Insatiable Box Set: Books 1-4

by Rice, Rachel E.

  “I guess that’s where your all mighty leader lives. It appears he’s living a lot better than you, and your buddies. I guess one of those huts belong to you,” Adrienne says her tone irritatingly familiar to the blond wolf. For some reason he didn’t answer her then. He glanced over to her and smiled as if he was guarding a secret. Mena pulled Adrienne’s sleeve and whispered.

  “Quiet Adrienne. They aren’t used to females talking to them that way. And human females, they have little or no respect for. They do respect some werefemales because they can almost match their strength. You can’t begin to understand what these rogue werewolves are capable of. They can make it bad for us,” Mena whispered as they were pushed and nudged to the door.

  “How much worse can it get?” Adrienne whispered back.

  Wilder and his brothers are different. Their mother was human. She taught them about respecting women. Many of the Alpha males didn’t know their mothers, and they were raised by their fathers who treated females like nothing but servants, concubines, and vessels to carry their pups. They are taught dominance over females and they only respect the dominant Alpha.

  “If she knows what’s good for her, then she had better listen to you, Mena.” The blond smiled at Mena. He made her skin crawl, but she didn’t know what was in store for her, and how long they would remain as prisoners. She had to think of her unborn pups. She had to protect them if it meant her cozying up to the blond. Since he had interest in her, she would try to keep him attentive for as long as possible, in hopes that Robert and the others would find them soon.

  Their long walk from the truck came to an end in front of Bane’s door. They stood, and the two werewolves who stood guard, opened the door to the cabin, and Mena and Adrienne cautiously walked in. The blond werewolf closed the door behind them and he stood outside.

  The log cabin looked nothing like the rustic outside façade. It was comfortable and the entire wood floor was heated, but Adrienne didn’t know how that came into being. Fur rugs were thrown in groups the entire length of the room. One large brown bear rug lay in front of a wide fireplace made from several boulders. The cabin had no electricity, only lamps filled with oil. From all the light the lamps gave off, and the warmth of the fireplace maybe there was no need for electricity. Adrienne found herself wondering about the plumbing. She needed a bath what with the smell of fur on her and the long ride.

  Inside the great room set handmade furniture fashioned from trees. A large sofa and four chairs had cushions made from the fur of animals. This was used to upholstery the furniture. Adrienne glanced at the mantle over the fire place.

  She didn’t expect to see pictures of women or children, and there wasn’t any. It was bare as well as the walls. The entire room was simple. Yet she had the impression that if Bane wanted more he could afford it. After all, he was the Alpha to his Oregon pack, but that would change once Wilder discovers what he has done.

  The cabin resembled the cave belonging to Wilder. It was comfortable, but she wouldn’t want to live there forever. Adrienne and Mena stood holding hands waiting for the Alpha known as Bane to make his appearance. Just when she was ready to sit, a dark shadow appeared in the doorway.

  He wasn’t what she believed. He wasn’t the hideous monster she had conjured in her mind listening to the blond werewolf. He looked nothing of what she summoned in her thoughts. What did she think? Would he have fangs and blood red eyes? Would he drool and attack her at first sight?

  Bane stepped out of the shadows. He’s tall about six two or three. Tall as Drayton, and has the body of an athlete. But then all the werewolves Adrienne’s had seen had been muscular, beautiful specimen of men. But they were not men entirely, and none as handsome as Wilder, and his two brothers, and none could compare in body shape and visible strength or looks. None but this one.

  The room was well lit, but he stood in the shadows casting his own looming over them, and Adrienne couldn’t see his eyes. She had to see his eyes. His eyes would tell her how much peril she was in. But then just being in his company signaled that she could be in mortal danger.

  “Sit. Have you had anything to eat?” His voice is low and easy, lyrical. Not threatening as she gathered from the blond werewolf’s description.

  “I’m hungry, sir,” Mena said lowering her head and eyes out of respect.

