by Eva Gordon
Slade
Book 1 in the Team Greywolf series
By
Eva Gordon
Slade, Team Greywolf, Book 1
Copyright © 2015 by Eva Gordon.
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from author.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your vendor and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, places and locations portrayed in the story either are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
The werewolf universe and some of the characters in the Team Greywolf series are introduced in the Alpha Wolf’s Pet Trilogy.
Buy Alpha Wolf’s Pet Series on Amazon also available in Complete Box Set, Alpha Wolf’s Pet Trilogy
Cover Design for Slade by Sassy Queens of Design
Editing by Lara Parker
Discover other titles and series by Eva Gordon at www.ravenauthor.com
Slade, Team Greywolf, Book 1
By
Eva Gordon
Chapter 1
The clock alarm went off, and Cricket swung her arm out, punching the snooze button with more strength than she meant. The hard plastic collapsed around her fist.
Oh, my head. She never should have matched the Greywolf team shot for shot of hard liquor. What was I thinking? Drinking with lycans twice my size knowing I’m a light weight. They had good reason to get wasted. Last night, they mourned three fallen team members, killed while hunting a nefarious Russian werewolf mobster. Men she’d admired for their military prowess.
Yet their sacrifice was for naught. New team member Lev Volkov and enforcer, Dominic Wolfe destroyed the oath breaking pack. What started as a solemn toasting for the fallen heroes turned into a night of drinking to lycan justice and victory over the oath breakers.
Cricket rubbed her temples. Her memory of the evening pounded in her aching head. Turning wolf, throwing up, and then carried to her room by alpha team leader and boss, Rylee. Shit. She drank to victory, but why she drank to inebriation had more to do with her disappointment of being taken off the next team assignment.
Cricket had hoped to work on their latest mission. Another missing werewolf, like the last two, had disappeared from the face of the earth. Instead, she’d be stuck at headquarters tending to a deeply depressed, on the edge of insanity, werewolf prince. Not a fan of royals, still it sucked his entire pack had been massacred by the Russian mob werewolf Rylee’s team had eliminated. A lone screwed up wolf. Better a hangover than the heartache the prince felt. Her ward. He'd also been robbed of his right to kill his pack's murderers. But there was vengeance, and then justice, Team Greywolf style. What was alpha commander Rylee thinking? Not only had she brought him here, but she hoped he’d join her team.
Ugh. The last thing I want is to babysit a privileged alpha prince. Her nipples hardened. A gorgeous alpha with a body that roared for a female’s attention. Before his pack’s demise, Prince Slade was the pack player. Third in line to the Alaskan throne, he had trained as the pack’s elite soldier. Every she-wolf from here to Europe desired to claim Slade as her mate. Sadly, the beautiful alpha ladies had to wait until he recovered from his depression. Without his pack, the prince suffered from grief-related morphopsychosis. Dumb luck, Rylee assigned her to attend to the hot alpha werewolf’s needs.
How could she be in charge of the candy jar and not allowed one nibble?
Screw it. No point in fantasizing. After he healed from his grief, he’d never give Cricket, a runt, a moment’s notice. Not even a lowly omega would look her way. Runts weren’t allowed to take a mate, especially the most unobtainable alpha prince. Good. No need to bow to a higher status mate.
Cricket curled back in bed and covered her head with the pillow. Why did she have to be up so early? Slade and his werewolf shrink, Dr. Warner, had arrived the previous night. Wouldn’t the prince still be sedated?
Her phone buzzed.
Cricket winced and answered it. “Good morning, ma’am.”
“Eat breakfast and shower. Then get your ass down to the war room.” Her boss’s tone laced with anger.
“Yes, ma’am.” No one ever argued with Rylee Greywolf, head of Lycan Intelligence and commander of Team Greywolf. Cricket, especially. Despite her runt status, Rylee had made her an honorary beta in her pack. Unusual, but since Cricket looked and acted the most human, she mingled well amongst people. Rylee considered her the team’s best undercover agent. It was a waste of her talent to be stuck with some prince. Ironically, the best companion for a screwed up alpha was a wolf of low status, an omega.
