Page 43 of A Wolf's Treasure
He jerked at the chains. Ryanne let him do it. Rising to her feet, she stretched her arms over her head and then behind her as she tilted her head from side to side, easing the stiffness of her joints.
When he had calmed down again, she told him. “Okay, look. I know you know who I am. And we can make this easy or we can make this hard.”
He glared at her, lips closed so tight they were nothing but a thin slash in his face.
“Tell me what my father’s been up to. I know he’s been working with your alpha for a long time. And I need to know what his next move is.”
“Why should I tell ye anything?”
“So, I can stop him.”
The shifter laughed. “You will no’ be able tae do that.”
She sighed loudly. “Look. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you live. I might even release you so you can take a message back to Thomas for me.”
“I dinna believe ye.”
“I get that.” She gave him a nod. Then brushed her hair out of her face. “That’s smart of you. I wouldn’t trust me, either. But really, what choice do you have?”
He clamped his mouth shut and turned his head.
Ryanne lifted an eyebrow as she regarded the male. His body was relaxed, his expression stubborn, and his attitude plain to see. He thought she was a joke.
Well, she would just have to show him the punchline. “All right, then. The hard way it is.” Squatting down in front of him, she took his skull between her hands.
“What are ye doing?” he cried.
“Finding out what I need to know,” she answered. “I gave you a chance, wolf. Remember that.”
Blue lights shot from her fingers, worming their way into his mind. His body stiffened, and he screamed as his eyes rolled back into his head.
Thirty minutes later, the shifter was slumped at the base of the tree. He was alive, and he was awake. Kind of. Though it would probably be a while before he could speak a coherent sentence.
She’d learned her father appeared to be playing the packs against each other. Telling Thomas’s pack one thing and Cedric’s pack another. Thomas knew who and what her father was, and it seemed he had promised the wolf an immunity of sorts if they helped him.
And they weren’t the only ones.
The prince had been very busy, ingratiating himself into the world of the Fae’s biggest threat, the wolves, and making them all similar promises.
Except for Cedric’s pack. That alpha was too fair and too honorable to bribe, so the prince was handling him and his pack a different way.
And the way he was taking out the threat? By mating the shifters with Faeries. Wolves would do anything for their mates. They would die for them. And, if the prince has his way, that’s exactly what they’ll be doing, unless they come around to see his side of things.
She wondered if he’d been in contact with the vampire covens, but they apparently had their own issues they were dealing with at the moment. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be a problem for him later on. However, for now, they were a non-issue.
An engine roared and her head whipped around to the trail Duncan had used to get up the mountain. They were coming to retrieve the Jeep. Or perhaps it was Thomas looking for his missing wolves.
Either way, it was time for her to get the hell out of there.
Reaching into the Jeep, she got the blanket out and wrapped it around her shoulders, then pulled her boots out and tucked them under her arm. She closed the door as quietly as she could and faded into the trees.
She needed a hot soak in a tub, clean clothes, and some sleep on a thick, padded mattress. But the rustic bathroom and cot at the cabin would have to do.
Maybe her little raccoon friend would come and keep her company.
Chapter 15
Duncan sat on the recliner in his apartment, one beer in his hand, six empty bottles on the end table near his elbow, and the television on. But if anyone had asked him what he was watching, he couldn’t have told them, even though he’d been sitting there for a while now.