  “Don’t call me sir. You have been with humans too long and I have been informed that you had married one.” Bane’s voice accusatory, harsh, and severe. Mena didn’t answer because it wasn’t a question, and she would have to wait until the Alpha directed her to answer him.

  “I’m hungry, too,” Adrienne said. Bane turned to Adrienne and she met his gaze locking eyes with Bane’s grey eyes.

  “And what else do you require arrogant disrespectful female?” His tone emotionless and tough.

  “A bath would be nice.” She shot him a smile and he didn’t react. He didn’t look at her, and then he did.

  Bane’s eyes burned through Adrienne, but through the heat of his eyes she saw maybe softness. Maybe someone she could reason with. Mena didn’t see the same thing and her eyes swung to Adrienne signaling that she should be careful. She had heard stories about him from other werefemales sent to him by her father.

  “Some clothes. I could use some clothes.”

  “Come with me.” Bane led Adrienne and Mena to a large dining room. On the table was all kinds of cooked meat and vegetables and fresh fruit. “We plant our own food and kill our meat. We are meat eaters, but the vegetables and fruit, we cultivate to sell at a large farmer’s market in Portland. We have smoked salmon if you have a taste for that?” The stern look in his grey eyes are replaced with a softness and Adrienne thinks she sees a smile.

  But that smile won’t appear now.

  Adrienne and Mena rushed to the table. They hadn’t eaten since nine that morning before they left shopping, and they hadn’t drank any water since then.

  “When you’ve finished eating, then I will show you where you will sleep. There you will find some clothes. Both of you will stay in my cabin for now. You’re not safe outside of this house. There are few werefemales on the premises, and the ones here are old.” Bane glances at Adrienne.

  “It would be well advise to stay here and don’t try to run away. After all, where would you go? Into the woods where there are worse animals than us? And the young werewolves would track you down. I guess there’s nothing more to say about that. You know what they will do, Mena. You need to inform the human female,” Bane’s says as his eyes follow Adrienne, “what we are capable of when it comes to females who don’t listen and disobey me.”

  Bane is watching at Adrienne. She looks up and they lock eyes. Adrienne knows what he’s thinking.

  A hungry Adrienne reaches for a large piece of roast duck. It was the best thing she had tasted. It could be because she’s so hungry. Mena ate cautiously. She glanced around and saw that there were bars on the windows. She wondered about that. But then Alphas never could get a sound sleep, with constant attempts on their lives by betas, hoping to overthrow the reigning Alpha if they couldn’t match them in a fight. They would sneak up as the Alpha slept, then bludgeoning them to death, and take over their pack and their females. But this occurrence was rare and only with the very old Alphas.

  However, it isn’t that easy to kill the reigning Alpha. Alphas are hunters and fighters at an early age. They are larger, more muscular, and have hunted and killed bears and other larger stronger, and faster animals. There were good reasons they were called Alphas, and there were good reasons the beta werewolves respected the Alphas. Only a fool would try to creep up on one in their sleep. The Alpha would probably smell and hear them before they entered the compound. That’s why Alphas lived longer than most subordinate werewolves. That was the reason why Mena’s father had lived so long. The older they are the more they have seen and the craftier they have become.

  Bane was the age of Wilder and his brothers. They had trained together and lived together onc
e. Whatever friendship they may have had and whatever deference Bane had for the Samsas disappeared when his brother was killed by Lycell.

  Since then Bain orchestrated how to get to the triplets. When he discovered that their weakness was a human female, then he set up betas to destroy them, and take the female for his own. But when his brother was killed by Lycell, he had to devise another plan. This time he would capture all of them at once, after they came for their female. Then the werewolves would understand who the true Alpha is. One that is brutal, who takes what he wants and will not give quarter. And if a female resists, then he would take her against her will, and wear her down into submission.

  Bane would show all the Alphas how they should treat the human females even if it was against his instincts to attack one.

  Chapter 7

  “We have lost enough time, it’s time to go,” Drayton says his voice firm and impatient. “The car is loaded up with food and water, Lycell. Robert is waiting in the car. He’s ready to leave now. What could you have so pressing as to delay our travels?”

