by Alanea Alder
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Other Books
My Commander
_________________________________________________________
Bewitched and Bewildered
_________________________________________________________
ALANEA ALDER
Copyright © 2014 Alanea Alder
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.
www.sacredforestpublishing.com
P.O.Box 280
Moyock, NC, 27958
ISBN:
ISBN-13: 978-1-941315-00-2
Sacred Forest Publishing
Dedication
To my street team, I couldn't have done this without you! You really are my Angels!
~Amor Vincit Omnia- Love Conquers All~
PROLOGUE
"Aiden, come find me!" The soft voice teased. Aiden looked around, he was in the forest between the Alpha and Beta barracks. Stumbling blindly he couldn't see where she was hiding. A growing sense of dread had his heart beating out of control.
"Quit playing and come out." He yelled.
"Sourpuss!" Her feminine laughter echoed off the trees.
"Come on now, no more playing." He called out. There was nothing but silence.
"That's not funny, come out!"
"Aiden!" Her scream shattered the silence. He ran toward her voice. When he got to the clearing he bellowed out his rage. She was lying in a growing pool of blood. Her long, brown hair framed her petite body on either side. She wore a delicate white lace summer dress and was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was his mate, and she was dying. He raced over and dropped to his knees, lifting her small body into his arms.
"Stay with me baby, please!" He begged.
"Why didn't you look for me?" Her large green eyes held so much pain.
"I didn't know." He choked on the words.
"I would have loved you forever." And then her eyes closed.
*****
Aiden sat up in bed clutching his chest. He had been dreaming of this woman for the past two weeks, with her long, soft brown hair, expressive green eyes and pale skin. She looked so innocent and fragile. Most nights the dreams were wonderful, but the nightmares had started three nights ago and he was scared to death that his mate was out there and he had no idea where to find her.
He swung his legs over the bed and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, face in his hands. He tried to shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Sighing he sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face. He stood and decided against taking a shower, they were doing drills today, and he would be sweaty and rank in less than an hour anyway.
He put on his training gear and went downstairs. Gavriel was at the table frowning into his coffee mug.
"You too?" Aiden asked. Gavriel looked up and nodded.
So far they were the only two in their unit who had started dreaming of their mates. In theory he understood the Elder's concerns for the next generation. At first casting a spell to bring their mates to them seemed extreme, but with his nightmares came a growing sense of urgency. Maybe they had been right after all. Damn.
"Bad?" Aiden asked turning his attention back to his second in command.
"I think my mate may be mentally retarded, either that or she has a severe inner ear imbalance. Every night it's as if I watch her from afar, I have never seen a more accident prone person in my life. I fear she will get herself killed before I can find her." Gavriel scowled. Aiden winced. Gavriel was one of the most elegant, graceful men he knew. What could Fate be thinking pairing him with a woman like that?
"You?" Gavriel asked.
"She was murdered again. I didn't get there in time." Aiden whispered. Gavriel set his cup down.
"Aiden, you say the word, we'll begin looking for her."
"Thank you, I would accept, but I have no idea where to start."
"You two look especially gloomy this morning." Colton breezed in and immediately went to the coffee pot.
"Had trouble sleeping." Gavriel said smoothly, nodding at Aiden with a knowing look. Aiden smiled back, he was grateful that he didn't have to discuss his nightmare further.
"So what's on the agenda today?" Colton turned, holding his favorite mug. It was a caricature of a busty beer maiden holding two beer steins, the caption read "I like big jugs and I cannot lie". Aiden felt himself begin to smile. Only Colton could pull him out of his bad moods so easily.
"We're doing drills." Aiden sipped his coffee.
"Which ones?"
"All of them?"
Colton choked on his coffee. "All of them?"
"All of them. Every mother's son of you. We go until we drop." Aiden figured that if he had to push himself to exhaustion to avoid dreaming, he was dragging the men along for the miserable ride.
"Can I call in sick?" Colton faked a cough.
"No. Call Lorcan and Sascha, we're training with Beta and Gamma today. Let them know we'll be using our facilities." Aiden drained his coffee cup as Gavriel finished what was left of his. The both of them headed out to the unit's training grounds, leaving Colton to moan and groan behind them. Aiden began calling out drill exercises to the early arrivals. He turned to stare at the woods.
It was just a dream. She isn't real. Aiden exhaled and concentrated on the men. He didn't need a woman cluttering up his life and he sure as hell didn't need the distraction.