A runt fell just below an omega. Even better. A groveling submissive to calm the overtly aggressive alpha. Yeah right. Bad enough she had to be submissive around normal werewolves outside of Rylee’s pack, but Slade was bonkers. She’d be expected to stoop even lower to placate his lunacy.
Groggy, Cricket stumbled to the bathroom and took some pain meds for her headache. She raked back her curly bobbed hair and stared at her reflection. At least her eyes weren’t blood shot. Except for feeling like a sledgehammer hit her, Cricket’s stomach felt better. Of course it does, I threw up on Rylee’s boots. No wonder she sounded pissed. Not about soiling her boots, though. No. Nothing so simple.
A flicker of memory revealed itself. Her words slurring as she toasted in front of the entire team, “To my shitty new assignment.”
She scrubbed her hands over her face. Great. Maybe I’m off the team, for good.
Cricket stepped out of the elevator and into the deep underground intelligence center, designed similar to the human version of the CIA, but with blue light ambiance, providing a calming effect on werewolves. Not that she needed the sedate lighting. Not with her more human temperament.
Rylee stood overlooking the console of one of her men. “Retrace every last one of his steps, even if means weeks ago.” She turned. “Cricket, let’s go.”
Cricket nodded and followed her boss down the long tunnel to the next wing. Oh good, not Rylee’s office. Maybe she wasn’t being fired.
Once they reached the end of the corridor, a steel door opened. The piercing howl of a wolf accosted her ears. Oh shit. Was that Prince Slade? “You put him in the interrogation room?” Not in a royal guest room, but in the dungeon-like holding cell meant for criminals, not alpha royals. He must be beyond hope.
“I’m afraid so. Disrespectful or not, we can’t move him to the special guest quarters until he snaps out of his rage.” Rylee entered the code to an additional high security door.
Cricket rolled her eyes. Great. Although, if he proved impossible to calm, Rylee might remove her from the assignment. Let’s hope.
The door unlocked, and they entered. Dr. Thomas Warner stood observing the immense maddened wolf behind the safety of a one-way mirror. Prince Slade growled and paced his large prison. A trapped wolf anxious to escape, to maul, to devour. There was nothing remotely “princely” about the feral beast.
Thick white fur smeared with mud and blood. Big as a grizzly and just as irate. He drooled like a wolf suffering from rabies. He had raked the walls with his razor-sharp claws, making the cham
ber look like the set of a bad Hollywood werewolf movie.
Cricket flinched. No way am I going in there.
Dr. Warner turned. “His sedative wore off an hour ago. I’m afraid if I try to inject him again, he’ll tear my throat out.”
Cricket frowned. “How did you sedate him in the first place?”
Warner, an alpha, narrowed his eyes at her, and she quickly averted her gaze to the floor. “The first time through the bars of his cage. The pilots begged me to not let him wake during the flight, and unfortunately, the dose I gave him nearly killed him.”
Rylee studied the prince. “I take it he’s a bit resentful about the trip over.”
Warner nodded. “He shifted to human form when I sedated him and slipped into a coma. Once we were on the ground, we shackled him, and I shocked him to awareness. He went wolf and attacked. Broke through the shackles, and I shot him with three sedative darts before he went down.”
Rylee pressed the talk button and spoke into the intercom. “Prince Slade, can we talk?”
Slade approached the glass and glowered. His piercing green eyes practically melted the glass. The wolf couldn’t see them through the glass, but could smell and now with the open intercom, hear them.
His menacing snarl reverberated around the room, sending a chill down Cricket’s spine. “Looks like he’s way out of my league.”
“You might be right,” said Warner.
