The Alpha's Pack (8 page)

And Jake. Jake was a masterful fighter, but Ted had more tricks up his sleeve than a magician. There was no telling what he’d do next.

At least now they knew why he won all his fights. He didn’t let anyone come, and in the absence of spectators, he fought dirty. He must be very afraid of Jake to pull these kinds of stunts with so many witnesses. Either that, or he’d convinced himself he was beyond reproach.

Jake pounced on Ted, biting his back and hanging on as Ted tried to shake him loose. When Jake did let go, it was to immediately jump on Ted again, this time biting him closer to the neck. Ted twisted his body and bit Jake’s hindquarters. Using his paws and strong legs, Jake pushed him back, forcefully enough that Ted fell onto his back. Jake stepped over him, pinning him in place, and grabbed Ted around the throat with his teeth. The Alpha struggled but couldn’t push Jake loose.

Jake’s big eyes looked up at the crowd as though asking for acknowledgment. He kept his teeth around Ted’s neck for a good two minutes, so no one could be in any doubt that he had won. If he’d wanted to, he could have torn Ted’s throat out, but Jake chose the more honorable path.

Sam wasn’t so sure he could have done the same.

Jake released Ted and stepped backward. He remained in wolf form until Ted had changed back, then he also shifted.

Sam’s body deflated. It was over. Jake had won. Which meant Sam was leaving Roanoke. But he didn’t want to think about that just yet. For now, it was enough that his mates were safe and the danger had been obliterated.

“You have two choices,” Jake said in a booming voice. “Swear fealty to me, or leave the pack as a Lone Wolf.” He looked not just at Ted, but also at the other pack members.

“I’ll never swear fealty to you,” Ted said.

“Then you have until daybreak to pack up your things and leave. Anything left behind is forfeit.” That was the custom. “Where is Bridget?”

Ted sneered. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Jake advanced on him, hitting him at the same time he knocked Ted’s feet out from under him. The former Alpha landed on the ground, on his naked butt. “Where is Bridget?”

Ted spat at him.

Jake knelt and grabbed Ted around the throat. But this time, he looked up at his new pack. “You will produce Bridget now, or so help me God, I’ll tear each and every one of your houses apart looking for her.”

A scrawny looking man stepped forward. “I know where she is.”

One of the bigger men—one of Ted’s minions—grabbed the scrawny man and tried to push him back into the crowd, but Deirdre got there first. Her growling convinced him to let the smaller man go.

Jake walked over to them. “What’s your name?”

“Wyatt.” The smaller man fidgeted. “If I pledge fealty, can I stay with the pack?”

“Of course. But only if you tell me where Bridget is.”

“They’ve been keeping her at Marcus’ house. I can show you where that is.”

Sam felt his muscles relax a little more. They knew where she was. They’d done it.

“We’ll go there as soon as we’re done here,” Jake said. He leaned down and said something in Deirdre’s ear, but Sam couldn’t make it out. Then he walked toward the road. “Sam.”

Sam turned to Chris and knelt on both knees. “I ask permission to leave Roanoke Pack to join my mates as a member of Stonewall.”

Chris put his hand on Sam’s head. “I grant you leave.”

When Sam stood, the two men hugged. “I’ll miss you guys,” Sam said.

“We’ll see you often,” Chris said.

Then Sam turned and crossed the road.

When he reached the edge of the park, he got down on his knees again. “I pledge fealty to you,” he said to Jake.

Jake put his hand on Sam’s head. “I accept your fealty.” Then he hauled Sam to his feet and hugged him.

Sam tried to ignore that his mate was completely naked, his skin warm under Sam’s hands. Warm, and sweaty.

The two men walked toward their mate where she stood over Ted. Cerise had joined her, and someone had given her a chance to change. She stood naked, streaked with blood, looking fierce. When Jake reached her, she fell to her knees and pledged herself to him, then resumed guarding Ted so Cerise could do the same.

Then came the rest of the pack. Jake stood, Deirdre to one side and Sam to the other, as one by one the members of Stonewall Pack pledged themselves to their new Alpha.

Ted still lay nearby, unwilling or unable to even stand. As they walked by him several pack members spat at him, kicked him, or bared their teeth. It seemed more had been going on underneath the surface than most of them knew about or were willing to admit to, with Ted at the center of it all.

