“It’s Rye. I need help.” Cooper tensed at the desperation in his enforcer’s voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Laney, she’s sick. I mean really, really sick. I can’t get her to respond to me. She’s freezing and in some sort of deep sleep. I’ve tried to warm her up, to rouse her and her wolf, but nothing is working. I don’t know what to do, but I daren’t move her.”
“I’m on my way,” Cooper said tersely, already on the move. “I’ll grab your brothers and we’ll take the chopper. Just keep her alive until we get there.”
“God, I hope I can.”
*
Cooper felt queasy as they landed the chopper on the school field in Addison, Nebraska. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d flown in a helicopter dozens of times, he would have told himself it was airsickness. Instead he had to face up to the fact that it was fear.
He hadn’t told Rye the whole truth about how he’d met Laney, merely explaining that he’d stopped here in Addison a few months ago and remembered a werewolf working as a waitress at the diner. He’d left it up to Rye to find her apartment.
Cooper led the way there now, letting the brothers assume Rye had told him where to go… Even in human form they were all fast runners, and they quickly raced to the block of apartments where Cooper had left Laney more than three months ago.
He cursed that decision yet again as they ran up the decrepit stairway to her tiny, run-down apartment. Not bothering to knock, he suddenly found himself pushed aside before he could turn the door handle. Marcus stood in front of him while Jay pulled him back.
Turning, he snarled at Jay, yanking his arm free. He didn’t care that he was supposed to let his enforcers go first. That was his woman dying in there. No one was going to slow him down. He pushed Marcus away before storming his way inside.
Cooper strode over quickly to where he thought Laney must be lying on the bed. It was difficult to tell considering the mound of blankets strewn over the small mattress.
“I asked her neighbors for blankets,” Rye explained with a pained look on his face. “Told them Laney wasn’t well, but she’s still cold to the touch. What the hell do we do?”
Cooper had no time to spare for Rye’s questions. His attention was totally focused on Laney. Pulling back the covers revealed her shivering, pale form. He would have thought she was sleeping if it wasn’t for the fact that she hadn’t even stirred at the noise they’d made. She was thin, really thin, and there was a blue tinge to her lips. Cooper cursed long and loud.
“I need to bring her wolf.” He reached down and snatched her, blankets and all, into his arms before striding out of the room.
“Will she be okay?” Jay asked, racing to keep pace as they ran toward the chopper.
“Just hurry,” Cooper snarled, putting on a burst of speed. She would be all right. She had to be, because he refused to let her be anything else.
*
Consciousness dragged at her, pulling and prodding, urging her to surface when she would have been happier just swimming along sleepily. But unfortunately, someone was intent on ruining her sleepin. Sunlight hit her in the face and she quickly raised an arm to cover her eyes.
“Urgh, cls drphs, plh.”
“Speak in English, sweet. I’ve never been good with different languages, and that one has me completely stumped. What is that? Greek? Latin?”
“It’s grumpy!” Laney burst out before her brain caught up with her mouth. There was a man in her room. God, no! It couldn’t be. What the hell was he doing in her room?
Cautiously, she opened an eye while moving her arm down slightly. Though her vision was blurred, she could easily make out the wide shoulders, the dark hair. She could even see the sardonic grin, although that may have been her imagination. Laney quickly whipped the blankets up over her head, praying it was a dream, praying he’d disappear. She certainly had no intention of coming out from under the sheets until he did.
A dark chuckle hit her ears and she cringed as a tingle of awareness danced down her spine.
“Now, sweet, is that any way to greet your lover?” he crooned before the blankets were ripped from her hands and torn from the bed to be flung across the room. Laney was left panting, shocked and strangely aroused. And shit! She squealed as she realized she was as naked as the day she was born.
One arm covered her breasts as she tried to squirm her way into a seated position. Unfortunately, doing so one-handed when she was weak as a babe wasn’t easy, and she ended up falling back onto the bed in a frustrated heap.
