Page 87 of Chased

“I wasn’t there for you. I left you, and they took you, and I didn’t even kill them.”

Surprisingly, that made her smile. “I know you want to. But you might feel bad afterwards.”

“Don’t kid yourself. I’d fucking sleep like a baby.”

Because he was protecting her. She turned and kissed him. “I love you.”

That seemed to make him feel better.

Finally, Sugar came to get them. He led them back through the huge entrance hall to a paneled elevator, that went down and down and down until it seemed like they must be getting to the center of the earth.

It opened on a long stone hallway with a set of double doors at the end. What on earth…

She looked around at the others, but they seemed to be in familiar territory. So they all followed Sugar down the hall and into a place that looked like something out of a movie.

It was a huge stone cavern, dimly lit. The only furniture was a long wooden table on a raised dais, that stretched across the far end of the room. The near end was packed with Outlaw Ridge men, milling around and talking quietly.

Sitting behind one end of the table were Gunn and Jaeda’s father, Jace Monroe, along with a dark-haired, stern-faced man about the same age as Jace. A little apart from them, in the exact center of the table, was a man in a hooded brown robe, like a medieval monk. At least, she thought it was a man. His hood was so deep and the room so dim that none of his face was visible at all.

The Outlaw Ridge men parted as she and Sanchez came through, letting them walk to the front of the crowd. Surprisingly, those of them near enough touched her as well as Sanchez as they went by—a pat on the back, a hand to the shoulder, a touch on the arm.

She was part of the pack for real now, she realized. One of them.

As soon as they were in place, Henri and his men were marched inside by armed Outlaw Ridge soldiers. Sanchez, just behind Madison, put his hands on her shoulders. She covered one of them with hers.

Henri was obviously still fuming—he wasn’t used to being treated like the dickhead he was.

Before he could get a word out, though, the man in the robe spoke in a harsh, gravelly voice.

“I am Thanatos,” he said. “You have trespassed on my territory.”

Henri pointed at Gunn. “I thought that guy was the alpha.”

“He is the alpha of the pack. But this entire mountain belongs to me, and I have the right to dispatch trespassers as I see fit. Especially those who threaten the people under my protection.”

Henri began spluttering, “You can’t do anything to us. I have the right to retrieve my legal mate and to bring charges against anyone harboring her. If you don’t release her to me immediately and let us go, I’m going to report this to the Renard Council. I’ll go all the way to the Shifter Council—”

He wouldn’t. Would he?

But Gunn spoke up. “Already done.” He indicated the stern-faced man next to Jace. “This is Kane Colton, Lieutenant Commander of the Shifter Council Enforcers.”

Holy hell. Jaeda really had called in the big guns.

Chapter 36

Madison looked over at Jaeda, standing across the room with Remy, and she gave Madison a thumbs-up.

Kane said, “I’m representing the Shifter Council in this matter.”

That made Henri and his cronies shift uneasily. They began whispering among themselves. One of them said, “Do we need counsel?”

Jace said, “I’m sure you will. At the moment, however, this is just a preliminary hearing. What seems to be the problem here?”

Henri pointed at Madison. “That female is my mate. Under the laws of the Renards, she belongs to me. I’m taking her back to Colorado.”

Sanchez’s hands tightened on Madison’s shoulders. “Not in a million years,” he growled. “She’s my mate.”

Henri snarled, “My claim precedes yours.”