When the last pack member stepped behind the threesome, all that were left were Ted and most of his minions. A few had opted to stay with the pack, but it appeared most were either going to follow Ted into exile or make their own way as Loners. Either way, they were leaving the pack.

“Like Ted, you have until sunrise to gather your things and leave,” Jake said to them. He turned aside to Sam and said, “Match each of them up with two or three of our pack members who can make sure they leave as promised. Deirdre and I will take Wyatt, find Bridget, and escort Ted out of town.”

Sam nodded once, then turned to his new pack, looking for the strongest members.

***

When they pulled up in front of Marcus’ house, Deirdre’s heart beat fast. They’d found Bridget, but would she be okay? If Ted had hurt her, Deirdre would rip him apart herself.

They’d swiped Marcus’s keys from his body. He was still living, barely, and the pack doctor was working on him. If they could patch him up, they would. And then they’d kick him out of their territory.

Deirdre and Jake had opted to wait until later to get patched up, although they’d made sure Ted got his bandages before they left the park. He wasn’t sticking around one second longer than he had to.

After Jake unlocked the door, Deirdre slipped by him and entered the house. “Bridget?”

She didn’t hear anything. Where could he have kept her? Some sort of dungeon? A bedroom with a lock on the outside?

The latter seemed more likely, so she headed upstairs, still calling her sister’s name. None of the bedrooms had locks, but when she looked inside the third door, she found her sister lying on the bed out cold.

“Bridget?” Deirdre knelt on the floor next to the bed and brushed the hair off her sister’s cheek. “Wake up, sweetie.”

Jake and Wyatt looked into the room. Ted had been tied up in the back seat of the car so he couldn’t get away. They didn’t trust him not to do something underhanded.

“What did they do to her?” Deirdre asked Wyatt. “Why won’t she wake up?”

“I dunno. I just heard they were keeping her here, that’s all.” Wyatt shoved his hands into his pockets, his arms straight and his shoulders slightly lifted.

Jake knelt beside her. “They must have drugged her.”

“Drugs don’t work on werewolves,” Deirdre said.

“They do if you give us a big enough dose.” Gently lifting Bridget’s eyelids, Jake looked into each of her eyes.

“Does that really tell you anything?”

“I was a medic in the Army several years back. So yeah, it tells me she’s okay. But it’ll probably be a while before she wakes up.” Jake helped Deirdre to her feet. “I’ll carry her out to the car. We can take her home and you can watch her while Wyatt and I get Ted packed up and out of town.”

Deirdre put her hand on his arm. “Thank you. Thank you for all of this.”

Jake hugged her. “You’re mine. I’m going to do whatever it takes to take care of you and yours.” Jake lifted Bridget and carried her out to the car.

A couple of hours later, Bridget opened her eyes. Deirdre leaned forward from where she sat by the side of the bed. “You okay, Bridge? How do you feel?”

“Head hurts. Where am I? Ted get you too?”

Deirdre smoothed her sister’s hair. “No, Ted didn’t get me. You’re safe now. Jake challenged Ted and won. He’s our Alpha now. Well, once you pledge yourself to him.”

“Ted’s gone? Can’t be.”

“It is.” Deirdre smiled. “Not just Ted, but all his henchmen, too. They’re being escorted off Stonewall territory as we speak.”

“We’re really free.” Bridget’s face scrunched up. “What’s wrong with me?”

“We think Ted or Marcus drugged you. We’re not sure with what. So I’m very glad you finally woke up. You were out when we found you at Marcus’ house. Jake brought you home. But it’s been nearly two hours since then.”

“Long time to be out.” Her voice sounded thick.

“Very long.” She couldn’t imagine what kind of drug they’d used that would work like this on a werewolf.

“Still tired. Can I sleep?”

“Of course. But Bridge? I’m really glad you’re okay.”

Deirdre turned out the light as she left her sister’s room and went downstairs. She didn’t think she could sleep until Jake and Sam got home.

It was nearly dawn when they drove up. Not just Jake in her car and Sam in his, but also four pick-ups and a mini-van. Deirdre went out to meet them.

“It’s all Sam’s stuff,” Jake said in answer to her unspoken question.

She’d completely forgotten. He had to be out by sunrise, too. “He probably didn’t think about that when he switched packs. He could have waited.”

Jake slung an arm around her. “Yeah, he called me in a panic when he realized. And Chris told him he could have a few extra days, but we decided to go ahead and move everything tonight. His friends helped us pack everything up. Those are their trucks. Of course, they can’t pass into our territory. I even told them it was okay this once, but they wouldn’t do it. So four of our pack members drove them the rest of the way. Damn territorial rules.”

