Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter (33 page)

“Levi!” Connor called again.

I crouched next to Ramsey, an enormous knot in my throat. Oh, God. Oh, God. My fingers fluttered over his face, smoothing his hair back so I could see the damage. He was pale, his skin with an odd cast to it. I brushed my fingers over his face . . . he was warm. Too warm. I lay my cheek against
his chest, and his heart seemed to be pounding unnaturally fast. His breathing was rapid, and underneath his eyelids, his pupils darted as if stuck in a nightmare.

“Ramsey,” I said softly, brushing my fingers over his cheek. “Ramsey, wake up.”

He didn’t answer—his body didn’t respond to my touch. Fear washed over me, and I looked up at Connor. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Drugged,” he said thickly.

“Actually, he’s poisoned,” Levi said from the doorway, slouched casually against the frame.

I turned with a snarl, my teeth baring automatically as I placed myself between Levi and my mate. “You
poisoned
him?”

The leader of the wolves was sporting a black eye himself. His mouth drew up in a smirk at the sight of me, crouching in nothing but Connor’s T-shirt. “I don’t know if you noticed, but bears have incredible stamina.” He leered at me. “Though you probably already guessed that. Your boy here wouldn’t stay under with tranqs, so we gave him a little something extra.”

My fingers curled and I could practically feel my claws coming out again. “What did you give him?”

Levi continued to study me. “Family secret. As in, only members of the pack get to know.”

“I’m in your pack,” I said bitterly. “Remember?”

“Are you, girl?” His gaze seared into mine. “Because saying you’re in the pack and actually
being
in the pack are two different things.”

I bared my teeth at him. “I said I was pack.”

“You’re not,” he snarled. “Do you run with the pack? Do you hunt with us? Do you mate with us? Those are the things a wolf female does with her pack. And since you haven’t done any of those things, you’re still an outsider, aren’t you?”

I wanted to
kill
him. Rip his throat out with my bare teeth and watch him bleed out on the floor. Rage consumed me, and I clenched my fists, ignoring the bite of my claws into my palms. “Give me the antidote to the poison.”

He continued to stare at me with those hateful yellow eyes. “Pack secret. You can have it . . . for a price.”

“What do you want from me?”

His eyes gleamed. “Same thing we’ve always wanted from you, baby doll. You need to join the pack.”

Hunt with us. Run with us. Mate with us. That’s what a pack female does.

I bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to scream my outrage, but I couldn’t. I needed to know what was wrong with Ramsey.

“Fine,” I bit out. “I’ll join your pack.”

“In all ways?” Levi led on, raising an eyebrow. “Be a shame to get the boys’ hopes up for nothing.”

“In all ways,” I gritted, ignoring the tremor of fear that passed through my body.

“This is wrong,” Connor said, stepping in front of me. “Uncle Levi, you know this is wrong.”

Levi shoved Connor aside. “Why’s it wrong, boy? Because you don’t want to fuck this one? This is
about your
pack
. We need a female. A mate for Maynard so he can take over the pack when I step down. Mating ain’t about a girl you want to stick your dick in, boy. It’s about the blood. It’s about making sure there are more wolves to keep the bloodlines strong. You need to stand down.” He glared into Connor’s eyes, his voice hard. “Or are you challenging me?”

I sucked in a breath. There was a long moment of silence, and then Connor shook his head. “No. No challenge.”

“Good.” Levi gripped Connor by the arm and threw him aside. Connor crashed into the wall and waited, crouching low, his face averted, flushed with anger. Levi approached me, that smug smile on his face. “Let’s take our newest family member out for a run, shall we? Break her in nice and easy.”

I stood still, though the will of the alpha was so overwhelming that it took the effort of every muscle in my body to do so. “I want the poison antidote first.”

He reached out and snarled his hand in my hair, pulling me close. His yellow eyes ate up my vision until all I could see was them. “You don’t get to make demands,” he told me softly. “I’m the alpha.”

And I found I could not disagree.

