Insatiable Box Set: Books 1-4

by Rice, Rachel E.

  Bane was not a man to reason with. No werewolf could be reasoned with once he is threatened, and there is a female involved. Wilder had no illusions about Bane. Bane knew kidnaping Adrienne would mean death to him or Wilder. He knew well what Wilder and his brothers would do to him and his whole pack.

  Chapter 8

  Adrienne and Mena ate their meal of cooked venison and fruit Bane had set before them. They didn’t know who had prepared it. They glanced around wondering who prepared the delicious food. Usually the werefemales would do the cooking but there were none seen anywhere. But no doubt if there were males there would sure to be a female. Mena knew there was no amount of willing werefemales competing for the honor of mating and taking care of the Alpha’s needs.

  Turning to Mena, Adrienne spoke in a restrained murmur, “Now what? Bane doesn’t seem that bad.”

  “You don’t want to anger him, Adrienne.”

  “I haven’t done or said anything where he would want to harm me.”

  “Not yet. There are so many rules and you being with the Samsas have made you unafraid of werewolves. They aren’t the typical werewolves,” Mena said glancing over at Adrienne and then looking up as a quiet Bane stood in the doorway. No one heard him. It was as if he was sneaking up on a deer before he pounced.

  “Your room is next to Adrienne’s,” Bane said in a powerful voice. His tone forceful. “Now go to your room. There’s a hot bath waiting for you. Take the stench of a human from your body.” Mena lowered her head like a little child and cut her eyes at Adrienne. Her eyes showed how concerned she was for her. Mena knew if Adrienne made a mistake and said the wrong thing, or didn’t show deference to Bane, he could or would kill her with one angry swipe of his paw. However, Adrienne wouldn’t test the limits of Bane’s patients. Maybe later.

  As Mena passed, she whispered into Adrienne’s ear. “Remember what I said.” Bane glared at Mena as she scurried past him with her head bent.

  “What did she say to you?”

  “I’m sure you heard her,” Adrienne said.

  “You are correct. I can hear things you’re not aware of. Like the spider spinning his web in the corner. Or a bird feeding their young in the pine trees out back. My smelling is equally as acute. I can smell you, and I know why Wilder, Drayton, and that animal Lycell have taken with you. When he mentioned Lycell’s name his eyes sharpened and fixed on her. His voice dripped with hatred and Adrienne knew why.

  “When they are dead, and you’re mine,” Band steps closer to Adrienne. “I’ll be free to enjoy your aroma without smelling one of them on you.” Adrienne shuddered and her eyes narrowed. She couldn’t control her emotions. Her face showed anger and disgust.

  “Right now you repulse me. Go take a bath.” Bane’s voice is critical. He moved out of the way anticipating that Adrienne would be afraid of him and rush out like Mena.

  “I’m not ready to take a bath.” She looked up at him. “I haven’t had my desert yet. Where is it?”

  “Remember what Mena said. Are you deliberately trying to provoke me?”

  She stood. Then looking him straight in his eyes she frowned at him. “I’m pregnant and I need something sweet,” she demanded. “I don’t imagine that you have ice cream here?” He picked up an apple from the table and dropped it in front of her, then Bane moved closer until Adrienne could smell him. He had the smell of wildness. Like a dog who came in from the rain. He glared at her when she furrowed her brow and raised her nose in disapproval.

  “Why wasn’t I told you were pregnant?”

  “The subject didn’t come up. You still have time to take me home,” Adrienne said leaning back and staring up at him.

  “I see that those Samsas let you do whatever you want. If they hadn’t, you wouldn’t be with me now. You have no fear of werewolves and me, but you will have before I make you mine.”

  Bane wrapped his large hand around her wrists. “I expect you to do as I say and shut that pretty mouth of yours, or I will make sure you don’t have those pups you’re carrying.” He placed his large strong hand over her stomach. If he wanted, he could pull them out with one hand. She glance down at his hand and backed away from him. But his arms are long and he still held her stomach.

