Page 28 of Betrayed Mate

I tossed my feet onto the other end of the back seat and leaned against the door. I didn’t want to chance the vampire waking up and somehow finding a way out of his restraints then attacking us before we arrived at our destination. Wherever that was.

Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds of the vehicle—the purring of the engine and the breathing of each one of us in the vehicle. Images of my pack tried to pop into my head, and I nearly gave myself over to thecrushing pain. However, I couldn’t lose myself right now. Not with them.

Pushing away my loss was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, so to help, I focused on the faintly warm spot in my chest.

Briar.

The reason I remained with this pack. They had agreed to help me, and if Ryker didn’t follow through on his words, I wouldn’t hesitate to leave.

After what felt like hours, the vehicle slowed, and I opened my eyes to see that we’d pulled onto a gravel road surrounded by woods. It took me only a moment to recognize where we were—Shadowbrook National Park—but the setting sun meant that the park was closed.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“We’re going to get some answers.” Ryker got out and slammed his door shut. He marched around to the back of the Suburban, but the other three didn’t move from their spots.

I dropped my feet back onto the floorboard just as the trunk opened. Ryker reached down and tossed the vampire over his shoulder like he didn’t weigh two hundred pounds.

“And exactly—” I started, but he shut the trunk and headed into the woods. When the guys stared at the ground and didn’t move, I realized they knew what was going on. I finished my question. “How does he plan on doing that?”

“It’s best if you don’t know.” Gage rubbed the back of his neck and remained facing forward.

I tensed. “No. He wouldn’t.” I’d heard rumors of how Ryker interrogated people, but I’d hoped it was blown out of proportion. Yeah, he hadn’t seemed friendly to me, but he had saved me. Torture was a whole different level.

When the other three didn’t respond, I got to my feet and shoved in between the middle-row seats. Torturing people,especially fresh victims, was beyond cruel—it was inhumane, and I wouldn’t stand for it.

“Whoa.” Xander grabbed my arm, trying to prevent me from edging past him and out the door. “It’s best if you stay here with us. Trust me.”

Those words alone made me even more determined to go. I growled, “You can either let me out the easy way or I’ll fight and still get out the hard way.” I didn’t care if he was a man with five inches of height on me. “You pick.”

“Let her go,” Gage said. “Someone needs to try to reason with him, and the three of us can’t.”

Pursing his lips, Xander seemed to be trying to decide what to do next. “Fine.” He moved so I could get out the door.

I rushed after Ryker. I couldn’t see him anymore, but I could smell him clearly and hear the burble of a stream. I jogged to catch up…and then I heard something sickening.

I broke through two oaks to see what was causing the noise, and it was even worse than I’d thought.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

My mouth opened, and I froze, trying to process what I was seeing. The vampire lay on his stomach against the rocky embankment with Ryker straddling his waist, his arms looped through Simon’s so the vampire couldn’t move them. He submerged Simon’s head in the shallow yet gushing water while the vampire kicked and bucked, trying to throw Ryker off without any success.

I dashed toward them. “What are youdoing?” My voice came out way higher than I intended, but I had never seen anyone being tortured before. Dad never used these tactics.

“Finding out everything he knows.” Ryker didn’t bother looking my way, completely fixed on his task.

“How can he tell you anything if he’s dead?” I reached their side and clutched Ryker’s arm, trying to yank him off Simon. “Let him breathe.”

“He’s a vampire, Ember.” Ryker’s head lifted while Simon continued to struggle. “He can stay underwater longer than us, you know that. And believe me, he won’t tell us shit if I don’t torture him.” The sheen over his eyes had thickened as if the moon was reflecting on his irises even though the real moon had risen behind him.

My hand dropped, and I stumbled back. How was that even possible?

At that moment, Simon’s thrusts lost some force, so Ryker fisted the hair on the back of his head and lifted.

Water sluiced from Simon’s face as he coughed and took huge gasps of air. He sputtered, “Why are you doing this to me? Just kill me and get it over with.”

“I’m not going tokillanyone right now.” Ryker clenched his jaw. “Stop deflecting. I want to know who attacked the vampires tonight.”

“If I told you, you would definitely kill me.” Simon’s face twisted with disgust.

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