Taken By The Alpha (Timber Valley Pack) (3 page)

              Well, his life would be very different.

              “Nothing, then. Hope you get lots of reading done.” He turned and walked out of the door, shutting it behind him and sliding the massive deadbolt into place.  He heard something thud against the door, and suppressed a smile.

              He walked down the long hallway, and through the doorway that led into the main house.  The floors were flagstone, and the enormous living room had a huge fireplace and several groupings of leather sofas and chairs.  Two story floor to ceiling windows opened out to views of the dense green pine and fir forests that bordered their lands, and the looming Gore Mountain range in the distance.  The sky was the clear blue of the ocean, and strings of white cotton clouds floated around the mountain’s saw tooth peaks.

              Maddox waved at several of his pack mates who were playing a game of pool, and headed towards the front door. He need to find Bruce and put his paw down once and for all – stop drinking and take care of his daughter, or he’d be out of the pack.

              It might sound harsh, but shifters lived a harsh life. Everyone had losses; you grieved them, and honored your dead’s memory by living an admirable life and contributing to your pack. You didn’t drown yourself and drag your family under with you.

As Maddox stepped outside, he scented Lula before he saw her, and stifled a growl of impatience. Several months ago, they’d had a few brief dalliances. Before they’d mated, he couldn’t have been more clear about the fact that he had no interest in anything permanent. He’d found out quickly that she only heard what she wanted to hear – which was apparently imaginary voices in her head telling her he wanted to marry her.

              She was standing on the front porch, wearing a cleavage-plunging halter dress and sandals. She’d gone heavy on the perfume and makeup today.  She’d clearly been standing there waiting for him.  He kept walking without acknowledging her.

              She turned and scampered after him. “Maddox! Wait!

              “Sorry, Lula, I’m busy.”

              “I thought you could take a little time off. To relax.” She quickened her stride to keep up with him.

              “Lula, I’ve told you. I’m not interested.” Tact had gotten him nowhere; he’d have to be more forceful.

              She let out a tinkling laugh and put her hand on his arm. “Now I know you’re lying. I smell your arousal.”

              He cursed silently and wondered if Katrina had scented it too.

              With a shrug, he shook her hand off. “It’s not for you.” Harsh, but necessary.

She broke into a trot, sniffing at the air, then stared at him. “What do you mean, it’s not for me? Who is it for? I scent another woman on you. Who is it?” Her voice rose in anger and dismay

              He didn’t answer, just gave a growl of impatience as he headed in the direction of Bruce’s cabin. 

              “I don’t know that scent. Oh my God. Is it the hostage? That Mordaus bitch?” Lula stared at him in astonishment. “You can’t be attracted to her! How could you? I’m
right here
.”

              “Yes, I see you. I’m not blind.”

              Tears filled her eyes. “You are if you prefer her over me. I am absolutely perfect for you. I’d make an amazing Alpha mate. I’m an Alpha myself, after all.”

              He restrained himself from saying what he thought – that she wasn’t an Alpha, she was a bully who backed down whenever she came up against real strength.

              Instead he stopped walking, and leveled an ice cold glower at her.

              “We will not be mates. This has nothing to do with our hostage, who will be returning to her pack shortly. You and I are not compatible, and this is the last time we’re having this conversation. I can have you moved to another part of pack property and ban you from the main house if I need to make my point any clearer.”

              He turned and left her, ignoring her yelp of outrage.

Katrina had no idea what time it was, but a glance through the window showed that the sun had risen and was bathing the forest outside in golden light.  She paced the floor angrily.  How long would she be confined here? What if all of this melodrama dragged on for weeks – would she be kept in here like a prisoner in a jail cell? She wasn’t used to sitting around doing nothing.  At home, she was a whirlwind – up early, helping cook for the catering company, tending to her family’s herb garden, heading in to town to socialize and shop...of course, Maddox had ruined that for her.

When she heard the lock on the door slide open, her heart did a strange leap in her chest. Maddox had come back. Well, good. She was looking forward to insulting his ancestry and questioning his manhood.

Her heart fell when Carver walked through the door holding a dinner tray.  The plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes smelled delicious, as did the hot apple pie, but she barely noticed it.

“Where’s your asshole boss?” she said, as he set the tray down on the table. “Is he scared of little old me?”

“He’s busy.” Carver’s tone was curt.

She glanced at the door. Carver followed her gaze.

“Don’t try it,” he said. “Or try it if you want. I run fast. And this area of the house is very secure, as is our entire compound.”  Carver was a big, muscular slab of man.  There was no way she could get past him, and they both knew it.

“Well, pass along a message to your fleabag boss. I expect to be able to walk around the property during the day. I am not going to sit in this room twenty four hours a day until Maddox gets his thumb out of his ass and decides to let me go.  If those are your plans for me, I will chew someone’s face off or die trying. Capiche?” And she meant it. If she had to stay confined here, she’d go mad.

