Untamable (6 page)

“They were taken. I didn’t understand why hunters would come into the forest here to hunt wolf. According to an elderly pack female, Velham wanted all the Blue Moons. He wanted to use us as breeding stock so he took the strongest of our pack.”

Sidda stared in disbelief. He’d found out a shitload of information while he’d been there. The information sent shivers of fear through her. He was an Alpha, and the only Alpha she’d ever seen happened to be the man who took Jasper’s family, his childhood, and tried to destroy him.

Dane Velham was a cold, cruel bastard, and it frightened her to think one day Jasper would have to face him. She’d seen Jasper fight on more than one occasion, and where she wouldn’t have shown mercy, he did. It would make him a great Alpha, but it would also make him an easy target for Velham.

Chapter Five

They finished eating breakfast in silence. Sidda was lost in her own thoughts, hoping Jasper wouldn’t peek into her head, which hurt. She had scheduled her bi-yearly doctor appointment with a specialist in Atlanta two months ago. But with finals and graduation, she’d skipped it. Now her head throbbed, her bones ached, and nausea lingered.

She startled when Jasper stood by her chair. “You’re sick?” He looked down at her. His brown eyes widened with concern.

“A little. I really shouldn’t have skipped my last appointment. I’ll be okay a little longer though.” She glanced up at him.

He shook his head. “My little she-wolf, come here.” He pulled her out of her chair.

“I’m not a wolf. And wouldn’t calling me a she-wolf be just another word for bitch?” She leaned into his heat.

“Hmmm, are you denying that you are?” His cocky little grin made lust swirl within her.

“The bitch part, or being a she-wolf?”

He shrugged.

“I’m a bitch, no way around that one, but wolf I’m not.”

“Well, right now you smell, sound, and act a lot like a she-wolf.”

Jealousy cracked her harsh whip. “And you know a lot of she-wolves?” Sidda’s tone rose with anger.

“I’ve met a few,” he said absently. His eyes studied her.

Sidda’s head throbbed harder. The pain made her want to close her eyes, to hold her head in her hands and press the throbbing away. The bones in her knees popped. Pain shot up her legs. She bit her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from grunting in pain.

Jasper eased her back to look down at her through worry-filled eyes. “We should go. Call the doctor on the way there. Tell him it’s an emergency. You’re sick. I can feel it inside me.” He grabbed a blanket to wrap around her before making her sit down on the couch. “Hang on. I’ll get your things, and we’ll go.”

Sidda didn’t want to leave. Leaving meant they’d be thrust back into the real world, and she wasn’t ready. A pair of her pants landed next to her feet, followed by a bra. She glanced at Jasper. He pulled clothes from her small overnight bag. A pair of pants from years before were in the dresser. He pulled them up over his taut ass before he grabbed a white tee shirt.

“You need help?” His tone dipped to a commanding tone as he turned. “’Cause I meant it when I said to get dressed. You’re in pain. I won’t allow that.”

“I’m not in pain. Well, not pain enough to leave here. And since when did you think you could allow something?” She raised her eyebrows but pulled on her shirt anyway. Hell, if he was dressed, she wasn’t going to sit bare-assed.

“When it comes to you, I’ve always thought it.” His hands circled her wrists, and with no more than a slight tug, she was lifted into his arms. “Now, do I have to call the doctor myself or what?”

“I’ll call, but you’ve forgotten one thing, pup. No truck.”

“Called Cole first thing this morning. He was eating dinner at the new diner and said he’d bring it up. Thank goodness for small towns. He said he’d leave the truck half a mile down the trail. Now call the doctor.”

He handed her the phone, but the jostling from his hard steps on the soft ground distracted her. She couldn’t recall ever being carried. The feel of his warm hard body holding hers made her stomach do weird little twists. Her mind raced with thoughts of straddling him, letting him push her against a tree and fuck. Yes, fuck, because that is just what it would be.

She shook her head, wondering where that thought had come from. Her brain was definitely lust fried. Her breath came faster, shallow. Jasper’s arms tightened around her, his breath just as hard and shallow.

“Out of my head, pup.”

“You opened your mind, and with the mark, it’s easy for you to send me stuff. I didn’t do anything, but if you don’t stop thinking like that, I will fuck you right here, right now against a tree.”

“Promises, promises.” She told him in a sing-song voice. He shifted her some so that he could take one hand and pop her rear.“Ow! You gotta stop doing that.”

His eyes gleamed with amusement. “Not a chance in hell. I owe you so many spankings, you’ll be lucky if you’re able to sit when I’m done with you.”

“Excuse me?” She narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know who you think you are, but that is not going to happen. Alpha or not, you are not spanking me.”

She pushed against his chest, struggling to get down. He was skirting a thin line with the spanking talk. Part of her said,
Hell yeah, spank me hard and fuck me harder
. While the other part screamed
You touch me and I’ll rip your balls off and shove ’em up your ass.

His chest shook as he tightened his grip on her. “We’ll be going with the first.” He winked.

“Stay out….”

“I can’t help it. You’re mine, every inch of you including that brilliant mind of yours, and I won’t apologize for wanting to know everything about you.”

“Listen here, pup, my mind is private. I can’t poke around in yours, so leave mine alone.”

He stopped walking, and the jostling halted, letting her breathe in deep. Her body hurt, bones ached, and nausea rolled over her once again. She’d never been late on getting one of her shots and never would again. This just sucked.

