Bound to Be Taken [Rock Wood Pack 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

“It happens throughout. You’re second-in-command and everyone else is stronger than us with no strength. You scare us and use cutting words to get jobs done.”

“Give me an example,” Cade said. He didn’t like being referred to as a bully. The pack was everything to him. Abusing them was of no interest.

“In their training, you could have used anyone else on the same level as your strength. Instead you used David. He’s intelligent and funny but he’d never win against you in a fight. You played on his weakness. It’s cruel.”

“I want you all to learn how to protect yourselves.” He tried to argue his point.

Titania smiled, her eyes closed. Sweat beaded her forehead. “How can we learn when you partner us up with stronger, fiercer opponents? You’d be best using the weak against the weak with the strong supervising or something.”

Her voice went off in a sigh. Charlotte was pushing the bed sheets back.

The woman in his arms fell asleep. He didn’t know what to do. Her wrist arm was at an odd angle. How had she fallen asleep when she was clearly in pain?

“She’s gone to sleep? Is that good?” Charlotte asked, nibbling her lip.

“She should have turned. You go and wait for Micah to finish. I’ll take care of Titania,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, go. I think we’re going to need him.”

Staring down at Titania, he saw the sweat dotting her brow. If he’d sustained such a break he would have turned into a wolf right there in the gym to repair the damage. Why hadn’t Titania done the same?

Laying her down on the bed, he started to strip the clothes from her body. The denim skirt came off first to reveal plump, round thighs. Her skin was pale for a wolf. He doubted she got a lot of sun. Her pussy was covered in a pair of white cotton briefs. They did nothing to enhance her beauty. Forcing himself not to touch her exposed body, he checked over the bruise on her thigh. It was getting darker by the minute.

Slowly he opened the blouse covering the top part of her body. The desire at what he saw swamped him. Her stomach was rounded and up his gaze went to see the largest pair of tits in the whole pack. Titania’s body was pure perfection. The bra she wore was white lace and he saw the dark areolas of her nipples.

His mouth watered for a taste.

Turning his hand into a claw, he tore the blouse in two from her arm. He had no wish to cause her any pain, and her arm looked painful.

Once she only wore underwear, Cade placed the blanket over her and waited.

Should he wake her up or call for his alpha?

Staring at Titania, Cade only knew one thing for certain. He couldn’t live without her.

* * * *

Titania’s body ached all over. There was no focal point for the pain. Her body was on fire and the impulse to turn was there. She couldn’t turn. Never in all of her life had she been able to turn on any other day than the full moon. Her inability to turn at will was another of her weaknesses. David could turn at will. She’d never been able to.

“Titania.” She heard her name being spoken by Cade. His voice was hard to ignore. The power in his voice brought out goose bumps along her flesh.

“It…hurts,” she said. They were the only words she could get out. Her body shook and when she tried to move her arm, pain unlike anything she’d ever felt exploded throughout her body.

She screamed, turning onto her side. Hot, she was so hot. Kicking her leg out, regardless of her pain, Titania gasped in joy at the chill.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Cade said. He wasn’t looking at her. Turning her head in the direction where he was staring, she saw Micah with Charlotte. She tried to smile at her friend. The worry on Charlotte’s face startled her. Jordan, Paul, and Wilson stood with them. All of them stared at her in a state of shock.

“I thought wolves weren’t supposed to get sick. I mean, Titania doesn’t even complain when it’s her time of the month.”

Titania groaned. They were talking about her menstrual cycle. She’d never be able to live the humiliation down.

“She went to sleep within minutes of being in my arms. This is the first she has woken up.” Cade pressed a cool cloth to her head. She moaned, loving the chill.

“Let me in.” The commotion outside her door made Titania jump. David pushed his way through the crowd.

“What are you doing here?” Cade asked. His voice filled with anger. “This is pack business.”

“Titania is my friend. I’ve not heard from her.” No one stopped him from going to the bed. He climbed behind her on the bed. Cade let out a growl but David kept coming. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She won’t turn,” Micah said.

David cupped her cheek. The heat from his touch made her recoil.

“Too…hot.”

“Won’t turn? Titania can’t turn unless it’s the full moon,” David said, looking around the room. She stared at her friend and she tried to move away from him. He was too hot and the movement he caused made her ache all over.

“Get off the bed. She’s trying to get away,” Cade said, standing up.

“Stop fighting over her,” Charlotte said. Her voice rose and echoed off the walls. “You’re acting like a pair of mated fucking wolves and I should know, I’m married to one. Now, Titania needs your help, not a fucking contest of who can yell or growl the loudest.”

If she could, Titania would have clapped for her friend.

Silence descended on the room for several minutes. She couldn’t help but look at Cade. He looked so handsome, even with the disgusting tattoo. His hair had grown out a little, which was a shame. She liked the way he looked. The beard he’d once kept was gone. She liked that though. His beard always looked out of place to her.

“What do you mean she can’t change? We all change at the full moon. I’ve seen her,” Cade said. His voice sent shivers of delight down her spine.

“Yeah, Titania can turn under the full moon but she can’t change any other time. She has no other choice but to wait until the moon. That is why she’s always careful. Where we can change from a cut or burn, Titania has to deal with it until the moon. This break is bad and she’ll not survive three weeks, Cade.”

David explained her weakness to the group. They’d kick her out of the pack now. She was weak and couldn’t even change at will.

I’m useless.

