Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Epilogue
Author's Note
The Alpha’s Choice
By Claire Cullen
Copyright © 2016 by Claire Cullen
All Rights Reserved
Chapter One
Benjamin washed the last of the blood from his hands and face as the others buried the body of the rogue shifter in the undergrowth. He was thankful that the wolf hadn’t shifted back to human form on his death. They did that sometimes, which made burying the body harder. Often, they burnt them first, sometimes broke into a crematorium to get the deed done. This was easier. If anyone did unearth the body, all they’d find was an animal with its throat torn out. They might wonder at it being buried but no one would think too hard or lose sleep over a dead wolf.
Hands as clean as he was going to get them without a nail brush, he pulled on his clothes and jogged over to join Eric and Kyle.
“Done?” he called as he neared them.
“Done and dusted,” Eric replied, covering the grave with leaves and moss.
“Let’s go join the others at the cabin. Here’s hoping this guy didn’t like to toy with his humans before he killed them.”
A rogue shifter like this and you never could tell. Sometimes it was just about the chase, hunting the hunter. Other times it was more than that. Twisted hatred or sadism. This rogue’s pattern stood out. He’d lure young college guys to one of his many hideouts, always somewhere remote, far from help, let things get hot and heavy, then turn on them. Invariably the humans would run and he would give chase. Sometimes for days.
They’d finally tracked him to his permanent home and given him the chase of his life before Benjamin’s wolf bested his. It gave him little satisfaction, but he got the job done. He’d been an Enforcer of the Gray Valley Pack for almost five years and head of his Interpack Enforcement group for two. When rogue wolves outside of any Pack jurisdiction contravened human or wolf laws, they were the ones to mete out justice. Pack justice. It was rare you could rehabilitate a rogue wolf like this. Impossible once they started raping or killing humans. Once their beast got a taste of human blood, you were fighting a losing battle.
They stayed in human form as they traveled the five miles back to the rogue’s house. Samuel and Lewis had gone on ahead of them to check the place out. They’d look for evidence of the rogue’s other crimes. Victims. Accomplices. Once they found whatever there was to find, they’d burn the place to the ground.
Sam was waiting for them outside the cabin door, his arms folded. Crap. That meant trouble.
“You found someone?” Benjamin asked, scenting deeply. He didn’t smell any humans.
“Yeah. We found a guy,” Sam replied, glancing over his shoulder into the house.
And that was trouble they didn’t need. If the human knew about shifters, they wouldn’t be able to just drop him home. Neither did their Packs sanction killing innocents who’d been caught up in shifter trouble. Best they could hope for was that the poor guy was too traumatized to know much of anything. They could drop him off at a hospital and get him the help he needed.
“How bad is it?” he started to ask when he heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Lewis appeared from behind Sam, dragging a third man with him, one hand fisted in the man’s curly hair, the other locked on to the man’s bicep.
He dragged him past Sam and threw him to the ground in front of Benjamin. He was wearing threadbare jeans and a grimy long-sleeved shirt. The problem was immediately apparent. He wasn’t human.
“An accomplice?” he surmised.
“Not exactly. Do you smell that? You have to get close.”
Ben was sure he didn’t want to. The man looked like he needed a bath. Still, he leaned in and scented. Under the smell of wolf was a sharper scent, heady and enticing.
“What is that?” he asked, looking to Sam and Lewis for answers.
They exchanged a look before Sam replied.
“He’s an Omega. It seems Harvey back there was his bonded Alpha.”
“So, he was an accomplice?”
That made it easy. In that case, he was as guilty as the other rogue had been. He took another step towards the Omega, whose head stayed down, eyes on the ground.
“Not exactly.” Lew interrupted his thoughts. “You’d better come inside and see.”
He stopped, taking in the expressions on Lew and Sam’s faces. They looked rattled. His team had seen a lot, they weren’t easily spooked.
“Fine. Lead the way. The rest of you, watch him. He tries anything, snap his neck.”
The Omega cringed at his words, pressing closer to the ground.
Ben followed Lewis inside, racking his brain for what he knew about Omegas. Up until recently, they were thought to be extinct, with none having been born for generations. In recent years, there’d been rumors of Omegas but nothing concrete until Glenoak announced their Alpha had bonded to one a year previously.
Lewis led him through a nondescript hall, rug on the floor, walls bare.
“We found him down here.” He pointed to an open door, a set of stairs leading down into the dark.
“A cabin with a basement?”
“He must have dug down into the foundations. Or he built the place himself.”
The scent of blood and worse hit Ben as he followed Lew across the threshold and down the steps.
“Please tell me there aren’t more bodies down here.” Even as he asked, he knew the answer. The blood had the unmistakable scent of werewolf. His eyes adjusted quickly to the dark but as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lew reached a hand out and flicked on a light switch. A single lone bulb lit in the center of the room. Its light weak, it threw as many shadows as it extinguished.
