Trayis (VLG Series Book 11) Read online

  She took several deep breaths, her throat dry, heart pounding—and began to climb down the crude treads. Her gaze stayed on the rungs below her. No way was she going to let the bastard surprise her again.

  Shay had never liked heights. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t see much through all the thick branches as she climbed lower and lower. Her hands burned, the damage to them making it painful for her to grip the rough rungs, but she kept going. Time wasn’t on her side. Tegan would come back. She wanted to reach the ground and be gone before he returned.

  She wasn’t overly familiar with that part of her pack’s territory, but she’d seen plenty of maps at Rod’s house. It was his job to keep those cameras operational. Some of them were near the river. She just wished she could remember where each of them had been placed. That information had never seemed important before now.

  She finally breached the dense branches and could see the ground. Exhaustion had her panting. The area around the base was thankfully clear of Tegan. She paused before traversing the lowest rungs, searching for any sign of movement. The only thing that stirred was the breeze. The river noise was much louder, now that she was only twenty feet in the air, free of the noise-reducing leaves and branches.

  It was tempting for her to drop to her knees to kiss the ground when she climbed down the remainder of the trunk, but she resisted. She longingly stared at the water, incredibly thirsty, but instead she turned away from it, stumbling into the woods and toward pack territory. She was too afraid of running into Tegan to linger.

  Shay kept moving, slowly but surely, her gaze darting around as she strained to hear any sound of Tegan. She also looked for hiding spots in case she needed to get out of sight.

  A glint caught her eye, and she spotted one of the cameras. She quickly changed direction, stopped in front of it, and waved her arms. Hopefully, someone was watching the monitors.

  “Please see me!”

  Trayis had lost Tegan’s trail. It had been easy to follow for a bit, his stench the strongest where the crazy Lycan had realized he’d been scented and ran in fear. Before that, he’d traveled over the rocky shore of the river. The trail was gone.

  He snarled, enraged.

  Arlis and half a dozen of his pack spread out, looking for any sign of Tegan’s scent or footprints.

  One of the sentries whistled. “Here.”

  Trayis rushed over to see what the sentry had found. A partial print in the dirt. They fanned out again, looking for another mistake Tegan had made.

  Ten yards away, someone picked up his scent on a bush, where he’d obviously brushed against it. It seemed Tegan had changed direction.

  “This is the third time,” Martin snarled. “It’s like he was staggering around like a fucking drunk, even though he remembered to hide his tracks.”

  “We aren’t giving up.” Trayis sniffed the air and kept his gaze locked on the ground. “Keep looking.”

  The satellite phone one of the men had given Arlis rang. Trayis looked over, watching his brother answer it. Arlis met his gaze—and his eyes widened as he listened to whoever spoke. “Where?”

  Trayis rushed toward him, his heart pounding.

  “Got it. Section nine-two-four. Where the fuck is that?” Arlis smiled briefly at Trayis. “Shay’s alive! They have her on one of the cameras. She’s waving in front of it to get our attention.”

  Relief hit Trayis so hard, he could barely breathe. “Where?”

  “You said nine-two-four?” Martin pointed. “That way. Maybe a mile.”

  That was all Trayis needed. A direction. He shifted, running as fast as he could toward where Martin had pointed. He leapt over a fallen tree, skirted a boulder, and kept running. He didn’t know if anyone followed, nor did he care. He had to get to Shay.

  He frantically tried to pick up her scent—and finally caught it, slightly changing direction. He had to dodge more trees, rocks and bushes. Her scent grew stronger, and he locked on to it, picking up a sudden burst of speed.

  He leapt over another bush and spotted her.

  She spun, terror on her face, but then she cried out, “Trayis!”

  Rage nearly blinded him when he saw her. She was injured. There was slight swelling and some blood on the side of her head, near her temple. She wore only jeans, bra and shoes, and he saw damaged skin on her exposed stomach and ribs. Her wrists were bandaged in rags—and he could smell her blood.

  He catalogued all of that before he finally made it to her, skidded to a halt, and shifted back to skin. He rose up, swiftly pulling her into his arms, holding on tight. She is alive.

  “Shay!”

  She clung to him. “You found me!”

  He let her go and dropped to his knees, staring at her stomach. There was bruising and scratches. He inhaled, picking up several scents. Some of them were Tegan but those were faint. He jerked his head up. “Did that bastard do this to you?”

  “The head and wrists, yes. The rest, it’s a long story. I might have some broken ribs.”

  He rose to his feet again. “I’m going to bite my wrist. You’re going to drink my blood.”

  She looked stunned.

  “It will heal you. Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  He lifted his wrist, let his fangs drop, and bit into his skin. He gently turned her until her back was to his chest, wrapped his arm around her, and then lifted his bleeding arm to her lips. “Drink, doll. Now.”

  She opened her mouth and let him press his torn skin to her lips. He held her as tight as he dared, beyond relieved that she was in his arms. He heard his brother and the rest of the search party coming, but he concentrated on Shay.

  She was drinking his blood. His dick stirred at the thought, at the pull of her mouth on his flesh, but he ignored his arousal. There wasn’t a damn thing sexy about this moment. Shay was hurt, literally bleeding in his arms, and he wanted her healed.

  She trembled slightly and stopped drinking. He pulled his arm back, seeing that he’d stopped bleeding. It was tempting to bite himself again to force her to drink more.

  “How is she?” Arlis walked up to them, looking concerned. His brother glanced from his arm to the blood on Shay’s lips. “Good idea. You can heal any injuries.” He lifted his hand and motioned to the others. “Back off.”

  Shay lifted her head, holding his gaze, and Trayis saw her tears. It tore him up inside. “I’m here, doll. I’m so sorry that crazy fucking Lycan got you.”

  “I’m okay.”

  He adjusted his hold then lifted her, cradling her in his arms. His attention went to her head. The cut there had stopped bleeding long ago but he could see the skin knitting together where it had been split. His blood was working. Then he lowered his gaze to her stomach, watching as the scratches began to heal.

  “Thank you for the blood. I was thirsty but that wasn’t what I had in mind,” she quipped.

  “Get her some water,” he ordered Arlis.

  “On it.” His brother walked off.

  “Vampire blood heals faster than a Lycan’s. What exactly did he do to you, Shay?” He didn’t pick up any scent to indicate Tegan had sexually assaulted her. That was a huge relief.

  “He hit me in the head hard enough to knock me out, and I woke up tied to a rope tethered to a rickety old treehouse.” Her gaze lifted to the sky. “Way up.”

  Rage consumed him all over again. “You climbed down?” He thought about her falling from a long distance. She was so fragile, and some of the local trees were immense. Shay didn’t heal as well as a Lycan. She could have died.

  “I’ll tell you about it later.” Her gaze locked with his. “I’m really okay.” She gave him a brave smile. “I’m so happy to see you. Did we miss our flight?”

  He lowered his body and just sat on the ground, cuddling her in his arms. Trayis needed to hold her. “All that matters is that you’re safe, and I have you.”

  He knew they were being watched, could sense the Lycans surrounding them. It didn’t matter if the