Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
There had to be at least fifty people there—and they were only the ones she could see since there were so many trees in the damn way. The Olympus Pride had to be somewhere near the rear, because she didn’t recognize any of the faces staring at her.
“Well, well, well,” Archer drawled. “Looking cozy, ladies.”
Shaya and Kathy jumped to their feet, acting startled. Madisyn didn’t. That would have been out of character for her. Instead, keeping her eyes on Archer, she slowly stood, fighting to keep her expression blank. Her cat rumbled a dark sound, claws slicing out, raring to spring.
“Who the fuck are you?” demanded Shaya, all Alpha female in that moment.
Ignoring her, Archer spoke to Madisyn. “Hello there, kitten. Good to see you again.” He tilted his head. “You had to know we’d come sooner or later.”
“Yes, I did think you’d be stupid enough to do something dumb like this,” said Madisyn. “Shaya, Kathy—this is Archer, the asshole you’ve heard all about.” No, it probably wasn’t wise to antagonize him, but she’d given him shit during their last little encounter, so he’d expect the same again.
“Shaya,” echoed Archer, eyes settling on the redhead. “You must be the Mercury Alpha female, then.”
“And you must be suicidal,” said Shaya with a sickly-sweet smile. “Because no one trespasses on our territory and lives to tell the tale. Your friends learned that lesson well.”
Archer’s face turned to granite, but then he waved her warning off, sure he had the upper hand. And, well, he did, didn’t he? Whether things remained that way was uncertain, since Madisyn really wasn’t sure how successful Marcus, Jesse, and the others would be in subtly diminishing his numbers. The plan could very easily fail.
Charity smirked. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again, kitty.”
Madisyn didn’t let her expression change as she studied the sow. “You look better than you did the last time I saw you. Although that’s a mean scar on the right side of your face.”
The sow sneered, which would have amused Madisyn’s cat under any other circumstances.
“I wouldn’t bank on your mate or other pack mates turning up anytime soon,” said Archer. “An associate of mine is keeping them occupied. As I understand it, you don’t get along very well with his daughter, Claudia.”
“Just how did you come to be working with Brookson?” Not that Madisyn really cared, but if she kept him talking, it would give her pack mates a chance to keep chipping away at his number.
“We’ve been watching the club very closely,” began Archer, “so we noticed Brookson’s daughter getting carried out of there, heard her team mumbling about Bracken Slater and his mate. I’ve done the occasional business deal with her father, so it was simple enough to call him and propose that we work together on this.”
“And what is ‘this,’ exactly?” asked Shaya. “What are you trying to achieve?”
“The cat knows what I want.” He pointed a finger at Madisyn, smiling. “I’ve got a little surprise for you. Copper, show her the surprise I brought along just for her.”
His mouth curved into an ugly smirk that made unease slither through Madisyn and cause her cat’s hackles to rise. Copper turned and walked deeper into the crowd of bears. Moments later, he and another male came striding into view. It wasn’t their smirks that caused red-hot rage to whip through Madisyn. It was the sight of the bruised, bleeding, and unconscious female in their arms. Dawn. Her face was grotesquely swollen, and her clothes were torn and bloody.
Madisyn fisted her hands, tasting bile and fury. It took everything she had not to charge at the bastards, especially while her raging cat was urging her to do exactly that.
The bears unceremoniously dumped Dawn on the ground with a sneer and then backed off. The female didn’t stir.
“She’s a little banged up but otherwise fine,” said Archer. “Fell over a few times, though, as you can see. Quite clumsy for a cougar.”
Madisyn forced her back teeth to unlock. “You’re one sorry motherfucker, and you just signed your death warrant.”
Archer grabbed Dawn’s hair, lifted her limp body off the ground, and pricked his claws threateningly against her throat. “This is your last chance to tell me where Daisy is, Madisyn. If you do, I swear to you that my clan and I will leave this place immediately. If not, the cougar dies right here, right now, right in fucking front of you. Then the rest of you will die too.”
“And will all your allies leave with you?” Because she seriously doubted it.
He grinned. “I can certainly advise them to leave. Isn’t that better than nothing?”
“No, not really.”
He laughed. “Yeah, there’s enough of them to see you all dead. It’s unlikely that they’ll listen to my advice,” he admitted. “Well, the clans might. But the pride? No, I don’t think they will. I believe you’re familiar with the Devereaux family. I don’t know what you did to upset the Olympus Pride so much, but they were quite happy to join me in confronting you here today.”