by Bonnie Vanak
She went to open a door in the office, but I hesitated at the screens showing the ranch outside.
At the front gate, a fight had ensued. Wolves tangled with each other in silent, fierce battle. A chill raced down my spine.
Earl Brown had not waited. Good thing Dante had been prepared, was accustomed to protecting his pack.
But Brown was a sly bastard. What if he managed to kill Dante?
Dante’s younger sister glanced at the monitors and paled. Then she gave an impatient tug to my arm. “Come on!”
She opened another door, and led me down a short hallway to a steel door at the end. She punched numbers on a keypad and the door swung open.
Once we were inside, she shut the door. Lights came on automatically. I gazed around. The room was narrow, and every single inch of wall space was taken by rows of guns. There were cabinets as well. I opened one and found magazines and boxes of bullets.
“This is my brother’s armory. Only he, Gabriel and Alex have the key code.”
Tilting my head, I folded my arms. “And how did you get it?”
She tried to look innocent. “Maybe I saw Dante enter the code when he wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe I swiped it out of his office when I picked the lock on his door.”
More likely the latter. Dante wasn’t the type to be so careless.
She rummaged through a drawer, found a flashlight and flicked it on.
“The room is fireproof, and soundproof and…”
Felicia walked to the end of the room and pressed another keypad. Another steel door swung open, revealing a tunnel beyond.
“The tunnel leads to the lodge. It’s an escape route for emergencies.”
Impressed, I stared into the inky darkness. “Where does it come out?”
A small circle of light shone into the darkness as Felicia flicked on a flashlight she’d grabbed.
“In the lodge’s basement, near the washers and dryers.” She grinned. “Dante figured none of our enemies would look there.”
Her grin dropped. “I can’t go back, but you should, Peyton. Dante needs you. He may not admit it, but he needs you.”
I wanted to be there. “I may be more of a hindrance.”
“No.” She shook her head, making her short hair bounce. “He needs you. You can help him win this fight.”
Woebegone big eyes met mine. “If Dante is killed, we’ll all belong to Earl Brown. I’d shift into a wolf and run away before I’d let that pig touch me.”
Shuddering, I stared at the darkness. “But you’re a wolf. You can rip people to shreds.”
She frowned. “You’re not exactly pudding, Peyton. You have your own weapons.”
Holding up my hands, I laughed. “Yeah? I can barely punch someone.”
“But you can read auras.”
You have your own weapon. Felicia was right.
The ability to read auras was unique and could aid me. My abilities had only increased since arriving on the ranch, much like someone learning to speak a new language becomes more proficient once immersed in it.
And I knew the spell Gabriel had taught me for stopping a werewolf in mid-shift.
I was to blame for the Brown raid. I had to help stop it before dozens died.
I was not hiding in a bunker because I was a human girl.
Damnit, I was going to fight like a girl.
I stood up and headed to the door. Felicia turned around. “Where are you going?”
Crossing my arms at the wrist as if I wore armbands, I smiled. “Off to look for Ares, the god of war, a.k.a. Earl Brown.”
Felicia nodded. “Go fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.” Then she grinned. “Kick ass, wonder human.”
25
I’ve never had a fear of small, dark places, but walking the length of the tunnel to the main lodge tested my resolve. The small beam from the flashlight cut through the inky blackness, but I could only see a few feet ahead. I heard the noises above me and around me.
When I finally reached the round metal door Felicia told me was the secret entrance, I gave it a tug.
It opened to a large metal container, and more darkness.
Fear coursed through me. But I wasn’t about to turn back now. Chin up, Peyton.
To get inside, I crawled on my hands and knees. And then I shone the flashlight around the metal box. A latch on the opposite side was on the metal door. I turned it downward and the door swung open.
Cool air rushed into my sweating face. I breathed it in and crawled out and when I gained the ground, I laughed.
The entrance had been concealed by a fake washing machine.