CHAPTER ONE
"I love rock and roll so put another coin in the jukebox baby." Meryn turned up the volume to her iPod and jammed along with the B52's. She had woken up to an overwhelming need to go exploring. So she had shoved her laptop into her backpack and jumped in her car. Thirty minutes later she parked on the side of an old country road and head out on foot. She was now staring at a high, very official looking chain link fence. Her inborn sense of curiosity which had gotten her into more than one scrape in the past coupled with the strange feeling to go forward, was pushing her to scale the fence and see what lay beyond. Shrugging she started to climb. She quic
kly came to the conclusion that climbing fences was much harder than it looked on TV. She cleared the top, climbed down a few feet and then jumped the full length of the fence down. Bopping her head to the music she looked around and began to walk forward.
It was October and the crisp autumn air that smelled of leaves and earth made it a perfect day for hiking and exploring. She zipped her hoodie closed when a cloud passed over the sun lowering the afternoon temperature. She always wore her hoodies three sizes too large which made them comfortable and snuggly like a blanket. She had been waiting for fall weather all summer so she could begin wearing her hoodies again.
The only thing she didn't like about wearing them was that they usually covered up her favorite tee-shirts. Today she was sporting a vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tee she had found at the thrift store. She had layered that over a white thermal and was happy with the result. Graphic tees were her weakness.
As the wind picked up she started to second guess cutting her hair. She ran a hand over the short, pixie cut and grinned. She loved how easy it was to take care of, and it was a fun, sassy look. But damn if the back of her neck wasn't getting cold. Note to self. Buy more scarves! She was about to continue with her walk when movement out of the corner of her eye had her freezing mid-step. She turned to see a tall, blond man with green eyes staring at her with an amused look as he leaned against a... was that an assault rifle? She pulled her earbuds out of her ears.
"Um, hello."
"Hello little one. Did you know you're on private property?"
"Really? I had no idea." Meryn fudged.
He raised an eyebrow. "The ten foot fence right behind you didn't give it away?"
Meryn turned to look at the fence.
"How'd that get there?" She pretended to be shocked.
"You're funny. But not funny enough to avoid trouble." He took a step forward and she took a step back.
"I was just curious about what was back here."
More men began to pour out of the woods on all sides. Panicked she turned and ran for the fence. Large hands grabbed at her and pulled her backward.
"Put me down you asshole!" She screamed as the men looked at each other in shock.
"Quit squirming. Ow! Stop trying to kick me in the balls!" The blond man yelled as Meryn flailed uselessly.
"This is assault and battery!"
"You're the one assaulting me, you crazy female! I think you broke my nose!" Finally, he gained control and held her out in front of him, grasping her upper arms.
Meryn looked around helplessly as she dangled in his grasp. Her hopes for escape plummeted when she saw that they were now completely surrounded by no less than twelve huge men all carrying weapons.
"Okay, I saw this movie and I didn't like it. Can I just go home now?" She took in their military gear and closed her eyes. "I didn't see anything I swear."
"Who sent you?" Meryn opened her eyes to see another blond man stepping forward. At first she thought he might be related to the guy holding her, but this man had amber colored eyes, not green. He also had higher cheekbones and fuller lips. It was a gorgeous combination.
"No one."
"So you just decided to climb a random fence, just to see what was on the other side?" There was no hiding the sarcasm in that question.
She nodded frantically. "Actually, yeah. I just moved to town and today when I woke up, I had this overwhelming urge to go exploring. It pushed me here." She noticed how the men gave each other meaningful looks.
"So are you guys like paramilitary? Secret CIA training base? That would be cool." Meryn asked.
All eyes turned back to her. She flinched and closed her eyes again.
"I mean, I see nothing, I hear nothing and I most definitely won't say shit."
The man behind her snorted as the sound of men approaching had her opening her eyes again. Out of the woods two more men appeared. One looked like he glided over the fallen leaves; the other trampled through them recklessly his deep blue eyes hard. He looked like he was the type of man who wore a perpetual scowl.
The angry one looked her over. "What's your name?"
"These are not the droids you are looking for." She said. The smaller auburn haired man to her left cracked up. The hulking man glared at him.
"Quiet Keelan." He turned his gaze back to her.
"Come on, that's Star Wars." Keelan explained.
"She fights star type wars?" He asked concerned.
She looked up at him. "Seriously?"
