CHAPTER 5
The males looked at her expectantly. Worry shaded Roxanne’s eyes. The beta adjusted the gun on her shoulder.
Damnit. Nia bit her lower lip. Pack laws among Lupines were clear. If she refused to follow Aiden’s directive, as alpha, he’d have just cause to inflict a more severe punishment.
How the hell could she shift into wolf? With the difficulty of finding game in her woods, and the lack of money to buy fresh meat, Nia hadn’t eaten the raw meat all Lupines needed once a month to shapeshift. Any raw meat went to her twin to keep Nikita fortified.
As a result, Nia’s own powers had waned.
Gathering her courage, she lifted her arms to allow the change to engulf her body.
Nothing. Damnit.
Okay, I can do this. Think wolf. She quieted her breathing and concentrated, centering all her magick to transform.
A tingle of pure power rushed down her spine and a tickle pulled at her belly. Suddenly she found herself in wolf skin.
Nia’s senses sharpened. It had been too long since she’d embraced her wolf, and she missed this dreadfully. Around her, the trees became more pungent in scent, and her hearing picked up the scamper of small forest creatures scurrying far away from the threat. The crispness of leaves rustling in the wind, the thin stalks of grass in the pasture; everything had a richer scent. She heard the steady, rhythmic pumping of her future mate’s heart, scented pine, forest and pure male.
Aiden shifted to wolf. The others shifted as well, forming a semi-circle around them.
Nia touched her nose to the ground. Quivering, she waited.
Aiden trotted over to her, sniffed her hindquarters. She felt the strength of his body as he mounted her from behind. It wasn’t sexual. This was strictly pack, the alpha showing domination.
If she bent her legs, or worse, collapsed to the ground, Aiden’s males would lose respect for her. She must hold her own, keep upright.
Ears pointed forward, not flattened, she bared her teeth in a clear threat to a gray wolf boldly locking his gaze on her as Aiden wrapped his paws around her midsection. Mitchell might be dominant, but a female alpha would not allow a lesser male to look her in the eye while her mate was delivering punishment.
The smaller male dropped his gaze. Finally Aiden dismounted, and then gave her a sharp, brief nip in her hindquarters, followed by a slow lick of his rough tongue.
The human female inside the wolf shivered at the promise of that tongue. That was clearly sexual, and intentional, marking his territory.
Nia waited for Aiden to shift back. He did so and conjured clothing and the others did the same. They waited on her. Nia summoned her powers and tried to change.
Could not.
Panic rose in her throat. She fought it, knowing if the animal took over, she’d never change back. Think. Think! Nia’s mind raced as the others milled around, looking at her. The dark-haired Darius knitted his thick brows as he glanced at Aiden, who scowled.
“Nikita. Change back.”
A direct order.
She could not shift back. Nia tensed, her muzzle lifted into the air.
Darius frowned, but Aiden crouched down, rubbed her thick fur. The gentle strokes of his fingers relaxed the tension knotting her muscles. Touch. So long since anyone had touched her like this. Craving more, she rubbed her muzzle against his hand when he stood.
And then found herself squatting on all fours, naked and human again. Someone snickered and she flushed. Aiden growled at the male.
“Go back to the lodge, all of you, except Roxanne and Garth. Now!”
As they scurried away, Aiden helped her to stand upright. She summoned her powers and conjured clothing.
Aiden gave her a long, thoughtful look. “Let’s go interrogate the Skin.”
Garth and Roxanne led them to the hunter, who struggled to free himself of his bonds. She nodded at Roxanne, who walked up to the Skin, and squeezed a muscle in his neck.
The hunter fainted. Good. Now Aiden couldn’t question him.
“I told you we should question him.” Aiden scowled.
She shrugged. “There’s nothing he could tell us. And we need to cover this up. Do you want every Skin in Montana coming here to see if there are werewolves on the ranch?”
