Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (67 page)

“Again,” he commanded. “Come again.”

She felt her body tense for several seconds then it came apart again. When he stiffened behind her, his cock so deep she could almost imagine it touching her womb, she came when he shouted out his own release. Even as her own climax jerked and took over every nerve-ending in her being, she felt him bite deep into her shoulder, the pain bringing another smaller but no less fantastic climax from her. When he dropped over her completely, his body limp against hers, she closed her eyes. As she drifted away, letting herself be pulled under, she thought about simply sleeping here for the rest of her life because there was no way she was going to be able to move again.

Chapter 7

His house was gone. Rich looked around the driveway and couldn’t believe that someone would come here and burn his house to the ground. And the way it looked, not even the fire engines had been in. He kicked a wad of something and watched the ash scatter in the morning air. He was glad now that he’d not been home. What if he’d been inside when…well, he was reasonably sure that they would have wakened their leader. Then he frowned. There was no one left to save their leader.

There were some prints, but mostly, they were smeared and without substance. He was looking for paw prints or even booted prints, but there were none of those either. And the scent was just too smogged up with soot for him to smell any one thing. Then there was the added smell of all the things, furniture, clothes, as well as food in the pantry and kitchen that had burned as well.

The car coming up the drive had him jumping for shelter. After the past few days that he’d had, he was nearly afraid of his own shadow. Not that he’d admit that to anyone, but he wasn’t going to look brave only to get killed for no reason. He was hiding behind a tree when he saw the unknown car pulling up. Humans.

“See, I told you it was a mess. I wonder who lived here.” The female got out of the car and walked to the hood of the car. “It’s creepy looking, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess. Tell me again why we’re here. I thought you said you had something amazing to show me. This place looks like a dump.”

Rich started to step forward and add to the dump by killing them both when he saw the gun in the man’s pants.

“If we’re going to get some miles behind us, we should head out.”

Rich thought about attacking them both and stealing their car. But after yesterday? He shuddered. No, he’d stay hidden until he could get a better grip on what the fuck was going on.

He’d been on a run and out for blood two days ago. Nothing, not even a stupid field mouse, was around. When he finally got to the lake at the other end of his property, he’d had to lie down. It had been a long time, years he guessed, that he’d been out, much less on a run. Then when he’d been drinking from the water, he got a good look at himself.

Dirty—no, that was too tame for what he’d been. Filthy. He’d been so filthy that he’d not even recognized himself. His eyes, usually a nice warm brown, were dark, black almost. His fur was matted and singed in places where he’d gotten too close to an electric fence. His left paw was sore where he’d walked on the road and it had been hotter than he’d thought. Then jumping out of the way of a large truck had him turning his right ankle. Even shifting last night hadn’t eased the pain and he’d had to sleep in the outdoors. Someone was going to pay for this and he knew just who it was going to be.

Austin Force.

A man’s name said so much about the person. His name, Sterling, was to him just what he’d wanted in a name. Authentic, real and true, of genuinely high quality. Excellent. When he’d been looking for a name, something more than the name he’d been born with, he’d found several before he’d come across the word Sterling. It had served him well over the years and now it had followed him to pack leader. Unlike the name Force.

It gave the connotation of being strong, but when he’d looked it up, he only saw what it could mean to use against a person, as he was sure anyone would. Physical power to overcome or restrain a person. Physical coercion or violent physical power or strength exerted against a person. Everything that he’d ever want in a name. And as soon as the man was dead, he’d take his name too.

And he was going to kill him. There was no doubt about that. As soon as he figured out where he was and where the fuck his brother was, he was going to hunt him down, tear him limb from limb, and then bury him in a marked grave so that when he wanted, he could go there and taunt the bastard.

He thought about the fact that he’d stolen Georgia from him as well. The whiny bitch was probably right at this moment telling them things like, “Rich has starved me,” “wouldn’t let my children go to school when work needed to be completed,” and more than likely that he’d killed her mate. All of this was true, but she had no right airing what had happened between his pack to another master. The engine starting brought him to the present.

