Wild Heat (Wilding Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance

by Alisa Woods

  Terra and that asshole, Julius, and been in his little collection room for way too damn long.

  Kaden pounded on the door. Waited. Pounded again. Nothing.

  Fuck this.

  He dug out his cell phone and called Terra’s. It rang and rang… and then went to message. He pounded on the door again. It was possible the cell phone reception wasn’t getting through the thick stone walls of this place, but there was no way the room was so locked-tight soundproof that they couldn’t hear him pounding.

  They were ignoring him.

  Whatever juicy information Terra was getting about white wolves, he didn’t give a damn.

  Their time was up.

  He searched for the number of the manager of the facility and dialed.

  When someone picked up he used his most I’m a cop, don’t fuck with me voice. “This is Officer Grant from the Seattle Police Department. I’ve got reasonable cause a crime is being committed on your premises. I need access to Unit Ninety Three. Immediately.”

  “I… um…” The woman’s voice on the other end was high and panicked. Good. “I’ll be right there, Officer!”

  She hung up.

  Kaden timed it, and she it only took two minutes to get there, but he was going out of his fucking mind in the meantime. He even shifted his hand and tried to slice his way through the door, but he didn’t have whatever badass claws Noah was talking about, and underneath the stately carved wood, the door was solid steel. At least an inch thick, maybe two. He was getting nowhere, but he still clawed the shit out of it. He was tempted to rip into the control pad, but he might jam it up, and that would just make things worse.

  A short, hunch-shouldered woman scurried in through the storage facility door, her little sensible shoes making no noise on the granite flooring.

  “Oh!” she said when she arrived at his side and looked at the door with a wide-eyed stare. “What happened?”

  “Open the door, Ma’am,” he ordered, his voice full of growl.

  She almost jumped out of her skin, then scrambled to tap out the override code. The door clicked open. Kaden shoved her side as gently as he could manage and barreled into the room with his weapon drawn.

  It was empty.

  At least, the room was empty of people—there was a whole fucking rats-nest of crazy, though. Pictures of people and wolves filled every inch of the wall. Videos played on large screens. He only had to take one look at those to recognize them.

  The Wolf Hunter.

  “Fuck!” He couldn’t believe it. Fucking Julius was the Wolf Hunter—or at least as bat-shit crazy as that maniac—and now he had Terra.

  Kaden whirled on the mousy manager, who was quivering by the door. “Is there another way out?” There had to be. He’d been watching the door the entire time. They sure as hell didn’t leave the way they came in.

  The woman nodded frantically and pointed a shaky finger toward the far end of the room. Kaden sprinted over and found a door in the wall, nearly hidden by all the photos plastered on and around it.

  “Open this up!” he shouted.

  She did, but there was nothing to see—just another hallway, and at the end of that, a door that led outside. Once Kaden spilled out into the sunshine, he realized… they could be anywhere. They had at least a twenty-minute head start before he started banging on the door.

  Shit.

  A cold darkness clamped down on his chest, the same feeling of panic when he found her missing the first time. He’d lost her. For a long, scattered moment, his brain clouded with fury and terror.

  Then he pulled his shit together.

  That asshole had taken his mate, and he was going to get her back.

  He sprinted back to his car, shutting down his emotions—he could deal with those later—and trying to engage his brain to figure out what do to next.

  He couldn’t go to the department—they would just laugh. And probably reassign him to another case. They sure as hell weren’t going to help him.

  But Noah Wilding might.

  Kaden climbed in his car and threw it into gear, heading for the front gate. He dialed Noah’s number as he went.

  Noah picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”

  “The Wolf Hunter has taken Terra,” Kaden said, no time to waste.

  “Fuck.” But Noah recovered quickly. “Where are you? How can I help?”

  Kaden had a sudden, huge appreciation for the fact that Noah was Army trained and packed some badass magical energy. “Are you still at the River estate?” Kaden needed to move, and he was just now realizing that, while he could really use Noah’s help, he couldn’t afford to wait.

