Defying Pack Law (7 page)

The cool liquid moistened her mouth
and refreshed her, enough that she could ask, “Who are you? Where
am I?” She withheld the third question.
Was that truly Nathan I heard? And if it was, am I happy or
not that he’s found me?

“
You probably don’t remember me, but
we ran into each other a few times in our younger pack years. My
name’s John.”

The fuzzy wheels in her mind turned, and the
answer popped up. “I know you. You’re Nathan’s best friend. You
used to be a lot skinnier.” And cute. If Nathan hadn’t asked her
out after years of her mooning after him, she might have gone for
his bookish friend. She still might. She found him quite
attractive, and something about him made her relax, a feeling she
hadn’t enjoyed in what seemed like forever.

John grinned at her, displaying a dimple she
found much too hot. “And geekier. You can say it. It was true then
and still is now. As for being skinny, when I finally stopped
growing, my body caught up. I’m surprised you even remember me
given you and Nathan were always off hiding in corners,
necking.”

Dana blushed at the reminder of her youth.
“Yeah, well, that won’t be happening again.” She ignored the snort
in the background and the way her heart stuttered. She spotted the
stethoscope around John’s neck. “Are you a doctor?”

“
Yup. Mind if I check you over and
make sure you’re healing all right?”

His soft drawl made her tummy flip
pleasantly. Even stranger, she didn’t feel an urge to argue or
refuse.
I must still be hurt.
“Okay.”

His lips curved again, and she couldn’t help
but smile back, a smile that widened when she heard the impatient
sigh from behind John.

She didn’t fidget while John shone a light in
her eyes and checked her pulse—a pulse that raced for numerous
reasons. The doctor appeared to be having the oddest effect on her
and distracted her almost as much as the man she sensed at the
periphery of her vision. A man she refused to crane to see because
that would smack too much of eagerness, and she was most definitely
not eager to see him.

“
I need to check your ribs. If you
don’t mind, I’m going to press them lightly. Let me know if they
hurt.”

She expected him to slip his hands
under the sheet and cop a feel—she actually kind of looked forward
to it so she could get indignant and erase these fuzzy feelings he
engendered. But John acted a true gentleman and palpated her
through the sheet, keeping his eyes trained to hers. Even through
the thin fabric, though, her body temperature rose.
Oh, Doctor, I think I have a fever.
Dana wanted to giggle. The whole situation seemed
surreal. Attracted to one werewolf while her body anxiously waited
to see another. Had the beating she’d taken knocked her hatred of
getting hooked up with a Lycan right out of her?

“
You’re healing well,” her
brown-eyed doctor declared, taking his hands away—and was it her,
or did he do so reluctantly?

“
How long was I out?” she asked as
she inhaled and found only a slight hitch, whereas before breathing
had resulted in burning agony.

“
We ended up keeping you under for
about three days. You were injured pretty bad. Luckily, you only
had fractures, so I didn’t need to break and reset anything. We
also managed to stem the internal bleeding until your healing
abilities kicked in with the aid of some proteins fed via
IV.”

Three days!
Dana didn’t like knowing she’d lain so helpless for so long.
And, just where had they taken her? Anxiety hit her in a rush.
“Awesome. Thanks for patching me up. Now if someone will just give
me some clothes, I’ll get out of your way.” She threw that out
there knowing it would get a reaction. That and she really wanted
some clothes as she noticed she was pretty freaking naked under the
damned sheets.
If anyone copped a feel, or
more, while I was out, there is going to be hell to pay.
She blocked the mental images of gentle John
touching her skin, seeing her naked form as he treated
her.

Did he like what he saw?
Not that she cared.

“
Nice try, Dana.” The deep voice set
her limbs trembling, and she couldn’t have said if it was fear or
anticipation.

The doctor moved to the side, and Nathan came
into view. Despite herself, she drank him in, stunned with the
shock of seeing him again.

He’d changed and yet hadn’t. The same bright
blue eyes stared at her, and he sported the same thick, dark mane
of hair. But, the boy she’d known was gone, replaced by a man, and
a big one at that.

Apparently, he’d done some more
growing after she left. He towered inches taller than she recalled
and filled out his lanky frame, but not with fat. He bulged with
muscle. He also looked hard, from the set of his jaw to the glint
in his eye to the evident strength in his body. She suddenly feared
this new man, this stranger she no longer knew, but who had
evidently sought her out.
For what
purpose?

“
What do you want with me?” she
asked in voice that sounded weak and soft. She also wanted to slap
herself for asking such a stupid question. She knew what he wanted,
to bed her and impregnate her. But surely he could have found
another woman in the years she’d been gone? Lycan females were
rare, but given his evident alpha stature and good looks, the
available ones would have fallen over themselves to snare him.
Surprisingly, she didn’t like this train of thought.

“
Well, my dear fiancée, you ran off
before we could be wed in the eyes of our people. I intend to
rectify that delay as soon as possible, willing or not.” He said it
so matter-of-factly, so coldly, that it took her a moment to
process it.

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you out of your
fucking mind?”

“
Yup.”

His answer took her aback. Had Nathan truly
gone mad? She looked to John. “Tell me he’s joking.”

“
John doesn’t get a say,” Nathan
growled. “So stop looking at him. I’m the one you promised to mate
with. I’m the one who saved your ass. I’m the one you will look to,
not him.”

She looked away from John, who
shrugged apologetically. She faced Nathan again and saw the tic in
the side of his jaw.
Is he jealous of John
for some reason?
“No.”

“
No, what? Did you think you had a
choice after the way you ran away from me?”

She narrowed her gaze and found her temper at
last. “You betrayed me.”

“
I was a boy following the laws of
my alpha. The laws we all follow.”