The man was driving this time and Rich actually thought about attacking the female, but was still sore from yesterday. He limped out of his hiding place and watched them drive away, thinking how lucky they were that he wasn’t up to par. He looked back at his house and wondered who he could blame for this and decided it might as well lay on the Force bastard’s head. He made his way to the cave he’d spent a cold night in last night, cursing his fortune.

He had a great deal of money, thanks to his people. Laughing, he thought of all they’d given up for him to be a rich wolf. But without transportation, clean clothes, as well as even a cell phone to call for help, it might as well have been kindling. He walked into the darkened area and sat next to the pit he’d tried to build a fire in. He hadn’t been able to get that going either and decided that Force was going to have a lot to account for when Rich caught up with him.

Closing his eyes, he reached for Harvey again. There was nothing. As if he was hitting a hard wall. He knew his brother had to be suffering about now. He could barely go an hour without wanting something to ease his pain.
Some pain,
he thought nastily
.
The stupid man didn’t even know the pain he was causing his brother right now. Rich looked at his ankle and decided that it was getting better. There hadn’t ever been any swelling, nor had he had a bruise. He knew it had to have been broken or at least badly sprained. He wasn’t going to admit, not even under threat of death, that he’d not really been hurt all that much, but hadn’t been in the best of shape and thus had fallen. He’d admit that to himself sure, but not to anyone else.

Rich thought about his life. Not about his parents very much if he didn’t have to. They’d died almost before he’d realized how worthless they’d been. Not even a pot to piss in, his brother used to say, but they’d been happy. Harvey was a sap too, he decided, and had probably overstayed his usefulness. It was time for someone new anyway.

No, he thought about his mate and child. Mostly his child. At the moment, he couldn’t recall her name, something common, no doubt. But she’d been deformed, he remembered. And a deformity like hers made her not worthy of him being her father. How on earth would anyone want a child that had no scent?

Rich had blamed it on her mother. Nothing like that could have happened because to him, his genes were superior. Then there was the fact that he was sure his mate had lain with someone else and she’d done something during her whelping to make it so he’d never know. It was purely speculation on his part and probably not even possible, but it had made him mad when he’d heard one of the others speaking about it. The child hadn’t even looked like him. Her fur was…well, he couldn’t remember right now, but thought it was gray or something.

Of course, the man had been joking more than likely, but Rich hadn’t liked the idea. Nor the man. He’d killed him first then everyone he could remember being in the room when the comment had been made so that no one would think his mate had stepped out on him. After that, killing for the pleasure had been something he found he became good at. And it helped him move up the ladder to where he was now. Actually, it was very easy.

“And see who’s alpha now.” He looked around the cave when his voice echoed around him. He knew he’d spooked himself, but didn’t like the idea that it’d been so easy either. He was not going to be one of those people who went insane because things weren’t going his way.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered so that nothing would sound around him. “Tomorrow I’m going to go and find the prick, get back my property, and then rebuild. They’ll come running back to me once I show them what a weak, spineless piece of shit that Austin Force is.”