“Or, we could put the copper collar back on you and chain you to the bed.” Carver looked bored. “We don’t let our hostages set the rules around here.”

“Try it.” She bristled with anger and clenched her fists.

He just laughed and walked out of the room, as she glowered furiously after him.

What a dick, she thought. He was even worse than Maddox.

Annoyed, she sat down and dove into her dinner, which was delicious. Fine. So they had some halfway decent cooks here and they were feeding their prisoner well. She still hated all of them. Except for poor little Heather, who was obviously being neglected. She wished she could grab Heather and take her back home with her.

About half an hour later Carver came back. She’d thought maybe Maddox would come, but he didn’t.  She felt a flare of irritation.  Coward, she thought indignantly.

“Did you tell him?” she snapped.

“You’re welcome for bringing you dinner, by the way.”

“Did. You. Tell. Him.”

“Your manners are about what I’d expect from a member of the Mordhaus pack.  Yes, he said that starting tomorrow morning you can have a guard accompany you out around certain areas of the compound. If you give us any crap, the copper collar is always an option.”  His gaze was cold.

“Who put a bug up your ass?” she snapped.

“Your stepfather and his entire family, and every member of the Mordhaus pack, for that matter. Fortunately, your pack will be a thing of the past any day now.” Carver picked up the empty tray and turned and left.

She hurled a hardcover book at his head as he walked out, just barely missing.

She slept poorly that night, tossing and turning.  She kept waking up and wondering what was happening back at her pack’s property.  She imagined she’d wake up to news of a death challenge. 

In the morning, a shifter named Michael brought her breakfast, and a change of clothing – jeans and a t-shirt.  Michael was one of Maddox’s cousins, a few years older than him. Half an hour later, he came back.

“You ready?”

              With a scowl, she followed him out the door and let him lead her through several hallways and out a door. She made careful note of where everything was in case she got a chance to escape.

              The grounds were typical of shifter properties – houses built in harmony with nature, nestled in among the lodgepole pines.  Paths led through the trees leading to the various houses.

As she followed him, her gaze swept the area as she quickly oriented herself.  The mountains were to the East.  When they’d entered the pack property in the back of the van, it had taken about two minutes before they’d stopped at the big house where she was being held.  She noted where the underbrush was thickest; it would provide her with decent cover if she could escape and make a break for it, heading for Rural Route 270.  From there she could run all the way back to her pack property. Ten miles of running. Piece of cake, if she could just get off the property in the first place. She knew that, like all packs, the Killingworth pack would have shifters on patrol at all times. The property wasn’t fenced in, though; if she could get enough of a head start, she might be able to make it.

              She’d checked her window last night. There was an alarm system, and the sensor was on the outside of the window. If she opened the window it would set off the alarm, and then there were the bars.

              She’d have to start investigating the room in earnest to look for things she could improvise into weapons or tools. The mattress was made of down and had no bedsprings.  It rested on wooden slats.  No sharp metal that she’d been able to locate.

              Michael led her into a clearing, where various picnic benches and chairs were scattered about. There was an area with a firepit, there was an outdoor kitchen next to some sheds and a big building that looked like a rec center, a covered pavilion with rows of seats in front of it…the pack’s common area, then.

A couple of dozen women were sitting on both sides of a long picnic table.  She strolled past them, not paying attention to Michael. He followed close behind.

She didn’t bother to try to say hello to them, figuring they’d be as bitchy to her as everyone else had been lately, but to her surprise, one of them looked up and smiled at her. “There you are!” A middle aged woman with carrot colored hair and freckles moved over on the bench to make room for her. “I’m Caroline. I wanted to thank you for being so nice to my niece. You really made her day; she couldn’t stop talking about you.”

“Of course,” she said. Privately, she thought, Jeez, why is everyone surprised that I was nice to her? I’m mad as hell that I’m here, but I’m not going to take it out on a cub.

Michael sat down cross legged in the grass near their table, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

There were spools of burlap ribbon on the table, and glass mason jars, and glue, and oval paper labels, and baskets of arts and crafts supplies

“We’re making favors and decorations for my daughter’s bridal shower,” Caroline said.

Katrina perked up. This was right up her alley.

“I help run our pack’s catering business. You know what we did for my cousin’s bridal shower?” she said.

“What?” a pretty redhead who looked like a much younger version of Caroline looked up with interest. “Yoo hoo, I’m Peony. I’m the bride to be.”

“We made lace garters that had little tiny holsters on them – with mini bottles of liquor.”

“All right, she’s definitely coming to the wedding. I want a garter for each leg,” Peony said eagerly.

“That’s horribly inappropriate for a bridal shower,” an older woman who was sitting near the end of the table chided, her forehead wrinkling in distaste.

