Reluctant Alpha (18 page)

David had been born with the same mark as Bradley. When David had reached puberty, like his older brother, his grew as well, but had not changed to the deep red as his brother’s had. David’s had turned a royal blue, marking him as a protector, a wolf pack enforcer.

Bradley leaned in closer to the mirror and studied his mark now. It was different. He looked at his tribal, the one the eldest of the pack had tattooed into his arm when he had taken over the pack and become the alpha. It too had changed. He needed to talk to his grandda, and started to leave the bathroom, but realized that he hadn’t showered yet. He stepped under the spray. He washed his hair and then his body. He leaned his back against the shower stall wall and stood there for a minute. Then he moved under the hot spray for five minutes more, sobbing hard, his heart hurting.

He hurried down the stairs to find the one man he knew would have the answers he needed. Bradley needed the man who meant more to him than any other man on the planet, his grandda, his best buddy.

“
Grandda, I need to show you something.” He had dried quickly and dressed in the first thing he found in the drawers.

He had brought clothes over here some time ago because he would shift to wolf before leaving the pack house and run here sometimes late at night. Rather than sit around talking to Aaron in the raw, he’d slowly brought a few sets of clothes over to change into. He had pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt with a band on it that he’d heard in maybe college.

His grandda followed him into the large entrance hall. He pulled the shirt over his head and showed him the marks.

His grandda staggered back a few steps and Bradley leaped forward to grab him. He helped him sit down in the large church pew near the door and started fanning him. He had gone so pale that he feared for his life.

“
Grandda, let me get Grams. I won’t be but a second, all right? Don’t move.” Bradley started to rise, but the hand on his shoulder stayed him. Looking behind him at the owner. He was surprised to see Mel.

“
Ah, so the king is born. Welcome King of all Wolves, Alpha Bradley. I have been waiting for you.” Mel bowed before him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

The water splashed over her face and arms, waking her. The jerk from the cold water made her nearly moan, but she had remembered her promise to him. She said nothing, made no sound at all.

This was the third, or maybe the fourth time he had woken her this way. The only thing he had succeeded in doing was washing her blood off her. He had given up threatening her and had just been beating her senseless until she passed out again. She knew that he stopped when she was out because he had told her once before that he wasn’t going to waste his time hurting her if she couldn’t feel it.

She did, though. All of it. She was sure that he had broken nearly every rib and her arms and legs. The fact that she could heal quickly was to his advantage in that he could break them again once they healed. But she was getting weaker and weaker, and it was taking her longer and longer to heal each time. Airic was dying, very slowly, she was dying.

“
You’ll scream this time, scream and scream. I’ve got a special punishment for you now, my love.”

She watched dispassionately as he walked over to a small fire he had started. She hurt so badly in so many places that even if he set her afire, she wouldn’t know if she’d feel it. He came toward her with a white-hot rod, and even before he told her, she knew he meant to burn her with it.

***

“
We’ve found her. We know where she is.”

Bradley looked at Peter and stared at him blankly for several seconds. They found her; they found her, three of the sweetest words he’d ever heard.

“
You cannot go, Alpha; you must stay behind and come to her after they find her. It’s important that you heed me in this.”

Mel had to be crazy if she thought he’d wait to go to her. He turned to her to tell her what she could do with her heeding advice.

“
Bradley, listen to her. There are things you must do to lead. One of the things you must do to be a great leader is listen. Trust me, son.”

His grandda too? Were they all nuts? Leave her to someone else. “She’s my mate. Their queen, and you want me to stay behind. I don’t fucking think so. I’m going to go to her. And I’m going to bring her home. I’d like to see you try and stop me.” He watched as Peter backed out of the hall and returned to the study.

Mel watched too as Peter left the room, he noticed. Then when she turned back to him, she looked sad. He knew he wasn’t going to like what she said to him. Knew it as surely as he was standing there.

“
Peter is a good man, don’t you think? I do. He isn’t a great man, not like you, but a good man.” She sat down beside his grandda.

“
Yeah, I suppose. But just so you know, I’m not buying the flattery. So keep it out of this.” He started pacing. It was better than hitting the wall with his fist.

“
It isn’t flattery, it’s the truth. He could be a great man, if you’d let him. The Fates have said that he will be a great help to you in the years to come if he becomes the man that his father killed. You have given him the tools to become that man. Now he needs the knowledge that he can and will be him. Are you willing to sacrifice this one thing to him? It is up to you, alpha king. You can decide to go and I will do nothing to stop you. But sometimes, a great leader doesn’t lead, but allows others to lead for him.” He watched as she touched his grandda and saw the change in him immediately. She had healed whatever had made him ill.

He walked to the study without answering her. The Fates. The Fates had given him Alastriona, he had no doubt about that. She had needed the comfort of a laugh, and they had given her the blue house. He needed to give someone else the blue house.

“
Dom, I need you to go with Peter, can you do that for me?” Bradley hated this with every fiber of his being. She needed a laugh and he needed her, and that thought alone would get him through this.

“
Anything you say, Alpha.”

He took a deep breath. He watched as Peter worked with Dom on how to get to the cave. “Peter, I want you to go with Dom.” He looked at his grandda and then a Mel. She nodded once at him. “I need you to bring my mate back to me and handle your brother.”

CHAPTER FORTY

Peter and Dom left the MacManus mansion about forty minutes later. They were to gather as many wolves as they needed on the way. Bradley had already sent a message to every one of his wolves telling them that they had found their queen and that they were to support Peter, as they would him. No one had objected or balked. He hadn’t really thought they would, but things were tense and he needed them.

