taryn.

  “Just one,” said Shaya, aiming at a tree. “Which is good, because I only have one shell left.” She cocked the gun again, then . . . bang. The eagle made an ear-piercing sound and then dropped to the ground. Panting, she lowered the weapon and handed it to Taryn. “I have to check on the pups.” Shaya hurried to the fort with a few of the others close behind her. And stopped dead, sucking in a breath.

  “Oh my God,” muttered Jaime, the Phoenix Beta female. “Ta
ryn, need a little help over here. Caleb and Kent are in bad shape.”

  “What about the pups?” demanded Nick.

  Shaya peeked inside the fort. Then, as if having some kind of adrenaline crash, she fell right on her ass. “They’re gone,” she whispered.

  Harley went stock-still. “What?”

  Shaya looked up, lower lip tremoring. “They’re gone.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Huddled against the tree, Cassidy held Willow tight. She could hear her pack fighting. Could hear wailing and screaming and growls of pain. She wanted to cry, wanted to curl into a ball like Willow, but she wouldn’t. Willow was afraid. Cassidy was older, so she had to protect the little girl. She’d tried to fight off the two large shifters that had taken them, but they were too big and strong.

  Cassidy held the shaking pup tighter. She didn’t once look away from the male smiling down at them. It was the kind of smile Marcus wore when there was cake around, but this man wasn’t nice like Marcus. Cassidy knew he wanted her and Willow dead. Knew that was why he’d sent his guards to snatch them.

  He had to be the man her pack had talked about when they thought she couldn’t hear them. Hector. The mean one who wanted to take away their home. It made her mad. Cassidy had never been as happy anywhere as she was at Mercury territory. She didn’t want to lose it.

  He stepped toward them, and Willow flinched. He raised his hands. “No need to be scared, pups. I don’t want to hurt you.” He crouched down. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  He was lying. Cassidy knew he was.

  “Come over here,” he urged, but Cassidy shook her head. He seemed to think that was funny. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “No.” She’d meant to shout it, but it came out a whisper.

  “Clever girl.”

  Willow pushed her face harder into Cassidy’s chest, shaking even worse now. Couldn’t he see that she was just a baby?

  “Really, I’m not going to hurt you. In fact, I have something for you. Something nice for you to wear. Come over here and I’ll show you what it is.”

  Cassidy shook her head again. She wasn’t going to let him hurt her or W—

  He snatched Willow’s hand and dragged her to him, making her scream.

  Reaching for the little girl, Cassidy cried out, “No!”

  Hector shook Willow hard, making her head snap back, and growled, “Quiet.”

  Willow stopped struggling and sobbed, hiccupping. “I want Mommy.”

  His face went all soft and he stroked a finger down Willow’s wet cheek. “You do? You want to go back home, little one? I can arrange that. You just have to do something for me first. Just one little thing.”

  Coming down hard and fast from her adrenaline rush, Harley ran a shaky hand through her hair as they all moved silently through the trees toward Hector’s territory. She felt cold and feverish. The pain that had earlier been dulled by the adrenaline was now in full force; although many of her injuries were healing fast, they still burned like a motherfucker. Overriding that pain was the all-consuming rage that had come with the discovery that the pups were gone.

  Ally glanced over her shoulder, eyeing Harley cautiously. The Seer had tried to heal Harley, just as she and Taryn had healed the rest of the wounded. But each time the Seer neared Harley, her cat pushed to the surface and hissed, warning her away. The cat had gone hysterical when she’d realized the pups were missing, and the only person she’d let close was her mate. Knowing that the little girls had to be terrified wrenched at Harley’s heart; it was no doubt chipping away at Shaya’s.

  They had all figured out pretty quickly that the eagles were a distraction. Hector had known the Phoenix wolves would come and that the two packs would eventually overpower the harpies. It was the pups he’d wanted, and they could only assume that Hector had smuggled them onto his territory. As such, both packs were heading there. Harley stayed at the rear of the huge hunting party, deciding her edgy cat would be better off if she weren’t surrounded by people.

  Up ahead, Nick was holding his mate to his side. “We’ll find them, Shay, we’ll find them.” Fury coated every word.

  “I never thought Hector would go for the pups.” Shaya’s voice was small and weak.

  Nick kissed her hair. “Of course you didn’t.”

  “I should have,” she said. “Pups are the heart of every pack.”

  “He may not intend to hurt the pups,” said Cain. “He could be simply trying to lure you off the territory.”

  “The pups are more important to us than any land,” Nick gritted out.

  Cain didn’t back down in the face of the Alpha’s anger. “That could be what he’s counting on.”

