by Delta James
“Everything and then some. Her response was off the chart. I wanted her to learn that when she deliberately goes out of her way to disobey me or to put herself in danger that not only will she get a hard spanking, but that I will fuck her afterwards with just as much strength and power. I wanted her to learn from the get-go that even when I’m harsh with her, she will heed my call and yield to me.”
“And didn’t she?”
“Oh, she did. Hell, Gabe, she came the first time as I mounted her. It was amazing. I’ve never pleasured a woman to that extent or had one pleasure me even more. Problem is after we’d slept and woke up, she blithely tells me I’m the first wolf she’s ever had.”
“You took her as a wolf?”
“No, I wish. That might have been better. Apparently, my mate has had her share of human males, but never another shifter.”
“But you said she responded wildly to you.”
“She did, but her first time should have been special. Had I known I would have taken more care.”
“Was she angry when you were done?”
Cameron shook his head.
“No, she wanted me close. She fell asleep in my arms, but slept fitfully. She did seem to take comfort in being close to me.”
“That’s as it should be between fated mates.”
“Yes, but she carried the burden of those kidnapped women with her into her dreams. I fear she is not going to allow herself to be happy while even one of them still remains unsaved.”
“We’re doing everything we can, Cam. You know that. Tell her.”
“She doesn’t want to see the big picture. She only sees the haunted eyes of the ones she has saved.”
“She’ll be fine. She has you. She has all of us. We’ll get those girls.”
“I know we will. I just don’t know that we’ll get them fast enough to suit her. Thanks again for your help out there. I’m glad we got the fire put out so quick. It was a curious place for it to start.”
Gabe nodded. “I agree, but I couldn’t detect any accelerant.”
“Nor could I. Let’s get the men to set up a patrol. If someone is wanting to cause mischief, I want them stopped.”
“Will do. Now I don’t know about you, Alpha, but I intend to go avail myself of my lovely mate’s charms.”
Cameron’s laugh held only mirth. “You do that. Hopefully mine won’t be scheming to do me bodily injury... again.”
As they headed up the stairs together, Cameron stopped. He couldn’t feel Riley’s presence. He then ran the rest of the way to their room, Gabe hot on his heels. Cameron immediately noticed that the guard he had left outside the door was no longer at his post. Flinging the door open, he almost tripped over the prone man who was hogtied and gagged.
“God damn it, Riley!” Cameron thundered. “Gabe, get him cut loose. I’m going to gather the men that weren’t fighting that fire. I’ll run that hellion to ground and make her sorry she provoked an alpha wolf.”
Gabe leaned down and began to free the posted guard.
Cameron ran down the stairs and out the back through the kitchen. He rang the antique iron dinner bell that had been in his family for several hundred years. His men were quick to answer the summons.
“Those of you who helped with the fire, head on back to your beds and get some sleep. My thanks again for your hard work. Those who didn’t, we need to set up a systematic search. It would seem my beloved mate has taken it into her head to disobey me yet again. Any one sees her, watch yourself. She is a capable and able fighter and she will fight dirty to win. I suggest having a lariat and staying out of her strike zone. Drop a loop on the little darling and drag her ass back to me.”
The men split up. Cameron headed for the parking area where all of the vehicles were kept. They were all there. He was headed to one of the other out buildings when Sam came running out of the barn.
“You’re not going to like this...”
“I already don’t like whatever it is,” growled Cameron.
“I think Riley took your horse.”
“She what?”
“Your horse is the only one missing. There are tracks outside the back entrance to the barn.”
“Shit!” said Cameron. “When I get my hands on her, she won’t want any part of riding a horse for a good long spell.”
“Do you want to send some of the men out as a pack to see if they can run her down?”
“Hell, no, she’s long gone.”
Cameron lifted his face to the moon and howled a mournful song.
He turned back to Sam; the pain of his loss was debilitating. “Tell the men to turn in. I’ll contact her brother and the others in our network. I’m going to put a price on her head. Bringing her back or getting me information that leads to her being brought back will earn someone a handsome reward.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Sam said, backing away.
Looking at the horizon that she must have gone past, he said quietly but with great menace, “Enjoy your run, Riley. It’ll be the last time you slip your leash with me.”
Cameron turned back toward the house and headed in. He hoped she’d get some distance from the ranch. He was looking forward to taking a switch to the backs of her legs all the way home as he’d promised. He planned to lay enough welts across her ass that she wouldn’t be able to tell where one began and the other one ended.
* * *
Riley had made good time. Heather was right. Cameron’s horse had a big engine and a lot of endurance. She found a small hobby farm and put him in an empty stall. She left a note for the farm owners how to contact Cameron. She also told them where they would be able to find their truck.
She hopped in the truck, hot-wired it, and headed to Galveston. Once there, she slipped into one of the storage buildings she’d rented where she kept clothes, phony passports, and other items she needed to do her work. Her passport supply was getting small; she’d need to get more while she was in Europe. She put the remaining ones in a waterproof go bag along with the cash she kept there and headed down to the boat.
