by J. E. Cluney
Some would think I looked out of place in my bar attire, jeans and a black shirt with a v-neckline that dipped just low enough that it gave me better tips.
My father held the office door open for me, and I slipped inside without a word, chewing my lip uncertainly. Why all this secretiveness? What was going on?
My father shut the door behind us and circled the heavy wooden oak desk, sinking into the luxurious black office chair.
He indicated for me to take the seat before the desk, and I obeyed silently.
“I didn’t want the boys telling you anything. I figured they’d be the best ones to send after you, considering your…history,” he said carefully. He knew quite well about our history, and he did his best to not judge us all.
Good.
He sighed as he clasped his hands on the desk before him, his calloused hands that had known true labor over the years as he worked the ranch. His greying brown hair reminded me once more that he was not as young and and eager as he’d been when I was just a child. And those bright green eyes mirrored my own, although his appeared weary and tired now.
“What’s going on?” I asked, wanting to get straight to the point.
“I heard that a few weeks back you got into a bar fight. Thankfully not at your place of work,” he sighed. “The man whose nose you broke, was apparently part of Williamson’s Pack.”
Right. This was my punishment. I was here because some know-it-all had hit on me at a bar one night, sensing my true nature. Not all female werewolves were down to fuck any ‘wolf. But he thought he could win me over, and when I turned him down, he thought he could muscle me into it. Too bad he didn’t realize just who I was. Daughter of one of the greatest lines of pure Alphas. Not to mention my father, an Area Enforcer, had trained me. That’s right, my father handled all werewolf issues in the region on behalf of the Supernatural Council. Everything went through him first.
“He wanted to have his way with me! I was only defending myself,” I spat, rage seething inside me. And pride. I was quite pleased with how I’d handled it, breaking his nose and knocking him down a size.
“I know, I heard. I’m proud of you for that,” my father said, the corner of his mouth curving up in pride. It warmed me and caught me off-guard, seeing him proud of my bar fight.
So then, why was I here? If he was proud of me, why was I getting punished?
“He relayed your prowess to Richard, the Alpha. I’m sure you’re well aware of his attempts to cross into our land, to steal away any of our fine and healthy females. There are a few in this Pack who still carry the ancient bloodlines, and you carry one of the purest lines,” he growled, a deep, guttural sound that reminded me of how protective he was of our Pack. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect the Pack, and he’d taught me to defend myself when I was younger. My father had held his position of Alpha since he took over the position from his father. No ‘wolf had beaten him for the title, although there had been a few that had tried, determined to take over the powerful lineages among our Pack.
“So, you’re expecting another attempt?” I queried, my brows knitting together. Was he calling me here to fight? Surely not. Women were rarely allowed to fight out on the field unless desperately required.
“Mr Williamson has decided that rather than continue these attacks, he’d rather suggest a … diplomatic solution,” my father fisted his hands on the desk. “He wants to mate you and join the two Packs.”
I blinked dumbly as the words struggled to process.
He wanted what?
“That’s ridiculous!” I scoffed. Surely my father would wave this silly offer aside.
“It is, but he’s taken it to the Supernatural Council. I’m doing all I can to defer it, but the Council will believe the joining of two of the most powerful Packs in this area would be beneficial. They’ll push for it to go through.”
I just stared at my father, completely gobsmacked.
I was not just some object to be used to combine the Packs. How could this happen? Surely my father could stop this?
“I refuse,” I stated bluntly, seething inside at the prospect. I would not allow myself to be awarded to that old pretentious prick in the neighboring Pack.
“You’re the daughter of the Alpha, and at twenty-three years of age, you still haven’t taken your own mate. The Council will assess this as well,” my father said carefully, sensing my growing anger.
“So because I have my own goals and dreams in life than just making babies for the Pack, that means I can be sold off?!” I snarled, knowing that my eyes flared their vibrant yellow as my wolf clawed to come out.
“Of course not, I’m preparing an argument and I’ll be out of town for a few days while I try to come to some agreement with the Council. Hence why I’m wearing this,” he waved a hand over his suit. “And that’s why you’ll also be staying right here with my betas.”
“You can’t put me on lockdown!” I leaped to my feet.
“I will and I have. Your Aunt has dealt with your work situation for me as I’ve explained the situation to her. You are to remain here until I come to an agreement with the Council, and you will remain supervised and protected,” he stated, his tone definite.
I growled as I spun away. I was right in the middle of my training with my Aunt, training to become a Huntress like some of my ancestors. My pure bloodlines made me a powerful fighter, and my Aunt was teaching me the ways of the Hunters and Huntresses, a select few individuals who worked for the Area Enforcers in investigations, and more importantly, putting down rogues. That’s right, some of our kind would get a taste for human flesh and start killing freely. It was the job of the Hunters and Huntresses to dispatch them and keep it all under wraps.
“You can’t keep me here,” I muttered as I flicked my red curls out of my face. A trait I’d attained from my mother was her long, luscious curls.
“I’m sorry, Tay,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, right,” I huffed as I stormed out of the office.