“Here, let me help you, little one.” That quickly she was sitting up. He’d easily lifted her until she was resting back against the cool headboard.
“What are you do— Hey!” she interrupted herself as he pulled her arm away from her breasts.
“That’s better. A bit skinnier than before, sweet. We’ll need to fatten you up.” He stared down at her, his face impassive as though he was inspecting a side of beef, but Laney saw the flash of arousal in his eyes. Embarrassingly, her nipples tightened in reaction, and he definitely noticed if his “cat ate the canary” grin was anything to go by.
“Where the hell am I? What the hell are you doing here? And why the bloody hell am I naked?”
He just sat beside her, shaking his head.
“Now, sweet, it’s not very nice to swear at someone who saved your life.”
“S-saved my life?” she sputtered indignantly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you on drugs?” She peered up at him, crossing her arms back over her breasts.
“Little one, I’ve seen it all before, no need to hide. In fact, I insist that you don’t.” His hands easily uncrossed her arms, setting them down firmly on either side of her while he leaned his face in until their gazes were locked upon each other, their mouths scant inches apart. If she moved just a little, she could kiss him, just a little…
Suddenly he moved back out of her reach and her head fell forward. Laney blushed, aware that he knew she’d been about to kiss him. She quickly turned her mortification into anger.
“What are you doing here, Cooper?” she snarled. “It was a one-night stand. Don’t you get the concept? As in a once-only, non-repeatable, no-do-overs night of sex.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously, hazel bleeding into amber that sparkled and snapped. Gasping, she cringed as he suddenly stood, her hands automatically covering her head to shield herself against the blow she was sure was going to follow.
“Laney?” he asked, surprise coloring his voice.
Laney was shaking, nausea swirling in her stomach, waiting for a blow to descend, when she suddenly realized that he was just standing there. Immediately she dropped her arms, mortification once again coursing through her veins, making her squirm in discomfiture.
“You thought I would hit you? Laney?” he prompted when she didn’t answer. “You want to explain that to me?” She refused to look at him, keeping her eyes downcast.
“Laney, look at me.” She shook her head.
“Look at me, please.”
It was the please that did it. She raised her eyes to his, aware of the confusion and fury warring inside him. His face may have been calm and impassive, but his eyes were gleaming amber. The wolf was close to the surface.
“Laney, what the hell did I ever do to make you think I would hit you?” His voice was low and even, as though he was speaking to a frightened child or animal. Laney imagined that was how she looked, pale and frightened, a coward. Her chin rose at the thought.
“You’re bigger than me, you’re dominant to me and you like your own way. You’ve brought me here, wherever here may be, in effect you’ve kidnapped me. So why wouldn’t I think that you would hit me?”
He sat on the bed next to her, his large, jeans-covered thigh touching hers, sending a quiver of awareness arrowing straight to her pussy. Her breathing became shallow as she tried to hide her reaction to him, aware that he could smell her arousal. Desire was present between them. Raw and uncut, it g
listened like a diamond with flashes of fire and sharp slashes of near pain.
He tilted her chin up gently until her eyes met his. “Let’s get this clear between us right now. I will never hit you in anger, do you hear me? Not at any time will I use my fists against you. I will not punch you or kick you or slap you. Sure, there will be times in the bedroom when things might get a little rough, and I can definitely tell you that my hand will be meeting your ass in the near future, but I will not hit you, baby, ever.” She saw the sincerity in his eyes, her gut telling her she could trust him even as her head said fool, fool, fool.
She nodded, almost smiling at his sigh of relief.
“Tell me who hit you.” The command came naturally to him. A man used to being obeyed, an Alpha to his core, and Laney knew better than to trust an Alpha.
“Why?” She looked at him in complete bewilderment. Why did he even care?
“Because I want to know, I need to know. Tell me.” His voice was darkly cold and she shivered slightly.
