Taken By The Alpha (Timber Valley Pack)

by Georgette St. Clair

  Tristan had been on the verge of challenging him, and with the injury, Roman would have lost – but he’d outsmarted his opponent and forced him to commit suicide by wolf.

  Roman lashed out at his father’s stuffed corpse again, kicking him in the face. “How’s it feel to be on the other end?” he jeered.

  Patrick Coffman had been more than old school in his parenting methods - he’d been vicious. As far back as Roman’s memory reached, Patrick had used brutality and humiliation in an attempt to mold Roman into what he’d considered the perfect Alpha.

  Two of Roman’s brothers and one of his sisters hadn’t survived their upbringing. Only Roman had made it through – and the older he got, the more savage Patrick’s punishments had been. Roman’s mother had been too terrified of her husband to intervene.

  Roman didn’t begrudge the beatings, the impossible challenges, the constant pain, hunger and fear that had marked his childhood. He planned to use those methods himself, as soon as he started having Alpha sons.

  What infuriated him was the public humiliation. Even when he succeeded in the tasks his father set for him, his father insulted him, held him up in front of the pack and called him a girl, kicked him hard enough to break bones and dared him to utter a single whimper, spit on his face…

  The intercom system on his desk chirped. Somewhere on the compound, his lovely, near-perfect bride was trying to get in touch with him.

  Roman leaned down and spit on his father’s head. “I’ll be seeing you,” he growled, and turned and left the room.

  His lovely Janet wanted him. Killing her husband and marrying her had been an enormous achievement for him, the next step in his ambitious plans. He’d had his eye on the Mordhaus pack lands for a long time. He wanted their lumber business, their construction business, he wanted everything they had – including the beautiful, elegant, Janet, who gave him that entrance to the high society world that he’d always craved.

  She looked perfect on his arm, was as dedicated as he was to bettering her position in the world, and was nearly perfect in every way. She only had one tiny flaw. No matter; he’d found the solution to that problem too.

  In the meantime – she probably wanted to talk to him about the charity ball they’d be hosting. They’d managed to get three members of the Council of Elders to attend. He’d be keeping careful track of who chose not to attend. He always remembered his allies, but it was his enemies that he kept in a special mental memory vault, that he opened every night and re-visited and help up for examination.

  * * *

  It was 3 a.m., and someone was outside her window, getting closer. Katrina lay perfectly still in bed. She’d always been a light sleeper, and especially so tonight, with so many problems running through her mind.

  She heard a rattling, and then bars opened from the outside and then the window slid open. Then a bag was tossed through, landing on the floor with a thud.

  She tensed – bomb? Thrown in by Lula? After a few seconds, when nothing exploded, she sat up in bed and walked lightly over to see what mysterious gift she’d just received.

  She smelled noscentium. Noscentium was an herb which disguised individual smells and masked an individual’s identity, but it came with its own distinctive aroma. Somebody didn’t want her to know who they were.

  The bag had been drenched in Noscentium – and contained a spray bottle of Noscentium as well. There was a tranq gun, and a cell phone – a cheap disposable one.

  Someone was trying to help her escape.

  She doubted that any of the Killingworth pack would risk this kind of move. Her money was on Teresa. She probably hoped that helping Katrina escape would win her favor. It could also be any of the other pack members who’d come over.

  She picked up the tranq gun, which was specially designed to hold four darts. She bent over and sniffed at them. She was a little concerned about using a tranq gun when she hadn’t personally loaded the dart’s syringes, or at least gotten the syringes from a source that she knew and trusted.

  Dear lord, did she smell cyanide in them? Well, that made it useless. Irritated, she set the gun down.

  She did not actually want to kill anyone. She could suck it up for a month if she had to; everything would be resolved one way or another then.

  She’d just have to hope that she could make it out without running into anybody.

  She quickly shed the pajamas that the Killingworth pack had provided for her, and sprayed herself from head to toe with Noscentium. That would increase her chances of getting past the sentries that Killingworth would have on patrol. Noscentium grew in the wild, so if they smelled it, it wasn’t likely to aruse their suspicions.

  She looked out the window. She didn’t see anybody watching. They had no reason to think she’d be able to open the bars.

  She wrapped up an outfit and tied the clothes in a bundle, with the cell phone in the center. She’d call for help when she got far enough away from the Killingworth pack property. Carefully, painstakingly, she slid out of the window and dropped to the ground, with the clothing bundle in her hand. Then she looked around her, shifted into wolf form, grabbed the bundle in her mouth, and ran as fast as she could, headed towards the wooded area that would offer the most cover.

  With her wolf-enhanced senses, she could scent several wolves just around the corner of the main house. Her legs churned as she raced towards the tree line. Almost there…

  She smelled a familiar scent. Maddox.

  Damn the luck.

  She ran faster, legs slashing through the grass, but he was on her in seconds, and knocked her off of her feet.

  She shifted back to human form, and he did too.

  He lay on top of her. The night was warm and sultry. She was panting from her run. It was from her run, wasn’t it?

  “Well, well, well,” he said with a grin. “My little runner.”

  “Don’t you ever sleep?” she groused.

