Page 26 of Betrayed Mate

Death had taken her.

“Son of a bitch.” Ryker’s face contorted in rage. “I should’ve known.”

My heart skipped a beat. Annabelle had managed to tell him. “Did she confirm it was Reid?”

CHAPTER TEN

His face flushed, and some sort of film shimmered over his eyes. I blinked. Each time I opened my eyes again, the sheen remained.

He straightened up as his nostrils flared. “She said to find and protect Adira. I couldn’t make out a damn word after that. Anything she knew about her attackers died along with her.”

“Ryker,” Gage gritted out as he leaned over the vampire, placing her hands by her sides like he was trying to make her more comfortable. “What’s the plan? A lot of vampires have died.”

My heart squeezed uncomfortably at his tenderness. At one time, I’d expected Reid to be kind like that, but I’d learned that anyone outside my pack could turn on me so quickly I’d get whiplash. The wall around my heart hardened once again. I had to remember that I couldn’t trust anyone but myself.

“I’m going to check the perimeter since Kendric went upstairs.” Xander walked around Annabelle’s head, his brows creased in concern. “Do you wanna come with me?” His eyes flicked toward mine.

“She stays with me.” Ryker cut the air with one hand. “You two see if you can catch a trail out back while Ember and I go out front. I need you to focus on our task, not sniff around her.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. He intended to watch my every move, and I was certain he didn’t like the way his pack tended to protect me from him. Still, his concern wasn’t for my safety. Ryker was smart and knew that if the attackers did have Briar, I was the person most likely to locate them due to the packmate connection I had with my sister.

“Fine.” Xander didn’t hesitate to rush to the door.

Gage jumped to his feet and paused like he was considering arguing, but before he could speak, Ryker took my wrist and led me out the front door.

Not wanting to waste time, I didn’t argue. Ryker and I were at least in agreement on one thing—we needed each other. I needed him to help retrieve my sister, and he needed me to find more answers.

I hadn’t noticed any strong scents inside, but I’d hoped that was due to the overpowering vampire blood. The two of us slipped through the front door as a chill racked my body. I searched the area for signs of somebody watching us, but I didn’t see anything as the rain continued to fall. The only sounds were the handful of passing cars and the spatter of rain on the rooftops.

The air held a slight hint of musk, indicating wolves once again, but I couldn’t identify anything distinct about it. I rocked back on my heels as the rain hit my face. “How is this even possible? They werejusthere.”

A muscle in Ryker’s jaw flexed. “I know. This is exactly what it was like when we got back to our pack and the royals. I’d hoped that your pack situation would be different, given how Reid acted, but it wasn’t. I don’t understand how any of this is possible.”

A strong breeze picked up, taking more scents away with it, but the sensation of being watched didn’t go away. I hated it when I got paranoid, but the air seemed to hold a warning.

Ryker didn’t seem to notice as he headed over to the corner of the yard, sniffing. Even though he was in human form, I could see the faint glow of his wolf coming to the surface.

Something inside me responded, and my feet moved closer to him of their own accord, without permission from me.

“Son of a bitch.” Ryker’s voice was guttural, his eyes returning to normal, but the weird sheen over them was somehow even more visible. “I don’t understand how they’re doing this.”

When his face tightened and his jaw clenched, my feet stilled. Whatever had flared inside me was gone. Luckily, there was still about ten feet between us.

I understood his frustration. Without proof that Reid engineered these attacks, no one would believe us. Not after Reid had shamed me in front of everyone, and especially not now that I was associated with Ryker and his pack of merry men. I would look like a woman scorned who got herself to believe in something that wasn’t real. “How the hell are we supposed to prove Reid’s behind it all so that we can punish him and his pack?”

“We need to figure out who the fuck Adira is and locate your sister.” He shook his head as we headed around the building toward the side of the road. “For them to attack like this, they had to be somewhat in the open. I don’t—” His eyes flashed with a pack link connection, and then he took off running toward the back of the house.

My heart dropped as I wondered what could possibly be wrong now. Refusing to be left behind, I sprang into action and moved quicker than I expected. When I rounded the corner of the stone house, Ryker was approaching Xander and Gage, whohad a man in their grasps. The sweet smell informed me the man was a vampire.

“Let me go,” he gritted out as he twisted in their hold, trying to get his arms free. “I was heading into town.” Wavy hair fell over dark eyes, the irises outlined in crimson—proof he’d recently drunk his fill.

“Oh, we are aware.” Xander fisted the hair at the back of his head. “We saw you scrambling out of the crawl space.”

Ryker threw a punch to one side of the vampire’s skull. The vampire’s eyes rolled back, and his head slumped forward to hang limply.

“Tie him up with the rope in the back of the Suburban and put him in the trunk.” Ryker marched toward the back of the house like he was on a mission.

My mouth dropped open as I stumbled back several feet. “What thehell?” I couldn’t have seen what I just saw. Yet the poor man’s head hung loosely, emphasizing that he had, in fact, been knocked unconscious.

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