Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (39 page)

The driver took out his gun and started to where Paddy was hiding. He didn’t have time to move, so he stood perfectly still. The closer they got to where he was hiding, the more terrified he became. The way they were standing, with Tom just behind the driver and Jessie with her back to the men and her gun out too, there was no way they’d miss him if they saw him. He never took his eyes from them even though the need to flee was strong.

Just before they took a step into the woods, a large male deer leapt out of the tree line beside them and had them all turn as one toward the giant stag. The roar of gunfire was terrifying. Paddy watched as the stag fell first to his knees then to the ground. He was dead long before his head fell to the side. With eyes wide open, blood spilled to the earth and he took his last breath. Paddy had never been so happy to see something else die in his entire life.

“That was fucking awesome,” the driver said as the last echo faded away. Paddy had fallen to his ass at some point and didn’t even bother looking up to see what he was talking about. “Did you see that sucker bleed out? Christ, let’s scare up—”

“Shut up and get that piece of shit out of here.” Tom slapped the driver hard in the face and knocked him down. “And this one too.”

The gun was still out and pointed at Jessie’s head so quickly that Paddy nearly screamed for her to run. The bullet went in her forehead and out the back of her head, and Paddy knew she was able to watch her own body drop. Tom had just killed his source, and he had a sudden feeling that he was next.

Paddy felt his urine run down his leg as he thought of what lay in wait for him the next time he crossed paths with Tom. When the driver picked up the dead woman, tossed her on top of the deer carcass, and began to drag the two bodies away, Paddy made the decision to get as far away as he could. Right now, right fucking now.

As soon as Tom went into the house and he was sure that the driver was well away, Paddy gathered up as many leaves and pinecones as he could find and tossed them over where he’d been, hoping to mask his scent. After waiting another hour, and after the driver returned and went inside, Paddy left. He was nearly to his car when his cell phone went off. Knowing it was Tom he broke the phone in half, tossed both pieces into the road, and drove over them when he started up his car.

Next stop, he thought, was out of there.

Chapter 18

Austin looked down at the lease that lay on his desk. He’d not asked any questions when he’d okayed the renting of the little house, but now he wondered if he should have. He looked up when Phil started talking again.

“It was done completely by a third party. The person who needed it was told that it would be on a month to month basis until the owner could figure out whether or not to sell.” Phil got up to pace, something he only did when he was nervous or pissed. Austin figured it was a good deal of both.

“How long has the man been renting the house? And when did he move in?” Austin looked over at his mate. She was looking very pregnant and he was concerned about the added stress. “If it’s month to month, I say we just kick his ass out then kill his sorry ass.”

“You might be ri—”

“No.” Dallas cut Phil off. “You might want to rethink that. At least when he’s right there at our doorstep we can keep an eye on him.” Dallas looked at him. “It’s your call, of course, but I would have my friends close and my enemies closer.”

Austin agreed. But it wasn’t just his decision to make. He looked over at his brother and his mate. Alexis had the most to lose in this, and also the most to gain. Gordon would do whatever he asked of him, but Alexis…well, he wasn’t sure what she’d do. He looked over at CJ. “The house is still in your name. Ultimately, it’s my decision, but I would very much like to hear what you have to say.” He winced when she glared at him. “I mean, I would consider anything you have to say and weigh it against what is good for us all.”

“Good save, doggy boy, but not good enough.” CJ got up, walked to where Alexis and Gordon were sitting, and knelt before them. “The house is secure, both this one and yours. We had cameras set up all over the house, and if he didn’t disable them then we can see him as well as, if not better than, if he was sitting here in the house with us. He won’t get into either house unless he has a tank, and I’m pretty sure that we would all hear that sucker coming a mile or two away. So my question is, what do you want to do?”

Austin knew she was right. This directly involved them more than it did pack. But still, the man was—

“
Oh hush up. I can hear your thoughts, you know.”
He mentally stuck his tongue out at CJ.
“Yeah, you do that now, but I’m betting you can think of better uses for that tongue than sticking it out there uselessly.”

Austin felt his body harden for her. She knew what she was doing to him and it took him several seconds to realize that he’d missed something. When he tried to concentrate on the conversation CJ sent him a mental picture of what he’d done to her last night.

