Growl (40 page)

Not that she thought any of the lycans in this particular pack needed to do any work on their bodies. They were all perfectly sculpted and beyond a pleasure to look at even though she knew one of the basic problems of her being here. It was the night of the full moon—which, as she'd recalled earlier, was coming in two short weeks—the one night when lycans were their most powerful and most aroused. It was also the only night a lycan mate could be claimed. Therefore, the days leading up to the full moon were tense, to say the least. It was akin to being addicted to some heavenly drug and having the next fix waved just inches from reach for days on end. That's what it was like waiting for the full moon, a slow and dangerous torture for unmated lycans and the blissful yet sometimes erratic prelude to mates reconnecting through the majestic power of the Luna goddess.

In essence, it sucked, and standing in the room with three unmated betas, as an alpha female up for grabs, was not the smartest situation for Kira to find herself in.

But that should have been the least of her worries, as she just realized one of the differences that she should have known immediately when that cocky alpha had wrapped his arms around her—they were Devoteds.

This one, the third beta who seemed to know what he shouldn't, gave her an assessing gaze that raked over her body as if he were actually taking mental pictures. His skin was a golden tone, just a shade darker than the alpha's, his black hair cut close and precise, just like his goatee. He had thick eyebrows that were raised in question and a look that was a cross between pure hunger and unadulterated hatred etched across his face.

She didn't know what to do or say, how to feel or act. The only pack she'd ever been this up close and personal with had been Penn's. Hunters. And surely, Dallas, Cody, Kev, and Milo looked absolutely nothing like these hot-as-hell lycans. Perhaps if they had she might have considered having one of them claim her. But they weren't, and she'd left, and now … she was here. With four dangerous as hell lycans, all with their eyes set on her.

Kira swallowed, squaring her shoulders and refusing to back down. She was no longer a Hunter, no matter what they thought they could smell.

“My name is Kira,” she told them. “And I'm no longer a part of a Hunter pack. I left them weeks ago and I have no intention of ever going back.”

“Is that so?” the doubtful gym lycan asked. “You just left your pack and ended up here, of all places and with all lycans.”

He was speaking of the alpha. Kira didn't know how she knew, but she did. She lifted a hand to brush back the wisps of hair that scraped along her face.

“I wasn't coming here specifically, if that's what you mean. In fact,
he
”—she said the word with every ounce of the disdain that she was feeling at the moment—“brought me here.”

“Is she serious? They want to kill you … and us for that matter. And you brought her here?”

This was the angrier lycan, the one with the piercing green gaze who looked at her like he was ready to leap across the room and rip her throat out. His voice wasn't questioning, nor was it quizzical like that of the one with the pretty blue eyes. Instead, it was colder and more lethal, which meant he was the closest to the alpha. And thus more dangerous to anyone who threatened him.

For all intents and purposes, Kira knew she should be afraid. She was surrounded by four built-to-kill or built-to-fuck, whichever way the wind blew, lycans, which placed her in immediate danger. She should be calculating her odds on getting out of this situation alive, or at the very least thinking of what to say to get herself out of this predicament. Yet she was doing neither.

“He's Phelan,” the alpha said from behind her, causing every muscle in her body to tense anew as he introduced the Green-Eyed Devil. “That one is Malec.” The one fresh from the gym. “And this is Channing, who was just backing up.”

Channing had still been standing directly in front of her with that boyishly cute smile that Kira figured was hella sexy when on full beam, and those insanely attractive blue eyes. He'd nodded and taken the advised steps away from her, while the alpha stood so close she could smell the soap he'd used to wash.

A lycan's sense of smell was everything. Their very lives depended on how well they picked up scents, tracked, hunted. Kira felt like a colossal ass for not paying close enough attention to hers out in the woods. Since the moment he'd touched her she'd wondered how she hadn't picked up the alpha's potent and blatantly sexual aroma.