Levi stood, and I watched the others look over at him with a look of hungry anticipation. “Who’s hungry?”

A low chorus of affirmative, happy growls met his question.

“Time for a dinner hunt, then,” Levi said, his eyes more yellow than ever. “I’m in the mood for some fresh, bloody rabbit.”

I hated that my stomach growled.

Wyatt and Tony looked over at me and grinned.

They all stood and began to strip off their clothing. I watched as Maynard was the first to drop to all fours, transforming. The others followed suit just as quickly. I longed to go upstairs and check on Ramsey, but as long as he was chained to the wall, I needed to play along. So I stripped off Connor’s shirt and bent to change as well.

My change took longer than the others. When they raced out of the house, howling with excitement, I was only half-transformed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Levi had waited for me, as well as Connor. I continued my shift to wolf and was relieved when everything slid into place smoothly.

Once I was wolfen, Levi nipped at my flank, herding me in line, and I fell into place behind him. It felt natural to fall in behind the alpha, to race through the woods. The human part of me was screaming to run for help—to get Beau and the others. But if I left Ramsey, what would happen to him? He was helpless. And if I ran, they’d just hunt me again. They’d made it quite clear that I wasn’t allowed to leave.

Why keep fighting it, if it put my life and the lives of those I loved in danger? Better to just give in. I would never win, and I was tired of fighting.
Ramsey’s life was in danger, and I wouldn’t let him die because of me.

I joined the wolves, and we took off into the underbrush. The air was crisp with oncoming night, and the smells of the earth were all around me, in my nostrils and influencing my wolf side, making my mind wild with the scents and sounds of dusk.

As we raced, the other wolves ran into me, nipped at my flanks and danced circles around me. They were feeling playful, a sensation I couldn’t share.

The scent of a rabbit crossed our path, and Levi turned and bolted after it. The pack followed, all eagerly chasing the same goddamn rabbit. I followed as well, lest I earn another nip to my flanks if I fell back. The chase went on, but the rabbit was doomed. Within a short time, it was tracked, attacked, and then the wolves fell back as Levi dismembered his kill. We’d get a taste if he deigned to leave us anything. That suited me just fine. I didn’t want any of it. That rabbit reminded me of myself a little too much right now.

Maynard circled around my flanks and I turned slightly, baring my teeth in the anticipation of another nip. His leg moved over mine. Confused, I sidestepped only to have him nip my flank again, and then push at my hips again, trying to get over me.

He was trying to mount me!

I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my
throat but a whine. He pushed against me again, and when I tried to scuttle away, Wyatt’s wolf form was suddenly there, trapping me in.

Run with us. Mate with us.

I was suddenly furious. I snarled and bit at Maynard when he tried to mount me again. He growled low and pushed at me, and this time his nip wasn’t quite so gentle. It was a warning instead.

I attacked him, flinging myself at him in fury, jaws snapping. I bit at his face, and he yelped in surprise.

A large, heavy form slammed into me, and it was my turn to yelp. Suddenly the forest was alive with fighting wolves, and we swarmed over one another, biting, kicking, and snarling. I tore at throats and felt teeth claw at mine. Something bit my hind leg and I yelped in pain, then another attacked me and I flew backward.

A hand grasped me by the scruff, and I snarled, snapping at the hand. “Change back, girl.” Levi stared down at me.

I snapped at his hand.

His fist plowed into my muzzle. I yelped, and when he flung me to the ground, I stayed there. My muscles shivered and then I began to change back, the transformation grating but swift.

A few moments later, I crouched on my hind legs. I had a massive bite on my thigh and wiped blood from my mouth, now swollen and throbbing from Levi’s hit. Around me the others were changing,
and I noticed that Maynard and Tony were both changing back with erections.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Levi said, striding over to me and grabbing me by my hair.

I lashed my arms out at him, striking. “I will run with you, but I’m not going to let your wolves mount me.”

He bared his teeth, the human version of a wolf snarl. “If my boys want to mate with you, you’re gonna sit there and smile while they do it, you dumb little bitch.”

