[Pack 01.0] Defying Pack Law

by Eve Langlais

Dana didn’t allow herself to cry with self-pity for long. Tears wouldn’t fix anything; only action might. Dana realized she probably couldn’t get away, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. The guys might have left and locked her in, but doors weren’t the only way out. She dove out of the bed, toward the chest of drawers she saw. She rummaged through the male clothing—smelling disturbingly of Nathan—and yanked out a T-shirt that hung down to her knees. Not that she cared.

  She found some black briefs, but they threatened to slide right down her legs. She yanked them off and pitched them across the room. Screw it. A proper escape didn’t require underwear. She headed to the window when she spotted a familiar duffel bag. They grabbed my stuff?

  She unzipped and, sure enough, found her clothing. Quickly, she stripped the large T-shirt and dressed in her own stuff. She kept her ears peeled for Nathan’s return, but while she heard a lot of yelling and thumping, she didn’t sense anyone coming.

  She zipped the duffel bag back up and went to the window. She threw up the sash and peered out. High, but she’d jumped from higher when the situation called for it. And being engaged to four men certainly fit the bill.

  She debated taking her duffel with her, but it would just slow her down. She straddled the window ledge, cursing as a wave of dizziness chose that moment to hit.

  “Come on, don’t be a wuss now,” she coaxed herself. She regulated her breathing and, closing her eyes against the weakness flooding her, thrust her second leg out. She maneuvered herself so that she slid her body off the edge while using her fingertips to grip the ledge. She counted to three and took a deep breath before letting go, only belatedly praying that her body had healed enough to handle the impact. She didn’t plummet long before she hit the ground with a slight wince. Years of practice had taught her to flex and tumble into a roll that had her springing up and ramming into a rock-hard wall.

  Startled, she flailed backward but didn’t fall. Strong hands gripped her, and she opened her eyes to see the tousled blond from earlier grinning at her.

  “Darling, if you wanted me, you could have just called me.”

  Dana could only gape at him stupidly.

  Then the blond Lycan kissed her. Butterflies fluttered in her tummy, and Dana blamed it on her exertion. But as he deepened his kiss and her cleft moistened, panic set in. Attracted to John, Nathan, and now this young pup?

  Shock at her body’s betrayal brought her to her senses, and she pulled back from the mouth that caressed her so expertly while, at the same time, bringing up her hand to strike a solid blow.

  His head snapped back, but instead of loosening his grip on her, his hands tightened. She waited for the return slap. The yelling. The shaking. Instead, the blond wolf laughed.

  “Hot damn, darling. That’s some left hook you got there.”

  “You shouldn’t have kissed me.” She spoke the words, but her tingling lips wanted to pout when he didn’t resume his caress.

  His green eyes twinkled at her. “I was just sealing the engagement, darling. And might I say, I think you’ve made a fine choice.”

  “But-but—” She wanted to protest it was a mistake, but before she could utter a coherent sentence, she found herself yanked from his grasp.

  “Caught you,” Nathan growled before he upended and threw her over his shoulder, its width digging into her belly.

  “Put me down,” she screeched.

  “Not fucking likely,” snarled Nathan, following it with a slap on her bottom.

  Though stunned at his action, she didn’t cry out because it hadn’t hurt, but then the indignity of her situation set in. She lost it.

  “You fucking prick! Set me down right this instant.” She called him several choice names, punctuated with jabs to his lower back, some hard enough to make him grunt, but he didn’t reply and just smacked her hard on the bottom again.

  She gave an inarticulate cry of rage. She looked wildly to her left, saw nobody to help, and looked to the other side to see John striding alongside.

  “Make him put me down,” she appealed to him.

  John frowned at her. “You are still healing, woman. Do you realize what kind of damage you might have done with that stunt?”

  Actually, she did know because her ribs ached something awful. Defeated—for the moment—she stopped fighting and hung there limply. When she was laid with more gentleness than expected back in the bed, she turned her face to the side and refused to look at anyone.