The fierce wolf shifted to human form and pressed his face against the glass. Naked. Raw. Untamed. His uncombed thick hair and unkempt beard gave him a look of madness. His fangs and claws remained out. Even so, he was handsome, hot as hell. “Who is speaking?” he asked, his breath fogging up the glass.
“Rylee, Prince Slade, we are here to help.”
“Not you.” He sniffed the air. “The other woman.” He towered over Warner. Slade had to be at least six-foot five inches with a muscular frame that threatened quick defeat of any challenger.
Cricket swallowed. “I’m…”
Dr. Warner cut her off. “Cricket is here to help.”
Slade laughed. “Another omega.”
Rylee glared at Warner. “What does he mean another omega?”
“While detaining him in Europe, we had an omega try to keep him calm, but…” He sighed.
Rylee’s tone hardened, “Speak, Doctor.”
“The prince bit his ear off.”
Slade snarled. “He probably deserved it!”
Cricket hands felt for her perfectly good ear lobes. “Not cool.” She stared at the muscular alpha, baring recent bruises, bite marks and gashes. The werewolf behavior equivalent of a human on crystal meth. “Did it take a pack of alphas to get him here?” Her fingers ached to tenderly touch and heal each wound. Cricket wrinkled her nose. What was she thinking? The ass would probably bite the hand that fed him.
“The French king had no choice but to order his army alphas to restrain him.” Dr. Warner added, “After he escaped into the countryside.”
“What makes you think he won’t hurt Cricket?” asked Rylee.
Cricket imagined the prince had left the alphas scarred as well. Nonetheless, good thing they stopped mad Prince Slade from running amok, attacking humans and harkening back to the days of werewolf hunters.
“He may still accept her,” said Warner. He leaned in and whispered to Rylee, “Look at her. Harming her would be like harming a cub.”
Cricket suppressed a growl at his insult. A wolf with adult teeth. She sneered. “Why don’t you get him a puppy, then?” She turned to Rylee. “I’m not a trained poodle to cuddle some mad beast.”
Rylee growled at her. “This is an assignment, soldier.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Warner glared at Rylee. “The runt has the bad manners of a human.”
Cricket clenched her teeth. What kind of a shrink allowed the prince to get this far gone? If Slade weren’t royalty, he would have been given him a werewolf lobotomy by now, before he harmed others, especially humans.
Slade sniffed and smiled through the glass, exactly where Cricket stood. She backed away. “Are you sure he’s been fed?” A “Don’t feed the Werewolf” sign should rest over the door.
Warner shrugged. “The prince has always been protective of lower ranked wolves so his violent behavior took us by surprise.”
Rylee turned off the intercom. “I don’t give a shit about his royal status. I will not risk Cricket or any other member of my team on a lost cause.”
Cricket smiled at her alpha boss, but out of the corner of her eye noticed Slade still staring in her direction, as if he could see through the glass. She turned to meet his gaze. Not disrespectful if he couldn’t see her. Her lips parted. Never had she seen a more magnificent alpha. Powerful and feral. A tingle shot through her, not out of fear, but unabashed lust. How stupid is that?
“Allow me to reason with him,” said Dr. Warner.
Rylee nodded. “Go on.”
Warner turned on the intercom. “Prince Slade, you wouldn’t harm a little runt, now would you?”
Cricket frowned. “I’m a beta.”
“Silence,” snapped Warner. He glared at her. She pressed her lips together, but lowered her gaze. “You might be a beta because you are one of Rylee’s agents, but amongst the rest of us you’re still a runt.”
Rylee didn’t help. “You could be instrumental in convincing the prince to join our team.”
Without a pack, the warrior could go rogue, or worse turn killer. Team Greywolf would give him the pack he needed as long as he understood Rylee was in command. A win, win. Rylee wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to add a lone powerful alpha to her team. Especially one with military skills. After all Rylee had done for her, she should return the favor. “Yes, ma’am.”
