Taken By The Alpha (Timber Valley Pack) (5 page)

              It was noon, and the Bitter Brew tavern was crowded.

Carver set his beer stein down and scowled. Damned Mordhaus pack.  They’d been an arrogant, obnoxious, in-your-face bunch of assholes, as far back as he could remember – and they’d gotten even worse when Roman Coffman took over.

              As for Katrina, he saw the way Maddox looked at her – even if Maddox didn’t realize it himself. Yet. He’d always suspected Maddox had a thing for her, going back years.  He was actually kind of worried about Maddox, not that he’d ever tell his Alpha that.

              Bambi, the coyote shifter who’d come to meet him, put her hand on his knee and ran it up his thigh. He felt his cock harden and swell, straining at his jeans.

              “What are you looking so grouchy about, wolfie? You’re with me.” She fluttered her lashes at him, and he grinned. They had a casual thing where they got together from time to time, and he always looked forward to it. That was exactly what he needed today – a break from the drama back on pack property, a little afternoon delight.

              “And aren’t I a lucky wolf.” He leaned forward and kissed her hard,  cupping his thrusting his tongue into her mouth. There was no emotion there, no tenderness, just deep, hungry need, and she responded eagerly, in kind.

              When he finally pulled away, she let out a high pitched giggle. “I need to go use the little girl’s room, and then we should swing by my place.  You haven’t broken my bedsprings in a while, you naughty wolf.” She winked at him and slid off the bar stool, sauntering off towards the bathroom.

              Okay, her penchant for cutesy talk was starting to grate on his nerves a little bit, but it’s not like he actually much spent any time with her outside of the bedroom.  No big deal, he told himself.

One of the wolves at the bar let out a loud howl of approval, and he turned to see what the wolf was looking at.

Well, hello. A stunning female brunette wolf shifter had just walked through the door.  Her long, straight brown hair was thick and shiny.  She wore black jeans and a tank top and motorcycle boots. Yes, please, he thought.

Damn. Now he was sorry he was with Bambi. If he hadn’t agreed to meet her today, he’d have gone for that she-wolf in a heartbeat.

              She met his gaze and headed straight for him. Well, this was awkward. Could he get away with asking for her number while Bambi was in the bathroom? It’s not like he and Bambi were exclusive – she’d been with a hyena shifter the night before, one of his friends had told him.

              She was standing right in front of him now. One blue eye, one green. That meant she was a healer. Right now he had a swelling that definitely could use some attention.  Her body was trim and firm. She had lush red lips. The mild arousal that Bambi had stirred in him earlier was nothing compared to the blazing lust roaring through his body right now.

              “Carver Killingworth?” Her voice caressed him, sweet as honey.

              “At your service.” He winked at her. “Take that any way you like it. Please.”

              She didn’t take it exactly the way he’d expected.

              She grabbed a pitcher of beer from the bar and dumped it over his head, leaving him drenched and spluttering with outrage.  “What the hell?” he shouted, as the whole bar erupted in howls of laughter, and she turned and sauntered off without a word.

              “What was that? Who was she?” Bambi had cut her trip to the bathroom short.

              “Sweetheart, I have no idea. I’ve never seen her before.” He grabbed a napkin from the bar and mopped off his face.

              “Do I look stupid?” she yelled. He hesitated. He believed in being honest, which meant that he shouldn’t answer that question.

              “Well?” she pressed him angrily. “There’s no way that woman just randomly decided to dump a pitcher of beer on your head, you asshole! Obviously you know her! Fine, if you like her so much better than me, why don’t you go fuck her instead?”

              She gestured at a coyote who’d been playing pool. “Ferdinand! Want to get laid? Today’s your lucky day.” Ferdinand dropped his pool cue on the floor and hurried after her as she stalked out the door.

              Great. So now Carver was drenched in beer, horny as hell, and had no freaking idea what had just happened to him.

              One thing he knew for sure, though – he’d love to get that she-wolf’s number.

* * *

“Sorry, buddy.” Katrina glanced down at the unconscious body of Jayden, her guard for the day.