  “I need to examine her,” she heard John say softly.

  “And?” Nathan bit out.

  “Nathan, get out. She’s hurt again, so you needn’t worry anything is going to happen. Besides, shouldn’t you be posting a guard outside the window so she doesn’t get the drop on us again?”

  “Touch her and die,” Nathan growled.

  “You don’t get a say,” she snapped, turning to face him.

  “Don’t test me, Dana, or I’ll mark you as mine right this instant.”

  “Do that, and the first time you try to come to my bed, I’ll rip your fucking dick off.”

  Nathan clenched his fists and jaw, but Dana glared right back. She wouldn’t be forced or threatened.

  “We’ll discuss this again later,” he finally managed to say through gritted teeth.

  Dana watched his stiff back as he tread heavily across the room and slammed the door shut. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, for despite her vehement opposition to his domineering threat to claim her, a part of her was aroused by it.

  “All right, little missy. Time to see what damage you’ve done. Lift your shirt.”

  Dana whipped her head around and glared at him. “Like fuck. Do your stuff with my shirt on, like you did earlier.”

  John’s brown eyes held her gaze, and he gave her a stern look. “Before, I wasn’t worried about internal bleeding. But now, because you decided to act like an idiot, I need to check for bruising that might indicate internal problems, not to mention make sure you didn’t re-snap your ribs.”

  Dana hated his logical answer. But even she wasn’t stupid enough to defy a doctor, not when he could be right. She turned her gaze to stare at the ceiling and pulled her shirt up. His hands palpated her, and this time, without the barrier of the fabric, the heat of his touch immediately ignited her.

  “Why did you do it?” he asked softly.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m not interested in being mated with a bunch of guys.”

  “And what if we were to forget your earlier request to claim us and it was just Nathan?”

  “I don’t want him either. I don’t want anybody. I want to live my own life.”

  “Ah yes, because the situation you were in when we found you was so much better.”

  “At least I was free,” she retorted, tilting to look at him. She found him watching her, and something warm pooled in her lower stomach.

  “Care to rephrase that? As I recall, when we found you, there were chains.”

  Dana blushed. “Before those thugs caught me, I was living a perfectly fine life. I made my own decisions, did what I wanted. I was free.”

  John snorted. “You call that freedom? I saw your house with its alarms and lack of personal touches. It looked like a prison to me, one built on paranoia and fear.”

  His remark stabbed her with its truth. In running for her freedom, had she inadvertently caged herself tighter? “So what do you suggest? That I give up my identity? Give up my rights to become a whore for a bunch of horny wolves?”

  John shook his head, and his lips curved. “Did it ever occur to you that if you were mated, you’d enjoy more freedom? With the mark of one, you’d avoid the problems of males trying to claim you. Become marked by more and you’d have your own built-in defense system to ensure you could do anything you wanted.”

  “Oh please, like I’d be allowed to do anything other than suck cock and pop out babies,” she replied crudely.

  “You have a really warped idea of what being mated with
multiple males is like.” John shook his head at her.

  “So tell me how you see it then.”

  His gaze softened along with his voice. “I’ll tell you how I saw it growing up. My mother wanted for nothing. Anything she needed, my fathers got for her. Every evening, after they put the children to bed, they’d sit, either on the porch or in the living room, and talk.”

  “And they took turns fucking?” Dana used the crude phrase to remind herself that the beautiful picture he’d painted was nothing like the life she’d seen growing up.

  “They made love, you mean. Sometimes my mother would take only one of my fathers to bed. Sometimes she’d take them all. But I can tell you one thing. Every morning she came down those stairs with a smile on her face. She still does.”

  “So it works for some people. It wouldn’t work for me. I want an emotional connection with someone before I bed them.”

  “Fine. I can wait for that.”

