Someone had to stop him.
Glancing over at Alphie, Liam sensed the pain in his dog but also how sorry he was. Alphie adored Rebecca. Liam loved her.
We've got to go and get her.
"Fine." He headed toward the door. "Any sign of trouble, you leave and get the pack to leave as well. I won't have any of my people hurt at the hands of a man like Payne, understood?" Liam asked.
Ben, Eli, and Jake all nodded.
Leaving his home, he saw their mates waiting for them. There were tears and concern in the eyes of the three females. Liam watched as his men went to them and held each other close.
Rebecca should be home.
She should be meeting the other females.
He had to go and save her.
"We want to help," said Sarah, Eli's mate.
"Then please, get everyone ready," Liam said. "If I make it home and bring my mate, I know it's going to be a difficult time for her. This is all going to be new." He looked at the women. "Would you go to Rebecca's home? She's human, and she'll be scared and worried, and I know this is all going to come as a shock to her."
"She doesn't know about mates?" Emily asked, Jake's mate.
"No. She doesn't know about any of this." He'd wanted to tell her, but Rebecca wasn't part of a pack. She loved wolves, but that didn't for a single second mean she would ever understand. This was his fault. His mistake. He wouldn't let anything happen to her because of him. "I'm not going to be able to let her go back. She'll have to stay here. Please, when you know all is well, could you go to her home? Get her things. Everything that you think will make her comfortable."
Emily nodded. "We'll do all of that. We're stronger than you think."
He nodded and stepped away, allowing his friends to say their goodbyes.
This was dangerous.
He wanted to send them home, to make them wait.
But that would put them at risk.
Staring into the forest, he thought about Payne. They'd had a couple of run-ins before. He'd always been the stronger and faster one out of the two of them. Now Payne thought he could take Liam's mate and that would be the end of it.
A rage built inside him thinking about what Payne had done. Not only had he taken his mate from him, he'd let her know exactly what he was, and not given him the chance to do it himself. For that, he would make sure Payne suffered horribly. That he'd want to die long before he granted it.
Liam was one to show mercy, to give people a second chance. Payne had crossed a line, and now he'd get to see just who he was dealing with. Liam had a reputation for getting the job done.
Payne would finally get what was coming to him.
****
Chained up.
Broken.
Alone.
Rebecca stared across the floor seeing a spider scurry away.
Even spiders didn't want to be near her.
She felt so empty.
So scared.
The fear gripped her, making it impossible for her to focus on anything else.
Wolves.
Real live wolves.
Not the kind that were in fairy tales and movies. They were real, and she'd seen it all with her own eyes. They'd had fun mocking her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she sniffled. The man, Payne, had kicked her in the ribs with so much force, she'd slammed against the far wall.
She hurt everywhere, and her body shook from the cold.
Rebecca didn't even know how long she'd been taken.
Payne had been surprised, she knew that. He'd been expecting Liam to charge down and try to take her.
He'd not arrived.
They waited for hours, sitting around a dinner table.
Payne had mocked, laughed, and hurt her. Pinching her flesh, pulling her hair. Showing everyone that would listen just how weak she was. How useless. He'd even clawed at her neck where Liam was supposed to have marked her.
She placed a hand to the skin. It burned to the touch, and she wondered if wolves had infections. She was human, and if it was dirty, she'd be sure to die.
Death sounded all right now.
She'd rather be dead than have to deal with the truth that Liam had lied to her. He wasn't human, not completely. Half man, half wolf, and he'd lied to her. The mark on her neck, his need to take her. It hadn't been because of her. Well, it had and hadn't. He'd done so because his stupid wolf had told him to.
She wasn't attractive.
Or worthy of such a mate.
Payne had told her that.
Liam as an alpha needed someone strong.
Someone who could be worthy of his affections.
She was nothing.
In that moment, she missed her small apartment, her laptop, her authors, her work. She wanted to go back home. To forget about Liam, and the way he smiled or looked at her. It was all a lie, right? He didn't really have any feelings for her.
No one did.
"Aw, are we still alive?" Payne asked, giving her leg a nudge.
She flinched and tried to curl her body into herself, to make herself as small as possible.
It didn't work. She cried out as he grabbed her hair and pulled her up so that his cheek was against her own.
He'd stripped her of her clothing, and he'd made a point of sneering at her full body. Poking and prodding at her cellulite legs. Laughing at Liam's choice.
She couldn't handle much more pain or humiliation.
"Leave me alone. Please. I have nothing to do with this," she said.
"You have everything to do with this. You're the very reason we're here now, dealing with it. You're all the reason I need. Liam will come for you."
"He's not arrived. I'm not his mate."
"You are his mate, Rebecca. No matter what you say or how you try to hide it. You're his mate. He's a wolf, and I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't tried to breed you yet."
The unprotected sex.
Payne burst out laughing. "So he has. Well, I have a good mind to keep you alive. Let's see if you have his baby. That would be fucking amazing. I kill Liam, take his pack, take his kid, breed you to bear my own children."
"I don't know who you are. Leave me alone." Her old anxieties were coming thick and fast. She wanted to run, but they had her chained up. She'd never been a fighter.
All she wanted was for Liam to come and save her, but he still hadn't shown up.
"You want to see the magic again?" Payne asked.
The sneer in his voice was clear even though she didn't look at him.
She shook her head, but that didn't stop him. Before her eyes, his arm changed from that of a human. She watched the skin split, disappear, and then in its place was that of a wolf. Dark black hair, long claws, and thicker than his human arm.
Screaming, she pushed at him, trying to scramble away, but she didn't get far. He grabbed her thigh, and she yelled in pain as his claws sank into the flesh. Glancing down, she saw the claws digging into her thigh. If she moved, he'd tear her leg to shreds.
"I've heard that human flesh is so damn easy. It's like cutting through paper."
She screamed once again as his claws moved the smallest distance. The pain rushed through her body, scaring her, terrifying her.
"You have so many delicate arteries and veins. You nick one and within minutes you've bled out and died."
Her heart started to pound. One of those was in her thigh. The femoral artery. She didn't want to die.
What did she want?
For this man to just be a bad dream and to wake up safely in her bed. It certainly felt like a living nightmare.
She held still as he continued to stare at her thigh.
"I'd love to watch you bleed out. I love the color red. So fucking sexy." His claws retracted, and she went to pull her leg against her, but he wouldn't let her.
Whimpering from the pain, she held herself still. His wolf hand was gone, replaced by his human hand.
"So delicate. I don't even see the appeal here. You're nothing. You're not worthy to have a wolf mate, let alone an alpha."
He stroked over the red wounds on her thigh now dripping blood.
This couldn't be where her life ended.
"Sir, something is happening," one of his men said.
Payne sighed. "He's taking way too long."
"You said he'd come for her. You think that would change? He'd change?"
"No. Liam is the kind of man who'd come back for her. I don't for a second believe he'd just leave her here." Payne sat back. "He's not like other wolves. First, he has a thing for dogs, which is just fucking gross. A wolf having a dog for a pet. It's insulting."
He always seemed to do a lot of talking.
"Right, I'll go and see what all the fuss is about. You, my sweet, are so much fun."
He walked away, and she watched him go as the door to her cage slammed shut. With him gone, she tried to pull her wrist free from the metal cuff he had around it.
She placed it between her legs, and then tried to pull, whimpering as the metal dug into the flesh.
Collapsing on the ground, she stared at her hand, feeling weak. Even if she was to escape, she was completely naked.