Designated Alpha

by Crissy Smith

“Can you not sense her?” The woman answered his question with one of her own.

  “Huh?”

  “It was quite easy for your mate to pinpoint exactly where you were. And that was even before she was completely lucid.”

  “What did you do to her?”

  The heavy sigh that sounded was followed by the woman slapping her hand down on the table he was strapped to. “You’re not listening to me. Concentrate. Can you tell me where your mate is?”

  Even if he could, Jace wouldn’t have given the woman the satisfaction in answering. He clamped his lips together.

  “Fine. Be that way.”

  As the woman backed off, Jace breathed deeply. Could he sense Piper? While he knew that he had gained some heightened senses, he didn’t think his enhancements to the mating bond worked the same as Pipers.

  Piper had shared that she had known he’d stepped out of the elevator when he’d been returning after the first meeting with Vince.

  Jace wasn’t sure how long he’d been lying there in silence before he heard the door open.

  “Anything?” Vince asked.

  “This one is stubborn.”

  “I figured.”

  Jace peered up at Vince when the man bent over him. He now recognized the man’s scent. A mixture of clean sweat, woods and cinnamon. He probably wouldn’t have been able to pick up on those aromas before.

  “Piper is doing just fine. We’ve kept her calm but she keeps asking for you. If you’ll just help us with this test, we’ll get the two of you reunited.”

  Half of Jace just wanted to give them what they wanted so that he could be with Piper again but he knew giving in to their demands wouldn’t help them in the end. He clenched his jaw, refusing to give in.

  “Maybe this will change your mind,” Vince said as he sat a speaker beside his shoulder. “Why don’t you listen to your mate for a little bit then I’ll come back?”

  Vince walked away, and Jace eyed the small black device. He didn’t hear anything right away but when he really focused, he picked up on heavy breathing.

  * * * *

  Piper was tied to a chair and blindfolded. She had made one mistake. When she’d woken up, she’d asked about Jace. Demanded to know why they’d been separated and what they were doing to him in the next room. Vince had jumped on that detail. Pressed her to tell him how she knew where Jace was.

  She hadn’t said anything else after that.

  The link that connected her and Jace was still there but not as bright as normal. Her wolf was not only fighting against the drugs pumped into her but also at the restraints. It was hard to keep herself centered.

  Fear that Vince had gotten angry and was going to do something awful to Jace had her trembling. She couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on.

  She jumped when the door opened. There was a rustling of clothes but she couldn’t tell what was happening. She did her best to remain calm, so she could try to figure out what was happening around her.

  Recognizing the sound of Vince’s shoes against the floor, she waited. He hadn’t been gone long.

  She heard a grunt and the sound of a chair squeaking. “Jace?”

  “Piper! Are you okay?”

  “Mitch, oh thank God!”

  “You hurt?” he asked her.

  “I’m okay. What’s happening?”

  “Tweedledum and Tweedledee are tying me to a chair,” he revealed.

  She snorted. It made her feel better that Mitch could joke. “Are you blindfolded too?”

  “Yeah.”

  Well damn, then he couldn’t tell her if there was a route for escape and what their chances were. “Did they hurt you?” she asked.

  “No. I’m all right. Just pissed that I got taken. I was more worried about you and Jace.”

  “Have you seen him?”

  “Jace is being a little difficult this morning. I’m hoping that maybe the two of you can convince him to give us more assistance,” Vince interrupted.

  Piper jumped at his voice being so close to her. She’d been concentrating on Mitch so hard that she hadn’t even heard Vince move up to her.

  “And how do you expect us to do that?” Mitch questioned.

  “I think having his mate and best friend in the same room, not knowing what we’ll do to them, will be enough,” Vince said smugly. “But just in case it’s not…”

  Piper cried out when a hand clamped down on the back of her neck painfully.

  “Don’t touch her!” Mitch yelled.

