Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)

by Dara Nelson

Tess stepped closer and made a face as she sniffed, “Still challenged in the bathing department I see, Selena.”

  Stryker guffawed, “You just got dissed, sis.”

  “Shut up, prick.”

  Colton turned to Tess, “What should we do with her, Tess?”

  “I don’t know. We can’t let her go. She hates me right now, we let her go and she’ll just form another army.”

  “I can turn her, Sir, let me take her to my place,” Stryker said.

  Colton turned to him, “Are you sure? She’s female.”

  “Yeah, but she hates me. I’ll have to adjust my methods a bit, but it’ll still work, I’m certain of this, Sir,” Stryker said.

  “Does someone want to fill me in?” Tess said.

  “Stryker has experience turning captured prisoners over to our side. In fact he has a one hundred percent success rate. But they’ve all been male, never a female. And I’ve told you about Stryker’s, ummm reputation¸ with the ladies, so I’ll leave this up to you my dear,” Colton said.

  Tess looked at Stryker, “Yeah, he didn’t need to tell me that you’re a sex machine, I felt that the moment that I met you.” From behind her Colton growled, “relax darling, you have nothing to worry about. Now, Stryker, you’re saying you can transform her without hurting her or using any sexual methods or seducing her?”

  “Seducing a woman who can’t stand the sight of me? I’ve never met a female who looked nauseous when she looked at me, I love this. No, I won’t use anything sexual, no torture. My methods are mental. I slowly bring them around to our way of thinking using repetition, highness.”

  “Tess, don’t send me with this vamp, please, I’m begging you,” Selena whispered.

  Tess glared at her sister, “Oh, because you were such a great sister to me, sending me to be raped by a fucking werewolf and then trying to kill me. You’re lucky I don’t cut your heart out myself,” then she turned away.

  “Fuck you, you ungrateful bitch, I only did that because I wanted that stupid alpha-male Shane to fuck me and change me. He did and now he’s dead, I killed him myself, and now I’m the fucking alpha-female. You take me away and this pack won’t have a leader. Someone else will challenge and take over in my absence. I’ll lose everything I’ve worked for.”

  Tess walked up and got into her sister’s face, “I’ve got news for you, bitch, your pack is dead, you’ve got no one to lead. Stryker, get her out of my sight.”

  Stryker tossed Selena over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried the yelling, cursing woman through the cave. A flash of light had him yelling, “Woman, I know my ass is irresistible but you shoot a lightning bolt at it one more time and I’m going to bite you.”

  “Your ass is disgusting and it stinks, asshole,” she yelled.

  “Yeah? Then why are you so obsessed with it?” he said, smiling.

  “Fuck you,” Selena said, pouting. She knew when she’d been bested and should keep her mouth shut, or at least she should, “I dare you to turn me around,” she mumbled.

  “So you can shoot me in the dick? Not a chance sweetheart.”

  “Chicken.”

  “Naw, be careful little girl, you wouldn’t be able to handle the huge heat I’m packing so don’t push too hard.”

  “Oh please, you’re probably a tiny needle dick who over compensates with a huge ego.”

  As she said this, Stryker had climbed the basement steps and emerged in the hall, meeting up with Kryton and the others who were covered with blood, nursing a few wounds, Tyson was popping a dislocated shoulder back into place while Craig was holding his left hand – which had been sliced off. Kryton grunted when he heard what Selena said, “I don’t know who you are lady, but his ego is much smaller than his dick – hell he could walk on the damn thing if he needed to.”

  “You are all a bunch of assholes,” she said as Stryker carried her out the door and onto the porch where he sat on porch swing and pulled her onto his lap, pinning her down so she couldn’t move. She turned and tried to bite his nose but he ducked out of the way.

  “Why do I have to be on your fucking lap, asshole?”

  “Because it’s the only way I can keep you fully restrained, Selena. And my name is Stryker.”

  “Gee, that’s nice, asshole.”

