Bridenapped The Alpha's Choice (12 page)

The next morning
…

At first it had seemed like baby Stuart, which was the name Bruce had picked out, was getting better. The aspirin worked at first. But now the baby had a fever even when they gave him aspirin, and he didn’t look right. And he still hardly ate, and when he cried, it sounded weak and funny.

Duane looked at John. “We promised,” he said to him. “We’re going to try to find a doctor.”

“How would we even find one?” John asked, worry curling in his stomach. If Mr. Tompkins killed him, what would happen to Bruce? Bruce would ask too many questions, and…who knew what Mr. Tompkins would do to him.

“We know town is to the North. That’s where his car comes from,” Duane pointed out.

That was true. All the boys had good hearing because they were wolves, so they had a pretty good idea of where the road was, even though it was far away.

“I can find it,” Duane said confidently. “I’ll take the baby and I’ll go tonight after he falls asleep.”

I hope he lasts that long
, John thought nervously, glancing at Stuart.

* * * * *

Mary stood in the hallway, her nerves humming with tension. Briony was sitting in her room, talking to Constance. Angela had insisted that Mary come out and speak to her, which was stressing her out. She was petrified that somebody would go into her room and find Briony and haul her off to be executed.

“Why do I need to be in the hallway? Why couldn’t we talk in my room?” she asked. Then Craig rounded the corner, and Mary turned to glare at Angela

“You betrayed me, devil-cousin. I thought you were better than that. Slightly better, at least.”

“No, you need to listen to this,” Angela said stubbornly. “Craig came to talk to me and we’ve made up, and also there’s something you really need to— Get back here!”

Mary was heading back to her room, but Craig ran and jumped in front of her and blocked the way. Damned fast werewolves.

“Jarrod didn’t want to stand you up back in high school. It was all Earvin,” Craig said quickly. “He set your mother up so she’d get arrested for shoplifting from a store that he owned, and she was facing some serious time in jail because she was already on probation. Then he told Jarrod that he’d agree to get rid of your mother permanently – he’d pay for her fake her own death and leave town. Jarrod knew what you were going through. He knew Hilda had moved out and left you to deal with everything by yourself. He knew you were waitressing after school and your mother was stealing your tip money to buy booze and drugs. He knew your mother was bringing home drunk boyfriends who were hitting on you. So he agreed to break things off with you, and he swore a Blood Oath not to tell. A wolf can’t break a Blood Oath. It’s sacred to us.”

Mary swallowed hard.

“He didn’t want to leave you. It devastated him, but he thought he was protecting you. He wasn’t lying when he told you the reason that he’s never stayed with a woman since then is because he never got over you. And Earvin had promised to let you know that Jarrod wouldn’t be showing up for dinner, but he didn’t, of course. And he posed as Jarrod and sent out a message on Facebook to all the popular kids in school letting them know about it, because he wanted to make you hate Jarrod as much as possible.”

Mary felt hot tears burning in her eyes.

Her mother had been alive all this time and hadn’t bothered to get in touch. “Did Jarrod know that my mother was still getting money from the pack?”

“No. She started threatening to tell you, and Earvin was afraid that might result in you getting back together with Jarrod. So he kept sending her money.”

“How do you know that?” Mary demanded suspiciously.

“Because yesterday Jarrod went to the business office, grabbed the head of the pack’s banking department, and beat the hell out of him until he talked. Also, Hilda found out about it because she tried to get your mother’s death certificate to see if she could get any social security checks, and she found out that your mother was alive. So she started blackmailing Earvin too. She made him help her set up Mated and Matched, and she made him let her be the one to arrange Jarrod’s bridenapping. He wanted you off the Bridenapping, but Hilda insisted on keeping you on.”

Mary stumbled, taking a step back under the weight of all of these betrayals. She blinked hard to keep from crying.

“Craig?” Jarrod shouted from around the corner.

Craig winced.

