Reluctant Alpha (8 page)

Both men sat lost in their own thoughts. Bradley was thinking he needed to see her, to apologize to her, grovel. He had already tracked down her address. John, her limo driver, was one of the members of his pack.

John had said that she sat in the back on the floor huddled in a corner for two hours. And then her first thought, her first concern, was for Diana and how she was going to get home. Yeah, he thought, she would be a great mate for the male that had had her turned. But why not court her, see if she was compatible to him first? It didn’t make sense.

“
Aaron, why would a man turn a woman without reason? I mean, I can think of thousands of stupid reasons, but why kill her family, turn a perfect stranger, someone you know nothing about, into someone as powerful as an alpha bitch then let her go? Because if the way she handled my pups is any indication, she is one powerful bitch.” He was leaning forward on the desk now.

“
You think he didn’t let her go then. You think he’ll come back for her, if he isn’t trying to find her already. Hummm, something to think about, I suppose. Let me ask you this, what happens if she’s already claimed when he finds her? Do you think he’ll walk away?” Bradley hadn’t thought of that. He wouldn’t, he thought. But then he would have marked her as his too.

“
She’ll be safe enough, or she will be around here. The only person who could claim her would have to be another alpha; she’d kill any other wolf, pup or adult male. And I’m the only alpha in this pack, in this territory as a matter of fact.” After a few seconds, he jerked his head to Aaron. “Oh no, don’t even go there. I am not claiming anyone. Been there, done that, and have the t-shirt to prove it. Besides, in case you’ve forgotten, she sort of hates my guts, and my wolf blood.”

His first mate, Lynne, had tricked him into thinking he was her mate by using black magic. She had threatened every female in his pack and the surrounding territories with certain death if one of them went near him. He later figured out it was because she was afraid that one of them could be his true mate and that would end her plans.

She had planned to put him into a situation where he would be challenged and both the males would be killed, making her the alpha of his pack. It happened, but not often. She hadn’t counted on Shade, Colin’s mate, being a fae being and killing her. Lynne had been sleeping with every male wolf she could, hoping for a pup to claim as Bradley’s. Sometimes the sex had not been consensual. It had taken him all this time to regain the trust of some of his pack members again, as she had told them that he was the one making her have sex with them.

“
I think you should talk to Bailey and also Mel. Mel might have insider information on this particular style of claiming that you don’t know. Bailey and Tristan will be here in a few days to move into their new home. Since she was the first to see her, maybe she could tell you something else about her. I gotta go, it’s almost time for the twins to get up for school and that is one thing I will not miss.” He dematerialized just as he had appeared; in a flash, he was gone.

Bradley leaned back in the chair again. It would be full moon in two weeks. If he was going to go and see her, it would need to be before then, otherwise he’d miss the pack one here. But she would be alone during the moon phase. Maybe he could romp with her under cover of the moon and she’d never know it was him. That was definitely something to consider.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She had torn the phone out of the wall two days ago. It had never stopped ringing day and night the four days since the showing. She never carried a cell phone so it wasn’t an issue of anyone trying to call her that way. But the courier showing up today with a cell phone completely charged and already on to receive calls was too much. She was so going to fire Diana. When it rang two minutes after she signed the electronic device, and just as the courier was just pulling away, Airic was pretty pissed off. She’d just opened the box, for fuck sake, and she hadn’t even gotten back in the studio yet. Pulling it open, she lit into her.

“
If this is not a matter of life and death then it will be once I see you again. If you think this is funny, then you are fucking nuts. If you think I’m going to keep this fucking thing once I give you a piece of my mind then you are stupider than the cow grazing in the next field. Oh, and by the way, you’re fired, and I mean it this time. You’re fired.” She was ready to lay into her once again when the voice at the other end spoke.

“
What if I just wanted to tell you that it’s past time for us to be together? I’ve waited much too long and I want what I created. I’m coming for you, Airic the artist, have no doubt. You are mine. I told you that before. You will be my mate. We will have sons together. I will be there tonight. You will not run, my dear, or I will be most displeased.”

]Airic froze; her breathing ceased to move through her lungs, and her stomach tightened as if would push its meager contents out. She looked up at the new car pulling into the driveway and whimpered. He’s here, her mind screamed. He’s already here and I can’t move.

***

Bradley saw her the minute he pulled into the drive. He had been trying to call her for a couple of days without luck. Just seeing her on the cell phone irked him a little. He’d asked if she had one when he’d had her investigated and had been told no. Damn it, was anything about this woman not complicated beyond reason? He watched her closely as he got out of the car.

The next thing he noticed was she was barefooted and dirty. The next was what he heard her saying “No, no, no, no” over and over again as she backed away from him, her ear still to the phone. He started walking toward her when she dropped the cell phone and pressed herself against the building. Something was wrong; he could hear her softly whimpering. Moving quicker, he was in front of her in seconds.

“
Alastriona, what is it? Is it the phone call, is someone hurt?” He bent over and picked up the phone and was handing it to her when she crumpled to the ground. He knelt down to see if she was hurt, and he put the phone to his ear at the same time. “Who is this?” He snapped into the phone. He wasn’t trying to be rude, but damn it, she was upset.

“
Who is this? Why are you with Airic? She is mine. I made her and she is mine. I will come for her tonight and she had better be prepared if she knows what is good for her. If you wish to live, you will leave her now. I will not tolerate her thinking she can thwart me. I will punish her for this, you tell her that. You should not touch her. You will not touch her. Do you understand me? Tell her to be prepared. I do not tolerate disobedience. I am her…”

“
You are shit to her, you worthless excuse for a wolf. Yeah, I know what you are and what you’ve done. She isn’t yours unless you lay claim. You try to find her now, you slimy piece of shit.” He closed the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He saw the Fed-Ex bag and pulled it from her limp hand. There was no return address on it.
Well fuck, that would have been too easy,
he thought.