  “If you obey me, then I may let you keep them.” Adrienne pushed his hand from her and moved further back.

  “You will have hell to pay if you do anything to me and my pups, I mean my children.” Bane raised his chin and threw his head back and laughed at Adrienne. “If those wolves of yours find you, it will be too late. You will be my bitch.”

  “Kill me now because just the use of that word, and the way you treat women will prevent me from ever accepting you even if you manage to kill my mates, which I think you have no chance in hell of doing.” A slight smile crossed Adrienne’s lips and she lifted her head. She thought she was brave for confronting the fierce Bane. But he was like any other man who wanted a woman. And she knew beyond a doubt that he wanted her if not needed her for something.

  “Understand one thing. You will not have a choice as to whether you accept me or not. Enough of your human talk. Go to bed.” Bane took her hand, turned her around, and then led her to her room. “This is your room. It’s next to mine.”

  He opened the door. “This is will be your permanent room after I destroy the Samsas. After you have your pups, they will be given to the werefemales to raise, and I will then make sure you have several litters of my pups.”

  “You have my life planned out for me, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

  “You will accept me, or I will hand you over to the beta males, and let them have a go with you. Then after you’re submissive, I will come to you at night when I feel like fucking you and take you from behind. Because you have enraged me with your words, and you are stubborn, I won’t sleep with you.”

  “See if I care. But aren’t you getting ahead of yourself. Where will Wilder, Lycell, and Drayton be with all this going on?” Her voice is light and she shoots him a closed smile.

  “As I said before, they will be dead.” Adrienne glared into Bane’s eyes. She had to let him know that she wasn’t afraid of him, and if he had killed all the Samsa brothers, then her life wouldn’t be worth living anyway. That was her thoughts. But she had more than herself to think about, she had to think about her children and that’s why she stood quiet for once.

  “You will have breakfast with me in the morning. I don’t want any smart talk from you. You will get up early and dress to travel. Afterwards, we’re leaving. Now take a bath and go to bed, I might want to visit you tonight, but I don’t relish smelling those Samsas.” He passed his hands across her cheeks lightly. Adrienne drew back. Not because she felt disdain for Bane, but because there was a connection she felt when he touched her skin.

  Not the kind she felt for Wilder, or Drayton, or Lycell, but a different type of connection that coursed through her deepening a feeling of arousal.

  Adrienne became frightened, after all, what would she do if he decided to visit her in the middle of the night?

  There wasn’t anything she could do but lay there and let him have her. He was as tall as Drayton, and just as handsome with a chest equally as wide, but he wasn’t a gentle man like Drayton, he wasn’t even a self-possessed man like Wilder, or a passionate man like Lycell. Bane was the opposite of all of her werewolves, but he was like them in the way they aroused her desire to be with them.

  She knew by that feeling she received from Bane that it was imperative that Wilder find her soon, and take her to the safety of their home.

  Chapter 9

  Wilder marched to the Range Rover and arrived there minutes before the others with them following after him with the same purposeful look on their faces. They anticipated that finding and returning Adrienne and Mena would be a difficult task. Each one wondering about their woman. Was she molested? Was she afraid? The pain of thinking about them was too much for Drayton. He felt responsible because he allowed Adrienne to have her way. Maybe he was
too civilized to be a werewolf as Lycell had said.

  The only ones to keep up with Wilder was his sons Hunter and Devin. They opened the back door and threw their backpacks into the SUV. Then next came Robert, Drayton, and Lycell. Devin and Hunter hopped behind them. When everyone had buckled up, Wilder started the keyless ignition and the motor roared, the snow tires gripped the ice and snow and off they went at a high speed.

  He drove through the clearing on to a trail taking them into the forest that may have been used years before by Indians, but is no longer used by men. Tall pine trees covered in snow hovered overhead concealing the sun. Devin and Hunter looked up and out through the sun roof taken in all the sights and sounds of the forests. It was something new to them to be so deep into the woods. Now they could see and hear like never before. They were coming into their own and they were almost officially grown werewolves.

