Marked by the Alpha (5 page)

Mason sighed again as he watched Phil go. “
Dani
, why won’t you trust me?” Mason said aloud to himself before sitting back down on the couch. Why was he having such an issue with this? If she were really in danger
shouldn’t he just go and get her whether she liked it or not
?
Damn it.
Mason pounded his fist on the coffee table and it broke into splinters.
“You will be mine
,
Dani
,
”
he muttered, then
shook his head and began to pick up the pieces.

“What is with the scarf?” Alisha was poking at her again. “It’s almost 100 degrees
out.”

Dani
said nothing as she straightened another set of glass bottles.

“Take it off or you’ll pass out with how tight it is
,
”
Alisha
said, and
tugged at the ends.

Dani
ducked out of her reach. “I like it
,
so please just leave it alone.” She moved to the next shelf
a
nd
Alisha followed her.

Alisha
tugged at the scarf again and it came unwrapped and slipped down over
Dani’s
neck
.
Alisha giggled at what she thought
at first
was a love bite from some playful necking
, but then
the full picture came into view.

Dani
had studied the mark in the mirror for almost an hour
last night
.
Even now, i
t
was a wicked dark rainbow of blues, purples, and yellows that extended from the sweet spot in her neck and ran into the hollow of her collarbone. It was not some high school hickey
like a girl might get
behind the
school
bleachers
during a football game
; it was truly the mark of an alpha
, a mark that promised that
Mason was going to make claim to her, it was just a matter of when.

Dani
moved back from her reach and shrugged. “I should have
show
n
you. I know you weren’t thinking. You thought I had some silly childish hickeys perhaps?”

Alisha looked down and set to dusting again. “I’m sorry,
Dani
,
”
s
he
mumbled.

“Mason Daniels took it upon himself to mark me
,
”
she said, trying to
put heat behind her words
.

“Someone stopped by yesterday from his pack.”

Dani
snapped her head up. “Who and how do you know?”

“It was his
second-in-command
. He knew way too much information to just be some Joe
S
chmo
from
down the street. He showed me his driver’s license and it was from Mason’s town.”

“How would you know where Mason’s town is?”
Dani
snapped, feeling a
surge of anger
.

Alisha
jumped away from her
in horror
, dropping
the piece she had been holding.
“Please,
Dani
! Don’t be upset at me!” She threw herself at
Dani’s
feet and began to cry.

“Oh fuck
,
Ali, stop. This isn’t me.”
Dani
pulled her up and set her on the counter. She had
knelt
on the glass and
Dani
shook her head. “I’m so sorry.” She went into the back and found the first aid kit.
Why was she acting like such a freaking bitch to her
best friend
?
Dani
walked back
up front
. She brushed the glass off and looked to see if any had stuck to the cuts. They were
n'
t deep
,
but
Dani
still
felt horrible.

Alisha was crying. “I wanted him to claim you,
Dani
, I really did!” She wiped at her eyes and rubbed her arms.

Dani
said nothing as she continued to clean the glass out of her wounds. Of course Alisha would feel that way
, though
Dani
had
had no idea how worried her friend was for her until that very moment. She rubbed anti-bacterial
ointment
on each
cut
as the smaller woman continued to cry.

“I told his
second-in-command
that. I told him that you have
n'
t been acting
normally
. I told him how worried I was.” Alisha wiped at her eyes again. “I have never seen you like this. I can’t stand it!”

Dani
focused on placing
Band-Aids
of several sizes and shapes over the
cuts
. “I’m scared
,
Alisha
,
and I don’t know what to do.”

“What are you afraid of?” Alisha slid off the counter. “What is it? Is it the
hunters
?”

“I don’t want to be part of his pack
,
”
Dani
said, then
turned away from her.

“What are you really afraid of
,
Dani
? I have the right to know!” Alisha moved around her.

“I am afraid of Mason. I am afraid that I will let him do whatever he wants to me
…
That I will obey every order that he gives.
”
Dani
began to cry. “I want him to claim me because I know that I will never willingly give myself to him.”

Alisha wrapped her arms around
Dani
. “Hey,
Dani
, don’t be afraid of Mason.” She squeezed
Dani
tightly. “I think that he cares about you already.”

Dani
shook her head and continued to cry. “I’m so sorry that I snapped at you. You are my very best friend.”

Alisha laughed then. “I believe that I am your only friend.”

Dani
had to laugh as well. “Yes, you are my only friend.” She wiped her eyes and pulled herself back together. “You really believe that he will be good to me?”