Where the hell were they going to put all of that? Her house was already full. “We have some room in the basement, I suppose,” Deirdre said.

“For now, we’re going to pile it on the lawn and put a tarp over it in case it rains. Then in the next day or two, we can figure out what to do with it. He talked about selling some of the furniture. But there wasn’t time to do anything tonight other than shove it all into boxes and haul it over here.”

Well, at least they weren’t planning to pile it up in her living room. While Deirdre filled Jake in on Bridget’s progress, a few more cars showed up and wolves streamed out. In no time flat, they’d emptied the vehicles and tied a tarp over all of Sam’s belongings.

“You think they might be sucking up to the new boss?” Deirdre said.

Jake smiled. “Could be.”

When everyone had left, Jake and Sam hustled Deirdre into the house and upstairs to her bedroom. She had taken over the master bedroom after her parents died, but couldn’t bear to sleep in their bed, so she’d given it away. All she had was a twin bed tucked in the corner.

“That bed doesn’t really fit the room,” Sam said.

“Not at all.” Jake stood over it, hands on his hips. “We need something bigger.”

“Much bigger.” Sam twined his arms around Deirdre’s waist from behind.

“But it’ll do for tonight.” Jake lay down on the far side of the bed and patted the small area left over.

Sam walked Deirdre toward the bed, his arms still around her. “Maybe we should take the mattress off the frame. We wouldn’t want to break the bed.”

“Break the bed? We’re just going to sleep, right? I’m exhausted.” Deirdre punctuated her words with a big yawn.

“We’re going to sleep. But first, we’re going to christen our new home.” Sam slid his hands up under Deirdre’s shirt to cup her breasts.

She figured she could stay awake a little longer. Deirdre pulled her shirt over her head.

“That’s more like it,” Jake said.

Sam fumbled with the clasp of her bra.

“You get naked, too,” she said to Jake.

“Yes, ma’am.” He jumped out of bed and stripped before Sam even got her bra unclasped. “Looks like you could use some help,” he said. But he didn’t help Sam. He helped Deirdre, undoing her pants and skimming them down her legs until he knelt at her feet. He very slowly took hold of the sides of her panties and lowered them, moaning appreciatively as each inch was revealed.

“Got it.” Sam pushed the straps off her arms and dropped the bra on the floor.

Deirdre looked over her shoulder at him. “Now work on your own clothes.”

“Who’s the little alpha tonight?” Sam said. He swatted her ass. “I like it.”

Jake had gotten her panties to her ankles, so she stepped out of them. He slid his hands up her legs from the outside of her calves to her knees to the inside of her thighs, his fingers just brushing the apex. “Spread your legs, sweetie.”

She took a step to each side only to have Jake duck underneath her and glue his mouth to her pussy.

Sam lifted her hair out of the way and kissed her neck. “Your will is done, my master,” he said.

“Very funny.”

“Hope so.” He tickled her waist and she squirmed to get away from him.

“Hey! Serious business going on here,” Jake said. Then he filled his mouth with pussy again.

Deirdre leaned on Sam. “Very serious.” Her voice was breathy. “He’s very good with his mouth.”

“I agree.” Sam tugged at her nipples. “That blowjob the other night was amazing.”

Deirdre couldn’t reply because she was shuddering, her orgasm flashing over her. If it weren’t for Sam holding her up, she’d have landed on the floor.

After he stood, Jake hugged her and gave her a long deep kiss. Sam continued to hug her from behind.

***

As he kissed Deirdre, Jake felt four hands rubbing his back. The rougher pair squeezed his ass and pulled his pelvis closer to Deirdre. Sam was warming up to the whole male sex thing very nicely.

Jake stepped backward, pulling his mates toward the bed. “I think we should fuck you at the same time. It would be a great way to kick off our new life.”

Deirdre’s face fell. “Oh, I don’t know. It’ll hurt.”

“We’ll use lots of lube. And whoever’s skinnier will take your ass so it won’t hurt as much,” Sam said. He and Jake stepped next to each other and all three of them looked down at their cocks.

Jake found himself wishing his cock was thinner, because he wanted inside her ass so bad. But it was Sam who won, his cock slightly longer and slimmer, while Jake’s was thick.