When they finally crossed the boundary into Collingwood territory, Matt’s enforcers nervously let them pass while one of them called Matt on his cell phone. As soon as Eli pulled up in the parking lot, Matt came strolling toward them with Zeke at his side. Matt’s smile was genuine but shaky.
“You have to stay in the SUV, Cain. They won’t be able to see you through the shaded windows.” At his disapproving growl, Ally reminded him, “You can’t be seen. Your link to me can’t become common knowledge for both our sakes.”
He was silent for a short moment. “Kill her, Ally. Nothing else will stop her from coming after you.” Ally suspected he might be right about that. “But don’t do it quickly. Make her hurt, make her bleed, and make sure her pack mates see how well you can fight so they don’t dare even think about avenging her death. Got it?”
Nodding, Ally said, “Got it.” Only once the other males were out of the SUV, awkwardly greeting the Collingwood Alpha and Beta, did Ally hop out.
Zeke’s gaze skimmed over her, taking in the dirt and healing abrasions. “Shit, Ally, what happened?” He went to move toward her.
“Not too close,” warned Derren in a deceptively cool drawl. “I’m not in a tolerant mood right now.”
“Come inside the house,” invited Matt. “We’ll talk.”
“We’re not here to chat,” Ally told him. “Where’s—” She stopped as movement caught her eye: a blonde female was jogging toward them, shock flaring in her eyes at the sight of Ally. Rachelle. How grand.
“What are you doing here?” Rachelle sneered at her. “You and your friends told us to stay away from you. Yet here you are.”
“Yes, not where you expected me to be, I’ll bet.” Ally smiled inwardly when the Beta female’s eyes flickered nervously. “Coming after me was by far the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. Seriously, even for you—someone whose elevator doesn’t go to the top floor—it was stupid.”
Rachelle’s tired sigh was actually very convincing. “So you’ve come here to accuse me of something, I see.”
“Did you think that if you killed me, you’d get away with it?” Ally snickered. “You would have forever been looking over your shoulder at the wolves chasing your crazy ass. You should have just stayed away.”
“I did. But apparently you can’t stay away from me, can you? You just can’t let go of your grudge against me.”
“Maybe if you opened your mouth for more than talking bullshit or giving blow jobs, we wouldn’t have a problem.” Ally’s wolf released a satisfied growl at the angry flush on Rachelle’s cheeks. “I gotta say, those tigers weren’t very competent. I suppose I should pity you for your delusions of tactical brilliance.”
Zeke spoke then. “Tigers? What about tigers? You’re not making any sense.”
“Sure I am.” Ally turned back to Rachelle. “You didn’t expect me to link the incident to you, huh.”
“What incident?” Matt asked. By that point, they had drawn a bit of a crowd, including Clint and Greg—both of whom were scowling at Ally.
“I was drugged and kidnapped by two tiger shifters a little while ago,” Ally told Matt. Surprise and dubiousness wafted from the Collingwood bystanders.
The Alpha gaped. “What?”
“You heard her,” growled Derren.
Matt slid his gaze briefly to his Beta female. “And you all think Rachelle had something to do with this?”
“We know she did.” Derren clenched his fists, barely resisting the urge to plant one in Matt’s face for being so evasive.
Rachelle folded her arms across her chest, regarding Ally like she was ridiculous. “Kidnapped? Yeah, right. Oh, and they just let you go, I suppose?”
“No. I jumped out of the trunk while they were still driving.” Ally rolled back one shoulder. “Hurt like a motherfucker.”
“You persist in seeing me as the enemy.” Rachelle dragged a hand through her hair. “You see conspiracies everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if you faked the kidnapping.” Derren’s snarl made her snap her gaze to him. She sneered at him, “Or maybe it was someone trying to get at you through your girlfriend.”
“I speak Mandarin, Rachelle. I understood every word.” Ally smiled faintly as Rachelle stilled. “You hired them. You were supposed to join us in a few hours at a location you gave them. You undoubtedly meant to kill me. And I’m not down with that. So there’s only one thing left for me to do.” Ally straightened her shoulders. “Rachelle Lavin, I challenge you to a duel.”
Zeke took one step forward, his tone desperate. “Ally, don’t do this.”
“Don’t speak to her,” Derren snapped at him. “She’s no one to you.”
Zeke curled back his upper lip. “Yeah? Well, you’re just someone she’s screwing.”
Derren smiled. “If you were close enough to scent us, you’d know that couldn’t be further from the truth.”