Fated Mates: The Alpha Shifter Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle) (Insatiable Reads)

by Hunter, Adriana

  My attempt to off Ronnie went better than Vicki’s. The spear slammed into his back, pierced his skin and punched through his ribs. Ronnie reared back with a howl. He tried to turn around to face me, but I jumped up, going air borne as he whirled around and keeping a death grip on the spear. I put all my weight into the jump and the spear slid forward into the organs underneath his ribs. I used the force of my landing to thrust the spear point up in the general direction of his heart. Then I let go and scrambled back.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I screamed to Vicki who huddled, paralyzed in the corner. Now was the time to run, while Ronnie was distracted by the splintered wood in his gut. I dashed over to her and grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her out of the tent. Once we were outside, she seemed to come to her senses and quickly shifted into wolf form. She melted into the woods without looking back, which left me to deal with Ronnie on my own as he stormed out of the tent.

  It had been a stroke of luck to attack him from behind. I realized this as I watched him try and fail to remove the spear. With it still inside him, he wouldn’t be able to heal. The only problem, I hadn’t killed him and the damage I had done didn’t seem to be slowing him down.

  He lunged for me, his claws reaching, wanting to pinch me in his grip. I jumped to the side and evaluated my options.

  I wanted to run like Vicki, but a quick check of my wolf showed me that, while she could move now, shifting was still a ways off. The drug was taking longer to leave her system than mine. For once, my human form had the advantage, at least in terms of how fast I cleared medications. The downside? I didn’t think I could outrun the rogue alpha while human. I needed the speed of a wolf.

  So running was out. I couldn’t shift and I couldn’t hide. My only option was to fight. Or die trying.

  Ronnie growled, punctuating my train of thought with an ominous threat. He squared off in front of me preparing to come at me again. I slowly backed up, unable to think of anything else to do. I didn’t have a weapon and he was taller as well as stronger than me.

  I really was going to die. I was sure of it.

  He sprang forward once more, a snarl twisting his lips.

  With a scream, I scrambled backward until I hit the coarse bark of a tree.

  I’d moved fast enough that he’d missed me, but he was already coming at me again.

  Just as I slipped behind the tree, praying it would offer some protection, two slender forms darted forward. I turned my head, following the flash of motion and was surprised to see they were wolves. Narrowing my eyes to sharpen my vision, I realized they were Mara and Sara’s parents.

  The two wolves yipped a quick greeting to me and then launched a coordinated attack on Ronnie’s legs, aiming for his hamstrings. I wasn’t alone anymore. A flash of hope went through me.

  I almost felt sorry for the rogue alpha as he spun in circles in a futile effort to stop the wolves. They were so agile and quick, he never even saw who or what was attacking him. Every time someone snuck up on him from behind, he was outmatched. He may have been big, but he wasn’t a nimble or strategic fighter. For all I knew, maybe the testosterone had stunted his intellect.

  While the wolves kept him busy, I decided on my next step. With the wolves’ help I could take Ronnie. Maybe not on strength alone, but on speed and strategy. I would give him a wound no wolf ever came back from. Grabbing a stick thick as my middle finger off the ground, I moved toward him, but he didn’t notice. He’d worked himself into a frothing, slobbering fit of anger as the wolves danced around him, sinking their fangs into his flesh every chance they got. Blood dripped from multiple wounds on his legs, splattering to the ground in a red rain.

  Ronnie swatted at them with his hands, as if trying to crush them like flies. I stalked the edges of the action, waiting for my opening. Mara and Sara’s parents barked at me with excitement. I didn’t dare take my eyes of Ronnie to look at them, it took concentration to stay out of the rogue’s reach.

  As if tiring of all the running, the two wolves latched onto the back of Ronnie’s knee on some unseen signal. This time they didn’t let go, but clamped down. They were going to tear out the backs of his knees and hamstring him.

  Ronnie screamed and when he couldn’t dislodged them with his hands he dropped to the ground, rolling in an effort to shake them off. The wolves yelped and backed off to regroup. This time they attacked him where it would really hurt, the massive dick hanging between his legs.

