Lion's Betrayal (Shifter Suspense Book 2) Read online

  Chloe wanted to scream at him. Stop talking like you care! Because he didn’t. He was just worried because she was his mate—the mate he didn’t even want. A real ball and chain.

  She wrung the sneakers in her hands, wishing they were Harper’s neck. Something fell out of them and Chloe knelt to grab it, keeping her face turned away from Mathis so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. The object was a flimsy black disc, slightly thicker at one end. Chloe turned it over in her hands, not really looking at it.

  She took a deep breath as she stood up again.

  “I know it would hurt you if I get hurt. But how do you think I feel, having to watch you in the ring every night?”

  “Chloe—”

  “Neither of us is getting out of this unharmed, Mathis. I just want us to get out of it alive.”

  “Chloe, what the hell?”

  Chloe blinked. Mathis was lurching to his feet, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face. And not just confusion—pain. For a moment, his face was as pale as it was when he was most injured.

  “I don’t want us to die, Mathis. It’s not that difficult a concept. And if I get—if something happens to me when I try to break into Harper’s quarters—at least you’ll still be out here. You might still have a chance.”

  Mathis’ eyes were strangely unfocused. Chloe wasn’t sure if he was looking at her, or through her. He stepped forward, hands outstretched.

  “Mathis, are you even listening to me?”

  Mathis froze. He rocked back on his feet, rubbing his hands over his face. “It’s actually happening,” he muttered, so quietly Chloe could hardly hear him. “I’m going mad. I’m losing it…”

  “What are you talking about?” Chloe marched up and pulled Mathis’ hands away from his face, dropping the black disc.

  Mathis’ eyes widened in shock. He grabbed Chloe’s hands, pulling her close. “You—”

  His pupils dilated as he cupped her cheek in one hand. He looked half out of his mind. Chloe frowned at him.

  “Okay… what have I missed? Is this another shifter thing?”

  “You disappeared.”

  Chloe stared at him. “Bullshit.”

  “No, I swear, one minute you were there, and the next…” He held Chloe’s face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. “You were gone. I thought I was going crazy.”

  “I didn’t go anywhere,” Chloe said, her hands sliding around Mathis’ waist. Oh, God, she knew she shouldn’t, she knew in a minute he would hate her again, but it felt good to hold him. So good she had to drag her mind back to what they were talking about. “I just picked up—Oh my God.”

  Chloe dropped to the floor, scrambling around for the black disc. “It’s a scale,” she gasped, looking up at Mathis. “It—you can’t see me again, can you?”

  A muscle was twitching at the edge of Mathis’ mouth. Taking pity on him, Chloe reached up and took his hand.

  His eyes widened. “Julian.”

  “It must be one of his scales. I kicked him up pretty bad when he grabbed me off the boat—well, I tried. It must have slipped into my sneaker…”

  “His scales have the same shielding ability that he has.” Mathis’ voice was soft with wonder. “I’d heard that some dragons have powers, but this is something else.”

  Chloe’s mouth twisted. “And it’s been in my sneaker all this time. We could have…” Her mind was racing. “We still could. We could use it…”

  A plan flashed into existence in her mind, bright and clear and full of hope. She explained it to Mathis, speaking so quickly she wasn’t sure he would follow. But he did.

  “…there must be something. Even just a phone line. Harper must have some way of communicating from the mainland to let the staff know he’s visiting, and there’s no way the rich assholes he brings over as his guests are here for some sort of device-free detox.”

  Mathis’ hand tightened around hers and she sighed.

  “You’re going to tell me not to, aren’t you? That I shouldn’t put myself in danger.”

  Mathis knelt down. Chloe was suddenly aware that thanks to the magic in Julian’s scale, the two of them were essentially in their own little world. No one could see them, or hear them, or—I never would have even thought about this a month ago, but no one can smell us, either.

  It’s just us. Together. Like that first night…

  Mathis touched the scale. It was a dull, charcoal black, thicker and slightly ridged at one end, smooth and thin at the other. It didn’t look magic.

