The Heart of a Beast: A Phoenix Pack Urban Paranormal (Saved By a Beast Book 4) Read online

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  Tristan felt the throbbing in his head not only from his injury but from Gemma’s. As they traveled through the woods; getting closer and closer to their destination he could feel Gemma more and more. Not only was she afraid; but she was disgusted and embarrassed. The feeling made Tristan want to tear his skin apart. He ran faster through the woods. They had all stayed in human form to keep their clothes for when they arrived at wherever Gemma was being kept. The panic that he felt through the bond by Gemma only made him move faster. They ran until they reached the outskirts of the woods and into town.

  The human town was still alive with some sort of life, but it was dying down slowly. Honestly, Tristan didn’t care what time of night it was. He just cared about Gemma being found.

  “There,” Tristan said pointing to the lounge.

  “She’s inside there I feel it.”

  “Me too,” Kellan replied. He turned his nose up and inhaled. He stopped Tristan from going inside.

  “Wolfsbane,” he said darkly. He pushed Dell towards the entrance.

  “Go on Dell. Since you know so much about these weapons.”

  “But-”

  “But what?” Kellan asked.

  “Can’t handle it?” Dell saw the quiet fierceness in Kellan’s eyes. Dell was going to die if he didn’t do what the alpha wanted.

  “I think I know how I can disarm the weapons,” Dell said.

  “That’s much more like it,” Kellan said.

  “Now go on.” Dell cut his eyes when he turned away from Kellan and walked towards the front of the lounge. He just had to see this out long enough to not get killed. Even though things weren’t as planned, he still had a way to get what it was that he wanted. He smirked, thinking about the trap Kellan didn’t even know he was going to walk into.

  Covering his mouth and nose, Dell entered the lounge. He stepped over the trip wire that would ignite the wolfsbane mist that would slowly stifle the pack by being breathed in. He followed the trip wire and disengaged it.

  “Come in,” Dell said to Kellan. The pack came in; walking as a unit. Dell admired their unity and knew unless he got rid of the entire pack, he could never have something like that.

  “I was able to dismantle one of the traps, but it’s probably going to be more traps everywhere. We have to watch out for all of them.” Even though he spoke, none of the Phoenix pack wolves paid him any mind. They just kept walking forward through the lounge. One by one; arrows were shot at them, darts, wolfbane bullets and each of them was deflected by the pack. Once they found the source of the traps, each wolf went and destroyed it completely in rage.

  “Stop right there!” Hera shouted. She came from the back of the lounge with a huge arrow pointed straight into Kellan’s chest.

  “Seriously?” Kellan gasped.

  “Can’t you for once not be involved in some shit?”

  “Listen. I wouldn’t be in this shit or any shit for that matter if Kameron had picked me to be his alpha female instead of your bitch of a mother.”

  “Are you stupid?” Kellan sneered at her walking towards her with quick steps.

  “My parents were true mates. That’s not something you fucking choose. And you got some audacity to stand there and call my mother names in front of me like I won’t shred your ugly ass to bits.” Hera panicked at his pace. She shot one arrow at him, but he grabbed it midair and snapped it.

  “When it comes to being a bitch Hera, you take the fucking cake. I’m not partial to females when it comes to them fucking with me. Meaning, I’ll fuck a bitch up and have no remorse whatsoever.”

  Hera struggled to fill the bow with another arrow. Just as she got it lined up, she shot it without looking and instead of Kellan; it went towards Jaxson. But just like Kellan did, Jaxson caught it. Instead of breaking it, he turned it around and threw it back at her. His strength and quickness sent the arrow flying directly back at her in a straight line. She was hit directly in the shoulder as if he purposely missed her heart. Gasping at the pain of the silver; Hera let the bow and arrow fall to the ground. Kellan slapped his hand over her throat and squeezed her in a chokehold. He dug his claws in the side of her neck. She looked towards Dell, pleading with her eyes for him to do something to stop Kellan.

  Sorry woman. It’s every wolf for themselves now, Dell told her. Hera held onto Kellan’s hand trying to loosen his hold. But she knew now that if she didn’t play her cards right then she was likely to die. If Dell wasn’t going to help her; she knew Bryce wouldn’t either. And it was painfully clear there was no way the Phoenix pack was going to succumb to any of their traps. Including Gemma.