“Behave or I’ll spank your ass again. What are you doing now? You know that Phil thinks they’re both safe here. If they want to go up against this bastard they could very well be the only ones to walk away unscathed.”

“Or not.”
He felt her fear then.
“What if he’s wrong? I can’t…I won’t lose either of them. Not now. We have to protect them as our own.”

Austin had never been prouder of anyone than he was at that moment. He sent her his love through their connection and felt it returned to him. Then he settled in to listen to the plan. And in the end he thought it a very good one.

They were to confront him. They all agreed that it was the best bet in bringing out the man who was in charge. Phil said there had to be a higher power in all this, and he was going to check with his father and mother to see what they knew. His dad was a vampire and had just as much power as his mate. He thought that the two of them could come up with an answer. Then there was the changing of Paddy to vampire. How would Tom have gotten permission to change Paddy? There had to be someone else, someone that would have enough power in the vampire council to give him what he needed to get what he wanted.

“When you go to the house, what are you going to say? ‘Hello, I’m here to kick your ass and bend over so I can do it?’” Dallas grinned as he spoke. “I’m pretty sure all that’s going to do is piss him off more. I was thinking maybe you could simply ask him if he has a cup of sugar.”

“Nah,” Phil chimed in. “That won’t work. He’s full-blooded. He won’t have that in his kitchen.”

Hilarity broke out. They were all tired and seemingly not taking things as seriously as they should have been. Austin was about to call it quits for the night. After twenty some hours of going over different strategies, he figured they all needed a good night’s sleep, but Glad came in the room.

“Has anyone seen Jessie? She said she had a date and hasn’t returned.” Austin could feel her worry and fear. “She normally calls when she’s spending the night somewhere else. And before you ask, yes, I called the delivery man. He’s not seen her either.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if Jessie was meeting Tom, but a sharp look from Phil warned him to stay quiet. Instead, Phil went to her and put his arm around her. He began to rub her bare skin and suddenly, Austin knew what he was doing. He was trying to get a place to draw blood.

“Oh my, Glad, what have you done here?” She tried to turn to see what Phil meant when she inhaled sharply. “See, you have a cut here. Let me put something over it. It looks a little red.”

Austin just bet it did. He was smiling when he realized CJ was staring at him. He was about to share what was going on when Phil suddenly put his finger into his mouth. He looked over at both him and CJ and winked. Austin wasn’t sure, but he’d bet his last dollar that not only could Phil track Gladys, but he was reasonably sure he could find her entire lineage.

When they disappeared down the hall Alexis cleared her throat. “He could have simply asked her, you know?”

Austin tried to keep his laughter to a low rumble, but when Gladys and Phil returned with a large Band-Aid on her shoulder, her words confirmed that she had no idea what had just happened.

“I don’t know how I could have cut myself. Why just this morning I was…you don’t suppose one of those kids accidentally threw something at me, do you?” Phil shook his head, mirth all over his face. “That poor boy. We won’t mention it. He’ll feel bad for me.”