              Jayden had made the mistake of turning his back on her while she and he were out for a walk in the woods. All she’d had to do was tell him she needed to pee and she’d appreciate some damn privacy already.

He’d underestimated her. Sure, he could hear her if she tried to run off – but she wasn’t an idiot. She’d never try that. Instead, she gave him a quick karate chop to the neck at exactly the right pressure point, and he crumbled to the ground, unconscious.  She might be small, and female, but she had taken self-defense classes. Her daddy had taught her well.

              She quickly shed her clothes and rolled them up, grabbed them with her mouth, and shot through the woods like an arrow. She didn’t have much time before someone came looking for her and Jayden.

              To her enormous relief, she made it all the way off pack property, and she headed towards town.  Her pack was about five miles on the other side of Greenville; once she was in town, she could call someone to come get her.

              She was hoping against hope that when she got back, she could get her mother and stepfather together and see if they could come up with an alternative to the death challenge. There must be a way that Mordhause and the Killingworth pack could work together and be allies. They’d be an incredibly strong pack.

              She’d pitch it to Roman that if he won the death challenge, a good portion of the Killingworth pack – possibly all of them – would just pack up and leave, now that the Elders had made that an option.

              They’d rather give up their lands and all their possession than serve under the Killingworth pack.  They’d go somewhere else, find an unclaimed area of land, and rebuild from scratch.

If, on the other hand, the Killingworth pack made an alliance with the Mordhaus pack, there would be two strong packs together. They’d dominate the whole region.  Nobody would go up against them.

She also needed to talk to Roman about how the townspeople were reacting to everyone lately.  She would put it diplomatically, of course; she’d explain it in business terms. It was all public relations and marketing. If he could make people like him, they’d be more likely to side with him during conflict, and more likely to do business with him.

When she got the edge of town, she paused, turned, and walked in to the one place she was sure wouldn’t turn her away – Morgensterns, the art store on the edge of town. Her friend Frances, a puma shifter, worked there; her mother owned the place. She and Frances had been really close in high school, and Frances was the nicest, sweetest girl she knew.

Except Frances went stiff when she walked in, and her expression was not friendly.

“Frances, quick, I need to use your phone,” she said.  She was sure that the Killingworth pack were hot her trail already. They’d be here in minutes.

Frances winced and shook her head. “Not without permission from Maddox or one of his officers. I can make a call and ask him.”

“What? Seriously, Frances?”

Frances didn’t answer, just stood there with her hands on the counter.

“Frances, what is going on here? This is crazy. Why is it that my own friends won’t even talk to me?”

Frances raised an eyebrow. “I’m friends with Stacy too.”

“So am I. Remember that pajama party where we raided Stacy’s parents liquor cabinet? And what does being friends with Stacy have to do with anything?”

“Why don’t you ask the gophers?” Frances blurted out. Then she went pale. “Forget I said that. Please, don’t say anything to your stepfather.”

“I won’t.” Katrina was puzzled. “Frances, I don’t understand why you’re treating me like this. If you’re upset with something that my stepfather has done, that’s fine, but do you think I’ve suddenly changed in to a terrible person?”

Frances looked her right in the eye. “You live on pack property. You, of all people, must know what goes on there.”

“Why me of all people?”

“You’re a Sensitive. You pick up on emotions when people that you’ve met are in pain for frightened.”

“If they’re physically close enough to me, yeah. But what…” she trailed off. “There’s a large portion of our property that’s off limits right now, because my uncle is building some new buildings for a furniture factory and stuff like that. Like miles and miles of it. Are you suggesting that something is going on there?”

              “Maybe you should do a little exploring.” Frances was still wary, but her belligerent tone had turned uncertain. “If Roman will let you,” she added, raising an eyebrow.

              The front door jingled, and swung open.  Katrina turned around – to face Jaden and Maddox.  She wanted to scream with frustration. This was unbelievable – she’d been so close, and Frances had probably seen her coming and called the Killingworth pack before she walked in the door.  Still – they’d gotten her more quickly than she would have expected.

              Frances shrugged apologetically and walked away, into the back section of the store.

              “Well, if it isn’t Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber.” She looked at Jaden. “That was fast.”