  She met his gaze and could read only sincerity in their depths. Don’t tell me I actually believe him? He’s a man. He’d say anything to get in my pants. “You’re assuming I’ll go through with the whole marking thing.”

  “I think you will. I think, regardless of your fighting words, that you’re tired of running. Why not stay? Give it a try. You might be surprised.”

  Dana shifted restlessly. She could handle yelling and arguing. His calm discussion took her unaware, and she didn’t know how to fight back. “What, and become some mindless robot wolf who thinks that polygamy is all right just because it’s the way things are done?”

  John appeared to ponder his next words. “I’ll admit, even having grown up with it, and seeing it in such a positive light, I wasn’t too sure if that’s what I wanted for myself. There is something to be said about not sharing. But at the same time, the sense of family, the built-in companionship, it is quite tempting. Even more so when you find the right woman and realize that, unless you’re willing to share her, you won’t get a chance.”

  Is he saying I’m that woman? The concept should have made her curl her lip and spit in his direction. Instead, her cheeks bloomed with color before reality slapped her. “Nathan will never go for it. He just wants me in his bed and doesn’t care how I feel about it.” And even odder, I’m no longer sure how I feel about it. Before the kidnapping, she’d have said never would she take him back, not in a million years. However, now that she faced with him again, feelings long buried rose to the surface, and they were saying maybe it was time for something new. Something that didn’t leave her blinking back tears of loneliness. Time for a life where running was done for pleasure and not to save her life.

  “Leave Nathan to me.” John’s hands had stopped stroking her skin at the start of their conversation, but they now resumed checking her ribs. Dana gasped when he pressed a sore spot.

  “Sorry,” he murmured. He leaned down and placed a light kiss on the area that hurt. Lust shot through her like a bolt of lightning, and she gasped again for an entirely different reason.

  John didn’t stop his sensual caress, but neither did he grow bolder. Lightly, he trailed his mouth over her ribs, stopping at the hem of her T-shirt. He pulled it down with his teeth, covering her. She almost wailed, Why are you stopping?

  She closed her eyes as her cheeks heated. He brushed his lips against hers. The barest touch, but it made her shiver down to her toes. “I look forward to becoming friends and, in time, when you’re ready, lovers.”

  Then he left. The soft thud of the door shutting had her opening her eyes to find herself alone with only the tingling touch of his lips to remind her she hadn’t dreamed it.

  Could it be like he says? Could I be happy? What he’d described sounded so beautiful, happy, and, best of all, peaceful. But was it even a possibility?

  She wanted to deny her attraction to the men she’d engaged herself to. Well, three of them anyway. The redhead didn’t actually draw her like the others. He’d just been convenient during her vengeful tantrum. But the blond with the dancing green eyes who’d kissed her? John who calmed her inner turmoil? And Nathan whom she’d never stopped wanting and, even in her current anger, made her long for him?

  Is this what I want? To chain myself to these men, to bed all of them? John had struck a nerve when he’d called her previous life a prison. Content didn’t equate with happy. With her blood rushing through her, her body aroused, her mind whirling, she felt more alive than she had in all the years she’d embraced her freedom.

  But she didn’t want to rush into things, to make a decision based on hormones and possibly vulnerability from her attack. She needed time to decide. Time to reevaluate her mindset on the whole polygamy scenario. Time to see if these men could make her happy.

  Chapter Seven

  Nathan hit the punching bag over and over again. It wasn’t working to clear up his frustration, but he felt better for smacking something.

  I handled it all so fucking wrong.

  He’d cared for Dana so tenderly during her convalescence, acted the perfect gentlemen as he’d lifted her for bathing and other private necessities that would have surely made her blush had she known. He’d wanted to care for her himself, but had grudgingly allowed John, who had the medical expertise, to monitor and treat her. He’d restrained himself from punching the lights out of his best friend when he noted how his friend lingered over her, his eyes alight with an expression Nathan recognized all too well.

