Tempted by the Wolf

by Alicia Montgomery

  Meredith felt the tears roll down her cheeks and she buried her face in Daric’s chest. Killian rose from the couch, running his hands through his hair in frustration as Quinn stared at the screen, his face in shock. Connor, on the other hand, slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a dent.

  Killian finally spoke “The fucking Council.”

  “They did this to Archie.”

  “They did this to us,” Meredith said bitterly. “They did something to our families and clans so we would…”

  “We don’t know that yet,” Killian said. “But we need to find out.”

  “What are we going to do?” Quinn asked. “We should get out of here now.”

  “I agree,” Connor said. “We don’t know if we can trust anyone now.” He eyed Daric suspiciously.

  “No! We can trust the New York clan,” Meredith said. “We can trust Grant Anderson.”

  “How the hell would you know that, Meredith?’ Connor asked. “They locked you up in here, making you work for them and risk your life, and you want us to trust them?”

  “Look, I made my bed, and now I gotta lie in it,” she protested, standing up and crossing her arms. “But, I have this feeling…I think Grant’ll help us. If there is something fishy going on with the High Council, he’ll want to know and put a stop to them.”

  “Fucking Christ, listen to yourself Meredith!’ Connor growled. As he approached her, Daric quickly stepped in front of him.

  “Don’t,” the warlock warned him in a deadly voice.

  “I’m not gonna hurt her, asshole,” Connor bit back. “Now you, on the other hand—”

  “Daric! Connor! Stop it!” Meredith cried. “Killian,” she pleaded to the other Lycan. “We can’t take on the Council alone. You know that.”

  The dark-haired Lycan sighed. “Fine, we’ll go to Grant.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Grant’s face became ashen after he watched the video. Beside him, Alynna and Alex looked distraught. While Nick’s face was its usual cold mask, the burning anger in his eyes was unmistakeable.

  The Alpha took a few seconds to compose himself before he turned to Killian. “Thank you for trusting me with this. I swear to you, on my father’s grave and the life of my unborn child, that I had no idea that this was happening.”

  “I believe you, Alpha,” Killian said. “Do you know why the Council would do something like this? I thought they were tasked to protect us?”

  “It couldn’t be the whole High Council, could it Grant?” Nick asked, his face grave. “Could it be just one or some of the members? Or an insider? If Archie met with someone from the Council, that means they came to New York without your authorization.”

  “That would be easy enough for any Lycan,” Grant admitted. “You know we can’t monitor all Lycan activities in the city. Permission is merely a formality, but the reality is any Lycan can come to New York as they pleased, and wouldn’t get in trouble as long as he or she didn’t run into one of us.”

  “What does it all mean?” Alynna asked.

  “We need to know more,” Killian replied. “Whoever killed Archie must have done this because he knew too much about the Lycan children.”

  “There’s something else you need to know about the Council.” Grant massaged his temple with his fingers and relayed to everyone what happened when he met with the Council and about their concerns with Daric and the True Mate pairings.

  “Looks like New York’s getting some heat from the Council,” Killian remarked.

  Alynna frowned. “Could they really dissolve your territory?”

  Grant nodded. “I’m afraid so. If they deemed us a threat.”

  “That’s ridiculous. And our kids would never be a threat. We’re ensuring the survival of our species!” Alynna said, throwing her hands in the air. Alex frowned at her and wrapped an arm protectively around his wife’s middle.

  “We must find out what the Council is up to,” Nick said.

  “Or if it is the Council doing this,” Alynna interjected. “Hmmm…I always thought that Lljuffa wasn’t trustworthy! She’s also kinda creepy.”

  “They all weren’t happy with the recent events,” Grant said. “It could be any of them or all of them. This won’t be easy, and we need to tread carefully,” Grant pronounced. “If we make one mistake, then we not only risk getting our territory dissolved, but also have the rest of the Lycans after us.”