Austin could only hope that at some point he could breathe again. When she finally left the room he was laughing so hard and trying not to show it he was sure he broke something. He was almost afraid to look at Phil again.

~~~

Alexis paced her room. She thought about leaving it several times, but every time she started for the door she would stop just short of opening it. She turned to look at Gordon when he laughed.

“I don’t think you’re going to solve much by wearing a hole in the carpet. Come here.” She glared at him and continued pacing. “Alexis, come here and let’s work this out.”

“Why?” She had an idea what he wanted and how he wanted to “work things out,” but she just wasn’t in the mood. At least she didn’t think she was. “Sex does not solve everything, contrary to popular belief.”

“No,” he said, smiling. “It won’t solve anything, but it will certainly relax you enough to think things through afterwards.”

Alexis stood very still when he stood. She watched as he started to unbutton his shirt and pull it from his pants, and she licked her suddenly dry lips.

“You would have been safer if you had simply left when you could. Maybe there’s a way to reverse this thing.” She pulled at her blouse, the heat in the room suddenly a little too much. “I bet Phil’s mom knows somebody.”

“I don’t want anyone to reverse this. I want you.” The shirt landed on the floor next to her towel she’d discarded earlier. “Come here, Alexis. I want to make love to you.”

He moved like the wolf he was. She could smell him too, earthy and warm. She knew that if he were to go into the woods right now no one would be able to find him by scent.

She looked out the window and watched his reflection as he came up behind her. When he cupped her breasts and pulled her back against his chest, she moaned. His cock nudged her ass and she felt her pussy cream.

“Run with me. Let’s go outside and run for a while. Then, if you’re really good, I’ll lay you on a carpet of spring flowers and take you to heights you’ve never been before.” She turned her head to look at him as he spoke. “I can and you know it. Come on. Then we’ll come back here and sleep the day away.”

It was tempting. Very tempting, as a matter of fact. She felt something stir inside of her and startled when Gordon growled at her.

“Your wolf is stirring. She wants mine.” Gordon lowered his hands to her hips and held her still while he rocked into her ass again, his cock hard as stone. “I want you as well. Come outside with me and play, Alexis. Shift into your wolf and let’s run through the fields again.”

The last time she’d been a wolf they’d had sex several times in the open field. It had been fantastic. Then they’d made love as humans several more times until neither of them could move, and had taken a nap out of doors to regain their strength to walk back to the house. She pulled from his arms and moved to the door to the passage as his cell phone rang.

“It’s Dallas. I have to take—”

“Don’t,” she begged him. “Please, not yet. Text him. Tell him…tell him whatever it is that…tell him that we need one hour. Just one hour.”

Gordon looked undecided and she let her wolf stir again. Once she’d figured out what it felt like it was easy. His moan/growl had her wet and needy and he knew it.

“You’re going to pay for this,” Gordon told her as he started doing as she asked. “Once we get outside you’re so going to pay for this.”

She didn’t wait for him, but ran for the door laughing. She was stripping off her clothes and shifting before he nearly caught up with her. By the time she was flying out of the waterfalls she could hear him cussing at her to wait. She was soaring to the sky again when she felt the danger. By then it was too late.

Chapter 19

The pack of wolves was just below her. She could see that Gordon was just coming out of the lake when he saw them too. He looked up to where she had landed, but kept low too. She didn’t know why they looked so different from Gordon until he spoke to her.

“They’re wild. We’re bigger and stronger and, because we can think like a human even as a wolf, we tend to fight better too.”
He moved as he spoke to her, but still remained hidden
. “Stay where you are and I’ll see if I can draw them away from you. Then I want you to—”

“No fucking way. I’m way up here and you’re down there at their level. I’ll be the one to draw them away from you. I can go into places that you—”

“Alexis,”
he growled at her.
“If you so much as move from that branch I will beat your ass for you. I’ll not have you endangering your life for me. Now, I want you to stay up there. I’ve contacted Austin and Dallas and they are coming here now.”

She growled back at him. It was either that or shift, beat the wolves, and then him. She was sure that she’d hurt herself badly if she tried shifting to a wolf from that height, but might have been willing to chance it except for the man who came into the clearing behind another dozen or so wolves.

Tom was walking along a seemingly narrow path. Alexis couldn’t really make out how wide it was as she’d never seen it from that vantage point before. All she could see was that it led to the lake and even down along it for a ways. As she was telling Gordon, she saw Paddy going from tree to tree behind the pack and Tom.

