by Casey Morgan
He put a hand up to his chest and laughed hard.
I glared at him. I didn’t like how he called the man—the Were—who was going to be my husband damaged. Sure, Mason couldn’t smell, but he was still strong and smart. I could smell werewolves now, so together we would be fine.
“A bitch like you deserves a real alpha.”
“Oh please, is that really necessary?” I hissed and rolled my eyes at him.
“What?” he blinked at me.
He gave me a snarky smile.
“That really is the correct term. A female werewolf is a…”
“Don’t call me that!” I cut him off, yelling into his face. “If you say that word to me again, I will bite your throat out.”
He looked at me dumbfounded. His tiny eyes glanced to my bound wrists as if to say: how? I just glared hotly at him, letting all my rage show.
A low growl made its way up my throat. Dark and sinister, it was the meanest noise I had ever made.
Terrell growled back. His eyes started to glow gold in the low light and the outline of his body seemed to get hazy.
“I am a strong alpha. I have twenty members to my pack who always obey me without question.”
His voice was deep and had a bit of an echo to it.
I could feel his influence pull at me. He wanted me to obey him, to open my mind and my body to him. It was a useless attempt, though. His sway may have bound others, but it just bounced right off of me.
“You will obey me,” he commanded.
“Fuck off!”
He slapped me.
My face stung, but I found myself laughing.
“Oh, that did not help your cause,” I told the stupid man. “You best give up now and let me go, because when I get free, I’m going to smash your face in.”
And I knew, in every inch of my body, that that was true.
Terrell backed away from me. He tried to move in a relaxed, casual way, but I could smell his fear. The smell made me hungry.
“No one’s ever talked back to you, have they?” I asked.
Leaning forward, inching my body after him, I stared into his eyes.
He had tried to command me and failed, so I figured that maybe I could command him. Or at least that it was worth a shot.
“You will untie me,” I told him, moving all my will towards him.
Terrell shifted. One of his feet inched back towards me. It was just one step, but I had him. His eyes were caught in mine.
I gathered all the power and rage in my body and pushed it through my voice.
“Terrell, untie me now!”
He was two steps towards me when the door opened, and my influence was broken. Leon entered with another man, who was tall and lanky.
“I brought Augie along to help.”
Leon eyed Terrell, who was visibly shaken.
“Looks like that was the right choice.”
Terrell ran a hand through his dark, oily hair. I had really thrown him off. He was embarrassed and it showed. Leon and the new man, Augie, looked towards him for an explanation.
“Fix her chains,” Terrell barked.
He put anger in his voice to disguise his embarrassment.
Leon shrugged. He and Augie stalked towards me.
“Put your paws out, pup,” Leon commanded, his voice song-like. “That will be easier on everyone.”
I laughed in his face.
“Leon, I’m not going to make anything easier for you.”
I leaned towards him and dropped my voice down to a whisper.
“I’m going to tear your balls off and feed them to your friend.”
“Shit!” Augie spoke for the first time. “She’s got a mouth on her.”
He was a ruddy-faced man with hair to match.
“That’s not all she’s got.”
Leon was eyeing my chest again.
“Shall we bind her with her hands behind her back this time?”
Terrell smiled.
“Yes, lets.”
He joined the men and they all moved towards me slowly. I fought, but three werewolves to one was too much for me to be able to handle.
Two of them held me down and then the third bound my wrists and ankles. The silver chains burned and pulled at my skin, but not enough to make me cry out.
Terrell stood up suddenly and turned like he was listening to something. He glanced at both of the men and then at me. His eyes glowed gold again.
“He’s coming,” he told us all. “Gather the pack.”
I didn’t have to ask who “he” was.
I felt Mason’s movements in every inch of my body.
My mate was coming to find me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Mason
The entrance to The Grinder was dark. Usually the bar stayed open until two, but the exterior lights were off, and the red door was locked. I put my hand to the faded paint and tried to think.
Mary shivered besides me. I looked down at the small girl. She huddled close to me, keeping her arms tightly wound in front of her chest.
“Mary?”
She looked up at me. Tears were in her eyes, she was so scared.
“Why don’t you go home?” I told her. “This really isn’t a place for humans.”
Her blue eyes went wide as dinner plates.
“So… in there? The other guy… is like you?”
She obviously couldn’t bring herself to say the word werewolf.
“Yes, he’s an alpha too. A shifter, like me.”
She looked at the door in front of her and repeated: “Shifter.”
Shuffling her feet, she looked up at me again.
“Can you get Celeste out on your own?”
I smiled. Mary was a true friend. She was scared out of her mind and yet, if Celeste needed help, she would be there. My wolf approved and I started seeing Mary as my friend, too. She was a good human.
“I can rescue Celeste on my own,” I promised. “If you go in there with me, I’ll just have to worry about you, too. Go on home.”
She nodded.
“Call me after and let me know that she’s okay.”
“I promise.”