“All you have to do is focus. Think about what you want and you should be able to feel, see, and hear my thoughts.” He kissed her mark, but instead of feeling the burning of lust or the raw need of his love, she only felt her stomach start to pitch.

She kicked out of his grasp. This time he didn’t fight it. Bile inched its way up from her stomach to her throat. Acid churned, and before she could fight the bile back, she was leaned over, eyes already watering, and heaving. The acid that had previously churned in her stomach scorched her throat. The chunks of rabbit she’d eaten earlier hit against the back of her throat on their way out to splash all over her shoes. A piece of the meat stuck against her tonsils, making her dry heave. The milk she’d drunk had curdled in her stomach and now lay in chunks of white all over her feet. Her ribs hurt, her eyes burned, and her throat was on fire.

* * * *

Jasper’s pissed voice rang in her ears. “No, I won’t hold. Tell the doctor that Siddalee Brighton is sick, and I’m taking her to the local hospital. If he wants to live another day, his ass will be there in an hour.” Jasper growled from her left. “I don’t give a damn what he has going on, she’s my mate, and if he can’t get here to help her, he won’t be alive tomorrow.”

Sidda wiped the vomit from her face with the back of her hand. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She cringed from the aching in her bones. Her hand throbbed. It stung, and the bones within creaked when she flexed it. Panic rose as the hair on her knuckles lengthened and turned deep red. Her nails extended, curving under. She shook her hand, hoping to shake whatever was happening away.

A voice inside screamed to let it happen, to relax. She laughed bitterly. There was no way in hell she could relax. Pain exploded in her head. She dropped to her knees, clutching her head. A distant scream rang in her ears, but from who or where it came from she couldn’t tell. Her mind hazed over in red. Distantly she saw Jasper in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, but there was no sound except the screaming.

She looked down at her hands, both covered in long, deep red hair, with the nails curved under. The bones snapped, pain shot up from her hands, and before she could recover, her mind went blank. She had paws.

She could vaguely make out voices around her. Instead she mainly heard a tiny whisper inside her head. The whisper grew louder, begging her to come to it. Sidda closed her eyes, trying to block out the sight of her hands, the sound of the whisper, and most of all the panic swelling in her.

Someone or something moved her, lifted her from the ground. She kept her eyes shut tight. The nausea returned, churning in her stomach. The voice whispered to will her body to keep changing. She shook her head. Human, all human, that’s what she was, not Luna. The voice pitched in a pissed scream,
“Luna. Alpha Luna.”

Her brain filled with red haze, the color settling like a fog in her, spreading through, blocking all thoughts except to ease her pain. There was only one way to ease it—let go. She cringed in pain, but when she dropped her restraint, stopped fighting the shift she didn’t understand, the pain eased. The fog cleared, and her eyes snapped open.

Sounds, loud and clear, met her ears. Birds sang, bugs zoomed by, and trees swayed in the wind. The wind! She could hear the calling of the wind. It carried a musical, earthy tone, carrying the scents of earth, humans, and Jasper. Oh lord, Jasper. He smelled of oak, earth, and pure, strong Alpha Wolf. His scent filled her nose, urging the voice on inside her. It wanted him and wanted him bad.

She turned to face him, her bones splintering with each move. Instead of pain, adrenaline pulsed through her. Her vision blurred. She blinked to clear her eyes. She looked around her, amazed at her new sight. Wearing binoculars didn’t even compare to this. Her eyes focused in on Jasper. His normal, calm expression had disappeared. Eyes wide, mouth open, and face pale, he stared at her. His body trembled. She sniffed the air around him and smelled sulfur. The voice laughed. He was angry. At her?

“Jasper? What the hell? Did you turn me into a wolf?”
she whispered.

“Jesus, we gotta get you to a hospital. Babe, I hate to do this, but I can’t let you shift. I need some answers first.” He inched closer to her. His face contorted.

“
Jasper, what…”

His hand reached her neck. She tried to pull back, but his other hand grasped her, holding her still. Then with a flick of his finger on the mark, her world went black.

Chapter Six

“I don’t know what the hell happened. One minute we were playing around on our way to the truck, then the next, she was bent over throwing up. Next thing I know her scent changed, her hands turned to paws, and her mind seemed to split. It was like she was there, but so was something else.”

Sidda listened to the voices around her. Machines swirled, beeps chirped, filling her head with questions. The scent of alcohol and strong disinfectant burned in her nose. A hand stroked her face, a callused hand. Jasper. Feelings of warmth, safety, and love, wisped around her.

“Where the hell is her doctor?” He growled.

A crashing of metal made her inwardly cringe. She wanted to open her eyes to see what was happening, but she couldn’t. They were too heavy, and her mind still held a hint of red haze.

“Easy, Jasper. They’ll escort you out, man. She needs you to stay calm. We’ll figure out was going on,” Cole said in a soothing voice.

The anxious, angry emotion seeping from Jasper to her ebbed some. The bed sank to one side, and Jasper’s hand squeezed hers.“All right, but I swear if he’s not here in the next ten minutes, someone is going to pay.” He sighed. “I panicked. I didn’t know what to do besides make her pass out. Maybe I shouldn’t have.” His voice broke.

“Nah, man. I think you did the right thing. What would have happened if she would have shifted and run off? You did the right thing.” Cole’s voice was full of conviction.