  His howls of pain when their teeth broke the skin made me wince. He tried to wedge his hands into their jaws and force them off, but they held on. When he picked up a rock the size of a grapefruit intent on bashing their heads in, I decided that was as good a time as any to act. No way could I stand by and let Mara and Sara’s parents die like that. It would devastate the girls.

  With a harsh battle cry, I came in close and stabbed the stick at his face, aiming for his eye. The first thrust caught him on the cheek bone and slid off. I didn’t even blink as I went for a second strike. I would have to be faster than Ronnie or I would be dead. This time, I got his eye and shoved it through to the soft brain underneath. It took more strength than I would’ve expected to breach his skull, but I did it.

  His jaw went slack and his remaining eye wide as I drove the stick home. Once it was in deep, I jacked it up and down and side to side, wanting to be sure to scramble any brains inside. Brain dead wolves don’t heal. They die human quick. Thank God.

  Ronnie’s body went slack and he almost deflated a bit as he sank to the ground, looking smaller than he’d been. Mara and Sara’s parents stepped back with a questioning whine.

  “I had to do it,” I said to them. “He wasn’t a normal wolf. You know that right?”

  They nodded, showing human intelligence for the first time since I’d met them.

  “Thanks for your help. I’ll tell Cal and your girls. They’ll be proud of you.”

  At that, the wolves howled and then they faded into the forest, going where, only they knew.

  “I hope you’ll come back someday,” I called after them. “I’ll watch out for the girls until you do.”

  That earned me another howl, one that sounded much further away than it should’ve been. Alone and no longer in imminent danger, I began to register my injuries. My arms ached like I’d been bench pressing a semi carrying an overweight load. Somehow I’d twisted my knee and my body was covered in dozens of small cuts and abrasions.

  Yet, despite my injuries, a euphoric satisfaction filled me. All along Vicki had said I was weak. I hadn’t been sure I was strong enough myself. Not until I killed a rogue alpha with my bare hands. I’d done it. Me. The newborn wolf who hadn’t even grown into her full power. My fear that Vicki had been right, that I really was an Omega dissipated. For the first time since I’d changed, I felt sure of myself.

  I was the alpha’s mate, damn it and nothing could stop me now.

  I threw back my head and howled loud and proud, not caring who heard me. Hell, I wanted to be heard. Let Vicki and Kelsey hear me and tremble to know I was coming for them next. If they were smart, they would start running. They wouldn’t get far with me after them, but let them try.

  Before I left the camp, I checked for survivors, hoping against hope for a happy ending for everyone. I found Tonya’s limp body in the tent Vicky had said held the dead. Sure enough, she’d left this world for the next, her stomach split open like rotten fruit. There were three other bodies too, the women from Nashville. All my earlier euphoria deserted me as I faced the sober reality of their deaths.

  I said a little prayer for them all, gulping back sobs as I did so. Tonya had almost been a friend, my only one. The loss hurt.

  Fighting for control of my emotions, I made sure Ronnie was truly dead by cutting off his head. I used a hunting knife I found in what I assumed was the tent he slept in and sawed and hacked my way through his flesh. I wasn’t squeamish. I’d eaten my share of freshly killed rabbits, their bodies warm and their tiny hearts practically be
ating against my tongue, but chopping up a human like so much meat made me queasy. I coped by closing my eyes, holding my breath, and taking lots of breaks to walk into the nearby woods to deeply inhale the scent of pine.

  Once I was done, I grabbed Ronnie’s head by the hair and made my way to the nearest road. Without clothes, hiking through the woods would be difficult. My best bet was to run into someone from Hunstville. Luckily, my thinking was sound and a search party found me a few miles into my walk.

  A gray Ford pick-up squealed to a stop next to me. I stopped walking, waiting to see who it was.

  Todd, one of the bartenders in town, hopped out of his truck along with Frank, one of the younger wolves from the pack. “Chloe! You’re alive!”

  “Yep. I’m alive.” I held up the head. “He isn’t. Not anymore.”

  Todd gave a low whistle. “Damn. That’s the rogue?”

  I nodded.

  Frank shook his head. “Shit. You kill him, girl?” Frank ran on the edges of Vicki’s social circle and he sounded suspicious. He probably believed all the Omega shit she was spewing.

