Lorelei
Chapter One
Blog post by Ruling Alpha Mate Scarlet Wickham on July 22, 7:38 a.m.…
Day Two!
It’s day two of the annual Gathering, and the Ruling Alphas and the best Alpha Mate known to furry-dom are… exhausted.
We’ve got good news and bad news.
Good news is quite a few furballs found their mates! That includes one of my long lost cousins, Rebecca Twynham.
Bad news is Rebecca is one of my three cousins at the Gathering. That means there are still two other crazy chicks wandering the halls. Please be careful and approach them with caution. There is no telling whether they will be wearing their normal crazy coats or if being unknowingly teleported to the Gathering has given them new crazy clothing. When they shoot and/or attack you, it’s because they don’t know what you are… or they could know and shoot you anyway.*
Have a wonderful weekend and may you all find your mates!
Scarlet Wickham
Ruling Alpha Mate and HBIC**
*Disclaimer: Activities associated with the Gathering can, at times, involve substantial risk of injury, property damage, and other dangers. Dangers particular to such activities include, but are not limited to: hypothermia, drowning, broken bones, strains, sprains, bruises, concussion, heart attack, heat exhaustion, cuts, abrasions, burns, electrical shock, poisoning, and blunt trauma. By participating in and attending the Gathering, you agree not to hold the Gathering organizers or other attendants liable for such damage. You break it, but we still ain’t buying it.
**HBIC: Head Bitch In Charge
~~≈~~
Blog post by Ruling Alpha Mate Scarlet Wickham on July 22, 7:56 a.m.…
Day Two Part Two!
Really, people? Really? You can’t just listen, can you? Did no one read yesterday’s blog post?
To reiterate: Warden Born are at the Gathering for Warden Pairs. Alpha Marked are here for Alpha Pairs. Whether she’s Warden Born or Alpha Marked, the women are protected by the same laws. And it really shouldn’t take more than a sniff to figure out if she belongs to you. Werewolf speed dating does not require an overnight stay in your hotel room.
I promise. I order it, even.
Also, Lorelei Twynham was spotted near the Fire Hydrant Ballroom. Please keep your eyes peeled. There is a reward for her safe return. And by safe, I mean no bruises, bumps, or mating bite marks. So help you if you’ve taken your fangs to her.*
Have a wonderful weekend and may you all find your mates!
Scarlet Wickham
Ruling Alpha Mate and HBIC**
*Disclaimer: Activities associated with the Gathering can at times involve lotsa bad stuff and yada yada and all that crap.
**HBIC: Head Bitch In Charge, don’t forget it.
~~≈~~
Text message sent by Ruling Alpha Mate Scarlet Wickham on July 22, 8:10 a.m.…
You people exhaust me and I can’t find my laptop. Quit being stupid, and if you get bashed in the head with a chair, it’s your own damn fault. Lorelei and Paisley are my cousins. That automatically puts them in the batshit crazy dangerous category. Do not view their level of crazy as a challenge to subdue them. YOLO should not be applied to this situation. Yes, you only live once, but if they kill you I will bring you back from the dead and kill you again. Slowly. Now, if you feel the urge to approach and apprehend, find a real grownup and then order a kid’s meal at the restaurant. No more steak for you! Bad doggie!
~~≈~~
Text message sent by Ruling Alpha Mate Scarlet Wickham on July 22, 8:11 a.m.…
P.S. If one of them kicks your ass, I am so taking pictures and posting them on Wereweb.com. You people annoy me.
~~≈~~
Reply
text from Ruling Alpha Madden Harris on July 22, 8:12 a.m.…
Fucker. Get here. She’s eating an éclair and we’re gonna start without you.
~~≈~~
Text message sent by Ruling Alpha Mate Scarlet Wickham on July 22, 8:12 a.m.…
Please ignore Madden’s text. God knows I love him, but the “new” button and “reply” button are too close together.
Anyone who said sleeping behind a potted palm tree was uncomfortable was… right.
Ugh.
Lorelei twisted and wiggled as much as she could, trying to find a comfortable position. Then she squirmed the other way and sighed when her back cracked. There, that made things a little better. She leaned back, resting against the wall, and once again silently thanked the hotel’s interior decorator for giving her the perfect hiding place.
Twenty-four hours into this psychedelic run from hell and she was ready to call it a day already. Except, the more she watched two-legged people turn into four-legged wolves, the more she realized this whole episode might not be a psychotic break. It could, in fact, be a little bit real. A teeny tiny bit and she’d only admit that to people who were
not
holding white coats that had all of those scary straps and buckles.
But she wasn’t ready to fully accept the fact that werewolves were real.
Real.
Holy fuck real.
And hot. But she wasn’t addressing that, or thinking it, or even pondering how every man she’d spied was all hot and sexy from head to toe.
Hot
bared repeating.
Right. Not addressing because she had other things to think about. Such as how long could she remain undetected? Or, how could she get off the grounds, figure out where the hell she was, and get home?
She’d also really, really love a cup of coffee. Undetected-ly.
Lorelei’s stomach grumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten in a while. Nice. Add low blood sugar to her ball of fucked-upped-ness.
She also figured since she was having a little pity party, she’d take a sec to whine about her whining.
Lorelei took a deep breath and fought for calm. She had allowed herself to panic for the first hour—or several—yesterday and it was time to get her poop in a group and focus.
