More sendings flashed. Auburn hair. Green eyes darting away. A hand tangled in his mane.
Sage.
Mate.
Rhys scowled. He’d had a mate. Sage wasn’t Hannah.
He resisted the urge to rub his hand over his heart. His chest ached. It’d started the moment Lindley told him what Sage wanted, and hadn’t let up since.
He’d been so sure she’d find her feet in the beginning. All those little flashes of fire in her eyes filled his chest with hope. She couldn’t stay invisible when her eyes blazed bright.
But then she’d started disappearing all over again.
It’d been little things, at first. Staying quiet when Dash ran his mouth or staring off into the distance while the pride bullshitted around her. He missed the tiny smiles and quiet words, even if they were only a shadow of her true self. At least they were evidence of her trying.
The biggest change came after Seth hauled Lilah into their midst. Rhys had expected Sage to stumble. The monsters who’d turned her into a broken little bird were no longer locked away with the rest of the rabid animals. They’d opted out of proper justice and stepped back into the world in an explosion of fire and blood. That had to rock a person to her core.
But what the fuck was he—the batshit lion, the one always ready for a fight—supposed to do about it? He couldn’t force her to her feet. He couldn’t make her want to live. He’d already watched the light die in one woman’s eyes; he didn’t want to do it a second time.
The slow death pissed him off. He didn’t know who he wanted to tear into more, her father or that fuck Jasper that laid a claim on her. They’d both put in the extra mile to make her act like she was invisible.
His lion savaged his insides. Rhys tightened his grip on his reins to keep in the saddle when all his inner beast wanted to do was bolt. For where, he didn’t know. He couldn’t hide from the pain of the past or the ache in the near-distant future. He was too wild, too out of control. It was only a matter of time before his lion snatched complete control. He’d be another death for Trent to carry.
Lindley wanted his help? No, better to keep his distance. He didn’t want any part of dragging Sage down with him.
“Hurry it the fuck up!” Lindley shouted, waving at him from the other side of the fence.
Rhys flicked him off again, then closed the gate and heeled his horse to catch up with the rest of the herd.
By the end of the day, he wanted to bite everyone who looked at him. He didn’t care if it was a scowl or a passing glance, every last look made his lion circle in his head with a hiss and swipe of a claw toward those juicy little sacks of vision.
Rhys settled on the tailgate of his truck. Cattle milled in the pasture while the other Crowleys finished their final checks of the fences and water trough, or spread a little more hay for the hungry beasts. The drama queens found spots in the dirt to pout about their hard day of being herded while others happily forgot their troubles with mouthfuls of fresh hay.
He ran his fingers over his latest wood carving. The lines were good. The thinner portions like legs and tail felt solid. The expression was just about right. Fierce. Full of fire. He hoped he could keep from breaking this one.
He hopped off his truck when the others turned to make their way back to the barn.
“Asshole,” Lindley muttered, hitting his shoulder against Rhys’s as he passed.
“Fuckface,” Rhys shot back.
Lindley rounded on him, face going red with the anger that filled his scent. “What did you say?” he snarled, eyes flashing with his inner animal.
Rhys’s lion uncoiled inside him, sucking up all the day’s irritation. Pinpricks of claws dug into him. Lindley, fucker, had been pushing him all damn day. His inner beast was happy to push right back. “You fucking heard me.”
A savage snarl rolled out of Lindley right before he threw a punch. The blow caught Rhys in the middle, but he refused to double over or feel any of the pain attached. He shoved all that to the darkest corner of his mind for his lion to feast upon.
Then he threw all his weight into the returning jab.
They crowded together, shoving when they couldn’t get a fist in, punching hard where they could reach. Rhys bared his teeth in a wicked grin. Fuck, yes. This was what he wanted. Needed. A little blood on his claws and fire in his veins to ease the dark anger that boiled inside him. Frustration and tension eased with every muted thud and thwack of his fist finding his target.
He couldn’t save Hannah or Sage. Keeping himself steady was out the fucking window. He sure as fuck could make the world bleed right along with him.
Rhys barely registered shouts in the distance. He threw off the hands pulling at his shoulders, then dove for Lindley again.
“Enough!”
Trent’s voice cracked through the air like a whip, but even that wasn’t enough. Dash made another pull on his shoulders while Seth tried to yank Lindley away, but it was Trent wedging himself between them that finally stopped the wild punches.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Trent growled at Lindley.
The second jabbed a finger in Rhys’s direction. “Ask that motherfucker right there.”
Rhys snarled and strained against the hands holding him back. His lion roared to the surface, ready to tear into Lindley. “Are you still on about those fucking cows? It wouldn’t have happened if you stayed back like I told you!” he snapped.
Red crept up Lindley’s neck. “You don’t