He couldn’t really keep me here. He thought his betas would be able to keep me here. Hah! They wished. They all carried some ancient Alpha bloodlines, our Pack being one of the purest around. But my father’s lineage was made up of the two greatest lineages, the Torvin and Bludrane lines, lines that dated back to the days of vikings. Two of the strongest and oldest Alpha bloodlines.
And this powerful blood ran inside me.
I marched down the hall, intent to storm right out the front door and catch a ride home by hitchhiking. It’d take me a while to find a road off this 2000 acre ranch that homed our Pack.
The main mansion was where I’d grown up and where the Pack did most communal things, but cottages and cabins littered the countryside, even spreading up into the mountainous range the rimmed the southern border of our land. All eighty-four of our Pack lived on this ranch, helping run the place and caring for the Pack. Something I’d abandoned to go become something more. I loved my Pack, but I was not going to resign myself to staying here and bearing child after child to further our lines, much to my father’s displeasure.
Thankfully, my dear brother could handle that for me. He’d mated with a she-wolf of our Pack a few years ago before I left, and they already had one bouncing baby boy born just before I left.
My father had pushed for me to choose one of his betas, his top three warriors and his closest men. He’d raised them almost like they were his own sons, and I’d grown up with them. But we weren’t like siblings, definitely not.
I cracked a smile as Jaye emerged from the living area to my right.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you what was going on, would you have stayed in the car if we did?” he said sheepishly as he brushed the hair from his eyes. Jaye was built lean with an angular jaw and soft, slender fingers. Fingers that could create some of the most exquisite drawings I’d ever lain eyes on. And fingers that had brushed my skin countless nights.
His unruly mop of ash brown hair always tumbled into his eyes,
and I’d tried years ago to get him to allow me to cut that overgrown fringe back. I liked to see his handsome face, but he preferred to try to hide himself away. I didn’t blame him, I knew of his ugly past.
“It’s fine, I probably would’ve bailed on the highway had you told me,” I said as I crossed my arms.
“Yeah, well, your father is right. We need to keep you here until this is handled. You realize that, right? Not to mention with your father not here, the Pack will be more antsy without their Alpha. Having your presence here may help calm things,” he grinned, his perfect, dazzling smile making me relax.
He was right. Without the Alpha and only the betas left in charge, the Pack would be on edge.
“Scott’s out on patrol with some of the men, with you here and Mr Williamson intent to claim you, we can’t be too careful. He’s gone to the Council, but who knows how that’ll go,” he sighed as he leaned on the doorframe, his hooded blue eyes trailing down me.
“And Nathan?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.
“Preparing dinner for you,” he grinned.
“I grew up here, I can make my own damn food,” I grumbled.
“Yes, but he likes to cook, remember? Besides, we’ve missed you,” his voice dropped as he said that, his eyes focusing on me, as if they were searching my soul.
They missed me.
The thought was a pleasant one, but I already knew that. I talked to all three of my boys weekly, via text or call, keeping up to date.
We had an interesting relationship, the four of us.
“Please don’t try to run away. Your father will be leaving shortly and we’ll be left in charge. And if you’re trying to run away, you’ll be distracting us from the other duties and responsibilities we have here,” Jaye pleaded gently.
I groaned and rolled my eyes. Sometimes I hated him and his logical side.
“Fine, although I expect compensation from my father for my missed work,” I grouched as I spun on my heel and headed for the kitchen.
Jaye followed after me with a chuckle.
“Well, if you hadn’t ditched the Pack, you’d still have access to the Pack fortune,” he said gleefully.
“And I’d be expected to stay here and bear children,” I grumbled.
“Is that really so bad?” Jaye asked as kept in step with me, his shoulder brushing mine. He wore a singlet tonight that showed off the perfectly muscled, lean arms and his slender build. His jeans were a size too big and frayed at the bottoms where they dragged on the floor.
“I wanted to be like my Aunt Neema, a Huntress,” I stated.
“I know, how’s the training going anyway?” Jaye asked.
“Good,” I shrugged. “She’s letting me come along with her now. We took down a rogue last weekend.”
“Right,” Jaye nodded.
He stopped me midway down the hall as he caught my hand.
“Be careful, Taylor, it’s dangerous work being a Hunter or Huntress,” he reminded me.
“I know,” I said. He didn’t need to tell me that. That rogue we’d taken down had just killed a poor college student. And he had no intentions of stopping. Powered by bloodlust and human blood, he was not an easy feat to take down. But my Aunt guided me and assisted me, and we were able to put him down with a silver blade.
Killing was easy for werewolves, it was in our nature. But killing one of our own, now that was harder. But I’d seen the body he’d mangled, the reports of similar mutilations, and it made it easier to not see them as one of our own. Our own didn’t kill freely for no reason, we killed only for food or for our justice. Packs were to handle Pack matters themselves before involving an Area Enforcer or the Council. There were Pack laws in place that were closely followed, if disobeyed or broken, there were punishments.
I focused on Jaye’s soft, warm hand encasing mine, on the way his blue eyes darkened as his nostrils flared.
I sensed the shift inside him from protective, caring friend, to the other side of him I remembered fondly. The side that made my heartbeat fasten and my body warm.