  The pressure eased and Piper bit down on her bottom lip. The surprise more than the pain was what had caused her to make a sound. She would be better next time. She wouldn’t give Vince the satisfaction of knowing they were getting to them. They were stronger than that. It didn’t matter what anyone did to them. The three of them would get out. “I’m fine,” she assured Mitch, hoping Jace could hear also. “He just caught me off guard.”

  “What game are you playing?” Mitch asked.

  “I feel like we just keep going over this. All I want is to finish these tests so we can help any more lycanthropes that we come across,” Vince responded.

  Piper snorted. “You want to find out how to create more werewolves and use them for your own purposes. You want me and Jace so you can see if you can figure out the mate bond. We’re not stupid, so please stop treating us like we are. You have no interest in helping anyone but yourself.”

  The silence after her rant was a little freaky. Then Mitch started to laugh. Piper sunk back into the chair. Damn, she needed better control.

  “Yeah, what she said,” Mitch added once he’d quieted down.

  “Fine,” Vince snapped. “I was only trying to make this pleasant for everyone but I see the three of you won’t see things reasonably.”

  Like this was their fault. Piper growled.

  “Go ahead and shift,” Vince taunted. “I would love to see it.”

  There was no way in hell he would ever get her to transform in front of him. She clenched her teeth then yelped when her head was yanked back by her hair.

  “There is another thing that I’ve been wondering about. Can you still have sex with someone else even though you’re mated?” Vince asked suggestively.

  The bond between her and Jace flared inside her mind. Jace might not be in the same room but he had without a doubt heard what Vince had just said.

  “If you even try it, I’ll tear out your throat,” Piper warned, deadly serious. She had been abused once and would never fall victim to that treatment ever again.

  “Then don’t push me,” Vince cautioned. “Your stay here can get so much worse.”

  Piper jerked her head to the side and while it hurt, she was relieved when Vince’s hand dropped away.

  “Now why don’t we try something else?” The sound of Vince’s voice moved away from her. “How is your connection with your mate’s best friend?”

  “What?”

  “Mitch has proved to be a loyal friend to your mate who has put himself at great risk to help you. I am curious what type of attachment you have to him? Does he being a human keep you from forming a link to him since he’s not your mate? If Jace is hurt because Mitch is injured will that affect your relationship?”

  “I have no connection to Mitch,” Piper argued. That wasn’t totally a lie. Until a week ago it had just been her and Jace. But Mitch had quickly become like a brother to her. She couldn’t let Vince do anything to harm him.

  “There I have to disagree with you. A lycan who has surrounded herself with strong personalities and has gained their devotion, that is impressive. I have to wonder how you’ve managed that. It has to be your bond with Jace. You’re making up your own little Pack, aren’t you?”

  Was that what she had been doing? No, she wouldn’t let Vince put thoughts into her head. He didn’t even know about her being an Alpha. He was just guessing. She was still unsure what being an Alpha even meant. She wasn’t in control of everything. Hell, she wasn’t in control of anything. She r
elied so much on Jace that she sometimes felt like he would tire of how much she needed him.

  “So how does it feel when we do something like this?”

  The sound of flesh hitting flesh and Mitch’s grunt was loud in the room.

  “Stop it!” she demanded.

  Piper figured out that it wasn’t Vince who was doing the pounding on Mitch. He probably didn’t want to get his hands dirty.

  “Can you feel each time he is hit?” he asked right next to her, confirming he wasn’t the one currently hurting Mitch.

  “No, you asshole! I can hear it.”

  “So no connection to this human? Hmm, that is interesting.”

  Piper couldn’t have said whether she had any link to Mitch or not. She could feel Jace’s fury tugging on their link. She could actually feel what he was feeling. She wasn’t just getting a sense of him but his rage—even though separate for hers—was right there.

  Holy shit! Maybe she would be able to feel Mitch too.