  “Yep.” I stared at Frank until he looked away. “Where’s Jackson?” I needed to smell him, to feel his arms around me. It had been a long fucking day and I wanted my mate.

  “Downtown. Vicki came in about an hour ago,” Todd said.

  “She seemed to think you was dead,” added Frank.

  I shrugged. “She thinks a lot of things that aren’t true.” I shivered as a cold wind brushed over me. “You guys got a blanket?” I wanted to ask them about Kelsey, but that was a sensitive subject. I didn’t want to start any talk, not until I spoke to Jackson and Cal first. If Vicki hadn’t told them about the bitch, I would. If she had, maybe Kelsey had already been dealt with.

  “Yeah, yeah. Sorry.” Todd hustled to the back of his truck and pulled out a thick fleece blanket. “Jackson will kill me if you get sick.”

  “And what should I do with this?” I lifted the head again, holding the fleece around me with one hand. The guys’ eyes went wide as they took in the severed head.

  “I’ve got a box you can use. We’ll stow it in the bed.” Todd dumped some stuff from a plastic milk crate and held it for me as I set the head inside. He stashed it in the pick-up bed and secured it in place with a few bungee cords. “We don’t want it rolling around like a bowling ball.”

  “Great. Thanks.” I looked at Todd’s truck. It was an old two-seater. The big console in the middle wouldn’t let a third sit comfortably. “So Frank, I guess you’re sitting in the back with the head.”

  He glared at me, sullen, but I just stared him down again. I was the alpha’s mate, no matter what lies Vicki spread. I outranked him and since I’d pretty much killed Ronnie single-handedly, Frank couldn’t match me on strength. Maybe when I’d first started shifting, I’d been weak, but not anymore. Now I was stronger than most of the pack except for Jackson and Cal. I’d come into my own and just in the nick of time, too.

  With a long-suffering sigh, Jack jumped into the back of the truck and sat next to the milk crate. Todd and I went to our seats and we headed for Huntsville at top speed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It seemed everyone in town had gathered in front of city hall. Cal and Jackson were there, talking to Vicki who had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Some men held Kelsey off to the side. So Vicki had told them or Kelsey revealed herself somehow. Either way.

  The entire assembly fell silent at my appearance. The rogue alpha’s head in hand, I walked through the throngs of people toward Jackson. I wanted to drop Ronnie’s head and run to my mate, my wolf actually demanded that I do so, but I resisted. If we’d been alone, I would’ve chosen differently, but with so many wolves around, I had to settle pack business first. Hysterical female reactions and tearful reunions would have to wait.

  “You okay, Clo?” Jackson reached for me, but I side stepped him.

  “I think so.” My voice was shaky. “I take it Vicki told you about Kelsey.”

  “Yeah.” He wanted to touch me, I could see it in the tension of his shoulders, but he held back, respecting my need for space.

  “And how she turned tail and ran, leaving me behind?”

  “I didn’t turn tail, you were dead. At least I thought you were,” Vicki said, her voice strong with certainty, but her eyes shifted back and forth, uneasy with the lie.

  I didn’t respond for a second. The crowd waited, holding their collective breath, wondering what would happen next. Very gently, I set Ronnie’s head gently down on the sidewalk and then walked over to where Vicki stood.

  I just looked at her, my gaze boring into hers with the full weight of my wolf behind it. She fought me, tried to match me, but, in the end, she lowered her head too. Just like Frank had.

  “Tell the truth, Vicki.”

  “I am.” This time she sounded less certain and more desperate.

  My hand lashed out, fast as an angry rattler and grabbed her by the throat. I tossed the blanket wrapped around her to the ground and dragged her over to where Jackson and Cal stood. There, I forced her to her knees. Then I let her go...to a point. I pushed my foot into her back, shoving her to the ground. The last thing anyone needed was Vicki loose and running amuck. She’d done enough of that already.

  “Let me go, you bitch.” She tried to rise, but I held her in place.

  “No. Not until you tell the truth.” I leaned down and said more quietly, “If you don’t start talking, I’m going to take your blood challenge and give Ronnie another head to keep him company.”