Closing his eyes, Rich smiled. Yes. He was back now. And he’d show all of them that while he might have been down, he certainly wasn’t out of the game yet. He frowned slightly. He would have to deal with the council, but if he tossed enough money their way…well, it was going to be very costly to put himself back where he belonged. But to see the look on their faces, it would be well worth it.

~~~

Dallas awoke and reached his hand out for Stacy. Damn but he’d never slept so well. Opening one eye when he’d gotten nothing but cold sheets, he rolled to his back and was disappointed to find himself in the bed alone. He looked down at his hard cock and thought about what he’d have to do to his mate to ensure that she stayed in bed until he got up. Him, not his cock, though that had its merits too.

He could smell bacon frying and decided to go to the kitchen to get Stacy when he remembered that he still had guests. Three families were staying in his house until they could find them suitable homes in the area. Austin had thought that it would be a good time to expand the pack housing, but didn’t know just how to begin. Dallas had a few contractors coming out today to see what they could do. Heading to the shower instead of the stairs, he took a quick one and was dressed in less than five minutes. He entered the kitchen, glad that he’d remembered the people as it looked as if they were helping put food on the table.

When the little girl saw him, she dropped the plate she was holding and then dropped to the floor in the glass. He rushed to her only to have Stacy step in front of him.

“Slowly. These children are not used to strange big men who are nice to them.”
He looked at the little girl then back at Stacy as she spoke through their link.
“She is terrified you will send them back, as are the rest of them.”

Dallas nodded and walked slowly to her and helped her stand. He tried his best not to look at her. One glance at the terror in her eyes had him wanting to find the bastard who’d done this to them and pluck his fur out one follicle at a time.

“Here we go, little lady. No harm done. I didn’t much care for these plates anyway. I think my brother gave them to me.” Actually, his mother had and he knew she’d forgive him the lie. These were his favorite plates. “Let’s see if you cut yourself when you fell.”

Her legs looked like twigs. He figured she had to be at least seven or eight and should have strong legs and certainly less bruising. Dallas remembered this child having been beaten the night they’d come here and he looked up at her with a smile.

“I was trying to be careful. I swear I was.”

Dallas nodded, not letting his smile falter.

“I don’t want you to make me go back. Please don’t make me go back. I won’t let it happen again.”

“Of course you won’t. And I break stuff all the time.” He picked her up and tried to ignore how stiff she became. “Let’s make sure you’re not cut then I’ll clean this up. What’s your name, little princess?”

“Luna. What’s yours?”

Dallas sat her on the counter and reached for the first aid kit above her head. She was a cute little girl and looked like her mom, Georgia.

There was a small cut on her knee and another on her elbow. He washed them gently watching for any sign that he was hurting her. When she started to relax, he started making jokes that involved his brothers and sister.

“I’m Dallas Force. My sister Holly used to follow us around all the time when we were kids. She’d tell on us, too, when we did something wrong.” He started to say how he’d gotten his bottom beat several times because of his sister, but let that part go. “We would get her later, though. When she was dating, we’d tell when she kissed somebody. Have you kissed a boy yet?”

“No, sir. We aren’t allowed to kiss nobody until the lord and master finds us a mate. Then we can only kiss him. It was almost my time when we left.”

Everything in him froze as he looked at Stacy. The little girl couldn’t have been right. She was barely old enough to be in school, certainly not someone’s mate.

“We have to be ready no matter what or he beats us and makes us go anyway. Momma said that she would let me go over her body, but I don’t know what that means. Do you?”

“It means she loves you very much.” Dallas smiled, though he was sure that it didn’t reach his eyes. “Luna, honey, why don’t you go out and play for a bit. I want to help out in the kitchen for a change. I want to make a good impression on Stacy.” He winked at her and she smiled.

She went out the door, taking the little boy that was watching the exchange between him and Luna carefully. He looked to be very protective of the girl and he wondered if someday he’d be calling to be her mate. It had been known to happen that way, children of a pack knowing almost from birth they were meant to be together. Dallas sat down in the chair and looked at Georgia, who’d been twisting a towel in her hands.

“I wouldn’t have let him take her. Not without a fight. He said that he was getting into trouble because his numbers were too low. Lord Sterling said that it was our duty to—”

“You couldn’t have stopped him and you know it. And he isn’t a lord anything. He’s a man, a dead wolf when I catch up to him.” Georgia put her hands to her face and Dallas knew she was crying. Right now, he didn’t have it in him to comfort her. He reached for his cell phone and called Austin. “We have to meet. Now. And make sure you let CJ know that I need to vent.” He put down the phone and watched Stacy do what he couldn’t. He looked up when she said his name.