I held out my hand.
Mary looked at it for a few seconds and then decided that I was okay. She put her small, freezing hand in mine, and we shook briefly.
She turned to leave, but stopped quickly and gave me a look.
“You should have told her what you were sooner.”
I nodded in agreement.
“You should have told her what she was,” Mary continued, her voice shaking but determined. “No secrets anymore.”
“I promise that, too.”
“Good!”
I watched her walk down the street into the black night, my duster coat dragging behind her. Normally I would walk her home, but there wasn’t time. My mate needed me, and I had no intentions of letting another alpha hurt her.
I slammed my hand into the wooden door. All my strength was behind that punch and the wood couldn’t take it. It splintered right above the handle. Red paint chips fell into the old snow around me. One more punch and there was a sizeable hole. I slipped my hand inside and unlocked the door.
The first room of the bar was empty, but it was warm inside. A bare bulb blinked over the bar itself, giving very little light to the room and mostly illuminating the bottles of liquor.
My hands curled into fists at my sides. The note had said to come here, but there was no one waiting for me. If this was a diversion, someone was going to get killed.
There were three hallways off the main room. From the past time I had been here, I knew that one led to the bathrooms.
I took the hallway closest to the bar. It opened into a larger room. A long, iron and glass table ran down the middle of the room, with twenty or so chairs flocking to its sides. They were all empty, except for one—the one at the head of the table.
The tall man sat there casually. Terrell’s boots were propped up on the glass surface. He lo
oked at me with his small black eyes and a smirk twisted his narrow lips.
“Howdy, pup!”
I flinched at the insult. His alpha power and influence pulled at me. It grated across my skin like a rasp. I knew him for what he was: alpha, like me.
Then a realization hit me in the chest like a two-by-four. This was his place, his bar. If he was an alpha, this was a werewolf bar and Terrell had a pack.
I had been in here with no idea I was among my own kind. No wonder the bartender had questioned me.
The ugly man laughed.
“Starting to realize the way of the world, huh? I’m not alone.”
His legs twisted off the table and his boots hit the floor with a loud bam. He stood, rolled his shoulders back, and took a step towards me. We were about the same height.
“You have no pack.”
It was a statement, not a question.
He raised his left hand and held up a single finger.
“You have no sense of smell.”
Finger number two came up.
“You have no home or means.”
Finger three.
“You…”
“I’m aware of my situation,” I barked.
He simply smiled at the interruption.
“Where is your pack?” I questioned, standing up as tall as I could and crossing my arms in front of my chest.
He waved the hand he was using before and gently put it on his hip. The smile on his face said that this was a game to him. It was not to me.
“I told them to hold back. Thought the odds of twenty to one was too much for a pup like you. A lame dog. A beast.”
He drew the sound of the T out to a soft pop.
“Ridiculous,” I huffed. “You had them hold back because you know my sway is more powerful than yours and you didn’t want to lose them.”
He held both hands up and wide, but he didn’t reply. He just snapped his fingers.
Doors to either side of us opened. Men and women—Weres—of all shapes and sizes filed into the room. I recognized some from my time at the bar. They snarled at me, each taking a place along the wall.
No one came between Terrell and me. The last wolf in the door hauled Celeste with him. She was bound in silver chains and dressed in only a thin windbreaker; her skin was bleeding at her wrists and her ankles. Black fabric filled her mouth.
Her eyes opened wide when she saw me, and she struggled with the man who held her shoulders. It was the bartender. I gave him a look of recognition, but he wouldn’t hold my eyes.
I looked back to Celeste, searching her for the signs of blood lust. There were none. Somehow, she wasn’t going crazy. She had made the first shift without disastrous repercussions. The sight of her eased my mind.
A loud smack got my attention. The other alpha hit the table. He grinned when my eyes went back to him.
“You’re right, Mason. Can I call you Mason?” he joked. “This is much more merry. Let everyone see the two alphas fight.”
He pulled one arm in front of him and flexed.
I scoffed.
Muscles meant nothing. It was the strength of the wolf that mattered.
I relaxed into my heels.
“What camp were you at?” I asked.
The question seemed to throw him off a bit.
He blinked at me.
“What?”
“If you are an alpha, what military camp did you grow up on? For me, it was Royal Fields, Alabama.”
I dropped my weight into my knees and put my hands behind my back. Standing at ease came back to me easily.
Terrell chuckled.
“I was never at one of those goddamned camps. My grandfather hid me.”
He proudly put a thumb to his chest.
“I’m all wolf. Pack born and pack raised.”
His pride was sadly his downfall. The few pack-raised alphas that existed were strong werewolves but they weren’t trained in fighting like I was. One on one, I would kill him.
My eyes searched the faces of the folks who lined the walls.
Would this be a one on one fight?
I wasn’t sure.
Celeste was fighting harder against the bartender. Her clear, ice-blue eyes were filled with rage.
