Conquering Theana (2 page)

And
that was the problem.

Theana
had escaped her pack because of the inner politics of mating. As an alpha bitch
potential, the head female of a pack to mate the alpha, she was both feared and
prized. This meant that the alphas of the other seven packs in Seurri, the city
of shifters in central Texas, could try to claim her. A particularly persistent
alpha was Camden. She could do worse, she supposed, grabbing her Dolce and
Gabbana
purse, car keys, and hotel key. She'd paid two
thousand dollars for the room and hadn't used it more than an hour.
What a waste.
But Camden had driven her
to this.

She'd
left the inner walls of Seurri to live in Dallas, when she wasn't traveling the
world because of her job as a model, something else she had started because of
Camden. He'd made no secret about wanting her as his mate, whether she wanted
to or not, or if she wasn't his ideal bonded mate. She felt nothing more than disgust
when she looked at Camden.

Okay,
that was being unkind. She wasn't disgusted, per se. She just didn't feel the
way he did. He was nearly her family, having been her man-at-arms since she was
a young wolf. However, the mate claim he made was too much for her to handle. In
her, he saw all of his dreams coming true, a mate meant for him when no other
woman was strong enough to take him among any of Seurri's eight packs. He
looked like the blond and blue-eyed Achilles from the movie
Troy
.
Who doesn’t love Brad Pitt with
a sword in his hand
? But he just didn't call her soul. She didn't know why,
but there it was.

And
that was the other problem.

She
could be his bitch, of course, by choice, but it wouldn't be forever. If he met
his true mate, then she would be pushed aside no matter what pain it would
cause. She'd be disposed of, damaged goods, and no longer an alpha bitch.
Another alpha might not even want to touch her then, some nonsense about not
being strong enough. No, she couldn't, and wouldn't risk it, no matter what
Camden thought he felt. It wouldn't be fair to either of them. If her father,
Walter, had stood behind her decision and not itched to see a merge of the
Dolphus
and Convel packs, then she wouldn't have had to
leave. He should have backed her play on denying the Convel pack's alpha, and
moved on.

Instead
she was hiding away, no longer surrounded by the love of her pack, among humans
she couldn't trust. Life was a bitch, and not in a good way. She left the hotel
room, slamming the door behind her, and stalked to the elevator. She jammed the
down button, needing to take her frustration out on something since her mind
had gotten in the way of having some good, exhausting sex.
Stupid mind.

The
elevator opened, and she walked in, ready to get the hell out of there. She was
losing her freaking mind. Her body was edgy, her wolf prowling inside of her,
needing some sort of release. Maybe she'd take a run. If she let her wolf out
of the closet, so to speak, for a good twenty mile or so run, then she was sure
that the wolf would be too damn tired to worry about a man between her legs.

For
the last two months Theana had felt like something was just on the edge of the
horizon. She'd taken off a month from her modeling career, tired there, too, to
sort things out and calm her wolf. She'd become easily irritated, and she
worried that her wolf would get loose. She relied on her ability to appear
human to live in the human world. Shifters may have passed their time of late
night news in an open arena, but they still had to deal with prejudice in the
workforce.

It
had been over ten years since the shifters had come out, and Seurri was planned
to be built. The shifter city was shaped like an odd eight pointed star, each
point housing one of the eight wolf packs—Beowulf, Convel,
Dolphus
,
Mingan
, Raoul, Ulric,
Udolph
,
and
Rendall
. Each pack was known for something
special and used those skills to help financially support the pack as a whole.
There were eight alphas, one to each pack, who comprised a Council with offices
in the Seurri HQ building situated in the center of Seurri’s downtown area.
There they convened to make any decisions that would affect all shifters. These
eight men had made the decision that the shifters would no longer hide in the
darkness from humans, and all of their worlds had changed.

