by T. A. Grey
He looked back at the door. “Good, I hear him coming. Now, if I can give you some advice—” He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to respond. When she could only glare, he continued. “He won’t hurt ya, and it wouldn’t hurt to beg to go home.”
She glared so hard she could feel her eyeballs squishing. What in the world?
Boot steps sounded. The light was so dim and the room so large that it barely reached the doorway leaving it mostly in shadows. She could just make out an outline outside the door of a hallway which looked like a house.
Will gave her a mock bow then headed to the door to meet the Strange Man.
“I’m goin’ out. If you need somethin’ talk to Jo or Hart.” This he said to the Strange Man who seemed to stand perfectly in the shadows so she couldn’t see his face.
However, she could see the flannel of his shirt more clearly—red, green, and brown lines and boxes. He also wore a pair of torn, worn looking blue jeans with boots caked in crusty mud.
He took a step into the room and closed the door behind him. Alicia fidgeted in her seat then scanned the room for any possible means of escape but saw none. No windows, only one door which he blocked.
He walked toward her carrying something in his hands which rattled. Sucking in a sharp breath, she jerked backward nearly falling off the sofa as he approached.
Only, he never came close enough for her to make out anything about his face let alone close enough for him to touch her. From what she could see he had to be older than her, maybe late thirties or early forties with dark hair, but he moved out of the light so fast she couldn’t be sure whether it was long or short, black or brown.
He set a tray on the coffee table in front of her but stayed on the other side of it, away from her. She thanked god for the small miracle. Peering at what he brought, she frowned. The motion pinched the skin around her lips, pulling the tape tighter at what she saw. He’d brought her a glass of water, a cup of hot tea, and a sandwich.
Really?
She tried to meet the Strange Man’s eyes but failed to as he started moving around the coffee table toward her. At once her eyes darted for his face but he kept it averted, the light never quite catching it. He moved behind her chair and when she tried to turn to keep him in her sights, he touched her shoulder to keep her facing forward. With that one, firm touch she froze.
Warm fingers trailed across her cheek and her blood ran to ice. With a quick snap, he ripped the tape from her mouth.
“Ow!”
Relief at having the tape gone was met with a fiery burn around her mouth. She could feel a layer of skin go with the tape. Immediately, heat rose where the tape had been making her feel like she had a strange sunburn. She licked her dry lips, wetting them. He cut the ropes binding her wrists next and she hugged herself. He didn’t give her long to enjoy her newfound freedom before he tied her wrists in front of her.
“Eat.” One word and it made her stiffen. What was wrong with his voice? It was too scratchy, too deep.
“Who are you?”
He moved back to the door. In the light she confirmed he was tall, broad framed, and probably quite muscular. She had an eye for seeing such things since she made clothes. Proportions, dimensions, and sizes were how she saw clothes. With some fabric, a little thread, and needle, she could make him a better-fitted flannel. The one he wore was too long on him, dangling too far down his thighs, and the collar was too big around his neck as if it was meant for a bigger man.
“Just eat.”
She didn’t spare the food another glance. “No.”
When he turned around she wished he’d come close enough to show her his face. It was too disconcerting not being able to see the person she was talking to. Besides, what game was he playing at with all the theatrics?
“I want you to eat it.”
“Why, so you can drug me and make it easier on you to do your thing?”
Her breaths quickened. Oh god, how little control she had here. Face it, she told herself, you have none. He holds all the cards and right now he’s only showing you a few of them. She rolled her shoulders to try to ease the tension in them. Didn’t work.
A long, eerily quiet minute passed, followed by another before he deigned to speak.
“You think you’re here to get hurt?”
She could not keep her jaw from falling open. “Why else did my alpha tell me I’m so pretty and send me here to be the new alpha’s…his, your, whatever. Josiah didn’t offer me up to do the alpha’s dishes, you know. How do you think that sounds to me?” Anger made her words sharp like snap-fire gunshots.
He stayed silent as if contemplating her words—or how best to kill her and dispose of the body. Her family was dead and her alpha had given her up so she’d bet he could do it easily.
“No one here will hurt you. Now eat. It was a long trip and they said you wouldn’t eat.”
Seriously, that’s all he had to say? He took a seat in the chair behind the closed door. She sent him another of one of her glares. She was hungry, the food look downright delicious and smelled even better, but it was his food and damned if she’d eat it. Or maybe she could just have a nibble.
“You’re going to watch me eat?”
“Yes.”
She blinked. That voice…it was so unsettling but interesting at the same time. He had a voice that raised questions.
She sniffed the hot drink finding that it smelled like tea so she sipped it, found it slightly sweetened with sugar. She set it down then waited a few minutes to see if anything felt odd. She had no idea what she would or wouldn’t feel if she were drugged but this was her only option.
She repeated the process with glass of water and sandwich.
A rough sound, something like a grunt, filled the empty space after several minutes. “I told you it’s fine.”
“And I don’t trust you.”
Another pregnant pause. “I need to ask you some questions.”
He wanted to ask her questions. She chewed on a bite of the sandwich. This whole situation was getting more curious by the minute.
