Page 18 of Forsaken By Night

Riker hissed. “Tell that to Nicole.”

Oh, God. Nicole must be the pregnant woman, and Riker must be her mate. Taking a ragged breath, she ratcheted the aggression down a few notches, straightened up, and took a tentative step toward him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “She startled me, and I didn’t know she was pregnant. Is she okay?”

The guy lost the homicidal glint in his eyes, but they narrowed, as if he wasn’t sure her apology or concern was genuine. “She’s fine,” he said curtly, “for now.” He turned to Hunter. “What’s going on?”

Hunter started moving again, and they all fell in behind him, Aiden bringing up the rear directly behind her. But not too close, she noted.

“Call the senior warriors together and meet us in the conference room. Bring Nicole if she’s up to it.”

Oh, shit. Tehya knew very little about vampire customs, but according to all the government propaganda, vampire clans could be primitive and barbaric. Would Nicole be allowed to exact revenge or determine Tehya’s fate? She glanced over at Lobo, who was starting to stir.

Wake up. Please wake up. I can’t do this alone.

Riker said something to Hunter that Tehya didn’t hear, and then he veered down a tunnel while the rest of them entered a cavernous room filled with an odd collection of artwork and a giant table that could easily seat twenty people. She turned to check on Baddon and Lobo, but they were gone.

A chill ran up her spine. What had they done to him?

She must have looked as panicked as she felt, because as Katina cut the ties around Tehya’s wrists and shoved her into a seat at the table, she said, “Don’t worry. Your lover is just getting a wake-up call. He’ll be here in a minute.”

“He’s not—”My lover. But he was, wasn’t he? Before today, they’d been companions. He’d been her pack leader. But now they were... what? A mated pair? And was her wolf-brain ever going to convert back to something resembling a human or vampire brain?

“Not your lover?” Katina jammed her fists on her denim-covered hips and gave Tehya ado you think I’m a dumbass?look. “Girl, we heard you taking it like a whore in an alley from two hundred yards away. I’m thinking of giving Lobo another look after hearing what he did to you—”

A deep growl vibrated the room, and only after Katina laughed and held up her hands in defense did Tehya realize it had come from her.

“Yeah, not your lover.” Katina rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Tehya. “My ass.”

Tehya ignored the female and got a quick lay of the land. There were four possible exits, if she went by the currents of free-moving air flowing from beneath the doors, each carrying with it a different scent. Another door must be a closet. There were also several weapons available, from a spear propped in one corner to a selection of ceremonial axes and blades on the walls. Not that she knew how to use any of them.

Over the next few minutes, as she plotted a possible escape plan, a dozen more people filed in. Hunter sat at the head of the table. Then, finally, Lobo stumbled through the doorway, his hair dripping wet and clinging to his bare neck and shoulders. Someone had bandaged his wound, the long, white strips slashing across his hard-cut chest and around his muscular back.

Even though he was clearly in pain, he gave her a reassuring look as Baddon shoved him into a seat across the table from her.

Riker was the last to arrive. He entered with Nicole, who, to Tehya’s surprise, merely glanced at her with curiosity as she waddled in, one arm wrapped in bandages and another bandage taped to her temple. She took a seat kitty-corner from Riker, who sat at the end of the table across from Hunter.

It was like a big, formal dinner, and she and Lobo were the main course.

Once everyone was seated, Hunter folded his hands together on the tabletop and looked at Lobo and Tehya in turn. “Who’s going to start?” When neither Tehya nor Lobo spoke up, Hunter gave a resigned nod. “Okay, let’s try this again. Lobo, you shifted into my form, broke into our headquarters, and tried to seduce my mate. Tell me why you shouldn’t die.”

Lobo did what?

Tehya whipped her head around to stare at Lobo, but if he could feel the burn of her glare, he didn’t react. His eyes were locked with Hunter’s, and she swore the air crackled with electricity. Everyone shifted uncomfortably, and a few of the people sitting around the table actually fingered the daggers at their hips.

A low growl rattled in her chest and her hackles rose as the need to protect Lobo consumed her. As a human, she’d felt like a sheep following the herd; but as a wolf, she’d found her footing and her voice. In her wolf-mind, she and Lobo were a pack, and she’d leap across the table and go for Hunter’s throat to protect it.

Tension practically dripped from the walls as Lobo, his hands still bound, rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward. “I only took your form to get help for the wolf,” he said, far more calmly than she would have if someone had just asked her to explain why she shouldn’t die. “I had no other choice. Without Nicole’s aid, she would have died. I was trying to leave when Aylin saw me.Shekissedme. I didn’t seduce her, and if she told you that, your mate is a liar.”

Baddon whistled under his breath while even more warriors reached for their weapons, but Hunter remained eerily still. The guy’s expression was stony, unreadable, and scarier for it.

“She didn’t tell me that,” Hunter said, “but given your history, it wasn’t a stretch to assume.” He gestured to Tehya. “What about her? Did she enter the compound with you?”

“She has nothing to do with this.” Lobo didn’t glance her way, and for some reason that bothered her. It was almost as if he wasavoidinglooking at her. “Drop all charges against her, welcome her into your clan, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

She gaped at him in astonishment. He wanted her to live with these people? “Lobo, no—”

“LawKeeper,” Hunter barked, cutting her off. “What is the punishment for impersonating a clan chief?”

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