Slade cocked his head. “I’ve heard rumors about a runt that survived the change, but I never believed it.” He sniffed again. “It’s true, a lowly runt. Most interesting.”
Lowly! Cricket’s face flushed hot. Royal ass. Once the prince realized she wouldn’t put up with his shit, he would either kill her or go rogue as feared. Couldn’t Rylee find an omega from a local pack to help? “If you don’t mind, ma’am, I would be better used looking for the missing werewolves.”
Rylee scowled. “Are you arguing with your alpha?”
“No, ma’am.”
Warner sighed. “Maybe it’s best you find another werewolf to work with Slade.” He frowned at Cricket. “Someone outside your team.”
Cricket rocked back a step. Finally, the shrink recognized her importance to Lycan Intelligence. Or, rather, her defiance.
Slade sat on a chair. His claws retracted, and he sighed. The regretful prince minus his inner beast had returned. “I should not have bitten his earlobe off.”
Dr. Warner nodded to Rylee, and she unlocked his door. “Join us Prince Slade.”
Cricket gaped. What the hell? How can they trust he won’t go Hollywood werewolf monster again?
Slade grabbed a plush white robe and donned it over his naked body before entering. Outside the chamber and close up, he appeared even bigger, more menacing. Powerful enough to snap their necks. Not that Rylee lacked superior fighting skills, but Slade had youth and years of experience as his pack’s top warrior in his favor. As for so-called alpha, Dr. Warner, he’d gotten soft and not in the right places.
Rylee never flinched as she approached and sniffed Slade, while he did the same. They finally stopped and locked gazes. She spoke first. “I wish to express my condolences on the horrible massacre of your pack.”
He narrowed his gaze. “I was robbed of rightful revenge.”
“Enforcer Dominic Wolfe and my team had no choice but to move in quickly. Especially since they had Mia, the enforcer’s mate.”
Dr. Warner, holding the dart gun, stepped closer. “Prince, it’s normal to feel…”
Slade flashed a hateful glance at him. “Shut up!” His fangs emerged, and his claws snapped out. “I ought to lock you up.”
&nb
sp; “Be reasonable…”
Before Warner shot him with the tranquilizer, Slade grabbed the doctor and threw him into the chamber. Warner hit the wall with a loud thud. He whimpered and cowered in the corner, no doubt fearing his patient would rip his throat out if he moved.
I won’t say I told you so. Cricket’s hackles rose, her fangs extended and she growled, but waited for Rylee’s orders.
Rylee stepped closer to him. “Stand down, Prince Slade.” Her claws extended.
With manic strength, Slade grabbed Rylee by the shoulders and shoved her into the chamber with Warner, then slammed the door shut.
Cricket dove for the dart gun and shot him in the arm. In a flash, he lunged at her, and she landed on her back with a thud, the wind knocked out of her lungs. Oof. Stunned as if knocked down by a charging rhino, she dropped the weapon. Out of her reach. Mad Prince Slade held her down. Each of his massive hands shackled her wrists.
Fuck. Cricket twisted and kicked, but the hulky man trapped her as if a granite statue had fallen on her. She growled. Not smart. She should whimper like a cub, but not at the cost of her pride.
Rylee banged against the glass. “Harm her and you’re dead.”
Slade held Cricket down and studied her. “How did you survive the change when many alphas do not?”
Prince Slade’s green eyes penetrated her. His strong alpha mind compelled her to obey and answer.
Cricket fought against his alpha mind control. How dare he intimidate her? Still, physically and politically the alpha maintained all-encompassing superiority. She gulped. “To be honest, I was too stubborn to die.”
“Even now, as I hold you down, you do not surrender to death?”
“No.” She closed her eyes, awaiting his lethal bite.
Slade released her, and moved away. He sat on the chair and pressed his hand over his forehead. “Let them out. I’ll try to cooperate, while my wolf is calm.”
Cricket leapt up and opened the door.