  Mitch was breathing hard and every once a while, he would curse or groan. Piper followed his breathing, letting the sounds in the room fade to back. It was actually easier to do than she would have thought.

  She tracked each intake of breath Mitch took. She cleared her mind so she only concentrated on him. There was a very thin thread. A connection between Mitch and herself.

  What did that mean? How had Vince known?

  She lightly touched the link, trying to send warmth and comfort through the strand to Mitch. Not sure what effect she might have on Mitch, she kept trying to send her affection and appreciation to him.

  When a hand wrapped around her throat, jerking her out of her mind, she thrashed.

  “What are you doing?” Vince demanded. “I can see a change in him.”

  Piper choked and gagged.

  “Get your fucking hands off of her!” Mitch yelled.

  “I’m happy to see I’m right about you forming a bond to this human. It’s unbelievable. But how are you doing it?”

  “I’m not doing anything!” she managed to speak when the pressure around her neck fell away.

  Vince laughed cruelly. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself? Don’t worry. I won’t test your friend’s loyalty to you, today, but I wonder if he would die for you? Much like your mate plans to do.”

  Piper screamed, shouted, cursed and fought her restraints and what was happening. It was uncontrollable. She had barely felt the prick of a needle but she quickly recognized the feeling of drifting.

  “Don’t hurt them,” she begged, although her words sounded slurred, even to her own ears.

  “I’ve gotten more out of you in the past thirty minutes than I have in a day and a half. This is all your fault.”

  “No!” She didn’t know if she had been able to speak out loud but she could hear the word clearly screamed in her mind. The blame and guilt swamped over her.

  If she hadn’t fallen for Jace, he wouldn’t be tied up in the other room. If she had never found her mate, Mitch wouldn’t have been brought into their problems. Vince was right. This was all her fault. Jace and Mitch had only wanted to help. Instead there was a good chance one—if not all of them—would die.

  Tears fell down her cheeks and she couldn’t even brush them away. Was this punishment for something she’d done? Did she really keep bringing these bad things to herself or was she cursed? Maybe Joe had known there was something wrong with her and that was why he’d first chosen to change her.

  So many questions and accusations swam around her mind that Piper just wanted to kill something. Or someone.

  Wait, what the hell was she doing?

  She clenched her fists. This drug wasn’t as strong as the one they had been giving her. While her mind was a little muddled, if she tried really hard, she could push the fogginess away.

  Jace. She knew that was where Vince was headed. She wasn’t just going to roll over and let the evil man win. If she was building a Pack, she would show Vince how strong they truly were.

  Bobby was still out there too. Since she couldn’t ask Mitch about him, she had to just hope that he was safe. Maybe they would get out of this soon and she could take Bobby back home and never let him out of her sight.

  After this entire mess, she would make sure no one hurt her family—or Pack—again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jace’s wrists were raw and they burned from his struggling during Mitch’s beating. He had heard every hit. Now he listened to Piper quietly sobbing and Mitch’s ragged breathing.

  The minute the door opened and Vince stepped through, Jace lunged up, managing to only make the table creak, but if there was any chance of getting free, he would use his last bit of strength to destroy Vince.

  “Haven’t we had enough drama today?” Vince mocked. He lifted the speaker next to Jace and flipped a button.

  Jace could no longer hear Piper and Mitch and he didn’t like that at all.

  “Your mate is hiding things. I know she did something to your friend. He was practically glowing and I believe the pain faded, at least a little.”

  “You’re giving her a lot of credit,” Jace replied.

  “She’s powerful. I can feel it. This is even better than I could have ever imagined. I had just been hoping to get some good samples so Dr. Grace could compare them to others. But your mate… Wow, she has made everything we worked so hard for worth it.”

  “You know,” Jace drawled out, “if I had a powerful werewolf tied up, I would be worried about her getting loose and getting revenge.”

  Vince smiled. “But that is what you are for. She won’t risk the life of her mate. She might fight, but eventually she will come around. Even if you end up hating her in the end, she would still give her life for yours.”