              “Yeah, you need to work on your technique a little bit, princess.” Maddox flashed a feral grin. “I figured you might try something like this. Told Jaden to just play along if you did. I was curious as to what you’d do. I drove to town, and I had my men following you far enough behind that you couldn’t scent them.”

              She just stared at him, silently thinking of all the things she could do with a wolf skin pelt. Matching jacket and boots. A fur vest.

              “I think this is the part where you start screaming, throwing things, and questioning my manhood.” Maddox was striding towards her. Him and his ridiculous t-shirts which showed off his huge biceps and molded to his washboard abs. Big, stupid, show-off.

              “You’d have to be in possession of some manhood in order for me to question it.” She bit the words out.

              “There we go.” He flashed his white teeth in an infuriating smile. “Had me worried there for a second. Now, which way are we going to do it this time? Am I going to carry you, or are you going to walk? Either way’s good with me.”

              “I. will. Walk.” She strode angrily towards the door, and the two of them followed right on her heels, steering her towards a pickup truck.

It was 8 a.m., but the common area was already bustling with activity.  In different parts of the yard, shifters were drying herbs, chopping firewood, or socializing and eating breakfast at picnic tables.

Katrina sat at the picnic table where Caroline and the others were gathered, and let out a huge yawn as Caroline set a cup of coffee down in front of her.  She’d slept badly again last night.  Different shifters kept bringing meals to her room; it was never Maddox. This irritated her on a very deep level, although she wasn’t sure why.

              Michael had again been assigned to guard duty, and he sat nearby, chatting up his girlfriend, a shifter named Roberta.  All of the women who’d been at the table the day before were back, with their craft supplies laid out.

              Caroline had brought out Katrina a notebook so she could jot down some ideas for the bridal feast.

              “Thanks for the coffee. What’s on the agenda for today?” Katrina was incredibly grateful to have this wedding coming up. 

              “We were hoping you could share your recipe for those mini sausage snacks you made for Riverville’s 150
th
anniversary celebration,” Caroline said. “I actually had some. They were amazing.”

              “Loved them,” Peony added.

              “We won’t be having them for the wedding reception, though,” Myrtle said. “Much too casual and lowbrow. Now  for my reception, which was done in excellent taste  – well, excuse me, I was
talking
,” she said, as Peony got up and stormed off.

              Caroline rushed after Peony, but Peony waved her off and kept walking.

              Katrina got up and jogged over to Caroline. “Let me try. Sometimes people will talk to a friend more than they will a family member,” she said. Caroline shrugged helplessly.

              She caught up to Peony, who was walking fast and blinking back tears. Michael trailed behind Katrina, watching her closely.

“I’m pretty sure I’m calling the wedding off,” Peony said, wiping her nose with her hand. “I’m sorry I wasted everyone’s time with all of this planning.”

“I know your mother in law’s a bitch, but once the wedding is over, you can just avoid her, can’t you?” Katrina asked. “Unless you feel like he’s not the right one for you.”

“That’s just it. He’s perfect for me in every way, except for this thing with his mother. And she announced that she’s building a house right next to ours so she can come over every day and cook and clean because I obviously never got any training in those departments, and there’s no reason think that I’ll suddenly learn how just because I’m married. So, great, she’s insulting my parents and me at the same time.  And she said that when I have cubs she’ll need to be there to help raise them right. Alexander was sitting right there and he didn’t say a word.”

“Oh, hellz no,” Katrina swore. “You’re right. You need to find him and take a stand, post haste. She can not live next to you, and unless she starts treating you with respect and stops insulting you all the time, there’s no reason she should set paw in your house.”

“Am I being unreasonable? I keep trying and trying to be nice to her no matter what she says.”

“You are perfectly reasonable,” Katrina said firmly.  “Go find him. This can’t wait.” 

Back at the picnic table, Caroline and the helmet haired woman were shouting at each other, and the group quickly packed up their supplies and headed off – all except for Teresa, who gestured at Katrina to come talk to her.

Katrina glanced over at Michael, who was standing five feet away.

“Do you mind?” she said. “Private conversation here.” He shrugged and didn’t move. Scowling, Katrina lead Teresa another ten feet away.