Many
had died in that first peril-filled year. They might be stronger than humans,
but silver still could kill, and enough humans had believed the tale from
movies. Contrary to the movies, they didn't need the moon to shift. They could
shift whenever they wanted to. The full moon did have its advantages, when it
came to mating. When the moon was full they were more...randy. The wolf was
harder to ignore, and the baser needs had to be met. They also were slightly stronger,
not something they talked about with humans. They also didn't walk around as
two-legged monstrosities. When shifted they looked like larger versions of
natural wolves. The alphas, though, were even larger, and didn't shift in
public often.

But,
like in the human movies, they were susceptible to silver. In low dosage or
topical application, like chains or necklaces, they could be weakened. Enough
silver chains on a shifter and they could be knocked out for the count. If the
silver wasn't removed, then they'd be weakened to the point of being human
like. It could take days, depending on the time frame they were captured, to
gain their strength back. A silver bullet could kill them. A shot to the heart
was a death sentence. If the bullet didn't hit any vital organs, then they
would be weakened until the bullet was removed, and they could not heal. That
could lead to death from blood loss. In short, shifters tried to stay the hell
away from the stuff. No one wanted to test it.

Many
shifters had lost their lives due to humans choosing more often than not to
shoot first and ask questions later. Seurri then became the shifter stronghold
not only to be a place where shifters could be themselves, but also a place to
stay safe. Times had changed, and the humans were more worried about being
attacked, as Seurri had been declared a US territory. It was fitting that it
belonged to the only state that could secede from the States if it so chose.
That clause also warranted extra protection for the shifter kind. Theana shook
her head, no longer frustrated, thinking of her kind's plight. Her father had always
told her that she was meant to stand beside an alpha.
Meant
to take care of her people.
Perhaps her train of thought showed he was
right. She just didn't know. She did know, however, that she didn't want to
have to rule through her allegiance with some pig-headed alpha.

No, thank you,
she thought.

A
few stops before the ground floor the elevator stopped, and a man stepped in.
And what a man.
He probably was taller than she was by a
couple of inches. His short, chocolate hair was cut ruthlessly to frame his
ears. His lips were full, bitable really. He had a strong jaw, and his face was
built on stark lines, almost severe, and yet the twinkle in his dark eyes was
inviting. He gave her a lopsided smile, and then his nostrils flared. The
movement was one of a shifter, and she went on edge. Human men were easy to
deal with, shifters, not so much. She sniffed delicately, and took his scent
in. A myriad of emotions assailed her. Pain, happiness, weariness, shock, all
filtered through her as she watched the man before her, dumbfounded.

"Delicious,"
he grumbled, staring at her now unblinkingly. She
froze,
her inner wolf watchful and perky.
Wait, perky?
She asked her wolf what the hell was going on, but she got no response, just
the feeling of butterflies in her tummy as her wolf wagged her tail and yipped.

"My
name is Gregori, beta of the Ulric clan. And you are?" he asked, extending
a long-fingered hand.

"Theana,"
she said, not able to stop herself. She normally steered clear of shifters that
were as high ranked as this one. Second only to an alpha, betas had enough bite
to their bark to stand unchallenged. She was for an alpha, of course, but that
didn't mean that he couldn't put her on the radar for his alpha. She had never
met the alpha of the Ulric clan, known to be the strongest of the wolf packs.
That was enough for her to leave him alone. Alphas were all the same:
bullheaded, arrogant, and a chip the size of the world on their shoulders.

"Very nice to meet you."

His
voice rolled over her like hot chocolate on a cold winter's day. There was a
growling quality to it, almost a rumble. She felt her knees go weak, her pussy
moisten, and her nipples harden. He smelled so good. Like fresh baked bread and
the wild. She breathed in, taking his scent deep into her lungs, her eyes
sliding closed.
Damn
. Opening her eyes she looked at him again, seeing
his half smile still on his face. This man was dangerous. Looking like that had
to be illegal in at least every state in the US of A. Probably in some other
countries as well. Her wolf yipped again, rolling inside and exposing her
stomach. The action signaled something to Theana, and she
froze,
everything in her shattering.

Oh hell no!
My …mate?