  “I wouldn’t let her,” Jace stated with conviction.

  “I guess we’ll have to see. But we are going to move on to the next experiment.”

  Jace tried his best not to flinch when Vince ran his hand over Jace’s calf.

  “Dr. Grace, if you’re ready to join us.”

  She stepped to Jace’s other side. This time instead of a syringe in her hand, she was holding a scalpel. She handed the blade over to Vince, who handled it like he was familiar with the sharp tool.

  “I’ve given your mate a sedative to help keep her calm but she shouldn’t fall asleep. Can she fight through the fog in her mind to do whatever she did with Mitch for you?”

  Mentally preparing for the pain in no way helped when Vince pushed up Jace’s T-shirt and ran the sharp edge of the instrument over his stomach. It didn’t hurt right away. Instead the burning started slowly, before moving to agony. Vince made a dozen shallow cuts and Jace had to bite down on his bottom lip to keep from yelling.

  Trying to block the connection between him and Piper so he could protect her from knowing what was happening wasn’t easy. He wasn’t sure how to shut down the link but had to try.

  At first he thought he was doing a good job. But when the pain started to overwhelm him, he felt the first small flutter in his mind.

  He knew it was Piper. The same overwhelming sense of peace he always felt when he saw Piper started to float into him. Calming and indeed, taking some of the pain away.

  He still thrashed and cursed, hoping Vince wasn’t aware of what Piper was doing. Shit, how was Piper even connecting with him half-drugged and at least a room away?

  Jace’s body was covered in sweat and trails of blood by the time Vince pulled away. He closed his eyes in exhaustion.

  “That’s disappointing,” Dr. Grace murmured.

  “Maybe I overdosed her?” Vince questioned.

  “No, it was a very mild sedative,” Dr. Grace told him. “Perhaps she needs to be in the same room.”

  Vince’s heavy sigh above Jace made Jace have to chew on the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. They had managed to at least keep one secret.

  A rough hand grabbing his chin had Jace opening his eyes.

  “You will
convince your mate to work with us.”

  Jace shook his head the best he could while he was still being held by Vince.

  “It won’t just be you who suffers,” Vince told him. “How loyal is your friend?”

  Jace narrowed his eyes but didn’t respond.

  “I guess we’ll see.” With those parting words, Vince released him and walked away.

  He wasn’t going to give Vince the satisfaction of calling him back. He knew what Vince was trying to do. Jace was a master of playing mind games also. A buddy who had later gone into the intelligence division had often shared some of his training on how to survive torture in case he was ever captured in war. Brian had been killed several years ago or Jace would have contacted him to help with Piper.

  However, the tricks Brian had practiced with Jace would allow Jace to get through this experience. He would not let Vince use him against Piper.

  He had no doubt that Mitch felt the same way. After Mitch had found out about Piper and her transformation, he’d supported them one hundred percent. That kind of loyalty was rare. They would get through this. They would survive and make sure that Vince never got his hands on another werewolf again.

  One chance, just a slip, and they would be able to get away.

  He didn’t know if they had help coming. Bobby was still out there and there was Cody.

  Jace should have trusted his first gut response to Vince. It was obvious that Cody hadn’t been great friends with him and hadn’t been one hundred percent comfortable.

  Although Cody probably didn’t know what was happening, there was a chance he would try to contact either Mitch or him, so maybe—just maybe—all they needed to do was hold on.

  Thoughts of survival would keep them strong. Resolved, Jace closed his eyes to try to preserve all the energy he had left.

  * * * *

  Piper waited and waited but Jace was never brought into the room that she was being held in. She’d been moved from the room with Mitch and was alone in the small room with the thin mattress.

  Her entire body was sore and she was just bone tired. Piper was pretty sure that the day was one of the worst in her entire life, even more horrible than when she’d been turned and that was saying a lot.