  Everyone emerged onto the porch. Colton went into ‘doctor mode’ and immediately began checking injuries. “We’ll reattach that hand as soon as we return to my place, Craig. A few stitches required, an amputated limb to reattach but other than that everyone isn’t looking too bad.”

  Hansen and Tyson headed through the woods to retrieve the cars and bring them to the house. Colton turned to Stryker, “decided to be the bait, eh?”

  “The opportunity presented itself last night and I had to take it. I knew you’d figure it out, Sir.” Stryker said as Selena continued to squirm and try to break free in his lap.

  Selena started to hurl an insult but Tess shot out her hand and said, “Selena, shut up and sleep,” and suddenly Selena’s lips were stuck together and her head dropped down onto Stryker’s chest.

  “Thank you, Highness.”

  The SUV’s pulled into the driveway and they all piled into the waiting vehicles. One headed to the house but the SUV with Stryker, Colton, Tess and Selena detoured to the airport first to drop off Stryker and Selena. Stryker’s private plane was waiting to take him to his home – a castle built in Scotland in the fourth century and owned and restored by Stryker for the last three hundred years. As the SUV pulled up to the plane on the tarmac, Colton asked Tess to wait in the car while he got out with Stryker, who was still carrying a sleeping Selena over his shoulder. She watched, confused, as Colton said something to Stryker, causing him to look over at her in the SUV and smile and then Stryker reached out with his free arm and hugged Colton.

  As Colton headed back to the car and climbed in, Tess asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Later, my love, let’s just get home and replenish right now,” he said as he laced his fingers through hers and leaned his head back on the seat and closed his eyes.

  After showers, feedings, debriefing and stitching, the vampires were all hunkered down in various rooms, sleeping away their aches and pains as their bodies healed – all but one vampire. Colton stood, naked, by the window, watching a sleeping Tess, nervous but with a contented glow in his heart. She took a deep breath, rolled to one side, her eyes fluttered open, found him and smiled, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

  “Because I’m watching you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it makes me happy,” he said.

  “Do you want to know what makes me happy? That beautiful naked body in this bed pressed up against mine,” she said as she threw back the covers.

  He smiled but held out his hand to her, “I will but first, come join me for a moment.”

  “Okay,” she said as she climbed out of bed. As she reached him by the window, though, he dropped down onto one knee and she gasped, “Colton what are you doing?”

  “Tess Hamilton, my heart, my love, you are the best of me, will you please do me the incredible honor of coming to the old country and becoming my wife, my Queen, in a ceremony that is over a thousand years old and join me at my side as a leader for our people?”

  “That’s what you were talking to Stryker about?” Tess said.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Oh, yes, yes, a thousand times yes,” she said as she threw her arms around his neck and began kissing him.

  Epilogue

  Scotland – Three months later

  She stood, staring in the mirror, as she smoothed her hands over the smooth creamy satin of her wedding gown, wishing that she wasn’t sad because her sister wasn’t going to be a part of her wedding. ‘Yeah, my sister who hates me’, she thought. A knock on the door brought her thoughts back to the moment, “Come in,” she said.

  She tried not to gape, but the sight that entered the room, well, Stryker, in a form fitting tuxedo with hi
s hair pulled back in a loose ponytail meant brain to mouth close just wasn’t happening.

  He stopped just inside the door and stared at her as if he too were stunned by her appearance, “You look breathtakingly beautiful, Highness.”

  Tess blushed, “Thank you Stryker, I could say the same about you.”

  That got a grin out of him and he walked towards her, “Are you about ready, Ma’am?”

  She spun around, “What have I got to do to get you to call me Tess ‘cause this ma’am and highness shit is making me feel about a million years old and I don’t like it.”

  That made Stryker blush, “Alright, I will call you Tess in private but when we’re in public I have to show respect for you, your husband and your titles so I will not be calling you Tess in public.”

  “I can live with that. Can I get you to do the clasp on my pearl necklace please?”