  “I’m the Alpha. I sleep with one eye open.”

  She wondered if that was literally true. The only way to find out, of course, would be to sleep with him. Damn it, why did her thoughts always go in that direction these days?

  “Get off me,” she grumbled. “You’re enjoying this way too much.” She could feel the hard length of his erection pressing into her stomach, and it sent a rush of wetness between her thighs.

  “And you aren’t?” He grinned. He had her there. Her nipples were swollen and pressing against his chest.

  “Not in the slightest,” she lied.

  “Newsflash. We’re wolves, sweetheart. I can scent your arousal.” He moved slightly, his smooth skin sliding over hers, and smelled her hair, drawing his breath in deeply. “You smell delightful.”

  She shivered, as a rush of red hot desire washed over her. She wanted him so badly she ached for it. There was a throbbing pulse between her legs. Despite herself she found her body moving to fit against his, sliding her hips under him.

  He stared down at her, hunger burning in his gaze, and brushed her hair out of her face with a surprisingly soft and gentle touch. He caressed her cheek with his thumb, and she bit back a moan. “I wonder if you taste as good as you smell.”

  She moaned out loud then, a wordless sound of pure arousal, and he wrapped one leg around her, bending down to kiss her. Her lips parted and she felt her resistance melt away as her animal side took over. All she felt was urgent need, the desire to meld with him, to pull his thick, hard cock inside her and thrust against him.

  His lips brushed against hers, sending a sizzle of pleasure through hers, and she waited for him to kiss her passionately, to take her…

  He pulled away, and shook his head hard as if to refocus himself. “No,” he growled.

  She bit back a frustrated moan. “No, what?” she said defensively. “I didn’t ask you anything.”

  “No, I can’t take advantage of a hostage no matter how badly I want to. I mean, I normally don’t want my hostages anyway. Just you.”

  She cou
ld hardly hear for the blood pounding in her ears. “How…how badly exactly?”

  He favored her with a rueful grin. “Let’s just say 90 percent of the blood in my body is concentrated in one place, and it’s not my brain. And just so you know, it happens every time I see you. Always has.”

  Always?

  She bit her lip, moving underneath him just because she loved the way it felt to slide against his smooth, hard body. “You know, if you agreed to release me, then technically I wouldn’t be your hostage any more. Then we could have sex.” She couldn’t believe she was saying that. Was she actually asking him to have sex with her? God, she was on the verge of begging for it, which would be so humiliating.

  Not surprisingly, he laughed and shook his head. “Nice try. Incredibly tempting. I’d do just about anything to be with you, Katrina, but not something that would harm my pack.”

  “Fine. You’re a Killingworth anyway. We’re like matter and anti-matter, if we got together we’d probably explode.” She scowled up at him. She’d just asked him to have sex with her – and he’d turned her down! Even if it was for a really good reason.

  “Explode is right,” he grinned, and then shook his head in exasperation. “Damn it! Why do I keep doing that? You drive me crazy, Katrina. If we weren’t from rival packs…Believe me, I’d be begging you.”

  She squirmed underneath him, struggling to move him off of her. She was pleased to hear him groan in frustration.

  “Does that bother you? Good.” She glowered up at him. “I just want you to know one thing. The fact that I am physically turned on by you at the immediate moment doesn’t mean I actually like you. And it’s not my brain thinking. It’s my wolf. I haven’t been mated in awhile, and she wants…”

  “Who have you mated with?” His eyes glowed with a strange, angry light.

  “Are you actually jealous?” she asked, astonished.

  He scowled down at her. “My wolf is. Doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean any more than your wolf wanting me to take her long, deep and hard. Just my animal instincts rearing up.”

  That’s not the only thing rearing up, she thought, desperately longing to slide up, to impale herself on him…

  Abruptly, he rolled off her and sat up. The loss of his warmth, his touch, his skin against hers, sent a shock wave of protest through her. She took a deep, shuddery breath and then she sat up too, hugging herself and scowling.

  “So, let’s get back to business here. You escaped. How?”

  “I have friends,” she said.

  “What a shocker.”

  “Screw you.”

  “If only. My pack’s enforcers are investigating right now. They may already have discovered who tried to help you.” His tone and expression turned serious. “You realize that whoever did this committed treason against my pack. You know what the consequences are.”

  She swallowed hard. She didn’t want anyone to get in trouble for helping her – especially the fatal kind of trouble, which was very likely what he was talking about. She hoped it wasn’t Teresa, or that whoever had helped it wouldn’t get caught.

  “No comment,” she said. “Although I would say that mercy is a very important attribute for an Alpha.”

  He snorted. “Tell that to your stepfather.”

  “We’re back to that, are we?”

  “Yep. You Mordhaus, me Killingworth. It’s always back to that. Let’s go back and see what they managed to uncover.”

  When they got to the compound, however, he didn’t lead her back to her room.

  “Where am I going now?” she asked as he led her down a long hallway.

  “The room next to mine.” He held open the door. “As I said, I sleep very lightly. There will also be a guard stationed at the window. My men will bring you your clothing and books.”