He was to follow in the car behind them with Thomas Reilly, MD, a vampire, and the new doctor they had hired, Leif Bergeron, who was human, at the clinic they had just built. She would need medical attention and they were taking no chances with her health.

Bradley could keep in touch with his own wolves, but the others, the ones from other realms, he wasn’t so sure. Dom would make sure that he was kept apprised of the situation and let him know if they needed anything.

He didn’t know if he was going to be able to sit still for very long, but at the last minute, Aaron had decided to come with him. The two doctors sat in the back and Aaron in the front with him.

“
Have you thought about what you are going to do with Christopher when he’s caught?” Christopher had committed his crimes in his territory. It would be up to Bradley to decide how best to deal with the situation. He glanced over at him.

“
You mean if there’s anything left of him when the others find him? No. I mean, I’d like to tear him apart with my bare hands, but I’m not so sure that would be justice or revenge. What would you do?”

“
Tear him apart. No question.” Bradley grinned at him.

***

At first, she thought she was hearing things. It wouldn’t be the first time over the past few days, weeks, or years for all she knew. The pain had become her sole focus. But she had never heard the sound of wolves before; at least she was pretty sure she hadn’t. It might have frightened her at any other time, but now it was just a different sound.

There was no one inside the cave but her when the first large wolf moved into the room. She realized after a few seconds of him staring at her that she could hear him, his thoughts.

“
Are you alone, my lady? Is Christopher here?”

Her mind wanted to rebel at this, because she knew that he wasn’t asking her in a real verbal language, but as wolf. Like the guard in the hospital so many months ago, she also knew that she would be able to speak back to him.

“
No, I don’t think so. Please, you have to leave. He’ll kill you if he finds you here. I can’t save you if he returns.”

“
I’ve come to take you to your alpha; Bradley has sent me for you.” Peter moved behind her and shifted. Airic felt the stir in the air, magic, she supposed. He moved in front of her, dressed in a pair of workout shorts and flip-flops. “Oh, mistress, I’m so sorry. Bradley is coming, and he’s bringing help for you. I need to get you down from these chains; they’ve cut deeply into your arms. Dom has some water for you if you’d like.”

“
Bradley? Dry. Hurt. Badly. No. No touch.” Each word felt as if she were ripping it from her throat. She didn’t want him to stay, but she didn’t want to be left alone again either.
Bradley,
her mind screamed.
He’ll come.

The second and third wolf entered and filled the mouth of the cave with their size. Each one had a bright silver streak down their left flank and huge paws.
Oh, Grandma, what big teeth you have,
she thought.

Airic couldn’t lift her head, and her arms were useless. And since they had been over her head for however long she had been here, she knew that they would be painful when she was cut down. Breathing was difficult too. “Leave. Leave me.”

Ignoring her, he only worked at the chain. Each movement rang through her body, filling her with such agony that she couldn’t think beyond it.

When he touched her arm, she couldn’t help it, she screamed and lost consciousness.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Bradley sat for a full minute before he could move out of the car. She was just inside there; his love was just feet away. Opening the door, he slipped out of the Hummer.

The first thing he noticed was that each wolf he passed bowed before him and wouldn’t look at him. He knew those who had seen her were horrified at the way she had been tortured. He had heard from Dom, although alive, she was in a terrible state. He had said that while her heartbeat was slow, it was strong. And once she lost consciousness, they were able to work quicker at getting her loose from the bonds.

Inside the cave, he could smell the stench of blood, sweat, and urine. There was a crowd of people just around her, but they moved away as he got closer, except for Thomas. He stood in front of him before he could see her.

“
Bradley, look at me. She’s not just been beaten, she’s been tortured too. What he’s done to her…Bradley, it’s very bad. She needs medical attention more than I can give her here. If we try to move her, I fear she will die. She can’t shift; she isn’t strong enough to survive it. She needs blood, strong vampire blood to survive.”

Bradley gently moved him aside and knelt down beside her. “Alastriona, love, can you hear me?” He moved his finger down her cheek and she cringed slightly away from him. He felt tears stream down his face.

She was broken, her face was bloody and raw, and burn marks from something being laid against her skin were along her tender cheek and throat. Her nose, jaw, and cheekbone had been shattered; one eye was swollen shut the other barely open, just a slit. There was blood coming from her ear, and also blood in her hair, red from it. She was covered by a blanket so he couldn’t see the extent of the damage done to her there, but her blood soaking through nearly everywhere showed that she had suffered the same injuries done to her face all over her body.

“
Bradley, Bradley, we need to talk. We can’t stay here. What do you want us to do?” Aaron had knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. He wanted to cradle her into his arms and hold her, but he knew that he would likely kill her if he did.

“
Aaron, could you heal her? Your blood is strong and Thomas said that’s what she needs to survive. I have to…she has to survive, Aaron. I cannot live without her.” Unashamed of the tears, he allowed them to go unchecked, unmindful of the others who saw.

“
My blood…it isn’t the same anymore. I…yes, I can help her, but I need a favor, a boon in exchange. That’s what the magic needs to make it work. Bradley, there could be changes in the two of you if you do this because you will need to sip from me or Sara as well. And this exchange will allow me to find her and you, contact you as I do my vamps, you understand?”

Bradley looked back down at the woman on his lap. He needed her, but more than that, he was deeply in love with her. “Whatever it takes. Yes, whatever you want. I give you my word, whatever you want, it’s yours. Please, please, I beg you to save my mate. I cannot, no, I won’t live without her.” He touched her again, softer this time.