“Where am I?” she asked instead. “Why am I here? Why are you here?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re avoiding my questions, Delaney. It was Zachary, wasn’t it? Rye said he hated you, but I didn’t realize…” His voice trailed off into a low, deathly growl.
She glared back at him. “You’re avoiding mine, Cooper,” she countered, before what he said registered in her brain.
Laney took a look around her, but she didn’t recognize this room. She took a deep sniff. There it was. How could she have missed it? The smell of her pack. But there was no way she was going back to the pack, no way was she letting him hand her back to Zachary.
Moving as quickly as she could, she slammed her fist into the side of his nose, catching him unawares as she began to fight for her life.
Cooper watched in amazement as his frightened mate morphed into a crazy person. Fighting, pinching, scratching, she fought like a maniac as he deflected the worst of her blows. Of course he could have easily subdued her, but he didn’t want to risk hurting her. However, as her head slammed into the headboard, he realized that she was hurting herself anyway. Grabbing hold of both her hands in one of his, he held them high above her head. Then, forcing her to lie back, he laid one of his legs over her thighs.
“Stop it, Laney,” he said sternly as she continued to fight pointlessly. Giving her a slight shake to calm her down, he felt nauseated when he saw her eyes darken in fear. Her skin paled, making her eyes appear like large, brown bruises on her face. Even her lips lost all their luscious color.
“Just stop it. I won’t have you hurting yourself,” he ordered, watching as her eyes darkened then narrowed.
“But it’s all right for you to hurt me,” she accused, stilling, fear and betrayal filling her face and tearing at his insides. The need to comfort her, to take away her pain, her fears, overwhelmed him. He almost let go of her, the need was so great. But the need to protect her overrode all else, and to protect her he needed to find out what threatened her.
“I will never hurt you,” he vowed.
“You will if you hand me over to him. You might as well kill me now.” She arched her neck, as though offering herself as a sacrifice to him. But he felt the fear coursing through her. She was terrified.
He leaned down, smelling the spike in her fear before he bit softly on her neck.
“Listen to me, sweet, and listen well. I would give my life to protect you. No one will ever hurt you while I draw breath.”
She looked up at him in shock, tremors shaking her body. He could see her pulse beating frantically in her neck.
“Why?” she asked so quietly he could barely hear her.
“Why what, sweet?”
“Why do you care about me?”
“Because you are mine, and no one hurts what belongs to me.”
“I don’t belong to you.” She glared up at him and he had to hide a smile, pleased to see color appearing in her cheeks.
“We’ll see, little one, we’ll see. Now if I let you up are you going to behave, or am I going to have to give you that spanking I promised?” Fascinated, he watched with no small amount of arousal as she blushed furiously.
“Why, sweet, does that turn you on?” he crooned. Leaning down he licked across her lips, teasing them, swirling around them until they were glistening. “Does it make you wet to imagine going over my knee? To think of my hand turning your ass a pretty, blushing pink? Just imagine. You won’t know when the next slap will come. Will it be hard? Will it be soft and caressing? Will it send a sharp jolt of pleasure straight to your pussy, or will it cause your insides to quiver?” He watched as she shivered, grinning when he smelled her arousal swell.
“Don’t worry, sweet, it’s coming. With the way you misbehave, it’s a sure bet.”
He watched as she narrowed her eyes at him, trying to force her arousal into anger.
“You’re a pervert, you know that, don’t you? If you think I’m going to let you do that to me, you can just think again.” She turned her face from him, as if that would enable her to ignore him. Leaning down, he clasped a nipple between his teeth and pulled gently, causing her to gasp in shock. She turned to watch as he lapped at the abused nipple gently then repeated the action with her other nipple.
Capturing her mouth with his, he took command, reeling her in like a spider weaving a trap for a fly. Once he felt her give in he let her go, staring down into her beautiful brown eyes. He nodded in satisfaction at the blush that now covered her cheeks, chasing away the milky paleness.