She found the information, gear, and cash Darby had left for her. Riley was glad Darby seemed to have thought of everything. They’d always liked one another. They had joked they were two of kind. Both fighters—neither afraid to slit an opponent’s throat if needed. She had heard that Darby had fallen head over heels for her fated mate—the powerful alpha of New Orleans—and that he admired her fire and spirit. She wondered in passing if that was the way of fated mates—did they come to accept and enjoy everything about their mate? She shook her head. No, Cameron Nichols would never understand or allow her to do what she knew she must. She did believe that the small coalition of packs that had come together meant to find and free all of the women, but how long could they expect them to wait? Someone needed to be doing something now. Riley had elected herself as that someone.
She stowed her gear in the go bag. She untied the boat from its mooring and starting the motor, she left the harbor following the path that the night sky had seemingly laid out before her. Second star to the right and straight on till morning, she thought, smiling. It seemed a fitting thought as she left her fated mate behind. He would find someone, of that she was sure. There was a lot to like about Cameron Nichols... he’d be fine.
But what about you? She shoved the thought away. She had never believed she was destined for a fated mate. She had had that one incredible encounter with Cameron and that would have to be enough. She knew she would never be able to mate with another wolf. He would find out and come for her. And if whatever wolf was with her offered any opposition, she knew Cameron would challenge for her and win. Part of her wondered what it might have been like... not as his mate for she didn’t feel she was cut out for that, but to be breached by his knot and be tied to him until it dissipated. Well, she thought, if this was what she sacrificed to save the women being held, then so be it.
She made good time in the Gulf and headed for one of the ports where the cruise ship docked. She would
be a late arriving passenger to get to a port further out of the way and then slip away for what looked like Albania on the Adriatic Sea.
She grinned. The really good news was that it wasn’t far from the DeMedici. She had worried that she might be overburdening Catherine’s pack, but the turned alpha mate to Marco DeMedici had assured her that was not the case. Marco for all his noise and bluster had a soft spot in his heart for these women. He allowed them to join his pack or not in their own time. Some of them had chosen to stay, others had found mates elsewhere, some had gone home, and some had yet to figure out what they wanted to do.
Riley made it onto the ship. She watched the gangplank from her room. As she saw it being raised and felt the ship pull away from the dock, she breathed a sigh of relief. She crawled into the comfortable bed, allowed herself to grieve her loss of what could never be, and then fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter Eleven
Riley enjoyed luxuriating on the cruise ship. This one really knew how to take care of its cruisers, especially those who had one of the best staterooms. Once they were in the western Caribbean, Riley slipped away, hired a private plane, and flew to Marseilles in France. From there, she acquired a small van and made her way to Albania.
Using the coordinates Darby had given her, Riley was able to locate the large farming operation. These wolves had a warped sense of humor. They were housing the women they were holding hostage in a breeding barn and were using stalls to keep them locked up.
Riley had to stifle every urge she had to attack during the daylight. She saw men come and go to the barn throughout the day. There were no screams from the women within, but the self-satisfied look on the men’s faces and the way they adjusted themselves in their trousers told her they were continuing to force themselves on the women held at their facility and that the women had been here long enough that they had given up.
This was the kind of group that was the most difficult to liberate. They were afraid to leave. They’d been told if they did, they would die. They had no spirit left to fight, they just prayed not to have to wake to their nightmare each time they closed their eyes. She waited until nightfall. Previously she had pulled back and braided her hair to keep it out of her face. Now, she donned a black silk triangular scarf into which she’d sewn two openings to see through. She adjusted the mask so that it covered the upper half of her face and then tied the three ends together at the back, securing it around her head. She watched as one of the two guards laughed with the other and made it plain he meant to take a break and use one of the women. Riley knew it would be the last thing he’d ever do.
Riley waited until the man who’d gone inside had been there long enough that he’d be far too invested in getting his rocks off to pay attention. One thing Riley had found that all of these places had in common was lazy, arrogant males thinking they could rule the world. She enjoyed the shock on their faces as they realized her smiling face was the last thing they would see on this earth as she slit their throats and watched the life drain out of their eyes.
She crept around the end of the barn and up to where the one guard remained. His back was turned to her as she approached. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around and recognized that the woman, the one with a mask and red hair, was no fiction. She existed and he was going to die. She quickly silenced him by slicing his throat, ensuring that she cut his vocal cords so the only sound he could make was a soft gurgling noise as he crumpled to his knees. Riley dragged his body back around to the end of the barn on the opposite side of the farmhouse. He wouldn’t be discovered until someone else came out to the barn... hopefully not until morning.
She grabbed the two cans of petrol she’d brought with her. Quietly she laid a trail from the barn to several other out buildings and to the main house, quietly discarding the cans behind some bushes next to the house.
Riley slipped into the barn. She watched as the man who had just used one of the girls locked her stall door closed and started toward the front of the barn. She let him pass before jumping behind him, grabbing him by the forehead, stretching his head back and slitting his throat and vocal cords. She spun him around so that he could see it was a woman who had ended his miserable existence. She shoved him away from her as he fell.