  The SUV plowed through the snow surrounded by large brush that got caught in the under carriage. The rugged trails and streams lay before them untouched. The steep hills caused the car to bounce everyone up and down back and forward as the car made its way slowly through the deep snow and thin ice.

  “Do you think trying to kill us will get us to Oregon any sooner?” Lycell looked at Wilder questioning his driving abilities.

  Had they been on foot and as shifters that would have been a stupid question, but driving wasn’t a skill Wilder excelled at, and Lycell thought the question to be a valid. If for some reason they were all killed as a result of his reckless driving, who would rescue Adrienne and Mena?

  “You’re not dead, and no doubt that easy to kill,” Wilder says, blue eyes falling on Lycell. “And no it won’t get us there any sooner. That’s not my intention. This is the route that will get us to Oregon without anyone knowing we’re coming. It will lead up to the back end of Bane’s compound. He will not hear us, see us, or more importantly, he won’t be able to smell us. If we take the main highway, it’s his state, and he’ll probably have the locals and police chief on his payroll looking out for us. Much like we do in Samsaville.

  Bane will expect us to come barreling in there in our shifter form. If we did that, we would have to stop and hunt for water and food. But in this SUV all that is taking care of. We will make it there in less time, maybe not the time you or Bane wants. We have all the supplies we need. The traveling maybe slow, but we are well prepared,” Wilder said answering Lycell.

  “What is your plan, Wilder?” Lycell says looking impatiently in Wilder’s direction. He would rather be on foot running through the woods than in a vehicle that could go slamming into a tree if Wilder takes his eyes off the road, or he doesn’t see the path.

  “My plan is not to kill the beta wolves and their mates if that answers your question.”

  “Then what are we going to do with them once we rid ourselves of Bane,” Lycell inquired. “We can’t let him live after what he’s done and maybe planning to do to Adrienne.”

  “Quiet. Think about Hunter and Devin,” Wilder says.

  “I am and I’m thinking of my sons, too.”

  “You appear to be more concerned with what he does to Adrienne. As long as she’s alive, I don’t care what he does. As long as she’s alive to be with us. I will take care of him. And you won’t stop me. If Adrienne is alive or dead, I will take care of Bane once and for all,” Lycell says looking over at Wilder.

  “I don’t want to hear any more of your talk,” Drayton said. “We need a plan.”

  “The plan is naturally to kill Bane. But if he treats Adrienne with respect, I’ll banish him to Russia,” Lycell eyes are burning with Wilder’s words, “and disband his pack without destroying them. I’ll have them all sent to Alaska in a remote area where they can’t cause any more harm to the humans, or cause any more trouble to the pack.”

  “That’s not a plan,” Lycell said looking over to Wilder. Lycell had never questioned Wilder before. Wilder thought and acted on his feet. But then he had been alone when he had to make decisions. He hunted alone, visited the settlements of the werewolves alone, and met and mated with Adrienne alone. Now all that is over, and he’s not alone with Adrienne. He’s sharing her with them. But he’s still behaving as if he’s that lone wolf when Drayton and Lycell has as much invested in safeguarding Adrienne as he does.

  When he met Adrienne he didn’t think he would love her the way he does. He didn’t think she was a capable enough female to sire his pups, but she proved that she was more than capable. Wilder’s mind was full with thoughts of Adrienne as he drove. He didn’t hear much of what Lycell was saying, or Drayton. He didn’t care.

  All he cared about was Adrienne and saving the pack. He would try to negotiate with Bane for the good of all.

  He had known Bane when they were teenagers. Bane was older than he and it made a difference when they visited the compound to check on complaints about Bane and his brother. He stood taller than Wilder, and as they played and wrestled in their wolf form, Bane showed his treacherous nature.

  When Wilder turned away thinking that the games were over, Bane pounced on Wilder with his large canines showing, and his claws ready to tear Wilder apart if it hadn’t been for Bane’s older brother who stopped him. The older brother knew that if he had killed Wilder, the pack would have been destroyed by Drayton and Lycell because Bane’s pack consisted of more females, and only a few males, and they were old.