“I told him to come here. I hope I did the right thing,” Craig muttered, suddenly sounding nervous. “Maybe you should go. You might not want to see this,” he added to Angela.

“Nope. I was a stupid dumbass for leaving you before.”

“True,” he agreed.

“And I’m never leaving you again. Also you’re supposed to argue with me and tell me I’m not a stupid dumbass.”

Before Craig could answer, Jarrod came stomping down the hall.

“Craig, what have you done?” he demanded furiously. “I swore an oath!”

“Yes, you swore an oath. I didn’t.” Craig dropped his gaze in submission, and moved in front of Angela. “She had nothing to do with it!” he added hastily, as Jarrod clenched his fists, his face going furry.

“Yes I did, and if you hurt Craig, I’ll kill you!” Angela shouted from behind Craig.

Jarrod stood there for what felt like an eternity but probably only lasted a few seconds.

Finally he regained control. He turned to look at Mary, his gaze searching. Pleading.

“I was trying to protect you. I never wanted you to know…”

“That my mother didn’t give a damn about me? That my sister is a horrible person?” Mary wiped at her eyes.

Then her door banged open and Constance rushed out. “Briony’s gone!” she cried out. “She said she was going to find Petra and make her talk. I tried to stop her, but she went out the window and ran off!”

She saw Jarrod and went pale. She paused and nodded her head at him abruptly. “Sir,” she said. Then she squared her shoulders and looked him right in the eye. “Everybody said that I was crazy when I said I felt that there had been a mix-up at the hospital. Briony is saying the same thing. There’s something wrong, and I won’t be quiet anymore.”

Jarrod nodded, his face grim. “I know that now, Constance. We did a DNA test on your baby, you know that, and when it came back showing the baby was yours, I thought you must be mistaken. But now I’ve been looking into the pack’s finances and I found out that my uncle is purchasing something from Eastern Europe several times a year…from a surrogacy clinic. I just found this out yesterday, and we have a team investigating it, but I think Earvin has been bringing in babies. Designer babies, so to speak. Babies engineered to be swift and strong, to grow up to be the kind of athletes who would always win at the Alpha Games. I believe that he started twenty years ago, and he took over as Gamesmaster four years ago – when the youngest babies he’d replaced turned sixteen and were eligible to enter the games.”

Mary felt a shockwave of horror wash over her. What the hell had been done with all the babies he’d replaced? Was Briony’s baby dead?

“Did you speak to the Mage?” Constance demanded.

“When the Enforcers went to his house this morning, he walked out on the front steps to meet them – and shot himself in the head with a silver bullet. Ignatius fled the pack lands, not that he’ll get far. Let’s go find Petra before Briony gets to her. Trust me, I’ll make my aunt talk.”

“How will we find her?” Mary asked.

“Her phone’s being tracked by GPS. I’ll go. You stay here,” Jarrod said sternly. “I mean it.”

He headed out with Craig following at his heels.

Mary waited until he was gone. Then she turned to Constance. “We might be able to talk to Briony before she gets to Petra,” she said. “How would we find her?”

“I can scent track her,” she said. “And Briony is probably scent-tracking Petra. Follow me.” She rippled and went gray. Her eyes turned pointy and triangular. She shuddered and sank down to all fours, covered in thick gray-and-white fur.

Mary and Angela followed her through Mary’s suites and out the back window. They ran behind her into the woods. Constance paused and sniffed at the air, then began loping along. Angela and Mary ran at full speed behind her. Soon they were gasping for breath, as Constance kept twisting around to bark impatiently at them.

Finally they reached a clearing. Briony and Petra stood there. Petra was clutching a baby in her arms, and her eyes were wild.

Briony was in human form except for her ears and fangs.

Mary and Angela stumbled into the clearing.

“Briony…don’t! Jarrod’s coming…” Mary shouted between gasps of breath. She looked around. If he wasn’t here yet, it probably meant Petra didn’t have her cell phone so he hadn’t been able to track her. But if he started scenting, he’d find her soon.