“Damn, I missed you,” he growled as he pushed me up against the wall.
How convenient that he’d stopped me near his bedroom door.
His mouth met mine in a ravenous kiss, and he reached behind me to turn the doorknob and let us stumble into his room.
He kicked it shut behind him as he broke the kiss and littered soft kisses down my neck.
My body flared to life, aching for the touch I remembered. I did miss him. I missed this, this way of life that I’d left behind to pursue my dreams.
He growled softly in my ear as his hands slid under my shirt, caressing my back with desperate fingers as he unclasped my bra.
This side of Jaye was not one many knew. He only showed off his sweet, laid-back side, the one who enjoyed reading when he manned his post at the front gate or when he’d draw in his free time or paint. Many of his artworks hung around the mansion, and many more had brought in good money for the Pack.
But since we were kids, I’d known there was more to him than met the eye. I’d seen the uncertainty in his eyes when my father first introduced him to me when I was eleven, a fifteen-year-old werewolf boy he’d taken in. Feral was what some of the Pack had called him. A boy who had lost his family to human hunters, a group of people devout in hunting us down, believing us to be abominations.
Jaye’s family were not part of a Pack, they had lived within the human world, in a country town in hopes of living a normal life.
When they came for his family, he shifted to a wolf and fled. Scared of the humans around him, he refused to shift back, and became more and more animalistic and wild. A Feral werewolf.
Somehow, my father caught wind of this and tracked him down. He’d been alone and in wolf state for almost a year. Using careful, calming methods, he managed to urge the boy to shift back and brought him home, bringing him into our Pack.
I gasped, tugged out of my thoughts as Jaye nipped my neck and then kissed it away tenderly.
“I wish you’d never left,” he groaned as he pushed himself against me, his bulge pushing into my thighs and making me quiver.
“I had to,” I murmured as I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed along his jaw.
I pulled away and twirled out of his grip, grinning mischievously at him.
If I was to be a prisoner here for a few days, I’d sure as hell have fun.
His room was much the same as when I’d left two years ago, a single bed off to the side, a tidy desk where he drew, and the far corner had the plastic drop-sheets and canvas set up on an easel. A bookcase was against the wall beside the bed, filled to the brim with an array of books. Many days I’d sat with him in our massive library as he read, comforted by his presence.
I tugged my shirt off in one swift motion, but held up a finger as Jaye lurched forward.
“Uh-uh, you wait,” I purred.
Jaye growled but did as he was told, shifting in his jeans uncomfortably.
I pulled his chair away from his desk and poised my leg on it as I gave him a cheeky smile. This would’ve worked so much better if I didn’t have my jeans on, too bad I needed my shoes off first.
I slipped my boots off and twirled slowly, tossing my fiery red curls over my shoulder as I slowly took off my bra. I slid one strap down off one shoulder, pouting at him as he moaned, before slowly sliding the other one off. I held the bra up with one finger and gave him a sly smile.
Jaye was watching me with hungry, lustful eyes, but he waited patiently as I teased him. He knew if he rushed things, I might turn him away. He’d learned that the hard way.
I sashayed out of my jeans, making sure to turn away so that my butt was swaying at him, and the groan that escaped his lips excited me.
I now stood before him in only my dainty black panties as I chewed my lip.
“Tay, fuck,” he groaned as he slid his hand into his jeans.
“Don’t,” I commanded, and he froze in place, scowling as he ached.
His muscles twinged and the lust and desire that radiated off him almost drove me to stop this tease.
Almost.
“Singlet off,” I instructed.
He tugged it off in one fluid motion, his eyes flashing yellow. Being a once Feral wolf, there was more animal in him than some knew. And I loved it. Because even if it was there, he obeyed me. He wanted me and treated me with respect, and I loved the power it gave me.
“Jeans,” I said as I licked my lips. He shuddered at the sight and closed his eyes as he went to tug his jeans off.
“Slowly,” I grinned.
He growled but took his time, and the bulge in his tight grey briefs was making me wet with desire.
Once his jeans were puddled on the floor, I drifted over, moving around him as I trailed my hands over his bare chest and back, exploring the body I’d come to know so well.
He had a light speckling of hair across his chest, not too hairy despite the belief many had about werewolves. Truth be told, rarely were they overly hairy.
He groaned and quivered with pent up desire as I kissed along his shoulders, tracing the scar on his shoulder where a human hunter had shot him. The silver bullet had only grazed him, but silver left scars if not tended to quickly.
“I missed you,” I purred as I circled him to stand before him.
His fingers twitched and clenched, desperate to touch me. But not until I said so. The build up was worth it.
“Don’t move,” I said firmly.
“Fucking hell, Tay,” he panted as I tugged his briefs down, releasing his arousal.
The sight of it made me tremble with delight.
I trailed kisses down his chest, drawing deep, low moans from him. I planted gentle, slow kisses across his abdomen, watching as his erection twinged and flexed, desperate for release.
I kissed around it, nuzzling the brown curls that guarded it, and then kissed the insides of his taunt, muscled thighs. I saw his hand move, twitching in need to take my head and force me to give him what he wanted, but he refrained.