It had been the initial reason why she hadn't run, not the mere fact that he was an alpha. No, that wouldn't have been enough. She was already running from the leader of one pack; adding another wouldn't have made much difference, to her way of thinking. But the unfamiliar draw she felt toward him, as if he'd called to something specifically within her, had held her still for those precious moments when she could have gotten away. The moment he touched her, fleeing became a distant priority, a fact she figured she'd ultimately regret. It was confusing as hell, but it was also the honest truth.

“She was lost in the woods,” the alpha stated.

“No, I wasn't,” Kira replied quickly. “And while we're all making introductions, you are…?”

The room was eerily silent as she'd turned to face him. He'd only craned his neck slightly so that he was now giving her a barely tolerant look. But there was so much more to that look, like another layer entirely to what he might have been seeing or thinking. It made her uncomfortable when his thick brows lifted as if he was intrigued, his lips fixed firmly like anger might have been his real reaction. Come to think of it, he'd seemed angry with her from the moment he grabbed her.

“He's Blaez and I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that you've been found by our pack when there's no other lycan around to protect you. There are no others, correct?” Channing asked, his tone still light compared to the intensely heated look she was still getting from … the alph—Blaez.

How fitting a name for this wickedly hot creature.

Those might have been the best words Kira had come up with yet to describe the simply seductive way he looked. The black clothes seemed to exemplify his power, while his body, every muscled inch of it, exuded every other cue that he was not to be fucked with.

And still, she'd continued to stare him down.

“As I just told you, I left my pack, so no, they are not with me. You needn't worry that they'll come here to hunt you down. They have no idea where I am and I'd like to keep it that way. Furthermore, I don't need protection,” she stated evenly. “In fact, I don't need to be here. Nice meeting you all, but I'll be going now.”

It was quiet again as if they were all waiting for something to happen. Kira wasn't; she'd just been blatantly reminded that she was once again surrounded by male lycans, the supposed top of their species. Wasn't this the exact situation she'd run from? No, these lycans were deliciously different from those in Penn's pack. They were also more lethal. She could tell just by the way they'd all seemed to surround her within moments of her arriving in the house—a pack descending on its prey. They were well trained—she'd give them that, because none of them had moved a muscle since Blaez had spoken. They all deferred to him unwaveringly as if he was not just their alpha but also someone infinitely more powerful. When she looked to the alpha once more, she realized with a heady start that he expected her to do the same.

Déjà vu immediately washed over her, to the point where she had begun to tremble, thinking instantly that deferring to another alpha was the absolute last thing she planned to do. She started moving to the door as quickly as she could without all-out running. None of them spoke for her to stay—even though she wouldn't have. None of them tried to stop her—even though it wouldn't have worked.

Penn had been cursing about her stubbornness for the better part of these last few months, in this instance his rangy pup pack following his lead with their own round of complaints. But she didn't give a damn; she didn't have to stay where she wasn't wanted, or
was
wanted, but for all the wrong reasons. And she damned sure didn't have to stay here, with these strangers who might just decide to kill her because of the pack she was unfortunately born into, just because Mr. Blaez, with his fine-ass self, proclaimed it.

She'd just reached forward, her fingers only inches away from wrapping around the doorknob, when she heard: “You're not leaving.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when Kira felt herself being once again lifted and tossed over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a sack of old potatoes.

This time she did fight back, with every ounce of effort she possessed. Her heart beat wildly, fear slinking slowly along her infamous stubborn streak as she pounded her fists into his back. It was like hitting steel. His shoulders were broad, his stride even, as he carried her away. She'd looked up to see the other three watching them leave. Neither of them moving even when she called to them for help.

Blaez kept right on walking like he carried women away without their consent on a daily basis. His running shoes were soundless on the wood-planked floors.

“You're an asshole, you know that!” she yelled at him. “This is kidnapping! It's illegal!”

His only response was to keep moving.