She
watched him, saying nothing more. No, it was not nice to meet him. There was no
way her wolf was getting all excited about a damn beta. A beta!
You don't
want an alpha, remember?
A little voice growled to her, and she growled
back. She didn't want a mate period. She was also not made to be a beta's mate.
She knew that, didn't she? Gregori held onto her hand, his fingers warm,
smooth, and strong against her hand. He wouldn't back down, not without a fight
and her wolf howled inside of her.
Shut up,
she hissed, but her wolf
ignored her. As if he heard it, Gregori stepped up to her until his chest was
just a breath away from hers. She dared not to breathe. She didn't want to
touch him, no more than she already was. Her body was fighting her, treacherous
thing that it was, to get closer to him. His nostrils flared again, and he
smiled. A devastating, beautiful smile that was more wolf than man. His teeth
were so white they were nearly blinding as his canines extended. He had six,
like she did.
Three on either side of his front teeth, a mark
of a wolf that could be a leader, if he chose.
Her wolf whimpered,
wanting him to bite her, to mark her.

She
lost track of time as she stared at him, his dark eyes going gold. He was
reaching out with his wolf, she could feel it. Feel his essence trickle over
her skin like a warm breeze until her flesh felt flushed and hot. Her wolf
reached out as well, wanting the connection, needing it. Everything in her was
shifting, moistening, thickening, until all she could think about was touching
this man before her. She was in a haze, unable to fight herself, or what was
happening. Gregori took that last step forward, and her body was flush against
his, her breasts crushed against his diaphragm. He was so big. She moaned
,
her eyes sliding closed as his lips slid over the side of
her neck. She hadn't even realized she'd exposed her throat, given him access
to her. His breath was scalding as he nipped at the flesh there.

She
came up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
When his arms slid around her, she felt the strength in his body, the ability
to hold her if she fought, if she tried to get away. This beta was stronger
than she could have imagined.
Ulric clan
, she thought, and the thought
was like a bucket of ice cold water over her. They were the strongest of all
packs, ruled the other packs, even with the Council as advisers. This beta was
even stronger than her alpha, and, at this moment, that terrified her.

"No,"
he whispered against her neck. "Don't fight me, Theana." He pulled
her tighter into his embrace, nipping her neck harder,
a
warning. She fought her wolf's inclination to submit. She was supposed to
submit to her mate, but she was also a woman. She was not just her wolf. She
wanted no man. She would not be bartered off because her genes told her this
man was strong enough to overpower her, to give her pups, and provide for her.
It wasn't enough. She wasn’t ready yet to give in to the natural order.

"Let
me go," she said then, her voice more breathless than she wanted it to be.

"You
know I can't," he answered, his tongue snaking out to taste her flesh. He
blazed a trail to her jaw and nipped again before he looked into her eyes.

"What
a wonderful day this is," he said before his lips claimed hers.

So hot.
His lips were like fire
to her bloodstream. He slid his tongue in between her lips, taking his time
licking over her teeth before sinking further into the depths of her mouth. She
clung to him as his tongue dueled with hers, fighting for purchase. His arms
clenched around her as he sucked on her tongue, and she went crazy at the
thought of that at any time he could slice her with his sharpened teeth, that
they were just on the edge of violence. She had never felt desire so strong.
Her heart was
pounding,
her mind fuzzy, as her wolf
lifted her tail high, fanning it before the male behind her.

Theana
felt the impact of the elevator wall at her back, the groan as the cables
readjusted. She was off her feet, legs wrapping around his waist, before she
could even think. His cock, thick, long, and delicious, ground against her
mound as he kissed her harder.
Never, never had she thought
it would be like this.
The ping of the elevator and light flooding in
confused her for a moment, and then mortification slid over her when she heard
laughter over Gregori's shoulder. He stopped kissing her with a sheepish grin
and lowered her to her feet. She placed a hand on her chest, over her beating
heart, as she tried to control her breathing. Gregori turned, blocking her from
view.