  Robert didn’t say much as the SUV jaunt over rocks and snow and ice covered grass. He didn’t want to get in the middle of a heated conversation with Lycell and Wilder, especially since he knew how they felt about him being there. Robert was just happy that the conversation didn’t turn to him. He knew full well that Lycell and Wilder could drop him off in the wilderness, if he became a burden to them, especially since they expressed their opinions over and over.

  “About a mile before we get to the compound, we’re going to pitch camp and Lycell and I will go in and see the layout of the place. It will be dark. We don’t know if they have dogs watching out for them. I need to know if Bane has any rogue werewolves running around we don’t know about, and who have joined him. Then we’re coming back, and you will know the plan.”

  “What about me?” Drayton said.

  “You have to see that no wild animals kill Robert before I do,” Lycell said smiling shooting Robert a menacing gaze.

  “You can go, Drayton. I’ll be okay,” Robert answered glaring at Lycell who didn’t like the idea of a human meeting his gaze. Because Robert was essential and a doctor who cared for his pups, and had the protection of Wilder, he was willing to overlook his stare.

  “I can take care of myself. I know how to use a gun. I brought one with me,” Robert said tapping his leather back pack. Wilder watched at Robert through the mirror and Lycell and Drayton turned to Robert in surprise.

  “We don’t use guns on our own kind,” Wilder said keeping his eyes on the road, but glancing in the rearview mirror at Robert. He held the wheel tight as he drove carefully through the thick dense frozen grass, and deep muddy holes where the SUV appeared to sink, but came out easy.

  “That is what humans do to settle a quarrel and hunt animals. We are bound by different laws,” Wilder said agitated.

  “Your laws? Like taking innocent women and marrying them off to become concubines for the Alphas. And making them slaves to have pups or children for your pack.” Robert’s words were incendiary and disrespectful to the werewolves.

  “Be careful Robert,” Lycell said turning to meet Robert’s gaze.

  “I’m not going to discuss the politics of your kind and how they cut down forest and kill species of wolves to extinction. Why do you think werewolves exist? We found a way to procreate and survive humans hunting us down, poisoning our water, and making us lame with your traps. Humans almost made us extinct. Nature finds a way, and we found a way. We began mating with your human females. Just like you mated with our werefemales,” Lycell said turning around to watch the path.

  Robert
thought about what Lycell had said and he couldn’t find an argument that would justify his side.

  “We couldn’t live under your laws. We had to create laws for our own species even as we lived among you. We aren’t exactly human and neither are we wolves. My mother was a human, and I don’t think you should talk about how werewolves are violent and how we treat our females. We are in love with Adrienne, and would never treat her disrespectful,” Lycell says responding to Robert.

  “That says a lot coming from you,” Drayton added chiming in.

  Lycell and Drayton stared each other down until Lycell turned his head. Not because Drayton intimidated him, but because he knew that early on, he wasn’t the best mate for her. He did hold on to some of the old ideas. He had been accused of being a womanizer when it came to women and werefemales. But all that changed with Adrienne. She demanded respect from him and she got it, and because he had transformed himself, she agreed to become his mate and have his pups.

  Through all the heated conversations they didn’t realize that they had been traveling for hours. Hunter and Devin who took that time to sleep, woke, and needed to eat.

  Because they were young they needed to eat often. The werewolves could go weeks without eating if they wanted. That was before they lived in large homes and had freezers to keep their meat fresh. Those days are far behind them. The Samsas are rich and they have made it possible for their packs to live comfortable. But some like Bane and the Alaskan wolves chose the way of their fathers.

  Wilder stopped the SUV near a stream. Hunter and Devin jumped from the car with their backpacks. They weren’t used to being confined in a car for such a long period of time. It was five hours on the highway to the compound in Oregon, but much longer taking the backwoods. It took a few minutes before Hunter and Devin got their legs. They wrestled and played around, and then they ran off into a thick grassy area.

  “Don’t go far. We’re leaving in a few minutes,” Wilder shouted.