  “Wait,” Meredith chimed in. “There’s a way for us to get the information we need without risking New York, Grant.”

  The Alpha frowned. “How?”

  “We could get it. As Lone Wolves, we’re not pledged to New York,” she said. “If we were caught, you could deny everything.”

  “Absolutely not,” Grant replied in a serious tone. “I don’t want you risking your lives or freedom.”

  “It makes perfect sense, Alpha,” Killian said. “Besides, the main mission here is to find out what happened to Archie and those children the Council may or may not have deliberately ripped from their clans.”

  “Fine,” Grant relented. “What do you propose?”

  “A little trip to Switzerland,” Killian said.

  ***

  The Lycan High Council headquarters was located in Switzerland, in the pretty city of Lausanne, located right on the shores of Lake Geneva. They were housed in a modern building not far from the center and looked like any office in the area. The Council headquarters was disguised as a think tank (cheekily named Le Loup Institute) and anyone who passed by it simply thought it to be an ordinary office building. However, it had a security system as tight as any Swiss Bank, and if this didn’t scare would-be thieves, then the heavily armed Lycan security guards outside probably would.

  Of course, the Lone Wolves weren’t just ordinary criminals trying to break in. All four of them were trained by one of the world’s best thieves. The plan was to distract the guards, hack into their security system and install a backdoor into their server room so Quinn could get into their files. Simple enough, but they all couldn’t agree on how to move with the first part of their plan.

  “You know, I could just try and seduce the guards,” Meredith said.

  “No,” came the resounding disapproval from Connor and Daric.

  “Yeah, what makes you think they’d be interested in you?” came Quinn’s reply which earned him a slap on the head from Meredith. “Oww! I meant, what if they played for the other team? They’re European, right?”

  “You’re-a-peein’,’” Meredith snapped back.

  So, they had to devise a plan to distract the guards. Daric was the obvious choice, as he would appear like any normal human to the Lycans, but he couldn’t do it himself. So, thanks to some glamour potions from the New York coven and a heavy blast of French perfume, Meredith came along to help him.

  Daric put his arm around Meredith, and they casually strolled in front of the Council headquarters. The warlock whispered some French in her ear, because, of course, Daric spoke the language. Trying not to get distracted by the heat pooling between her legs, Meredith searched her brain for the little French she did know.

  Once they were in front of the guard house, Meredith let loose. “Va te faire foutre!” she screamed at him. “Fils de pute!” She hoped that was convincing because “go fuck yourself” and “son of a bitch” were the only French phrases she could recall right now.

  Daric answered back in rapid-fire French, begging and trying to touch her, but she kept batting him away. From the corner of her eye, she could see the two guards in the booth looking at each other, wondering if they should intervene in the lovers' quarrel.

  “Grab me and slap me around a little,” Meredith hissed.

  “What?” Daric whispered. “I cannot do that.”

  She rolled her eyes. Making sure her back was turned to the guards, she gave herself a loud smack on the cheek. Ow, that stung. She let out a shriek and cry, forcing the tears from her eyes. Turning around, she ran to the guardhouse and started shriek
ing, hoping she was unintelligible enough so no one would notice she didn’t speak a lick of French.

  The two Lycan guards seemed distraught as if they didn’t know what to do. Daric chased her into the guardhouse, shouting his apologies. One of the guards ran toward him, trying to stop him and he struggled as he begged and pleaded for Meredith’s forgiveness.

  With the guards properly distracted, Killian snuck into the building. Quinn had already hacked into the cameras some time ago and had been playing a loop of the footage showing no signs of activity.

  Meredith and Daric continued their lover’s quarrel, and each time the guards tried to make them leave, she would put on the waterworks and cower behind one of the guards, as Daric played the part of threatening/repentant boyfriend. This lasted another ten minutes, and it was a good thing that Connor flashed the all-clear signal from across the street (a mirror he had hidden in his pocket), indicating that Killian had made it out of the building.