Nia turned to Roxanne. “Take him back the clearing, then call Carol and Susan and have them dump him beyond the boundary, leave him under a tree. Pour whisky on him. His friends will come searching for him, and when he starts babbling about nearly being eaten alive by garden gnomes, they’ll think he’s drunk.”
Easily lifting the overweight human and hefting him over one shoulder, Roxanne started off. Aiden motioned for Garth to follow. The male’s gaze scanned the area in a protective manner.
Already moving in. Roxanne had a future mate. Soon the other females would as well.
But what would happen to the males? They couldn’t remain here long.
“Roxanne doesn’t need an escort,” she told Aiden.
“Garth is her escort now.”
“You’re arrogant, Mitchell. Let my beta do her work alone.”
Aiden folded his arms. “No. It’s too dangerous. Now, level with me and explain exactly why gnomes are on your land.”
“Maybe they decided to become cowboys. This is a ranch.”
“Don’t toy with me,” he said softly. “These gnomes have pointed teeth, red eyes and they’ll gnaw your kneecaps until you fall, begging and screaming for death as they eat you alive. What is drawing them here?”
She looked away.
Two fingers on her chin forced her gaze back to meet his. “Nikita, what are you hiding?”
He’ll know you’re lying. So evade and dodge. “If something’s hidden here, how would I know? It’s a large spread. Do you expect me to count every single blade of grass? I’m not as anal retentive as you are, Mitchell.”
A deep chuckle. “Minx. You’re good at clever responses. Makes me wonder what other talents your tongue possesses.”
She stuck it out at him.
“Don’t stick your tongue out unless you’re going to use it,” he said softly, and then he lowered his head, and covered her mouth with his.
The caress of his firm mouth felt soft as the brush of velvet, the rough bristles of his beard tickling her chin and cheeks. His lips were warm and soft as velvet, too. She closed her eyes on a sigh, and felt him chuckle against her mouth.
A knowing chuckle, yet there was no smugness in it.
Aiden pulled her into his strong arms and slid one arm around her waist to draw her closer. He kissed the corner of her mouth, her cheek, her temple. The tiny kisses were soothing and not erotic, and yet made her dizzy with desire. She sighed with pleasure as he feathered tiny kisses down her throat, sliding his lips over the curve of her neck.
That’s where he’d bite her and place his mating mark, claiming to the world she belonged to him. The bite would lessen her sexual appeal to single males.
His mouth grazed her throat, his warm breath feathering over her skin. Nia curved her arms around him, touching the strong muscles of his back, then sliding up to tunnel her fingers through the tangle of his dark, thick hair.
She clung to his broad shoulders as he tasted her, his scent of pine and male wrapping around her. A lick of scent pushed straight between her legs in a long, slow caress. Nia moaned beneath the tender assault on her mouth. Aiden kissed exactly like her dreams, claiming and stroking, with little, gentle nips along her lower lip, his tongue plunging and withdrawing. She forgot how to breathe, how to think, and lost herself in mindless oblivion.
When he drew back, desire darkened his gaze. She put hands to her burning cheeks. “Of all the damn males in the whole west, why did you have to cross my path, Mitchell?”
He thumbed her kiss-swollen mouth. “I warned you years ago, sweetheart, I would hunt you down and have you, no matter what it took. I vowed I would win you as my mate. And what I win, I keep and no one ever takes it from me.”
Nia desperately wished she’d stayed away from this handsome, sexy Lupine who ravished her mouth, and laid claim to her body, but would never know her heart.
He gently stroked a finger over her cheek, where his beard had abraded her flesh. “I’ll have to shave before we consummate our mating. You have such tender skin.”
A roguish sparkle glinted his gaze. “Especially in the areas where I plan to kiss you very thoroughly.”
A blush heated her cheeks. Nia pulled away from him. “You won the challenge, but I’m still the leader of my people. You can’t give them orders.”
“Already have. These grounds are off limits except when one of your females is accompanied by a male.”
“What?!”
“I’m ordering my men to patrol your ranch and keep a sharp eye out for more gnomes.” He narrowed his eyes. “For the protection of the pack.”