Grabbing his keys, she began to systematically unlock the stall doors. She told each woman they were safe and that she would see them to their freedom. She urged each woman to get dressed. Once she had them all assembled, she took a soft length of silken cord she had brought with her to loop their wrists one to other. It was sad to see a group of she-wolves who had been so abused that they simply fell into line for anyone they thought was in authority. She opened a small door at the back of the barn. Riley hated having to tether them together, but she’d found that when the women were this far gone, it helped to have a way to keep them moving and not lose anyone in the process.
Thankfully, the place she’d hidden the van was not too far. They arrived safe and sound and Riley helped each of them into the back, locking the door securely. Riley doubled back and set fire to the hay in the old barn. That would ignite the line of petrol she’d laid on the ground in a line from the barn to the main house and other out buildings. If her luck held, the fire would destroy the entire farm... and hopefully several more of those who had perpetrated this atrocity.
She got in the driver’s side, gunned the engine, and sped off into the night. She had a long night of driving ahead of her, but getting these women to the safety of the DeMedici vineyards was imperative.
Riley kept watch over them by glancing over her shoulder and in the rearview mirror.
She kept repeating, “It will all be fine. I’ve got you. I’m taking you to a wonderful place where you can heal and find yourselves. No one will pressure you. You will only know the generosity and kindness of a truly great pack. Its mistress or as they call her Madonna is a wonderful woman named Catherine. She’s part of a group of she-wolves that figured out what was going on and is actively working to find all of you. Anything you know, tell only to Catherine or Ashley. Ashley is their medic. Ashley and her sister were both subjected to the same torture you were. Those who took you will pay for their crimes one way or another. I swear it.”
“What about the men? We heard there were some banding together to put a stop to it, but they didn’t come. We waited and waited...”
“I know. They are good men, but they’re hampered by their own hierarchy and wanting the majority of wolf packs to rise up,” said Riley carefully.
She had nothing but disdain for those who were not taking action quickly enough. But she needed these women to trust Marco and his men. They needed to remember what normalized relationships in their society looked like.
“What about you?” came another quiet voice.
Riley laughed. “Patience has never been my strong suit.”
“But what about your own mate?”
“The alpha who called himself that now sleeps alone. I wish him no ill will, but he’ll need to find another. I will not stop until I have you all. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us, ladies, try to get some sleep. There are pillows and blankets that I bought earlier in France.”
She watched as they stroked the soft blankets that smelled of lavender and fresh air. Many of them nuzzled the pillows before using them to cradle their heads so they could sleep. She watched them begin to relax and was content. She shook her head. The strength of the women of her kind never ceased to amaze her. It would take time, but they would heal. They would go on. They would find their way.
Riley drove through the night. When she was within range, she activated the beacon implanted in her Rolex watch. There would be women waiting at a designated spot to take the women into their care and to the DeMedici villa. Before the sun had crested the horizon. Riley would be gone. Hopefully there would be new information and coordinates so she could plan her next raid.
Information was getting harder to obtain. The network they had set up was operating
perfectly but their quarry now knew they were being hunted. And Riley vowed she would not stop until all of the vermin had been eradicated.
* * *
“I’m worried about him, Gabe. He’s been locked in his study since he got back this morning.”
Gabe placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “He’s torn between his responsibilities here to all of us and going after her.”
“Does he even know where to start?”
“We’re pretty sure she was in Europe. The masked woman set another group of women free and got them to Marco DeMedici.”
“How do we convince him he needs to go find her and bring her home?”
The door opened and Cameron walked out.
“You don’t. Sometime last night I decided that my pack is tough and resilient; I have two strong, capable wolves as my beta and omega. So, gentlemen, I’ve spent the morning drawing up a detailed plan to leave the pack in your care.”
“You going to bring our mistress home?” asked Sam with a grin.
“I am indeed. She may not ever sit again with any degree of comfort, but by the time we get back, Colleen Riley Gentry Byrne will simply be Riley Nichols. She will bear the mark of her mate and will have been claimed in no uncertain terms.”
Cameron watched as Sam and Gabe went to gather the pack in the great dining hall. He entered and was greeted by a chorus of howls showing their support. His eyes lit up, his spirit lifted by their support. He loved them all. They would be fine in his absence and he would be better once he had his mate back in his arms. No, he thought, shaking his head, back underneath him, locked in his embrace and preferably with his knot buried deep in her soft sheath and her tied to him.
“Thank you all. As always, I am humbled by your loyalty and support of me, of one another and to our pack and its way of life. I want to apologize for my behavior the past few days.”
Cameron waved off their protests.
“I know you understand. Especially those of you who are mated. My mate, your mistress, has convinced herself that she is on a holy mission. It’s not that I disagree that what she is doing needs doing. It just doesn’t need doing by her and her alone. I mean to leave tonight for Europe and will not come home until she willingly walks by my side... or I have her slung over my shoulder with a stinging backside.”