He opened his mouth to answer and froze. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back. His muscled chest expanded as he took a deep breath. His entire body shuddered. His head snapped back and when he looked her up and down he had a stunned expression on his face.
"You cut your hair." He whispered.
She nodded, then froze. How in the hell did he know that? Meryn began to struggle to get down. Something freaky was going on and she had to get out of there.
"So, what do we do with her?" Her captor asked, shaking her small frame as if she were a rag doll. The large man's eyes turned solid black and a low rumble emanated from his throat. Growling he stepped forward and pulled her from the blond man's hands and into the curve of his body. He snapped and snarled at the other men.
"Get back, that woman is his mate! Back off, that's an order Colton!" A dark haired man yelled. Meryn felt the huge man rub his cheek on the top of her head almost as if he were trying to get his scent on her. She felt a rush of panic when the men began to move away. They looked normal. They weren't snarling and growling. She reached a hand out to the blond man.
"Please! Don't let him take me!"
The blond man looked torn. "Aiden she's scared! Calm down!" He yelled.
A roar from the man holding her nearly burst her eardrums. He slung her over his shoulder and she thrashed to get down. Her stomach was killing her from where his shoulder kept squashing her insides as he ran. Grabbing his waist she bit his back over his kidney. Roaring he flipped her around cradling her in his arms. His pace quickened as he turned and darted through the trees.
"Neanderthal! Put me down! Put me down now!" Her tiny fists beat on his chest and head. He ignored her efforts. When a large house came into view, she struggled more, knowing that if he got her inside she would never be able to leave. It had zero effect on the man. He kicked the door in.
The downstairs became a blur as he moved through the house. He ran up the stairs and down a long hallway. Too soon he was opening a door. He quickly closed it behind him before setting her down. He stood back smiling down at her. He was still smiling when her fist connected with his nose. He shook his head looking like he was trying to focus.
"Let me go!" Her foot connected with his shin and he let out an undignified yelp.
"Woman, quit hitting me!" He bellowed.
"This is kidnapping and false imprisonment!" She slung her backpack forward and pulled out her phone. He plucked it from her hand. He grabbed her backpack to take it from her, but she held on tight with both hands.
Frustrated, he lifted it over her head but she still didn't let go she simply dangled from the straps. He shook it and finally she lost her grip and fell to the floor. She scowled up at him from a sitting position.
"You're the soft, feminine woman from my dreams? My delicate innocent? You, with your short hair, dirty sneakers and preadolescent male clothing?" He sounded confused. He leaned forward and inhaled again.
"Why are you sniffing me?" She scooted away, crabwalking backwards on her hands and feet.
"Oh God, is this like Silence of the Lambs?" Tears flowed down her face. "I don't want to go down the hole! I won't put lotion on the skin! Look at me, you won't be able to wear my skin, I won't cover your huge ass!" She wailed.
He took a careful step backward.
"I'll be back." He turned and fled from the room. She heard the sound of a small metal click as the door was locked. She then heard something that had her brain working overtime.
"My mate is f
ucking nuts!"
*****
Meryn jumped up when the door shut and tried to open it. Dammit, she was locked in. Mate? What did he mean by mate? She ran to the window and looked down. She was at least three stories up, so jumping out was impossible. She was about to turn back to the room when she saw the man who had grabbed her from the fence run into the backyard. The huge one Aiden had called the blond man Colton. She watched as Colton began to strip out of his clothing. She tilted her head to admire the view. He had a great ass. A moment later she started to think that one of the military guys had slipped her some hallucinogens, because one second Colton was a man with a fine ass, the next he was a huge dog running into the woods.
She stumbled back from the window, tripped over an expensive looking rug and fell flat on her butt. She was in a world of shit now. Fact one: the big guy that growled and brought her back here had to be one of the sexiest men she had ever seen in her life. Actually, all of the men were gorgeous, but there was something about that hulking brute that just made her want to snuggle up and take a nap...after a long afternoon of hot sex. Fact two: at least one guy here turned into a dog. Fact three: no one seemed all that concerned that she had been taken, so help was probably not on its way. She was on her own. Why did all the crazy stuff happen to her? Did she just attract crazy shit?
She heard the door open and the big guy walked in slowly before shutting the door behind him. She stood and backed up until she hit the wall. He held up his hands.
"Your name is Aiden right?" She asked. Somehow giving him a name made him slightly less scary and more likely to be reasoned with.
He nodded. "I'm not going to hurt you."
His deep, sexy voice should be outlawed.