Peony bit her lip and her face fell.

“Then don’t wear one, Myrtle,” Caroline said, and icicles were dripping from her voice. 

Myrtle, a stout blonde with a frosted helmet of hair, made a tsking sound and went back to curling ribbons with a pair of scissors. She reminded Katrina of the women her mother associated with; women who all kibitzed about each other behind each other’s backs, and lived to find people to look down on.

Mother-in-law to be, Katrina was guessing.

“What else ya got?” Peony said to Katrina.

Katrina started reeling off lists of bridesmaid’s activities.

As she spoke, she suddenly felt as if waves of hostility were radiating at her.  Her Sensitive side. Why couldn’t her psychic powers pick up on happy emotions, for God’s sake?

Glancing around, her gaze lighted on a slim she-wolf with flat-ironed golden hair who was sitting at a nearby table, flanked by two other very pretty women, and all of them were shooting looks of disgust in Katrina’s direction.

Katrina ignored them. She hadn’t expected everyone to be delighted by her presence.

“So where is Heather?” she asked Caroline.

“We brought her back to her father’s house this morning. Maddox tore him a new one last night, and he swore he’d lay off the booze,” Caroline said. “He was sober, and cleaning up the house when we left, but we’ll check back on them today.”

She began introducing Katrina to the women around the table.  Maddox’s great grandmother Violet was sitting next to Katrina.  She was a woman in her late nineties. There were various Killingworth family members, and some from smaller packs that were under the Killingworth pack’s protection.

Katrina realized with a start that one of the women at the table, sitting at the far end, was Teresa – formerly from her pack. Teresa, a pretty young widow, had packed up her two sons and left the Mordhaus pack a couple of months earlier.  Katrina had been surprised; she’d never seen any indication that Teresa was unhappy. Maybe she’d been keeping it bottled up.

“Hello, Teresa,” she said, nodding. Teresa nodded back, a little hesitantly, as if she feared Katrina would hold a grudge.

A woman brought out a tray with jugs of iced tea and frosty iced glasses.  Katrina drank tea with them and shared recipes and ideas for the shower.

She’d been sitting out there for about an hour when she felt a sudden warm, tingling feeling, and looking across the yard, she saw Maddox standing under the spreading branches of a huge oak tree, talking to a few of his pack mates.

The sun was shining behind him, bathing his perfectly muscled body in its glow.  She felt her skin tingle, and a rush of moisture dampened her panties.  Her breath hitched in her throat.

Ugh. Why did her body have to react like that?   She turned away, picked up a mason jar and, copying what the other women were doing, cut a length of burlap ribbon and tied it in a bow around the jar.

She could feel Maddox walking towards her. The closer he got the more flustered she felt.  She’d never really noticed his scent before, the masculine musk that he exuded, but now it was all she could smell.

“For the cubs in the wedding party, we had them sitting at tables with chalk board tops, and we gave them all bags of colored chalk,” she told the other women, although she was mostly speaking to distract herself.

Maddox was right behind her; his shadow fell across the table.  She could feel her cheeks flush and her breathing quickened. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.

“Good morning. Fancy meeting you here,” he said.

She twisted around to look up at him and flashed a feral smile. “Haven’t seen much of you. Scared?”

He returned the smile. On him it was more of a smirk. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d miss me so much.” Ooh, she wanted to smack that smug look off his handsome face.

She snorted in contempt. “In your dreams. And my nightmares. Run along now, Fifi, I think you’re overdue at the groomer.”

He threw back his head and laughed, then walked off.

Katrina turned back to cut another ribbon, and realized that everyone was staring at her.

“What?” she said. “Something in my teeth?”

“The way you talked to him…” Caroline marveled.

She snorted. “What about it?”

“He never lets anybody talk to him like that.” Caroline shook her head. “I mean…he’s the Alpha.”

Teresa nodded, and glanced at the woman next to her. “I swear, Susie, it was almost like…”

Susie nodded vigorously. “It was
exactly
like.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, nothing.” They both pretended to be very interested in scribbling names on labels.

Before Katrina could push them on it, the woman who’d been glaring walked over with her friends, and they made a big show of sitting down at the table.

“I went into town to get some new lingerie,” the woman said loudly. “I don’t even know why I bother with it, since Maddox is going to rip it off me in two seconds.” She shot a significant look in Katrina’s direction.

“He just can’t get enough of you!” one of the other females exclaimed loudly. “What’s his favorite position again?”

As the woman began loudly describing various sex acts, the other females at the table glanced at each other in annoyance.

Good lord, Katrina got it. The female was with Maddox, she was a jealous bitch, and for some reason she thought Katrina was a threat.

The idea of Maddox with such a crude, tactless female disturbed her for some reason. Maddox deserved better.