  “Tell me what the fuck has been going on,” Kellan snarled at her. Hera didn’t know what to say so she didn’t speak at first.

  Tell them what they want to know Hera. Might as well try to save yourself and leave Bryce to his own demise if it happens, Dell told her. Hera quickly rambled at the mouth.

  “Gemma is in the basement. But it’s loaded with traps. It’s things that will weaken you but not kill you.” Kellan pushed her away. She fell back and gasped, trying to fill her lungs with air. Kellan pointed towards the basement door.

  “You first. Disengage all those fucking traps,” he ordered.

  “But-”

  “Either that Hera or I’ll just fucking kill you right now.” Hera didn’t need any more persuasion. She turned to the basement door stepping back while opening it, so the arrow that flew through it didn’t hit her. She hastily disengaged all the traps set up on the stairs leading to the basement. Bryce wouldn’t know what the hell hit him. He thought the pack was going to be weakened by breathing in the wolfsbane. That Hera would have shot arrows into them, further maiming them. But that was the complete opposite of what was going on.

  Just as they reached the basement; human scent filled Tristan’s nose. Each different scent was slowly blocking out the sweet scent of his mate. Kellan took a deep breath and inhaled the same thing Tristan did.

  “Does that smell like what I think it smells like?” Kellan asked.

  The stench of arousal and semen was foul to their noses. But Tristan’s wolf eyes pierced through the darkness of the steps. He pushed Hera out of the way and kicked down the basement door with a thud. His mate was strung up in the air; chained with her arms and legs spread. Human men surrounded her, fisting their little pink, pig in a blanket nasty ass dicks in front of her while touching her body. Tristan lost all sense of space and time. All he saw was his mate being violated, and he cared for nothing else. With claws and teeth out; Tristan let out a ground shaking howl.

  Bryce jumped ten feet in the air when he heard the howl. Pulling his hood over his head he quickly hid in the corner of the basement, fear, and shock consuming him as he realized the Phoenix Pack had arrived, and none of them seemed weakened by any of the traps.

  But then Bryce realized why. Dell and Hera were with the pack. They’d copped out. Even though Bryce was angry; he could see why they would cop out. The howling wolf, with his claws, out ripped a part each and every one of the humans. He slashed them, broke their necks, and ripped organs from their bodies. Dell saw Bryce slink off and shook his head. The wolf was going to be on his own with this. As Dell watched Tristan tear up the humans, he opened the mental link with his pack that was waiting by the caves where the she-wolves were.

  Do it, he spoke to them.

  As Tristan slashed the humans, Jaxson threw their lifeless bodies out of the way. Even though the basement light was dim, and it was complete chaos, Jaxon noticed the hooded man crouched down in the corner of the basement. He had no scent, and Jaxson knew immediately it was the person that had attacked them in the woods. Tristan had reached Gemma and was hurriedly yanking at the metal cuffs to get her free. She was naked with globs of semen trickling down her body. Jaxson shook his head. Only a twisted fucker would do something like that to someone as sweet and innocent as Gemma. That person was the one that was crouching in the corner trying to hide. With Gemma being ta
ken care of, Jaxson marched towards the crouched figured.

  “Tryna hide you sick fuck?” Jaxson growled grabbing the man up by the collar. He pushed the man to the center of the basement.

  “Look what I found,” Jaxson said. Kellan turned to face the cloaked man with no scent.

  “Move Gemma towards the door,” Kellan ordered Tristan. He didn’t want her anywhere near this creep at the moment. Tristan scooped up his mate and carried her to the basement door. Jayce was the only one wearing a shirt so he quickly took it off and handed it to Tristan to give to Gemma so she wouldn’t be naked.

  “Thanks, Jayce,” Gemma mumbled putting the shirt on quickly.

  “We meet again,” Kellan said to the man.

  “Gonna reveal yourself or should I do the honors?” Bryce grunted and laughed evilly before he pulled down his hood.

  “Indeed we meet again. Son in law,” Bryce chuckled. Kellan backed up and stared in horror at Bliss’s father.

  “How-how are you alive?! We left your mangled body-”

  “Yeah, yeah I know,” Bryce cut him off.