  Even with rage clouding his thoughts, Jesse could concede that Cain was right. But so was Nick; the pups mattered more than their territory, so it made no difference. His eyes jumped to Nick as the Alpha’s cell began to ring. Everyone quickly gathered around Nick as, halting, he pulled out his phone. Pure hatred contorted his expression, so Jesse didn’t have to ask who was calling.

  Nick answered, growling, “You motherfucking son of a bitch! Where are they?”

  The night was so quiet that it was easy to hear Hector’s response. “Easy, Nick, easy.” There was a lazy amusement in his tone that made Jesse’s wolf bare his teeth. The animal wanted to rip out the bastard’s throat, wanted to watch him bleed and howl in agony.

  “Easy?” snarled Nick.

  “You’re upset,” said Hector with mock sympathy. “I understand.”

  Nick’s hand clenched around his cell so tight it wouldn’t be a surprise if it cracked. “If you hurt them—if you even imagine hurting them—I will fucking destroy you, even if it means coming back from the dead.”

  “They’re unhurt,” Hector told him. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a child murderer.” He sounded genuinely offended that Nick would think differently. “Would you like to talk to them?”

  Nick opened his mouth to speak, but then they all heard, “Daddy?”

  Nick’s eyes squeezed shut and he cleared his throat. “Hey, baby girl.” Shaya put her shaking hand to her mouth.

  The pup’s breath hitched. “I wanna go home.”

  Eyes snapping open, Nick said, “You will come home, sweetheart.”

  There was a shuffling sound, and then a shaky voice. “Nick?”

  The Alpha male swallowed hard. “Don’t worry, Cassidy; we’ll come for you, I pr—”

  “Coming for them won’t be necessary, Nick,” said Hector. “If you want them back, I’ll take them to you.”

  “In exchange for our territory, right?”

  A sigh. “I’ve decided your land isn’t worth the bother.”

  “Then why? Why do this?”

  “Come now, Nick, did you expect me to ignore what you did? Really?”

  No . . . they just hadn’t expected this. Jesse held Harley close to him. Angry tremors were running through her and echoing through him.

  “If you want the girls . . . look behind you.”

  At once, they all twirled. Hector and his guards were walking toward the border with the pups. A wave of ice-cold fear washed over Harley and her mouth fell open. Oh, fuck no. The girls were hand in hand, cheeks wet and pale . . . wearing explosive vests. Her stomach rolled. “Tell me I’m not seeing straight.”

  Jesse let loose a string of curses. “He’s gonna die tonight.” Slowly and painfully. Jesse would make sure of it.

  “Without a doubt,” added Harley. Her cat lunged for the surface. Wincing, Harley forced her into submission. Now was definitely not the time for rash actions. She looked at Zander. “Please tell me you could defuse those vests.”

  Zander gave a sad, slow shake of the head. “I wouldn’t have a clue. The bomb on your car was simple. Those vests . . .”

  Nick held out his hand to Shaya, who took it and squeezed his tight. “Try not to give him any emotion to feed off, Shay,” he whispered. “If we look calm, it should help the kids stay calm.??
?

  Shaya stiffly nodded in assent, and then they all stalked through the trees. Finally, Nick and Shaya came to a halt a few feet away from the border, looking deceptively calm. The other wolves gathered behind them, all standing solidly and at the ready.

  Willow called out for Shaya and tried to run forward. Hector grabbed the pups by their shoulders, preventing them from stepping over the border.

  “It’s okay, angel,” soothed Shaya, trying to keep her voice light. Harley figured it had to be agonizing for her not to charge past them all to reach the girls.

  Muscles tight with rage, Nick ground out, “You sick bastard.”

  Smiling, Hector shrugged. “After what you did to my homes and possessions, it seemed quite fitting.”

  Shaya forced a watery smile for the girls. “Everything will be fine, I promise.” Neither pup seemed to find those words comforting.

  “Bombing my homes . . .” Hector wagged his finger. “That wasn’t nice at all, now, was it?”

  “You wanted to take our home from us,” said Nick, jaw set. “We took yours from you instead. That sort of thing happens when you fuck with the wrong pack.”

  “And look where it got you. Look where it got your pups.”

  “They’re in this situation because of you, not us. But your mother did mention that you never accept blame for anything you do. Everything is always someone else’s fault in your world.”

  As Hector’s cheeks flushed, Harley whispered to Jesse, “Why is Nick antagonizing him? I’m not sure it’s the best course of action when the bastard has the pups.”

  “His fury probably got the better of him for a minute,” replied Jesse.

  “My dear mother can be quite chatty,” Hector said to Nick. “Sometimes, I almost miss her. Isn’t that odd?”