  Then he stared into Chloe’s eyes. That was more like magic. Those pale gold eyes. Lion’s eyes.

  The eyes of a man she’d tried desperately not to fall in love with, and failed.

  “Chloe…” Mathis closed his eyes briefly, and when he looked at her again his eyes were clear and determined. “I can’t force you to do nothing. That would make me as bad as Harper. If you have a plan… I’ll help. But on one condition. Whatever you find in Harper’s tower, if you can get a message out or not, you keep that scale on you. Don’t come back. Don’t let anyone see you again. You have to disappear. And the next time Harper has guests come to the island, or heads back to the mainland himself, you stow away. Without me.”

  CHAPTER 19

  MATHIS

  Another day. Another fight.

  But today was different. Today, they had a plan.

  Mathis just hoped it didn’t end as badly as their last one.

  He glanced up at the window to the viewing room, squinting through the spotlights. He couldn’t see Chloe, but for the first time, he could sense her presence up there.

  His skin prickled. You’re treading a fine line there. One step closer to a point you’ll never come back from.

  Or maybe he’d already passed it.

  He’d been so careful, resisting the mate bond’s pull. One moment of weakness, and all that work was undone.

  He felt stronger than before. Being close to Chloe without touching her had been a constant ache, but now that he’d touched her lips with his and held her soft body against his own again, felt her tremble as he claimed her—the mate bond burnt like wildfire through his veins. Chloe was his mate. He would do anything for her.

  And it terrified him.

  Harper was using his mate as bait for a reason, and that reason couldn’t just be to keep him in line. The man was too sadistic for that. Mathis was just figuring out what he thought Harper’s real game was, and it chilled him to the bone.

  Focus.

  The sound of metal grating on metal pulled him from his thoughts. Chloe’s presence in the room above still tugged at his senses, but he moved his focus to the ring.

  Mathis rolled his shoulders back as Sven, the wolf shifter, entered the ring through the opposite door. Something pulled in his left shoulder and he winced. The mate bond made him stronger, healing his surface wounds, but even it couldn’t pull his healing abilities back from the brink.

  *Sven.*

  *Mathis.*

  Sven cocked his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked Mathis up in down. *Shit. You broke, didn’t you?*

  Inside Mathis, his lion snarled, mane puffing out in defensive anger. *That’s none of your business.*

  A buzzer sounded. Mathis exchanged a look with Sven, and shifted.

  His body protested. Shifting while he was injured always hurt, but with injury layered over injury it was excruciating. Mathis stood on all fours, panting as he waited for his head to stop spinning.

  *It’s all of our business, Mathis.* Sven’s voice was grim. *I hope you haven’t slept with her—*

  *Jesus, Sven!*

  Sven pulled his teeth back over his fangs, stalking around the ring with his belly close to the ground. Mathis set pace with him. Circling. Falling into the rhythm of the fight.

  *I’m serious, kid. I thought I made it clear. You need to stay away from that girl, for all of our sakes.*

  *What the hell are you talking about?*

  *You. Her. I’ve seen thi
s happen before.*

  *What aren’t you telling me, Sven?* Mathis growled. *You were cryptic enough last time. Same as everyone else on this bullshit island. Stop playing games!* He was half listening to Sven, and half paying attention to the window above them. He needed to be alert the moment Chloe made her move.

  *Fine. You want the truth?* Sven’s psychic voice was completely flat. *You remember the ibex shifter, Aisha, right? The crazy girl? Well, you and Chloe together, that’s step one in Harper’s game plan. And whoever’s left afterwards, that’s step two. Like Aisha.*

  Mathis froze. *He’s going to kill her.*

  *Or you. Probably her, though. A lion shifter who’s lost his mind with grief is gonna provide more fun in the ring than a human, that’s for sure.*

  *No!*

  Mathis forgot Sven. He spun towards the window. He had to tell Chloe. She couldn’t go ahead with the plan. It was too dangerous. She couldn’t—

  Sven hit him in the side, locking his jaws onto Mathis’ injured shoulder. Mathis roared.