“What the…” Ben surveyed the room. Chains hung from the ceiling and there was a steel cage in the corner.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, finding his voice.
“I’m no expert, but I’d guess torture chamber. Or BDSM dungeon. Depends on your perspective, I guess.” There was dried blood on the chains, on the floor and on the bars of the cage.
“Where’d you find him?”
“In there.” Lewis pointed to the cage. “Locked in. Wouldn’t come out.”
“So probably not an accomplice?”
“Hard to say. Doesn’t look like he could fight his way out of a paper bag. He looks like Harvey’s type, though.”
A shout from upstairs drew their attention.
“Now what?” Ben muttered under his breath, taking the stairs at a run. Lewis followed at his heels.
He could hear Sam’s voice, yelling loudly. “Get
off him, Eric.” And emerged into the sunlight to see Kyle pinning the Omega’s upper body to the ground while Eric yanked at his threadbare jeans.
Sam gripped Kyle’s shoulder, jerking him away from the Omega. Ben strode over, grabbed Eric by the belt of his jeans and tossed him bodily away from them. He stalked after him, pulling him up by the collar of the t-shirt he wore, which tore under his grip, and punched him hard, sending him crashing to the floor.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Eric was a wild-card. Foisted on the group by the Eagle Creek Pack. And where Eric led, Kyle followed.
Eric rolled over, wiping the blood from his split lip, and leered at Ben. “He’s an Omega. Just wanted to have some fun, boss.” There was a world of insolence behind his words.
“He’s not yours to have fun with,” Sam cut across them, a restraining hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “His Alpha is dead at Benjamin’s hand. Means he belongs to Benjamin now.”
Kyle opened his mouth as if to argue. Ben almost did the same. He wasn't that familiar with Pack law where Omegas were concerned, but he didn't think Sam's assertion was true.
“Them’s the rules,” Lewis interrupted.
“Come on,” Eric said. “What use would Benjamin have for that piece of ass. He’d fetch a high price if you wanted to sell him. Plenty of Packs would be interested in him, especially if he hasn’t got one in the oven.”
Lewis looked over at Ben, giving a half shrug. They’d been working together long enough for Ben to read him. The other man thought Eric had a point. Ben sought out Sam. The blond gave the slightest shake of his head. Of all his team, it was Sam’s judgment he trusted the most.
“You know the rules. We need to work out if he was an active accomplice. If he was, then we mete out Pack justice, like always. So, for the moment, he comes with us.”
Sam nodded, reaching past Lewis to pull the Omega to his feet. He shoved him towards Benjamin. “He rides with you.”
“Fine,” Ben grumbled, catching hold of the Omega. Wrapping an arm tightly around the smaller wolf’s bicep, he shook him, hard.
“You run, I’ll hunt you down and snap your neck. But I might let them have their fun first.” He nodded towards Eric and Kyle, knowing it was an empty threat. Not that the Omega could know that but it would be enough to ensure he towed the line.
The Omega shuddered beneath his hand.
Benjamin held back his sigh. He didn’t like trouble and this man had trouble written all over him.
“We find anything in the house?” he asked.
“Just a laptop and some hard drives,” Sam replied, indicating the bag on his back. “There was a gas cylinder in the kitchen, I’ve turned it on full. A few more minutes, a lit match, and we’ll be good to go.”
Chapter Two
Adam heard the howls, fighting back the instinct to change. How long had he been locked in the basement now? Day and night meant nothing down here. Only the heavy steps on the stairs, the clink of the light, when Harvey bothered to turn it on, and the slow healing of his wounds marked the passage of time.
Lots of howls. Had Harvey brought friends? He shuddered at the thought. The urge to shift hit him again and he forced it down. Harvey had forbidden changing unless he’d given permission. And he’d know, he’d smell Adam’s wolf when he came down. Adam had learned that the hard way.
The cage pressed into his back and legs. He didn’t have space to stretch out, or stand. Harvey liked it that way. His way.
There were footsteps upstairs. More than one person. He had brought friends. It wasn’t like he hadn’t talked about it, about passing Adam around. Said if he charged, he’d make a fortune.
The door to the basement opened. Adam pushed himself as far back as he could, the bars of the cage digging into his skin. More footsteps, on the stairs this time.
“What the hell is this?” a voice asked before the light flicked on.
An unfamiliar man stood at the foot of the stairs. Adam had a moment of hope. Maybe he was human. If he was, he might help Adam, let him out. But the scent of wolf filtered through the room. Not an Alpha, but definitely a shifter.
“Sam, get down here,” the man called, eyeing the room as he stepped closer to Adam’s cage.
Footsteps thumped down the stairs.
“What is it? Damn…”
The second man was taller, stronger. He eyed the room with distaste. “It’s like an abattoir.”
“Then what is he?” the first man asked, peering at Adam through the cage bars. “Livestock?”
They moved closer and Adam ducked his head and tried to meld into the wire cage. It was worse than he’d thought. These weren’t Harvey’s friends.