  “I had to say goodbye to my sons. You don’t understand, and the way you’re going, you may never understand this.” Drayton cut a sharp eye at Lycell. He understood. They were both on edge. Lycell is delaying because he’s afraid to confront the inevitable. He’s afraid that Adrienne may be dead and he’s holding on to his sons.

  “The Mercedes has been located by its GPS system. It’s about ten minutes outside of Samsaville. A wrecker will pick it up. The police found their clothes. They made them leave their clothes and shoes in the car, everything they were wearing, and they tried to burn the Mercedes,” Lycell said his voice hoarse and weak when he spoke. He felt Adrienne’s anguish and pain at that moment. Then he composed himself and raised his head to meet Drayton’s eyes.

  “They stripped them naked so we couldn’t get their scent. But I would smell Adrienne a mile away,” Lycell admitted smiling and thinking about the short time they had together. Then a frown crossed his face. He stared outward passed Drayton.

  “I will never love another woman. I have to get her back if she’s still alive,” Lycell said walking with Drayton to the car.

  Robert sat in the back seat gazing at Drayton and Lycell not showing how devastated he is at that moment. Only his words could convey what was in his heart and now he couldn’t find the words to talk about what he would do if the werewolves killed them and his unborn children.

  Drayton started up the keyless ignition of the Range Rover, and they took off around the bend heading south to find Wilder, Hunter, and Devin to break the news.

  Lycell reached for the news station and the local news were reporting on the disappearance of the two women.

  “Why did you get the news involved? You know we can’t report a kidnapping and risk having the national news pick up on that, Drayton. What were you thinking?”

  “It wasn’t Drayton. It was me,” Robert admitted. “I only stated that my wife had gone missing. I gave some excuse that she might have gone home to her family in Alaska. My thinking was, if anyone saw her, they would report it to the local police.”

  Lycell turned in his seat to meet Robert’s eyes.

  “You weren’t thinking. You were only concerned about yourself. That’s what you humans do. There are bigger things to consider. If some eager reporter from outside of our town, gets on this case, and report it to the FBI then our way of life is in danger. We have tried to keep under the radar for years. Wilder may run for senator and maybe the governor of Nevada. We don’t need anyone nosing into who and what we are.”

  “Don’t you understand that there are a faction of werewolves out there that are bent on destroying humans and they are out of control? Because Wilder is the head Alpha, we are the only thing preventing them from destroying forest, wild life, capturing human females and destroying humans.”

  “I thought their numbers were kept in check because the werefemales were sterile?” Robert asked.

  “If we don’t do something with Bane’s pack, there will be nothing to keep them from going into the nearby towns, and kidnapping the women. And thanks to you and your serum, and reporting this kidnapping, we appear weak to them, and they will be bolder. They may have killed Adrienne and Mena already,” Lycell said his voice wavering from tough to soft and breaking like an ocean wave on shore.

  “That’s enough,” Drayton said to Lycell. Lycell turned up the radio loud. So he couldn’t hear his own thoughts.

  Finally they reached the forest near the cave. It wasn’t a long ride, but it was a treacherous ride into the forest. At one point they had to park the car and get out, and trek down the meadow in the direction of the cave. Robert fell behind, and when Drayton looked back, he was nowhere to be seen.

  “You go on, Lycell. I have to find Robert.”

  “I told you to leave him. He can only get one of us killed trying to protect him,” Lycell said to Drayton turning to look down the path. “He’s nothing but trouble. And he’s slowing us down.”

  “I couldn’t do that. He has as much at stake in this as you or I. Much more. His wife and babies are in danger. Your babies are safe in bed, and Wilder’s are with him. He should be here.”

  “And you have none. You can’t even control Adrienne long enough to make her pregnant.” Drayton recoiled at Lycell’s words. He wanted to hit him. “You want Adrienne back and so do I. But my babies need her, and I need her,” Lycell’s voice broke and his tone lowered.