  “Sure thing, Mmm,ummm, Tess,” he said as he took the necklace from her. Stryker tried his best not to notice her creamy neck as she swept her hair up and out of the way or way that the back of her dress dipped down showing all of her smooth back and even just a hint of butt cleavage. This woman was his Queen for God’s sakes, he absolutely could not think of her in that way, but he was also a man, a man who loved women, a man who had denied himself the touch of a woman since he had been in New Orleans because he was busy working with Tess’ sister Selena – a decision he was now definitely regretting.

  “How is she doing?” Tess said, forcing his eyes back to hers and away from her fine ass.

  Stryker cleared his throat, “Better but she is a stubborn one. She is going to take a long time to break.”

  “Can I see her while I’m here?”

  He smiled, “We’ll see. Maybe in a few days, but she’s still pretty mad at you. I don’t want her ruining your wedding day, okay?” Then he turned and stuck out his elbow, “Shall we go and see if your beau has gotten cold feet?”

  Tess threw her head back and laughed, “He does and he will be looking for his balls.”

  Stryker slipped out the back door right after the hell he had to endure of dancing once with the new bride. Once was enough of his hand having to rest on the bare skin on her back as they glided across the floor. He didn’t need the aggravation of another dance. He’d already given the required best man toast. His duties were done as far as he was concerned. It was time to get back to work. He stopped by his room to change out of his tux and into more comfortable jeans and a black t-shirt then he headed down into the dungeon where he found his guest glaring at him.

  “Hello, Selena, how are we feeling today?” he said as he frowned at the tray of uneaten food.

  “Fine, asshole, how was the party?” she hissed.

  “The wedding was very nice and your sister looked beautiful and it’s too bad you had to miss out on it.”

  Selena stared at Stryker for a full minute, smiling.

  Finally Stryker rolled his eyes and said, “What is it Selena?”

  “You’ve got a hard on for her. You want to fuck my sister. You want to screw the Queen, the married Queen. Wait until the King hears about this,” she said in a sing song voice as she danced around her cell.

  “Are you finished? You’re completely wrong, Selena,” he mumbled.

  She grinned, “No I’m not. When you mentioned her that log that you’re packing between your legs twitched. Oh, you want her alright.”

  “And what the hell are you doing looking at my dick, huh, Selena?” he growled then he turned and stormed off. As he turned the corner he heard her shout, “It’s a little hard not to, the damn thing enters a room half a minute before you do, asshole!”

  That got a chuckle out of him as he headed up the stairs and out into the night. It was time for him to head into the nearest town, find a woman and spend a few hours losing himself before he got back to the arduous task of rehabilitating Selena. He was beginning to wonder if he was in over his head, but Stryker never ran from an assignment, he never ran from a fight, and he never, ever ran from a woman…

  Coming Soon:

  “Stryker’s Last Stand”

  Sneak peak of “Stryker’s Last Stand”

  Stryker’s phone rang just as he was buckling up on the plane. He sighed as he looked at the caller ID. “This can’t be good,” he mumbled as his finger went to press the button to answer, “What is it Tyler?” he said. Tyler was his most trusted guard, the only one that he felt safe enough to leave in the care of Tess’ sister Selena while Selena went through her monthly transformation into a wolf. Usually it was Stryker who helped her through the agonizingly painful process – which seemed to be growing worse and worse every month, which confused him, but she refused to say why. This month, though, Stryker was at the end of his rope, and his patience, and he needed to get away for a little “R&R” - flying to New Orleans to meet up with his hellfire in the sack, Casey, was just the ticket to get his focus back in line, and his nerves back in control, nerves that Selena had frayed until they were raw and bleeding – worse than any prisoner that he’d ever dealt with in his seven hundred years of working alongside Colton Renner – his King – and helping to turn prisoners, of which Tyler used to be one, to their cause. Stryker was good at this, he was the best, he had never failed – but he was beginning to think that he might be failing with Selena now – after just under four months with her he felt like he was going backwards, not forwards. He was stuck and at a loss as to where to go or how to proceed from there, because nothing he was doing was working. “Say that again, she what?”