“Clever Dante,” I muttered, and shut the door.
Though the basement was pitch black, I felt more confident, knowing I was in the lodge. In a few minutes, I found the steps and crept upstairs. I had no way of knowing how the battle raged, or if Earl and his minions had managed to break through Dante’s defenses into the lodge.
The lodge was quiet, though I could hear fierce fighting raging outside. I made my way toward the dining hall. I wasn’t sure what I could do, or how I could use my powers, but I had to do something.
A red and silver glow pulsed from the kitchen, calling me like a neon beacon. I recognized the striations in the aura.
Alex. But why was he here and not out with Dante in the fray?
He looked up from the sink, where he washed his hands. My heart raced at the blood swirling down the drain.
“You’re hurt!” I grabbed his hand, but it was clean.
Red stained his bare chest. He grimaced. “It’s not mine. It’s Dante’s. I stitched him up using the healing threads we keep here.”
“Where is he?”
Clearly too upset to question why I was in the kitchen, Alex braced his hands on the sink. “In a safe place. I forced him to lie low until he heals. He’s in wolf form. We heal faster that way. Dante…he shouldn’t have been that injured.”
Then he looked up and down at me. “You’re supposed to be in the bunker.”
“I escaped. You need my help. Tell me what happened.”
Alex scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s bad, Peyton. Earl didn’t lead the attack. He waited, the sly bastard. He waited. He sent his brother, Cal, and a small contingency. We thought we could handle them, so Dante left us to fight while he went to check the back gate Paul was guarding. He was in skin form so he could communicate with Paul. He told us he had an odd feeling.
Drawing a deep breath, he continued. “I broke off from the fighting and followed him. When I got to the back gate, they had already attacked him. I managed to pull him away, get him here. The bastard slipped past our guard and attacked Dante from the rear. Luckily, Gabriel had planted a few of our men in the rear and they came to our defense.”
I felt sickened. “Is Dante going to live?”
“Brown got him good before Brown retreated with a dozen of his males and hid in the woods.”
Nausea rolled through me. Dante injured? My brave, wonderful alpha could have died.
“How could Earl have gotten on the property? Everything was guarded!”
“Not everything. We have a traitor.” Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Paul let them in through the back gate, the one the cooks have a key to, the one that they allow in food trucks.”
Paul, the slim, friendly wolf, the sous chef who had admired my appetite had turned traitor and could have led to Dante’s death?
“He set Dante up for the fall. Fortunately, our guys saw what was happening and aided Dante.”
I wanted to throttle Paul, but the greater issue was the fight raging outside and saving Dante.
Because without Dante, the pack would belong to that slimy bastard Earl.
Alex’s aura glowed so brightly it looked to light up the room. Yet I knew no one else could see what I see.
Could detect the energy of another living being, and know exactly what that being planned.
“Peyton, you have to go back to the bunker, honey.” Al
ex took my arm. “If the worst happens, Dante would want you to be safe.”
I shook off his hand.
I had to distract Earl, help Dante win this fight.
“No, listen. I have a plan… but I need Dante to pretend he’s badly hurt, beyond help. Bring him out to the garden and hide him.”
Alex stared. “No way.”
“Alex, it will work. This battle is all about me. Earl wants me. He didn’t raid the ranch for any other reason.” I framed my face with steady hands. “Trust me. I can read auras and I can tell moods.”
“Peyton…”
“Please. We have to help Dante kill Earl. It’s the only way to win this.”
Minutes later, I paced in the dining room.
My cell phone tinged, and I glanced at the text. Alex.
Plan A set to go. Dante in bushes.
That worried me even more. If Dante had agreed to this stunt, he either had full confidence in me or he was more badly injured than Alex had said.
As for me, I wasn’t certain if I was crazy, stupid or both.
Or just plain terrified, offering myself to a feral wolf like Earl Brown.
I texted back, Won’t Earl smell him there?
No. Dante covered himself with female scent to further entice him.