  “I’m not going to argue with you about who needs her more. It’s just futile.” Drayton turned heading back down the trail they had just come from, but before he could go two steps, Robert came slogging from behind a thick set of trees and grass. Drayton called to Lycell and he stopped.

  Lycell’s human form was confining. He had enough of the human form. He decided to change into a wolf when he heard Drayton call out to him. Reluctantly he stopped and waited.

  “What now?” Lycell questioned. When Drayton and Robert caught up to Lycell, he wore an unpleasant menacing look on his face aimed at Robert.

  “Keep up because next time we’re going to leave you.”

  “He doesn’t mean that,” Drayton tried to reassure Robert.

  “The hell if I don’t,” Lycell turned to face Drayton. His thick eyebrows meeting in a V and his eyes glaring up at Drayton. Lycell strode faster down the trail to the cave. He would have been there by now if he didn’t have to coddle Robert. Then Lycell took off running at a speed not even Drayton could equal.

  Lycell because of his svelte body and muscular legs had been a sprinter in college. He even participated in the Olympics. Drayton on the other hand had been a distance runner. Wilder had been in the Olympics and won the Decathlon. He was indeed the best athlete of them all, but then he had an overall advantage—they are werewolves and not exactly human.

  That advantage helped Wilder win the Decathlon with its sprinting, throwing, jumping hurdles, and running over a mile at breakneck speed, not even Drayton and Lycell could compete with him.

  Robert didn’t say a word because he knew Lycell was right. He would slow them down if they had to shift and run. He was indeed a burden to the werewolves and especially to Drayton since he was the one who agreed to take him along and protect him if anything went wrong with the rescue.

  They could have travel faster if they had shifted and didn’t have Robert to worry over. Nevertheless, Robert felt grateful to be along. He would have gone crazy waiting around to hear about Mena and whether she was safe.

  By now Lycell was out of sight, but Drayton heard the rush of the waterfall, and he knew that the cave was near. As they walked out of the forest and near a freshwater lake, they saw Lycell standing near Wilder, no doubt telling him what had happened to Adrienne and Mena.

  Wilder paced near the river’s edge. His powerful chest moving up and down. His large hands folding into fists at his side. Then a distinct and loud howl came from deep down in his chest as he raised his head in frustration. It was
a sound of an animal in pain. The kind of sound you hear when a male wolf has lost his mate. It is a bone chilling hair raising sound.

  The distinct sound reverberated along the mountains, and animals answered his call nervously. The sound of the fiercest animal in the forest was met with many animals whimpering. It was the call of a wild animal in their midst, and they knew that voice and they knew that death was in the air or something or someone would die soon.

  Adrienne’s sons had been playing and had shifted into wolves. When they heard their father they came rushing back quickly. They came to an abrupt stop when Wilder picked them up by the scruff of their necks, looked them in the eyes, and spoke to them, then dropping them to the ground, where they rushed off in the direction of the cave.

  When Drayton and Robert reached Wilder and Lycell, Hunter and Devin were coming back looking like two teenage boys who had been camping with their father. One wore a black and blue lumberjack shirt and the other wore a red and black one. As teenagers they wanted to be distinct like so many teens like them, but there were no teens like them. There were no new werewolves born to any of the packs in the Americas or Europe, with the exception of them. They placed the back packs over their shoulders and one for Wilder.

  Hunter handed it to Wilder. “Here father. We will get our mother back.” Wilder nodded his head in agreement. He was silent. He placed the pack over his wide shoulders and turned to Drayton.

  “Where is the Range Rover?”

  “About ten minutes away,” Drayton answered. Wilder glanced over to Robert.

  “Why are you here?” Wilder asked his voice uncompromising.

  “You would ask that?” Robert said surprised at Wilder. Wilder turned his head. He knew why. He just hoped that someone had talked sense into him, or tied him up, and prevented him from following them. Wilder felt that Robert didn’t know the danger he was in, and with all his devotion to Mena, his fierce determination, it would not be enough for him to survive. And bringing a human would only complicate matters for them, too.