“Like what?”
“Do you have a mate?”
Her eyebrows shot up at that. “Excuse me?”
Something that sounded very much like a growl came from him. It was a deep, rattling noise from deep in his chest. The hair on her arms stood on end.
“Listen, I don’t much like the situation we’re in and I don’t like havin’ to ask a lot of questions. So why don’t you just answer my questions?”
Food forgotten, she could only stare at the shadow of the strange man. An even odder sensation came over her. With a start, she recognized the feeling—security. He’d just made her feel some measure of safety and he did it without offering any promises while she still had her wrists bound. She didn’t entirely understand it.
“Well?” Impatience laced his words.
She swallowed, wishing she had more time to analyze this. He was so strange.
“Tell me who you are first.” This could be a lieutenant, the alpha’s brother, or any number of people though she had a feeling she knew. Only certain men packed the kind of power an alpha did.
“Gavin MacKellen, alpha of the northwestern pack of lykaens. I hold allegiance to none but my people.”
“You’re a new alpha.”
Their lykaen species didn’t shapeshift as movies and books made them out to, but they did have some unique traits. They were strong, stronger than vampires, but not as fast. They outlived humans but could be killed any number of ways. In other words, they weren’t infallible.
They followed a hierarchy of strength just like pack animals. The connection between pack members was said to put human relationships to shame. Though, that also meant there was always one man that led them, protected them, and loved them. He was their alpha, a position obtained by battling the strongest men in the pack. Gavin had won that position.
Alicia’s pack was from Arizona, one of the southwest packs, but even she h
ad heard about the goings on in the Oregon territories. The previous alpha, Joseph Harrington, was an older alpha that mated with a young woman who didn’t much care for him. She left him and fell in love with a vampire. The alpha went after her as most were obsessed with doing and he died by gunshot leaving the northwester pack without an alpha. In stepped Gavin MacKellen.
“Yeah, I am. I answered your question, now answer mine. Are you mated?”
She answered honestly. “No.”
He sighed and she sensed relief in the sound. “Do you know why you’re here?”
Her back slammed ramrod straight. “You’re looking for a whore. I won’t be it.”
“You disrespect me to suggest I would.” He paused, clothes rustling as he moved. “I’m lookin’ to mate.”
A mate. Someone to share love and responsibilities with, to have children with. The mystery man wanted that. That seemed odd to her, though she didn’t know why.
“Why?” she asked.
“Are you asking me why I want a mate?”
She bit her lip. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Why does anyone want a mate? I want it for the same reasons as anyone.”
True. Then why did she bother to ask him in the first place? She had to stop and think about it. Maybe because so far with him he’d put tape over her mouth, tied her up, tossed her into a dark room and forced her to have this weird conversation with only the light from the dimmest lamp in the world.
“Why all the,” she waved to indicate the room, “theatrics then? Can’t you just seek out a mate like everyone else does? You know, by dating.”
She expected his answer so when it didn’t come she couldn’t help but frown and shift in her seat. This man was beyond ridiculous.
“When is the last time you were with a man?”
Her body jerked. “Excuse me?”
He sighed, the sound thick not with impatience. “I won’t repeat myself, Alicia Clarkson.”
She froze at the sound of her name even as a part of her understood that he had to know her name. The tone of his voice had changed though, the grating sound becoming a growl.
She answered as soon as she collected herself. “Seven months ago. No six. Yes, six months, I think.”
“Were you sleeping with him?”
She bit the inside of her cheek, jaw flaring as a blush covered her face. “I don’t see what that has to do with---”
“Just answer the question,” he said in that slow, measured voice. He sounded like someone who didn’t waste words but chose them with care.
“Yes.” Why that admission embarrassed her when she knew there was no shame in what she’d done annoyed her.
“You make clothes.”
She nodded since he already knew this.
“Do you sell them?”
Another nod.
“How?”
This was all too surreal. Now he wanted to know about her job? Losing patience, she snapped. “I sell lingerie online. I have my own little e-store. I don’t do as well as I’d like but I’m fine with where I’m at. I get by.”
He didn’t say anything for a while. Alicia fidgeted with the ropes by wriggling her wrists which seemed to make them itch more.
Then he spoke and every inch of her stiffened. Even her heart skipped a beat. “What do you look for…in a man?”
“What?” she asked, her voice as soft as a whisper. He sounded curious, maybe even a little embarrassed.
“Answer the question.”
She shook her head sending locks of hair snapping across her cheek. She came to a stand, teetered, then widened her stance to steady herself. “No, I’m done with this. I won’t play your little games anymore. You either explain what this is about or let me go. Actually let me go right now and show me the door. I’ve been ready to leave since I got here.”
He stood and she took an abrupt step back. Was it because she feared him? Damn right.
“Turn around.”
“Like hell.”
She could hear him sucking in a mighty breath, perhaps trying for patience, but she didn’t feel bad that he suffered. Not when she was the one tied up.
“Turn around so I can untie you.”
Biting her lip, she debated his words. He could by lying. “Promise that’s all you want?”
He grunted some sound of agreement.