“Sweet, I think you’ll let me do anything I want.” Anger and heat shimmered in her eyes as she cursed him long and loud, curses so colorful even he’d never heard some of them before. When she stopped to draw breath, he used a hand to cover her mouth.
“Now, sweet, is that any way to speak to your new Alpha?”
Chapter Four
Laney lay on the bed in a state of total confusion. Her hands were tied above her with a silken rope that was attached to the headboard. Oh, it wasn’t really enough to hold her if she’d wanted to break free. But she felt surprisingly weak, even for her. And she had a feeling that even if she escaped the bedroom, she wouldn’t get very far.
What the hell did Cooper mean that he was her Alpha? Sure, he now smelled like her pack, the scent intermingled with his own unique scent. But she’d assumed he was someone Zachary had hired to bring her home, a mercenary paid to return her to her owner.
And yet why would he lie? Damn him. As soon as he’d made that statement he’d tied her up and told her to stay while he made them some breakfast. Told her to stay just like a dog, and that was exactly what she was doing.
“Good little runt, woof-woof,” she muttered to herself.
“What was that, sweet?” She looked up as Cooper walked back in. That was if you could call what he did walking. It was more a dance, a graceful play of muscle under skin that had her mouth watering.
Of course she told herself that she was salivating over the tray of food he carried. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate. Her stomach growled loudly and she looked away in embarrassment. She expected him to chuckle in amusement, instead he laid the tray on the bedside table and, sitting beside her, turned her face to meet his.
“When was the last time you ate, sweet?” he asked, frowning darkly as she shrugged.
“Delaney,” he growled, dragging out the syllables in her name in warning.
“Honestly, Cooper, I really don’t know.”
“Not good enough, sweet, not nearly good enough.” He leaned up and untied her arms, pulling her into a seated position before placing the heaped tray across her lap.
Laney grabbed a piece of toast, ashamed by the shakiness of her hand. It really had been a long time since she’d eaten. She could barely feel her wolf, it was sluggish, tired. Trying to still the shaking, she ate her food slowly, aware from previous experience that eating too fast would just make her sick.
“You’ve done this
before.” Accusation colored his voice.
“Done what?”
“Gone too long without eating. Don’t you know how dangerous that is, Laney? You need to eat regularly or both you and your wolf will suffer. Hell, you were already underweight. You can’t afford to miss meals.”
“What makes you think I did it on purpose?” She felt angry, cornered, scolded like a child. But she regretted the outburst as his expression darkened.
“You’re saying something prevented you from eating?”
She sighed. “More like someone,” she muttered. “You’re really the new Alpha of the Shadowpeak pack?” she asked.
He nodded.
“How?”
“How do you think? I killed the old Alpha.” He spoke matter-of-factly, forking up some fluffy scrambled eggs to feed her. She ignored the food, her mouth open as her breathing stopped. Like a child who’d believed in the bogeyman under the bed for so long, she couldn’t quite bring herself believe he was gone.
“Laney? Laney, breathe, baby.” She heard his voice, but it was as if he were speaking from a long way away. Where she was it was dark and still and no nightmares could intrude.
“Damn it, Laney!” She came back with a shock, looking up in surprise at the man shaking her, his face filled with worry. Worry? For her?
“Zachary is dead?” she asked quietly. The witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead. Although in this case, the wicked witch was a man.
“Yes, he’s dead, and I am Alpha now. Your Alpha.” She looked up at him, shocked as he took her hands between his. What the hell was he doing? Oh, he was trying to warm her. She shivered suddenly as she realized how cold she was. Too bad he couldn’t do the same for the chill inside her.
“How?”
He shrugged. “I challenged him and I won. I would have let him away with his life, but he kept coming at me until I had to kill him.”
“He’s really, really dead?”
“Really, really.” He smiled slightly as he fed her some eggs. But she waved away the next forkful.
“I’m full, thanks.” He frowned, but dropped the fork without argument.
Loving Laney Page 5