It occurred to her that he was stalking Tom, not with him as she first thought. As she watched him move she also came to the conclusion that he was really terrible at sneaking. She wondered why he didn’t simply shift into his wolf, which had to be much quieter than his human was.

“If he does, then he’ll be naked when the time comes to fight.”
She startled at the voice that sounded right next to her.
“You should know that taking your blood was sort of an open highway for us to speak.”

Alexis thought about Phil and then she cut off his dick with a sharp rock. She knew the moment he got the message because she could feel his pained thoughts. Grinning to herself, she sobered when she saw that Darcy was being dragged toward the group with the pack. That terrified her to the point she nearly shifted and attacked.

“
Don’t. If you go in now, all will be lost. Think, love. What is it you think you can do and not get anyone killed?”
She wanted to snarl at Gordon, but before she could Phil started again.

“If you go in half-cocked, then…well, my own will be much safer. However, if you get killed in the process, your mate will suffer as well.”

“You do know that at this moment I hate you both very much.”
But she did stop to think.

Tom was below her now, but there were also several dozen wolves, all of which had very sharp teeth and could cut her to ribbons. Behind them was Paddy, but he seemed to be doing nothing to help. She didn’t think he was with the vampire below her, but she just couldn’t be sure about that. Then there was her niece. Darcy was as innocent as they all were evil. Suddenly the girl looked up at her and smiled.

“You can hear me?”
It was really too much to hope that she could, but she’d never tried to communicate with the child this way before. Darcy dropped her head and Alexis nearly cried out in frustration.

“Yes. You sound funny, but I can hear you. I can hear…it sounds like Mr. Gordon too, but I’m not sure.”
Alexis moved a branch lower as Darcy continued.
“He wants to change me. He wants me to be his day walker. I don’t want to do that, Aunt Alexis. Please help me.”

“I am, baby.”
She looked over at Gordon, who was crouched low behind a fallen log. She wondered why they hadn’t seen him yet and remembered her vantage point.
“Gordon is coming toward you from the tree just to your left. Can you see him at all?”

Darcy raised her head only to have her face slapped. Alexis let out a sharp cry and flew off so that she wouldn’t be tempted to go down and rip Tom’s eyes out. She wanted the man dead in the worst way.

“I can’t see him. And don’t worry about this man hitting me. When you save me, I’m going to kick his bottom.”
Alexis came back, landed just above the group in another tree, and sent her niece all the love she could.

“Darcy, love, can you pretend to faint? I can come a bit closer to you if you distract them for me.”

Alexis wanted to tell Gordon no, but before she could Darcy did just as he’d asked her to. Gordon moved up another ten feet or so and was nearly to them when the group seemed to turn to the left as one.

Alexis could see the larger wolves coming at them at a full out run. She was both terrified and awed by the beauty at the same time. She knew that the larger wolf at the head of the pack was Austin and could see why he was alpha.

“I’m much prettier than him,”
Gordon told her
. “You should know that. And when this nonsense is over, I’m going to show you just how much bigger I can get when you’re naked beneath me.”

Her entire body reacted to his words. And she nearly moaned before a movement caught her eye. Paddy was moving up behind Tom with a knife in his hands. She knew the exact moment when the vampire knew he was there. She watched in horror as Paddy put his knife down and spoke to Tom.

“I’ve come to make a bargain with you. I don’t want you to kill me like you did Jessie. What will it take to keep myself alive?” Paddy nodded toward his daughter. “Her?”

Tom laughed. “I’ve already got her, you moron. What the hell else could you possibly offer me? And as soon as that cunt of a shifter shows up I’ll have her as well. You,” Tom said as he pulled out a gun, “have outlived your usefulness to me and my cause.”

The sharply barked “no” was all that Paddy was able to say before the gun went off. A second shot, this one not nearly as loud, sounded at almost the same time. When Tom dropped to one knee Alexis thought he had fallen, but it seemed someone had shot the man. Paddy fell forward as a gun slipped from his fingers.

Alexis could only stare as Tom pulled his long sword free and took Paddy’s head from his shoulders. A scream from Darcy brought Alexis from the nightmare.

The wolves coming to help were too far away when Tom suddenly turned toward Darcy. He had his hand raised with his sword coming toward her. Alexis knew that if Darcy was going to be saved it had to be now and it had to be her. Dropping to the ground, she shifted and landed at nearly the same time.