  “Either way. Here I am. In all my glory.”

  “I don’t think so muthafucker; you’re ugly as shit,” Jaxson said.

  “And you’re not a shifter. So what the fuck are you?” Jayce asked.

  “Does it matter?” Bryce asked.

  “You know what. It doesn’t matter,” Kellan said.

  “You’re a dead man either way.”

  “Where’s my pretty daughter?” Bryce asked.

  “These chains were meant for her you know. But as you know, I had to snatch up whoever I could get.” Bryce looked at Tristan. The way he was holding onto Gemma let him know that they were more than just packmates.

  “Your mate has some nice tits,” he winked at Tristan. Tristan growled and popped up ready to go after Bryce for commenting on his mate. Bryce didn’t know why he did that. He was taunting the wolves to somehow appear nonchalant and unafraid, but that was a mistake. When Tristan hauled ass towards him with his claws drawn; Kellan didn’t stop him. He came directly at Bryce and decked him in the face. Bryce felt blood gush from his nose, and his teeth shift inside of his mouth. Something began flickering inside of Bryce. He felt his claws elongating, and his teeth sharpening. No. He was becoming that damn creature again.

  Blinking his eyes rapidly didn’t stop his vision from turning to slits. Even though he tried to move back from the attack, Tristan didn’t stop moving forward. He used Bryce like a punching bag. Delivering straight, hard strikes in rapid succession not letting up for a moment. With a grunt, he swept Bryce’s ankles and sent him to the floor. Bryce squirmed as his body continued to change into that godforsaken creature.

  “What the fuck is he?!” Jayce asked as he stared down at Bryce.

  “A snake,” Kellan replied.

  “Bliss clawed him to death. Or so we thought. But a deep enough claw mark can turn a human into a shifter. The universe, however, didn’t feel he was pure enough to carry the power of a shifter. So, he was turned into something more suitable. A snake.”

  “Sucks for you,” Jaxson said to Bryce. Jaxson couldn’t help but get the chills at looking at the scaled muthafucker. He looked disgusting.

  “Jax, right. Jayce, left,” Kellan ordered. Bryce looked at the wolves, confused.

  “The hell is that supposed to mean?” Bryce asked, his slit tongue making his voice sound weird again. Bryce soon understood exactly what the alpha meant by his orders.

  Breathing heavily, Tristan left Bryce and went back to his mate; scooping her in his arms again. Once he was out of the way, Jaxon and Jayce approached Bryce. Jaxson grabbed onto Bryce’s right arm while Jayce grabbed onto the left arm. As if they trained for this precise thing; Jaxson and Jayce broke each and every one of his fingers and each arm. It got worse when they twisted each of Bryce’s arms until they popped from its socket. Bryce screaming in agony; the immense pain causing his human side to come back out. Sprawled out on the ground, Bryce groaned out in pain. He wanted to beg for mercy, but he couldn’t get his pride to stoop that low.

  “Gemma, you want action?” Kellan asked Gemma. She wiggled out of Tristan’s arms and walked over to where Bryce lay. She wanted to kill him for what he was attempting to do, but with her pack at her back, she didn’t need to fall victim to the bloodlust. He would get his due.

  “Just makes sure his ass dies for good this time,” Gemma replied.

  “Especially because he’s thinking about hurting Bliss even more.”

  “Oh, we’re going to make sure we take our slow, sweet time with him,” Kellan said. On that note, Jayce and Jaxson dragged Bryce to the chains and cuffed him tightly; keeping him from running away.

  “Chain this bitch up too,” Kellan said nodding towards Hera.

  “No Kellan I-”

  “Chain her up!” He snapped, cutting her off. He was just about to order that Dell be chained up as well when he stopped short. Anger, fear, and anxiety filled his body. The urge to run and hide consumed him. It didn’t take long for Kellan to realize they weren’t his emotions. Kellan looked sharply at Jayce who locked eyes with him. The both of them were feeling the same thing.

  “Oh no,” Kellan gasped.

  “The she-wolves.”

  “What? What about the females?!” Jaxson asked seeing the look on their faces.

  “They’re being attacked,” Kellan breathed.