  “She says she has to see you tonight before the full moon rises. She insists. She says she has something that she has to tell you.” Tyler said.

  “And it can’t wait?” Stryker said, sighing and closing his eyes, seeing his New Orleans plans disappearing.

  “She’s, she’s crying, man.” Tyler whispered into his phone.

  Stryker’s eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, “She’s WHAT!?” he said as he unlatched his seatbelt, “Fuck, it’s only three hours until moonrise. Alright, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

  Stryker jumped up and ran to the cockpit, “James, sorry, I’ve got an emergency back home. I’m going to have to postpone this flight. Go home to your family. I’ll call and reschedule. Sorry for the inconvenience,” he said then he bolted out the door and down to the tarmac, running for his car as fast as he could. He jumped in, revved the engine and took off, lights off, speedometer hitting one hundred by the time he was on the two lane country road that would take him to his estate. He did a one eighty in the driveway, sending gravel flying everywhere, as he slammed on the brakes twenty-three minutes later, smiling a little as he noted his record time. His boots crunched on the gravel and his long black leather coat whipped behind him as he rushed through the door, down the halls and down the steps to the rooms where Selena was being held. “Alright, Selena, I’m here, what was so critical that you had to interrupt my flight and get me back here?”

  “You mean your flight to your booty call?” she snapped.

  “Jesus, really? You just wanted to fuck with my plans? That’s what this was about? You’re such a bitch, you know that? I’m outta here,” he said as he turned on his heel.

  “No, wait, Stryker, please don’t go, I’m sorry,” she whispered, stopping him dead in his tracks.

  He slowly turned around to look at her through the door, “Excuse me, I don’t think I heard you correctly, did you just say ‘I’m sorry’?”

  Her back was to him as she sat on her bed, but she nodded her head and then he saw her wipe tears from her face. He quickly pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked her door, handing them to Tyler and saying, “Lock me in with her,” as he pulled the door closed. He walked up to her bed, unsure of what to do. He started to reach out a hand to comfort her but pulled it back and put it in his pocket. “What’s wrong, Selena?”

  “I don’t want to tell you,” she mumbled.

  “Well, I can’t stay in
here very long. We’ve got about two hours now before the full moon rises and you transform and I don’t want to be in here when that happens. So if you’ve got something to say, you need to say it now, sweetheart.”

  “I’m not your fucking sweetheart, asshole,” she hissed.

  “Good, so we’ve got that established, anything else?”

  “God, it would serve you right if I just died tonight. You would be in so much trouble with my sister if I died in your custody and I’m so tempted to just fucking do it because I hate you so fucking much.”

  “Why would you think that you’re going to die, Selena?” he said.

  She jumped up off the bed and started pacing, “You think you’re so fucking superior to us but you know nothing about my species, fucking nothing. If you did, you wouldn’t have been so cruel to me these last months.”

  “Cruel? How have I been cruel? You have been kept in luxury, clothed, fed, how is that cruel?” he said.

  “Because you haven’t given me the one thing that I needed. The one thing that a werewolf needs to keep the transformation from being so incredibly painful that it could, eventually, kill you. The one thing, that because I haven’t had it in four months, that my transformation tonight will probably kill me.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Sex,” she whispered.

  He swallowed hard, “Sex?”

  “Yes, sex¸ werewolves have a lot of sex not because we’re sluts but because it alleviates the pain of transformation, you idiot.”

  Stryker ran a hand through his hair, “Fuck, me,” he mumbled.

  “Not a chance, dickhead, get me one of your servants.”

  “I sent them all home for the full moon. They couldn’t stand listening to your screams,” he said.

  “Well, then let me borrow Tyler here for an hour or so,” she said.

  “I can’t, Tyler is a fully bonded vampire, his mate would have his balls.”

  “Well, then go into town and get me a guy from the tavern,” she said.