“Without a doubt I believe it
. If he didn't want to be good to you,
he would
n'
t have come all the way here and ask
ed
to see you. If he was as awful as you originally thought he would have simply carried you off.”

Dani
blinked. “Did I really make him sound like that?” She knew the answer
,
of course
,
but it was so hard to share with Alisha the thoughts that had been barreling through her head last night.

Alisha nodded. “He’s strong enough to carry off a
horse
,
I believe.”

Dani
laughed again. “Actually, I believe that a horse would put up less
of a
fight.”

Alisha smirked and poked
Dani’s
arm. “
Okay
,
t
hat
I believe
!
”

Dani
poked back playfully
and
then turned serious again. “So, who is this
second-in-command
you are talking about?”

“His name is Phil. He
'
s around my height but he is all muscle.
Short
, dark brown
hair with come
-
fuck
-
me blue eyes.”
Alisha put her hand over her mouth. “I don’t know where that came from. Honest
,
I’m not usually attracted to those pretty
-
boy types.”

“
Yeah, well if he's second-in-command, he's not
your
typical
pretty
-boy.
I
'd bet
he could bench
-
press a pickup truck.”
Dani
rolled her eyes and for a moment they were just two women gossiping over two ordinary men.

“I just want you to be safe.” Alisha let go of her and they
went to work cleaning
up the mess.

“I know and I appreciate it. I just don
'
t want to get in over my head.”
Dani
swept the smaller fragments into a dust pan as Alisha carefully picked up the bigger pieces.

“I
'
d imagine that you were in over your head the moment you laid eyes on Mason
,
”
Alisha said softly.

“I
'
d imagine you are right
,
”
Dani
agreed
,
and
then
set to cleaning the rest of the store.

*
*
*

Dani
checked the back door
of the store
again. It had been almost three days since she had kicked Mason out of her house
,
and
s
he wanted to call him up and tell him that he was right
,
but truthfully she was sure he had other things to worry about.

Dani
looked around again as something
just felt
off
. She had sent Alisha home, despite her protests
,
and strapped on her second knife. If someone wanted to fight, she would be ready.

Suddenly t
here was a noise outside and
Dani
decided to turn off all the lights and go out the seldom used side door. She could easily walk home
, and it would be easier to avoid being followed home that way
.
Dani
looked down at her phone and pondered calling Mason for the second time
, but if it turned out to be
nothing she would feel stupid for bothering him.

Dani
was halfway home when she began to smell something. It was something awful.
Dani
looked down. There were various dead varmints littering the woods towards her house. Damn it. What was going on?
Dani
took a few breaths and increased her speed. Whoever was responsible for this would be the sorriest son of
a
bitch that ever lived.
Dani
reached the outer woods
, and as she came closer she saw that e
very light in her house was on. “What the fuck?”
s
he
mumbled.

“
Heya
Red!”

Dani
growled and spun towards the voice. How had someone snuck up on her? She pulled her knife when she heard something whizzing behind her. In seconds she felt an awful sting down her body and knew immediately that she had been shot by a tranquilizer gun. From the feel of it several darts had
hit home.

“I’ll fucking kill you!”
Dani
shouted, but as she
spun around
she
was met with a dozen more. She growled and went down to all fours before tipping over to the side. She blinked as her breathing started to slow.
No
! I will not go down like this.
Dani
tried to pick her legs up but found them useless. “I will kill you all!”
she tried to yell, but h
er voice had dropped to a whisper.

“Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?”

That same voice mocked her and she felt the night slowly closing in over her head. With her last bit of strength
Dani
pitched her phone into the woods.
Please, Alisha, please call Mason
,
s
he
thought before her eyes closed again and she tumbled into a deep, dark, sleep.

* * *

Alisha was shaking and terrified. She had gone to the store to open and had found
Dani’s
truck still parked outside. She
had
immediately headed towards
Dani’s
house
, and on the way she had seen
dead animals all over the woods. There were raccoons, possums, a fox, and some other
small creatures
. She poked at one of them and saw one neat shot.
Her stomach retched as she dialed
Dani’s
phone and listened. “No
,
no, no,” s
he began to mutter as she walked closer to
the
house.
As if caught in a nightmare
,
she turned towards the sound
of
Dani’s
phone ringing
.
After following the sound a few feet into the woods,
Alisha leaned down and picked
up
Dani’s
phone from the ground
. “Aw, fuck,
Dani
.”