  The guards were threatening to call the police (a word Meredith recognized), so when Daric got on his knees, begging her for forgiveness, she quickly embraced him, made out with him with lots of tongue, and they reconciled.

  “You didn’t have to squeeze my ass in front of those men,” Daric said glumly when they were out of earshot. “Or shoved your tongue down my throat.”

  “I know,” she said cheekily.

  He frowned when he saw the palm print on her cheek. “You shouldn’t have done that, either” he said, touching the redness.

  “It’ll be gone in a few minutes, but that doesn’t matter anyway. We have what we came for. Or we will.”

  They rounded the corner and met up with Killian. A black car pulled in front of them, driven by Connor and they all hopped inside.

  “Are we in?” Killian asked Quinn.

  Quinn stared at the screen, his frown turning into a smile. “Yes! We’re good to go.”

  “Great,” Killian said. “Let’s head to the airport.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The flight back to New York would take at least nine hours, even in the sleek private jet that Grant had chartered through one of his shell companies. Quinn had copied half of the data while they were on the ground so he could work on the encrypted files and scan them for any important data while they were on the flight. The rest he could easily access once they were in New York, thanks to the backdoor device Killian had managed to install on the High Council's main servers.

  Meredith sat in the plush leather chair, trying to read her book with just her right hand. It was a little tricky, seeing as Daric had the fingers on her left hand threaded through his. He, apparently, mastered the art of flipping the pages with one hand as he was engrossed in his own book. With a sigh, she ended up putting the book on her lap. Across from her, Connor scowled. He was not happy when he saw the palm print on her face, but she quickly explained that she did it to herself. Her brother was overprotective, but this crap was getting old. When she whispered a joke to Daric about joining the mile high club, he growled, and she forgot that he had enhanced senses. So, she tried to keep the PDA to a minimum, but he couldn’t begrudge her holding hands with her boyfriend, right?

  Oh God, was Daric her boyfriend? That seemed like a weird term for what they had going on.

  Her inner-she wolf yipped in happiness. No, he’s our mate. Ours.

  Hmm…mate didn’t sound bad. It was less trite than boyfriend and more succinct than just lover.

  “I can hear the wheels in your brain turning,” Daric whispered in her ear as he leaned over to her. “Care to share what you’re thinking?”

  She laughed. “I don’t think Connor wants to hear what I’m thinking right now.”

  “It can’t be worse than what I’m thinking,” he teased, his breath hot on her skin.

  She sighed. “How many more hours until I can get you alone?”

  “About eight more hours,” he replied.

  Meredith frowned. “Stupid brothers.” They hadn’t had sex since they left for New York and she was getting antsy. Obviously, since the airplane had no bedrooms, they couldn’t do it there. Their hotel room in Lausanne had paper thin walls, and as soon as they started to get hot and heavy, Quinn pounded on the wall and told them he was going to sic Connor on them if they didn’t keep it down. Needless to say, they spent a very frustrating night not getting any action.

  “We could wait until everyone is asleep. I think I could probably hold you up against the wall in the lavatory,” Daric teased.

  She groaned, the image of them fucking upright in the bathroom made her clit throb and sent her nipples puckering. Hmmm, maybe she could wrap her legs around his waist while he thrust into her. God, she could almost taste his skin. She shook her head. “You’re way too tall, you’d hit your head on the ceiling.”

  “It would be worth it.”

  “Knock it off, you two,” Killian warned. When Meredith opened her mouth to protest, he shut her down. “Don’t even think about it. Keep it in your pants for another couple of hours, okay?”

  “Fine,” she grumbled, sinking back into her seat.

  Daric lifted the armrest between them. “Come, min kjære,” he said, pulling her to his side. “Take a nap. You’ll feel better in a few hours.”

  She settled against him, breathing in his scent, which always brought some comfort to her. Closing her eyes, she let sleep take over.

