Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(98)
He certainly wouldn’t guess that Marcus and Roni had headed off in one direction while Ally, Harley, and Jesse had headed in the other, all planning to pick off as many of Archer’s companions as possible. He also wouldn’t guess that there was a gun trained on him—yeah, Gwen had made herself comfortable in a nearby tree.
Sadly, Gwen wouldn’t be able to simply shoot him on sight. That wouldn’t end the problem. The other bears would be furious, and they would instantly attack to avenge their Alpha. They needed to delay the battle until help came, not speed the whole thing up.
Casually tossing a pebble in the water, Madisyn fought the urge to glance around. Her nerves were raw, her muscles were tight with tension, and her stomach was churning with both anxiety and anticipation. It bugged her that she had no idea exactly how many people they would be facing. It meant they couldn’t properly prepare for what was coming.
What she hated most was that Bracken’s wolf had been drawn into a battle and was fighting for his life. She wanted to be there, wanted to fight at his side, but she couldn’t.
Feeling small echoes of his wolf’s pain through their mating bond wasn’t helping at all. He wasn’t badly hurt, but he was still hurting. That was bad enough for her and her cat, who was still hissing and pacing and wanting to rip someone’s throat out—she wasn’t even fussy about whose throat it was.
Grass rustling.
Madisyn snapped her gaze to the left just as a smirking Archer stepped out of the trees on the other side of the creek. He wasn’t alone. Several people fanned out behind him, including Copper, Ink, Charity, Leanna, and Cady. Worse, there were several people behind them. And so on and so on. But that was how bear shifters led their armies: the leader stood at the front while the others stood in lines behind him, and each line was just a little longer than the one before it.
There had to be at least fifty people there—and they were only the ones she could see since there were so many trees in the damn way. The Olympus Pride had to be somewhere near the rear, because she didn’t recognize any of the faces staring at her.
“Well, well, well,” Archer drawled. “Looking cozy, ladies.”
Shaya and Kathy jumped to their feet, acting startled. Madisyn didn’t. That would have been out of character for her. Instead, keeping her eyes on Archer, she slowly stood, fighting to keep her expression blank. Her cat rumbled a dark sound, claws slicing out, raring to spring.
“Who the fuck are you?” demanded Shaya, all Alpha female in that moment.
Ignoring her, Archer spoke to Madisyn. “Hello there, kitten. Good to see you again.” He tilted his head. “You had to know we’d come sooner or later.”
“Yes, I did think you’d be stupid enough to do something dumb like this,” said Madisyn. “Shaya, Kathy—this is Archer, the asshole you’ve heard all about.” No, it probably wasn’t wise to antagonize him, but she’d given him shit during their last little encounter, so he’d expect the same again.
“Shaya,” echoed Archer, eyes settling on the redhead. “You must be the Mercury Alpha female, then.”
“And you must be suicidal,” said Shaya with a sickly-sweet smile. “Because no one trespasses on our territory and lives to tell the tale. Your friends learned that lesson well.”
Archer’s face turned to granite, but then he waved her warning off, sure he had the upper hand. And, well, he did, didn’t he? Whether things remained that way was uncertain, since Madisyn really wasn’t sure how successful Marcus, Jesse, and the others would be in subtly diminishing his numbers. The plan could very easily fail.
Charity smirked. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again, kitty.”
Madisyn didn’t let her expression change as she studied the sow. “You look better than you did the last time I saw you. Although that’s a mean scar on the right side of your face.”
The sow sneered, which would have amused Madisyn’s cat under any other circumstances.
“I wouldn’t bank on your mate or other pack mates turning up anytime soon,” said Archer. “An associate of mine is keeping them occupied. As I understand it, you don’t get along very well with his daughter, Claudia.”
“Just how did you come to be working with Brookson?” Not that Madisyn really cared, but if she kept him talking, it would give her pack mates a chance to keep chipping away at his number.
“We’ve been watching the club very closely,” began Archer, “so we noticed Brookson’s daughter getting carried out of there, heard her team mumbling about Bracken Slater and his mate. I’ve done the occasional business deal with her father, so it was simple enough to call him and propose that we work together on this.”
“And what is ‘this,’ exactly?” asked Shaya. “What are you trying to achieve?”
“The cat knows what I want.” He pointed a finger at Madisyn, smiling. “I’ve got a little surprise for you. Copper, show her the surprise I brought along just for her.”
His mouth curved into an ugly smirk that made unease slither through Madisyn and cause her cat’s hackles to rise. Copper turned and walked deeper into the crowd of bears. Moments later, he and another male came striding into view. It wasn’t their smirks that caused red-hot rage to whip through Madisyn. It was the sight of the bruised, bleeding, and unconscious female in their arms. Dawn. Her face was grotesquely swollen, and her clothes were torn and bloody.