My fist slammed into his mouth.

The clearing grew quiet, the only sound my own harsh breathing. Levi dropped me and I clutched at my throbbing scalp, waiting for him to do something.

He touched the corner of his mouth. “Did you . . . did you just challenge me, baby doll?”

I trembled with fear and outrage, but I held my ground. “I’m not your fucking baby doll. I’m not your plaything, and I’m not the mate of your sons. I may be wolf, but that doesn’t mean I belong to you.”

He stared at me, amazed. “That
is
a challenge, isn’t it?”

I said nothing.

He sprang at me, knocking me to the ground. The earth slammed against my back and the wind flew from my lungs. I gasped, trying to suck in breath, but his fist plowed into my face again. Stars exploded behind my eyes.

“No girl challenges the alpha, you stupid little bitch,” he snarled, grabbing me by my hair again. “I’m gonna teach you a lesson about wolf packs. First rule is that when the alpha tells you to do something, you do it, and you show your throat while you do it.”

I shoved my hands at his face, clawing.

“Daddy,” Gracie said off to the side, uncertainly. “She’s just new. Cut her a little slack—”

“You telling me what to do, girl?” He turned feral yellow eyes on her.

Gracie shrank back, giving me a worried look. I felt a surge of gratitude at the help, even if she hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to her father.

He flung me down to the ground and I felt my ribs creak in protest, the air slamming out of me a second time. I crawled backward as he began to stalk toward me, the wolves milling nervously behind him.

“Let me teach you another lesson about wolf packs, baby doll,” he sneered. “You
always
submit to the alpha.”

With that, he grabbed my legs. I kicked at him, but his strong hands grasped one of my ankles and yanked it apart from the other. He knelt between my legs.

My scrambling hands clasped a rock, and I slammed it into his jaw.

The crack of it echoed through the clearing. It would have been enough to fell a regular man. The supe over me blinked, and swayed.

Crack! I slammed it into his jaw again.

He toppled, falling backward onto the forest floor. I scrambled to my feet, panting hard, and shoved my foot against his throat. He wasn’t quite out cold—but he was dazed, his jaw bloody.

With my foot, I pushed all of my weight down on his throat. “Show your throat to your new alpha,” I hissed. “Bitch.”

Chapter Nineteen

T
here was a long, long moment of silence.

Then Maynard began to snarl. Tony began to snarl. Wyatt began to snarl. My skin prickled as they stared at me standing over their fallen alpha.

They were snarls of anger . . . and snarls of challenge. The others hovered nearby, uncertain. Connor’s eyes were shining, but his expression was blank. Gracie looked dismayed.

My heart thudded in my throat. I’d taken Levi by the skin of my teeth, but there was no way I’d be able to beat the others if they all lined up to challenge me.

“I don’t want to lead,” I panted, throwing down the rock. “I just want Ramsey.”

“You challenged. You won,” Maynard snarled, stepping forward. “Now you gotta keep it . . . until one of us takes it from you.”

“No,” I breathed, taking a step backward.

Before Maynard could pounce at me, Connor shoved him aside and crouched low, his yellow eyes focused on me. “I challenge her first.”

I blinked at him in surprise. I had thought Connor was on my side.

He gave me a meaningful look, then bared his teeth in a snarl and sprang on me.

I barely had time to suck in a breath before he’d pounced on me, and we rolled to the dirt, clawing at each other. He was all hard muscle and sinewy strength, and I shoved my hands at his face as he twisted a hand around my waist, trying to grasp me and flip me to the ground. His arm snaked around my throat and he locked me against him. I struggled hard.

“Make it look good,” he whispered against my ear. “Don’t give in too easy.”

Then he bit me, sinking his teeth into my ear. I screeched in outrage, digging my fingers into his gut, and I was pleased at his grunt of pain. We tumbled to the ground again, clawing and fighting, and when my gaze met his again, he widened his eyes a little to let me know that he was pulling his punches. I openhanded slapped him across the face. I was going to make this look good, all right.