  She went still and I could almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to think of a way out. After several long minutes, she finally capitulated. “Fine.”

  “Great.”

  She attempted to stand, but I wouldn’t let her. “Can I get up while I talk?”

  “No.” She’d lost the right to any dignity when she’d left me to face Ronnie alone.

  Vicki gave an aggravated sigh. “Fine. Okay. First, I take back the accusation that Chloe is an Omega wolf. Second, when I saw an opening, I ran. I-I-I--” She faltered and I ground my foot into her spine causing her to gasp. “I left Chloe behind,” she finally spit out.

  The crowd murmured, shocked by her words. To leave pack behind like that was a serious offense. If you didn’t look out for the pack, the pack wouldn’t look out for you. Granted, I was no expert, but even I knew that much. Vicki may as well be a lone wolf now. Hunstville wouldn’t acknowledge her at all.

  I stepped back then and let her stand. To Cal, I said, “What do you think?”

  Cal moved to stand in front of Vicki, a stricken expression on his face. This hurt him and I almost felt bad for having forced the issue, but, in order for the pack to be strong, wolves like Vicki couldn’t be allowed to stand. Cal knew that, but the knowledge didn’t make it any easier. Vicki wouldn’t even look at him. She just hung her head and stared at the ground. Defeated.

  “Vicki you have betrayed your pack. You have spread lies. You turned your back on wolves in need and put all of us in danger with your actions.” Cal heaved a sigh. He looked older, as if the last few days had aged him another decade. “And it’s my fault.”

  Everyone gasped, almost in unison.

  “I was the one who encouraged Jackson to date the women of our pack. I was the one who wouldn’t let him follow his instincts. I was wrong and my mistake has led to a lot of bad feelings.” He put a finger under Vicki’s chin and forced her to look up and meet his gaze. “Vicki, you have to let go of your anger. Chloe is not your enemy. Stop pining for Jackson, he’ll never be your mate, not even if Chloe dies. Go find your mate if you want happiness and stop trying to destroy someone else’s. Understood?”

  She nodded mutely.

  “Normally, we would cast you out of the pack, but I’m going to give you a second chance.”

  Vicki’s eyes went wide.

  “I release you to the pack,” He said, giving her formal permission to leave.


  Vicki took one stumbling step backward, away from the alpha and then stopped, unsure. From the way she kept blinking, I wondered if she was having a hard time believing she was free to go. After a moment, she slunk off, joining up with her usual cronies, who surrounded her like a protective cocoon and escorted out of the town square.

  The crowd watched her go in stunned silence. They’d expected Vicki to be executed like Kelsey or, at the very least, run out of town.

  Cal looked out at everyone, his expression serious. “I’m giving all of us a second chance. Many of you have not done right by Chloe. I let it go thinking it would pass, but it’s clearly too dangerous to be allowed to fester. She is your Alpha’s Mate and you will respect her.” He nodded toward the rogue alpha’s head which stared out with glazed eyes. “If that doesn’t make you toe the line and give her the respect she deserves, then you have earned the consequences of your actions and none of us will have any sympathy for you.”

  “The same goes for me, just in case there was any doubt,” Jackson added, his voice a deep growl.

  ‘Thank you’ I mouthed to both men.

  Cal smiled, the expression softening his features. “Chloe, I knew you were the alpha’s mate from the second you showed up at my place after you first shifted. You honor us and I hope we’ll prove ourselves worthy to be your pack.”

  “Thank you, Cal.” I went to him and kissed him on the cheek. Then I sank back into Jackson’s arms and we kissed. Finally. My wolf even managed a happy yip, clearly thrilled to be reunited with her mate.

  “I was so scared, Clo,” he whispered. “I couldn’t see your wolf anymore. I thought you were dead.”

  “I know. It’s okay.” I kissed him. “I’m safe, Jacks.”

  He nuzzled my neck inhaling deeply. “Thank, God.”

  “There’s only one problem.”

  “What’s that?” He lifted his head and frowned at me, concerned.

  I pitched my voice as low as I could and pressed my mouth against his ear. “I can’t seem to shift. I think my wolf is stuck again. Kelsey did something to me.”