Damnit! How was Mandy supposed to search for the chest without someone seeing? Nia scowled. “I can protect my own people.”
“Our people now. What I say is law, Nikita.”
She really hated him using her sister’s name and wished he would call her something else. The masquerade she’d pulled off all these years was wearing her out.
“The mating hasn’t been consummated yet, wolf. You’re a little ahead of yourself. You riding roughshod over me just to prove you’re a big, tough alpha?”
“When it comes to your safety, I’ll always ride roughshod over you. Deal with it.”
He clasped her hand, and she walked with him, through the woods to the two ponds where she’d stocked carp to feed her pack. Despite the aeration filters she’d installed with the last of her money, the fish were dying and her people were hungry. Big game like deer and elk had not frequented these woods in months.
They headed up the paved pathway leading to the lodge and her cabin. Then suddenly he halted and turned to her, his jaw tensing beneath the black beard.
“What’s going on, Niki? What aren’t you telling me? You’re being so secretive. I wish you’d open up to me.”
She shrugged. “I’m always like this. Get used to disappointment.”
Halfway up the path, they encountered Darius, Samantha, Garth and Roxanne. The foursome hovered over a figure lying on the ground. Nia’s heart pounded faster.
Oh crap, this so was not a great way to end her afternoon.
She beat Aiden as they raced up the hill to the Lupines. Nia looked down and her stomach turned over.
Lying on the gravel was a medium-sized male Lupine wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans. A silver button with an insignia of a wolf holding a spear was pinned to his shirt.
Nia recognized him as one of Richard’s wolves.
“What happened?” Aiden demanded.
A guilty look from Darius. His right eye was slightly swollen and bruised. The male had always been jovial, sarcastic and sometimes fun, but no laughter shone from his eyes now. He looked perplexed, and slightly angered.
“I was walking through the woods after following the trail of a gnome and saw this asshole bothering Sam. He didn’t leave with the others. He was aggressive and getting violent, talking about the challenge not being a fair fight and how his alpha should have won.”
“So you killed him?” Nia asked, her voice a little shaky.
Darius shook his head. “He hit me and then I decked him. It was only a punch, yeah, a hard one, but he collapsed and never got up. And then his heart stopped beating.”
She scanned the corpse. There, on his chin. Nia crouched down for a better look.
Upon first glance, the rough, scaly patch resembled an outbreak of Psoriasis, a common ailment among Skins. But instead of being red and silvery, this area of skin was black.
Hiding her fear, she pulled back the male’s shirt collar. Nothing. Then she noticed a reddish brown stain on his jeans near his right boot. Nia fished her knife out of its scabbard and cut the cloth. Never had she been so relieved to see evidence of the other plague on her land.
“You didn’t kill him, Darius.” With the tip of her knife, she pointed to the jagged bite. “A gnome bit him.”
Aiden squatted down beside her. “One gnome bite wouldn’t be enough to make him drop dead.”
“Maybe it was a diseased gnome.” She slid the knife back into its scabbard and stood. Nia drew in a trembling breath. It was getting more virulent and contagious. It shouldn’t have affected any males quickly. The gnome bite wouldn’t have caused this kind of damage normally, but maybe the gnomes were infected, too.
“Even so, he shouldn’t have died. It wasn’t anything more than a glancing blow.” Darius looked troubled and Sam snuggled against him, her arms wrapped around her mate’s waist.
“There’s something odd about the body,” Aiden mused.
Dread filled Nia as Aiden reached out to touch the corpse on its chin, and the rough patch of skin.
“Don’t do that!”
Aiden glanced up. “He’s dead. He can’t hurt me.”
But he could. More than you know.
She wasn’t certain if the parvolupus had mutated to transfer through skin contact, but didn’t want him risking his life.
“If it was a diseased gnome that bit him, do you want to take that chance?”
Relief filled her as Aiden finally drew back. He glanced at his beta. “Is this the same one who’s been spying on Niki’s pack?”
Darius nodded. “He’s been trespassing, trying to gauge her borders and the value of the land.”