Maybe Teresa could give her some insight into whatever was happening with the Mordhaus pack, that she wasn’t seeing.

              “I just wanted to say that maybe you should stay here,” Teresa said. “You fit right in, and Maddox is obviously crazy about you. No, don’t laugh! Everybody’s talking about it. Why do you think Lula is so jealous?  She wants Maddox, and he obviously wants you.”

              “Is there a collective case of crazy going around here?” Katrina shook her head in astonishment. “Maddox does not like me.”

              “Yes, he does,” Teresa insisted. “Every time there was some public event in town and both packs were there, I would see him watching you and ignoring all the other girls. He’s very handsome, isn’t he? And, you know – Alpha. Who doesn’t want to be with an Alpha? ‘Nuff said there, right?” she winked at her.

              More than enough. What would Katrina even do if Teresa were right? But of course she wasn’t right. Maddox had never made a move on her. 

              “Teresa, sorry to change the subject, but I need to know,” Katrina said. “Why did you leave our pack? Was there something that made you unhappy?”

              “Well,  your stepfather is a bit…tempermental.” She smiled politely.

              “Was he abusive? Everyone in town is acting really weird to me.  Maddox claims that it’s because my stepfather has alienated everybody.”

              “I did not ever see him being abusive.” Teresa was speaking very carefully. Was she trying not to offend Katrina, or was she that afraid of Roman, even now that she was here at this camp?

              “You know that I’d never tell Roman anything that you say,” Katrina said. “If there’s a problem with his behavior, I need to know. I can talk to my mother. He always listens to her.”

              Teresa sighed. “Perhaps not as much as he used to.” She turned and walked away.

              As much as he used to? They’d only been married three years. Katrina hadn’t noticed anything wrong between him and her mother, but then, she was starting to wonder if there was a lot going on that she hadn’t noticed.

              She wondered what would happen to Teresa if her stepfather won. Surely Teresa must have been aware of that possibility. The Mordhaus pack would take over the Killingworth pack, and then Teresa would almost certainly have to pack up and leave the area entirely.

She turned to walk back to towards the picnic table– and slammed into Lula, who was, for some reason, walking through the common area holding a hot bowl of soup. The soup spilled down the front of Lula’s shirt, and Lula screamed in pain and instantly shifted to wolf form.

              Katrina followed suit, dropping down to all fours and growling, as the hair stood up on her back. The female was considerably bigger than her, but as the saying went, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

              The next thing she knew, Maddox was in between them in wolf form, snarling at the other woman.  The woman immediately let out a whimper, fell to the ground, and rolled on to her back to show submission.

              Maddox shifted back to human form, and she and the woman did too. Now all three of them stood there naked. Katrina had to admit, the woman had quite the impressive rack.  There were red blotches on her skin where the soup had burned her.

              “She attacked me!” The woman wailed. “She dumped scalding hot soup on me and burned me on purpose!  I have the right to defend myself! I issue a challenge.”

              “Bring it!” Katrina snapped.

              Maddox let out a snarl and both of them fell silent. Katrina could have kept arguing, but she didn’t want to challenge his authority in front of everyone and put him in a bad spot.

             
Wait, why not
? She wondered.

              “I saw what happened, Lula,” Maddox said. “You walked right up to her and bumped in to her on purpose. There will be no challenge. Understand?”

              She hung her head sullenly and nodded.

              “She doesn’t belong here. She’s not one of us,” she muttered, her voice angry and rebellious.

              “You don’t get to make that decision. Pack up and move to one of the cabins in the far north section, and if you come near her again, you’ll be moving off the property. Do I make myself clear?”

              Her lips parted and she stared searchingly at Maddox, with an expression of yearning that somehow raised Katrina’s hackles. Katrina felt fur rippling down her neck and back, the way it would when she fought in wolf form. She didn’t want any other females looking at Maddox like that.  Her wolf howled inside her, wanting to be freed, wanting to stake it’s claim.

             
My wolf is a dumb animal,
Katrina reminded herself. She had no claim on him, nor did she want one.

After a long moment, Lula turned and walked away without answering Maddox.