It was darker as he took the stairs, her head bobbing with each step, hair swaying all over until she felt like a wild woman. This time she kicked at him hoping she'd luckily land a groin shot, but that was unsuccessful.

“I'm not going to stay here,” she told him with a huff. “The moment you put me down I'm leaving. I'm not a part of your goddamned pack!”

Her throat was beginning to hurt with all the futile yelling, but she could not give in. She could not go back to the same subservient position that she'd basically lived in all of her life. That's what her father wanted for her—to stay there in Seattle and to be claimed by one of his betas. That lucky beta would then become an alpha and Kira would become his mate. Her body actually shivered with that thought. It was wrong. It was not the way it was supposed to be. Not only did her mother's words confirm that, but something else, something deep inside of Kira, knew it to also be true. She'd been feeling it more and more in the weeks she'd been away from Penn and his pack. It was that confirming and guiding force that was getting her through each day.

It didn't take her degree in psychology to realize that yelling and screaming at this lycan wasn't going to work. No, she was going to have to deal with him on a much higher level than that. She would talk to him calmly, one alpha to another, regardless of the fact that she'd come from a Hunter pack, landing smack in the middle of a Devoted's territory.

“Why won't you listen to me? I cannot stay here,” she said evenly. “It's just not where I should be right now.”

She'd hoped her calm approach would work; still Kira was surprised when he abruptly stopped walking. He did not respond to her comment but opened a door and stepped into another room, closing it securely behind him. She'd just been frowning with disappointment when he unceremoniously dropped her on a bed. She fell back but then sat up immediately, swiping her hair from her face so she could keep eye contact with him. She probably should have been afraid of him, of the way he stood there towering over her, muscles bulging, eyes staring at her with a fierce glare. There was no mistaking this lycan's strength or his role in this pack, and if she was being absolutely honest with herself she'd readily admit that he was the most formidable and intimidating lycan she'd ever seen in her life. And yet she wasn't afraid.

“I am not a threat to you,” he told her in that voice that was equal parts arrogant alpha and sex personified.

His brows had drawn close, his strong jaw stiff as he stood over her. That damned shirt molded over every muscle and curve like a glove, a well-fitted black glove that had her mouth watering. The shorts should have been a sin as well, hugging the tight roundness of his ass, denting in slightly on each side as if another muscle on his body needed pronunciation. And the bulge—the thick unmistakable proof of his arousal that had her creaming once more—pissed her off to another degree.

“I don't belong here,” she said through clenched teeth, defensively pressing her thighs together tightly. It was no point, not enough friction as her body tingled with the slow burn of arousal.

“And you didn't belong there,” he told her. “If you did you wouldn't have run.”

“You don't know me,” she said, flattening her palms on the bed before standing in front of him.

They were close. Too close. If she inhaled deeply the tips of her breasts would touch his chest. If she leaned in closer she would … what? What would she do with this alpha she didn't know and didn't want to be around but seemingly could not escape?

“I know that you cannot continue to roam around without a pack. It's too dangerous, especially now, with the way things are.”

“I don't give a damn about pack law or what might happen if I'm found alone without a so-called alpha to protect me. I'm a goddamned alpha too; doesn't that count for anything?” she asked, totally fed up with the way things worked within this breed.

Humans chose whom to love, whom to marry, whom to spend the rest of their life with. In most marriages, they worked together as partners to raise a family and build a future. It boggled her mind as to why the lycans—the supposedly superior species—could not grasp that line of logic. At the same time, she warred with the facts of their heritage, the stories her mother had so proudly told her about their breed's fight to stay alive and to live in a world that they'd never asked to be brought into.

He grabbed her then, his strong palm bracing against the nape of her neck, pulling her flush against his body. Kira shivered at the feel of his steely strength, the persistent throb of his cock pressing against her lower belly. His other arm remained at his side while he lowered his face so close to hers, Kira thought he might kiss her. She hoped he might …