Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (10 page)

The whimpering startled him for just a second.
Before he could stop her Alexis was out from behind him and making her way to the sound. The man, Paddy, didn’t move a muscle
,
but stood smiling at him.
He smiled like he knew something that Gordon didn’t.

“You the wolf who sprayed himself all over my future mate?
You’d better stay the hell away from what’s mine
,
little cub.
I’m going to take what should have been mine in the first place and you are inconsequential to my plan.
The other one was a waste of my time.”
Paddy nodded toward where Alexis went without looking at her.
“The scrawny one didn’t tell me about this beauty before I fucked her.
Had I seen her first, you’d be minus a bed buddy. And now that you’ve marked her it’s every man for himself when it comes to claiming her.”

He moved quickly and had Alexis in his arms before Gordon knew
h
is intent.
When Paddy stilled her struggles with a hand around her throat she looked at him with tears in her eyes.
His wolf roared.
Gordon felt the change coming
. H
is beast wanted to kill.

“Let my mate go and I’ll let you live long enough to apologize to her before I tear your throat out.”
Gordon felt his body respond to his mate’s terror.
His wolf moved along his skin and tore at him.
“This is between you and me now.
Let Alexis go.”

Paddy licked her throat to her cheek.
“Hum, delicious.
I can’t want to have this sweet thing beneath me, screaming out my name.
Do you know what I did to her sister? Do you have any idea what it felt like to kill her?
You’d do well to remember I’ve tasted human blood in terror
,
little boy
,
and I’ll have no trouble killing her just so you can’t have her. Leave her to me and
I’ll
be the one who lets you live.”

The sound of a door slamming had them all freeze.
Paddy jerked once as if he’d been hit.
Then he leapt toward the door as a
shot
rang out and Gordon could see where blood was stained on his shoulder.
With a snarl toward something in the doorway, Paddy Booth shifted and leapt through the front door that was open.

“Find the kids and stay with them.”
Gordon looked to the door where the wolf had gone. “I’m so sorry about this.” And he shifted. The last thing he heard before going
through
the still open door was someone screaming.

Chapter 6

Alexis paced. And when she wasn’t pacing she was trying to comfort Darcy.
The girl wouldn’t let her touch her.
Alexis glared at the people sitting on her couch and continued to pace.

“He’ll be fine. I swear.
He knows what he’s doing.”
Alexis stopped and stared at Connor, Gordon’s twin in every way.
“He’s been scrapping with me since we were pups.”

“Oh he’d better be all right. Because when he gets back here
,
I’m going to murder him.” She started to pace again.
“What the hell was he thinking running after Paddy like that?
Does he think he’s invincible? No
,
he is not. Stupid
,
moronic idiot should be…he should be caged or tied up outside so he can…what the hell are you laughing at?”

She turned on Dallas so quickly that he backed up in the seat.
“Nothing. Well
,
except you sound just like CJ. She hated that Austin thought he was going to live forever too.”

“So it’s a wolf thing, this inability to be smart. I see.” She didn’t
,
but doubted she would ever tell them that.
“I don’t understand how your race has made it this far if this is how you handle situations.”

“I don’t think this is the time to be—
”
Austin stopped talking and stood up.
His body looked as tight as a strung bow.
When both Dallas and CJ stood
,
Alexis knew that something had happened to Gordon.

“You know something.
What is it?”
The hair on her arm stood when the baying began.
It was just beyond her house
,
but it sounded like it was in the room with her.
The sound at the front of the house startled them all and Darcy began to whimper.
Alexis went to her immediately while the other
s
made their way to the door.

Darcy knew something
,
or felt it.
She’d been sitting in this corner since
Alexis had
managed to get the small handgun away from her. Where she’d gotten it was anyone’s guess
,
but she was going to find out.
She’d shot her father and had probably saved all their lives.

Alexis tried to calm her
,
but there wasn’t any anything to do. She had to leave her alone to prevent her from hurting either one of them.
She was struggling against even the smallest of comforts and Alexis was terrified that she was going to harm herself.
When CJ came back into her living room Alexis stood and nearly fell over when Austin came in carrying a large wolf.
All hell broke loose.

“Stop that,” Dallas snapped at Darcy.
The keening stopped immediately.
Alexis might have been mad
,
but there were the boys who’d been
awakened
up from all the noise of the gun shot.
She started to go to them when Connor said he had them and led them from the room.
The wolf was laid on the floor near the fireplace.

“That’s not…that’s not Paddy.
Who…”
She suddenly knew.
“It’s Gordon, isn’t it?”

Alexis’ hands began to burn and she put them behind her.
She knew that at least one person in the room knew what was happening to her and maybe others
,
but she tried her best to hide it.
Darcy was in no shape to tell on her.
She looked up at CJ when she made her way to Gordon and was stopped by Phil.

“Will you do it?”
She looked at the vampire and shook her head.
“You can, can’t you?
You can save his life.
I can hear his heart beating
,
Alexis
,
and it
’
s slowing.
He’s been hurt helping you.”

“What do you mean she can help him?”
Austin turned to her
,
as did Dallas when Austin continued to ask.
“Tell me what the hell he’s talking about.
What can you do to help my brother?”

“I can’t do it.
Please, you have to understand that…please don’t make me do this.
I’ve had to start over so many times.”
She felt the tears stream down her face.
“Please, Phil, you can’t want me to do this again.”

She wasn’t sure how he’d found out she could heal.
She really didn’t care at this point.
But helping this man, this wolf
,
was going to change things forever.
Too many people, all of them could get her into so much trouble knowing she could do this.

“You have to, love.
And no one here will condemn you.
I’m not sure what you are
,
but you’re not wholly human
,
are you?” She shook her head at Phil’s question.
“I thought not.
Help him
,
Alexis
,
and if something happens to you, if anyone in here betrays you, I swear to you I will set it right.”

She knew he was not only telling her he would protect her
,
but also warning the others.
She looked down at the man on the floor.
He was dying
. S
he could hear his heart as well as anyone of them in the room.
She dropped to her knees next to him and started rubbing her hands on her thighs.

“You’ll have to tell my aunts that I’ve…that I took ill.
I want you all to be gone when I’m through here.
And I don’t ever want to see any of you again.
You’ve no idea what…it doesn’t matter.
If Paddy finds out, if he even guesses that this is what I can do
,
then there will be no stopping him.
You understand?”
She looked up at the people standing there.

“You save his life and we’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. Whatever.”
She nodded at Austin.
She didn’t really believe him, she’d been made promises before and look where it had…she nodded again.

“Someone will need to make sure that he rests when you take him home.
He’ll be weak and tired for a bit
,
but he’ll live.”
She looked down at the wolf and put her hands near his bloodied fur.
“You people had better be true to your word.
I don’t want to run again.
The children need me too much.”

The pain ripped through her as soon as she touched him.
She could feel each of his bites, each tear in his skin
,
and each place
that
the fur had been ripped from his body.
She knew the exact location of the teeth marks that Paddy had given him, the depth of each bite
,
and even when the other wolf had sh
aken
his head to inflict more pain.
Alexis knew that she’d cried out; there was no hope for it. She hurt. She hurt as badly as the wolf and knew that it was going to get worse, much worse.

Closing her eyes
,
she let her curse roll over her.
It rolled from her into him, sealing the open gashes and mending the smaller ones.
She had learned to breath
e
slowly when she did this or else the power would wear her out too quickly and the person would still need her help.
She moved along his body
. E
ach and every wound was sealed before she moved on to another place.
The process was slow and draining to her
,
but she knew that as soon as she finished he’d be fine.