  “Yeah, are you in the city?”

  “I’m on the north side, but I have no idea where he’s taken Terra. Just get your ass down off the mountain, and I’ll call back with directions as soon as I know.”

  “Copy that.” Noah hung up.

  Kaden tossed his phone into the passenger seat next to him. Then he growled and pounded on the steering wheel. Venting some of the frustration would help him think.

  Noah was too far.

  The department was useless.

  What did that leave him?

  Whenever the department needed to find someone—usually a shifter, but other criminals too—they brought in the witches. And the ones he worked with had an office downtown.

  Witches were crazy dangerous to work with, but he didn’t care. He needed a seeking spell, and they were the only ones who could find Terra before it was too late. He couldn’t let his mind go there, so he just floored it. He ran a few red lights on the way, but he got there in record time.

  This coven of witches—there were several in the city—ran a boutique ad agency focused on online services. Their shiny glass-and-chrome office was on the 14th floor. Kaden illegally parked in the underground parking garage next to the elevator. He was tempted to simply run up the stairs, but fourteen floors would take too damn long. The elevator was faster, but he was chomping at the bit the entire way. When he spilled out of it, he charged inside their high-end office, ignoring the receptionist and stomping his way through the cubicle-land of witches to get to the one he knew—Xena Hunt.

  He had no idea if that was her real name. He didn’t care.

  He flung open her door without knocking, and thankfully, she was there.

  Xena was voluptuous and beautiful, the way all the witches were. They used some kind of magic spell to enhance their beauty, and he was always knocked out by their supermodel bodies and drop-dead sexy faces. But this time, none of that affected him. He rushed straight up to her desk, planted his hands, and demanded that she tear her attention away from her fucking computer.

  “Xena,” he growled when she ignored him. “I need your help.”

  She finally deigned to look at him, but only to lean back and scrunch up her pretty little nose. “Is this how you ask for favors, Officer Grant? I’d hate to see what you do when you’re demanding something.” Her sexy half-smirk said she expected the possibility of him making demands on her to be approximately zero.

  “Please.” He didn’t have time to fuck around.

  She looked unimpressed, but she did rise up from her chair and saunter around the desk. The long look she gave him, starting at his crotch working up to his eyes, couldn’t have been any more obvious. The witches flirted with him all the time, but he’d never been stupid enough to take one to bed. These women killed people with a single touch—and interrogated wolves with some pretty fucked up and painful spells.

  Her lips formed a beautiful little pout. “How exactly can the Seattle Police Department use my help today?” Her voice was all sultry and sexy.

  “I need to find someone. She’s a shifter, and she was in my custody, but now she’s been kidnapped.” Just saying those words out loud was making his blood boil. His fists clenched at his side.

  She tsk-tsked him and then brushed her cascading waves of warm, brown hair behind her shoulder. “You’ve lost one of your toys? How unfortu
nate. But I don’t see how that’s any of my concern.” She raked her gaze over him again. “Unless, of course, there’s something in it for me.”

  He couldn’t promise the normal payout, and here she was asking for some kind of bribe on top. Shit. “What do you want, Xena? This is a kidnapping. I’ve got a ticking clock.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You want a favor and you’re in a hurry. Sounds to me like unusual circumstances that might require unusual forms of payment.”

  She eased closer to him, close enough that she could reach out and touch him, but she didn’t. Probably because his body was taut with anger, fear, and a huge helping of revulsion.

  He leaned away. “I can make sure the department funnels all their cases through you for the next month or two,” he offered. “I’ll see what other business we can throw your way. And I’ll make sure you’re not burdened with an unexpected regulatory investigation.”

  Her green eyes flashed, and he was afraid he might have pushed it too far with the threat. But she just wagged a finger at him. “Now, now, Officer Grant, there’s no need for that.” She closed the gap between them and landed her hand directly on his cock. “Besides, you know what I want.”

  Jesus Christ. He grabbed hold of her wrist and hauled it up to face level. “I don’t have time to fuck around, Xena.”