Since she was awake at the butt crack of whatever o’clock, she figured she could figure out what was on the agenda for the day by turning on the cell phone she’d stolen. She’d feel bad about being a thief later. Or never.
She shifted and shimmied until she no longer slouched. She sat cross legged behind the tree, the massive pot keeping her hidden. A quick glance showed no one had stirred, and she was still alone in the hallway. It spanned a good thirty feet wide, the floor covered with large marble tiles. They shined in the dim light, creating an ethereal glow. She knew it’d sparkle as the sun rose, but this shine was calming.
Well, calming-ish.
She was still on the run.
From werewolves.
The good news was the tiles would announce anyone coming. There was no way to
not
be heard walking over the hard surface.
Lorelei raised her head higher, taking another quick look before she settled in. The gun she’d been holding when she was snatched rested on the floor beside her, the glaring pink contrasting with the beige marble. Her only saving grace was the weird black hole thing that transported here had appeared while she was at the gun range. Of course, she’d also been instructing a class on safety procedures, and she had no idea what they’d seen. She wondered if they’d rallied a search team or if what’d happened was somehow masked.
FYI, Lorelei, you’re not gonna think about the black hole thing or what created it or even how it was created.
She was losing it. She was now talking to herself.
Nice.
One second she was pointing out her little .22’s safety and the next she was standing on a roof, wind whipping her hair and the rush of air cutting off any other sounds.
Poof.
Not long after that she discovered werewolves were real. And they didn’t seem too concerned with a woman emerging from the rooftop stairwell.
They obviously weren’t big on security.
Lorelei felt her panic rising and rushing forward, reminding her she’d been magically dragged to a hotel in God knew where and she was alone with a bright pink gun and a stolen cell phone.
The pink had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that she had to be circumspect, she realized black would have been a better choice. Or even purple. The eggplant would have blended in better than
neon
pink.
She was letting her mind wander again. Dammit.
She shook her head and focused on the smartphone. She held down the button at the top and waited for the manufacturer’s logo to appear. It wasn’t long before the device was asking her for a password, and it took even less time to gain access.
The phone’s owner had practically asked for the thing to be stolen when he left it on the windowsill. And
then
he made the password 1234? Seriously?
He should have just offered it to her on a silver platter.
The cell phone was still on silent, not making a sound as it displayed the home screen. Small numbers appeared by each icon, signaling that the previous owner had several emails and texts.
Lorelei only felt a tiny bit guilty reading them. Tiny bit. Considering the hot guy was probably a werewolf, her guilt took a mini-vacay.
When the numbers quit increasing, she began with texts.
Someone named HBIC kept texting the guy…
Dangerous…
Idiot…
Dumbass furballs…
Whoever the hell it was, he or she obviously knew about the wolf stuff going down. She was actually smiling the closer she got to the most recent messages and that was about the time her heart did this whole stopping thing.
Because…
You managed to follow a few directions. *high five* Now, find Lorelei and Paisley Twynham and I shall be one happy Head Bitch. If you do not turn them over carefully and perfectly unharmed, I will In Charge your ass. Mwah! SW.
Lorelei read the message again. And again. And again for the third time.
Yeah, someone knew she was here. Here and they wanted her
and
Paisley.
She switched to the phone’s email system and discovered other messages that left her blood running cold. At least one blog post mentioned Rebecca and the fact that her youngest sister found her “mates.”
It was some weird magic-wielding werewolf cult. It had to be. And they, for some reason, decided the Twynham sisters were the perfect kidnapping targets.
“Oh fuck,” she whispered, stunned at seeing the words in black and white. Her stomach lurched, and it threatened to empty its non-existent contents all over the pristine marble. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” The deep voice stroked its way down her spine, sending sizzles of arousal over her nerves. Her whole body pulsed with sudden need. That throb came again and a soft light filled the tight area before it retreated and she gasped with the sensation.
Gasped because she’d never been so desperate for a guy
and
because when she raised her gaze, she found herself staring into a set of sparkling green eyes.
Then, because she was a little bit crazy and a lot scared, she did what any other red-blooded chick with a gun—and latent rage from being physically assaulted two years ago—would do. And by latent she meant burning like a thousand suns. She’d never be caught unable to defend herself. She hadn’t spent countless hours learning self-defense and twice as long at a gun range for no reason.
Lorelei pointed that gun right at Mr. Green Eyes.
More like right
between
those pretty green eyes.
*
Zeke’s first reaction when the barrel of the gun touched his forehead wasn’t an attempt to disarm the woman or thoughts of how to get free without getting shot. With the cold muzzle pressed against his skin, bullet chambered and threatening to tear through his brain, he didn’t duck or snatch it from her.
He snorted.
The stranger narrowed her hazel eyes, the mixture of greens and browns encouraging him to take a deeper look. She placed her thumb on the hammer, slowly easing it back until a familiar click reached his ears. Just as gradually, she released it and wrapped her thumb around the butt once again. She quirked a single dark brow, the delicate line rising in a graceful arch.
Since it wasn’t like he could leave without getting shot, he remained still and took his time looking the woman over. He noted the delicate slope of her nose along with its pert tip. Her lips were lush and plump, begging for a kiss, the color reminding him of fresh strawberries at the height of summer. He followed the line of her pale neck down to the hint of her rounded breasts exposed by her polo shirt. The fabric stretched taut across her chest and he imagined them filling his palms.