“
You could have said no.” What she
left unsaid was he could have chosen to run with her. He already
knew that.

“
Ah yes, you and your precious
policy of not sharing regardless of our kind’s laws and
customs.

Don’t worry, you made that point abundantly
clear. You’ll be glad to know you win. Happy? I won’t be sharing
you with anyone else.”

She heard the doctor utter an exclamation of
surprise. “Nathan, the pack won’t like that.”

Nathan rounded on him. “I don’t give a fuck
what the pack likes. I lost her once because I let the pack tell me
what to do. I won’t do it again. I’m alpha, and they’ll do as I
damned well say. And don’t think I don’t smell your interest in
her. She’s mine. I am invoking pack law on this one. She’s unmated
without a guardian to speak for her. Let it be known, I claim her
as mine.”

Dana’s temper simmered at his cave-wolf decree,
and in exact reverse, her heart stuttered at his admission of
regret. But, change of mind or not, she wasn’t about to reward him.
He’d hurt her too bad, and now, she’d do the same right back. “Pack
law is pack law. Isn’t that what you once told me? Well guess what?
I’m also going to invoke your precious fucking pack law. I demand
the right to a true pack mating.” Dana invoked a clause rarely
used, but one all girls were taught about by their mothers at a
young age. In the case a Lycan female found herself of age to marry
without a guardian, while a male could claim her, the female could
request up to three more mates of her choice, a buffer of sorts in
case the male who claimed her wasn’t her first choice.

“
What?” Both men whirled to face
her, the doctor in surprise, Nathan in fury.

“
You heard me, Nathan. Since you’re
going to force me to accept you as a mate, whether I want to or
not, then I demand the right to choose three more mates. After all,
it’s for the good of the pack.”

She embellished her saucy retort with a twisted
smile. “And I’m starting with the good doctor over there, who, if
my nose doesn’t deceive me, is unmated.”

“
You can’t do this,” Nathan growled.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve looked for you? Waited to tell
you I was sorry?”

“
Gee, I guess you forgot the ‘sorry’
part when you ordered me around like some kind of slave to your
wishes. Once again, it’s all about you and what you want. What
about what I want?” she yelled, clutching the sheet to her bosom
before it fell and she gave them an eyeful.

“
What’s going on?” Another werewolf
poked his head in, a rather good-looking one, and Dana pointed her
finger at him.

“
Him. I want him too.”

“
Dana!” Nathan bellowed, but she
shot him the middle finger and a glare.

When another body jostled for position in the
doorway, a tousled blond with a grin from ear to ear, she pointed
again. “And that one for my fourth.” She shot Nathan a triumphant
grin.

“
I won’t share you,” Nathan said
through clenched teeth.

“
Oh, sorry, was I ignoring what you
want? Gee, what do you know? Payback’s a bitch. Now if you men
wouldn’t mind, I need my rest if I’m expected to fuck you bunch of
animals after you all claim me like some fucking prize.”

She turned on her side and buried her face in
the pillow, the tears hot as they spilled onto the
fabric.

She could hear one of the men whispering, “What
the hell just happened? Did I just get engaged?”

But the sound of their voices was quickly
muffled as they closed the door—and locked it.

Alone, she gave in to tears. In truth, she
understood Nathan had never had a chance against his father so many
years ago.

But now that I’ve slapped him in
the face with his betrayal, how the hell do I get out of it?
She didn’t actually want all the men—okay, that
wasn’t quite true. John actually really appealed to her, and seeing
Nathan again only reinforced the fact she’d never gotten over him.
But still, revenge was one thing, mating with a bunch of strangers
another.
I guess I’d better start planning
my escape.
Somehow that idea held even less
appeal. Had she changed so much in her years away that being bound
to a bunch of guys was more appealing than a life of freedom—always
on the run and never having roots?

Fuck me, what am I going to
do?

Chapter
Six

John followed Nathan’s stiff body and knew they
were in for trouble. They’d all expected her to balk at Nathan’s
plan, but nobody could have predicted she’d do an about-face and
use pack law to choose more mates. Rarely used, it was an obscure
clause that Lycan females of age with no guardian could invoke in
order to surround herself with protection. The chosen males could
actually say no, but, and this was where the fight would begin,
John had no interest in saying no. John wanted Dana with an
intensity he’d never expected or experienced. And while Jeffrey,
one of her impromptu choices, might back out given he was quite
smitten with a human girl in town, John could already tell Kody
didn’t mind the idea at all of being mated with the feisty
Dana.

Nathan was going to freak.

They followed Nathan’s stiff back down the
stairs to the main floor. Nathan whirled once they hit the
cavernous living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows.

“
Unfucking real. She’s doing this
just to punish me. You will, of course, all refuse her.” Nathan
glared at them all around, and while Jeffrey raised his hands in
surrender, John met his stare head-on, as did Kody. “Are you
defying me?” Nathan growled.

“
Hey, don’t look at me. I refuse,
and I’m outta here,” said Jeffrey with a wave as he booked it for
the door.

Kody crossed his arms and leaned against the
wooden support for the balcony that ringed the living room on the
second floor. “I don’t see what the big deal is. All the other
females in the pack have multiple mates. What makes Dana
different?”

“
She’s mine.”

“
I don’t think we’re contesting your
right to be first,” John interjected, although if Dana expressed a
desire otherwise—say she wanted him first—John would fight to
respect her wishes. His wolf would not let him do any less. It
would seem friendship only stretched so far when the woman he and
his wolf wanted as mate became an issue. But John hoped it wouldn’t
come to that. Nathan would eventually come to his senses, and by
that he meant obeying pack law whether Nathan’s jealousy could
handle it or not.