  Her green eyes blazed again—it was flat dangerous to touch a witch, but it seemed to be turning her on. Which was not exactly his intent. Shit.

  “Well, of course, we’ll find your little toy first,” she purred, easing her body into his with her perfectly perky breasts pressing against his chest. “Payment after services rendered, of course.”

  Fine. He would promise whatever the witch wanted, then hope she wouldn’t actually kill him when he failed to deliver. “Do the seeking spell, Xena. We can party all you like later.” He had no intention of following through, but the words were still chalky in his mouth. Terra was the only woman he ever wanted to touch that way, but he would do whatever was necessary to get his mate back alive.

  “Excellent.” Xena sauntered away from him to one of the bookshelves in her office—they held a wide range of strange pots and exotic boxes. Kaden didn’t even want to know what was inside.

  The witch opened one and pulled out a pinch of white powder, sifting it down into the palm of her hand. Then she said some kind of incantation as she waved her hand over the powder. It stirred with an unseen wind—a magical wind—and a whitish cloud formed above it. Blue sparks zipped around in the cloud, eerily familiar. It was the same sort of magical energy Noah had showed him.

  Xena swayed her hips as she walked back toward him. “Do you have a good memory of this toy you wish to find?”

  He’d done seeking spells with her before—he knew the routine—but usually, the spell was done on someone else. Someone who had a personal connection to the suspect they were seeking. Only this time, he was the one who had the connection. A very personal connection.

  He gritted his teeth. “I do.”

  She stepped up to him and blew the small cloud into his face.

  He was ready for it, but the way the ground shifted under his feet still caught him by surprise. The room went blurry, and suddenly he was mentally back in the safehouse, on the bed with Terra, sinking his cock deep inside her. She was moaning and writhing underneath him.

  Xena’s voice boomed into the vision, suddenly loud and like she was calling to him from down a long tunnel. “Oh my. I see we’ve been playing with our toys.”

  Kaden felt sick to his stomach—he hated violating that memory by sharing it with the witch, but he knew she needed some kind of access to Terra’s magical signature to find her. Thankfully, the vision quickly ended. He was still unsteady, but the effects of the spell quickly dissipated once Xena had found what she wanted.

  Kaden rubbed his eyes with both hands to get them clear. “Did you find her?” he demanded.

  “Oh, yes. She is strong in magic.” Xena’s eyes narrowed. “But then again, so are you, Kaden Grant… why didn’t you tell me you were a witch?”

  Oh, shit. “That’s not exactly public knowledge,” he said tightly.

  Her smile smoldered. “Oh, how I’d love to use that knowledge to blackmail you into some hot, hot sex like I saw in your vision.” She sighed with a kind of lusty disappointment and fanned herself with long fingers tipped with even longer nails. “But your magic’s just a little too powerful for me to handle. Plus there’s that pesky bond you have with the girl.” She fluttered her fingers at the space around his head—he was pretty sure she was talking about his aura. Witches could see your emotions on display like a fucking rainbow around your head. Generally useful, but annoying at the moment. “I’d hate to get caught in that little vortex.” She looked him up and down again. “It’s a damn shame, though. I was really looking forward to—”

  “Xena,” he warned, although he was relieved to be off the hook for taking her to bed. “Do you know where Terra is or not?”

  “Yes, of course.” She scowled at him, like he had somehow doubted her magical ability. “I can give you the coordinates, precisely. But Kaden…” She eased a little closer, but this time, the concern on her face seemed to be genuine. “There’s a lot of magical energy where you’re headed. Negative energy. And I sense that you… you haven’t really come into your powers yet. Be careful.”

  Kaden’s eyebrows flew up, and he was at a loss for words for a moment. Then he said, “Thanks for the warning.”

  She tipped her head to him. “We witches have to look out for one another. Let me know when you’re ready to explore your magic, hot stuff.”

  He wasn’t at all sure he’d wanted to take her up on that offer, but none of that mattered to him right now. He got the coordinates for Terra’s location and hurried out of the office, leaving a wave of turning heads behind him. He hadn’t even reached the elevator again before he was dialing his phone.