  Chapter Three

  Kyra was restless as she paced the area in front of the dining area. The males were gone for a good amount of time, and she was beginning to get worried. She knew nothing was too bad because she could feel Kellan through the alpha bond and he was content. Or well, content enough during a fight to let her know that nothing was going awry. But the fact that she couldn’t sense everyone made her edgy.

  “Is Jayce okay?” Kyra asked Rita.

  “He’s fine,” she smiled, rubbing her flat tummy that was slowly brewing Jayce’s pup.

  “And Tristan is fine,” Bliss told her being able to feel him through her alpha bond. Kyra bit her nails.

  “And Jaxson…” she whispered.

  “He’s okay,” Bliss replied. Kyra exhaled and nodded. She just really needed them to come back to the cave before she would be able to relax. Or was it that she needed Jaxson to be back in order for her wolf to stop being anxious?

  “If we keep being worried and anxious then it’s gonna travel to the men, and they need to be focused,” Bliss said. She rubbed her stomach and winced.

  “Are you alright?” Kyra asked.

  “Yes. I’m pretty sure our pup is dominant, and he is not shy about kicking the crap out of me. It's like he knows his father is out there fighting and he wants to fight too.”

  “Even though you’re in pain that’s pretty fucking cute,” Kyra smiled.

  “He already wants to fight next to his daddy. Aww,” the women chuckled.

  “I’m excited to help you give birth,” Selena said.

  “You and Rita. I love delivering babies.”

  “Man am I happy that we found you and got you into the pack. I’m trying to think of what we would have done if you weren’t here,” Bliss said.

  “I can deliver babies,” Kyra said.

  “Though I’ve only seen it done I haven’t quite exactly done it before,” she added.

  “Yeah….I’m glad you’re here,” Rita said to Selena. Kyra gasped.

  “Don’t play me like that,” she laughed.

  “So, wait a minute; you don’t have a mate, Kyra?” Selena asked. Kyra’s smile dropped from her face.

  “No-no I don’t have one,” she replied. The memory of that dream she had when she came into puberty hit her. She would never forget that dream.

  “Well I hope you find him soon,” Mira spoke up. Even though she was sitting around the island, she had been quiet, and no one had said anything to her. Kyra turned and looked at her. She could sense the sarcasm in Mira’s voice and didn’t like it not one bit.
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  “Do you have a prob-”

  “Not right now ladies,” Zander said coming towards them.

  “We’ve got bigger problems to deal with.”

  “You’re right Zander,” Kyra said.

  “I shouldn’t entertain bitterness anyways.” Mira stood, having thoughts about walking over to Kyra and slicing her claw through Kyra’s throat.

  “They’ve been gone for a little bit,” Zander said.

  “I hope nothing has gone wrong.”

  “I wanna know who snatched Gemma,” Selena snarled. At the same time, everyone looked at Niles.

  “I said I had nothing to do with it,” he sneered. He knew he had to prove he wasn’t the one who’d walked her into a trap. But Tristan had said she went out to meet with him. The only reason she would do that when she wasn’t meeting him confused him. Unless someone told her, he wanted to hang out. At the same moment, that thought crossed his mind; Niles sensed his packmates. Without saying another word, Niles left the dining area and marched out of the cave. He walked with quick steps to the entrance of the cave. Just inside the waterfall, his packmates looked at him with stupid grins on their faces.

  “Just in time to let us in,” Craig said.

  “I don’t think so,” Niles shook his head.

  “I don’t know what you’re on, but you realize that Dell is your alpha right. Not Kellan?”

  “Did you tell Gemma that I wanted to hang out with her and made her think she was meeting me somewhere?” Niles asked Craig.

  “Hmm, I don’t know did we?” he joked.

  “Couldn’t track our scents?” Niles just stood there dumbfounded not sure what the hell to do next.

  “Anyways, our alpha gave us a job; and we intend to do it. So, move or be moved.”

  “No,” Niles gritted.

  “Fine. Have it your way.” Craig leaped at Niles, spearing him down to the ground. He dove his claws into Niles’ stomach. Niles tried to flip them over, but the rest of the pack began stomping on his body as Craig continued to pierce into Niles’s stomach with his claws. Unable to fight off the whole pack, Niles fell limp as his body was bleeding too quickly for his body to heal.