  *What the fuck, Sven?*

  The wolf shifter leapt back, circling around Mathis so quickly he almost stumbled over his own paws keeping up with him.

  *You think Harper wants to watch us stand here yapping? You want to hold off step two as much as I do, then we both need to give him a show. Same as every night.*

  Mathis’ head was thudding in time with the pain throbbing in his shoulder, and Chloe’s presence was a constant light in the back of his mind. But he caught on to Sven’s words.

  *What do you mean, ‘as much as you do’?*

  Sven didn’t smile. Wolves couldn’t. But his psychic voice was heavy with black, grim humor.

  *You think any of us want to face up to a crazy lion, kid?*

  Movement in the viewing room caught Mathis’ eye. And he wasn’t the only one. Sven leapt back and quirked his head, glancing up at the window.

  *Something’s happening up there.*

  Even in Mathis’ head, Sven’s voice was cagy, and he moved quickly to the far end of the circular room. Mathis rolled his eyes to follow the wolf’s path, and then focused on the window again.

  He understood Sven’s wariness. He figures something’s happened to Chloe, and doesn’t want to be stuck in here with a lion enraged by seeing his mate in danger.

  I don’t blame him.

  From the ring, Mathis could just see what was happening in the viewing room. Chloe was bent over, supporting herself on the back of a sofa while Harper yelled out someone out of sight.

  *Chloe!* Mathis let his psychic shout broadcast to all the shifters in “hearing” distance. He didn’t need to fake the concern in his telepathic voice. His fur itched as Chloe retched again. He knew it was all an act, but that didn’t matter to his instincts. *CHLOE!*

  He paced up and down the center of the ring, eyes fixed on his mate. She looked sick. Surely she couldn’t fake how pale her face was?

  Mathis gritted his teeth. You said you trusted her. So trust her.

  Chloe staggered as Harper grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her away, towards the door. He pointed and shouted something and she crept away, one hand over her mouth and the other clutching her stomach.

  It’s working. Mathis turned his sigh of relief into an angry snarl. Then his heart sank as Harper snapped his fingers and pointed after Chloe. One of the servers peeled away from their station at the edge of the room and trailed after her.

  Shit. This isn’t going to work if she has a babysitter.

  Mathis braced himself, mind whirring. He had to cause a distraction. His eyes flickered sideways and met Sven’s wary gaze.

  Time for some of that mated shifter rage.

  Mathis breathed deeply, gathering his energy, and sprang.

  He hit the wall opposite the window three feet above Sven’s head, ignoring the wolf’s yelp as he darted out of the way. Muscles screaming, Mathis twisted as soon as his paws hit the wall, keeping momentum as he pushed off and hurled himself at the window.

  He hit the window shoulder-first, whipping one fore-leg around to scratch at the glass with his claws. The window shuddered in its frame, and then gravity caught hold, dragging Mathis back down to the ground.

  Blood thundering in his ears Mathis pounded across the concrete floor and leapt up again, smashing into the window with all his weight. Glass screamed against metal as the window shuddered in its frame. This time when he fell to the ground, flakes of concrete fell with him.

  Harper wasn’t interested in Chloe anymore. The server he’d ordered to tail her fled to the back of the room out of Mathis’ sight—but not out the door. Not after Chloe.

  It’s up to her now.

  Mathis crouched. The snarl that tore from his throat this time was pure fury. He didn’t need to pretend he was enraged by his mate’s distress. All the anger and frustration of the past month poured through him like liquid fire.

  Distraction? He’d cause a distraction, all right. And if his distraction took out the window and Harper and his bastard dragon lap-dog at the same time, all the better.

  CHAPTER 20

  CHLOE

  Chloe hustled back to the room as fast as she could while still pretending she was in the grip of a sudden vomiting bug. As soon as the bedroom door closed behind her she straightened up.