“I can’t hold her much longer, Terrell,” he told the alpha, with a whine.
“Give our queen a chair.”
Terrell, the ugly alpha, pointed to the end of the table closest to me.
The bartender pushed my mate forward and pushed her into the metal chair. He pulled the silver chains down and locked them over the chair’s arms.
Celeste was bound tight. She glanced up at me with fire shining through her blue eyes. The sight hit me straight through the gut. She wasn’t scared. My mate was a true wolf. I would be as well. I would be the alpha she deserved.
“Which form?” I asked, my stance still easy and relaxed. “Wolf or man? How would you like to meet your fate?”
“Wolf.”
Terrell didn’t look at me, his eyes were still on Celeste. He wanted her and the sight of his desire made me sick.
I growled and brought his eyes back to mine.
“I assume that pack rules are in effect, correct? None of your wolves will interfere with our fight.”
“Oh please,” Terrell said, with a wave of his thin hands. “That’s the rule for a challenge for pack leadership. This is a fight for a bitch.”
Celeste bit at her gag and struggled forward, as if she would jump over the table to kill him.
I took his words in stride.
“I should have been clearer, then. I’m here for dominance, not the girl.”
Faces turned to me, eyes wide in wonder.
Whispers spread behind and around me. This pack was new; obviously no one had challenged Terrell before.
It clearly shocked the members to their core, but they wouldn’t fight it. Pack rules cannot be broken.
“I will take your pack,” I continued. “And your queen. You, Terrell, will leave Gray Acres, never to return, and live as a lone wolf until another pack take you in.”
Terrell eyed my face, as if trying to find fear in my expression. There was none.
He gave me a sneer and then shrugged.
“The lame pup has big dreams.”
Quite a few of the people lining the wall laughed with him. I ignored them. They were brutes and hoodlums. Once I was in charge, things would change.
“Shift!” I yelled, taking initiative.
The change slammed into me. My limbs burned and compacted. The bones in my face broke and elongated. My teeth became sharp; my nails were claws.
Terrel shifted after me. His wolf form was a dun color, with a dark brown blaze on his chest. His dark eyes burned with gold light.
I leapt towards him, jaws open and snarling. I snapped at his right ear, but he slid to the side and I caught a mouthful of fur.
In typical wolf form, he went right for my throat. I lowered my stomach to the ground and circled around him. Quick on his feet, he circled around me and snapped at my back legs.
I twisted. With my balance thrown off, he nudged his head into my flanks and knocked me to my back.
In a regular wolf fight, this would have meant my death, but I was trained. When his weight came down on me and his jaws stretched towards my throat, I pulled back. The move caused him to fall further forward than he anticipated and that moment of uncertainly was all I needed.
His body was pulled long, stretched to its fullest. I brought my legs up under him and flung his hindquarters to one side. The rest of his body followed and slammed up against the wall.
I was on him before he could shake it off or recover his senses.
My sharp teeth burred into the fur at his neck.
All I had to do was twist quickly, and it would be over for him.
“No!” several voices yelled.
The members of the pack were leaning away from the walls, with their arms out. Some had already started to shift.
“You will not interfere!”
It was Celeste. She had bit through her gag and her mouth was free. The pack flinched under the command and moved back. Some of them shook.
Celeste had power. She was a true alpha female. A real queen. And any command she gave was immediately followed.
I glanced at her and saw her eyes glowing neon blue. She was close to shifting herself.
Terrell was still held fast in my jaws. I realized that he wasn’t fighting back. The slam into the wall must have done real damage. I lowered myself and his body to the ground and let go.
He didn’t whine or growl. He was out cold.
I shifted back. My clothes were still in a pile at the other end of the room, but I was commander of this pack now and would not feel ashamed.
I bent down to Terrell. He was breathing evenly.
I put my hand on his head and let my alpha powers flow through me.
“Shift,” I commanded.
His body went hazy and his limbs elongated. Soon he was a man again, but he was still out cold. His stomach was to the ground. He looked to be sleeping peacefully, but I knew he needed medical attention.
I pointed to the bartender.
“You!”
He came forward on shaky legs.
“Yes, Alpha?”
“You and one other will dress Terrell. Gather his things and then take him to the hospital. Once he wakes and is medically sound, he must leave town.”
I glanced around the room, making sure to look into the eyes of every pack member.
“Does anyone have a problem with me or my leadership?”
“No, pack master,” they said in unison.
“Good. Then go about your business. We will meet in the morning and discuss the changes that need to happen.”
They nodded and moved off slowly. Some went to the bar. A few helped Terrell to his feet. One woman brought me my clothing.
I pulled my boxers and jeans on as I moved to Celeste’s side. She looked me up and down, smiling despite the burns from the sliver chains.
I knelt beside her.
“My love, I’m going to try to take the chains off now. It will hurt, but I will try to do it gently.”
I unlocked the chains and gently started lifting the links that covered her wrists. She never took her eyes off me.