I smiled and put away the phone. And then paced more, worrying. The plan was for Alex to lure Earl here and then bolt. Once Earl saw me, he’d be distracted.
I went outside, to the garden to the bench inscribed with the names of Dante’s parents. Sounds of fighting raged nearby, but this garden was a quiet oasis.
For now.
Wolves were dangerous, but a male alpha trying to kill his enemy and berserk with rage was beyond lethal.
Once a wolf’s teeth sank into your skin, they refused to let go. They were pack hunters, and when one attacked, the others would aid.
Going for the throat.
Even a smaller alpha like Earl could easily kill me with his strong jaws and predatory instinct. But I was hoping to trigger a different kind of instinct, the one that made him want me in the first place.
His male instinct to mate.
A low growl filled the air. Glancing to my right, I saw a massive black wolf emerge from the bushes. He started to pace toward me and then pushed at me with his snout, herding me backward.
In the direction of the bunker.
The protective instinct had surged. I was afraid of this. Had to reason with him. I stared him straight in the eye.
“Dante, please trust me. This is going to work. I believe in your strength and ability to heal and lead. You must believe in my abilities.”
I held up a hand. “I can see your aura now, the angry red and the powerful silver, and the wounded lavender. Earl tore into your left flank there. It’s pulsing red and lavender. It still hurts, even though Alex stitched it.”
The wolf blinked.
“Go back and hide. I know what I’m doing.”
The wolf considered, but nudged me again.
Okay, time to compromise. “I promise, if this doesn’t work out, I’ll go into the house and make my way through the basement tunnel the bunker and stay there. I promise.”
Dante licked his lips. Nodded. The black wolf retreated into the bushes.
High-pitched yelps sounded, and came closer. I saw a smaller gray wolf, distinctive black markings on his pelt, race by the butterfly plants. Alex!
He was swifter than Earl, though larger. Soon Earl crashed into the garden, his pelt coated in blood, his teeth bared. The metallic smell of death clung to him, nearly making me retch.
He sniffed around, clearly looking for Alex. The aggressive look turned to confusion as he caught the scent of what Alex had told me was copious amounts of a special perfume for wolf shifters called Female in Heat.
A scientist friend of Dante’s had developed it to inflame the lust of mated males to help them impregnate their mates.
Earl already was in testosterone-laden blood lust, which could quickly turn to ordinary lust. At least that’s what I’d seen from male shifters. I hoped the gamble I was about to take would work.
I paced more, seeing the wolf out of the corner of my eye. And then I moaned, rubbing my hands across my breasts.
“Damn, I’m so horny I could die,” I sang out.
Earl stopped short in his tracks. Maybe he was a wolf, but he was also human, and there was no mistaking the message I sent.
The wolf growled as he stared at me.
“Earl?” I stared back at him. “Is that you? I tried to get to the front gate by dawn, but that bastard Dante locked me up. I managed to free myself only when the raid started.”
Forgive me, big guy, but I have to make this sound convincing.
“I’m so fucking horny now. I’m going into heat. I need to fuck. Now.”
I removed my T-shirt and stepped out of my jeans.
His aura turned from aggressive gray and silver, showing thick tendrils of lusty red.
Unsnapping my bra, I tossed it aside, and slowly stroked my nipples. “You like this? It can be yours. I want you, Earl. I’ve always wanted you, but it was Dante who made me deny you.”
And then I tugged off my panties, standing before the blood-soaked alpha wolf stark naked. With all my strength, I summoned courage and sat on the bench, spreading my legs wide.
Knowing he could smell me.
Knowing it would drive him wild.
To crank him up further, I touched myself between the legs. “Ummm, I’m so fucking in need right now. I need a real male, a hard male like you, Earl. A male who will give me a baby. I’m so fucking ready.”
Earl remained still, growling.
So I put on a show for him as I continued to touch myself. I raised my hips into the air, moaning.