“What?!” She turned to Aiden, anger pushing aside her fear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
His gaze remained even. “I had no proof. Didn’t want to confront Richard until I investigated the matter.”
“Without telling me!” She drew in a trembling breath, deeply shaken by this news. “How long has he been sneaking onto my land?”
“Months,” Darius said. “I finally got it out of him by threatening to beat the crap out of him. And then he got violent toward Sam…”
His voice drifted off and he slid an arm around his mate’s waist.
Aiden shook his head. “Stupid bastard. Richard will have to be notified. He’ll want to bury him.”
Making a sound of distress, she pulled at his arm. “No. I’ll call him, but he’s not allowed back here. The rules of the challenge are clear and he knew them, as did every single person who stepped on my land. Respect the females, do not fight. Anyone who does, I have the right as alpha to dispense with as I please. Especially now that I know he was trespassing on my land.”
Their land had too many secrets that could kill. Nia looked at the body.
She narrowed her gaze. “I’m not allowing Richard or any of his males to set foot on my land again and start making trouble. Roxanne will take care of this. She has the equipment to protect herself.”
Her beta looked scared, but nodded. Roxanne had disposed of dead bodies many times.
“I’ll help you,” Garth offered.
“No,” Roxanne and Nia cried out at the same time.
“I use a Haz Mat suit,” Roxanne said, glancing at Nia. “Please, go with the others. I don’t want you taking a risk.”
“I won’t have you taking a risk either. Not with those dangerous gnomes around. Consider me your new bodyguard, Roxanne,” Garth told her.
“No,” Nia said, but the male ignored her.
Garth stared at her beta, smitten as a pup, but there was a determined arrogance about him. Aiden had it as well. It was the protective stubbornness of a male Lupine who’d staked a claim on his female. This one wouldn’t take orders easily, she realized. As Roxanne headed for the barn to get the Haz Mat suit, Garth started after her.
Cutting him off, Nia stabbed him in the chest with a finger.
“Look wolf, this is my ranch, my rules and my land. Roxanne needs to take care of this. She’ll be fine, she has a rifle! I’m giving you a direct order. You are not going with her.”
Narrowing his eyes, he put his hands on his hips. “I am
going with her. I take direct orders only from Aiden and I’m not leaving her unprotected. You have no authority over me.”
Then he added with a sniff, “Female.”
The hell with this. If she let Garth disobey her, she’d never gain the respect she needed to make the Mitchell pack males listen to her, and get the hell out of here.
“Here’s my authority.”
He didn’t see her knee, but oh man, he felt it when she made hard contact with his groin. Garth yelled and fell down, clasping his balls, wheezing.
“Stop thinking with your dick. I’m still the alpha on my land,” she told him.
Dirty move, but necessary. Nia flexed her fingers, wishing she didn’t have to do that. She stole a glance at Aiden, who gave a brief nod. Aiden fisted a hand in Garth’s shirt, dragged him upright and shook him.
“Listen to Niki, you stubborn ass. That’s my direct order.”
With a sullen look, Garth nodded.
To her immense relief, the male turned and headed back to the lodge. Nia released a shaky breath. She had to get Aiden and his men out of here, quickly.
Because if they stayed, she couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t suffer the same fate as the diseased dead man.
***
Aiden hated secrets. He’d spent too many years under the shadow of a domineering father who hid behind a lie. And now the female he planned to mate was hiding some very big secrets. He just knew it.
Patience eroding, he itched to shake sense into Nikita and demand answers. But the wolf was stubborn as rock. Would not budge. He understood why she’d moved against Garth. The male needed to realize he would soon be under Niki’s authority as well, and listen to her and respect her.
But he needed honesty from his mate. Nothing less.
They were all exhausted and hungry and on edge. Food would help with the frayed tempers. He hadn’t eaten since gulping down a light breakfast of fruit at 5 a.m., not wanting to be sluggish for the fighting. But now his tired body demanded sustenance.
Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 128