  Twenty seconds to rinse her mouth and spit in the sink. Ten to pull the dragon scale from its hiding place in the lining of her bag. In less than a minute, she was out the door again, the scale tucked safely into her bra.

  Less than a minute—but out of how many minutes total? On an island full of shifters, it couldn’t be too long before someone noticed she was missing.

  Chloe put her head down and marched toward the main building. She turned her back on the tower that housed the fighting ring, aiming for its counterpart at the other end of the building. The one place left that she had never managed to get into, even when she was on the housekeeping roster. The rooms there were off-limits to everyone except senior staff.

  And one senior staff member in particular always finished her evening shift around now, while the boss was being entertained by his prisoners…

  Chloe jogged up the steps to the veranda that looped around the second story. She felt incredibly exposed—until she looked down and saw nothing where her shadow should be. Chloe gulped. The world seemed to tilt.

  She really was invisible.

  This is nuts, she thought, and bit back a sudden gurgle of laughter. Seeing her feet move over the pale stone and no shadow following made her feel like a badly-rendered computer game character. Now all she needed to do was complete her fetch quest.

  Chloe sped around a corner and had to throw herself sideways as she almost barreled straight into her old manager.

  Nora was hurrying along the veranda with her head down, rubber gloves clenched in one hand and the other dragging her cart of cleaning equipment. She didn’t look up as Chloe yelped and clattered out of the way, almost tripping over her cart.

  She can’t hear me. She has no idea I’m even here. Chloe’s heart leapt. She’d imagined sneaking up on Nora while she worked and grabbing her keys. But this was going to be much easier.

  Chloe kept pace with Nora inside and waited while she hit the button for the clanky, old-fashioned elevator. Her keys were on an elastic cord at her waist. She jingled them absently as she waited for the elevator.

  And when it arrived, and she stepped forward, Chloe reached out and unhooked the ring of keys from her waist.

  Simple as that, Chloe thought smugly, and fled.

  She knew exactly where she was going. Back along the veranda, feet slapping on pale stone. Across the courtyard spotted with twisted trees in shallow pots. Right to the door set in the side of the second tower.

  Chloe looked up at the stone tower, heart thudding in her ears. This is it. If her hunch was right, this was where she would be able to find a way out of here, for her and Mathis and everyone else trapped on this hellhole island.

  An
d if it wasn’t…

  Her fist clenched around the keys. It has to be.

  Even though Chloe knew no one could see her, the back of her neck was itching like crazy. This courtyard was visible from almost every window in the building. Unfortunately, the door here was the only way into the tower.

  Which has got to be deliberate, Chloe thought. She slotted the key into the lock. So I’ve just got to hope that no one is watching right now… Please, Mathis, make your distraction a good one…

  The key turned. The door swung open. Chloe darted inside and forced herself to ease it shut instead of slamming it. The scale only silenced her, not anything she crashed into.

  She leaned back against the closed door, panting. Her whole body felt electrified. No turning back now.

  The first room in the tower was dark, and it took Chloe’s eyes a moment to adjust. No windows, she thought, and her eyes went immediately to the floating staircase that wound around the edges of the room. No light poured in from where it opened out onto the next floor. So no windows there, either.

  Which was weird, cos it sure as hell had looked from the outside like there were windows in the tower.

  Chloe stepped forward. The entrance-level room was furnished in the style she’d come to expect from Harper: gaudy bordering on tacky. Chloe hadn’t even thought you could get sofas in gold leather. And then there was what looked like a fur-covered beanbag thrown carelessly under the staircase. The whole place was garish as hell… And perfectly clean. Nora must have just finished up in here when I caught up with her.

  She slipped one hand into her pocket, feeling the reassuring smooth edge of her cellphone. Right. Time to explore—

  Two things happened at the same time. First, her cellphone started beeping and buzzing like the Fourth of July was going off in her pocket.

  Second, the fur-covered bean bag under the stairs surged up, and Chloe found herself staring into the eyes of the polar bear that had tried to tear her to pieces three weeks ago.