  But he’d consoled himself with the fact that, once Dana woke, he’d talk to her, apologize for not standing firmer against their fathers, make her understand he’d do anything to make her forgive him because he couldn’t live without her.

  Nathan had tried to forget Dana, but scores of women in his bed couldn’t erase her memory. They’d sated a basic need. However, none came close to filling the hole in his heart and soul.

  He’d determined if the only way to get Dana back was to keep her to himself, then so be it. He’d kill any who opposed his plan to selfishly keep all her love for him alone. I’m the alpha of this pack. If they don’t like it, then they can line up for a beating. As for the Lycan council, they owed him with all the favors he’d done for them. Surely they wouldn’t begrudge him claiming and keeping to himself the woman he loved.

  He’d had it all planned, from his apology to her tearful acceptance, followed by his joyous marking and claiming of her. A great plan until she’d woken and he’d seen the looks she’d exchanged with John, sensed her interest in another male—an interest reciprocated. Jealousy had consumed him and then spoken for him. With words, he’d laid claim to her in a Neanderthal fashion that had backfired so badly.

  She didn’t want him. Or if she did, she hid it well. She’d chosen others, and while a part of him acknowledged she did it out of revenge and hurt, it didn’t change the fact. She’d set the rules. He’d have to share her.

  He no longer knew if he was capable of that.

  A tap on his shoulder made him whirl, and he saw John.

  “Let’s spar while we talk.” John inclined his head toward the open area in the gym, and Nathan followed too eagerly, his fists all too willing to talk to his supposed best friend.

  They both dropped into a fighter’s stance and circled each other, seeking an opening.

  John began the verbal one. “We need to talk about Dana.”

  “What’s there to say? She hates me and wants you.” Bitterness colored his words.

  “She’s hurt and confused,” John replied with a jab that went wide.

  “Gee, I hadn’t noticed.”

  “She still cares for you beneath her anger.”

  Nathan swung hard and hit the arm John brought up to block. “Great. I feel so much better. And how’s that going to help me when you end up fucking her because she likes you more right now?”

  John stopped moving and glared at him. “It’s that attitude that’s going to fuck it up for all of us.”

  “That’s it. Blame me for everything. If I’m such an assh
ole, then why not just claim her for yourself?”

  “Goddamn it, Nathan. Would you stop acting like a fucking child? Yes, I think she might want me, but guess what. I know she wants you too. She might have asked for a true mating in the heat of anger, but I think there’s a chance she might actually go through with it.”

  Nathan dropped his guard, and John jabbed him in the midsection. Nathan wheezed and danced back, trying to catch enough breath to speak. “What makes you think that?”

  “She’s tired of running. She just wants to be happy, but because of something in her past, she seems to think that’s not possible in a true mated relationship.”

  Nathan blocked some shots and threw a few of his own, wondering how much he should reveal of Dana’s upbringing. With a sigh at his stupidity in refusing the truce his friend offered, he told him the unvarnished truth. “Dana’s dad was a dick. Probably why he got along so well with my old man. He treated his wife like shit, and the men he shared her with were no better. Not just that, but he shared her with any buddy who showed up to visit.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s sick. The mating bond is supposed to be sacred between those who’ve marked her.”

  “Yeah, well, we all know that’s not always the case. My dad knew he was doing it and did nothing to stop it. Said it was none of his business how Ted and the others treated their wife. Needless to say, Dana’s mom wasn’t a happy person.”

  “It explains why Dana has such a poor view of the whole thing.”

  “Yeah. She thinks that all ménages are like that. I never bothered explaining otherwise at the time. I never thought it would be an issue, given she was a dormant until I took her maidenhead.”

  “No wonder she freaked. Watching her own mother live in misery because of it . . .” John shook his head. “I heard her mother miscarried quite a bit until she finally died of it.”

  Nathan shifted uncomfortably, and John used this to his advantage to slide under his guard and bruise his ribs.

  “What are you hiding?” John demanded, stopping to face him with stormy eyes.