  She walked in and slammed the door shut without a word. Great. Now she’d be sleeping next to him for an entire month. She’d scent him every minute she was in her room. She’d picture him sleeping – did he sleep naked? Would he be sleeping alone? Why was he torturing her like this?

  A few minutes later he came back and her body did that crazy thing it always did, her nipples instantly swelling to tender buds and her pussy pulsing, sending urgent messages up to her brain. Want him want him want him…

  “You left your tranq gun in your room,” he said. “Why?”

  “It smelled as if there was cyanide mixed in with the tranquilizer,” she said. “If I’d have shot anybody, I would have killed them.”

  His brows drew together in a threatening scowl. “Where did you get that gun?”

  She hesitated a minute, than admitted “I don’t know.”

  His expression turned even angrier.

  “Katrina, I need to know, and I’m not screwing around here. I will get an answer.” His voice was harsh, and his eyes had that gleam to them that explained his scary reputation. “My feelings for you don’t matter. That’s my pack members’ lives we’re talking about here.”

  “Maddox, I seriously and truthfully have no idea. Someone apparently managed to pick the lock on the window bars and tossed in the noscentium and the tranq gun.”

  “I see.” He looked thoughtful. “So – you had your chance to kill me, and you blew it.”

  “Don’t get too full of yourself. I’m leaving that part up to my Alpha.”

  He turned and left the room before she had a chance to ask him – exactly what feelings did he have for her?

  Chapter Eight

  It was a warm June night, and the doors and windows of the big log cabin style meeting house were open.

  Maddox sat the head of the table in the council meeting, resisting the urge to tap his fingers impatiently. This was his least favorite part of being an Alpha. It was like being a CEO, sitting through meetings and having everybody update him.

  Karl, the head of business affairs, went first. “It looks like Roman is trying to undercut our logging contracts. He’s been going around offering much lower prices to new customers and promising to guarantee those new prices for at least one year. So far, our customers have been loyal to us and have declined the offer, out of concern for what would happen when that year is up, and also because Roman has something of a bad reputation.”

  Carver, who was there to report on pack security issues, shrugged. “We won’t have to worry about it in a month, will we?”

  Everyone else nodded. They all were utterly confident that Maddox would win.

  Maddox nodded. “Still good to know.”

  After a few more minutes of business updates, it was Carver’s turn. “We still haven’t identified the person who tried to break Katrina out of her room. We’ve questioned everybody, searched all rooms on the property, both personal and public, and we’ve got nothing. My money is on someone who came over from the Mordhaus pack.”

  Carver had been against Killingworth taking in the members of the Mordhaus pack at all. There had been eight of them so far, and outwardly at least, they were easy to deal with, eager to fit in and hadn’t caused any trouble.

  “And we’ve still made no progress on tracing those calls made to the Mordhaus pack?” Maddox asked.

  Somebody had made several calls to the Mordhaus pack’s extension using a burner phone, which had been found discarded in the bushes during a surprise security drill by Carver and his men. The pack always remained prepared for an attack.

  “Nothing,” Carver said. “There were no fingerprints on it, and noscentium was applied to disguise the user’s identity.

  “It is possible that the person was just calling friends family members that they missed,” Cecily said. “They might not have been spying on us.” She was a schoolteacher, in charge of education, and always wanted to think the best of everyone.

  “It’s possible that bats could fly out of my ass, but it’s not likely,” Carver said.

  “Don’t talk to my aunt that way,” her nephew Drew, the head of agriculture and livestock, snapped.

  “Don’t tell m
e what to do,” Carver growled at him.

  Both men went hairy and their snouts elongated, and they bristled and snarled at each other for a few seconds until Maddox let out a sharp bark of anger. “Enough! Back to business. Carver, watch your language around the ladies.”

  Carver bowed his head to indicate his respect for the Alpha. “Yes sir. Won’t happen again.”

  It probably would, because Carver tended to have a foul mouth, but he’d shut up for the time being.

  “One more thing, before I forget,” Carver said. “Heather’s father hasn’t checked in to the rehab center yet. It’s been three days since we kicked him out.”

  Maddox nodded curtly. He didn’t expect this to end well.

  After the meeting, he went outside and walked through the common area on his way back to his quarters.

  He felt that warm, pleasurable swell sweep over his body, which meant that Katrina was somewhere nearby. It was dark out, and electric lanterns cast yellow pools of light on the central common square and lit the paths between the buildings.

  She sat at a picnic table in the common area, with Heather, who was her shadow these days. A shifter named Phillip was on guard duty. Caroline and Peony and Teresa were there too.

  From what he’d been told, Peony had just announced she was delaying her marriage to Alexander. Alexander claimed he had no idea why, and Peony refused to talk about it. Emotions and relationships weren’t really Maddox’s thing, so he’d let it go.

  Katrina and Heather were leaning in over some crafts project, their heads bent towards each other, off in their own little world. Was Katrina thinking of him as much as he thought of her?

  He’d been doing his very best to avoid Katrina for the past few days, but it was getting harder and harder to deny the hunger and need that swelled up inside him. He didn’t bother to slake that thirst with any of the other pack females; he knew it wouldn’t satisfy him. And on some level, he knew it would hurt Katrina and he didn’t want to do that.