“
Alastriona, honey, I need for you to stand up. Look at me, baby. I need for you to stand for me or I’m going to have to pick you up. You can’t stay out here in the open, all right?” When she whimpered again, he slipped one arm beneath her bent knees and the other behind her back. “Okay, honey, here we go.” Lifting her was simpler than he thought it would be, first because he expected resistance; second because he didn’t want to frighten her more than she already seemed to be. He tucked her body into his, pushed open the studio door, and carried her in.

He was surprised by how clean the room was, especially considering how dusty and dirty she was. There wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere. He had assumed his whole life that working with, well, mud that everything would be dirty, or at the very least dusty. But it wasn’t. Pieces of her work were everywhere in different stages of completion. He spied another door and as it too was open, he pushed through it and found much of the same, only there was a couch. He took her over to it and set her gently down on it. Pulling the afghan from behind her, he wrapped her in it and then sat down beside her. Looking around the room, he saw a mini-fridge and when he opened it, he found bottles of water. Taking one out and opening it, he went back to her.

“
Here, Alastriona, drink this. I need to talk to you. Can you understand me?” He needed to get her somewhere safe and needed her cooperation to do so.

“
I’m not stupid, nor am I deaf; of course I can hear you. If you’ve come here to yell at me again, then get it over with and leave. I apparently have plans for the night.” She moved closer to the corner of the couch and further away from him.

Grinning, he leaned back to look at her. She wasn’t as pale, but she was covered in white dots. When he pulled one out of her hair, it crumbled in his fingers. “What is this stuff? You have it all through your hair.” She was looking at him now, well, glaring would be a better description, and he was shocked.
My God,
he thought,
she’s beautiful. Not just beautiful, but amazingly, incredibly beautiful.
It took him several moments to realize she was saying something else to him.

“
I’m sorry, what did you say? I seem to have lost my train of thought.” Looking into her eyes that were the color of rich, dark chocolate, he waited for her to answer.

“
I asked if you are here to take me to him. Because if you are, I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline.” He looked down at her hand when he felt the gun barrel poke him in the stomach.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Bradley raised his hands up so that she could see that they were empty. He glanced again down at the gun and saw that it was a Colt .45, an older one at that. He couldn’t smell any gunshot residue, nor could he detect any silver.

“
Alastriona, this is not the route you want to go. I’m not here to take you to him; in fact, now that I have found you, I’m sworn to protect you. Put the gun away and let’s talk about this.” He had to work to make his voice sound as if he wasn’t afraid she’d shoot him.

“
Protect me. You? I think not. I’d like you to go away, please. I have this, and I will shoot him when he comes here.” She stood up and waved the gun toward the door.

The second the gun was no longer pointed at him, he reached out and snatched it from her hand, disarming her as quickly as that. He opened the cylinder with one hand and emptied the casings into his other hand. He put the shells into his trouser pocket and snapped the cylinder back into the frame. He put the gun onto the table at the side of the couch. Ten seconds and she was completely disarmed.

“
You bastard. Why are you here? I want you to get out of my house right now. I don’t want you here. It’s not safe, not even for me.” She walked over to the door and opened it for him.

“
You wouldn’t have been able to kill him with that anyway, you know. There isn’t any silver in the shells and there are only six shots, not enough to kill someone with an alpha’s power. But he would have had you disarmed as quickly as I did, and you’d have only succeeded in pissing him off more.” He didn’t move. He couldn’t leave her, not now. He watched her for a minute when something occurred to him. “You weren’t going to kill him; that was your plan, you were just going to piss him off. You want him to destroy you.”

“
Leave, don’t leave, I don’t care either way.” He watched as she walked out of the room and back into the yard. He stood to follow her and pulled out his cell phone at the same time. Time was running out and he needed to get her to somewhere safe.

“
Hello, Bradley, how’s the meeting going? Has she made you grovel much? Sara had me crawl on my knees because I said something stupid to her the other night. It was quite fun. We had to…”

“
Aaron, I need, can you meet me here? Remember the discussion we had about the other alpha? Well, when I got here she was on the phone with him. He had sent her a phone in order to contact her to tell her he was coming for her. And…well, she pulled a gun on me as well. She plans to have him destroy her instead of claim her.” He didn’t know what she was doing or where she was going, he just knew that he needed to get to her. He walked out to follow her, even if all he had was her scent.

“
Yes, I’ll come to you, you know that. When did this happen, just today? Maybe we could get Pete to look at the phone and see what she can find out. May I bring her as well?” He could hear the seriousness in his voice and appreciated him all the more for his friendship.

“
I was hoping you could help me convince Alastriona to come to the pack house with me. And if that fails, help me subdue her. It will piss her off, but she can be pissed off at the house with several other wolves around to help keep her safe. She’s one of mine now and I protect what is mine.” He had heard Aaron say the same words many times over the years they had known each other and he finally understood what he meant.

“
Five minutes. Oh, and if you think she’ll only be pissed, well, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when she gets there.” Bradley could hear his laughter as he hung up.

By the time he hung up, he was at the back door of her home. Trying the knob and finding it locked, he simply pushed against the jamb with his shoulder and popped the door’s lock. There was no way she was staying here, not if he had anything to say about it. He opened the door and simply walked in.

Bradley prided himself on his ability to be quick on his feet. It was a good thing too because no sooner had the door opened than she had him thrown to the floor. He didn’t want to hurt her so he was careful how he handled her, but it soon became obvious that she was going to hurt him if he didn’t take a more aggressive stance against her.