She was loath to give him her back but she did, slowly. Better to show him her back than to keep the ropes on. He had to reach across her stomach to grab the rope binding her wrists and her heart jumped with fear. He could kill her; hurt her in so many ways.
“Stare straight ahead.”
Naturally, she tried to look over her shoulder but he grabbed the back of her head and turned it to face forward before she could catch a glimpse.
“Don’t.” A warning.
It became difficult to breathe. This close, she caught his scent. It was fresh, masculine and smelled of something rugged and outdoors. The lykaen in her rolled onto its back and stretched, content. Whoa. Reel it in, Alicia.
She jumped at the sound of his voice so close to her ear. “I’m searching for my mate, not lookin’ for no whore. I want you to stay here while we get to know each other. That means I’m goin’ to have some questions you’ll need to answer. You got that?” He had a gravelly, coarse voice, deep as a bass singers. He held the rope hostage as he spoke.
“Yeah,” she said instead, since she didn’t see any other options.
Another grunt of approval, then she heard the metal swish of a switchblade coming out. She wiggled, tugging to get her arms free as fear rode her.
“Please don’t hurt me.” She hung her head, arms trembling in his grasp.
“Stay still. I don’t wanna nick you.”
Like that her fear passed. The blade passed through the ropes with ease and her shoulders sagged with relief. The itchy rope fell away. She smiled at the tiny pleasure of being free.
“You’ll sleep down the hall. I’ll have someone show you the room.”
He touched her forearms, strong and direct. His fingers began rubbing in circles, dipping into her muscle to massage it. She had to bite her lip to stifle a moan. She hadn’t even realized how tight her muscles had become until he touched her. He worked her cramped muscles until they were loose and warm, then he did the same to her hands. His thumb dipped into her palm and rubbed in slow circles shooting pleasure through her nerves. She was biting her lip so hard she could feel it swelling.
His touch vanished in an instant.
Rubbing her arms at the sudden chill, Alicia turned back only to find he’d retreated back to the shadows.
“I’ll send someone up.”
She didn’t mean to ask but the words flew from her lips. “Why won’t you let me see your face?”
He opened the door, stepping into the hallway. She was so certain he wouldn’t answer her that she fiddled with her reddened wrists to hide her eyes.
But then he did answer and his words couldn’t have shocked her more.
“I don’t want you to see my face ’cause I’m an ugly son of a bitch and you’re too pretty to be lookin’ at that.”
She gaped as he quietly shut the door behind him.
CHAPTER 2
Gavin MacKellen climbed out of bed and dragged his heavy feet across the floor to the bathroom. His tongue felt like he’d been sucking on cotton balls wrapped with sandpaper all night long. He flexed his jaw to unglue the dried appendage from the roof of his mouth. Widening his stance, he straddled the toilet and did his business as he scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hand.
God damn.
This was going to be a bad day.
An incessant knock pounded at his bedroom door. He hadn’t even finished his business yet. Whoever waited on the other side at little after six in the morning wouldn’t be carrying a plate of bacon and eggs and a steaming cup of coffee. He just didn’t have that kind of luck. Sucking in a deep breath, he washed his hands then opened the bedroom door.
A pair of angry blue eyes glared up at him. “You brought women here to choose from like cattle?”
Gavin tried to rein in a sigh but all that did was make a grumbling sound. His tired eyes peered at the doorframe and he couldn’t resist leaning into it for support.
“I don’t much like it either, Kaity.”
She narrowed her eyes until they pinched. “Then don’t do it.” She threw up her hands. “Voilà! See? It’s that easy. Just send them back, Gavin.”
A fierce thumping began in his temple. He rubbed at it but it looked like nothing would be making the ache go away. Not for a long while.
“See here now, you know this is how it’s got to be. I need a mate at my side. It’s not for me, it’s for the pack.”
Her mouth floundered opened and closed. Finally giving up she shook her head, beaten. “This is wrong on too many levels.”
“Don’t I know it, but you and I both know there’s no other way. None of the women here can stand to look at me anymore.”
The flash of pity in her eyes jolted him awake. Damn, just what he needed…like a shotgun blast to the chest. He stepped back into his bedroom, readied his hand on the door to close it.
“There are plenty of women in the pack who will have you.”
He looked at her. Just looked at her.
She couldn’t hold his gaze for more than two seconds.
“I have to talk to the women tonight. I’ll be sending some of them home. It’d be nice if you and Hanna could stop in on them, make sure they’re taken care of,” he said.
“Of course,” she said, her voice much more subdued.
Now he felt like an ass for making her feel bad. “Come here, baby sister. Everything will be all right. I’ll take care of it.” He pulled her into a hug then let her go with a goodbye.
Gavin dressed then headed downstairs. Something stopped him when he reached the top of the stairs. No, not something, but someone. His gaze drew to the far end of the hallway where she was. The rest of the women that alphas from across the country sent him had been stationed in his sisters’ houses, but the pack from Arizona had sent an extra woman Gavin hadn’t counted on. As soon as he saw her, even with the dirty red bandana covering her eyes, he’d ordered her to be put in his house.