The taller man sniffed the air. “You smell that?”
“What?”
“He’s an Omega.”
“No shit.”
He could feel their eyes on him but didn’t dare raise his gaze.
“Do you want to tell him his Alpha is dead, or will I?” the first man said.
Adam heard the words but couldn’t take them in. Harvey, dead? He’d long wished for that. If not his Alpha’s death, then his own. But frying pan and fire came to mind and he was tired of the pain. Maybe they’d just kill him too?
“Get him upstairs. I need to check the rest of the house.”
And the second man was gone, footsteps loud on the stairs, leaving the faintest scent of Alpha in his wake.
The first man approached.
“You’re not gonna give me any trouble, are you? Because you’re already in heaps yourself. Your Alpha was rogue, killing humans. The Packs impose the death penalty for that and for anyone found helping them, like their Omega. If you’re good, maybe things won’t be so bad for you.”
Adam didn’t believe him. Things were always bad. And they just got worse and worse.
There was a sharp clang of metal as the wolf kicked the lock of the cage. Once, twice, and it buckled. The door swung open and Adam froze, curled as far back in the cage as he could be.
“Come on, out,” the shifter said. “Out!” he demanded when Adam didn’t move.
A hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled, dragging him from the cage. He didn’t resist nor did he cooperate. A second hand grabbed his upper arm and he was yanked to his feet.
“Damn. You reek,” the man complained as he frog-marched Adam up the stairs, through the hall to the door, and out. Bright sunlight assaulted his eyes and he covered them with his free arm as his vision adjusted. The second man was by the door and beyond him, three more stood. All wolves. The tallest was another Alpha.
Adam was thrown to the ground. He didn’t try and get up. They talked over him and he let the words wash over him until the second Alpha’s words were directed at him and he pushed himself closer to the ground in response.
Harvey was dead. His bond was broken. Soon, he’d go into a mating heat. He’d be anyone’s for the taking.
The second Alpha went into the house and it became a little easier to breathe. But then two of the other men grabbed hold of him, pinning him to the ground as they pawed at his clothes.
“Let’s see what you’re hiding under here,” one of them whispered, breath hot against Adam’s ear. He whimpered and tried to struggle against the hands holding him.
There was shouting, one voice, then a second and third. The hands holding him were yanked away.
More talking followed, this time about what to do with him. This time he listened, picking up some of their names. They were talking about selling him. He knew how that went. But then the first Alpha, Sam, pulled him to his feet and pushed him into the arms of the stronger Alpha. That Alpha shook him roughly, matching his actions with threatening words.
They stood around for a while longer, before Sam walked around the side of the house. He was startled by a loud bang, before the crackle of flames and smell of smoke began to spread. Then Adam was being forced towards the trees, taking stumbling steps into the unknown.
There wasn’t a lot o
f talk amongst the men as they walked, the Alpha keeping a possessive hand wrapped tightly around his arm.
The sun rose higher and higher in the sky as they walked. Eventually, they came to a clearing where two vehicles were parked. These men were smart. They were far enough from the house that the sound of their engines wouldn’t have alerted Harvey to their approach.
“I’ll drive,” Sam said, holding out his hand towards the other Alpha who slowed to a stop, Adam by his side.
There was a brief battle of wills and he could feel the tension building between the Alphas before Sam nodded towards Adam and the other Alpha snorted. “Fine.” A bunch of keys sailed through the air a second later.
Adam thought they’d tie him up and throw him in the trunk but instead he was shoved into the backseat, the stronger Alpha taking the seat next to him while Sam drove. The Alpha even reached over and secured the strap of the seatbelt across Adam’s body.
“Keep your hands in your lap. Don’t want you trying to jump out while we’re moving.”
The other three men climbed into the second vehicle. Adam’s car took off first, traveling fast down the dirt road, throwing him back against the seat.
“Where to?” Sam asked.
“The house. Need some time to sort this mess out. We’ll stay in that motel outside Havenville tonight. You know they won’t ask questions.”
The other man laughed. “You could have a full-scale satanic ritual in there, burn the room to the ground, and they still wouldn’t ask questions.”
Things went quiet for a while, though Adam could feel the Alpha’s eyes on him.
“You got a name, Omega?”
The Alpha’s tone was gruff, disinterested, and when Adam didn’t respond he continued. “That’s fine. I can keep calling you Omega.”
“Maybe he doesn’t have a tongue, Ben,” Sam suggested. “You think of that?”
“No. Thanks for the imagery, though. When we get to the motel, you can go ahead and check. Better your fingers than mine.”
Adam had a tongue, but he was smart enough not to use it. It wouldn’t do him any good.
Despite the terror of his situation, exhaustion overcame everything as the motion of the car lulled him to restless sleep, his body aching with each jolt and bump.
The Alpha's Choice: Lost Omegas Book Two: A M/M Shifter Romance Page 1