Then I stopped and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Dante’s off somewhere, injured and dying. He won’t bother us anymore, I promise. I want you, Earl. Do you want to mate with me? I can give you a lifetime of pleasure and those babies you need. Lots of babies.”
The wolf started toward me. His aura glowed black and lava red now, in the full throes of lust. Damn, I was toast if this didn’t work. He would rape me.
I snapped my legs shut. “Sorry, big Earl. I don’t fuck shifters in fur. If you want me, you’ll have to take me as a man.”
The wolf stopped and growled.
I undulated on the bench. “I’m in heat. But unless you take me as a man, you’ll never get that baby you want so much. It doesn’t work that way with humans.”
No idea if that was the truth, but I banked on Earl being too dumb to know…and too horny to care.
At first the wolf growled more and his hackles raised.
I’d pushed him too hard. But I could see the change in him, in his aura.
Earl shifted back. Stark naked, his dick standing up like an exclamation point, blood and dirt covering his skin.
“Fuck,” he growled. “Woman, your smell is driving me insane. I need to fuck you now. I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll beg me to stop.”
I laughed. This was the really dangerous part – getting him to shift back. “Oh yeah? Try it. I’d rather fuck a werepython with herpes. Go fuck a sheep,” I taunted.
He stopped, looking at me with some confusion and then anger in his gaze. His aura shimmered again. Wait for it…wait…
“You’re not even a real alpha. Or a wolf. Just a slime ball who thinks he’s a wolf,” I said. Sweat trickled down my back. My stomach knotted and my heart raced.
“You’ll pay for this,” he snarled and I saw his aura change.
Wait for it.
Wait for it…
NOW!
I chanted the words Gabriel taught me. Earl’s snarl of sexual frustration turned into a scream of agony. He doubled over, holding his stomach. He looked smaller, shriveled.
Somehow I had the feeling his dick had shriveled, too.
“Dante,” I screamed. “Now!”
From the
bushes near the fountain, Dante charged as wolf and leapt on his enemy. I backed away quickly, but blood splattered on my naked skin, and I could not look away. Wet, tearing sounds ensued. I closed my eyes.
I knew what happened.
Dante had killed the enemy. The pack was safe now.
The smaller Brown wolves had rushed into the garden, but seeing their leader was vanquished, tucked their tails between their legs and ran for the front gate. Dante’s fighters let them go.
Snout bloodied, Dante stepped back. Then he lifted his rear leg and pissed all over the body.
“Good riddance,” I muttered.
Dante shifted back to human form and joined me on the bench. He gently caressed me, looking me over as if checking for wounds. Blood soaked his hair, and had splattered his face and torso, but it wasn’t his.
He was alive.
“Peyton, are you all right? Did he…”
“No.” I shook my head. “Earl didn’t touch me.”
Dante released a small sigh of pure relief. Then he glanced up. “There is something I must take care of first. The traitor.”
Dread curled down my spine. I knew what he meant. Dante handed me my clothing and I dressed.
I didn’t want to be naked anymore, for I suspected what would happen.
Soon, Alex and Gabriel brought Paul into the garden. The sous chef struggled in their grip.
They tossed him down. Yellow fear radiated from him, along with sly, murky gray.
Dante stood over him, claws extending from his fingers. “Paul Allen Beaufort, you have betrayed your alpha and your pack. I sentence you to death.”
The alpha reached down and swiped his claws across Paul’s shirt. A scream ensued, one more of rage than pain, even as blood welled up from the wounds.
“You can’t do this,” Paul screamed.
“I won’t have to.” Dante nodded at Gabriel and Alex. “I’ll give you a two minute head start. I’ll even let you run as wolf.
He turned to Gabriel and Alex. “Two minutes you chase him in skin, then you shift.”
I saw Gabriel frown, as if he disagreed, but he finally nodded.
Paul shifted into wolf, but looked up at Dante, and then at me. He growled at me.