~~~

Gordon nearly shifted to go after her when he saw her dropping. He knew that for the rest of his days, whenever he thought of her falling to the ground, he’d still have shivers of terror run through him. But when she stood behind the vampire and swiped at him, Gordon knew that she would conquer.

“What have we here? Another wolf?” Gordon moved closer as Tom spoke. “You know that I have a fine collection of beautiful pelts at home, and your silver one will fill it out nicely.”

Alexis growled low and deep, masking any sound the pack made running faster now toward them. Gordon reached out to his brother and alpha.

“
If you don’t get here in the next several seconds I’m going to have to move in without you. He has my mate and I’m afraid he’s going to kill her.”
Gordon moved closer still. He wasn’t afraid of the pack, but he was afraid for the safety of his mate. If he made the wrong move they’d kill her because of their vast number.

“I’m coming. Did you have to do this all the way across our land and the other side of hers? Christ, we’re moving as fast as we’ve ever moved.”
Gordon snarled at his brother’s comment.
“Calm down, Gordon. You’ll do none of us any good if you get either of you killed. I’m coming. We’re all coming.”

The pack hit the wolves with the vampire as one. Nearly fifty fully grown and not so grown wolves had more than half of the wild wolves killed before they could get away. In a matter of seconds the ground was covered in blood.

Gordon leapt up and was after Tom when the man turned with Alexis as her wolf suddenly in front of him, his huge hands wrapped around her throat. Gordon stopped so suddenly that dirt flew up at Tom and sprinkled his face and hair.

Gordon couldn’t shift fast enough. He was standing before the two of them. He looked at his mate then at the man who held her.

“You harm her and I will hunt you down, stake you to the ground, and roast marshmallows over your burning body when the sun comes up.” He took a step forward when Alexis whimpered. “Let her go and let’s take care of this man to man.”

Tom laughed and spittle ran down his chin as he licked Alexis’s furred cheek. “You think to threaten me then you want me to do something for you? You’re very stupid if you think your puny little wolf is going to scare me. I know what a wolf of her caliber is worth. What do you think I wanted the brat for? I turned the father as a lark. Having his daughter to breed will make me rich.”

The movement beside him didn’t make him turn. He’d know his brother’s scent anywhere. Smiling, he looked Tom up and down then to his face again. He was terrified if he let himself think about where Alexis was and how this man could hurt her, so he tried not to look directly at her.

“Turning a human without permission is a crime punishable by death. You don’t really think that the alpha around here is going to let you do that, do you? I mean, first off, she’s merely a child; secondly…well secondly, I’m going to kill you so all your plans are for naught.”

At least he hoped so. Gordon took a step forward and Austin moved with him. His wolf was so large that he reached nearly to Gordon’s hip at the back. Alexis whimpered again and he looked at her. When their eyes connected she looked to his left then back at him. She did this twice more before he felt the other vampire.

“Hello, Tom. It’s been a very long time.” Gordon glanced at the newcomer and didn’t have the slightest idea if the man was friend or foe. When he spoke again Gordon felt his world tilt. “I’ve come to claim my rights as your maker.”

“Maker,” Gordon said about the same time he saw Phil come into view. “I don’t think you have any rights, maker or not. He has my mate and things are going to get nasty really fastlike if he doesn’t let her go.”

The man put his hand on Gordon’s shoulder and he felt the immediate connection. There was something very…warm he supposed, about the man’s touch, almost as if they’d known each other for a very long time.

“Gordon, please let my father have his say. This will go a good deal quicker if you do.” Phil stood on his left as the stranger kept where he was on his right. “I called my father when I heard the name. It took him some time, but he remembered his child after some help from my mom.”

“She most certainly did not help. If truth be told, she was more of a hindrance than help.” Mr. Campbell paused a few seconds before he continued. “And if you tell her I said that, I will deny it with my last breath.”

“It well may be your last breath, you old turd. What is the meaning of this?” Mrs. Campbell, Gordon thought, looked over at the man who still held Alexis. “Tom, you’d best listen or Rod here will be forced to take serious action. And just so you know, the council is very interested in the murder of a local human.”

“I did no such thing. And I think you are all missing the point here. I have this she-bitch and I’m not letting her go until I get what I need.” Tom looked down at Alexis before he looked back at them. “You come any closer and my death will be nothing compared to this bitch.”

It only took a second, a mere blink for things to go from bad to over. The silver wolf in Tom’s hands was suddenly gone; fur tangled in his fingers, but the wolf herself was nowhere to be seen. The screech of the hawk high above them had each of them turning skyward.

Gordon had a second, no more, to realize that she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen before she was soaring toward him, her wings wide. When she narrowly missed him as she landed on the ground just inches from him, he watched as she hopped from one foot to the other before settling. She didn’t take her eyes from Tom.

“She’s a shifter,” Phil’s father said softly, almost reverently. “Phil said that she was, but to see her…holy Christ, no wonder he wants her so badly.”

Tom turned and, as he started forward again, the cane he always carried seemed to morph into a long sword. As it moved toward Gordon, the air seemingly slicing open, he didn’t have a second to ponder his own death and the loss of his life with Alexis. But the blade didn’t touch him…nothing did. The sound around the forest stilled. And before him lay Tom Garrison, his throat sliced from ear to ear.