“Earvin’s coming too!” Petra cried out, her eyes wild with fear. “You’d better let me go or he’ll kill you! Especially you,” she spat at Mary. “He hates you.”

“That baby you’re holding is not mine,” Briony snarled, advancing on her, fists clenched. “You were taking that baby to kill him, weren’t you? Did you kill my baby?” Her voice rose to a scream.

“No!” Petra cried out, backing up farther. “I’ve been saving them!” She stumbled on a root, tripped, and fell, still holding the baby. As she struggled back into a sitting position, the baby rolled out of her arms and lay there in the dirt, crying.

Before she could get up, Jarrod and Craig raced into the clearing in wolf form.

“Lying bitch!” Constance had shifted back into human form, and she screamed at Petra in a voice that was hoarse with fury.

Jarrod and Craig shifted back into human form, and Jarrod began moving towards his aunt. “Whose baby is that?” he demanded of Petra, pointing at the squirming child on the ground.

“It’s nobody’s baby yet! You’ve all been watching the hospital, so I haven’t been able to switch him out like I was
supposed
to.” Her voice was a high-pitched, accusatory whine.

“Earvin’s coming, and he’s got reinforcements,” she added to Jarrod. “He’ll kill you. He’ll kill her. He will. You’d better get out of here.”

“You were going to take that baby out here and bury it. You foul, evil murder!” Constance snarled at her.

Mary was swaying where she stood, still gulping in air and struggling to catch her breath.

“I’ve been saving babies, not killing them!” Petra wailed. “It’s true! Earvin told me to kill the male babies that look weak, and replace them with these babies who were bred to be superior. But I didn’t. I hired a man to raise all the babies in the woods. He takes wonderful care of them. He raises them like his own children, out in the woods, in nature! It’s paradise there! That’s where I was taking this baby. It’s true, I never killed one single child!”

“Where the hell are they, you bitch?” Constance howled at her. “Where are our children?”

“I will only tell you where they are if Jarrod grants me full immunity,” Petra said quickly. “I’ll tell you everything. But you have to promise that I will not be charged with any crimes. Jarrod must swear a blood oath. Otherwise, you will never find them. It’s a big country.”

“You weak, treacherous bitch!” Earvin burst through the underbrush and lunged at her. He had six Enforcers with him, and they ran over to surround Mary and Angela, blocking them off from Jarrod and Craig, who stood close to Petra.

“Earvin!” Petra screamed.

Her brother shifted and ripped out her throat.

Mary shrieked in horror, and Angela turned to the side and threw up as Petra lay twitching and gurgling in the dirt. Earvin shifted back and stood there, naked now, blood dripping from his mouth. Angela took one look at him and threw up again.

“Now you’ll never know where they are,” Earvin snarled at Constance and Briony, who stumbled back, wailing. “Nor should you. They don’t deserve to be in our pack. I only replaced the weak, inferior ones. You should be grateful to me for giving you strong, successful sons, who would bring pride and honor to our pack.”

“You dumb bastard,” Jarrod growled at him, his eyes glowing with rage. “Your sister was as stupid as you are. Petra used a secret bank account to pay a man in Wisconsin ten thousand dollars a month. We already found out where the man’s property is, and we’ve contacted the nearest pack. The children must be there. They will be returned to their mothers.”

Earvin’s eyes flared with rage and he choked back a snarl.

“You think you’re so smart? You’re going to die. All these women are going to die. And I’ll be able to talk my way out of this, I assure you. I’ll blame it all on Petra, and nobody will ever know.”

“I issue a Death Challenge,” Jarrod said quickly.

The Enforcers glanced at each other, and then they all bowed their heads.

“Are you crazy?” Earvin shouted at them. “Kill them all! Kill that bitch first!” He jerked his head at Mary. His blood-stained teeth made her gag.

“A Death Challenge is sacred,” the men intoned.

“You will all be killed. You will be hunted down and executed.”

“We can’t interfere with a Death Challenge,” said one of the Enforcers.