  Raised voices woke her up and she jolted upright. She wasn’t resting on Daric’s chest anymore, but rather, she was laying on the reclined chair. “What’s going on?” she asked sleepily. Her brothers and Daric were all surrounding Quinn.

  Killian’s face was drawn into a grave expression. “Quinn found something.”

  “What is it?”

  “A directive from the Council,” Killian replied. “They’re sending people to New York to take Daric and someone named Sebastian Creed.”

  “Fuck!” Meredith sat up. She looked at Daric. “Shit. When?”

  “Today. They should be getting there the same time we are.”

  “Great, just great,” she moaned. “They might discover our little trip if they get there and Daric’s not in his cell. What are we going to do?”

  “We could probably beat them back to Fenrir,” Killian said. “I’ve already called Grant from the satellite phone. He’ll delay them as long as he can. That’s not our biggest concern now, unfortunately.”

  Meredith frowned. “Wait, there’s more?”

  Quinn frowned. “Possibly. I didn’t download the entire database, just bits and pieces. But, there’s definitely something fishy going on in there.” He typed on the keyboard.

  “What is it?” Daric asked.

  “Lone Wolves are pretty much independent. We don’t have clans or Alphas, but we’re still under the Council’s authority.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Meredith groaned. That was the reason she was serving her time, after all. Despite being independent, she still had to obey the Council. She hated having to register as a Lone Wolf, but she had no choice. Following rules helped keep order and prevented the humans from finding out about Lycans. After all, if the world were to find out about werewolf shifters, many of them, especially Lone Wolves like her without the protection of a clan, would end up in zoos or in labs.

  “Well, I don’t know what’s going on exactly,” Quinn said as he stared at the screen. “But someone in the Council has been accessing the files of Lone Wolves over and over again in the past weeks. Not just reading, but making copies and searching through confidential files.”

  “Is it a hacker?”

  Her brother shook his head. “No, the Mac addresses are definitely coming from inside the Council. One machine.”

  “Whose?” Killian asked.

  “I can’t tell yet. I have to download that information when we get on the ground. I’ve just been doing a general search for anything in the databases with keywords related to Lone Wolves and came up with fragments of disturbing messages. Whoever did this tried to
delete their tracks by trashing them, but they’re still there. Once we get on the ground and I have a better connection we can figure out who it is and it’ll make it easier for me to search.”

  “Fuck,” cursed Killian. “Alright. Well, we still got a couple of hours before we land. And as soon as we do, we’re hitting the ground running. Get some rest.”

  ***

  Killian wasn’t kidding when he said they’d hit the ground running. Alex Westbrooke was already waiting for them on the tarmac in the tiny private airstrip just outside Jersey City. They quickly filed into the van and Quinn booted up his laptop to try and download as many of the files from the Council as he could.

  Alex drove like a madman, cursing when they hit the traffic at the tunnel. They were still ahead though because if the Council arrived before them, he would have gotten a call from Alynna or Nick. Once they got through the jam, Alex stepped on the gas and didn’t take his foot off until they were in the garage at Fenrir. He barely cut the engine when they filed out of the van and took the elevator straight up to the executive floor.

  “They’re almost here,” Grant said as they entered his office. Alynna, Jade, and Sebastian were already there.

  “Any luck?” Killian asked Quinn, who had quickly sat down on the couch, his eyes never leaving the screen of his laptop.

  “Almost there.”

  “Can’t you tell the Council not to come here?” Alynna asked her brother. “You’re the Alpha! Rescind their invitation.”

  “I’m sorry, Alynna,” Grant said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

  “They can fuckin’ try to take me,” Sebastian gritted. “Just fuckin’ try, and I’ll burn them to ashes.”

  There was a loud commotion outside, and Meredith knew what it was. The Council had arrived.

  The door opened and Jared had barely announced them when Lljuffa Suitdottir and Rodrigo Baeles entered, followed by six burly Lycan men. They were the enforcers of the High Council, a group of highly-trained, elite fighters who protected the Council and, in cases like this, did their dirty work.