Tears filled her eyes and she curled into a ball.

“There is a way to do it,” Cade said, staring down at her. She felt him stroking her hair. Staring up at him, Titania hoped he had a way to take the pain away.

“What?” David asked.

“Micah can call her wolf.”

“I don’t like forcing on the change, Cade. It could hurt and kill her, especially if she fights me.”

“What other choice do we have? Do you want others to know you’d rather a member die than risk saving her?”

“Please, Micah. Do this for me,” Charlotte said.

Silence again.

“Fine, but I need a willing male to be in wolf form. It adds to the connection with her. She’s in human form, I can call to her as a human and I need a wolf to bind her to the forest and it would be best done outside.”

“I’ll do it,” Cade said.

In the next instant she was being lifted from the bed.

“I can carry her,” David spoke up. She closed her eyes, wishing he’d stay out of the way. He couldn’t help her. She loved him dearly but right now she needed the strong of the pack to help her.

“Back the fuck off before I order you punished.”

There were stares between them.

“David…please…let him…do it,” she said. The pain made it hard for her to speak.

“Fine. You stay alive.”

She did her best to smile. Cade was taking her downstairs and out of the front door before she could stop him. The rest of the pack stared at her. Closing her eyes, Titania shut them all out. None of them mattered. If Micah couldn’t call her wolf, there was no point to any of it.

In no time at all she was placed on smooth, cool grass. Cade took a step away. She watched him remove his pants and then a giant black wolf stood over her.

“Are you ready, Cade?” Micah asked.

The black wolf nodded.

“Good, be warned, this could get ugly.”

Tingles erupted over her arms like little electric sparks. Titania didn’t pay any attention at first. Within minutes, the sparks turned to jolts as if she was being speared through the body.

She couldn’t hold the screams back. Letting out the first scream, Titania prayed for death. The pain was too hard to bear.

Cade watched Titania wither on the ground in agony. The desire to beat his alpha down was strong.

Micah’s helping her. Micah’s helping her.
He kept chanting the words through his mind trying to calm himself down. The power the alpha was calling on coursed through his body and vibrated out. He felt a connection to Titania that was far stronger than anything he’d experienced before.

“No, let it stop.” The words came from Titania in a scream. Her body broke as she fought against what Micah was doing. Forcing the change was dangerous and could kill her.

“She’s fighting me too much. Cade, hold her down. Do something to make her relax.”

Cade moved over her, pressing his paws against her shoulders. The pain emanated off her in giant waves, taking his breath away.

“Titania.”

He opened the connection between himself and Titania. Thinking over the years, he brought to mind his favorite memory of her. She had headphones on and was listening to some music in the kitchen. This was going back a couple of months. Titania stilled beneath him as he continued to share the memory with her.

It was after breakfast and she was washing the dishes. Her hips swayed to whatever beat she listened to. She sang a few chords here and there, nothing concrete. He wasn’t listening to the words she sang. Cade was watching her undetected by the kitchen door.

She turned and her body was on full display. He easily imagined her clothes away from her body and watched her.

Titania stared up at him in shock.

“That’s it, Cade, keep it up.”

The memory went on and on until she turned to him.

“Cade?” she had said. “Can I help you with anything?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m just relaxing.”

She pulled out a chair for him to sit. His gaze wandered to her hair as she tucked some behind her ear. Cade opened up his feelings for Titania to understand. The way he felt at looking at her, what he wanted to do to her.

The memory was cut short as, with one final push, Micah brought forth her turning. Her body changed in one sweeping movement. He watched and waited. Her wolf started out injured, with her paw in front. Slowly, Titania lowered her paw and she was healed. The miracles of the wolf amazed him.

Her wolf was glorious, white and pure, in complete contrast to her hair in real life.

“Do you want to run?”
he asked, speaking to her through their minds.

She nodded and took off. Looking back at their pack, Micah frowned at him. Ignoring their curious gazes, Cade took off, following her.

He sensed her need to run. It didn’t take him long to catch up with her.

“Leave me alone.”

“No.”

Titania forced herself to run faster and harder. Cade kept up with her, following her through the forest. He dodged trees and knew she’d purposefully gone on a reckless trail in the hope to lose him.

He followed her until she reached a small river covered by mountains and trees. The small river wouldn’t be detected from the skyline.

She drank some water and before his eyes she changed back from wolf form, crying. He moved to the edge and drank some water before turning to human. There was no way he’d drink the water in human form.

Her tears cut him to the core. She sat in the river, surrounded by rocks covering her face. He walked up to her and sat behind her. Wrapping his arms around her, Cade was shocked when she tried to fight him. “Don’t touch me,” she said.

Not listening to her, Cade banded his arms around her, holding onto her. “I’m not letting you go.”

She fought him for several moments and then collapsed in his arms. He ignored the chill of the river but he couldn’t stop his response to her nakedness. His cock hardened with the need to claim her as his own. Pushing the thoughts aside, Cade couldn’t stop his need for her, no matter how much she fought him.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I almost died. I wanted to die. It hurt so much,” she said. He never expected her to be honest with him. Holding her close, Cade rocked her in his arms. This was the first time they’d touched so intimately.

“You shouldn’t be touching me like this,” she said.

“Why not?” Right now all he wanted to do was hold her.

“I’m naked and beneath you in the pack. You should be with someone stronger and more suitable to your standing.” She rested her head against his shoulder. Exhaustion swamped her.