  Noah picked up right away. “I know where she is,” Kaden said. “And I’m sending you directions. Meet you there.”

  He punched the elevator button and growled his impatience all the way down.

  Julius was still hovering over Terra, his naked body sickeningly close to hers.

  She shuddered as his erection brushed against her leg.

  He was clearly crazy and messed up—she had to talk her way out of this or she was going to end up dead, sooner rather than later. And she still was holding out hope that Kaden might come for her, but who knew how long that would take?

  “Why do you want revenge on your father?” Terra asked Julius as calmly as she could while he was raking his gaze over her body. She genuinely didn’t understand this thing with the father. She was still reeling from the fact that he was a white wolf, but why would that piss him off at his father? She was still trying to pick through the pieces, the lies and half-lies, to figure out the full truth of what was going on here.

  Julius ignored her question, obviously enjoying her discomfort with his erection sliding against her leg. So disgusting. At least her jeans kept the contact to a minimum. He captured a stray lock of her hair in one hand and wound it around his finger.

  “You wolves really are incredibly seductive, aren’t you?” He grabbed a bigger chunk of her hair and pulled it painfully. He was stronger than he looked, and that hold forced her head back so she had to look up at him. He licked his lips. “Your insatiable sexual appetites are running ravage through our city. My father was just like you, seducing humans all over Seattle. Including my mother. Only he didn’t stick around to watch her die from the demon seed he planted in her.”

  Terra frowned and tried to pull out of his hold, but he just tightened his grip. She still couldn’t shift to get away—whatever drug he had given her was suppressing her wolf—and being tied to the chair, she was pretty much at his mercy. And his lean form was deceptively strong; he definitely had shifter strength, even as a halfling.

  But the thing that freaked her out most was his story. It w
as so like Kaden’s. A white wolf sleeping with his human mother and leaving before the resulting halfling was born? Were they half-brothers? Was this white wolf really still roaming the city?

  “So your mother is dead?” Terra swallowed down her nerves and tried to keep her voice steady. “I know what that’s like.” She was making a play for common ground, even though it was turning her stomach. Her empathetic response Julius’s hate-filled rant just might buy her some time.

  She had to get out of this somehow. Kaden needed her.

  It worked a little. Julius released her hair and eased back, no longer touching her with his naked body parts. She repressed the sigh of relief.

  “My mother died in childbirth… giving birth to a monstrosity. Me.” Julius gestured to his naked body. “This human form is just a deception. It covers up the wolf that lingers inside me, the part left over from the monster who sired me. I can’t change the wolf inside me—believe me, I’ve tried.” He gave a small, mirthless laugh. “But I can make my father pay for what he did.”

  “If your mother died in childbirth…” Terra’s mind was grasping at something that didn’t quite make sense. “How do you know she wasn’t a wolf?”

  Julius surged forward and smacked the arms of her chair on either side, making her jerk in response. “Because I know!” He heaved hot breath in her face and clamped her chin his hand. He held her tight and stared into her eyes. “I didn’t grow up a pampered princess, like you, Ms. Wilding. I grew up in Seattle’s foster system, tossed from home to home. I never knew my birth mother, but I know she died of severe complications in childbirth… because I shifted when I was still in the womb. A human woman is not meant to carry a beast. My father did that to her.”

  Holy shit. He killed his mother. At birth. That was so… messed up. And Terra didn’t understand it at all—human women carried halflings to term all the time. Something must have gone wrong… and Julius thought it was his beast that did it.

  She held perfectly still, unprepared to deal with that level of crazy.

  Julius’s heaving breath calmed a little. He shoved her head aside as he eased back, seeming more in control now. “I didn’t know all of this at first, of course. I didn’t shift again until I was much older. But when I did, I knew there was something different about me. As you’ve seen, I’m no common wolf.” He smirked. “And when Grace Krepky revealed herself to be a white wolf as well—well, then the hunt was on.”